Seoul Object Story
Chapter 288: Doll Expo (6)

Late at night, large fireworks began at the expo site, far from Sehee Research Institute.

Along with the distant, small sounds of fireworks, the lights adorning one side of the sky softly illuminated the institute.

Though it was time when most employees should have gone home, people were gathered in the institute’s backyard, spending time eating food and drinking.

It looked like a company dinner.

The reason for all this was just one thing: the mini Reapers.

For some reason, today the mini Reapers wouldn’t let their attached humans leave the institute.

It had been a normal day, but as quitting time approached, Sehee Research Institute began to descend into chaos.

Golden Reapers clutching pant legs as if saying “don’t go,” collapsing and being dragged along the floor.

Blue Reapers hiding in corners, throwing water droplets like snowballs at security team members working in 5 teams on 4 shifts.

Black Reapers using their powerful strength to firmly fix both feet, making movement impossible.

And Sprout Reapers endlessly returning people to their original positions when they tried to go down the institute stairs.

In a normal research institute, this would be a situation where people would shout…

“Finally the mini Reapers show their true colors!”

But Sehee Research Institute wasn’t normal.

Though the researchers initially tried to go home, as this continued, their thoughts turned elsewhere.

Could something be happening?

Are dangerous Objects roaming outside?

Such thoughts began to arise because the mini Reapers had always shown superior ability in detecting Objects.

And the one who put a period to these concerns was Institute Director Lee Sehee, who had recently disappeared somewhere without going home.

“Today is a festival! A party!”

With those words, the party began.

The researchers enjoyed barbecue and beer in the spacious, well-decorated backyard while watching the expo fireworks, and the mini Reapers walked thump thump around their attached humans.

Caught up in the party atmosphere, researchers with slightly reddened faces played with their attached Reapers.

Om nom nom.

A Golden Reaper munching on chocolate became interested in the golden liquid its researcher was drinking.

The Golden Reaper usually wasn’t interested in alcohol since it didn’t look sweet and smelled unpleasant.

But perhaps because the Golden Reapers had gained experience and become more interested in their attached humans, many Golden Reapers showed interest in beer.

“Want to try?”

Usually, researchers were reluctant to give alcohol to Golden Reapers because they somehow felt like children.

At that moment, one brave researcher was pouring a little beer into a small cup made for Golden Reapers.

Many researchers watching this wore expressions asking ‘Is it okay to give alcohol to Golden Reapers?’

But that researcher steadfastly handed the alcohol to the Golden Reaper with the logic ‘Well, Golden Reapers aren’t human anyway!’

The Golden Reaper stared intently at the suspicious-smelling beer, then stuck out its tongue and lightly licked the surface.

After tasting the beer like that, the Golden Reaper tilted its head, wrinkled its face slightly, then drank it all at once.

Bleh-

The Golden Reaper stuck out its tongue as if it had eaten something bad.

And as if asking why humans drink such things, it started throwing light punches at the researcher’s cheek.

The Golden Reaper threw punches for a while, then, perhaps losing interest, hopped back onto the table.

But the Golden Reaper couldn’t maintain its balance properly and slipped, falling with a thunk.

Hehe.

The fallen Golden Reaper smiled embarrassedly.

“Our Golden Reaper is drunk?”

The researcher poked the Golden Reaper’s soft cheeks while watching it struggle to maintain balance.

Then, the Golden Reaper giggled as if ticklish, grabbed the researcher’s finger, and lightly bit it with an ‘ang’.

The Golden Reaper was already affectionate normally, but after drinking, it smiled more and bit more frequently.

Seeing this, researchers began offering beer to their own attached Reapers.

It was a peaceful everyday scene at Sehee Research Institute.

But the party didn’t last as long as expected.

At some point, all mini Reapers suddenly stood up and began looking at the sky.

Even the drunk Golden Reapers instantly sobered up by emitting golden flames from their entire bodies, and turned their heads toward where Mother was.

Humans are in danger!

Mother is calling!

And the mini Reapers, raising their antennae as if receiving radio waves, scattered in all directions at once.

Leaving only a small number to protect Sehee Research Institute, most disappeared somewhere.

“Somehow I felt this would happen.”

The researcher endlessly stared at his palm where, until just moments ago, a Golden Reaper had been waving goodbye, and muttered in a small voice.

His voice echoed softly through the now-quiet party venue.

I stood atop the highest building at the doll expo, passionately waving my hands like an orchestra conductor.

