I lay in the mini reaper garden, immersed in despair.

‘Why isn’t it working?’

Next to me, as if to mirror the size of my despair, was a mountain of white ghouls.

“Kyuhinghing.”

From that pile of white ghouls came pitiful sobbing sounds from those who had had their limbs gnawed off.

Next to the pile of white ghouls was a heap of mecha Tyrannosaurus parts.

But the Tyrannosauruses piled there all had defects of some sort.

I couldn’t perfectly recreate the mecha Tyranno based on my memory and imagination alone.

Even if I could summon the soul of Tyranno, who died as a blue giant, if I couldn’t rebuild the body perfectly, it was meaningless.

I put the halo back on my head and tried to recreate the mecha Tyranno again.

I focused intensely, but what appeared was another mecha Tyranno, lacking in detail.

‘This isn’t it!’

The mecha Tyranno I created looked like a cheap, illegal knockoff figurine in terms of quality.

Maybe I should outsource the Tyranno design to James?

I wanted to create a super mecha Tyranno purely from my imagination…

Sniff sniff.

As I lay there in sadness, the mini reapers began to approach me cautiously.

‘Mom, are you okay?’

The little ones patted my cheeks as I lay collapsed.

But when I didn’t respond, the golden reapers started pulling out the star-shaped candies they had hidden and pushed them into my mouth one by one.

Meanwhile, the black reapers gathered together, slowly forming a large shape.

Biii!

As the black reapers combined, a massive mecha Tyranno appeared, chirping like a sparrow.

Oh.

It was so intricately made that I subtly opened my eyes and began to watch.

<!>

When I opened my eyes, the blue reapers gathered in a corner, whispering to each other before beginning to carve words into the air.

<Combine like a shining star, Tyranno!>

<Combine Tyranno!>

Then, water appeared in mid-air, slowly forming the shape of a giant Tyrannosaurus.

Roooaar!

The silent roar of the Tyranno golem echoed as water armor materialized and flew toward it.

Splat! Splat!

The armor fit together like precise components, and soon, a mecha Tyranno golem, glowing like a luminescent dinosaur, was complete.

Ooooh!

With the cheers of the mini reapers, I regained my strength and stood up.

I hugged the mini reapers who had cheered me on, thanking them for their encouragement.

In my arms, the mini reapers grinned widely, clearly pleased.

I hugged them close, laughing mischievously, and assigned them a mission.

A mission to secretly stick a mecha Tyranno request to James’s back every hour with adhesive.

Hehe.

The golden reaper was watching its mother with curious eyes.

Nom nom nom.

Mother was snuggled up in the arms of her cherished human, continuously eating pudding while watching something.

[The Chinese government today designated the Free City Alliance as a higher-risk zone due to Object contamination and announced plans to reinforce existing lockdown measures.]

[The Free City Alliance is experiencing unpredictable phenomena, such as concrete buildings turning into marshmallows and Objects scattering into star-shaped candies.]

[In addition, there have been increasing reports of golden reapers roaming the city.]

[A Chinese government official stated, “We view the appearance of the golden reapers as a greater threat than the reality distortion itself and will maintain strict lockdowns for the safety of the citizens.”]

The box with no emotions kept spewing incomprehensible words.

But the golden reaper’s focus wasn’t on that—it was on its mother.

‘Mom’s gotten rounder.’

The golden reaper found it fascinating how its mother was getting plumper bit by bit.

‘Is it because of her cherished human?’

The golden reaper, who had been stealthily spying, slipped out after Ye-rin left her quarantine room, quietly trailing behind her.

Ye-rin walked slowly toward the bus stop, glancing slightly over her shoulder.

At that moment, a small golden figure, startled, darted into an alleyway.

It was too quick to be seen properly, but a golden antenna could be seen sticking out from the alley’s end, swaying gently.

‘What’s going on?’

Ye-rin smiled fondly, amused by the cute sight of the golden reaper following her.

Screeeech.

By the time she arrived at the Sehee Research Institute shuttle bus, she sat down and closed her eyes, pretending to be asleep.

The golden reaper crept up stealthily, slipping into Ye-rin’s bag.

Then it zipped the bag shut to hide completely.

But even with the zipper closed, its antenna stuck out, still swaying.

Ye-rin pretended not to notice and stroked the antenna as she gazed at the scenery on the way home.

‘What should I play with the golden reaper today? A puzzle?’

Her mind was filled, as always, with happy thoughts.

The Free City Alliance—now called the “Mini Reaper Special City.”

Cheong sat by the window in her hideout, looking out over the streets.

