Chapter 525
At the moment I thought I had won, a pure white halo descended.
It was a light I had definitely felt before, somewhere.
An extreme white, free from any impurities.
‘Ah…’
The light, which allowed not even a shadow, was undoubtedly very similar to the realm I had seen in the dream of the White Giant.
In the blinding flash, I could feel it.
The overwhelming force of a massive being emanating from within that light was pressing down on the entire Mini Reaper Garden.
It was truly the size of a Black Giant!
And, as if responding to that light, a massive hand emerged from the remains of the Black Giant.
It was undoubtedly the enormous hand of the Black Giant, which had once been shattered.
Instinctively, it reached toward the sky, as if it were originally one body.
It looked as though it was trying to grab the light in the sky.
‘…’
I clenched my teeth and tried to rise from my place to stop it, but with both arms lost and my chest hollow, it was beyond my ability.
The two giants, resembling twins, moved toward each other.
And at the moment the pure white light descending from the sky met the abyssal darkness rising from the earth, the world began to distort.
Boom-!
An indescribable vibration struck the Mini Reaper Garden.
It wasn’t a physical shockwave; it was something more fundamental.
The already ravaged garden shook as though it would shatter into pieces under the impact.
The ground, made of marshmallow-like earth, split deeply, and the canopy that decorated the sky was torn to shreds.
I stood unsteadily, both arms severed, watching that scene.
The Black Giant and the White Giant…
No, they could no longer be called by those names.
One of the statues I had seen in the Jade Temple James was investigating.
The black and white were confusedly mixed, but never forming a single color, an outer presence.
If I were to give it a name now, it would be the ‘Black-and-White Outer Presence.’
The vibrations shaking the ground continued to intensify.
The force emitted by the Black-and-White Outer Presence had already far surpassed that of the Black Giant.
The black and white mixed chaotically, creating an illusion that the place itself was constantly shifting.
But strangely, no matter how much it mixed, it never appeared ‘gray.’
And finally, when the force reached its critical point.
A blinding flash swallowed the world.
In an instant, everything was dyed pure white.
It was as though all the colors of the world were erased.
Just like the realm of the White Giant.
And as I felt my consciousness melting into that light, I lost my mind.
The courtyard of Sehee Research Institute, with grass spread densely and marshmallow laid in the center.
People gathered in the courtyard, filled with the scent of toasted marshmallows, sitting closely together, gazing into a mirror made of water.
James was standing a little further away, watching his favorite Reaper and the mirror.
It was obvious from the reflection in the water mirror that the battle was nearing its end, with the Gray Reaper victorious.
The Black Giant had been shattered, and the Gray Reaper had survived.
‘Mom won!’
‘Mom is strong!’
The Mini Reapers, who had stayed behind to protect humans, giggled with joy. They had been the children who were struggling to help the Ghoul Reapers just moments ago, unable to assist directly.
And just as complete victory was about to arrive.
A blinding white light burst forth from the water mirror, so intense that it became impossible to open one’s eyes.
In that moment, the water mirror disappeared with a ‘thunk’ sound.
‘?’
The people were filled with puzzled expressions.
At the same time, the Golden Reaper sitting on James’ palm stared blankly at the sky.
Then, it smiled with a sad expression, slowly waving its hand from side to side towards James.
‘Sorry. Goodbye.’
Leaving behind an unspoken will that humans could not hear, the Golden Reaper collapsed onto James’ palm.
Like a doll whose power had been cut off.
Thump.
At that signal, the Mini Reapers in Sehee Research Institute’s courtyard began to collapse, as if fainting.
‘!!!’
James felt something unusual and lifted his head, but…
As soon as he raised his head, he forgot why he had done so.
“???”
“Why did we come to Korea again?”
“We flew from Japan to Korea, but I can’t remember why…”
The courtyard was as confused as James was.
‘…’
Strangely, the courtyard was filled with the sweet smell of marshmallows.
It was a smell that was hard to find in the courtyard of a regular research institute.
James, feeling that, made a serious expression.
‘Something’s wrong.’
Like everyone else, James was confused and couldn’t remember why he had come to Sehee Research Institute.
And strangely, he felt that it was ‘natural’ to feel this way, so he clenched his teeth.
It couldn’t be.
James was always busy, so it wouldn’t make sense for him to come to Sehee Research Institute without any reason.
Moreover, if so many people were feeling this sense of discomfort, it would make sense to think that there was an object-like influence at play.
‘What exactly did we come here for? And what object is causing this?’
But, while James was still trying to figure it out, most of the people had already begun to scatter from the courtyard.
In the courtyard, where the people had left, only the white, unidentified lumps remained.
James felt they had once had color, but had faded.
Looking at them made him feel incredibly sad.
Without any particular reason, that thought came to him.
When he opened his hand, which had been clenched in thought, there was a white lump in his grasp.
Bleached white.
Slowly vaporizing.
A small, pitiful lump.
James strangely felt that it was something meaningless, but he slowly shook his head and forcibly put it in his pocket.
Clutching his reason, James carefully stored the white lump in his pocket.
It was an object vaporizing, so it would disappear eventually, and the conclusion was based on the calculation that he couldn’t trust his own emotions.
Only one person remained in the courtyard as James stepped out, walking around with a confused expression.
“■■, where are you?”
It was a female researcher, looking as if she didn’t even know who she was looking for.
Though it caught his attention, James deliberately ignored her.
He needed to restore the communication network connecting the broken world as quickly as possible.
He was always busy, so there was no time to waste on anything else.
I walked through the endlessly stretching white space.
In this infinite white world, which swallowed even the sound of footsteps, I moved slowly.
In this space with no beginning or end, I couldn’t even tell where I was headed.
The distinction between up and down, front and back, was meaningless.
It was a world ruled by white.
This strange yet familiar space.
Yes, this was the realm of the White Giant.
The overwhelming pure white world I had seen in my dream.
As soon as that thought came to me, I felt the changes occurring in my body.
My body was slowly vaporizing.
Just like snow melting into vapor and disappearing, my existence was blending into this white space.
And with that, my skin was gradually whitening, as if it were being bleached.
‘This can’t be…’
My will echoed hollowly within this pure white space.
How could I fall into this realm without being able to resist?
Such an absurd thing must surely be a form of mental contamination, but no matter how hard I tried to regain my senses, I couldn’t escape this white world.
So I walked.
Endlessly, endlessly, I walked.
Not knowing where I was headed, I just moved forward.
In this sterile world, my instincts rang a warning.
I needed to hurry, to move as fast as I could, to wake up before it became irreversible.
What would be irreversible?
I couldn’t even understand that.
But strangely, my heart became anxious, and I quickened my pace.
The sensations in my body were gradually fading away, and the same white scenery made it difficult to tell if I was even really moving forward.
Yet I kept walking.
No, I believed I was walking out.
And at the end of that space, a color suddenly appeared.
Blue.
Like a lighthouse in this pure white sea, a defining color.
It was like a drop of ink falling into the infinite white.
The dot grew closer, and eventually took the form of a girl.
Her skin, bleached white, contrasted sharply with her hair, which retained a vivid blue color.
She slowly turned her head to look at me.
And as if she had been waiting for me all along, she smiled.
“Finally, we meet.”
