Seoul Object Story - Chapter 500 Oku

The lack of TV noise made the isolation room in the Sehee Research Institute unusually quiet, unlike usual.

The soft light emitted by the Mini Reapers bathed the room in warmth, and I lay on the plush bed, rolling around, lost in deep thought.

Normally, I would have been happily waiting for the snacks Ye-rin brings, enjoying my time, but today, my mind was uneasy.

The reason was simple.

I hadn’t solved the Black Giant’s disappearance case.

Strangely, though I didn’t feel overly anxious, I considered this case a significant one.

From a rational perspective, the disappearance of such a powerful corpse of the Black Giant was an enormous issue.

Just the Black Giant itself was enough, and even considering it as one of my weapons, it was important.

Well, it was too ominous a feeling, so I hadn’t used it in recent times, but now that it was gone, I felt disappointed, as if my last trump card had vanished.

I had diligently searched the Mini Reaper Garden for the missing Black Giant, but in the end, I couldn’t find it.

Even though I searched much more thoroughly than when I had wandered around to fill the emptiness, it was all for nothing.

It seemed that it had gone outside the garden.

The problem was that Earth had become so vast it was too troublesome to search through.

‘Too much of a hassle.’

I lay back on the bed, staring blankly at the ceiling.

The thought of searching that vast space… just thinking about it was a hassle.

Even if I searched it all, the likelihood of finding it was slim.

The massive presence of the Black Giant couldn’t just be hidden by being a little further away.

Yet, the fact that it couldn’t be found meant that the Black Giant was hiding in a space other than a typical one.

In other words, the Black Giant must be hiding in an isolated space like the Mini Reaper Garden or the Colorful Universe’s dome.

I briefly entertained the thought and checked inside the lead doll’s stomach through its ghostly state, but as expected, it was empty.

If the Black Giant had been swallowed, there would have been some kind of change—whether it became a super transcendent entity or gained much higher status.

But the lead doll was still as it always had been.

Lastly, I thought about splitting it open with spatial slicing, but I gave up after the Mini Reapers strongly opposed it.

Rolling around on the bed, I sighed silently.

Well, I wasn’t feeling overly anxious, so it should be fine…

I shook off the complex thoughts and turned my gaze to the table in the isolation room.

There, an unfamiliar doll Ye-rin had left behind caught my eye.

It was a doll I had never seen before, but surprisingly, it was modeled after the White Reaper.

The doll resembled the White Reaper, which I disliked, but for some strange reason, I quite liked it.

Its eyes made of black buttons.

The exposed seams of the stitching here and there.

It was quite similar, but upon closer inspection, there were many differences from the White Reaper, and I thought that perhaps it was those small details that made it so appealing.

But suddenly, I began to worry about Ye-rin.

I wondered if the White Reaper doll would sell well.

As seen from the terrarium case, the White Reaper was far less popular than the Mini Reapers.

With that worry in mind, I gave the White Reaper doll a light smack and then left the isolation room.

However, as soon as I entered the research institute’s hallway, a surprising scene unfolded.

The hallways were filled with White Reaper dolls on display, and even more surprising was the crowd of tourists passing by.

‘How is this possible?’

The tourists, one after another, were happily walking around, holding White Reaper dolls close to them.

It was an entirely incomprehensible scene.

I had thought no one would buy the White Reaper doll, but to my surprise, it was incredibly popular.

This was impossible.

“Kyuhihi.”

I heard a laugh from the side.

Turning my head, I saw the White Reaper happily watching the popularity of its own doll.

Seeing that smug expression made me somewhat annoyed.

I picked up the White Reaper and bit into it.

“Kyuh-hih-hih.”

The White Reaper’s cry echoed through the hallway of the research institute.

Thud, thud.

As I walked through the research institute, filled with White Reaper dolls, I saw the first Red Reaper running through the hallway.

Its usual cheerful expression was nowhere to be seen, replaced by a sharp, mismatched look as it dashed through the corridor.

It looked like a predator chasing its prey.

A strange expression, completely unlike the first Red Reaper.

‘What’s going on?’

Curious, I sent out a wave of energy, and the Red Reaper stopped briefly.

But even then, it seemed restless, as if doing an uneasy stationary run.

‘The Reaper has escaped!’

The Red Reaper’s response was simple, but its urgency was palpable.

And in its hurry, before the conversation could even finish, the Red Reaper dashed off down the hallway again.

Suddenly, my curiosity piqued, I moved in the direction the Red Reaper had come from.

And not long after, I encountered the scene I had expected.

Amidst the countless White Reaper dolls, the White Reaper was hiding.

It had cleverly concealed itself among the identical dolls, remaining still as if it were one of them on display.

But it couldn’t deceive my eyes.

Instantly recognizing the difference between the real White Reaper and the doll, I knew it was the fugitive the Red Reaper had been frantically searching for.

