Chapter 443
The dreamlike garden, bathed in soft light, was a place untouched by any worries from the world outside.
Cloud-like, cozy beds filled the endless floor, and whenever the Mini Grim Reapers hopped across them, gentle waves of softness rolled through the air.
Each step they took spread tiny ripples, like walking on a calm lake beneath the moonlight.
‘So soft.’
‘Warm!’
The Mini Grim Reapers gleefully leaped across the beds, their determination vibrating through the air.
When they settled on the bed, captivated by its softness, they laid there for hours, rolling around lazily.
The Mini Grim Reapers, lying down on the plush bed, stretched their necks and licked up the hot chocolate flowing near the bed.
Above, a softly swaying canopy hung gently in the air.
The light streaming from above filtered through the canopy, filling the space with a warm, cozy glow.
A gentle breeze swayed the canopy, the sound like a lullaby, comforting all the beings in the garden.
Beyond the canopy, firelight from logs glimmered like starlight, and an oddly massive tree stood tall.
Perhaps it was the star-like glow from the logs that made the time here feel as though it had been frozen at the moment of deep sleep.
In this peaceful dream garden, the Mini Grim Reapers and White Gobies filled the space.
To the White Gobies, this was a paradise, a utopia untouched by the Gray Grim Reaper’s gaze, and to the Mini Grim Reapers, it was a secret hideout unknown to their ‘mom.’
The Mini Grim Reapers had used the nature of this dreamlike space to turn it into their very own amusement park.
The most popular attraction was the giant “Mom Trampoline.”
If it had been made in the Mini Grim Reaper Garden, it would have required a Halo, but in this dream, anything was possible with just imagination.
Moreover, while Mom would have turned it into Super Mom, here it was okay—this was a secret garden she didn’t know about!
Hehe.
The Mini Grim Reapers bounced happily on the trampoline, laughing with joy.
In addition to the trampoline, there were countless bizarre rides the Mini Grim Reapers had dreamed up.
A Viking ride with no seatbelts, launching Mini Grim Reapers high into the air.
A rollercoaster that ran off the tracks at high speed.
A carousel spinning at top speed, lifting off like a helicopter.
Although accidents were frequent, it was a place where even chaos turned into fun.
It was truly a Mini Grim Reaper amusement park, created in their image.
A little farther from this amusement park, the White Gobies enjoyed a quieter, peaceful rest.
The White Gobies were scattered across the space, like a peaceful herd of sheep, resting in various corners.
Each of them lay on the bed in their own peaceful poses.
Some lay with their limbs stretched out, face down.
Some curled up like baking cats.
Others lay with their bellies up, legs reaching toward the sky.
A few curled up with one cheek resting on the soft bed, their bodies rounded as they slept.
Though they rested in their own ways, there was one thing they all had in common.
They all wore calm expressions, as if they had put down their worries and anxieties, if only for a moment.
Sometimes, the Mini Grim Reapers would come to visit the Gobies, peeking at them, but they never disturbed their rest.
In the gentle shadows cast by the canopy above, the White Gobies rested in the soft, soothing light.
The curves of the White Gobies stretched across the bed resembled small waves rippling on a warm sea.
But no peaceful time could last forever.
A dark shadow began to stretch across the tranquil sea.
It looked like a storm cloud, distant but steadily approaching.
The White Gobies, who had been resting, suddenly looked up at the looming shadow.
Kyu?
The startled cries of the White Gobies echoed through the quiet garden.
A massive eye filled the sky, gazing down at the dream garden.
It seemed to be saying, “Finally found you!” with a mischievous glint in its gaze.
The White Gobies and the Mini Grim Reapers, shocked by the eye, began fleeing in all directions.
“Ah!”
“Mom’s here!”
“We’ve been found!”
“Run!”
In an instant, the peaceful garden turned into chaos.
The Mini Grim Reapers and White Gobies desperately tried to flee, but it was already too late.
The garden was completely sealed off by the Gray Grim Reaper’s spatial barrier.
And as the Gray Grim Reaper’s overwhelming mental wave slammed into the dream garden, everything began to crumble.
The cozy canopy burned up like dry paper, and the rides that had proudly stood collapsed like sandcastles.
The once plush beds turned to cold stone, and the hot chocolate flowing between them bubbled up, turning into steam and vanishing.
Everything in the dream garden collapsed.
Flames clung to the bodies of the White Gobies, and the Mini Grim Reapers all turned into ‘Mom.’
“Noooo!”
“Noooo!!”
Kyu-hing-hing.
The sorrowful wills of the Mini Grim Reapers rang out, and the White Gobies’ cries of injustice followed.
What had once been a paradise now became a hell.
The dreamlike utopia of the Mini Grim Reapers and White Gobies ended in that moment.
In the Yellow Detective Office, with the faint scent of coffee lingering in the air.
The warm sunlight streaming through the blinds painted stripes on the floor.
