Seoul Object Story
Chapter 285: Doll Expo (3)

Near the emergency stairwell of Sehee Research Institute, where people rarely ventured.

Sehee glanced around before carefully stepping into a secret space connected to it.

It was a space secretly created to avoid detection by Seoah, like the previous underground passage.

“It’s been a while.”

Sehee murmured softly as she entered the room.

Though quite cramped, being designed for secrecy, it was densely equipped with necessities.

The floor was soft enough to serve as a bed, and necessities like a refrigerator and bathroom were lined up along the walls.

And throughout the room, small statues made of gold were abundantly placed.

Mini Reapers of various colors and the Gray Reaper.

The intricately crafted golden statues struck various dynamic poses.

Whether due to the golden statues Sehee had placed or something else that attracted Golden Reapers, since its completion, the secret space had always been full of Golden Reapers rolling around.

Roll roll!

Roll roll!

When Sehee suddenly looked up and around, a Golden Reaper rolling on the floor met her gaze.

Ah!

The Golden Reaper, just noticing Sehee, showed a startled expression but quickly smiled warmly and waved, seeming to express its genuine joy at seeing her after so long.

Seeing this, Sehee let out an exaggerated battle cry and threw herself among the Golden Reapers.

“Hyah!”

The Golden Reapers caught under suddenly-diving Sehee giggled as if enjoying themselves.

Sehee lay among the Golden Reapers, looking up at the ceiling like them.

With so many Golden Reapers, rather than lying on a soft bed, it felt like being in a ball pit, with golden waves gently embracing Sehee.

Lying among the Golden Reapers and looking at the ceiling, Sehee muttered to herself, as if for the Golden Reapers to hear:

“I tried not to use this room if possible, but I’ll be imposing from today.”

At those words, the Golden Reapers who had been happily rolling around all turned their heads toward Sehee simultaneously.

The one rolling around.

The one biting another sleeping Golden Reaper’s belly.

The ones wrestling on Sehee’s stomach.

!

They wore startled expressions.

And they rushed toward Sehee as if asking if she meant it.

“There are too many dolls lately. I don’t want to go outside the institute.”

Sehee added, “You know, since I often get kidnapped.”

And Sehee continued, mimicking the dolls’ walking pattern with her fingers.

“Have you seen how the dolls walk? It’s really strange.”

“The rhythm is the same, and the leg angles are all identical.”

“Click. Click. Click.”

“The cheaper models even make sounds, giving them a creepy feel.”

Like telling children a fairy tale, Sehee made a scared expression.

“The dolls are really scary, but everyone else seems to think nothing of it.”

“Somehow, it seems like the closer you are to mini Reapers, the scarier they feel. I wonder why?”

Sehee asked while holding a Golden Reaper, but the Golden Reaper just tilted its head with a puzzled expression.

After sharing various stories about what had happened so far, when she ran out of things to talk about, Sehee turned on the TV mounted on the ceiling.

The TV was playing advertisements for the soon-to-be-held ‘Doll Expo’.

Near James Tower in Songpa-gu, temporary containment room.

In the early dawn, before even the blue light was visible.

Inside the containment room was Alex, who until recently had been the security team leader.

“Sir! Please let me out of here.”

Alex paced anxiously inside the containment room.

“Hmm.”

James made a low sound watching this.

“Sir, no mental contamination levels detected.”

A researcher worriedly handed James some data.

James had captured Alex after subduing him with an electric shock the previous night when he showed suspicious behavior.

But they hadn’t found anything suspicious about the captured Alex.

Was it my imagination?

Another report was handed to James, who was deeply frowning.

“Sir, detailed examination shows no similarities to the dolls whatsoever.”

Despite running the same tests multiple times to avoid measurement errors, all results showed no problems.

Did I imagine it from watching too much CCTV?

Though James typically trusted rational judgment over ‘gut feelings’, this time he wanted to trust his instincts.

As all the researchers watched James, he crossed his arms and kept thinking.

After contemplating with closed eyes, James opened them and spoke as if having no choice:

“Alex’s temporary containment…”

Just as James was about to say “release,” he felt something stick to his back.

Turning his head, he saw a Golden Reaper that had attached a Mecha Tyranno design to his back.

The Golden Reaper was using ghost form to remove the sticky adhesive from its palm.

!

At that moment, James felt like lightning struck his mind.

When he carefully picked up the Golden Reaper in his hand, it giggled as if purely happy.

