Seoul Object Story
Chapter 256: The Blessing of the Stars (3)

The time when his little sister was alive.

For the man at that time, the blessing of the stars was truly a blessing.

Before the blessing, one could encounter Objects just walking down the street.

Objects would suddenly pop out even in an empty house, so it was truly a blessing.

Even the somewhat ambiguous “choice of the stars” was a blessing to the man.

The reason was extremely personal.

He thought the choice of the stars was a blessing bestowed upon his little sister.

He had a little sister who was very timid, avoided people, and couldn’t go outside.

But after receiving the “choice of the stars,” all those symptoms disappeared.

It was truly a miracle.

It was worthy of being called a blessing.

There were rumors that all people who received the “choice of the stars” became antisocial, selfish, destructive, and hedonistic.

In reality, most of the “chosen ones” gravitated towards professions that ordinary people wouldn’t touch, like contract killing.

Rumors were rampant that everyone who received the “choice of the stars” became a completely different person, as if they had changed.

But at least the man’s little sister seemed to be an exception.

His sister was still his kind and gentle little sister.

She had just gained a bit of courage.

And his powerless little sister, who had been afraid of everything in the world, had just gained a dream.

“Brother! Someday, I want to leave this city and travel to other countries.”

It was a dream she would speak of habitually.

Of course, the man would just smile vaguely and let it pass.

Leaving southern Italy was absolutely impossible as long as the blessing of the stars existed.

And the man feared the disappearance of the blessing of the stars, the shattering of this dream-like happiness.

But.

Was the dream destined to break?

The moment he saw his little sister return home covered in blood, the daily life full of blessings became a mess.

It still felt like that moment was stuck to his retina.

Strangely, all those wounds were self-inflicted by his sister.

And his sister, who seemed to be trying to say something as she mumbled, turned blue and disappeared.

What on earth were you trying to say?

To find that answer, he had plunged into contract work, tracing his sister’s footsteps, but still hadn’t found the answer.

All he had learned was that his sister had been chasing the source of the “blessing of the stars” until just before her death.

Though there were still no clues, he felt that his sister’s death was somehow related to the “blessing of the stars” itself.

“…”

The man slowly began to wake from his light sleep, feeling something soft stroking his eyes.

Purple visible in his blurry vision, and a shadow wriggling and moving.

Though blurry, it looked as if his sister had returned, and he tried to call her name, but there was no response.

“!”

Something’s strange.

Fully awakened by the sense of discomfort, the man startled, grabbed the gun he kept at his bedside, and aimed it at the unidentified something before his eyes.

“What are you?”

Is it an Object?

It was an Object that couldn’t possibly be seen in this place blessed by the stars, but there was no other way to describe it.

Smaller than a palm.

Purple skin.

A shadow moving as if alive.

This uninvited guest in the form of an Object was wrapped in shadows like a cloak, slightly turning its head to look at the man.

But its posture full of bravado and eyes full of affection seemed a bit mismatched.

The Golden Reaper tilted its head at the very old clothes mixed with black and white.

Object?

It was an old garment imbued with some mysterious energy, but since it wasn’t particularly beneficial or harmful to humans, the Golden Reaper quickly lost interest and rushed to Yerin.

Yerin’s house, which had been waiting for Golden Reapers to come play, was filled with all kinds of toys that popped out, from small trampolines to things that Golden Reapers would like.

In fact, Yerin had wanted to bring these into Sehee Research Institute for a long time, but there was a limit to sneaking things in, so they had all remained at home.

As they played excitedly like this, time passed 10 PM before they knew it.

Then the Golden Reapers, as if extremely sleepy, started shaking their heads and crawling to cling to Yerin’s body one by one.

As sleepiness spread like a contagious yawn, Yerin instantly became like a Christmas tree.

A Golden Reaper tree with Golden Reapers clinging all over her body!

“I wish Reaper was here too…”

How nice it would be to take a picture of everyone wearing water deer pajamas, sleeping soundly in her room.

Thinking this as she started preparing for bed, a Golden Reaper clinging to Yerin’s cheek woke up, rubbing its eyes as if very sleepy.

“Oh, did I wake you? I’m sorry.”

Yerin apologized, thinking she had woken it up, but the Golden Reaper was just reacting to the wish Yerin had briefly let slip.

Need Mother?

The Golden Reaper, tilting its head and projecting its will like that, began to emit a soft light from its antenna, starting to call for Mother.

The Golden Reaper that called for Mother stared at Yerin’s eyes, grinned broadly, then buried its face in Yerin’s cheek and fell asleep again.

“Huh? Why are they doing this?”

As one’s antenna started glowing, all the Golden Reapers clinging to Yerin’s body began to softly blink their antennae.

Did I make a mistake?

In that very bewildered moment.

A Gray Reaper with a very displeased expression suddenly appeared out of thin air in front of Yerin’s eyes.

“Reaper suddenly in front of my eyes?”

Yerin, who looked very perplexed, instantly smiled brightly like a child receiving a Christmas present.

In the containment room of Sehee Research Institute, past 10 PM when all the Golden Reapers had fallen asleep.