Normally, the office would be bustling, but today it was unusually quiet.
There were no sounds from the TV or laughter.
The Yellow Detective held a freshly taken coffee cup from the cabinet and sighed deeply.
There were deep lines on his face.
He had thought he was free from the grip of the lamp that had bound him for so long, but now, it was the Lamp Grim Reaper.
On one side, Junior 1 had set down a hammer and was holding the Lamp Grim Reaper in his arms.
The Lamp Grim Reaper inside the transparent lamp looked sorrowful, its body slumped.
Junior 1, feeling sorry, offered a biscuit, but the Lamp Grim Reaper simply turned its head away.
“What are we going to do…”
A small sigh escaped.
Normally, the Mini Grim Reapers wouldn’t refuse a treat from humans…
Even though it looked like it was following the snack with its eyes, it wasn’t eating it.
Was the wound from being rejected by its attachment human so deep?
Junior 1 glanced at the detective, unsure whether to offer the Lamp Grim Reaper to the detective, who had suffered under the lamp’s influence for so long.
Instead, Junior 1 slowly began to comfort the Lamp Grim Reaper by gently stroking the lamp.
“Well, the lamp is already gone…”
In the midst of this, the detective, with a determined expression, turned toward the Lamp Grim Reaper.
It looked like the Lamp Grim Reaper had lost everything.
‘What must have happened for a human to make that expression?’
The sad look on the Lamp Grim Reaper’s face was almost too much to bear.
The Yellow Detective finally, as if having made up his mind, stood up from his chair.
With heavy footsteps, he approached Junior 1 and cautiously lifted the Lamp Grim Reaper.
At that moment, the little Grim Reaper inside the lamp raised its head slightly.
In its eyes, there was a glimmer of hope.
With a tense expression more intense than when breaking into the central research institute, the detective slowly reached his fingers into the lamp.
As soon as he did, the Lamp Grim Reaper reached out toward the fingers, its eyes moist with tears.
It clung to his fingers as if it would never let go.
The Yellow Detective gently stroked the Lamp Grim Reaper with his fingers, letting out a deep sigh of relief.
Though the atmosphere between the Lamp Grim Reaper and “Watson” was entirely different, it was quite burdensome for the detective, who had been tormented by the lamp.
The Yellow Detective lifted the Lamp Grim Reaper carefully, returned to his seat, and sank back into the chair.
“Ha… This feels harder than most cases.”
He placed the Lamp Grim Reaper on the desk and buried himself deeply in the chair.
Leaning back, he closed his eyes for a moment.
“Maybe I’ll just take a break and accept a simple case…”
Thinking back, it had been a series of exhausting events—from breaking into the central research institute, infiltrating national facilities, to battling the “Contract Sorcery Book” beyond even special grades.
It had been a continuous series of difficult tasks.
As he closed his eyes, a strange sensation washed over him.
When he cracked his eyes open, an astonishing sight unfolded before him.
A thin iron chain emerged from the ring of the lamp, slowly winding its way around his wrist.
“!!!”
The detective jumped up in surprise.
The Lamp Grim Reaper looked up at him with a gloomy expression.
It was as if it believed that it and the attachment human were supposed to be bound by the iron chain.
As the Lamp Grim Reaper struggled to bind him and the Yellow Detective resisted, the office phone suddenly rang.
“Yes, Yellow Detective Office.”
The calm voice of Junior 3, in stark contrast to the chaos between the Lamp Grim Reaper and the Yellow Detective, filled the room.
“Are you referring to James Institute?”
Junior 3, noticing the detective’s sign that it was okay, nodded as they continued the call.
“Understood.”
After ending the call, Junior 3 wrote down the meeting on the empty whiteboard.
<Meeting with James Institute.>
The Yellow Detective nodded slightly as he gazed at the scheduled meeting.
Clink.
At that moment, a sound like something locking echoed.
“!!!”
Looking down, he saw that the Lamp Grim Reaper had already locked a sturdy iron chain around his wrist.
‘Human, always together!’
The dream garden, full of Mini Grim Reapers and White Gobies, seemed to shimmer with a soft, ethereal light.
I was reflecting on my memories as I gazed at the blazing garden.
It’s been so long.
The first Mini Grim Reapers, no, the Golden Horn Grim Reaper’s garden.
I had thought it vanished when it turned into the Mini Grim Reaper Garden, but it was just pushed into a corner.
It was an unexpected discovery.
Since firewood was needed here, and it wasn’t even real, finding this place was quite a good thing.
‘I wish I had known about this place sooner…’
I, wearing a Halo, sent out a little mental wave.
This was a dream space, so wearing a Halo didn’t hurt, making it a perfect place to test abilities.
In the area where the Mini Grim Reapers had turned into ‘Mom,’ I lifted one Mini Grim Reaper.
A Mini Flower Grim Reaper.
A special entity related to time, a sapling Grim Reaper.
I raised the Halo of Time and giggled.
