Seoul Object Story
Chapter 295: Doll Expo Aftermath (3)

James Tower, located on the outskirts of Songpa District.

This place, which once served as a refuge for countless people on the front lines of the war against the Association Dolls, was now gradually regaining peace.

Restoration work was in full swing around the tower.

Employees of the James Research Institute bustled around the outer walls, clearing away scattered doll debris.

Around the asphalt and concrete that had been shattered as if by an earthquake, they were setting up barriers and proceeding with restoration work.

The number of defectors in this Association Doll incident is… one. That’s fortunate.

James was in the process of organizing reports related to the Association Doll incident.

Although there had been many dangerous moments, such as the sudden appearance of dolls that couldn’t be destroyed even by Object bullets, they had managed to get through without much damage.

The image of Alex, the former security team leader, flashed through James’s mind.

The sole defector had recently returned to the United States.

He left for home with such a sad face, the doll still packaged. But strangely, there was no mental contamination.

James was lost in thought for a moment.

He attached documents about Alex to the end of the report he was preparing to send to the American Object Association.

He hoped that Alex would return to his original self and be able to resume his position as security team leader.

<Name: Alex>

<Gender: Male>

<Symptoms: Alex shows an obsessive attachment to a specific doll. Whether due to the influence of mental contamination or not, he displays significantly reduced reality testing, placing greater value on relationships with dolls than actual human relationships.>

<Response Plan: As Alex’s obsessive symptoms may make him vulnerable to mental contamination, intensive psychological treatment appears necessary. After reassignment to a position with minimal contact with mentally contaminating Objects, long-term cognitive behavioral therapy is required.>

<Note: As there are no signs of mental contamination, anti-Object treatment methods are not expected to be necessary.>

As he closed the report and looked out the window, he could see people gathered in an open space, playing with the Golden Reapers.

People were offering their cheeks to the Golden Reapers, asking them to ‘pat’ them, while the Golden Reapers wore troubled expressions.

Is this phenomenon due to mental contamination, or is it a normal reaction to seeing something cute?

As James was pondering the thought he always had when seeing the Golden Reapers, something began tugging at his earlobe.

It was a Golden Reaper, the messenger of the Gray Reaper, seemingly saying, We need to make Mom’s gift quickly!

“Alright, I understand. Just wait a little, I’ll start working on it soon.”

James patted the Golden Reaper’s head and placed a purple, sour candy in its mouth.

He watched the Golden Reaper happily eating the candy for a moment, then opened the last remaining report.

The investigation results in that report indicated that almost all escaped Objects had been eliminated by the Golden Reapers.

<Unlike other Objects, the Maker’s escape appears to have had external assistance.>

Except for one, the ‘Maker’, whose whereabouts remained unknown.

A streak of golden light cut across the sky of the Mini Reaper Garden, leaving a trace.

Thump thump

I walked slowly, looking up at the golden trajectory that was gradually disappearing like ink slowly spreading in water.

Following the fading trail, I arrived at a place where Golden Reapers were huddled together.

Mom’s here!

Mom!

Noticing my arrival, the Golden Reapers, clustered like mothballs, poked their heads out.

How on earth does such a clump form?

They seemed to get tangled up like this when they rolled around on the ground and bumped into each other, but this was the first time I’d seen such a large clump.

As I lifted the basketball-sized Golden Reaper clump, the Golden Reapers giggled as if they found it amusing.

Since it seemed difficult for them to separate on their own, I grabbed the protruding arms and legs of the Golden Reaper clump and pulled them out one by one.

One, two, as I extracted the Golden Reapers and set them down on the ground, they started rolling again on the soft marshmallow floor.

Roll roll!

Looks like another strange trend is spreading.

This time, it’s just rolling around aimlessly?

I caught the last remaining Golden Reaper and asked who started this.

The Golden Reaper tilted its head, looking confused as to why I was asking such a thing, then answered with a bright smile.

Mom!

Ah…

Come to think of it, I did often roll around in the Marshmallow Plains, didn’t I? Did they learn it from watching me?

Recently, I had been alternating between rolling in the courtyard’s marshmallows and the garden’s marshmallows, so it could be because of that.

It was an ambiguous phenomenon, hard to tell whether it was good or bad for the children’s education.

There’s probably nothing wrong with rolling around, right?

Suddenly thinking that, I also lay down on the ground and started rolling around with the Golden Reapers.

Roll roll!

Hmm.

It feels like I’ve forgotten something, but it’s probably nothing important.

I rolled around the soft marshmallow garden, my arms full of Golden Reapers.

Mini Reaper Garden, White Ghoul Habitat.

The plains that were once full of White Ghouls had been conquered by the invading Red Reapers, the blonde girl, and the Black Agent.

Come to think of it, I haven’t seen any White Ghouls lately.

The blonde girl, enjoying tea time with the Black Agent, looked down at the Red Reapers playing in the Marshmallow Plains.

The smallest Red Reaper raised both hands high with a bright smile.

A brightly burning hammer and sickle.

And the will spreading around them.

Revolution!

Then the other Red Reapers gathered around, mimicking the gesture.

Revolution!

It looked like older sisters playing along with their youngest sibling who asked to play together.

Watching this scene, the blonde girl was pondering the one question lingering in her mind.

How does ‘Mom’ know about the sickle and hammer, and revolution?

In fact, the Gray Reaper watched TV quite frequently and for long periods, so it wasn’t that strange for it to know these things.

In other words, couldn’t we assume that the Gray Reaper understands ‘language’?

Actually, the fact that it watched TV so often seemed to indicate it wasn’t trying to hide anything.

Rather, it was strange that the prevailing opinion in Korea was that ‘the Gray Reaper cannot understand language.’

