Seoul Object Story
Chapter 257: The Blessing of the Stars (4)

Late afternoon at Sehee Research Institute, before the sun had set.

In the institute’s inner courtyard, bathed in comfortably warm sunlight, researchers and mini Reapers were lounging about.

Researchers who had briefly stopped by the courtyard to take a break.

Mini Reapers eating the emotions and snacks given by these researchers.

In this peaceful courtyard, as always, a strangely shaped Object was emerging from the ground.

An anomaly that occurs anywhere humans are, regardless of location.

The natural occurrence of an Object.

?

And there was an Hungry Ghost Reaper closely observing this Object.

It’s not a mini Reaper.

It’s not an Hungry Ghost subspecies either.

A harmful Object? Ambiguous. It doesn’t seem to be that either.

It was an Object that emitted mental pollution while trying to deceive itself into thinking it was a Golden Reaper, like the fake Golden Reapers created by the yellow moon.

But the weak mental pollution this Object possessed couldn’t even deceive itself into thinking it was a Golden Reaper, and its appearance was quite different from a Golden Reaper.

Wriggling like a ghost covered in cloth.

A golden Object with a soft, pudding-like body.

It was reaching out its soft hands into the air, craving the researchers’ attention, but no one was paying any attention to this Object.

The Hungry Ghost Reaper poked the pudding-like Object, about the size of a palm, with its finger.

Who are you?

When the Hungry Ghost Reaper projected its will to ask, the golden Object turned its head and answered with its will.

I don’t know.

Perhaps because it was a newly born Object, it seemed to have no idea what it was.

Moreover, its form was unstably fluctuating according to the surrounding environment.

?

The Hungry Ghost Reaper was looking at this sight with curious eyes.

Unlike mini Reapers, this Object had no firewood in its heart.

Moreover, it wasn’t under the control of an owner like the Objects in the mini Reaper garden.

In such cases, they were all Objects harmful to humans to varying degrees, but this Object didn’t smell harmful at all.

The round-headed Object that had made the Sword of Light for Golden Reapers was like that too.

It had smelled slightly harmful, and that degree had gradually worsened.

!

When a researcher walked by with snacks, the golden Object reached out its small, wriggling hands, but the researcher passed by without even a glance.

Sad.

The golden Object melted, drooping its form like a Black Reaper.

Was it because it remembered its owner who, at some point, started refusing with a frightened “Ack, it’s Tantalos’ cooking!” every time it brought a beautifully crafted dessert with vivid finger shapes?

Seeing it craving human attention but not being rewarded, the Hungry Ghost Reaper somehow felt like helping.

Placing the melted golden Object on its palm, the Hungry Ghost Reaper conveyed its will.

I’ll help you.

First, we need to fix that melted form.

It needs to take a form at least similar to a mini Reaper.

The Hungry Ghost Reaper helped the Object on its palm take a form similar to a mini Reaper by kneading it this way and that.

The Hungry Ghost Reaper used precise swordsmanship and even flames that burn Objects to change the Object’s form.

Then it took it to the Magic Mirror in the courtyard to show its changed appearance.

!

The golden Object was staring at the mirror, truly delighted by its appearance that had become very similar to a mini Reaper.

It was truly the birth of a Golden Hungry Ghost Reaper.

It’s similar now!

Seeing the Golden Hungry Ghost Reaper giggling shyly, the Hungry Ghost Reaper smiled contentedly.

The Golden Hungry Ghost Reaper, having received this plastic surgery, was chosen by a certain researcher sooner than expected.

If you need help, call me with your will. I’ll come to help.

The Hungry Ghost Reaper sent its will as it watched the Golden Hungry Ghost Reaper moving further away from the courtyard.

The Golden Hungry Ghost Reaper waved its hand towards the Hungry Ghost Reaper with a very happy face, expressing its gratitude.

It was a somewhat special day in the Hungry Ghost Reaper’s daily life.

The man was hiding in a darkened hotel room, smoking a cigarette and looking down at the crowded street.

And beside him was the Purple Reaper, leaning against the wall and smoking a cigarette made of shadows.

It was even more exaggerated and pretentious than just imitating the man.

It was a posture that would naturally raise the question, ‘Can you even smoke a cigarette in that position?’, making the man smile slightly, just raising the corner of his mouth.

Then he reached out his finger and vigorously rubbed the Purple Reaper’s head.

Seeing the man smoking and smiling, the Purple Reaper, who had been trying to imitate the smile by just raising the corner of its mouth, stopped imitating and grinned broadly at the finger stroking its head.

The man carefully examined the street and muttered inwardly.

Another dead end?

The person the man was trying to find was someone who had posted something on a certain social media site.

The man opened his phone and checked a certain social media site.

It was an social media site post containing outrageous stories.

But a single line caught the man’s attention.

It seemed to describe how his sister died.

He had a clear intuition that there must be something to this.

And today, the man discovered evidence that further strengthened this intuition.

Definitely suspicious.

