Seoul Object Story
Chapter 307: Aftermath of James Space Station (2)

As the Helmet Researcher lifted his head, a large banner hanging at the entrance of the Sehee Research Institute’s parking lot caught his eye.

<Paradise of Mini Reapers. Sehee Research Institute!>

Behind it, a makeshift building constructed with tents came into view.

The colorful and vibrant hues of the fabric gave it the appearance of a circus tent.

“What’s all this, suddenly appearing overnight…”

The Helmet Researcher looked up at the massive tent that had appeared overnight, wearing an expression of bewilderment.

No matter how much he tried to recall, there had been no notice of such an event.

‘This must be Director Lee Se-hee’s doing.’

If it had been Deputy Director Park Seo-a’s work, she would have informed them at least a month in advance.

It seemed to be a facility created due to the increased number of visitors to the institute, likely because of the Red Reapers that had saved people worldwide.

At that moment, a Golden Reaper poked its head out of the pocket on his lab coat and slowly crawled up to his shoulder.

The Golden Reaper also seemed slightly excited, perhaps because something interesting had appeared at the Sehee Institute.

“Alright, let’s go in and take a look together.”

The Helmet Researcher patted the Golden Reaper’s head and walked towards the entrance of the tent.

Upon entering, he was greeted by an interior that was more elaborate than expected.

The structure was closer to a museum than a circus performance venue.

Soft lighting hung from the ceiling, and the corridor leading from the entrance was covered with numerous photos of Mini Reapers.

Photos of Red Reapers wielding sickles and hammers, flying through the sky and burning slime.

Suspiciously high-quality photos of joyful Golden Reapers breaking through the atmosphere.

And the rest were photos from the magazine that researchers at the Sehee Institute had been passing around.

Most were from the magazine that researchers referred to as <Weekly Mini Reaper!>.

It was a mysterious magazine that appeared in the institute’s break room early every Monday morning, with its creator still unknown.

Researchers jokingly speculated that there might be an Object hiding in the institute creating the Mini Reaper magazine.

Moreover, the magazine occasionally featured photos of the Gray Reaper posing like a model with its eyes closed, wearing fancy clothes.

Who on earth was making this?

Given that there were photos of the Gray Reaper wearing clothes, it seemed possible that an actual Object was creating the magazine.

After passing through the corridor filled with photos, Se-hee appeared, handing out a stack of pamphlets and explaining the day’s tasks.

The tasks were simple.

Handing out pamphlets.

Walking around and managing the event venue.

Lastly, introducing people without Attachment Reapers to Mini Reapers.

With those instructions, Se-hee handed over a large paper box that could hold chicks and then disappeared somewhere.

Inside the paper box were numerous colorful Mini Reapers, reminiscent of chicks.

‘Ang!’

‘Ah, someone bit me!’

Though no sound could be heard, the chicks were tumbling about noisily.

As he played with these Mini Reapers, time flew by, and guests began to enter the tent one after another.

Perhaps due to the recent green slime incident, the number of visitors was substantial.

It seemed to be about ten times what the Helmet Researcher had expected.

‘If we hadn’t set up this tent, the institute would have been paralyzed.’

As the Helmet Researcher moved the now-empty paper box and looked around the venue, he noticed a particularly crowded area.

It was a spot marked <★Mini Reaper Photo Zone★>.

It was a place where people could take various photos with their Attachment Reapers or Free Reapers wandering around the photo zone.

Like a sticker photo booth, various props were prepared, including many Mini Reaper-sized props that were hard to find elsewhere.

He saw a woman taking a photo with a Golden Reaper there.

“Come on, make a V!”

The woman at the photo zone held up her fingers in a V-shape to the Golden Reaper, who was cheerfully raising its arms.

However, the Golden Reaper didn’t seem to understand the concept of a “V” and looked puzzled.

‘Ah, that one. It looks like a newly born Golden Reaper.’

It was a rare Golden Reaper that could only be seen for about three days after birth.

A Golden Reaper slightly smaller than others, somewhat expressionless, and unable to understand language well.

As if even the endlessly cheerful Golden Reapers learned something, they tended to understand language more easily when among humans.

Of course, even then, they couldn’t directly understand language, but rather became more perceptive.

The woman kept trying to explain, but the Golden Reaper still looked at its own fingers shaped into a V with a tilted head.

Perhaps finding the confused expression of the Golden Reaper cute, the woman gave up on making it do a V and just took the picture.

Click.

At a large hospital near Songpa District.

