I emerged from Yerin's embrace and stood face-to-face with the Gaki Reaper, who was looking at me with desperate eyes.

The Gaki Reaper was holding a harmful Object in its arms, pleading for me to heal it.

And there it was—the small, harmful Object nestled in its grasp.

I carefully inspected the harmful Object the Gaki Reaper held.

The golden Object was in a state so corrupted it would have been justified to tear it apart immediately.

But there was one peculiar thing.

Despite its condition, which made it capable of attacking humans indiscriminately, it merely lay quietly in the Gaki Reaper's arms without causing harm.

However, asking me to heal it was a strange request.

Did the Gaki Reaper expect me to insert firewood into it for healing?

The firewood I had was beneficial to my minions and humans, but it would be extremely harmful to an Object like this.

Surely the Gaki Reaper wasn’t asking me to burn it to death with such a desperate expression.

Ah!

Though it was a challenging puzzle, my brilliant mind quickly deciphered the Gaki Reaper’s intent.

It wanted me to create a new Object to replace the broken one!

Confidently, I smiled and summoned the halo of the Labyrinth into one hand.

This was a special service on my part.

Using the Labyrinth’s halo was extremely painful, and it consumed an enormous amount of firewood to create an 'Object.'

Unless it was something as important as a ‘Glow Tyranno,’ I rarely used this method.

'This one is beyond saving, so I’ll make you a new one!'

I thought the Gaki Reaper would be moved by my offer, especially with the added use of the halo.

But to my surprise, the expression on the Gaki Reaper’s face was not what I had expected.

Instead of joy, it was filled with disappointment.

In the back alley, now wrecked by the iron spheres, the man stood over the fallen 'Wrecking Ball,' smoking a cigarette.

After taking a few puffs, he stamped out the cigarette and turned toward the ruined shop.

‘…’

He gave a brief, silent tribute to the old man who had aided him, then hurriedly made his way out of the alley.

His destination was a safe house he had prepared for emergencies.

The safe houses provided by the Organization were no longer an option.

The sudden death of the old man and the attack by 'Wrecking Ball' confirmed what he had feared.

The Organization was now targeting him.

Staying in one place for too long was dangerous.

Among the Organization’s 'Chosen Ones,' there were surely some with tracking abilities.

While he had enough money set aside to survive, life was going to get much harsher.

He had to evade the Organization’s schemes while uncovering the reasons why they were targeting him and why his sister had died.

‘…’

Contrary to his expectations of hardship, however, the man was living quite comfortably.

When he woke up early in the morning, the smell of something delicious filled the safe house.

He turned to look at the kitchen and saw the purple Object smiling at him.

The purple Object, which had started following him some time ago, used shadows as though they were extensions of its own body and was making toast.

Next to it was a cooking tutorial video playing on a screen.

The purple Object took care of many tasks—cooking, watching for danger, and more.

Thanks to it, even though he was on the run, he was in far better shape than he had been when he was a fixer.

It was a tiny Object, barely the size of his hand, but it seemed stronger than most 'Chosen Ones' and was incredibly friendly toward humans.

Was it possible that Objects like this were roaming the world outside the blessed lands?

Curious about its origins, the man began investigating.

He found out much more easily than expected.

The purple Object was quite famous, especially in a place called ‘Korea.’

It was a derivative of a top-tier Object known as the 'Gray Reaper'—the purple Reaper.

This purple Object was categorized as 'top-tier,' a fearsome one at that.

But to the man, every time he looked at it, all he saw was a cute little thing that smiled at him.

Late in the afternoon, after lunch had passed, the once sunny weather at Sehee Research Institute was now overshadowed by dark clouds and drizzling rain.

The Gaki Reaper was running through the rain.

It was running for the small Object trembling in pain within its arms.

The Gray Reaper hadn’t been able to fulfill the Gaki Reaper’s request.

Even the Labyrinth’s halo, which could create matter, could not cure mental contamination.

All it could do was create new Objects.

And since the presence of this small Object was so weak, the chances of it being resurrected in the mini Reaper’s garden, even if destroyed by the Gray Reaper, were extremely low.

'It’s okay. There must still be a way.'

The Gaki Reaper, as if speaking to itself, looked down at the Object in its arms and repeated its will.

On its head rested the halo of nullification, borrowed from the Gray Reaper.

The mental contamination of the golden Object had grown so severe that it could no longer maintain its sanity.

The halo, which nullified all powers not derived from the Gray Reaper, fortunately, managed to slow the spread of the contamination.

'It’s okay. It’s okay.'

The Gaki Reaper gently stroked the Object, reassuring it as best it could.

'It’s going to be fine.'

'There’s still a way.'