I was comfortably lying on the bed in the dimly lit containment room, watching TV.

Mother…

Good…

Around me, sleeping Golden Reapers and Black Reapers were annoyingly clinging to me, sleep-talking.

If they’re going to cling, why don’t they make an attached human and cling to them, instead of bothering me every time?

Normally, I would have peeled them off one by one and thrown them out of the bed, but I decided to leave them be.

The Golden Reapers still liked me very much, but their attitude seemed to have changed a bit, so I decided to start a “Kind Mother Week”.

The duration of “Kind Mother Week” would be until the Golden Reapers regained their innocence of not questioning what I say!

As I made up my mind like this, a small will began to be transmitted to me.

Mother.

Need you.

It was a faint will that seemed like it would break at any moment, but there were a great many of them.

What on earth is going on?

Thinking it might be some big incident, I teleported, but what I found was a scene completely different from what I expected.

Yerin, who seemed very surprised.

Golden Reapers wearing mini water deer pajamas, calling for me in their sleep.

A situation that clearly didn’t seem urgent.

….

It’s not an emergency, so I should go back.

But no sooner had I thought that than the Golden Reapers, too sleepy to open their eyes properly, started rushing towards me.

It’s Mother!

Too sleepy to run properly, they kept rolling over, but the Golden Reapers stubbornly started clinging to my body.

Normally, I would have spun like a possessed top and shaken them all off…

But because it was “Kind Mother Week”, I couldn’t bring myself to do that.

As I stood there hesitating, Yerin rushed over to me.

“It’s Reaper! You came to join the pajama party, right?”

In Yerin’s hands was a stuffy water deer pajama that would cover most of my body.

Mother wear pajamas too!

Motherrr.

Perhaps because they were sleepy, the Golden Reapers were whining unlike usual.

Yerin, emitting emotions of expectation and happiness.

Plus, it was “Kind Mother Week”.

I couldn’t bring myself to go back and had no choice but to wear the water deer pajama.

Sniff sniff.

Hmm.

The man was walking down the night street, making a slightly displeased humming sound.

Inside the coat the man was looking down at, a small purple face was looking up at the man’s face.

There’s no solution.

The purple Object that suddenly appeared in front of the man just couldn’t be shaken off.

It was fine even when shot with a gun, and no matter how quickly he ran away, it followed as if teleporting.

A small purple face.

Actions full of bravado.

Eyes that sparkle when he puts a cigarette in his mouth or takes out a gun.

Moreover, perhaps because it had quite powerful mental pollution, lately these actions were even starting to feel a bit cute.

Since it wasn’t particularly harmful, he almost wondered if it might be his sister’s reincarnation.

His sister liked purple, and after receiving the “choice of the stars” she could handle shadows, so it felt even more like that.

Since he couldn’t shake it off anyway and it didn’t seem to be a hindrance, the man had packed his equipment and headed out.

The man slowly walked through the back alleys that had become very dangerous after the “blessing of the stars”.

A nasty place where it felt like someone was watching from somewhere, though it seemed devoid of people.

The man entered a shabby shop located deep in such a back alley.

“You’ve come, gunman.”

An old man with white hair greeted the man.

The old man, hiding his white hair under a large hat, was slowly reading a newspaper without even glancing at the man.

As the man slumped down on a counter stool, the old man just rolled his eyes to look at the man and said:

“This time too?”

“Yeah.”

The old man’s question without context and the answer.

The Purple Reaper’s eyes began to sparkle even more at this exchange that seemed to hide something.

The old man was a member of the cell-structured organization ‘Blue’, playing the role of bringing jobs to the man.

He was also an old man who was helping the man little by little as he investigated his sister’s death.

Whenever asked why he was helping, he was a somewhat suspicious old man who only said he had a ‘debt’.

“Tell them I’ll rest for about 3 weeks due to injury.”

As the man left these brief words and was about to leave the shop, a small voice was heard from behind.

“Be careful.”

The man briefly looked back at the old man, nodded slightly, and left the shop.

The old man wanted to say something more, but those words failed to become language and just scattered in his chest.

It was a story he couldn’t bring himself to say out loud, afraid someone might hear.

The Purple Reaper was jumping up and down excitedly in the shadows inside the man’s coat.

Cool!

As the Purple Reaper waved its hands, the shadows inside the coat began to expand wildly.

As if opening another dimension with the shadow as an entrance, it began to create a new space.

The shadow space thus completed looked exactly like the quiet shop where they had conversed with the old man.

The differences were that a white Hungry Ghost was sitting instead of the old man, and the Purple Reaper was there instead of the man.

The Purple Reaper stood in front of the door and projected its will without even turning its head back.

Tell them I’ll rest for about 3 weeks due to injury.

Then a line of dialogue appeared above the Hungry Ghost’s head.

The Purple Reaper then just slightly turned its head to nod, dramatically swished its cloak, and walked out of the shop.

At the same time, the stage made of shadows disappeared like bubbles.

Cool!

The Purple Reaper was giggling and repeating Cool! over and over.