Seoul Object Story - Chapter 466 Oku

Yerin’s apartment, located on the outskirts of Songpa-gu.

The apartment was bathed in the warm light of the late afternoon sun, creating a cozy atmosphere.

Having returned to the Mini Reaper Garden, I stopped by Yerin’s apartment to enjoy the comfort of this familiar space.

Before I went to Yerin’s apartment, the issue of the purple-haired girl from the Black Planet crossed my mind for a brief moment, but I quickly shoved it to the back of my mind.

‘Well, I can just bring her to Earth tomorrow.’

Hehe.

“Reaper, do you want to try this too?”

Yerin shook a bag of snacks and offered it to me.

I comfortably leaned on her lap and slowly savored the crunchy snack.

Omnyomnyom.

Perhaps because no major incidents had occurred recently, the TV was showing programs that didn’t interest me much.

So, without realizing it, my gaze started to wander around this familiar space.

‘Not much has changed since before.’

Even though it had been quite some time since Yerin became a shut-in like me due to the Saintess Doll, her apartment was surprisingly neat.

It was the complete opposite of me, who couldn’t be bothered to clean and just left everything in disarray.

In my isolation room, without the help of the institute’s cleaning staff, it would quickly turn into a disaster.

‘Oh, right. Now there are Mini Reapers.’

Then, a sudden realization passed through my mind.

‘Now, my isolation room must be clean too.’ A small realization.

The Golden Reaper, walking around with tiny hands, tidying things up.

The Blue Reaper, instantly cleaning with magic.

The Purple Reaper, who hates messes intensely.

Even now, whenever crumbs from my snack fall to the floor, a Golden Reaper suddenly appears and quickly picks them up, dashing to the trash can.

‘Do the Golden Reapers take turns cleaning like a guard squad?’

As I lay nestled in Yerin’s embrace, I thought about this, while the Golden Reapers were using my body as a playground, crawling all over me.

They climbed up my arms, jumped over my shoulders, and eventually climbed up to my head, playing around until they bumped into each other and rolled off.

‘Ugh!’

Yerin chuckled quietly at the sight.

“It seems like the Golden Reapers really like Reapers the most.”

‘?’

Hearing such an absurd statement, my antennae involuntarily curled into a question mark shape.

Yerin tugged at my antennae, forcing them straight, and continued speaking.

“They don’t seem this desperately attached to other objects or people. It’s only to Reapers.”

Hmm, is that so?

When I’m in Yerin’s lap, I don’t throw them away, so they must be trying to attach themselves when they get the chance…

But before I could think too much about it, a news broadcast on the TV caught my attention.

[International logistics reached its highest level in 30 years.]

[In particular, air and maritime logistics, which had been severely impacted by the object incident, have seen dramatic recovery.]

[The dramatic recovery is largely attributed to the influence of the ‘Golden Reapers.’]

[The object-related incidents, which had been the biggest threat to maritime logistics, have recently decreased drastically, and major logistics companies have announced that they no longer consider objects to be a major risk.]

[In fact, the object-related incidents, which had made up the majority of total logistics losses, have virtually disappeared in the last few months.]

When I saw the news, Yerin smiled brightly and poked my cheek.

“It looks like it will be easier to travel abroad soon!”

Yerin said this, radiating happiness as she spoke with excitement.

‘Festival?’

‘Party?’

The Golden Reapers, startled by her emotions, tilted their heads, wondering if they were celebrating.

[Lastly, an overseas update.]

[The American Object Association has announced an important regulatory proposal today.]

[The association has decided to completely ban the practice of employing low-wage temporary workers in object research.]

[This decision is seen as a response to criticism that vulnerable workers have been recklessly recruited to work on dangerous object experiments that could threaten their lives.]

[The decision takes effect immediately, and strong sanctions will follow in case of violations.]

Reading the following news, I couldn’t help but feel quite surprised.

‘Does this mean they can finally eliminate temporary workers from the research institutes…?’

Every research institute had its own name for them, but these nominal employees or researchers who were called “temporary workers” had always existed.

In reality, they were the ones working on the frontlines, handling the most dangerous objects, and putting their lives at risk. Objects were incredibly dangerous for humans to handle, so these jobs had been necessary.

Whenever dangerous objects were involved, they couldn’t always risk using the high-level, ‘real’ researchers, so the temporary workers were used.

Of course, this could be considered a human rights issue, but it was a tolerated practice until now.

Perhaps the safety assured by the Mini Reapers had made it unnecessary to tolerate such practices anymore.

Since the American Object Association started this, temporary workers would likely disappear worldwide soon.

