In a large apartment complex located in Songpa District.
Early in the morning, the Ash-gray Girl was sleeping soundly on the large bed in her room.
It wasn’t time to wake up yet, but the Ash-gray Girl suddenly woke up due to a musty smell.
Perhaps because of the smell that felt as if it was full of dust, the girl coughed severely as soon as she got up.
When the Ash-gray Girl opened her eyes and looked around the room, she saw warm sunlight coming in from one side of the room.
On the windowsill where the sunlight was entering, there was a small flower vase, spreading a faint floral scent throughout the room.
The room was clean without a speck of dust, filled with a pleasant fragrance.
It was the same room as always.
Why had there been a musty smell?
And why had she coughed?
Maybe it was just an illusion from waking up?
The girl slowly caught her breath and smelled the air in the room, but there was only a faint floral scent.
The girl got up from the bed and, as always, looked down at the window while basking in the morning sunlight.
As she looked out the window, all the buildings and trees appeared to be covered in black ash.
It looked like mold, or perhaps ash.
When she blinked, the world regained its color.
It had returned to the scenery she had loved most since moving into this house.
The green of the street trees that filled the area around the apartment.
And the unique smell of trees.
But perhaps because of seeing the ash-covered scenery, the view she had loved most no longer felt the same.
As if an old photograph had faded.
‘Am I just too tired?’
Yesterday, clear water had looked red, and now a normal landscape appeared completely different.
Maybe she had caught some kind of illness.
‘Should I tell Mom and Dad?’
As the girl was lost in thought, staring blankly out the window, she heard her parents calling her, along with the warm scent of toast.
Hearing that sound, her anxious heart calmed down a bit.
It’s just like always after all.
Yes, it must be just her mood.
The girl pushed the unsettling feelings to the back of her mind, trying not to worry her parents, and went about her morning as usual.
It was a harmonious family table, if not abundant.
After breakfast, while preparing to go to school, the Ash-gray Girl’s brother whispered in her ear.
What her brother pulled out was one large candy.
“We shouldn’t eat candy after brushing our teeth…”
The girl muttered with a slightly worried expression, looking towards her parents.
“That’s why. It’s our secret.”
Her brother smiled mischievously and popped the candy into the girl’s mouth.
As the sweetness of the candy spread in her mouth, a smile naturally formed on the girl’s face.
But her brother was looking down at her with a playful expression, grinning.
Just as she thought something was suspicious, an unbearable sourness hit her mouth.
The sourness was so intense that it made her eyes scrunch up involuntarily, and she reflexively opened her mouth to spit out the candy.
The girl closed her eyes and bent over on the floor, coughing repeatedly.
“Was that too much? I’m sorry.”
Feeling her brother patting her back, the girl opened her eyes.
Then, in front of her eyes was a crushed cockroach, wriggling.
The cockroach, oozing red blood, was rolled up like a rice cake, covered in saliva and squirming.
The Ash-gray Girl looked up at her brother in shock, but her brother wasn’t there.
Instead, there was an unidentifiable monster made of haphazardly woven wire, covered in soot.
The Ash-gray Girl was startled by the sight and rolled on the floor.
“Is something wrong?”
Her parents, noticing the commotion, began to approach.
It was the same kind voice as always, but for some reason, she felt that if she raised her head, even her parents might look like monsters.
Suddenly afraid of everything in this world, the girl tightly closed her eyes.
At that moment, she heard a voice that seemed to come from very far away.
The sound of her parents scolding her brother.
As time passed and the fear gradually subsided, the girl cautiously opened her eyes.
Then she saw her parents and brother ‘as usual’.
And looking down at the floor, there was a ruby-red, transparent candy covered in saliva lying on the ground.
Had it all been an illusion?
The horrific sights had only lasted for a moment, but the Ash-gray Girl suddenly felt nauseous and began to vomit violently.
It was a warm voice full of concern, but strangely, the Ash-gray Girl felt an endless chill.
In the courtyard of the Sehee Research Institute, where warm sunlight poured down and small animals and Mini Reapers frolicked.
I had asked the Green Reaper to create the ‘most special Tyranno’ and was waiting for its completion.
Perhaps because it was a special Tyranno, it was taking longer than expected.
