Seoul Object Story
Chapter 344: Orb of Wishes (8)

Late at night, Seodaemun-gu.

Finally, the last people remaining in Seodaemun-gu began to leave the city.

Even those who had stubbornly stayed behind after hospital patients were evacuated quickly changed their minds when the Golden Reapers rushed in.

‘It’s dangerous here!’

‘Humans, run away!’

Some angrily slapped their cheeks.

Others tugged at cheeks with sad expressions.

Some clung to trouser hems, being dragged along.

Others put on cute, pleading expressions.

Everyone succumbed to the adorable persuasion of the various Golden Reapers.

Though Seodaemun-gu became enveloped in silence like a ghost town, there was still no sign of the Firewood Pig Golden Reaper.

‘Where on earth could it be?’

The fact that I suddenly missed the missing Golden Reaper for no reason likely meant it was in a dangerous situation….

At that moment, a streak of golden light burst forth, cutting through the pitch-black night sky.

A golden comet-like beam of light.

At first just a tiny spark no bigger than a Mini Reaper, it explosively expanded to engulf all of Seodaemun-gu in a golden wave.

Shadows on the streets danced and flickered, and everything seemed outlined in a golden glow.

At the center of that sun-like light was a tiny lump of firewood, shaped like a Golden Reaper’s small fist.

And the moment that sun appeared, I sensed the presence of the missing Golden Reaper.

‘There you are!’

A small crack in the shape of a Golden Reaper’s fist.

Though the crack vanished instantly, it was no longer an issue now that I had observed its location once.

I stuffed both hands full of firewood and tore through space.

Recklessly, as if clawing in anger.

Crack.

With a sound like shattering glass, a suspicious space was revealed.

A distorted space where wishes swirled like a vortex.

A short-haired girl collapsed in the corner.

And finally, a Golden Cloak Reaper slowly falling with its fist still raised.

That girl with abundant-looking firewood was probably the Golden Cloak Reaper’s Attachment Human.

I leapt straight towards the Golden Reaper.

Looking up at me, the Golden Cloak Reaper smiled weakly.

As I fell, I easily tore apart the space trapping the Golden Cloak Reaper and embraced it in my arms.

‘Don’t worry. Mom is here.’

I sent that will as I poured firewood into the Golden Cloak Reaper.

I poured in firewood.

I poured in firewood.

I poured in firewood.

‘???’

It’s absorbing about 100 times more firewood than a normal Golden Reaper….

After feeding it plenty of firewood, the Golden Cloak Reaper regained consciousness and looked up at me with a small smile.

I patted it once, then placed it on top of my head before sending the collapsed girl to the Mini Reaper Garden.

‘Ready to fight!’

As I turned towards the kidnapper, I saw a man wearing a halo on his head looking at me with a strange expression.

That expression seemed to convey both hatred and longing.

[It’s already too late, byproduct.]

The moment those words left the man’s trembling lips, space cracked open as if shattering.

And rotting hands rose up from the cracks in space.

They were traces of desires, created from wishes but twisted and corrupted.

Those hands desperately reached out towards the man as if trying to grasp something they had yearned for over a long time.

And they began to wrap around the man’s body as if determined never to let go.

The man simply stared at the hands burrowing into his body.

Even as his flesh melted and fused with the hands, his expression was one of ecstasy.

[Finally… the great work is achieved!]

With his voice full of joy, the fusion was complete.

The man’s form was no longer human.

A grotesque shape with countless hands bursting through flesh, clenched tight.

And that form somewhat resembled the appearance of the ‘Old God’ nailed to the ground.

Late at night, Sehee Research Institute.

Yerin was hiding in the isolation room, hoping to play with the Gray Reaper and fall asleep together after a long time.

But the Gray Reaper didn’t come, so Yerin was slowly eating snacks from the isolation room with a sad expression while watching TV.

“I even prepared pajamas for the Reaper…”

Of course, it probably wouldn’t have worn them, but she always prepared clothes for isolation room pajama parties.

Moreover, something must have happened to the Gray Reaper, as the Mini Reapers that usually swarmed the isolation room were hardly to be seen.

All that remained were Black Reapers patrolling with heavy steps and Golden Reapers rolling around on the bed with sleepy eyes.

Even the Golden Reapers on the bed seemed to be on high alert, clutching long spears in their arms.

Yerin watched a Golden Reaper open its mouth wide in a big yawn, and stuck the tip of her finger into its mouth.

‘Ah!’

The Golden Reaper, its eyes almost closed and about to fall asleep, lightly bit Yerin’s finger. It startled awake with a jolt.

‘I bit it!’

‘Are you hurt?’

The Golden Reaper looked up at Yerin with a worried expression, licking the tip of her finger.

Yerin smiled contentedly at the sight.

“It’s so soft and squishy, it didn’t hurt at all.”

Saying that, Yerin tugged at the Golden Reaper’s plump, squishy cheeks.

Yawn.

The other Golden Reapers were all yawning too, trying hard not to fall asleep.

A Golden Reaper doing a handstand to stay awake nodded off and tumbled over.

Golden Reapers sparring with spears to stay awake dozed off and bonked heads with a ‘thunk’.

Seeing the Golden Reapers nodding off but trying so hard not to sleep, they seemed to have an even stronger work ethic than Senior Sehee.

[Breaking news.]

[Object phenomenon occurring in Seodaemun-gu.]

As soon as that text appeared, the TV screen suddenly changed.

It showed buildings crumbling in the dim night sky.

And in the middle of that screen was a gray form rolling on the ground.

