In the deep part of the Mini Grim Reaper Garden, racing across the endless plains of the Caral Canyon, I completely lost track of ti.
As I sped along on the carpet made of white carp, in that mont, I was entirely imrsed in the thrill of speed, forgetting everything else.
But, as with all pleasures, this too gradually shifted into boredom.
The endlessly stretching caral plains no longer felt new, and the exhilarating rush of the wind against my face dulled.
I was starting to feel a little tired of exploring other areas of the canyon.
'It’s about ti to return to the isolation room.'
The thought suddenly crossed my mind, and I smiled.
After all, there was nothing more comforting than solving a problem and then sitting on a soft bed, eating pudding.
Just the thought of it made a sweet taste linger in my mouth.
As I prepared to teleport, I reflected on the events from the Butterfly Dinsion.
Though it had only been half a day of adventure, it had been aningful.
Especially the "robber" seed to hold potential for being key to automatic hunting.
'...'
As soon as I arrived at the isolation room, sothing unexpected happened.
Yerin saw and imdiately ran over, embracing without saying a word.
Her hug seed to carry a mix of relief, longing, and even a little resentnt.
'?'
Taken aback by her intense reaction, I was confused.
The ti I had been away was so short, but seeing Yerin’s reaction, sothing felt off.
I had only stayed in the Butterfly Dinsion for half a day.
Judging by what the Black-Hooded Grim Reaper said about having fought for years, it seed that the flow of ti in that place was faster than on Earth.
The Black-Hooded Grim Reaper had been missing for only about a month, not even a full year.
After a while, Yerin seed to calm down, loosening her hold, but she didn’t fully let go.
Instead, she rested her head on top of mine and began nibbling on my antennae.
“It’s been so long, Grim Reaper. It’s already been a month.”
Yerin muttered in a small voice.
I was shocked by her words.
A month?
It felt like I had only stayed for a short ti, but she was saying it had been a month?
That seed strange.
Neither Yerin nor the Mini Grim Reapers would lie to , so sothing unusual was definitely going on.
'...'
Then, I recalled the abilities of the giant butterflies.
The power to recklessly mix up and disrupt ti.
‘Ah.’
It seed that the space where the giant butterflies operated was one where ti flowed in a disordered way.
Putting it simply, Yerin’s reaction now made sense.
Though only a few hours had passed for , a whole month had passed for Yerin.
It had only been a few hours, and I thought she was making a big fuss about it.
'I'm sorry.'
With a bit of regret, I embraced Yerin back.
The sound of a giant suitcase rolling on the asphalt echoed through the quiet street.
I sat on top of it as Yerin slowly pulled along.
'Why on earth did she bring such a huge suitcase to the institute?'
For a mont, I wondered about that, but the thought quickly disappeared.
"Mom!"
"Mommy!"
Well, there were so many baby Golden Grim Reapers on the street.
Golden Grim Reapers poked their heads out from every crack in the walls, giggling happily about sothing.
And there were baby Golden Grim Reapers clinging to the shoulders of people walking down the street.
"Everywhere you look, they’re clinging on like locusts."
Apart from being quiet, they resembled a natural disaster, like an uncontrollable spread of frogs.
There were so many Golden Grim Reapers that the street was completely filled.
There were so many, in fact, that if you weren't careful, you could accidentally step on one!
"When I woke up this morning, there were so many baby Golden Grim Reapers at my house."
Thud.
Yerin lightly tapped the suitcase I was sitting on and continued speaking.
"I filled this entire bag and brought it to the institute, but it still wasn’t enough to bring them all."
She had gotten scolded by Kim Joong-roe, but Yerin laughed quietly, saying it was fun to let them loose in the office.
The mystery of the giant suitcase was finally revealed.
It was a container for illegally releasing the baby Golden Grim Reapers.
Yerin seed to have a lot to say about it, as she kept talking about the baby Golden Grim Reapers.
There was the story about how the baby Golden Grim Reapers kept jumping into a hot frying pan.
And the story about how the ones left behind in the bag, unable to go with her, were sad.
So, she had asked the Mini Grim Reapers stationed at her ho for security to keep them entertained while she went to work.
As I passed through the streets of Songpa filled with baby Golden Grim Reapers, I finally arrived at Yerin's apartnt.
When we took the elevator up and opened the front door, the scene that unfolded before us was truly astonishing.
"Wow."
It seed like Yerin hadn’t known about it either.
A small exclamation escaped from her lips.
A toy train ran through the middle of the living room.
On it, baby Golden Grim Reapers were happily riding, smiling.
