Still Seo-ah POV:

---

The Golden Reapers gathered and formed a pyramid.

It was a cute pyramid they made by clinging onto each other's arms and legs.

Since it was hollow inside, it was closer to a hut than a pyramid?

It was still a desert hot enough to die, but after Reaper made shade with the Golden Reapers, it became quite bearable.

The cause of the heat was entirely the red moon shining in the sky above.

It wasn't as bright as a space heater used in winter, but it radiated intense heat.

Ah, it's hot. I feel like I'm going to die.

It would be nice if there was a little water, but no matter where I looked in the desert, there was no sign of water.

The Gray Reaper with an indifferent expression was lying next to me, waving its arms and legs.

Just like a child lying in the snow.

Of course, the difference was that it wasn't snow, but sand hot enough to get burned.

"Reaper."

Even though I knew it couldn't understand, I spoke to Reaper.

The Gray Reaper, which had been waving on the ground, stopped moving and turned its head to stare at me.

"Thank you for coming. I thought I was going to die." 

"This place, it seems really vast, doesn't it? No matter where you look 360 degrees, it's all horizon. I didn't think I could see something like this in Seoul."

"This is the first time I've experienced an Object-related accident, and it's really tough. I don't want to go on a business trip again, to the point where I wonder how the director of Lee Sehee Research Institute can keep going out to find Objects and get into accidents every time."

I continued my monologue in front of the Gray Reaper.

The two yellow glowing eyes of the Gray Reaper seemed to contain intelligence, so it felt like it somehow understood what I was saying.

Is this why Researcher Oh-Yerin is falling for the Gray Reaper?

The Gray Reaper suddenly looked up at the sky, then started summoning a bunch of Golden Reapers again.

It made eye contact with me, then disappeared somewhere, just like when it first appeared.

I hugged the many Golden Reapers that appeared around me.

Strangely, I'm not anxious.

It felt like the Gray Reaper told me with its eyes not to worry.

I felt like I might fall for the Gray Reaper, just like Researcher Oh-Yerin.

***

Sehee POV:

---

Amidst the noisy TV sound, I let out my lingering anxiety in a small voice.

"Will it be okay?"

The Golden Reaper comforted me by climbing onto my shoulder and patting my cheek.

Reaper hasn't come back yet. 

It would be good if it had already gone to rescue Seo-ah.

The area around Gangseo District shown on TV was in chaos.

The Association was taking unprecedented swift action.

It was so proactive that it made me wonder if this was really the Korea I lived in.

All kinds of bombs were exploding around Gangseo District to break through the barrier.

Requests for support had already been made to countries like the United States, Japan, and China.

It was unusual for the Association, which is reluctant to ask other countries for cooperation out of strong pride.

[We have breaking news.]

[The Gray Reaper has been spotted on the east side of the Gangseo District barrier.] 

[Could the Gray Reaper be behind this incident as well?]

The scene of the Gray Reaper tapping the transparent barrier with its fists was shown on TV.

"As expected, Reaper was there!"

"Yeah, that's a relief."

The news anchor reacted with a mix of concern, but we were relieved.

Reaper must have known about Seo-ah's crisis in advance and gone there early. 

The Reaper, who had been lightly punching the barrier, suddenly made a hole in it.

[Ah? The Gray Reaper has made a hole in the barrier!] 

[That looks like the attack it used against Lophiomus.]

The broadcast captured the Gray Reaper's right arm being cut off as it went through the hole in the barrier.

"Ugh, that must hurt. Poor Reaper."

Yerin felt sorry seeing Reaper's severed arm. 

Before the severed arm even hit the ground, it turned into yellow flames and scattered into the air.

A fierce sandstorm burst out from the hole in the barrier, making a mess of the surroundings.

But the Gray Reaper's attack was quickly neutralized.

The barrier regenerated the hole in an instant.

Gray Reaper pounded the barrier again, then turned around and started walking away.

At the same time, the news screen also changed.

[What was the Gray Reaper thinking when it did that?] 

[The Gray Reaper is known as an Object that frequently wanders, maybe this time is no different.]

The announcer and the panel of supposed Object experts started listing the incidents the Gray Reaper had caused until now.

Since it wasn't a very interesting story, I changed the channel.

"Maybe the Gray Reaper's perception will improve this time?"

"That would be nice. Especially Seo-ah would like that."

"Seo-ah unnie?"

"She wanted to sell Gray Reaper merchandise because the Research Institute was short on funds."

In fact, Seo-ah wanted to sell all kinds of goods, not just Gray Reaper ones, but it was rejected by the Association.

They were concerned it could dilute vigilance towards Objects or something.

