Bounce bounce.
Clatter clatter.
The seemingly endless joint work of the Golden Rabbit Reapers soon came to an end.
The diligent Golden Reapers put the made puddings into the fridge, then sat around it waiting for their completion.
And there were no less than five of these fridges.
The Golden Reapers wore satisfied expressions.
And after observing the Golden Rabbit Reaper’s work, a provisional conclusion was reached.
The plan to produce Ninja Pudding in the Golden Reaper garden seemed successful… but ultimately failed.
First, it took way too long!
Five pudding fridges.
While that might be enough for a Golden Reaper, from my perspective, it wasn’t at all.
The fridge size matched the Golden Reaper scale, so each could only fit one pudding bowl.
In other words, even after hours of waiting, only five puddings would come out.
Too little.
Far too little.
No matter how I thought about solving this, it seemed impossible.
Move the pudding to another fridge?
It looked like we only had ingredients for five portions, making that option unfeasible.
Should we hunt more rabbits, perhaps?
With only five cooking pots now, killing more rabbits might increase our yield, right?
Is there any way to secretly siphon off five puddings without the Golden Reapers noticing?
As I watched the cheerful Golden Reapers awaiting pudding completion, my worries deepened.
While incessantly poking the cheeks of a Reaper who showed no reaction, I observed the men descending from the second floor.
A striking duo.
One was sobbing loudly with tears streaming down.
The other sported an indescribably odd outfit.
What should I call those clothes? Some kind of thick full-body swimsuit, maybe?
Though they had Golden Reapers attached, they didn’t seem malicious—just strange.
One of them must be the factory owner, probably.
Their reactions to the Golden Reapers were amusingly different.
The oddly dressed man detached the Golden Reaper clinging to him, examined it calmly, and placed it atop his head with ease.
The crying man, upon seeing the Golden Reaper dabbing his tears, jumped in surprise, then carefully placed it on the railing with a wary expression.
His face suggested he wanted to throw it aside, but fear of the rabbit-slaying Golden Reaper kept him gentle.
The abandoned Golden Reaper sat glumly on the railing before vanishing into thin air.
He must’ve heard the scary rumors about the Gray Reaper.
Despite the recent popularity boost from the Gray Reaper Dance, it seems fear still lingers.
I thought everyone would become Gray Reaper fans after witnessing its cute dance!
Perhaps moved by emotion, as the weeping man continued crying, the strangely dressed man patted his back and said,
“Come now, stop crying. The crisis has passed, hasn’t it? You’ve already been paid handsomely in advance, haven’t you?”
“Right? The crisis is over, isn’t it? We just need to escape outside now, right?”
Seemingly comforted by those words, the man sobbing uncontrollably muttered “Fee, sports car…” and stopped crying.
The oddly dressed man descended the stairs, spotted me, smiled, and approached to greet me.
Meanwhile, the man who had been crying greeted me from a distance, clearly afraid of the Gray Reaper in my arms.
“Glad to meet you! I’m James, the owner of this factory. I almost died back there.”
“I really thought I was going to die. Thank you for saving us.”
James appeared perfectly fine, hardly resembling someone who’d been chased moments ago.
But the man offering thanks suddenly began sniffling again, remembering the chase.
James lowered his gaze and stared intently at the Gray Reaper cradled in my arms.
“I never thought I’d see a Gray Reaper in person. I’ve always wanted to meet one someday.”
James raised his eyes to me and continued,
“Why are your eyes closed? Is something wrong? Did you use too much power rescuing us?”
“I don’t know why the Reaper is acting like this. It’s unprecedented.”
I trust there’s no serious issue, but I can’t figure out why it’s behaving this way suddenly.
Could it be hurt somewhere?
James had anticipated meeting the Gray Reaper since setting up the factory in Korea.
Actually, he’d hoped for it even before the Gray Reaper appeared in Korea.
This expectation stemmed from a special book owned by James’ family.
A book featuring a character identical to the Gray Reaper.
Called the “0th Book,” it was quite extraordinary.
It couldn’t be mere coincidence.
Too extraordinary to dismiss as such.
This book was responsible for 30% of James’ achievements, containing highly specialized information.
“Really. It’s exactly the same. If only I hadn’t lost my bag, I could compare them.”
James exclaimed with regret.
“Could this lost bag be yours?”
Recognizing the bag Yerin presented, James rejoiced.
“This is indeed my lost bag! Thank you so much! Where did you find it?”
“I’m not entirely sure. The Reaper just brought it to me somehow.”
Upon receiving the bag from Yerin, James began manipulating it intricately.
Yerin had assumed it was merely an elegant bag, but its lock mechanism seemed unexpectedly complex.
Cradling the motionless Gray Reaper like a sleeping child, I watched James fiddle with the bag.
“Aha, finally opened.”
Inside the opened bag lay an ancient-looking book.
The bag was designed to hold only this single book.
It appeared quite valuable.
From the elaborate lock to the oversized briefcase used solely for storing one book, it was clear this tome was precious.
Carefully opening the worn book, James slowly turned pages, searching for something.
Finding what he sought, he murmured, “Here it is,” and extended the page toward me.
“Isn’t it exactly the same?”
The page was filled with incomprehensible text, and in one corner was a meticulously drawn picture.
Pale bluish hair.
Deep blue eyes.
A vibrant smiling girl.
The illustration was so detailed it could pass for a photograph, and what caught Yerin’s attention most was its subject.
If the Gray Reaper grew up, wouldn’t it look like this? It resembled the Gray Reaper greatly.
Except for being entirely human, rather than gray.
“Is this an imagined depiction of the grown-up Gray Reaper? It’s incredibly well-drawn.”
“Would I store such a mundane drawing so securely? Surprisingly, this existed before the Reaper appeared.”
“What? Before the Reaper existed? Then who’s the model for this picture?”
Someone identical to the Reaper!
I wished to meet them if they existed.
“There are many hypotheses about the model, but nothing definitive. At least they lived over a hundred years ago, so they’re surely not alive now.”
“Ah, that’s disappointing. I would’ve liked to meet them if possible.”
Seeing my reaction, James frowned slightly and asked,
“You seem a bit off. Could it be you don’t know about the 0th Artifact?”
“0th Artifact? What’s that?”
“Hmm? That’s strange. I sent an official notice instructing you to inform the Korean Object Association’s research lab….”
James scrunched his face and muttered quietly.
Though faint, it sounded like “Something’s fishy.”
Did he say something was suspicious?
James, who had been casting skeptical glances, wiped away his expression and began speaking.
“Well, we’ll save the rest of the story for after we leave the factory. Anyway, I think we should abandon this place.”
The moment James said that, the warmth in my arms suddenly vanished.
“Reaper?”
The Gray Reaper abruptly leaped forward, stealing James’ book.
Then it held the book with both hands, gazing silently at it.
For some reason, the Gray Reaper seemed to glow brighter.
While observing the Golden Reaper garden, I suddenly sensed flames.
Not the firewood inside me, but external firewood.
Completely unrelated to me, unlike the firewood tied to the Golden Reaper.
When I opened my eyes, a man stood holding a book.
What is this?
Firewood-bearing book?
Mesmerized, I lunged and seized the book.
As I gripped it, I felt the firewood within me growing.
Flames flowed from the book, gradually enlarging the firewood in my chest.
Slowly, endlessly continuing.
