Seoul Object Story

Step-! Step-!

After being harassed in the Seoah Unnie’s office, I left the office with heavy steps and saw the sky was already dark.

“Oh, it’s night already.”

The courtyard which I could see from the window in the hallway in front of Seoah Unnie’s office was now a completely dark with no trace of sunlight left.

How can she harass me this much for just a few minor issues?!

Seoah Unnie was so strict.

Starting with the case of the first discovery report of the ‘Black Reaper’ that was omitted, all sorts of cases where reports had been missed so far came out.

In particular, I thought no one knew about the ‘Sugar Flamingo’, so how did she know that I had discovered it?

But today, Seoah Unnie’s nagging was much gentler than before.

Sehee Unnie said that Seoah Unnie had become kinder because her expression had become softer and she smiled more, that was definitely true.

It felt like she had become more understanding and considerate of others.

“Ugh.”

While I was loosening up my stiff body, a cute shadow loomed in the hallway of the research institute.

Plop-! Plop-!

The shadow, which was only about half the size of an adult, slowly walked down the hallway with its unique gait while staggering.

Reaper had returned?

Even though the gait was a little strange, the silhouette looked exactly like Reaper.

“Reaper?”

I quickened my pace and ran down the hallway to catch it. However, when I found it again, what I found was a child who was a little different from what I expected.

It was not Reaper but the Black Reaper!

With the soft moonlight as the background, the Black Reapers spread out from the courtyard, filling the hallway and walking around cutely.

“Woah!”

The Black Reapers of various sizes walked around, bumping into each other, and rolling around, laughing brightly.

The Black Reapers were gathered together in groups of large and small, like in the Colosseum.

From the smallest, which looked like the combination of two Black Reapers with height twice as big as the normal Black Reaper, to large Black Reapers as big as Gray Reaper and various sizes of Black Reapers!

The most popular size was about 1m, the same size as the Gray Reapers. Unlike in the Colosseum, they had no shared purpose and were not striving to reach a common goal, so they quickly fell and rolled around.

When they fell, the Black Reapers lost their combined form and scattered into their normal palm-sized self.

The Black Reapers scattered and spread out on the floor were laughing brightly and bickered with each other, having so much fun.

Naturally, I was drawn to their joyful laughter and laughed along.

With a smile on my face, I was taking pictures of the Black Reapers’ cute procession from the courtyard with my phone. However, before long, one Black Reaper saw me and started walking toward me.

The Black Reapers, which were twice the size of the normal Black Reaper, looked at me and opened their hands wide. Then, they opened their small palms wide and squeaked.

Seeing the gesture that seemed to ask for a hug, I carefully lifted the Black Reaper with my hand.

It was warm.

Moreover, it felt heavier than the original tiny mini reapers, so I felt a sense of satisfaction for some reason.

The Black Reaper filled my palm and felt heavy, which made me appreciate its cute size even more.

When I placed the Black Reaper on my palm and rubbed its cheek, the Black Reaper revealed its cute shark teeth in delight.

The Black Reaper then grabbed my finger and acted cute. It either rubbed it on its cheek, or bit it gently with its cute shark teeth.

Squeak-!

As I stroked the Black Reaper, the Reaper let out a satisfied sound which sounded like a baby bird squeak.

When I moved my gaze away from it and looked away, I could see all the Black Reapers who were playing in the hallway looking at me.

I quickly smiled and spread my arms wide.

“Come here, everyone!”

Then, the Black Reapers came rushing to me and turned me into a Black Reaper cocoon.

*********As I approached the brazier in the underground temple I arrived at thanks to the guidance from the Orange Moon, the orange pearl floating above the brazier began to emit a soft light.

The light emitted from the pearl and the light coming down from the mosaic decorating the ceiling combined and softly illuminated the dark interior of the underground temple.

However, as the light that illuminated the place grew stronger, the thick pillars of the temple, which were placed closely together, began to cast dark shadows all around the place.

Looking at the lonely brazier that had long since been turned off and the orange pearl floating above it, its original appearance suddenly appeared in my mind.

White fire rose from the brazier as if it was going to engulf the ceiling while the orange pearl looked down at its surroundings from inside the fire.

However, the reality was completely different.

The brazier had no fire whatsoever and the orange pearl had lost its original appearance.

The pearl floating above the brazier had a rough surface that looked like concrete, it was black and contaminated. Moreover, black mucus dripped from the polluted pearl with sloshing sound.

While looking at the pearl that was slowly vibrating as if in pain, I checked its killing condition.

< Depletion of regenerative power. >

The killing condition of the Orange Moon was exactly the same as the killing condition of the Hungry Ghost subspecies.

Well, those who were contaminated with black mucus certainly had simple killing conditions.

Splash-! Splash-!

As soon as I checked its killing condition, the sound of sticky mud began to resonate inside the temple. Black fishes, which had already lost their ability to fly, crawled out from the shadow of the temple pillars and were slowly walking with ugly legs.