The sole survivor of James Space Station woke up quickly without dreaming, perhaps from sleeping too much.

“Haa.”

As the woman pressed her throbbing head and tried to get up, she noticed something on her stomach.

She felt something warm and soft.

Looking under the blanket, she found a palm-sized Object with green skin curled up inside.

Though it was her first time seeing this form, it looked like a new Mini Reaper at first glance.

And the woman could instinctively feel it.

‘Mingming was alive!’

That this child was ‘Mingming’.

Green skin.

Triangular protrusions like cat ears.

Two glowing yellow eyes.

A mouth forming a cute curve.

There were many similar features, but the woman could feel it beyond these reasons.

It was definitely Mingming.

The woman wiped away tears of joy and carefully lifted the tiny Mingming.

Slowly, so as not to wake it from sleep.

And as she brought Mingming close to her face, she could hear tiny breaths.

“Ming. Ming. Ming.”

Perhaps deeply asleep, it was a steady rhythm of ming sounds.

‘Hehe, how cute.’

The woman smiled warmly and gently poked Mingming’s large leaf.

“Ah!”

But the leaf seemed quite sensitive, and Mingming woke up instantly.

Blinking sleepily, Mingming soon realized the situation and tried to fly away in surprise.

“Ming!?”

The woman desperately held onto Mingming as it tried to escape her grasp.

She clung on with all her might, feeling a strange sense that if she let go now, it would be difficult to meet again.

Perhaps realizing it couldn’t escape, Mingming curled up into a ball and started emitting a green light.

Then, fluffy grass-like growths began to sprout all over Mingming’s body.

In an instant, Mingming, now covered in grass like a moss ball, let out a soft cry.

“Ming.”

Though much smaller now, it looked similar to what she had seen on the space station.

Except for being a bit longer front to back like a caterpillar.

Probably because there was a human-shaped Mini Reaper inside.

“You don’t have to do that.”

The woman spoke in a gentle voice while slowly stroking the soft grass.

“I already know. How could I not recognize you?”

Push.

At that moment, the grass that had suddenly sprouted fell away from its body, and the Green Reaper looked up with a slightly worried expression.

Seeing this, the woman smiled as widely as she could at the Green Reaper.

Then the Green Reaper flew into the woman’s arms with a happy face.

“Ming!”

It was the moment of reunion between the Object and human who had survived in space.

Deep in Seoul Forest, where civilization and even people had disappeared.

I was invading that place along with the Mini Reapers.

The place where I was reborn as an Object.

The place where I gained my Ghostification and Physical Immunity abilities.

And the place where I had nearly died countless times.

As we went a bit deeper, the ruins of a village turned to ashes came into view.

‘This is the village where the Burning Steel Pig Statue was.’

With a feeling of being slightly lost in memories, I walked through the forest devoid of human presence.

Passing through the village, the true Seoul Forest, almost free of human traces, revealed itself.

‘I think the dugout where I met Se-hee was around there.’

‘Beyond those rocks was the domain where the Giant Mole used to fly around.’

I advanced through Seoul Forest, retracing such memories.

Thump thump.

The Mini Reapers followed behind me, eliminating harmful Objects.

‘Finally getting to clean up the Objects in Seoul Forest.’

When I was born, I was too weak to clean them up, and afterward, it was too vast to handle alone, so I left it be.

Moreover, the Mini Reapers didn’t bother going into places where there were no people, so we were only now getting around to cleaning it up.

After spreading the Mini Reapers throughout Seoul Forest, I headed towards the most important place.

The cause of Seoul Forest, the Steel Tower.

Standing before it, I felt a distinctly different atmosphere from when I had seen it before.

The mist that had gently filled the clearing was gone.

The silence that had evoked a sense of reverence had also disappeared.

Instead of the sacred silence, the sound of something slowly crumbling filled the clearing.

And on the surface of the Steel Tower standing tall in the center of the clearing, black cracks were visible.

‘Was really referring to the scenery of the seven moons I saw from atop the Steel Tower?’

Looking up at the slowly crumbling Steel Tower, such a thought crossed my mind.

‘Since it’s breaking down on its own, there’s probably no need to interfere further.’

And I decided to check the Steel Tower’s destruction condition one last time.

But when I looked at the Steel Tower with my ‘eyes’, something that hadn’t been visible before began to appear.

< >

An empty destruction condition.

And beyond that, past the tip of the Steel Tower that seemed to reach the sky, a black-stained star could be seen.