Seoul Object Story - Chapter 433 Oku

After destroying the lamp with firewood as if it were a repetitive task, I patted the head of the Black Grim Reaper, who had informed me of the lamp’s location, praising him.

“You found the lamp. Good job.”

The Black Grim Reaper smiled happily, chuckling.

“How many lamps did you scatter across Earth?”

Meanwhile, I was getting a little tired of the seemingly endless lamp destruction work.

As I continued to scratch the Black Grim Reaper’s head, I teleported to the next Mini Grim Reaper.

The place I arrived at was an electronic cigarette shop in a Korean city.

There, a baby Golden Grim Reaper waved at me.

“Mom!”

A lamp in a place like this?

I had doubts, but I asked the Golden Grim Reaper about the lamp’s location.

“This one!”

The Golden Grim Reaper pointed to an ordinary electronic cigarette.

“?”

This Golden Grim Reaper insisted that the cigarette, with its smoke, was a lamp because it was harmful and tempted people.

Of course, I turned this oddly logical baby Golden Grim Reaper into a dandelion.

“No!!”

Though there were many lamps where Mini Grim Reapers called me, there were just as many ridiculous ones like this.

It wasn’t species discrimination, but mainly the Golden Grim Reapers.

Though sometimes, other Mini Grim Reapers would act similarly, so I couldn’t help but think it was unavoidable.

Since it was something I couldn’t avoid, I decided to think of it as a break while tormenting Mini Grim Reapers.

I gave the dandelion-shaped Golden Grim Reaper’s belly a light pat, then moved on to the next Mini Grim Reaper.

I arrived at a charmingly decorated, rather spacious room.

From the looks of it, it seemed to be a child’s room.

“Is there a lamp here?”

Turning my gaze, I saw the Black Grim Reaper sitting with a gloomy expression, pulling on a lamp.

Next to the Black Grim Reaper was a bed, and on that bed, a girl was holding an antique lamp tightly.

“No… I can’t….”

The girl, who seemed almost unconscious, kept murmuring as if she wouldn’t let the Black Grim Reaper take the lamp away from her.

Though the language was unfamiliar, her words were filled with such intense emotion that I could easily understand her meaning.

The Black Grim Reaper looked up at me with a sad expression.

“Mom, the human is hurting…”

Hmm.

Looking down, I saw that the girl was slowly dying.

It was as if she had undergone an organ transplant, with not a single healthy organ left—everything had been eaten away.

Yet, there were no surgical scars, so it was clear that the lamp was involved in this.

Moreover, I could see the traces of powerful mental contamination, meaning that even if the hospital ran tests, they wouldn’t find any issues.

“If this isn’t here, my dad will die…”

Hearing the girl’s intense will, I traced the flow of power emanating from the lamp.

Thump. Thump.

A big, spacious, and nice house.

Inside, there were many employees, and the house was meticulously maintained.

But because it was a lamp-infested house, it had an eerily sterile vibe.

The place I arrived at was a messy study filled with papers and books scattered everywhere.

On one wall, there were numerous newspaper articles written in English.

I pieced together the readable words, which seemed to be about objects around the world, all related to the kind of objects like lamps—ones that twisted people’s wishes.

“Was he researching the lamp?”

In the corner of the room sat a man in a chair.

He looked like a cancer patient whose body had been ravaged by the disease, with his condition deteriorating drastically.

But unlike cancer cells, it was objects that had settled into the man’s body.

[The object of contracts, the demon of contracts, the man of the lamp…]

[I lost. I lost, so please…]

The man muttered in the object language while gripping his head with both hands.

Seemingly out of his mind, the man didn’t notice me as I walked up to him.

Scattered in front of him were papers scribbled with the object language, almost like the ramblings of a madman. I picked one up and began to read.

<No, it was definitely a mistake to have tried researching the man of the lamp.>

I picked up paper after paper and continued reading in the object language.

