The city of Frost, like its name, was trapped in an eternal winter's embrace.

Endless snowfields and sharp rocks surrounded the city, and the snow falling from the sky seemed to never stop, as if time itself had come to a halt.

In this harsh environment, a "Coral-colored Girl," a resident of Frost, was struggling to survive.

As she walked down the dimly lit streets, her breath froze in the cold air, turning white.

"Hah... Hah..."

Like everything else in this city, even her breath became part of the cold world.

Then, her gaze fixed on a corner of the street.

There, a corpse hung from a long metal rod.

The frozen corpse looked as cold and stiff as a statue.

With blue-tinted skin and a face frozen in terror, it tightened the girl's chest.

A sign was hanging from the corpse's neck.

<Labor Quota Deficient>

The girl turned her head, but the sight was already deeply etched in her mind.

Turning away from the pale corpse, she saw massive steam machines working tirelessly throughout the city, spewing black smoke.

The enormous steam tower at the center of the city breathed life into the city, but its warmth only reached the people living at the city’s center.

To the ordinary laborer, the Coral-colored Girl, it felt like just another tower that bound and watched over her.

'...'

In her small hands, she carried a bundle of "blue coal" she had painstakingly mined today.

This mysterious mineral was the most important energy source in Frost, the lifeline of its residents.

"Citizens, let us thank our great Chairman!"

The voice of the propaganda department echoed through the cold streets.

"Under the Chairman’s wise leadership, we will survive this harsh winter!"

The Coral-colored Girl, as if avoiding eye contact, quickly passed them by, lowering her head.

Even as she passed the propaganda department, there were posters everywhere in the street.

<Let’s work for a better future!>

<Our labor protects the city!>

The bright colors and bold letters contrasted sharply with the Girl's grim reality, making them feel even emptier.

Finally, the Coral-colored Girl arrived home, opening the creaky door.

The place she called "home" was merely a small space converted from a discarded steam engine room.

Cold air seeped through the walls, and water droplets constantly fell from the pipes in the ceiling.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

Hearing the rhythmic sound of the droplets tapping the pipes, the Coral-colored Girl quickly put some blue coal into the small heater.

The coal, glowing with blue light, filled the cold room with faint warmth.

She clutched her growling stomach and curled up under the old blanket.

With the thought that she would have to go to the mine again tomorrow, she sighed and slowly drifted to sleep.

"I hope tomorrow can be a little warmer..."

Frost's night was cold and lonely, but the Coral-colored Girl slowly fell asleep, holding on to a small and simple hope.

Deep within Sehee Institute, in the always-warm isolation room.

There, I was buried in a soft bed, watching TV.

The soft blankets wrapped around me, and naturally, a smile spread across my face.

"So warm..."

I muttered quietly, letting myself relax in the comfort and warmth of the cozy space.

After spending a week at the theme park, gathering a lot of firewood, it felt even more soothing to be back in the isolation room.

I smiled as I recalled the memories from the theme park.

The ball pit filled with Golden Reapers instead of balls, or the dark ride that re-enacted the scene where I fought with the Aggi—those were fun too.

"Did I fight like that?"

I couldn’t help but think, remembering how I had been frantically running around, trying to create conditions for the Songpa sinkhole.

Aside from the rides, I had enjoyed many things in the theme park.

The White Aggi Circus had been fun, but the most memorable was definitely the "Object Viewing Gallery."

There, none of the Objects were contained in barriers, but all of them were positioned in perfect poses, isolated.

Golden Reapers, lounging in the corners of the gallery, would lift their heads and send out their wills if the Objects moved out of position.

"Bad Object?"

The Objects, trembling in fear, had no choice but to straighten up.

I nodded at the thoroughness of the Golden Reapers' methods.

The theme park tour with Yerin, which seemed like it would last forever, ended as soon as Kim Joong-roe showed up.

Had Kim Joong-roe not caught Yerin, we would probably still be playing at the theme park today.

Hehe.

[Good evening, this is Object News. We have some noteworthy news to share.]

The TV mentioned the successful opening of the Gray Reaper Theme Park.

[The Gray Reaper Theme Park, which has been running for a week, is making headlines.]

[The newly opened Gray Reaper Theme Park is being hailed as the first officially recorded successful Object event in South Korea’s history.]

[What’s especially noteworthy is that the 30-year-old jinx that public Object events always lead to major accidents has been broken this time.]