***

3rd person POV:

---

The oasis of the red desert.

The black agent's anxiety kept growing bigger and bigger.

There were mainly two causes for this.

The first cause was that the number of people staying in the cave was increasing.

Fortunately, the size of the cave was large enough to rival modern large buildings, so it wasn't a problem yet. But the fact that the number of people was increasing itself was an issue.

If this cave was the type of Object that lures people in, the more people, the more dangerous it would become.

The second cause was the ominous structures newly discovered inside the cave.

A tall altar made of stone.

Distorted sculptures of humans and animals with vicious expressions.

And on the walls were letters, like a warning message.

But the black agent couldn't interpret them as he had never seen those letters before.

"Aaaaahh!"

Suddenly a scream came from the cave entrance.

"Uncle, something terrible happened!"

What greeted the black agent who arrived at the entrance was a pale blonde girl and a man screaming with his leg cut off.

And a giant stone statue prowling around the cave entrance.

The giant stone statue that had been decorating the entrance was alive and moving!

The sight of the statue, covered in blood, chewing on the man's leg with its stone mouth opening and closing.

The statue, chewing and crushing the man's leg, spat out something with a 'phew' sound.

It was a mangled lump mixed with bones and flesh that used to be the man's leg.

The man who lost both legs died abandoned in front of the entrance without receiving any treatment. 

The statue looked around swiftly at the people by the entrance, then went back to its original spot above the cave.

Phew.

Taking a deep breath, the black agent approached the people in shock and asked,

"What in the world happened?"

"Th-That guy said this place is a trap, and if we want to recover our strength, we need to escape quickly and get out of the cave"

A man who seemed to be the colleague of the dead man was pale as a sheet from the shock.

"I said let's rest a bit more...then he said he would go out first and check...and when he went out..."

"Ah I see what happened. Seems like the kind of Object that attacks anyone trying to leave."

As the black agent expected, this place was indeed a trap.

It would be fortunate if it was just a trap to prevent people from leaving, but considering similar statues were found inside the cave as well...

No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn't envision a good outcome.

*** 

Inside the large cave where the black agent was staying, two researchers from Trinity were secretly sneaking around.

"Team leader, when I went deeper inside, I found the 'letters' the director told us about written there."

"Is that so? Then let's go take a look."

Being mindful of people's gazes, they slowly made their way deeper into the cave.

"This is quite spectacular."

Looking at the red-tinted stone statues and the lake surface holding starlight, the Trinity Research Institute team leader was in awe.

The red moonlight shining through the hole in the ceiling was reflecting off the lake surface, mystically illuminating the inside of the cave.

Next to the giant statues bathed in the red light were the letters the researcher mentioned, engraved there.

"I'm still at a low evolutionary stage so I can't fully read it." 

"I probably can't read it completely either, but let me give it a try."

The team leader's two eyes began to bulge out as he stared intently at the wall engraved with letters.

Black veins the thickness of a thumb began to protrude, throbbing, and his eyes grew so large that they started to crush his skull.

The team leader placed his finger on the wall and began reading the letters carefully line by line.

"Hmm, it seems to be a safe ruin before 100 people gather. Should we prevent more people from entering?"

"It seems we could try to persuade them to some extent."

The team leader read further line by line, and blood vessels began to protrude from his bulging eyeballs, looking like they might explode at any moment.

"There's another way to escape. It says we can offer one person as a living sacrifice."

The eyeballs that looked like they would burst any second instantly shrank back to their original size, and the team leader let out a pained groan.

"Ah, I'm going to die. I need to quickly evolve to a higher stage so I can naturally access more power..."

The protruding blood vessels disappeared, and the enlarged eyeballs returned to normal.

"First, let's persuade the idiots not to let anyone into this ruin. And if that becomes difficult, we'll use the other escape method."

“I'm guessing human sacrifice would be a lot harder to convince?”

"Don't say stupid things. Of course, when offering a living sacrifice, we'll kill everyone here and escape ourselves."

"Ah, with our power, that would be easy."

A small chuckle from the Trinity Research Institute researcher echoed softly.

***

Reaper (MC) POV:

---

It can't be destroyed.

No matter how much I pound the barrier, it remains solid.

The condition for destroying the barrier is <Destruction of the main body>.

It was a barrier that regenerates infinitely until the main body is destroyed.

If the regeneration speed was slow, I could smash it thoroughly and evacuate Seo-ah, but the regeneration speed was also extremely fast.

Looking up at the sky, I saw an abnormally large red moon.

That must be the main body.

I began observing the red moon with my 'eyes'.

<Place the red skull in the center of the desert, set it on fire, and dance on top of it.>

It's long. 

And what's with these strange conditions again?