[Are you an alchemist?]
The object wearing a doll head as if it were a spirit asked me if I was an alchemist.
It spoke in some language no one knew.
Even Yerin, who heard it for the first time, seemed clueless about what kind of language it was.
The girl hiding behind the doll-headed object also looked confused.
“Onee-sama, why are you doing this all of a sudden?”
The girl poked the back of the doll head and whispered quietly, but the doll head didn’t budge, only staring at me intently.
Whenever situations like this arose, there was only one thing I did—ignore it!
Communication was impossible when someone couldn’t even speak or understand properly.
Hehe.
Still, it was kind of surprising that this doll head wasn’t hostile toward humans; instead, it gave off a friendly vibe.
Even objects like the blue lizard or ghost cat had been somewhat friendly to humans, but this doll head took it to another level.
Especially since there was a human girl protected by the object standing right behind it.
Because of this, the mini reapers scattered around the isolation room were watching with wide eyes, fascinated.
Afterward, the doll head kept muttering strange things at me.
[Fog toad’s eyes and frog wings.]
[Sea’s heart and air’s breath.]
[White flowers and roots of darkness.]
[Crystal-encased moonlight and the unrotting tail of a lizard.]
It sounded like ingredients straight out of a fantasy novel for alchemy.
Or maybe these really were alchemical ingredients since it had asked if I was an alchemist?
In a world full of unpredictable objects, having an alchemist wouldn’t be too far-fetched, which sparked my interest slightly.
Alchemy, magic, swords, and adventure—it was the kind of stuff that could make even a nonexistent heart race with excitement!
[So, you don’t know then?]
The woman in the doll head said softly with a slightly deflated tone.
The doll head muttered “one last time…” before pulling something big from her bag.
It must have been extremely heavy because when she set it down, the floor echoed with a loud “KUNG!”
Then, the massive object slowly shuffled forward to reveal itself—a white hungry ghost painted in bright, colorful patterns.
Oh.
Ohhh…
Looks like a candy-colored starry ghost!
For some reason, its appearance made me curious enough to jump up from my seat.
I ran over to hug the multicolored hungry ghost but found it too heavy to lift.
It’s soooo heavy!
Its wiggly tentacles dangling lazily looked delicious, so I tried biting them—but they were just hard rocks!
If I hadn’t been immune to physical damage, my teeth might’ve broken on that rock-hard thing.
Disappointing!
To heal my disappointment, I summoned a large white hungry ghost into my arms and bit into it repeatedly.
Grrr!
Cuddly and soft, eating the white hungry ghost warmed my heart and made me feel peaceful.
White hungry ghosts really are tasty!
After throwing the white hungry ghost onto the ground, I returned to hugging Yerin.
The doll-headed woman seemed quite disappointed.
Did she want me to be an alchemist?
The younger sister, holding a golden reaper in one hand, excitedly called out to her older sister.
“Onee-sama, look! It’s cute!”
While the doll head worried as her little sister tickled the golden reaper with her finger, the younger sister gleefully exclaimed.
“Try chewing this again!”
She handed her sister a pill-like object that smelled strongly of medicine. Though it appeared human-made, it was clearly an object.
This pill felt more “object-like” than any advanced American tools I’d seen.
Was it created because it was an object?
Or perhaps because its creator was an alchemist?
“You need to tell me immediately if you get a headache, okay?”
“Mm-hmm.”
My curiosity about alchemy grew a little.
What in the world is she saying?
The tattooed woman talking to the reaper used a constructed language that was surprisingly intricate.
Its intonation was unique, not borrowing structures from other languages.
Could it be some obscure minority language I’ve never encountered?
No matter how much I compared it to every language I remembered, I couldn’t figure it out.
But the reaper definitely understood it. Its normally unresponsive antennae twitched inside my mouth like they were startled.
Om…
While pondering all sorts of thoughts, I fed pudding to the reaper spoon by spoon.
KUNG!
During feeding time, a loud noise drew my attention—a color hungry ghost brought out by the tattooed woman was stomping around the isolation room.
It truly resembled a hungry ghost, fascinating the mini reapers who gathered nearby and tapped on it curiously.
Tushi-tushi.
The small fists tapping lightly while giggling happily—these mini reapers seemed to say “hard!” with their actions.
Oddly enough, it was treated better than the white hungry ghost.
The red reaper spat fire upon seeing the white hungry ghost but merely tilted its head curiously at the color hungry ghost.
When the two hungry ghosts finally faced each other, both opened their mouths in shock.
One moved its mouth, and the other mirrored it perfectly; one stepped forward, and the other followed suit.
They were identical reflections, like images in a mirror.