But instead of coordinating instruments, my gestures were tearing apart space and dolls.

No end to breaking them.

Fortunately, the dolls’ combat power was pathetic.

Even the guard dolls called ‘Hungry Ghost-grade’ were too weak, perhaps false advertising.

However, there was one serious problem.

These Association Dolls kept reviving no matter how many times they were killed and destroyed.

Since the destruction condition visible through my ‘eyes’ was <Death of the Doll Queen>, if the Doll Queen wasn’t at this expo site, immediate resolution would be impossible.

Fortunately, the location of the ‘Doll Queen’ was clearly revealed.

It could be determined both through the shining tracking antennae obtained from Hungry Ghost, and by carefully examining the Color Universe gradually distorting the sky.

The ‘Color Universe’ was gradually spreading from one central point in Seoul.

It seemed this madman who created the Association Dolls had summoned the Color Universe, causing this mess.

But I couldn’t leave the expo site because of the humans threatened by the dolls.

Moreover, people who had been at the expo site began showing strange behavior.

As if the Association Dolls were some kind of zombies, people seemed to become ‘infected’ if injured by dolls or stayed near them too long.

Those infected humans charged at me as if they had become dolls themselves.

If they had become Objects, I would have just ground them up, but they were still human.

…

Because they weren’t Objects, they were too easy to kill.

I wanted to turn the whole expo site into a sinkhole with pat pat kong kong, but I held back because that would kill too much firewood.

I turned dolls to powder with space cutting, and used the ‘probability manipulation’ ability gained from the orange moon to trip humans and roll them around to buy time.

While my ‘eyes’ twisting probability necessarily resulted in something being destroyed or killed, the orange moon’s ability didn’t always involve destruction or death, making it suitable for this situation.

Actually, I should call the mini Reapers at times like this, but no matter how much I tried, the mini Reaper garden wouldn’t open.

It must be because of the Color Universe.

My patience was running out as time passed.

Maybe I can abandon the expo people?

Actually, coming to the expo means being prepared for death.

I feel like I’m ignoring their spirit of sacrifice.

Moreover, the expo site was littered with precarious structures, explosives, oil, and gas.

Like they’re laying the groundwork telling me to hurry up and make a sinkhole!

No choice. It’s too unfortunate, but I can’t ignore the visitors’ spirit of sacrifice.

Clap clap.

The moment I clapped twice.

Mother!

We came to help!

Golden Reapers descended from the sky like golden starlight pouring down.

They were terrifying hail that pierced Golden Reaper-shaped holes in dolls using ghost form-overlap.

Simultaneously, numerous cloud meat rushed in from the sky and began swallowing humans.

The cloud meat swallowed and isolated infected people one by one.

One Golden Reaper per doll.

One cloud meat per firewood.

The Golden Reapers quickly cleaned up the troublesome expo site and smiled broadly at me.

Their smiles said they would save the people in danger, so Mother should catch the Color Universe’s foreign god.

James Tower, located on the outskirts of Songpa-gu, completed its fortification instantly when the incident broke out.

The tower’s solid outer walls effectively blocked the dolls’ approach.

Machine guns installed at high points were smoothly destroying threatening large dolls.

James looked around through a telescope and asked worriedly:

“The dolls revive even when killed with Object bullets. How long can our ammunition last at this rate?”

“At the current pace of doll increase, we could last about a month. However…”

“Yes, assuming the dolls will invade at the current pace is too optimistic a judgment.”

This was especially true since this doll situation wasn’t happening just around James Tower, but throughout Seoul.

It was truly a doll apocalypse breaking out in Seoul.

While James was checking supplies after returning to the first-floor lobby, an alien sound was heard.

Thump thump thump.

The sound of fists pounding on steel doors.

“Help us. Please open the door!”

And urgent voices followed.

An employee checking the external CCTV said to James:

“They look human on the outside, what should we do?”

“We’ll need to do the doll confirmation test.”

Though the employee looked a bit flustered at those words, they soon brought something and placed it in front of a small hole in the entrance.

“Bring your face to this hole!”

Opening a small door attached to the hole, the employee shouted in awkward Korean.

Then a haggard man’s face suddenly appeared in the hole.

Smack.

As soon as it appeared, a Golden Reaper standing in front of the hole slapped the man’s cheek.

“It’s a doll.”

It was a more accurate judgment method than any equipment developed in America.