There were strangely many people from the Organization on the street.

In fact, it wouldn’t be strange to see them anywhere since the Organization carried out operations regardless of location, but the problem was the people walking around.

The problem was that a cleaner, who played a role similar to the Organization’s military police, had appeared.

There was definitely something.

Something important enough for the organization to send a cleaner.

It’s dangerous to stay here any longer. I should go back first.

I hope the old man has related materials.

After clearly memorizing the face of the Association’s cleaner Penguin, the man left the hotel room.

Late in the evening, as quitting time approached.

I had taken refuge in the Deputy Director’s office, avoiding the clinging Golden Reapers.

The Golden Reapers, realizing I wouldn’t throw them away, started clinging to me shouting Mom is kind!

Even though it was Kind Mom Week, it became too annoying, so I ended up running away.

They were clinging so much it was hard to move properly, putting Kind Mom Week at risk of early termination.

Turning my head, I saw Seoah sitting in front of a monitor with a Bud Reaper, intently observing something.

The monitor showed footage sent by the spirit camera installed in the sleep room.

If I were still a researcher, the spirit camera might have seemed fascinating, but now that I could just see spirits, it wasn’t that interesting.

On the screen, the mini Bud Reaper that had been only as big as a finger had grown rapidly, now just a head shorter than the Bud Reaper.

What on earth are they doing?

The Bud Reapers, who usually slept in someone’s arms or played mischievously together, were doing something I’d never seen before.

The big Bud Reaper was repeatedly pointing at someone with its finger while holding the mini Bud Reaper under its arm.

Then the small Bud Reaper would shake its head in refusal.

The Bud Reaper, seeming tired from the constant refusals, hugged the mini Bud Reaper and lay down on the pot.

Then it started kneading the mini Bud Reaper’s cheeks, which had puffed up like rice cakes.

Seeing this, Seoah, as if entranced, grabbed the Bud Reaper on her shoulder and pulled its chubby cheeks.

Then I suddenly wanted to try it too, so I approached Seoah and gently poked the Bud Reaper’s cheeks that looked about to burst.

If the Bud Reaper were as big as an Hungry Ghost Reaper, I’d want to bite those cheeks once.

During this, something started to change on the screen.

Poke poke.

The mini Bud Reaper started poking the big Bud Reaper’s side with its finger.

When the big Bud Reaper got up, the mini Bud Reaper was pointing at a certain researcher with its tiny finger.

Then the big Bud Reaper started emitting a soft navy light and gently waving its leaves, trying to get that researcher’s attention.

And when the researcher looked at it, it plucked off a fruit and held it out to the researcher.

As the researcher took the fruit as if entranced, the mini Bud Reaper climbed onto that researcher’s shoulder.

Oh. So that’s how it works?

It was the night when I and Seoah realized the principle of how Bud Reapers spread.

The man was slowly walking through a familiar back alley with the Purple Reaper perched on his shoulder.

He was heading towards the quiet shop run by the old man.

As he walked steadily, the Purple Reaper suddenly stood up on his shoulder as if startled.

Then it frantically pulled at the man’s collar with an urgent expression.

Sensing something was amiss, the man started running quickly through the quiet back alley.

As he approached the old man’s shop, the pungent smell of blood began to grow stronger.

The smell of blood.

At this ominous scent, the man’s expression hardened further as he drew his gun.

The old man’s shop he arrived at was completely wrecked.

A building with a large hole as if hit by a wrecking ball, looking like it might collapse at any moment.

The thick scent of blood wafting from inside.

As he slowly entered the shop through the hole, there was the old man’s corpse, horribly killed.

The moment the Purple Reaper saw this, it began to get extremely angry.

Its whole body turned black with shadows, and those shadows were bubbling as if boiling.

The old man’s corpse was completely crushed below the chest, as if hit by a large steel ball.

This trace is from the ‘Wrecking Ball’.

It was the trace of a ‘Chosen One’ who wielded a wrecking ball used for building demolition.

Why did an organization member attack the old man?

As the man carefully examined the surroundings, sensing the unusual situation, he discovered something strange.

The old man’s hand felt unnatural.

The right hand had only the thumb folded, as if expressing the number 4.

The other hand had only the index finger extended, as if expressing the number 1.

41.

It looked like a code often used between the man and the old man.

Storage location 41.

I need to check that place.

The man closed the old man’s wide-open eyes and left the ruined shop.

Stepping out of the building covered in dust and debris, he straightened his back and dusted off the black coat he was wearing.

His blue eyes were filled with wariness, and his lips were tightly pressed together.

Then, with the sound of metal, a huge man began to walk out of the darkness into the light of a streetlamp.

“Gunman. You are to be disposed of.”

The ‘Gunman’ with blue eyes, lightly holding his gun and quickly scanning the surroundings.

The ‘Wrecking Ball’, dragging a large steel ball and gradually closing the distance.

As their gazes met, a tension that seemed to make even the surrounding air taut began to circulate.