The Candy Mountain range, sharp as needles and so tall their peaks were barely visible.
A Golden Reaper was slowly climbing this Candy Mountain range.
All the other Golden Reapers who had been climbing together had disappeared, leaving only one Golden Reaper nearing the summit.
As this Golden Reaper approached the peak, a large candy rock split open, revealing its inner layers.
It was a candy rock formed by layers of different colored candies, like a well-polished viewing stone.
In the center of this rock, a lemon-colored candy crystallized into a beautiful crystal shape sparkled.
The Golden Reaper stared blankly at this mesmerizing sight with its mouth slightly open, but soon shook its head vigorously to clear away distracting thoughts.
The Golden Reaper swallowed its involuntarily gathering saliva and hurried on.
The Candy Mountain range that no Golden Reaper had ever conquered.
Behind its facade were these delicious-looking candy rocks.
Many Golden Reapers had tried to break through this uncharted territory, but all had given up climbing, swept away by the allure of the candy.
And as they ate the delicious candy rocks, they naturally turned back towards the institute.
The taste of the incredibly delicious candy evoked feelings of wanting to share it with their attached humans or mother.
The Golden Reaper steeled its resolve, recalling the story its Orange sibling had shared.
Beyond the mountain range is the most delicious pudding in the mini Reaper garden!
Although the Orange sibling often lied like their mother, the Golden Reaper believed there must be a wonderful landscape and snacks beyond the mountain range, and slowly walked on.
As it finally reached the summit, the Golden Reaper involuntarily struck a victory pose.
A magnificent landscape, split in half between white and black, was reflected in the Golden Reaper’s eyes.
On one side, a white snowfield stretching to the horizon beyond the mountain range.
On the other side, an infinite sea of hot chocolate surrounding the mini Reaper garden.
And the mysterious boundary where the cold, snow-white field met the warm, black sea of hot chocolate.
The cold wind blowing from the snowfield carried a scent slightly different from what had been felt in the garden until now.
A cold, sweet, milk-like fragrance.
The Golden Reaper, with an extremely happy expression, began running down the mountain range but ended up rolling.
Unable to stop, the Golden Reaper kept rolling and finally sank into the snow-white field with a poof.
Buried in the snow, the Golden Reaper munched on the snow that had entered its mouth, then opened its eyes wide.
The Golden Reaper grinned at the thought of sharing this news with the other Golden Reapers.
I was hiding inside a hamster vending machine as big as a small building, watching the mini Reapers wandering around the snowfield.
The once empty snowfield now had quite a lot of mini Reapers visible.
The most impressive thing in this snowfield full of mini Reapers was a large sculpture made of snow.
It was a sculpture depicting an Orange Reaper pointing beyond the mountain range and a Golden Reaper struggling to climb the mountain.
The most delicious pudding is beyond the mountain range, was it?
As someone who knew there was only a sea of hot chocolate beyond the mountain range before I went to Russia, it was a bit funny to me.
It was obvious that the Orange Reaper, who could fly in the sky, had lied to tease the Golden Reaper, but it had somehow become somewhat true.
Perhaps because of this, some Golden Reapers were still thoroughly searching the snowfield for the legendary pudding.
Just then, I saw a Golden Reaper with its antenna perked up in front of the vending machine.
In its arms was a sugar-coated fruit with one bite taken out of it.
Golden Reapers always showed a similar reaction when they first ate fruit from this vending machine.
The Golden Reaper’s eyes were wide open as if it was really delicious, and its antenna was shooting straight up.
Well, the hamster-made sugar fruit is delicious.
Turning my gaze, I saw the hamster shedding tears as its fruits were being taken away.
As I was watching the suffering hamster with a satisfied expression, a small golden face suddenly popped out from a corner of the vending machine.
A curious Golden Reaper had used its phantom form to peek inside.
The Golden Reaper’s face, cheeks puffed out with sugar fruit, was a mix of curiosity and appetite.
The Golden Reaper peeking inside the vending machine discovered the well-hidden hamster.
Shocked by the internal scene, the Golden Reaper closed its eyes tightly and rubbed them with both hands as if it couldn’t believe what it had seen.
But what it saw didn’t change.
Why is it acting like that?
But thinking carefully from the Golden Reaper’s perspective, it made sense.
A hamster with no limbs, tied up and endlessly shedding tears.
