Seoul Object Story
Chapter 326: The World at the End (7)

Thump. Thump. Thump.

The pink girl’s footsteps echoed through the pipes.

The pink girl and the Blue Reaper passed through a massive door labeled ‘Alchemist Academy’ and followed a path made of pressed pipes.

The scenery beyond the door had a slightly different atmosphere from the city they had seen so far.

Unlike the city full of stone, roads, street trees, and buildings, beyond the door were grass, trees, pebbles, and wildflowers made of pipes.

As they followed the path over a small hill, an endless field spread out before them.

A field of colorful flowers and grass intertwined, with a stone path cutting through its center.

And beyond that, an enormous building.

“The city outside the gate was already amazing, but this is even more incredible.”

The pink girl was marveling at the precisely depicted grass and flowers made of pipes.

“I’ve never seen so much grass before. And you can tell they put a lot of effort into making it so detailed.”

The Blue Reaper nodded slightly in agreement with the pink girl’s words as it looked down at the field.

In this field, as if capturing a moment when the wind was blowing, the grass was frozen in a natural swaying motion like a photograph.

Near the building they reached after crossing the field, numerous statues of people could be seen.

Children adorned with elaborate decorations, all wearing ‘identical clothes’, filled the area.

“There are so many children. They look about my age.”

Children walking in groups of three or five.

Children standing in place, smiling and chatting.

A child running somewhere while tightly hugging a large book.

All these children had their own distinctive features, making them feel like real people.

The pink girl smiled with a slightly lonely expression as she looked at the statues of the cheerful-looking children.

“I wonder if I would have lived in a place like this originally?”

“With lots of people, wearing the same clothes, laughing happily and talking?”

The Blue Reaper slowly patted the cheek of its Attachment Human, who looked a bit sad.

“It’s okay.”

The pink girl placed the Blue Reaper on her palm and gently stroked it.

“That would be really fun.”

“Surely there must be places where people gather on the upper levels, right? The tower is so incredibly wide and tall. There must be.”

“Then maybe I could wear the same clothes and live in the same place too?”

The pink girl looked melancholic, but in the end, she smiled slightly as if dreaming a pleasant dream.

After wandering around the model academy made of pipes for a while, the Blue Reaper discovered a somewhat peculiar place.

<There’s a slightly strange place.>

While other areas were close to precise models, the place the Blue Reaper found was a bit different.

It wasn’t a model, but rather had traces of humans having lived there, as if it were real.

“An ‘Exhibition Hall’?”

When the pink girl went to where the Blue Reaper indicated, there was a nameplate.

A spacious room visible as soon as they opened the door.

Inside were mirrors on display that seemed to preserve memories or scenes like photographs, rather than paintings.

And in front of the walls where these mirrors were attached, there was always a single chair placed.

It was as if one could see someone spending all day walking around this room, sitting in the chairs for long periods to appreciate the mirrors.

“I can see lots of people in the mirrors.”

More vibrant than the models made of pipes, images of humans showing various colors and expressions were moving inside the mirrors.

[I wonder what’s for lunch today?]

[I don’t want to go to class….]

[They say the tower lost another floor!]

[Professor, come over here too!]

The scenes flowing from the mirrors seemed like snapshots of various everyday moments.

And in the corner of the exhibition hall, there were mirrors on display with a distinctly different atmosphere.

They were mirrors reflecting the image of a middle-aged man who looked extremely tired, unlike the children.

[Evolution fluid is also a byproduct of alchemy. There must be a way.]

[Just as there is no such thing as eternal alchemy, this tower is not eternal. We need to find a way quickly.]

[People still don’t know. That this tower is not a perpetual motion machine.]

And the last one was a mirror reflecting the image of the man in his old age.

[I have failed. All I’ve accomplished is creating a tower that’s nearly eternal by borrowing the power of a god.]

[Before the end of this world comes, may someone find the answer.]

The pink girl was staring at that mirror as if mesmerized.

At that moment, the Blue Reaper, looking urgent, jumped in and started writing text strings.

<Please hide us quickly!>

Thump. Thump. Thump.

Heavy footsteps and an intense presence.

‘A powerful Object!’

The Blue Reaper, with a very tense expression, hid away from the windows of the exhibition hall.

“What on earth…?!”

The pink girl tried to say something, but the Blue Reaper covered her mouth with its whole body, preventing her from speaking.

At that moment, a huge shadow was cast through the window.

A massive body and long limbs that looked as if they could block out the sun.

That shadow looked like a spider.

Sehee Research Institute, Reaper-exclusive underground lounge.

The Golden Reapers and I had been enjoying a game of deadly tag using evolution fluid in Seoul Forest, but we got bored and returned to Sehee Research Institute.

