Seoul Object Story
Chapter 317: Epilogue of the Ash-gray Girl (1)

Near the Sehee Research Institute, in an apartment complex that had become ruins.

The Helmet Researcher was on a field trip to supervise the management of Mini Reapers.

“The sky is really clear today,” the Helmet Researcher muttered as he placed a small snack in the Golden Reaper’s mouth.

The sky above was exceptionally clear and blue, almost dazzling to the eyes.

The azure sky felt transparent and deep, like a freshly cleaned glass window.

The sunlight breaking through was clearly visible, and fluffy white clouds drifted by, adding to the refreshing atmosphere.

However, there were strange traces left in that pristine sky.

The remnants of what seemed to have sliced the sky into five streaks still lingered, distorting the shapes of passing clouds.

As the Helmet Researcher gazed up at these scars, the Golden Reaper made a clawing motion towards the sky with an expression that seemed to say, “Look how great this is!”

Mom is amazing!

The Helmet Researcher couldn’t understand the Golden Reaper’s will, but he could easily guess what it wanted to say.

It was probably talking about how impressive the Gray Reaper had been.

Well, it was indeed remarkable, and it had become a topic of conversation everywhere.

The scars left this time had remained for quite a while, so almost everyone had seen them.

As he placed the Golden Reaper on his palm and looked up at the sky again, dazzling sunlight was pouring through the scars the Gray Reaper had carved in the sky.

It was a beautiful stream of multicolored light.

The spatial distortion left in the scars seemed to twist the light like a prism, causing the sunlight that pierced through to separate into various colors before reaching the ground.

Looking down at where the sunlight touched the ground, he saw several Mini Reapers settling under the rainbow-colored light that matched their own colors.

Red!

<Blue….>

The Red Reaper and Orange Reaper looked purely joyful, while the Blue Reaper seemed to have been dragged along by them. The Orange Reaper was basking in the warmth of the sun.

Various other Mini Reapers were also frolicking under the multicolored light.

Seeing these Mini Reapers gave a very cheerful impression, but if one turned their gaze just slightly to the surroundings, a completely different atmosphere awaited.

Building exteriors covered in soot-like grime.

Apartment buildings reduced to mere skeletons.

Shattered windows.

The devastating interior of the apartments visible through those broken windows.

Moreover, the sunlight pouring over it all created eerie shadows, giving the ruins a creepy and chilling atmosphere, as if they were the bones of some monster.

However, this eerie environment could only be felt in the apartments that remained standing on the outskirts of the complex.

Most of the apartment complex was now occupied by an environment that suited neither the ruins nor Seoul.

A snow-white beach made of sand that emitted a soft glow.

This was the beach that had once become a hot topic when numerous missing persons were discovered there.

Now that all the survivors buried there had been rescued, the beach was quiet, with Golden Reapers sprawled all over it.

The Golden Reapers had become slightly plumper.

Piggy….

Whatever mistake the Golden Reapers had made, all those captured by the Gray Reaper had been transformed like this.

“What on earth happened?” the Helmet Researcher asked, looking down at the Golden Reaper, but it had already disappeared.

No!

When he looked around, he found that the Gray Reaper had suddenly appeared nearby and was holding onto the Helmet Researcher’s beloved Reaper.

After a moment, the Gray Reaper placed the Golden Reaper back onto the Helmet Researcher’s palm with an indifferent expression and vanished.

I’ve become a piggy….

The Golden Reaper lay spread-eagled on his palm, wearing a gloomy expression.

The Ash-gray Girl had a dream.

In her dream, she was crawling along an endless path.

She didn’t know her destination, but she kept moving forward, clutching a small doll in her right hand.

The girl, who had realized she was a plaster doll, felt no pain even as her arms and legs cracked and crumbled.

But with each part of her body that broke, her consciousness drifted further away.

At this rate, I feel like I’ll lose consciousness soon….

But she had something she absolutely had to do.

It was to save her Mini Reaper friend, the Yellow Reaper.

With that single thought, the girl stubbornly clung to the thread of her consciousness.

Every time she forcibly tried to maintain consciousness, a pain like her head was about to split open washed over her, but the girl didn’t give up.

And finally, the girl was able to find the Gray Reaper.

Thank goodness….

She could pass on the doll before dying….

Her mind was in such a jumble that she had forgotten why she needed to pass on the doll, but she knew clearly that it was the most important thing to do.

