Seoul Object Story
Chapter 286: Doll Expo (4)

In the Marshmallow Plains of the Mini Reaper Garden.

At its center, a Red Reaper was seriously carving a white Hungry Ghost.

It felt quite different from when it first carved the white Hungry Ghost with excessive affectation.

Swish. Swish.

The Red Reaper began carving the white Hungry Ghost’s skin with skilled hand movements.

As sharp horns and frills gradually emerged from the white Hungry Ghost, its appearance started to resemble a Triceratops.

After some time passed, the Red Reaper succeeded in carving two white Hungry Ghosts.

And it made the two white Hungry Ghosts strike what it considered good poses.

‘Complete!’

The Triceratops white Hungry Ghost, with its chin lifted high, revealed itself.

The Red Reaper smiled contentedly at the two three-horned white Hungry Ghosts.

Golden Reapers and Black Reapers wandering the Marshmallow Plains discovered this and clapped.

‘Amazing!’

‘Well done!’

And some Golden Reapers, perhaps interested in the Red Reaper’s carving, caught several wild white Hungry Ghosts from the Marshmallow Plains and began chopping them up.

Hehe.

The Red Reaper, smiling proudly at the mini Reapers’ praise, created flame-made stamps in both hands and firmly pressed them onto the white Hungry Ghosts’ bodies.

‘Revolution!’

Then, burned-black sickle and hammer patterns were imprinted on the white Hungry Ghosts’ bodies.

Kyuhinghing.

Behind the three-horned Hungry Ghosts came mournful white Hungry Ghost cries.

There was a deep pit near where the Red Reaper was carving, and the sounds came from there.

It was where white Hungry Ghosts that had been discarded due to excessive carving were piled up.

Though the white Hungry Ghosts couldn’t feel pain, they were voicing their pitiful situation.

Kyuhinghing.

As the Red Reaper showed off its carvings and the mini Reapers clapped, small footsteps approached.

The footsteps had somehow come right behind the Red Reaper.

And a hand came down, gently stroking the Red Reaper.

“Well carved.”

A familiar voice.

And a voice the Red Reaper had waited for a very long time.

!

The Red Reaper turned its head so quickly it seemed its neck might snap, eyes wide with surprise.

The figure of a girl crouching behind the Red Reaper, reaching out to pat its head.

The blonde girl who had been sleeping for a very long time had opened her eyes and was looking down at the Red Reaper.

“It’s been a while.”

At those words from the blonde girl, the Red Reaper shed sparkling tears and clung to her cheek.

Songpa-gu, Seoul, James Tower.

James stood at the entrance connecting the parking lot to James Tower.

He was making a list, checking materials passing through the entrance against a rigid clipboard.

“Finally, we can properly move these materials.”

Said a green-haired researcher beside him, also checking with a clipboard.

“Yes, it’s really fortunate. I didn’t think the personnel support would arrive on time.”

James replied with an expression of great relief.

As James said, the area around James Tower had noticeably more people than before.

It was no longer just James, a few researchers, and the security team struggling to run James Tower.

The already small staff had been further burdened when even Alex defected.

Actually, they had planned to hire local staff in Korea and had already hired quite a few people.

But they ran into a major problem with the emergence of ‘Association Dolls’.

James tried to hire people who didn’t use ‘dolls’, but such people were hard to find in Seoul.

Even the people they had hired started using Association Dolls, leaving them without solutions.

While struggling with staff shortages, the US Object Association massively supplemented personnel to deal with the ‘Association Doll’ situation.

The materials being moved from the parking lot into James Tower were both diverse and enormous in quantity.

It looked like preparation for war, or perhaps an apocalypse.

Massive amounts of food and clean water.

Anti-Object weapons and all sorts of materials.

James was trying to turn the tower into a kind of shelter.

‘Seems like we’ve done all the preparation we can.’

As he thought this while making his list, a group of people approached James.

It was the security team, which had received the largest personnel influx from mainland America.

“Sir. We’ve confirmed that Alex purchased an ‘Association Doll’.”

“So it was true…”

James wore a bitter expression as he looked at the photo handed over by the security team.

The photo showed a doll discovered inside Alex’s apartment.

It must have been quite expensive, as it was a beautiful female doll with an appearance almost indistinguishable from a human.

However, its unrealistic body proportions made it immediately apparent that it was a doll, not a human.

After checking the photo, James firmly instructed the security team:

“Remind all staff once again. Never have prolonged contact with ‘Association Dolls’.”

And so, a photo of Alex’s doll with its large chest was pinned to the cork board in James Tower’s security room.

As the sky darkened and stars began to twinkle in the evening, the Doll Expo began.

Spectacular fireworks adorned the sky, announcing the start of the opening ceremony, and people’s faces filled with excitement and anticipation.

I arrived alone at the expo entrance using ghost form and enjoyed the festival atmosphere while watching the fireworks.

