Seoul Object Story
Chapter 322: The World at the End (3)

The Blue Reaper rather liked this world it had suddenly been dragged into.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

A world so quiet that the footsteps of the Mom Golem echoed loudly.

A cozy world where it felt like they were the only two in this vast structure, with no one else around.

A world where no one was watching, so it could snuggle comfortably in its Attachment Human’s arms.

A world perfect for staying close to the Attachment Human with just a bit of courage!

The Attachment Human was secretly piling snowballs on top of her own hat.

“Hehehe.”

The Attachment Human was letting out small, suspicious laughs, thinking the Blue Reaper hadn’t noticed.

Pretending not to notice, the Blue Reaper lifted its head towards the sky, causing the snowballs to slide off the hat.

Seeing this, the Attachment Human cried out.

“No…! My white tower!”

Looking up, they could see a curtain filling the sky.

And through the tattered gaps in that curtain, an ambiguous light that was neither day nor night was visible.

That ambiguous brightness was this world’s ‘daytime’.

How fascinating.

Besides that, this world was full of wonders for the Blue Reaper.

‘I wonder who built this tower?’

The tower they were climbing with the Attachment Human was a massive structure unlike anything the Blue Reaper had seen even in the world where ‘Mom’ existed.

The tower was so tall it seemed to touch the sky, and wide enough to contain a city.

The most fascinating thing was the structure of the tower itself.

It looked as if round staircases had been haphazardly stuck together.

Moreover, it was structured so that the sky could be seen directly from each floor.

‘Why did they build it like this? Even if you look up at the sky, all you can see is the black curtain and slivers of sky through the gaps…’

How much time had passed?

The Attachment Human, bored of the field covered entirely in white, grumbled.

“This is boring. The scenery is all white, it’s so dull…”

And as the bored Attachment Human took the Blue Reaper’s tiny hand and started playing dolls, the end of the snow-covered plain came into view.

As if forcibly attached to the snow-covered plain, a parched field suddenly appeared before their eyes.

It looked like the boundary where winter meets summer.

“It’s a field!”

The pink girl sat up straight and looked around.

Then, as if sharing a secret knowledge, she whispered softly to the Blue Reaper.

“Grandpa told me that when there was a sun, food used to spring up here in abundance. Isn’t that amazing?”

“I wonder what kind of food came from this field? Canned goods? Snacks? Candy?”

The pink girl smiled happily, as if imagining delicious foods.

“That’s why I really want to climb to the very top of this tower.”

<？>

Unable to understand the connection between snacks and the top of the tower, the Blue Reaper created a question mark in the air.

“Grandpa said that the highest floor of this tower extends beyond the sky curtain. And above the sky curtain, there’s a sun.”

“Someday we’ll be able to see the sun. And there will be ‘fields’ where candy grows in abundance.”

The pink girl smiled as if talking about a dream.

James Tower on the outskirts of Songpa District.

In the situation room that had now dropped the ‘temporary’ label due to the frequency of incidents.

James sat in the situation room, watching real-time footage.

It was video being captured by drones deployed to investigate Seoul Forest as soon as the disappearance of ‘Civilization Destruction’ was discovered.

The footage from those drones was chaotic, flipping upside down and sideways several times per second.

“Hmm.”

Despite the nauseating footage indicating severe spatial distortion, James’s expression was surprisingly bright.

‘The drone is still intact even after flying around Seoul Forest like this.’

With space so randomly jumbled at such short intervals, it wouldn’t have been strange for the drone to be torn to shreds mid-flight.

If the distortion was this stable, there was no worry about humans having their limbs torn off if they entered.

However, while there might not be an immediate risk of death upon entry, it was clear that access restrictions were absolutely necessary.

If a human went in there, they’d likely be trapped in a maze where they couldn’t tell up from down, with little chance of ever getting out.

‘There sure are a lot of Golden Reapers, though.’

Golden Reapers perched on trees like crows.

Golden Reapers marching in single file over fallen leaves.

Golden Reapers raining down from the sky due to spatial distortions.

Golden Reapers digging through the ground like moles.

There were so many Golden Reapers in the drone footage that it looked more like a ‘Forest of Golden Reapers’ than Seoul Forest.

One peculiar thing was that the Golden Reapers wandering Seoul Forest were holding fragments that emitted a clear, refreshing blue light like water.

‘What on earth are those fragments?’

But it was difficult to judge properly with the drone’s camera.

To clear his head, which wasn’t working properly due to fatigue, James picked up the coffee mug on his desk.