A sugar flamingo stabbing the hamster with its sharp beak, urging it to produce sugar fruit faster.
And me, watching all of this like an evil boss, giggling.
It was truly a scene of cute hamster exploitation!
Perhaps because of this, an enraged Golden Reaper charged at me.
The Golden Reaper, approaching me, put its hands on its hips and looked up at me as if very angry.
For some reason, I found its appearance cute and couldn’t help but smile a little.
As I just grinned at the Golden Reaper, it clung to my face and started throwing punches.
I smiled happily and gently cupped the Golden Reaper in both hands.
Then I brought the Golden Reaper to my mouth and conveyed a small will as if whispering in its ear.
The scar on Yerin’s neck. That hamster did it.
The Golden Reaper was surprised once again and started looking back and forth between me and the hamster.
The Golden Reaper asked again, as if it couldn’t believe it.
Come to think of it, it seems the Golden Reapers have been asking again more often since I played that prank with two candies.
Is there some kind of rule?
Surely they don’t have something like a credit rating?
Surely good Golden Reapers wouldn’t do such a scary thing.
While I was nodding and organizing my thoughts, the Golden Reaper disappeared somewhere and reappeared holding a sharp toothpick.
Then it stood next to the hamster and poked the hamster’s belly with the toothpick if it didn’t make fruit.
And occasionally, when hungry, it would sneak out a fruit that was supposed to go outside the vending machine and munch on it.
And so, the vending machine gained one more employee.
Quite some time had passed since the Siberian incident was resolved.
It was a peaceful time when neither the Sehee Research Institute Director, Researcher Oh Yerin, nor even the Gray Reaper were acting up.
In this peaceful daily life, Seoah had set up several cameras and was filming something.
On the screen of an ordinary camcorder, a Golden Reaper was captured playing with a happy expression.
It looked like it was playing a hand-clapping game like children do, sitting on the table in the Deputy Director’s office.
But something was strange.
It was playing as if clapping hands with something in the air, as if there was something on the other side.
Looking through another camera, the scene appeared slightly different.
It clearly showed a Golden Reaper and a Bud Reaper sitting face to face, clapping hands and playing.
As expected, Bud was a spirit body.
Seoah was recording various phenomena while watching this.
The Bud Reaper, perhaps sensing that Seoah was watching through the camera, slightly stuck out its tiny tongue and made a face.
Seeing this, Seoah chuckled softly at the cute sight.
Besides the Bud Reaper, there were many other facts she had captured.
The phenomenon of Golden Reapers suddenly disappearing was sometimes due to phantom form, and sometimes due to returning to the mini Reaper garden.
Unlike other cameras, mini Reapers could sense when they were being filmed with a spirit camera.
Even when she approached the mini Reapers secretly to film, they instantly detected it and turned around.
Seoah was recording how each mini Reaper showed different reactions.
The Bud Reaper mainly made faces, while the Golden Reaper would jump straight at the camera the moment it was filmed.
Each mini Reaper showed various reactions.
It’s fortunate that James lent us the spirit camera.
Seoah smiled with satisfaction at being able to use a spirit camera that was impossible to obtain domestically.
Of course, the filmed material couldn’t be officially announced.
Since they were unofficially borrowed, it would be wise not to reveal them.
In such a Deputy Director’s office, the TV sound was quietly playing.
[So, does this mean that no Objects have appeared in southern Italy for 20 years already?]
[That’s right. It’s been like that since the blessing of the stars fell on southern Italy.]
[Wow, that’s amazing.]
It was a story about southern Italy, where people had started avoiding for about 20 years now.
It was an area where many researchers had entered due to rumors of an Object that repelled other Objects.
And it was also an area from which no one had returned.
In the inner courtyard of Sehee Research Institute, at the cloud meat station.
Many mini Reapers had gathered there, waving their hands at the blackened cloud meat.
The black cloud meat was exclusively for Purple Reapers who hadn’t found attached humans despite being at Sehee Research Institute for quite some time.
Purple Reapers were mounted on these cloud meats one by one.
The Purple Reapers looked down at the mini Reapers, nodded, then dramatically flipped their cloaks and turned around.
And slowly, the black cloud meats began to rise into the sky.
Destination: The whole world!
An adventure to find suitable attached humans for the Purple Reapers had begun.