High above in the blue sky, a white oni was wailing sorrowfully.

"Kyuhinghing."

Its cry was filled with deep sadness.

Only recently had it been peacefully resting in the hospital room, enjoying a calm life. However, the departure of the Gray Reaper quickly shattered the white oni's tranquility.

This peace wasn’t one it had achieved through its own efforts, so it was easily broken.

Meanwhile, the Orange Reapers, with their growing mischievousness, had become more troublesome lately.

Roaming around in search of a target for their pranks, they quickly set their sights on the oni.

Usually, the Orange Reapers avoided grouping together, but this time, four of them had united to torment the oni.

They filled its belly with sweet hot chocolate, then lifted it into the sky by its short legs, utilizing their ability to fly freely.

Their destination was the Black Sugar Desert.

The desert the Orange Reapers loathed!

While other Mini Reapers enjoyed the Black Sugar Desert, the Orange Reapers disliked it because sugar crystals would often get tangled in their fluffy bodies.

Thus, they decided to pull a prank on the Mini Reapers playing there.

Floating above the Black Sugar Desert, they scanned for their next victim and soon spotted Mini Reapers building sandcastles.

The Orange Reapers promptly tapped on the oni’s belly.

"Kyuhing."

Following the Orange Reapers' cue, the oni let out a small cry and opened its mouth wide, unleashing the hot chocolate stored inside like a waterfall.

The flood of sweet hot chocolate poured down on the Mini Reapers and their sandcastles.

It was like a bombardment on a battlefield.

The carefully constructed sandcastles collapsed in an instant.

'!!!'

The Golden Reaper, who was building an enormous castle, looked devastated as if its own home had been destroyed.

Another Blue Reaper, dressed in a Golden Reaper costume and building a small, delicate sandcastle in secret, began to cry.

A Red Reaper, adored by the Gray Reaper for its bright red color and short stature, also watched its sandcastle crumble under the hot chocolate.

It had been a beautiful castle, glittering like glass molded from melted sugar, but it couldn’t withstand the weight of the hot chocolate. Only the tallest spire, now half-melted, remained, no longer a spire.

The Orange Reapers laughed gleefully, much like the Gray Reaper, but as a few Golden Reapers unsheathed their light swords and began to chase them, they quickly gained altitude and fled.

The now-useless white oni was left behind.

It fell onto the melted spire, impaling its belly and turning it into a skewered treat.

"Kyuhinghing."

The oni cried in sadness.

A Yellow Reaper approached the forlorn oni slowly.

Grinning ominously, the Yellow Reaper asked if the oni needed a disguise to avoid pranks.

Despite being impaled, the oni let out a loud cry.

"Kyu!"

A resounding agreement.

Yerin was stroking the head of a peculiar Golden Reaper.

When she looked directly at it, it didn’t seem strange, but as soon as she looked away, something felt off.

This unusual Golden Reaper had been appearing frequently at Sehee’s lab recently.

Yerin closed her eyes, thinking hard.

When she looked at it, it felt undoubtedly like a Golden Reaper, so she closed her eyes.

As she pondered, odd details began to surface.

The Golden Reaper didn’t seem to emit any golden light.

Strange.

It was walking on all fours, which wasn’t normal.

She recalled it making a strange "kyu" sound.

Golden Reapers typically didn’t make any noise.

It was definitely strange!

Yerin opened her eyes again.

The Golden Reaper was still there, lying on the ground with a happy expression.

The strange feeling vanished as soon as she opened her eyes.

Yerin smiled and resumed petting its soft hair.

It must have been a moment of confusion, perhaps because she’d just woken up from a nap in the isolation room where the Gray Reaper was absent.

The peculiar Golden Reaper, enjoying Yerin’s care, elegantly stood up and let out a cute cry.

"Kyu."

[Broken moon. Repeated past. Twisted fate.]

I continued listening to the incomprehensible words emanating from the shell.

Despite lacking clues or context, fragments of meaning started to emerge as I listened.