‘?’

Feeling the coffee mug was a bit heavier than usual, he turned his head to find a Golden Reaper clinging to it with an embarrassed expression.

‘Ah! I’ve been caught!’

The Golden Reaper was smiling sheepishly while pushing a sugar cube into the coffee mug.

‘So that’s why I thought the coffee was getting a little sweeter with each sip. There was a secret like this.’

Seeing that James didn’t seem particularly angry, the Golden Reaper finished putting in the sugar cube and lightly licked the coffee.

‘Waaah! It’s still bitter.’

The Golden Reaper stuck out its tongue and scrunched up its face.

Seeing this, James picked up the Golden Reaper, gently patted it, and put a jelly in its mouth.

Nom nom nom.

The Golden Reaper nibbled on the jelly on James’s hand, smiling as if happy.

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

I was in Yerin’s arms, playing with the Ghost Reaper.

‘Filial piety!’

‘Waaah!’

The Golden Reaper stabbed by the Ghost Reaper exuded its will while laughing.

The game I was playing now involved making the Ghost Reaper stab various targets.

The Ghost Reaper’s knife changed shape slightly with each new target, and the will it shouted also varied a bit.

When stabbing me, it was ‘Filial piety!’

When stabbing Mini Reapers, it was ‘Childlike piety!’

When stabbing injured Objects, it was ‘Medical piety!’

It would exude various wills like this while stabbing.

When it stabbed the White Hungry Ghost Stew that the Red Reaper was cooking, it shouted ‘Soup piety!’, though I’m not sure what that means.

So I was having it stab various Objects and items to see what it would say.

At that moment, Yerin, who was nibbling on my antennae, muttered to herself while looking at the TV screen.

“Wow, it’s full of Golden Reapers.”

Hearing that, I turned my head to see the TV screen showing Golden Reapers swarming the outpost in Seoul Forest.

So crowded there was no room to step.

Then the TV screen changed, and a news anchor’s voice was heard.

[The Object Council has just issued an emergency statement strictly prohibiting entry to Seoul Forest.]

[According to the latest announcement from James Research Institute, a ‘Spatial Loss Phenomenon’ is occurring centered on Seoul Forest, and they warn that caution is necessary.]

Looking at the footage of the area around Seoul Forest, it seemed like far too many Golden Reapers had been dispatched to be simply protecting humans.

‘That’s strange.’

Well, maybe they just find it fun to wander around in the spatial distortions?

Having sorted out my thoughts like that, I turned my attention away from the TV.

Then I grabbed a fist-sized Mini White Angler and held it out to the Ghost Reaper.

I wonder what kind of will it would exude while stabbing this?

As I was watching expectantly, the Ghost Reaper raised its knife high and brought it straight down.

‘Knife!!!!’

Kyuhinghing.

As the knife plunged into the White Angler’s plump back, it cried out mournfully.

Well, I suppose a regular knife suits the White Angler.

Hehe.

Crunch. Crunch.

As they advanced across the completely dried-up field without a drop of moisture, the sound of sand crumbling could be heard.

With that sand-crumbling sound as background noise, the Attachment Human kept talking non-stop.

“Grandpa said that back then…”

“There was something called pudding…”

Half of it was bragging about her grandfather, and the other half was talk about delicious food.

As time passed while listening to the Attachment Human’s words, the faint light coming through the curtain gradually diminished.

“Stop for a moment.”

Hearing those words, the Blue Reaper stopped the Mom Golem, and grotesque monsters began to emerge from the surrounding shadows.

‘Objects!’

They were harmful Objects reeking of Evolution Fluid.

“It’s the Shadow-Eating Grimoire.”

The pink girl wore an extremely tense expression.

<10 Water Needles!>

Seeing the Attachment Human’s expression, the Blue Reaper created needles out of water and shot them, but they had no effect.

It was like punching a shadow.

“Grandpa told me that it’s impossible to kill those grimoires.”

“But it’s okay as long as we don’t enter the same shadow.”

The pink girl was looking around nervously.

“If you’re caught by the Shadow-Eating Grimoire, you lose a portion of your shadow and completely lose the memories of one person.”

“But the only memories I have are of Grandpa. I absolutely can’t lose them.”

Hearing the Attachment Human’s words, the Blue Reaper looked down at her shadow.

‘!!!’

The Blue Reaper was truly shocked when it looked down at the Attachment Human’s shadow.

And for good reason.

The Attachment Human’s shadow had been gnawed away as if eaten by mice, almost completely gone.