I quietly moved away before the White Reaper noticed me.

Then, I discreetly relayed the information to the Red Reaper.

‘The White Reaper is hiding among the doll displays!’

The Red Reaper’s expression brightened instantly upon hearing my words.

With the joy of discovering the location of a long-sought treasure, it eagerly dashed in the direction I had pointed.

Watching that, a small smile escaped me.

Hehe.

In the midst of a dense jungle, an imposing mansion stood, as if it had popped out of a fantasy world.

The building, out of place against the rough nature, seemed as if it had teleported from another dimension, but the sounds coming from inside were warm and lively.

“Sister… I was really worried…”

The younger sister began speaking in a voice mixed with concern and relief. Her gaze was directed at the tattoo-covered alchemist sitting across from her.

Her tone was scolding, but the affection in her voice was undeniable.

The alchemist could only give a sheepish smile, as if there were no words left to say.

Well, it was only natural.

The place she and the Master Reaper had suddenly left without a word was the very heart of the “Foreign Entity Incident,” a place where no one was supposed to survive.

A place that was said to have no survivors at all.

But fortunately, the alchemist wasn’t human but an object.

Thanks to being part of the Mini Reaper Garden, she had safely revived and returned to her family.

While the alchemist and her younger sister were enjoying their reunion, White Reapers were training nearby.

“Kyah!”

In the vicinity of where the White Reapers were training, the large Master Reaper and the small bleach-blond Reaper were standing face to face.

A tense atmosphere hung between the two.

“Kyuh!” [Alchemist’s Shield!]

From the Master Reaper’s body, pure white flames rose.

The glow, as if condensed moonlight, seemed to purify the very air around it.

Soon after, the same light began to emanate from the small body of the bleach-blond Reaper.

‘Maaa!’

With a cry imbued with the bleach-blond Reaper’s will, the white flames burned even brighter.

The alchemist’s eyes were filled with awe.

The bleach-blond Reaper, mimicking the Master Reaper’s alchemy, looked like a long-time master and apprentice.

But they had only met recently.

“Impressive.”

The tattooed alchemist muttered unconsciously as he watched the scene.

Just by watching, the bleach-blond Reaper had clumsily followed along with alchemy, and with only a little explanation, the essence of alchemy was grasped.

It was truly an amazing talent for alchemy.

At first, the alchemist thought this might be a common trait of Mini Reapers.

But that thought was quickly dismissed.

‘Hehe.’

At the sound of a playful laugh from afar, the Golden Reapers were seen dipping alchemy samples into water, playing with clay.

It seemed like they had lost interest in studying alchemy, just like the bleach-blond Reaper.

The Master Reaper said that the bleach-blond Reaper’s talent surpassed the alchemist who created him.

And the Master Reaper added something incomprehensible about the bleach-blond Reaper’s talent.

With that kind of talent, the alchemist’s group, which had once desperately sought a god, might not have been first, but could have been second.

The tattooed alchemist and the Master Reaper couldn’t fully understand due to the differences in their time, but they could catch the meaning that it was an extraordinary level.

And it meant that such talent couldn’t even be the first.

‘I need to work harder.’

The alchemist felt that she had no choice but to push forward to bridge the gap.

To create the White Guardian, which was her dream.

Puff. Puff.

The mannequin book, made of plaster, was running, panting.

Since it had already become part of the book, there shouldn’t have been any need for it to breathe.

Yet, it felt strangely breathless.

Numerous fellow mannequins were being shattered horribly, but it deliberately turned its gaze away.

‘Harmful object!’

Tiny golden monsters were attacking the theme park.

These golden books were small and nimble like cockroaches.

They emitted a faint light as if marking their positions, terrible cockroaches.

What was even worse was that these cockroaches were powerful enough to destroy buildings.

It was truly terrifying.

The mannequin book hid behind a storage room in the food court and closed the door.

The soft golden light that had been illuminating the surroundings disappeared, and an endless darkness settled in.

Although I had always hated the dark since my human days, strangely, it brought me comfort now.

[This is impossible. Impossible. Impossible.]

The man, who had become a book by offering countless humans as sacrifices to survive in a world collapsing due to Evolution Liquid, couldn’t die so easily.

To think that such a tragic incident occurred as soon as the theme park, wandering to escape the Evolution Liquid, settled on the ground…

[Could it be…]

Could this world be inhabited by those golden monsters?

If that were true, it was truly a horrifying thought.

As I took a deep breath, I began to feel my mind calming down.

It was like the golden light from the sun I had once watched as a human.

[!!!]

The mannequin felt something odd.

The soft golden light spread across the warehouse filled with darkness.

Creak.

Turning my head slowly toward the light like a poorly greased mannequin, there was a monster.

A small face protruding roundly from the wall.