“!”

Just as Yerin was startled, the Golden Reapers looked up at the sky blankly.

‘It’s been a while!’

‘It’s calling.’

‘Do you need help?’

Then they slowly walked over to Yerin with dazed expressions and started clinging to her.

Inside the distorted space, like an antlion pit that devours wishes.

I used ‘Kkyuk’ towards the grotesque man with the halo.

Space warped and twisted, and a black sphere appeared, starting to suck in everything.

[It’s useless.]

But with the man’s shout, the halo began to shine brightly, and the black sphere vanished without a trace.

‘!!!’

How annoying.

Could that be a halo that manipulates space?

The man opened his mouth as if entranced, radiating brilliant light from the halo.

[I have finally obtained the power of ‘God’.]

[The long-cherished wish of alchemists has been achieved by my hand!]

He looked somewhat like a fanatic.

By the way, God?

From my perspective, it was a bit questionable.

He was certainly stronger than the Hungry Ghost Reaper or spider wearing halos, but it wasn’t clear if he was Outer God level.

The reason was his destruction condition: <Destroy the ■ of Wishes>.

Judging by how my ‘Eye’ couldn’t properly confirm the destruction condition, he might not be on par with the Black Giant or Red Outer God, but perhaps he had one foot in the realm of Outer Gods?

Well, his silhouette did resemble the ‘Old God’ the most.

The Old God, unable to fly due to being trapped by wishes.

The man looked down at me with an expression of genuine joy and said:

[And by defeating the traces of her challenge to godhood, I shall reclaim ‘that title’!]

As he spoke, growing increasingly excited, he clapped his hands at the end, unleashing a powerful shockwave.

It was a shockwave that applied pressure to space itself, shattering it.

I was flung out of the crumbling latticed space, bouncing into reality and rolling over and over.

An empty city with buildings crumbling from the shockwave.

Drones filming from afar.

And multicolored moonlight with four halos hanging in the sky.

‘Fool.’

He should have kept fighting in the enclosed space, rather than pushing me out to Earth.

Hehe.

As I stopped rolling, the man’s form slowly emerged from the crack in space.

As his root-like legs touched the earth, the twisted hands surrounding his body spread roots towards the ground.

Surprisingly, those hands firmly took root the moment they touched the Earth’s surface, as if they had always been there.

And as they took root, those rotting, crumbling hands began to grow larger and larger.

‘Huh?’

Like the roots of the ‘Old God’.

Simultaneously, the man’s body and stature began to grow enormously.

I looked up at the man who had suddenly grown to Outer God size, and called down the Ability Nullification Halo from the sky to wear on my head.

White flames immediately clung all over the man’s body.

Watching this, I stuffed my right hand full of firewood and tore apart the space containing the man.

Five streaks of scars extended from the sky down to the man.

But they didn’t reach him.

‘Why?’

Looking closely, I saw that a thin spatial barrier covering the man’s skin was blocking both the white flames and the spatial slashes.

The man opened his mouth with a confident expression, as if he had expected this:

[Dominating space is proof of godhood.]

[Just as the purple moon that manipulates space was supreme, the divine fragment that manipulates space is the greatest among all fragments.]

Then as the man swung his arm, now elongated like the Black Giant’s, countless black spheres began to appear all around.

Hundreds, thousands of black spheres that grind everything to dust.

My body too was pulverized and disappeared, but I instantly regenerated using firewood.

But the man’s attacks didn’t end there.

As the spatial halo enhanced by twisted wishes emitted light, the world began to distort.

A world twisted and bent like seen through a kaleidoscope.

Every time I touched the bent space, my body was chopped into tiny pieces.

I switched the halo to Perfect Evasion Halo and wildly tore at the distorted space with ‘Kkyuk’.

[Such petty tricks.]

Just as I was about to tear apart the twisted kaleidoscope, with a single word from the man, space flipped again and my spatial slashes turned back towards me.

But the attacks returning to me were twisted and deflected by the Perfect Evasion Halo.

As the distorted space returned to normal, the man’s voice could be heard:

[Impressive. Did you really come this far with that absurd plan?]

The man’s voice held a mixture of admiration and wistfulness.

Ignoring the man’s words, I checked my condition.

Still plenty of firewood left.

What options do I have?

First, summon the Blue Idol Reaper for a Double Halo.

Second, summon the Hungry Ghost Reaper for a Double Halo.

Third, call all the Mini Reapers led by the cool and strong Tyranno.

Fourth, summon the Blue Sphere and fight in Blue Giant Mode.

Fifth, summon the Immutable Sphere and show the true power of the Old God.

Lastly, call Yerin and demonstrate the power of Infinite Firewood.

But there weren’t many viable options.

The first three didn’t seem capable of overcoming the spatial halo enhanced by massive amounts of wishes.

The fourth and fifth would guarantee victory, but for some reason I didn’t want to use them.

The giants just felt off-putting, you know?

Especially the Black Giant.

And summoning Yerin seemed dangerous, so that was a last resort.

‘….’

Ah, thinking is such a bother.

Maybe I’ll just call the Black Giant.

Just as I was considering that, a golden aurora began to appear in the sky.

It was an absurd flow of firewood.

Just like the sticky wishes flowing from the ground where the man had taken root, a massive amount of firewood was flowing from the Mini Reaper network in the sky.

And at the center of that flow was a single Golden Reaper.

Standing atop the only intact skyscraper, with one hand raised, was a Golden Reaper.

It was the Golden Horned Reaper with cute horns sprouting from its head.