The shape of the legs looked like human legs. However, it was covered in hair and extremely swollen like a drowned corpse.

With those disgusting legs attached to them, the cute Cloud Fishes looked extremely ugly.

Whoosh-!

While looking at the approaching Cloud Fishes which had black mucus dripping from their mouths, I stretched one of my hands forward. The moment my right hand turned black, I grabbed the space hard.

Then, a black sphere was created in the air, sucking and erasing everything inside the temple.

The mosaic painting attached to the ceiling.

The thick pillars of the temple.

The broken stone statue of the Black Reaper.

The unlit brazier.

Black Cloud Fishes that appeared from the shadows.

And even the pearl that was dripping black mucus.

When I opened my clenched hand, the black sphere disappeared and nothing remained inside the temple. Even the ceiling was sucked into the black sphere, letting soft moonlight descend from the sky into the underground temple through the gaping hole.

When I looked up at the sky from the completely collapsed underground temple, a silvery beam of light was shooting toward me like a spotlight.

Moreover, various moons were showing themselves in the sky above.

The Gray Moon, the Red Moon, the Blue Moon, the Navy Moon, and the Orange Moon that I couldn’t see yet feel.

Then, the wall of fog that surrounded the village like a castle wall began to lose its strength and disperse rapidly. At the same time, the Cloud Fishes living in the fog were seen spreading out in all directions of the sky.

The Cloud Fishes that had decorated the sky like the Milky Way were also gradually dispersing.

It was the end of the Cloud Fishes incident.

*********Late at night, numerous materials began to be transported to the Trinity First Research Institute. They were thick bulkheads designed for Object containment and construction materials.

The director of Trinity First Research Institute looked down from the tall office window of the director’s office as trucks continued to arrive without stopping.

[ Director. The materials are coming in as scheduled. ]

“Put the materials in the containers we prepared. We need to leave as soon as we confirm that the fog over Mount Odae has cleared up, so prepare thoroughly.”

[ Understood, Director. ]

The Director of Trinity First Research Institute put his cell phone in his pocket and slowly walked around the director’s office, checking the plan over and over again.

I’m worried.

The plan was perfect, and the Gray Reaper had been scratched from the list of dangerous factors, but the anxiety inside him still refused to go away.

However, the director tried to convince himself that the reason he was anxious was because he had no choice but to jump in without doing proper experiments or verification. It was inevitable since the Gray Reaper seemed to be collecting moons.

Even if proper research revealed that the evolution fluid was humanity’s hope, humanity would be finished without the moon.

That was why he had already completed preparations to establish a secret research institute in Mount Odae. He was doing it so carefully in order to make sure no one noticed it. Not even the media or the associations of each country.

In particular, he couldn’t let the ‘Gray Reaper’ who was always watching the news notice it.

Other research institutes thought that the ‘Gray Reaper’ was a simple beast, but based on the notes the director of Trinity Third Research Institute left behind, the director of the Trinity First Research Institute had a different take on the matter.

The Gray Reaper is an enemy of humanity with human-level intelligence.

The Gray Reaper was using that thinking ability to destroy humanity’s last hope, the ‘moons’ and the ‘evolution fluid.’

That was why he absolutely could not let the Gray Reaper find out. That was also the reason he made a plan to minimize the exposure they got from the other parties.

The plan was to block the evolution fluid from leaking out with a partition made of a material that was effective against the ‘evolution fluid’, and conduct research as quickly as possible in the secret research institute.

As soon as the neutralization of the orange moon was confirmed, they would rush and establish a research Institute there.

If they could just remove the harmful effects of the black mucus, humanity would be freed from the danger of the Objects forever.

That achievement would be his. Even thinking about it made the director smile brightly.

Thinking about the fruits he would reap in the future, the anxiety in the director’s heart gradually subsided.

[ Director. We have confirmed that the fog on Mount Odae has been neutralized. ]

The moment the director’s feeling became stable, the moment he had been waiting for was relayed through the radio.

“Go right away.”

The director, who gave his order through the radio, stood by the window and looked down at the leaving vehicles.

“The weather is nice.”

As he took his eyes off the containers leaving the Research Institute and looked up at the sky, the director saw a beautiful night sky. It was as if humanity was celebrating a new turning point.

A cloudless sky.

A few Cloud Fishes swimming gracefully in it.

And the yellow flames reflected on the wi…

“!”

The Director turned around in surprise, only to find the Gray Reaper looking at the notebook of the Director of the Trinity Third Research Institute on the desk with an indifferent expression.

Then, the Gray Reaper looked away from the notebook and looked straight at the director. Its expression was filled with annoyance and anger.

Clap-! Clap-!

Two claps.

Step-! Step-! Step-!

And three footsteps.

Then, everything began to crumble.

Both the building and the director’s dream of greatness.