And so, with her heart full of relief, the girl accepted death.

….

The Ash-gray Girl, who thought it was the end of her life, slowly woke from her dream.

Her vision was blurry at first, but gradually became clearer.

She could see the ceiling of a hospital room.

Am I alive?

At that moment, something small and soft leaped onto the bewildered girl’s face.

Human…!

It was the Yellow Reaper, the Ash-gray Girl’s attachment Reaper.

The Yellow Reaper clung to the girl’s face with an expression that looked like it might cry.

“So I’m alive,” the Ash-gray Girl said with a faint smile.

And moving her hand that didn’t work well, she patted the Yellow Reaper.

The Yellow Reaper also grasped that bony hand tightly and rubbed it against its face.

It felt like everything would be alright now.

The Ash-gray Girl smiled softly and slowly drifted back to sleep.

Just before falling asleep, she thought she saw her sister smiling at her.

Deep within the Sehee Research Institute, in a comfortable isolation room.

I was lying on a soft bed, rolling around.

Stretching both hands towards the ceiling and waving them about.

But nothing happened.

No new abilities, huh.

I had high hopes since the White Entity I caught this time was quite strong, but no matter how long I waited, there was no sign of gaining any abilities.

Could it be because all of the White Entity’s abilities were just inferior versions of my own?

I was a bit disappointed, as I had wanted to use abilities like the red flames it created from both hands or time reversal myself.

Plus, that flash of the Black Halo it used at the end!

That was really amazing.

Of course, it wasn’t comparable to the real Halo, but it would have been quite difficult to block if I hadn’t used the Halo of Ability Nullification.

And there was quite a lot to learn from this incident.

It made me think deeply about so-called ‘Harmful Objects’.

To think there was a gap in my ability to sense Harmful Objects.

I didn’t get the feeling of a ‘Harmful Object’ from one that never killed humans and only kidnapped them, though I did feel something was off about it.

It was revealed that the structure for sensing harm was based on whether an Object was mentally contaminated by the Red Outer God, had killed humans, or intended to kill humans.

Moreover, this incident clearly showed that Golden Reapers were definitely not human.

An apartment complex where crumbling plaster dolls without eyes, nose, or mouth dragged their feet as they walked around.

And buildings reduced to mere skeletons, with black mold-like powder swirling so thickly it obscured vision, yet they didn’t find it suspicious?

Honestly, it was a scene that could pass for a horror movie even if filmed directly.

Well, now that I’ve put the Golden Reapers in ‘piggy’ form, they should gradually improve.

On my bed, ‘piggy’ Golden Reapers were sprawled all over, their cute pot bellies facing the sky.

Poke, poke.

I was enjoying the sensation as I went around poking the bellies of these Golden Reapers.

It’s done…!

Just as I was thinking about making a bed by gathering these soft Golden Reapers, the Yellow Reaper came to inform me that the doll costume was complete.

It was the Tyranno doll costume I had asked the Yellow Reaper to make.

The Yellow Reaper appeared wearing the doll costume as if to demonstrate it, which caused the Golden Reapers to start getting up from their spots.

So cute!

Cool!

Me too!

It was a huge hit with the Golden Reapers!

But it wasn’t the doll costume I had been expecting.

I wanted a Tyranno doll costume that looked real!

When the Yellow Reaper saw my disappointed expression, it chuckled ‘huhehe’ and pulled the dinosaur head down firmly.

!!!

Then, mental contamination started occurring from the doll costume, and it began to look like a real Tyranno.

It was a palm-sized, realistic Tyranno!

Now if I just catch a bunch of White Hungry Ghost, carve them into Triceratops, and let them loose, we can play dinosaur era!

Hehe.

I smiled happily, imagining Mini Reapers running around to catch and eat Hungry Ghost, and White Hungry Ghost crying with mournful sounds.

Deep in the Mini Reaper Garden, in the Milk Bingsu Snowfield.

While the number of Golden Reapers searching for the Legendary Pudding had decreased, a rumor began to circulate in this snowfield where Mini Reapers always roamed around for delicious bingsu and sugar fruits.

There’s a snow-white ghost!

It’s a ghost with blood-red trace patterns!

Even if you chase it, it suddenly disappears!

A ghost that looks like a white sheet!

It was a rumor about a terrifying ghost wandering around the Milk Bingsu Snowfield.

This rumor began to draw curious Golden Reapers back to the Milk Bingsu Snowfield once again.