On one side, there was a carousel spinning so fast it could be called a centrifuge, and on the other side, there was a little dinosaur theater with water-made dinosaurs frolicking inside.
It was like a miniature amusent park for the baby Golden Grim Reapers inside the apartnt.
Even a rare Blue Grim Reaper had joined in to help run the amusent park.
As we entered the apartnt, the baby Golden Grim Reapers waved enthusiastically from their rides, shouting "Mom!"
Upon closer inspection of the rides, it wasn’t just the baby Golden Grim Reapers from Yerin's room who were playing, but even Mini Grim Reapers from other rooms had gathered and were playing too.
Even the Black Grim Reapers who made up the frawork of the rides or helped run the park occasionally hopped on for a break.
In the farthest corner, a Blue Grim Reaper with a joyful expression was riding a simple ride made from a carp.
I wonder if it didn’t realize I was watching, but its smile looked strangely fresh.
How curious.
Normally, Blue Grim Reapers didn’t like to tornt carp…
Had sothing happened?
A quiet park located in Songpa District was untouched by the wave of urban redevelopnt, as if ti had stopped there.
Amid the broken benches and rusted playground equipnt, the second junior, who had been left to wait in boredom, gazed up at the sky.
“Horns!”
“How curious.”
The Golden Horned Grim Reaper and several baby Golden Grim Reapers were wandering around the park, playing.
The second junior passed ti observing the Mini Grim Reapers, but couldn’t hide her anxiety.
"When exactly are we supposed to keep waiting here...?"
She muttered softly, a sigh escaping her.
Under the orders of the detective senior, she had been told to wait in this spot, but she wasn’t given an exact ti fra.
When she asked the senior, they only said, “You’ll know when the mont cos.”
"By the way, there are strangely many Golden Grim Reapers in this park."
Usually, Golden Grim Reapers appeared more often in places with a lot of people, but despite the sparse human presence here, there were still many Golden Grim Reapers running around.
It was an empty park with nothing to entertain them, and everything was broken.
The second junior fiddled with the envelope she had been told to open when the ti ca, gazing up at the sky as she passed ti aimlessly.
'...'
As ti passed and the sun set, the park fell into darkness.
The Golden Grim Reapers looked terribly sleepy too.
So of them were nodding off, their heads drooping.
Then, an unexpected event occurred.
With a sll like sothing burning, white smoke began to spread across the area.
It looked almost like ominous night mist.
The sll that flowed out of the smoke was one the second junior had recognized.
The sll of burning oil… the scent of a gas lamp.
Clink. Clink.
Then, a noise as if sothing was clashing together reached her ears.
And through the thickening smoke, dim lights began to appear.
As the sound grew closer, the eyes of the Golden Grim Reapers grew sharp.
"Harmful object!"
The Golden Grim Reapers snarled, baring their teeth as they moved toward the light.
Amid the clinking sounds, the distinct clatter of polished shoes grew closer.
Whoosh.
The smoke parted near the second junior, creating a circular space.
At that mont, the figure of a man appeared.
His face was indistinct, like an endlessly shifting mist.
Around him, dozens, if not hundreds, of gas lamps hovered in the air.
The lamps moved as though they were living creatures, surrounding the man.
He truly seed to be the Man of Lamps.
[Good evening.]
The Man of Lamps bowed gracefully and greeted them.
His voice echoed like it ca from an old phonograph.
"Harmful object!"
"Object!"
At that mont, the Golden Grim Reapers rushed at the man with an expression that looked like they were about to tear him apart.
[Well, this isn’t quite the right situation for conversation, is it?]
The Man of Lamps murmured, as if finding it amusing.
With a snap of his fingers, sothing astonishing happened.
Snap.
In an instant, everything stopped.
The Golden Grim Reapers, even the Golden Horned Grim Reaper, froze mid-motion, suspended in the air.
It was as if ti itself had co to a halt.
The second junior was stunned.
She had never seen anything like this before.
Especially seeing the mighty Golden Horned Grim Reaper frozen without being able to resist was a shock in itself.
The Man of Lamps leisurely looked around.
He seed to regard the Golden Grim Reapers as if they were of no consequence.
He slowly approached the second junior.
His movents were graceful, but at the sa ti, there was an uncanny sense to them, as if they didn’t belong to this reality.
The surrounding lamps swayed as if dancing to his rhythm.
'This must be the big shot senior ntioned!'
Watching the second junior frozen stiff, the Man of Lamps smiled lightly.
Well, at least it seed like a smile.
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