But the Gaki Reaper’s last hope was also dashed.

On the roof of the large jelly pig’s hospital, the black Reaper shook its head in regret.

The black Reaper explained that the golden Gaki Reaper was too weak to undergo a resurrection ritual at the hospital.

Even a much stronger blonde girl was in critical condition; the golden Gaki Reaper stood no chance.

Moreover, the contamination was so severe that the Object would die the moment the ritual began.

With that, the Gaki Reaper’s efforts had all failed.

‘…’

The Gaki Reaper sat in the courtyard of the Sehee Research Institute, holding the Object in its arms.

A gentle rain fell, carried by the wind, in the quiet, empty courtyard.

No one was around, and even the sound of rain was faint in the air, creating an eerie silence.

Perhaps due to the rain, the sun-loving Golden Reapers had all disappeared somewhere.

Only the blue Reapers, who enjoyed the rain, gathered in a corner of the garden, watching the Gaki Reaper with worried expressions.

‘Thank you.’

A small will reached the Gaki Reaper’s heart.

The golden Object, wrapped in the halo’s white flame, looked up at the Gaki Reaper with glowing red eyes.

It smiled softly, as if dreaming, and then closed its eyes.

‘I wish I could have made more memories with humans…’

The golden Gaki Reaper smiled wistfully, regretful.

The Gaki Reaper tightly held the golden Gaki Reaper’s hand and spoke.

'It’s okay. There’s still time. Let’s take your beloved human and go play in the mini Reaper’s garden.'

'There’s still so much you haven’t seen. The garden is filled with beautiful sights.'

The Gaki Reaper described the scenery of the mini Reaper’s garden to the golden Gaki Reaper in vivid detail.

The endless plains of marshmallow.

The sea of hot chocolate with its sweet aroma.

The thrilling labyrinth of the black sugar desert.

Mountains made of colorful layers of candy.

And beyond that, the snowy land of shaved ice.

The Gaki Reaper painted a beautiful picture of the garden for the golden Gaki Reaper.

A faint light flickered in the golden Gaki Reaper’s eyes.

‘I want to see the snowy land of shaved ice at least once.’

The golden Gaki Reaper smiled slightly, saying that humans seemed to enjoy ice cream.

Then, with a soft sigh, it stopped moving.

Its smile remained, as though frozen in time, like a doll that had run out of batteries.

The white flames that had been constantly burning away the mental contamination slowly faded as well.

As if the flame of its life had gone out.

In the rainy courtyard, the Gaki Reaper remained silent.

It simply held the cold body of the golden Gaki Reaper, hugging it tightly.

Raindrops rolled down the Gaki Reaper’s cheeks.

After a long time had passed, the Gaki Reaper stood up and began walking slowly toward the land of shaved ice.

In the rainy courtyard, only the Gaki Reaper’s lonely footsteps remained.

A small grave appeared in a corner of the snowy land within the mini Reaper’s garden.

It was a grave without a body.

The tiny, fragile Object had been broken down into fragments after meeting the conditions for destruction.

Though the snowy land was always bright, shadows seemed to linger near this grave.

And in front of that grave sat the Gaki Reaper, head buried in its knees, wearing a sorrowful expression.

'It was my fault for letting it leave the garden.'

'I’m sorry.'

Around the Gaki Reaper, the Golden Reapers left sugar-coated fruits to cheer it up, but the Gaki Reaper didn’t touch any of them.

In a small room in southern Italy, darkness fell.

The purple Reaper, its eyes gleaming in the shadows, looked down at the man who had fallen into a light sleep.

Hehe.

The purple Reaper covered its mouth and let out a small laugh, as though it were happy.

The many events it had experienced recently had brought it great joy.

The fight with 'Wrecking Ball' had been cool, but it had also enjoyed the process of purchasing more bullets.

Sitting on an old bench with an open newspaper in a park, a suspicious person would suddenly appear on the opposite bench.

When the man mumbled cryptic phrases under his breath, the suspicious person would leave a rolled-up newspaper on the bench.

Inside the rolled-up paper were the bullets he needed.

'So cool!'

As the purple Reaper reveled in the memories, a hint of worry appeared on its face.

Looking out the window, it saw a giant figure illuminated by blue starlight, moving outside.

A colossal presence that neither humans nor ordinary Objects could perceive.

The blue starlight giant had been appearing nightly, as if searching for something, growing larger with each passing day.

The purple Reaper glanced down at its tiny fist, its expression troubled.

‘Can I defeat that monster?’

At that moment, the giant’s face began lowering toward where the purple Reaper stood.

‘!’

The ominous blue starlight scattered in all directions as the giant searched the ground below, as though trying to find something.