I couldn’t bring the mini Reapers because they disliked Association Dolls, and since Yerin seemed to avoid them too, I came alone.

Actually, Yerin probably would have come if I’d asked, but I didn’t invite her because not using ghost form would likely cause a big commotion.

Walking slowly toward the entrance with the bursting fireworks as a backdrop, uniquely designed Association Dolls were greeting people.

Dolls decorating both sides of the entrance smiled charmingly and said, “Hello. Welcome to the expo!”

The dolls on the opposite side of the entrance kindly guided people, pointing inside with both hands saying, “Amazing Association Dolls await you!”

Passing through the entrance, unusual dolls I’d never seen around Songpa-gu were on display.

Dolls with transparent exteriors as if made of crystal, dolls wearing elaborate dresses decorated with colorful flowers, scholarly-looking dolls holding books in one hand.

I moved slowly deeper into the expo hall, amazed by their appearances as varied as their Objects.

Among them were some dolls that felt a bit creepy.

They were baby-shaped dolls.

These dolls, looking like cheap baby models, crawled around making creek creek sounds and opened their mouths.

Their mouths were painted black inside, giving off a very unsettling feeling.

Who on earth would buy such dolls?

Various other dolls caught my eye as well.

A giant doll about 5 meters tall was demonstrating lifting heavy steel structures.

It was labeled <Construction Doll> and was said to be able to replace construction site cranes.

There were also experimental dolls with multiple hands handling multiple lab devices simultaneously, and dolls whose bodies could elongate like snakes.

‘Unlike the TV ads, there are a lot of grotesque-looking dolls.’

It looked too bizarre for something advertised as “Companion dolls to replace Golden Reapers!”

As I wandered around looking at the dolls, an interesting exhibition hall caught my eye.

It was an exhibition hall not introduced at all in external TV ads or flyers, and its name was written above:

<Great Object Guard Doll Exhibition Hall>

‘Oh!’

Being quite interested in the dolls’ combat power, I quickly hurried into the exhibition hall.

The guard dolls were classified from Grade 5 up to Special Grade and positioned accordingly.

I naturally moved toward the Special Grade exhibition hall where the strongest dolls were displayed.

Perhaps many others had the same idea, as the Special Grade guard doll exhibition hall seemed notably more crowded than other guard doll exhibition halls.

On a high display platform in the center stood a doll in an imposing posture.

It was a large doll painted to look like it was wearing a black suit, like a bodyguard.

Height approximately 5 meters.

However, its upper body was grotesquely large and looked massive.

And unlike other dolls that resembled humans quite closely, mechanical joints and protruding parts were noticeable.

At this point, isn’t it a ‘robot’ rather than a doll?

Its combat power was proudly displayed on the nameplate.

<Hungry Ghost-Grade Guard Doll>

Hungry Ghost-Grade!

As I was looking up at the Hungry Ghost-Grade guard doll as if seeing something interesting, the doll rolled its eyeballs around once and began staring at me.

‘!’

Could it see me while I was using ghost form?

In central Seoul, Oh Muryong’s mansion.

In a laboratory deep within, two antique lamps were burning fiercely.

And beside them, Oh Muryong was letting out laughter filled with madness.

Oh Muryong’s body was already dyed black in places as if rotting, and an ominous red light swirled in his eyes.

“Just a little more, just a little more…”

In a depression at the center of the laboratory was a slimy, unidentified liquid, and in the center of that liquid was his granddaughter with covered eyes.

“Grandfather?”

The girl’s voice sounded uneasy.

But Oh Muryong ignored her voice and kept pouring ground-up human corpses into the liquid.

They were made from grinding up clones of his preserved granddaughter.

Small things like the girl’s fingers floated to the surface of the liquid, then slowly melted away.

Though it was a liquid that easily dissolved humans, it seemed to have no effect on the ‘granddaughter doll’ positioned in the center.

But even after grinding up all the clones, the liquid wasn’t complete.

“Not enough. Not enough. Not enough.”

Oh Muryong’s madness-soaked red eyes scanned everywhere.

And he found it.

His real granddaughter’s corpse preserved in a cryo-port.

It was something Oh Muryong would never have done, but in his madness, he began grinding up even his granddaughter’s corpse and putting it into the liquid.

At that moment, the liquid began to surge and emit a mysterious light.

“Hahaha. It’s complete!”

The liquid’s surface was smooth like glass and shone with various colors.

Unlike evolution fluid which gave off an ominous feeling and unpleasant smell, this multicolored liquid exuded a truly beautiful and mysterious atmosphere.

It looked like a portal to another world.

Like a passage to the Color Universe full of colors.

“Gr… Grandfather. I hear strange voices.”

The granddaughter doll looked around anxiously, but Oh Muryong just stared at the liquid with gleaming eyes.