<A moon in the snowfield.>

This environment felt just right for the appearance of a purple moon in the snow.

Thinking of the "moon in the snowfield," I lifted my gaze from the empty expanse to the sky.

And there it was.

A faint purple moon that looked ready to shatter.

It was so hazy it was barely visible to the human eye, almost imperceptible to my senses.

Completely different from the purple moon I’d seen in Dobong District.

That purple moon had emitted a powerful aura of mental turmoil, casting shadows of fascinating shapes.

But now, the moon didn’t even shine enough to be seen, let alone emit any light.

‘So it’s dead too.’

Like the purple shell, the moon was already dead.

Or rather, it hadn’t truly died, but it felt appropriate to say it was "already dead."

It existed, yet it was in a state of suspension, drained of all power and on the verge of collapsing.

As I gazed at it, a recurring dream started to emerge.

A ceaseless nightmare, akin to a stroboscopic experience seen at the boundary of life and death.

A cycle I could not escape.

The sorrowful sight of the moon alone was enough to make me want to stop looking, so I quickly checked the destruction conditions.

<The dream reaches a proper end.>

I’d need to manipulate the dream, it seemed.

Fortunately, I had the ability to freely navigate through dreams, and I’d destroyed objects by manipulating them before.

‘This should be easy!’

With a confident smile, I used the power of the Golden Tree to plunge into the dream of the snowfield’s moon.

As I entered, I brushed against a brightly shining ring of light.

The moment I entered the dream, a burning pain overwhelmed me.

"Ha…!"

A groan escaped from my mouth.

I was able to breathe as soon as I entered the dream, but I had no time to focus on that.

It hurts!

What’s going on?

This was different from using the halo.

It wasn’t a shock that felt like my body would break, but a pain that was oddly hard to endure.

And I’d lost the ability to see through my skin.

Opening my eyes slowly, I saw a scorched human face reflected in the mirror.

A bald, disfigured person with scarred skin.

I was lying in a room surrounded by mirrors, as if to make me watch myself.

Not in the body of the Gray Reaper, but some human's.

"Huuh."

I tried to speak, but only air escaped, no words.

I hadn’t forgotten how to speak; my tongue was severed.

The first thing that came to mind were the ninjas from Mt. Gyeyang.

Full-body burns and a severed tongue.

That was the mark of the ninjas I’d seen there.

But this body was different from theirs.

While the ninjas covered themselves with nondescript black fabric, this body was clad in luxurious black-and-white attire.

Not something worn, but rather, something put on.

It was because the wrists and ankles of this body were pierced by iron stakes.

Why go to such lengths?

Just then, a ninja entered through the mirror in front of me, handing over a note.

[Did you cough, Saint? It’s time for morning prayers.]

As soon as I saw the note, I felt my body freeze.

It was as if my body remembered fear.

Simultaneously, flames erupted from the floor, setting my body ablaze.

"Huuh."

Air hissed from my lungs.

A normal human would have died instantly, but this body strangely kept regenerating.

Why?

The answer was clear as soon as I sensed the huge supply of wood fuel in my heart.

More than twice the amount Yerin could hold.

That wood fuel, even faintly, was enough to keep a human alive and continually healing.

But it was more of a curse than a blessing.

It meant eternal suffering.

"Guuh."

As soon as morning prayers ended, I started pulling the stakes from my wrists and ankles, suppressing groans so the ninja outside wouldn’t hear.

Why could I move, even with burned skin, severed tendons, and iron stakes?

Because I was a pro at handling wood fuel.

Even in a human body, with this much wood fuel, I could work miracles.

With each stake removed, my body felt lighter, as if coming back to life.

Then I spread the wood fuel from my chest throughout my body, healing burns, tendons, and even my tongue.

I looked down at my pale, soft hand and chuckled.

"Ha, haha. It actually worked."

Listening to the unfamiliar voice in my ear, I clenched my hand.

Looking back into the mirror, I froze.

'What?'

Reflected was 'Yerin,' about ten years old, dressed in elaborate clothes.

'What???'