The papers were filled with the man’s regrets.

The story of the man who started researching after discovering the lamp that grants wishes.

[“The man of the lamp is a being bound by contracts.” When I concluded that, he came to me.]

One day, suddenly, the man of the lamp appeared and offered a contract to stop the research, promising a reward if he complied.

The story of how his deteriorating body unexpectedly healed.

The story continued with him regretting the delay in realizing that his daughter had been using the lamp to treat him.

The final part of the paper ended with those words written in object language.

I placed the papers back on the floor and looked at the man.

Despite his daughter’s sacrifice, the man was dying.

Thanks to his daughter’s wish, he had been cured of even the smallest illnesses, but it was still the lamp’s doing.

The man, whose body had transformed mostly into an object, was slowly dying, listening to the whispers of the red external news.

Just like the Pudding Grim Reaper who resisted the whispers.

“Hmph.”

I began to burn the papers, blueprints, and remnants of the lamp with firewood.

As I did, the father and daughter, though somewhat pale, peacefully fell asleep with expressions that seemed freed from their curse.

And then, I burned the lamp that had been in the girl’s arms.

Seeing what the man of the lamp had done, I wondered if he had been an even greater threat than I had imagined.

[The man of the lamp is a being bound by contracts.]

I stored the research results the man left behind in my mind.

James Tower, located on the outskirts of Songpa District.

Step. Step.

James walked slowly down the corridor inside the tower.

‘…’

The atmosphere of James Research Institute was generally downcast.

Everyone was working just as hard as before, but the inside of the tower was filled with a heavy, dreary feeling.

The disappearance of the Golden Horn Grim Reaper had a significant impact.

Employees with different colored attached Grim Reapers were walking cautiously.

“The Golden Grim Reapers need to come back soon…”

James thought, as he opened the door to his office.

Although it was just one small Golden Grim Reaper that had disappeared, the office felt strangely empty to James.

As he sat down, new reports came in.

Opening the Black Planet report, he saw a photo of a large black planet’s surface, with a red ring spreading across it.

The report mentioned that the phenomenon looked like a wildfire, burning the surface of the Black Planet extensively.

It was likely related to traces of life or objects on the Black Planet.

Though the traces were too small to see with the naked eye, they were certainly significant.

Calculating the size of the Black Planet, the small fiery ring seemed to be a sign of a massive flame that could cover all of Seoul.

“Could this be related to the disappearance of the Red Grim Reapers?”

James thought to himself as he opened the next report.

The Mini Grim Reaper observation report introduced new habits of Mini Grim Reapers.

It seemed that whenever something was burned, Mini Grim Reapers would appear.

There had been an increase in sightings of Mini Grim Reapers whenever people smoked or burned things, especially with cigarettes.

The institute had conducted an experiment to summon Mini Grim Reapers, and the results were written in the report.

When they experimented with burning plastic that produced a strong, acrid smoke, the Black Grim Reaper suddenly appeared.

Even after repeating the experiment several times, the Black Grim Reaper kept showing up. After more than ten repetitions, the Black Grim Reaper started attacking the experimenter, and the report ended there.

“Is the Gray Grim Reaper up to something?”

James thought that the sudden preference for smoke was unlikely.

But since the Golden Grim Reaper was missing, James couldn’t think clearly.

Turning his head tiredly, he saw a small Goby sitting where the Golden Grim Reaper usually sat.

The White Goby left behind by the Golden Grim Reaper.

Whenever people saw the White Goby, they would sigh, so perhaps that’s why the Gobies had turned golden, but it hadn’t made much difference.

James slowly drank hot chocolate, wishing for the Golden Grim Reaper’s return.

I had traveled to many places at the call of the Mini Grim Reapers.

There were indeed many lamps.

And wherever the lamps were, there was always misfortune and death.

It was as though the lamp desired the extinction of humanity.

I sat on the marshmallow plains, waiting for a call, passing the time.