[This has led many citizens to believe that South Korea’s Object management abilities have taken a major leap forward.]

[Experts, however, have expressed significant concerns, saying that the Sehee Institute’s management abilities were exceptionally outstanding.]

[Some have even speculated that the success of this theme park was inevitable since Sehee Institute had already been accepting public visits freely.]

As I watched the news, I let out a small sigh.

"So, Sehee Institute really held an Object festival..."

It felt strangely new when I thought back to my human days.

"I thought something like this would be impossible forever, with Objects growing stronger..."

Well, this theme park, too, was 90% done by the Golden Reapers, so it was hard to say it was really human-managed.

"No, Sehee Institute is in the negative. It was probably 120% the Golden Reapers' work."

Hehe.

I sank deeper into the fluffy bed as I watched the "James Fried Chicken" commercial that followed the news.

On the top floor of James Tower, located on the outskirts of Songpa District,

James sat in his chair, looking out at the view of Seoul.

On his desk was a report compiled from the research reports sent by his researchers.

James let out a deep sigh as he skimmed over the report again.

"Hmm..."

The photos attached to the report starkly showed the devastated state of the U.S. West Coast.

Once bustling cities had now turned into ruins, with strange blue webs scattered between the buildings.

These matched the descriptions of the "spider webs" mentioned by survivors recently transferred from Sehee Institute, who were carrying a Violet Reaper.

James leaned back in his chair and muttered.

"It’s clear, Objects rarely cause secondary effects..."

Memories of many past incidents flashed through his mind.

Similar to the Doboong-gu incident, where extreme low temperatures had been maintained for an extended period, these were all incidents involving Objects.

One of the most typical examples from the Object Research Institute was natural combustion, a common phenomenon.

Objects that neatly burned their victims without spreading to the surrounding area.

These kinds of Object phenomena had extremely limited impacts on the surrounding environment.

If it were not for the "spider webs" that had covered the Pacific region, countless side effects would have overwhelmed the entire planet, and James wouldn’t be able to sit back so calmly.

James uploaded the final checked report to the server, then turned his attention to his lunch.

As he did, his eyes landed on a wriggling hamburger.

The packaging of the hamburger was slightly torn.

It seemed as though a Golden Reaper had hidden itself inside the hamburger.

The glint of the Golden Reaper's face could be seen through the packaging.

The Golden Reaper was grinning, as if trying to surprise James.

James, seeing this, grinned and grabbed the hamburger tightly to prevent the Golden Reaper from popping out, as if to eat it.

"No!"

The Golden Reaper, flailing its arms, tried to escape from the hamburger.

"No!!"

But with its strength, escaping was nearly impossible.

Seeing this, James chuckled softly and freed the Golden Reaper.

The Golden Reaper, realizing it had been tricked, cleaned off the sauce that had covered its body and grinned as it climbed onto James' head.

At that moment, James’ phone began to ring.

James answered the call and began preparing to leave while still holding the phone.

The report that had been received on his phone mentioned an additional temperature drop in the Arctic regions.

Looking at this, the Golden Reaper made a sad expression.

"No!!!"

The Red Reaper cut through the frozen sky, flying slowly. Below her was the endless white snowfield, vast and expansive.

Scattered across the snowfield were evergreen trees, looking like small black dots. The branches of the trees bent under the weight of the heavy snow.

When the wind blew, the snowstorm erupted from the branches, as if white mist was rising.

The Red Reaper was searching for signs of humans in this cold land.

"No humans..."

But contrary to expectations, there was almost no sign of life here.

Only the endless white wasteland spread out beneath her.

Occasionally, the traces of humans were just ruins.

Buildings, buried in snow, looked like broken teeth of monsters.

Frozen rivers appeared like blue veins.

Rusty cars were buried in snowdrifts.

"Was it because of the Objects?"

The Red Reaper thought as she was about to give up on finding humans in this cold region.

Then, in the middle of the snowfield, a massive city surrounded by sharp rocks appeared.

From the city, black smoke was constantly rising into the sky, darkening the gray sky.

It looked like a giant, machine-like black city.

Inside that black city, humans could be seen moving continuously like parts of a machine.

"Humans!"

Upon seeing humans, the Red Reaper slowly descended toward the city.

And with hope in her heart, she thought that she might finally meet her attachment human.