Once grimy and dark, the streets now had a fluffy, white, soft feeling, like a blank canvas.

The concrete ground had been replaced with soft, plush marshmallow.

The old flickering neon signs had turned into delicious-looking lollipops.

The dirty rats had disappeared, replaced by golden reapers patrolling every corner of the alleyways, donning jelly helmets.

The people who used to lie unconscious in the streets, having consumed too many poisoned foods, were nowhere to be seen.

In their place were people with golden reapers perched on their shoulders, smiling happily.

When Cheong opened the window, clean air rushed into the room.

She stood tall, taking a deep breath and exhaling it slowly.

“Haaa.”

The air had a slight scent of sugar, but it was so refreshing.

The air in the city, which once made living dangerous, had transformed completely.

Cheong, who had lived in this city for such a long time, had never imagined a day like this would come.

‘This is all thanks to this little one.’

Cheong poked the Orange Scion, who was fast asleep in her pocket.

Smiling down at the deeply sleeping Orange Scion, Cheong jumped out of the fifth-floor window.

The marshmallow below bounced like a trampoline, catching Cheong gently.

It felt like being on a massive amusement park ride, bringing a smile to her face.

It was pure magic!

But one had to be careful of the surroundings while playing.

If you jumped off a building and got caught by a golden reaper, you’d get scolded for an hour.

Enjoying the soft feel of the marshmallow, Cheong walked out onto the main street.

The central road that once connected the city like its lifeblood had changed completely.

Gone were the cars that used to ignore traffic signals and the loud, honking horns. There was no more choking exhaust.

If it weren’t for the cola-flavored jelly paved in the shape of asphalt, it would’ve been hard to recognize this place as the “central road.”

Now, instead of cars, white ghouls occupied the road.

The ghouls were about the size of cars, with seats hollowed out inside them.

The ghouls on the road came in all sorts of shapes.

They’d already been accessorized with various decorations and painted in vibrant colors.

Instead of honking horns, there were cute “kyu” sounds.

Instead of exhaust fumes, the sweet scent of marshmallow filled the air.

Cheong smiled softly at the sight as she made her way to the meeting place.

It was the barbecue restaurant she always visited after completing an assignment.

When she opened the familiar restaurant door, she was greeted by a slightly different scene.

“Ah, finally here.”

Sister PIG, with a giant rib in her mouth, waved at Cheong.

In the kitchen, blue reapers were gathered, casting spells on jelly.

<Become barbecue flavored!>

<Become meaty in texture!>

With a few spells cast on jelly shaped like cartoonish meat, a delicious-looking barbecue emerged.

Aside from the fact that the color was slightly transparent, it was an impressive barbecue.

As Cheong slowly walked to the table and sat down, her companions greeted her.

“Come on, Cheong, try some. This is a new menu item. It’s free, just like the others.”

The companions looked the same as usual, but something about them had changed.

The material of their Object-based body parts had transformed.

Into Swiss roll cake.

No one knew why it was Swiss roll cake, but that’s what it was.

Of course, you wouldn’t know until you cut them, and their functionality remained the same.

Things had settled down now, but it had been chaotic at first.

After all, it’s natural for people to freak out when part of their body suddenly turns into Swiss roll cake.

And a lot of people had died during the Swiss roll incident.

Those who had been consumed by the “red voices,” like the scavengers, or those who had partially replaced their brains with Objects, were all dead.

They didn’t become Swiss roll humans—they simply became Swiss rolls.

Thankfully, Cheong’s companions weren’t that heavily reliant on Objects.

Many people died, but…

Still, Cheong thought this city was the closest thing to heaven.

Delicious food, adorable mini reapers, and people who had grown kinder under their influence.

As Cheong mused over these thoughts, a soft ringing sound echoed from her shoulder.

Ding.

The Orange Scion, who had somehow climbed onto her shoulder, was holding a bell that was as large as its own body.

As Cheong tapped the Orange Scion’s head gently, the woman who had a candy stick in her mouth, instead of a cigarette, spoke up.

"Cheong, are you really leaving?"

"Yes."

Cheong had achieved her goal.

She had recovered the Object bell, her parents’ keepsake, so now all that was left was to leave.

"Then, are you going back to your hometown?"

"I’ll have to go there someday, but not just yet."

Cheong glanced at the Orange Scion as she continued.

"For now, I want to travel a bit. After living in the Free City Alliance, I feel like I’ve been running too hard without looking around."

"Really? So where are you going first?"

Cheong smiled happily as she answered.

"Korea."