During the break, instead of the usual rabbit skewer, I was slowly grilling mini-mini White Hungry Ghost skewers.
It was a premium skewer made from carefully selected White Hungry Ghost as small as Mini Rabbits.
But maybe because it wasn’t rabbit, no matter how much I ate, it didn’t feel satisfying.
So I kept looking for opportunities to catch Mini Rabbits, but there were always Golden Reapers watching me with wary eyes.
Meanwhile, I noticed a Black Reaper lying alone next to me, its round belly protruding.
As soon as I saw that Black Reaper, I took out a ruby-red, transparent candy that I had stored in the Mini Reaper Garden.
When I sent my will towards the Black Reaper, it sat up with a curious expression.
A delicious-looking red color.
A transparent, lustrous shine like a jewel.
From the outside, it looked like a really tasty candy.
But this was an extremely sour candy that was trending in Korea these days!
Perhaps because it looked so delicious that even I, who knew it was sour, was tempted to try it, the Black Reaper was looking up at me with sparkling eyes.
When I opened my mouth wide and sent my will, the Black Reaper mimicked the action and opened its mouth wide.
Judging by its brief hesitation before opening its mouth, it must have recalled the Golden Reaper’s maxim like ‘Don’t carelessly eat what Mom gives you!’
But such advice was useless in the face of the lustrous candy.
The Black Reaper even started making a ‘beep’ sound like a baby bird waiting for food.
I popped the candy right into the Black Reaper’s mouth.
‘How is it? Delicious, right?’
When I asked, the Black Reaper nodded with a happy smile, its cheeks puffed out with the candy.
A few seconds passed like that.
The Black Reaper’s face, having tasted the sourness, began to contract rapidly.
At that moment, Yerin, who was next to me, quickly took out her phone and captured the Black Reaper’s expression in a photo.
Yerin smiled with satisfaction as she looked at the peculiar image of the Black Reaper, its eyes, nose, and mouth having disappeared.
I looked down at the Black Reaper, struggling without eyes, nose, or mouth, and sent my will.
The Black Reaper then let out a sharp sound and climbed onto my head, starting to pound on my crown furiously.
It was a much heavier attack compared to the Golden Reaper’s gentle taps.
‘I’m sorry. I’ll try not to do it again, so please calm down.’
Saying that, I grabbed the Black Reaper, placed it on my palm, and kept stroking it until it started grinning again.
The Black Reaper really does have a similar personality to the Golden Reaper.
As I was playing, poking the contracted facial holes of the now-calmed Black Reaper, the Green Reaper flew over to inform me that the Tyranno was complete.
The Green Reaper struck an ‘ahem’ pose, as if to say it had been really difficult.
But what appeared before my eyes was despair.
A chubby face like a hippopotamus.
Feathers covering its entire body.
An even uglier Tyranno than the one I had seen at the station had popped out.
Enraged, I grabbed the Green Reaper and stuffed it into my mouth.
In the hideout of the Yellow Reaper and the Ash-gray Girl.
The Yellow Reaper was comparing two large candies while waiting for the Ash-gray Girl to return.
One was a sour candy obtained from the Sehee Research Institute.
One was a sour candy obtained from the Ash-gray Girl’s apartment.
To human eyes, they would look completely identical, but to the Yellow Reaper, they appeared entirely different.
One was a ruby-red candy.
One was a lump of crushed red cockroaches.
‘Such powerful mental contamination…’
The Yellow Reaper was carefully crafting a doll, worried about its Attachment Human?
Or perhaps its Attachment Object.
It was a doll with ash-gray hair, wearing the same worn and tattered clothes as the girl.
Scrape, scrape, the sound of feet dragging through dirt.
Hearing the footsteps of the Ash-gray Girl approaching, the Yellow Reaper threw the candies to either side.
The candies rolled to opposite corners and settled there.
Following the candies with its gaze, oddly enough, there were two of each item in this hideout.
Things obtained from outside and things obtained from within the apartment complex.
Normal objects and twisted, rusted objects.
In the hideout full of such odds and ends, the Yellow Reaper smiled at the entering Ash-gray Girl.
Hoping for the Ash-gray Girl’s happiness.