As the blonde girl was lost in these thoughts, a Red Reaper approached and poked her cheek.

Turning her head, she saw a slightly sulky-looking Red Reaper.

Could it be that it was getting tired of its sisters playing with it?

But looking around, she saw that everyone was comforting the Red Reaper with troubled expressions.

No Ghouls. They’re gone.

Recently, it seemed they had only been playing with the Red Sister Reapers, but suddenly wanting to play with the White Ghouls, the Red Reaper was looking for them.

Hearing the will transmitted by the Red Reaper, the blonde girl stood up and looked around the Marshmallow Plains, but there was no sign of the White Ghouls.

She wondered if they had gone extinct, hunted and burned en masse after the sisters joined and their numbers increased 500-fold.

But the White Ghouls were Objects that regenerated infinitely.

There was no way they could go extinct like ordinary animals.

“Alright, let’s look for them together.”

When the blonde girl said this, the Red Reaper giggled and sat on top of her head.

Let’s go!

With the Red Reaper’s energetic will, the blonde girl and the Red Sister Reapers began to wander around the Marshmallow Plains.

But no matter how much they searched, they couldn’t find even a trace of the White Ghouls in the Marshmallow Plains.

They explored other places like the snow fields and deserts, but still couldn’t find them.

Where on earth could they be?

It didn’t seem likely that they would have gone outside the garden, which provided tranquility to its resident Objects…

The blonde girl turned her head and asked the Black Agent, who was covered in clinging Red Sister Reapers.

“You can’t see the White Ghouls either, can you?”

“I can’t see them either.”

While the Black Agent was answering, the blonde girl vigorously shook off the Sister Reapers clinging to him.

But as soon as she turned her gaze away, they secretly started clinging to him again.

“Then how about borrowing a different perspective?”

“A different perspective?”

In response to the blonde girl’s question, the Black Agent pointed to the sky.

There, an Orange Reaper was floating around with a gentle expression.

“The Orange Reaper…”

The blonde girl, wearing a slightly uncomfortable expression, called out to the Orange Reaper and asked if it had seen the White Ghouls.

The Orange Reaper, with its gentle expression, giggled mischievously and whispered important information.

They’re hiding between the Candy Mountain Range and the Marshmallow Plains.

Following the Orange Reaper’s guidance, they advanced through the Marshmallow Plains, but even as they approached the Candy Mountain Range, there was no trace of the White Ghouls.

Had the Orange Reaper deceived them?

Just as this thought crossed their minds, the Black Agent’s voice, filled with admiration, was heard.

“Miss, I’ve found them. The White Ghouls have used an optical illusion.”

Where the Black Agent was pointing, there was a marshmallow barrier set up to look like the Candy Mountain Range.

It was a secret location that utilized optical illusions and the vast expanse of the Mini Reaper Garden, which was too large to search thoroughly.

As the blonde girl approached the wall and looked beyond it, she could see numerous White Ghouls.

The inside of the fortress wall was surprisingly spacious, filled with White Ghouls basking in the sunlight with happy expressions.

But a massive shadow began to loom over that warm sanctuary.

The White Ghouls, who had been enjoying a moment of peace that was both long and short, were once again forced to let out pitiful cries.

Kyuhinghing.

The building that once housed the Object Association was now occupied by an organization with a different name.

[Object Safety Management Council.]

It was an organization that had cut away the research and development department from the Object Association and maximized the function of Object regulation and coordination.

Deep within this Safety Management Council, a middle-aged man was wearing a sinister smile.

“Good. Very good.”

It was an expression that perfectly matched the derogatory nickname ‘Golden Bug’ that employees had called him during his time as a director of the Object Association.

He was examining the numerous secret funds and confidential research materials that Oh Mu-ryong had concealed.

The amount far exceeded what Hwang Geum-cheol had anticipated.

He was quickly sorting through the documents as he flipped through them.

Liquid assets to the right, everything else to the left.

Naturally, the numerous research projects from the association were being shoved to the left.

Watching Hwang Geum-cheol, his loyal Chief Secretary spoke in a surprised voice.

“What? Is something wrong?”

“Chairman, are we really just discarding this Object too?”

The document the Chief Secretary pulled out showed two lamps discovered in Oh Mu-ryong’s collapsed mansion.

“Haa.”

Hwang Geum-cheol let out a deep sigh and then spoke to the Chief Secretary as if scolding him.

“Will that make money?”

“What? But it’s related to the ‘Evolution Fluid’ that achieves immortality and the groundbreaking invention ‘Association Doll’ Objects.”

Hwang Geum-cheol raised his gold-decorated cane and lightly tapped the Chief Secretary’s head.

“What caused Oh Mu-ryong to go bankrupt after making good money?”

“The lamps.”

“And what caused the Third Research Institute Director to fall after his meteoric rise?”

“The… lamps.”

“That’s right, the lamps. More precisely, Objects.”

Wearing an expression as if looking at a pitiful person, Hwang Geum-cheol pointed to the nameplate with his cane and continued speaking.

“What’s the name of the organization where I’m the chairman?”

“Object Safety Management Council.”

“Right, that’s it. To make proper money from Objects, you shouldn’t touch them directly. You need to extort from those who make money from Objects.”

Hwang Geum-cheol smiled with satisfaction and quietly added, ‘If you directly handle Objects, you’ll end up like Oh Mu-ryong.’

“Then what should we do with these lamps?”

“Ah, that. You know, that research institute that’s the only one storing ‘Special-grade’ Objects? Send them there. They’ll handle it somehow.”

After saying that, Hwang Geum-cheol resumed sorting through the profitable documents.