Late at night, fireworks had begun over at the fairground, far from Sehee’s lab.

The distant sound of fireworks echoed softly, and the glow from the fireworks subtly illuminated the lab.

Even though most of the staff had already left, a group of people had gathered in the backyard, eating and drinking, as if they were having a company dinner.

The reason for all this was simple: the mini grim reapers.

For some reason, the mini grim reapers weren’t letting their human companions leave the lab that night.

Although it had been a normal day, as the end of the workday approached, Sehee’s lab had turned into a chaotic scene.

The Golden Grim Reaper was holding onto the hem of a researcher’s pants, dragging along the floor as if pleading not to leave.
The Blue Grim Reaper, who had been resting during the security team’s fifth rotation, was hiding in a corner, tossing water droplets at them like they were playing a game of snowball fight.

The Black Grim Reaper had planted both feet firmly on the ground, making sure no one could move, while the Sprout Grim Reaper kept making people return to their original positions as soon as they tried to walk down the stairs.

In any normal research facility, someone would have shouted, “The mini grim reapers are finally showing their true colors!”

But Sehee’s lab wasn’t a normal place.

Initially, the researchers had tried to leave and go home, but as the strange behavior continued, they started thinking differently.

‘Is something going on?’

‘Could there be a dangerous object lurking outside?’

The mini grim reapers had always been exceptional at detecting objects, so it wasn’t unreasonable for the researchers to think something might be wrong.

What confirmed their suspicions was the sudden appearance of Sehee, the head of the lab, who hadn’t been seen since she disappeared without notice.

“Tonight is a festival! A party!”

With that declaration, the party began.

The researchers enjoyed barbecue and beer in the spacious, well-decorated backyard, watching the fireworks from the fair, while the mini grim reapers strolled around their beloved humans.

In the festive mood, the researchers, their faces slightly flushed, played with their mini grim reapers.

Nom nom.

One Golden Grim Reaper, who had been nibbling on some chocolate, became interested in the golden liquid the researcher was drinking.

It didn’t look sweet, and the smell wasn’t appealing, so the Golden Grim Reaper usually wasn’t interested in alcohol.

But with experience and growing attachment to their humans, some Golden Grim Reapers were starting to show interest in beer.

“Do you want to try some?”

Normally, the researchers hesitated to give alcohol to the Golden Grim Reapers, feeling as if they were giving it to children.

But one brave researcher poured a little beer into a tiny cup meant for the Golden Grim Reaper.

Many of the other researchers looked on with expressions of concern, wondering if it was okay to give the Golden Grim Reaper alcohol.

However, the researcher boldly handed the beer to the Golden Grim Reaper, reasoning, “They’re not human anyway!”

The Golden Grim Reaper stared at the suspicious-smelling beer, then stuck out its tongue and gave it a tentative lick.

After tasting it, the Golden Grim Reaper tilted its head, frowned slightly, and then, in one gulp, downed the beer.

Blech.

The Golden Grim Reaper stuck out its tongue, clearly disgusted by the taste.

Then, as if to express its displeasure, it began playfully slapping the researcher on the cheek.

After throwing a few half-hearted punches, the Golden Grim Reaper lost interest and hopped back onto the table.

However, it lost its balance and slipped, landing with a thud.

Hehe.

The Golden Grim Reaper smiled awkwardly after its clumsy fall.

“Our Golden Grim Reaper is drunk, huh?”

The researcher, seeing the tipsy Golden Grim Reaper, poked its soft cheek with a finger.

The Golden Grim Reaper giggled as if it was ticklish, grabbed the researcher’s finger, and playfully nibbled on it.

Although the Golden Grim Reaper was already affectionate, the alcohol made it even more cheerful and prone to nibbling.

Seeing this, the other researchers started offering beer to their mini grim reapers as well.

It was just another peaceful day at Sehee’s lab.

But the party didn’t last as long as expected.

At some point, all the mini grim reapers abruptly stood up and began looking toward the sky.

Even the tipsy Golden Grim Reapers suddenly erupted with golden flames, quickly sobering up, and turned their heads in the direction of their "mothers."

‘Humans are in danger!’

‘Mom is calling us!’

Then, as if receiving a transmission, the mini grim reapers perked up their antennae and scattered in all directions.

Leaving only a few behind to guard Sehee’s lab, the majority of the mini grim reapers disappeared to an unknown destination.

“I had a feeling this would happen.”

One researcher, who had been waving goodbye to their Golden Grim Reaper only moments ago, looked down at their empty hand and muttered quietly.

Their voice echoed softly in the now-quiet party area.