Of course, since the evolution fluid is dangerous, I blocked off the areas near the pillars where it was dripping with spatial slashes.

Then we came straight down to the underground lounge and soaked in the warm water.

‘Ah, it’s warm.’

Maybe because I had been working too hard searching for the Blue Reaper, as soon as I submerged my body in the warm water, I felt drowsy.

The Golden Reapers followed me in one after another, submerging their bodies in the warm water.

Once in the water, the Golden Reapers relaxed completely and started floating around with peaceful expressions.

Only their round bellies were sticking out above the water, which was a bit cute.

As I was gathering the Golden Reapers in the water and pressing their bellies like piano keys, I heard news coming from the TV installed in the lounge.

[The entire country is in chaos due to the sudden appearance of a massive planet last night.]

[Yesterday at dawn, a huge celestial body resembling Earth suddenly appeared in the night sky all over the world.]

[This phenomenon, believed to be caused by an Object, continued throughout the night and is still observable in the sky.]

[According to celestial experts, the planet that appeared in the sky has an identical shape to Earth, as if reflected in a mirror.]

[While the celestial body is similar in terms of continental outlines and cloud patterns, the color of its oceans appears black instead of the blue we know.]

[On social media, related photos and videos have been explosively shared throughout the night, and various speculations and rumors are spreading rapidly.]

[Meanwhile, the Object Council has called an emergency meeting, and the first briefing is scheduled for 10 AM shortly.]

Everywhere on the news, it was full of stories about the black planet I had connected to find the Blue Reaper.

It felt a bit ticklish, as if I had played a huge prank on the whole world.

Hehe.

As I was watching TV with a small smile like that, I heard a welcome voice.

“Ah, here you are!”

It was Yerin in a swimsuit.

Yerin, who had found me, came into the water and hugged my body tightly.

“Reaper. You’re so warm.”

Yerin smiled softly and buried her face in my hair.

Saying we hadn’t met much lately, Yerin started chattering about various things.

“Oh! Come to think of it, I felt like someone was coming into the house lately, so I installed a security camera.”

‘?’

Hearing those words, I tilted my head.

I’m sure I had placed a White Hungry Ghost in Yerin’s house, so how could a thief have gotten in?

Maybe the White Hungry Ghost was neglecting its duties.

As I listened to Yerin’s words, I decided to throw the White Hungry Ghost I had placed in Yerin’s house into the ‘Hungry Ghost Demon Hell’.

“But strangely, nothing in the house has gone missing.”

“These days, Sehee unnie….”

“The other day, when I saw the Golden Reaper….”

After talking for a while like that while fiddling with my belly fat, Yerin eventually bit my antenna and started watching the TV installed in the lounge with me.

As I was blankly watching TV like that, I suddenly thought of James.

‘Come to think of it, I wonder what happened to the Golden-Mecha-Tyranno Armor I asked him to make?’

My mouth corners lifted slightly at the thought of finally being able to put a golden armor on the Tyranno.

Hehe.

Exhibition hall of the model ‘Alchemist Academy’.

The pink girl and the Blue Reaper were holding their breath, hiding in the shadows.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

In the model city where day had already passed, only heavy footsteps were echoing.

‘It looks strong.’

The Blue Reaper, with a very tense expression, wrote text in front of the pink girl’s eyes.

<The Sun-Eating Spider?>

Seeing those words, the pink girl shook her head.

“It can’t be. Grandpa said the Sun-Eating Spider is always at the very top of the tower.”

The pink girl spoke in a tiny voice, afraid of being discovered by the huge shadow.

“And it seems too small to be the Sun-Eating Spider. In the picture book Grandpa read to me, it was really huge.”

Thump. Thump. Thump.

The footsteps started to fade away.

The pink girl muttered softly, “I’ll just take a quick look,” and poked her head out the window.

<There are many Objects that can sense our gaze!>

The Blue Reaper was startled and tugged on the pink girl’s earlobe, but to no avail.

After looking outside like that, the pink girl hid her head again.

“It’s definitely not a spider. It looks a bit strange, actually.”

The pink girl added that it looked a bit cute too, and giggled.

Hearing the pink girl’s words, the Blue Reaper became a bit curious.

So it slowly, very slowly, started to poke its head out the window.

Starting from the tip of its pointed witch hat, bit by bit.

Taking its time like that, it poked just one eye out the window.

<!>

What the Blue Reaper saw was a huge Black Hungry Ghost Demon with abnormally long limbs.

Strangely, the Blue Reaper thought this Black Hungry Ghost Demon looked a bit similar to the Black Statue it had seen on a previous level.

<!!!!!>

At that moment, the eyes of the Black Hungry Ghost Demon and the Blue Reaper met.

Oh no!