‘If I had been alive until now… I probably wouldn’t have been able to work in a research institute anymore.’

I nostalgically thought back to my human days as I absentmindedly watched the advertisements on TV.

Late afternoon, the rooftop of Sehee Research Institute was filled with the sweet scent of fish-shaped bread.

The Orange Crown Reaper smiled proudly as it looked down at its masterpiece.

It was no surprise, as the process had begun with obtaining the information about the world’s hottest chili peppers and actually growing the plant.

It was no easy task.

The Orange Crown Reaper poked at the completed fish-shaped bread with its finger.

It looked and felt just like an ordinary fish-shaped bread.

The sweet red bean and crispy dough fragrance tickled the nose.

It was obviously a regular fish-shaped bread, but inside it hid the taste of the world’s hottest chili pepper.

In fact, there was a possibility that the flavor could change, but the Orange Crown Reaper had prepared for such a situation.

If necessary, it even planned to manipulate the probabilities with the power of its Halo.

Luckily, it didn’t come to that.

Now, the only thing left was to deliver this special prank as a gift.

But handing it directly was impossible.

The residents of Songpa-gu, especially those at Sehee Research Institute, would never eat food handed to them by the Orange Crown Reaper.

‘Cheong’ might gladly eat it, but it wouldn’t be right to give it to the Attachment Human.

Plus, it wasn’t fun pranking someone who was willing to be deceived.

Also, it had to avoid the eyes of the other Mini Reapers.

If the other Mini Reapers saw the Orange Crown Reaper walking around with a bunch of fish-shaped bread…

Before long, the First Sword and the Reaper would appear to stop the prank.

But the Orange Crown Reaper had a plan.

With a mischievous smile, it took out a white paper box and carefully started filling it with fish-shaped bread.

It decorated the box with ribbons, as if wrapping a precious gift.

And like a Mini Reaper, it left its tiny handprint on the box.

Hehe.

The Orange Crown Reaper smiled with an expression resembling the Gray Reaper’s and chuckled.

A little later, beautifully wrapped gift boxes were placed all around Sehee Research Institute.

Beside the table with a plant, on the break room table, on the bench by the vending machine…

Like Santa Claus, it left one box at a time, without anyone noticing.

But inside those gifts was not happiness, but the Orange Crown Reaper’s prank.

Late afternoon, a small commotion was unfolding in a corner of Sehee Research Institute.

“Oh… what should we do? The Golden Reaper collapsed…!”

Just as a research institute employee was about to eat the fish-shaped bread in a white gift box, the Golden Reaper, sensing something suspicious, rushed in, took a bite of the bread, and collapsed as if dead.

The employee carefully lifted the limp Golden Reaper with both hands, but the Golden Reaper didn’t regain consciousness.

It looked like a wilted vegetable, and there was something that stirred the heart.

“Oh, I’ve seen something like this before. I think it collapsed the last time the Golden Reaper secretly licked my coffee.”

At that moment, a researcher began to share their own experience.

“Since then, every time the Golden Reaper followed me and watched me drink coffee, it gave me a look as if I were poisoning it. I couldn’t drink coffee anymore.”

This was a story about how the Golden Reaper would collapse when given coffee with more than two shots of espresso.

Hearing that, the employee who had opened the gift box hesitated, then took a small bite of the fish-shaped bread the Golden Reaper had bitten.

“!”

The horrible spiciness immediately hit.

Even though it was only a fraction of the amount, it was unbearable.

“Ah, it’s so spicy.”

The employee’s face turned bright red as they sweat profusely. Meanwhile, the Golden Reaper, who had collapsed, suddenly jumped up.

It then opened its mouth wide toward the sky with an extremely angry expression.

‘Spicy prank!’

‘White box!’

News of the Orange Crown Reaper’s prank attack on Sehee Research Institute spread like wildfire in the Golden Reaper network.

‘Orange Brother!’

‘Bad object!’

The Golden Reapers thoroughly searched the Sehee Research Institute and found all the gift boxes. They managed to catch the Orange Crown Reaper, who had been trying to escape.

A decision was made at the urgent Golden Reaper council.

‘Detchi form!’

Thus, the Orange Crown Reaper, who had gone too far with the prank, was turned into a Detchi by the Blue Idol Reaper and confined to the Mini Reaper Garden.

And at the entrance of Sehee Research Institute, a new warning sign was posted.

<Warning! The taste of the fish-shaped bread given by the Mini Reapers may differ significantly from the texture.>

<Example: What you chew is red bean paste, but the flavor is black pudding.>

Beneath the printed paper, a warning was hastily scribbled with a pen.