The shocked hungry ghosts wobbled awkwardly, mimicking each other.
Seeing this, the golden reapers began playing mirror games with each other, smiling identically and waving their limbs joyfully.
Such a simple game, yet the mini reapers enjoyed it immensely.
Ah, what about the odd ones out?
Sure enough, the red reaper without a twin sister lay dejectedly on the table.
Until another golden reaper with twin tails approached, laughing cheerfully and pulled the red reaper up.
Though she dyed her skin red and tied her hair in twin tails, her expression unmistakably belonged to a golden reaper.
The disguised golden reaper and the red reaper happily played the mirror game together.
Thinking the reaper might want to join, I turned to check—but it wore an utterly disinterested expression.
That smug look annoyed me, so I squished its cheeks vigorously.
After finishing their reconnaissance disguised as a tour of Sehee Research Institute, the tattooed woman and her younger sister slowly walked home under the setting sun.
“Onee-sama, did we find what we wanted?”
The younger sister looked satisfied after playing with the golden reaper.
“I’m not sure. At first, I thought it was a failure, but now I wonder if it was intentional ignorance.”
Since gray reapers supposedly can’t comprehend words or language according to all data, if it truly was an alchemist pretending, it meant deliberate deception.
If it were an alchemist, it would be astonishing acting indeed.
An alchemist trying to bite through a guardian’s antennae with its teeth?
If the opponent was that serious about deception, uncovering its true identity would require extensive preparation.
“To accurately determine, we’ll need to visit a few more times. Maybe laying more sophisticated traps will catch them.”
“Really?”
At the prospect of meeting the golden reaper again, the younger sister beamed.
“Then let’s bring some snacks like pudding. Golden reapers apparently go crazy over even tiny gifts!”
Seeing her overly enthusiastic reaction, the older sister frowned slightly.
“That’s strange. Even though I gave her plenty of anti-mental-pollution pills, she seems affected by mental pollution.”
Watching her cheerful sibling, the woman decided to improve the pills once they got home.
On a late evening when the golden reaper slept.
The “cute puppy,” seizing the opportunity, snuck out of its containment room and wandered slowly through the dark research institute corridors.
The cute puppy often indulged in these “late-night strolls,” thanks to a security team member who sympathized with its plight and left the door slightly ajar.
Upon reaching the backyard, the cute puppy gazed longingly at the cold moonlight above with a melancholic expression.
Kee-hee.
Exhaling heavily, the cute puppy trudged back toward its “plastic” doghouse.
On the way back to its containment room, a newly dug underground passage caught the cute puppy’s eye.
For reasons unknown, it felt compelled to explore this mysterious underground tunnel.
Reaching the bottom of the dim staircase revealed a large resort facility nearing completion.
Workers sporadically finished up their tasks under the night sky.
But none of these details registered in the cute puppy’s mind.
Its gaze was fixed solely on the towering golden statue at the center of the resort.
Tru-tru.
The cute puppy shed tears.
“My… my doghouse was here all along…”
Gradually, its tears turned crimson, resembling blood.
Gr-r-r.
The cute puppy grew larger, expanding to house-sized proportions.
With all its might, the monstrous dog leaped upward.
“Huh? What’s that?”
The workers’ astonished cries echoed as they spotted the house-sized puppy.
Overwhelmed by deep sorrow, the cute puppy’s fiery eyes burned with desperation—”if I can’t have it, I’ll destroy it.”
As it charged forward to obliterate everything in sight, countless golden reapers emerged, glaring menacingly at the puppy.
Rarely showing anger, the golden reapers stared intensely, but the grief-stricken puppy remained oblivious, trapped in its own world.
It lunged ferociously at the nearest worker.
However, its reckless charge ended prematurely, leaving its body riddled with golden reaper-shaped holes.
Thud.
The rebellious cute puppy collapsed, tattered and torn, proving the futility of resistance.
As it watched its own blood seep out, the cute puppy slowly closed its eyes, wishing to be reborn as a truly adorable puppy in its next life.
Always filled with sweet scents, the Mini Reaper Garden.
Amidst the marshmallow fields and waves of warm hot chocolate, the cute puppy woke up again.
Though once bound to flesh, it now transcended such limitations.
Its body was now composed of fluffy cotton candy, with hardened chocolate chips forming its eyes and nose.
It had been reborn as an irresistibly cute cotton candy puppy!
Not only adorable, but also an immortal object incapable of death!
The cotton candy puppy admired its new form with satisfaction.
But unfortunately, ominous shadows loomed over the resurrected puppy.
Playful golden reapers gathered around, mischief glinting in their eyes.