I stood atop the tallest building in the Doll Fair, waving my hands energetically like an orchestra conductor.

But instead of conducting instruments, I was tearing apart space and the dolls.

‘No matter how many I destroy, they just keep coming.’

Fortunately, the dolls weren’t particularly strong.

Even the “Agu-grade” security dolls, despite all the hype, were weak and over-advertised.

However, there was one serious problem.

No matter how many dolls I destroyed or killed, they kept resurrecting.

The "eye" told me the condition to stop them was the death of the Doll Queen, which meant as long as the Doll Queen wasn’t here at the fair, there was no immediate solution.

Luckily, the location of the "Doll Queen" had already been identified.

I could track her using the glowing antenna I’d acquired from the Agu-grade doll, or simply observe the spreading Color Universe warping the sky, which was centered around one spot in Seoul.

It seemed that the madman who had created these association dolls had summoned the Color Universe, causing all this chaos.

But I couldn’t leave the fairground, not with humans being attacked by the dolls.

To make matters worse, the people at the fair were starting to behave strangely.

It was as if the association dolls were turning into zombies. If people were injured by the dolls or stayed too close to them for too long, they seemed to become "infected."

Those infected humans began acting like dolls themselves, rushing toward me as if I were their enemy.

If they had turned into objects, I could have just destroyed them, but they were still human.

‘...’

Humans weren’t objects, so killing them was far too easy.

Honestly, I was tempted to just turn the entire fairground into a sinkhole with a few flicks of my hand, but that would result in too many deaths.

I shredded the dolls into dust with spatial tears, while using the probability manipulation ability I’d acquired from the Orange Moon to trip and roll the humans around, buying time.

When I used my "eye" to twist probability, something always had to break or die, but the Orange Moon’s ability didn’t necessarily involve destruction or death, making it perfect for this situation.

Normally, I’d summon the mini grim reapers to help, but no matter how many times I tried, the mini grim reaper garden wouldn’t open.

It was obviously because of the Color Universe.

As time passed, my patience began to wear thin.

‘Should I just abandon the people at the fair?’

‘They probably knew the risks when they came here.’

‘Maybe I’m underestimating their willingness to sacrifice themselves.’

On top of that, the fairground was littered with unstable structures, explosives, oil, and gas tanks.

It was practically begging me to create a sinkhole!

‘I don’t have a choice. It’s unfortunate, but I can’t ignore their sacrifice.’

Clap, clap.

Just as I clapped my hands twice—

‘Mom!’

‘We’re here to help!’

Like a cascade of golden starlight pouring from the night sky, the Golden Grim Reapers descended.

In their Ghost Form, they drilled holes through the dolls, like terrifying hailstorms in the shape of golden grim reapers.

At the same time, cloud flesh surged in from the sky, swallowing up the infected humans one by one to quarantine them.

Each doll had a Golden Grim Reaper, and each infected person was taken by the cloud flesh.

The Golden Grim Reapers quickly cleaned up the troublesome fairground and smiled at me.

Their smiles seemed to say, “We’ll take care of the humans in danger, so you go catch the foreign entity behind the Color Universe.”

The moment the incident began, James Tower, located on the outskirts of Songpa District, quickly fortified itself.

The solid outer walls of James Tower effectively blocked the approaching dolls.

Machine guns mounted at high points efficiently destroyed the large, threatening dolls.

Peering through his binoculars, James asked in a concerned voice, “The dolls keep reviving even after being shot with object bullets. How long can we hold out at this pace?”

“If the number of dolls keeps increasing at this rate, we estimate we can last about a month. However…”

“Yes, assuming this pace continues, that would be an overly optimistic assumption.”

After all, the doll incident wasn’t only occurring near James Tower but was happening all across Seoul.

It was, quite literally, a doll apocalypse in the city.

As James returned to the first-floor lobby to check the supplies, a strange sound echoed through the air.

Bang, bang, bang.

It was the sound of fists pounding on the iron door.

“Help! Please, open the door!”

A desperate voice followed the banging.

One of the staff checked the CCTV monitoring the outside and turned to James.

“They look human from the outside. What should we do?”

“We’ll have to perform the doll test.”

Hearing this, the staff looked slightly flustered but quickly grabbed something and headed to the small hole in the door.

“Bring your face up to the hole!”

Shouting through the small door flap, the staff member called out in clumsy Korean.

Soon, a haggard man’s face popped through the hole.

Smack.

And immediately, the Golden Grim Reaper standing by slapped the man across the face.

“It’s a doll.”

It was a far more accurate detection method than any device developed in the U.S.