The Golden Reaper tilted its head as if asking, “Are we playing?”

Perhaps because James had been too busy lately to play, the Golden Reaper’s expression was full of anticipation.

James slowly brought the Golden Reaper in his hand closer to Alex’s containment room.

!

The Golden Reaper, which had been wearing a purely happy expression, immediately turned fierce upon seeing Alex.

Well, a small and cute Golden Reaper looking fierce was still just cute, but the fact that it made a fierce expression was important.

“Alex will now be placed under Special-Grade Object containment! No objections will be accepted!”

James held the Golden Reaper high and shouted loudly.

The Golden Reaper looked bewildered, probably because James suddenly raised his voice.

Deep within Sehee Research Institute, in the always cozy containment room.

I lay on the containment room bed, unable to hide my excitement.

Doll Expo!

My heart was pounding as if I’d heard news about a highly anticipated game’s release.

Well, though I don’t have a heart.

The TV was playing Doll Expo advertisements.

The TV screen showed a large hall with various dolls on display and dolls that looked friendly to people.

[Have you been looking for a companion to share your life with in this dangerous age of Objects?]

[That’s why many people entrust their lives to Objects like Golden Reapers.]

Then images of Golden Reapers began appearing on screen, but they all had evil expressions.

I pointed at the screen and projected my will to the Golden Reaper.

That’s how humans see you guys.

Though the Golden Reaper looked puzzled, probably because they usually don’t pay attention to TV.

Finally understanding the ‘evil Golden Reaper image’, its antennae shot up like exclamation marks.

They say we’re evil Golden Reapers!

Perhaps realizing that humans thought of them this way, the Golden Reaper sat down with a gloomy expression.

Uuu.

And as if losing all motivation, it melted limply and collapsed on top of me.

I lifted up the limp Golden Reaper intending to tease it more, but stopped because it looked about to cry.

It’s okay. It’s okay. It’s just an advertisement made by evil humans, so it’s okay.

Really?

I kept conveying reassurance to the bright-eyed Golden Reaper while revising my expo tourism plans.

I had thought about taking the mini Reapers to the expo, but it seems I should go alone.

If the advertisement is like this, the expo will probably be full of ‘evil mini Reapers’ too.

As I patted the Golden Reaper, the rather long expo advertisement was reaching its conclusion.

[But sadly, Golden Reapers are Objects! They contain inherent dangers!]

[But don’t worry. We have Association Dolls. You can meet them tomorrow at the Association Doll Expo!]

And the advertisement ended with the Doll Expo logo, date, and location information appearing on screen.

The expo is tomorrow!

In a mansion in central Seoul, Oh Muryong’s private room.

Oh Muryong rose slowly from a blackened liquid, wearing a satisfied smile.

“Feels like being reborn.”

Though Oh Muryong had looked on the verge of death from old age, he had been regaining health and vitality over the past few months.

After carefully wiping off the liquid that smelled strongly of petroleum, Oh Muryong got dressed and began slowly walking through the mansion.

As he enjoyed his short walk, a girl ran quickly up to him.

“Grandfather!”

It was Oh Muryong’s granddaughter, with beautiful golden hair and blue eyes.

“Ah, our granddaughter has come.”

And Oh Muryong and his granddaughter had an intimate conversation like a close grandfather and grandchild.

“This old man has much to do, so I should get going.”

“Yes, grandfather!”

As his granddaughter moved away, Oh Muryong’s expression hardened as if he had never smiled.

No. This isn’t it.

Oh Muryong entered a room with very quick steps and began playing some footage.

[Grandfather!]

The screen showed the blonde girl.

“Something’s different. Still lacking.”

Though the granddaughter on screen and the one he just met looked exactly alike and acted the same.

Oh Muryong kept muttering that something was different.

“What’s missing?”

“I don’t know.”

“But it’s lacking.”

“Is it the evolution fluid?”

“No, absolutely not something so hideous.”

Oh Muryong muttered like someone with paranoia, repeating that something was wrong.

“Yes, that’s it.”

After muttering for a while, Oh Muryong lifted his head as if realizing something.

“That’s what was missing.”

In Oh Muryong’s eyes, rolling with madness, there seemed to be a reddish tint.

[Grandfather!]

In the room endlessly playing footage of his granddaughter before her death, two antique lamps burned softly.

Somehow, it seemed like small laughing sounds were coming from the lamps.