Seoul Object Story
Chapter 46: Object Exhibition (7)

I saw a sight that I longed for.

No, it was a sight I never wanted to see again.

The pale moonlight cast its ethereal glow, a chilling presence that I couldn’t shake off, and darkness, with a will of its own, obstructed my vision, not letting me see even an inch ahead.

It was the hellish Seoul Forest from my memories.

***

It’s cold.

I should have been incapable of feeling the cold, yet I did.

Rain fell steadily within the depths of the dark forest, in the dead of the night.

Despite the rain, an enigmatic full moon was visible in the sky.

Even though I had no lungs, I felt as if I was out of breath.

With bare hands, I tirelessly dug into the wet earth.

My soft, gray skin tore and crumbled as I picked up stones and unearthed the soil.

My hands were covered with scars.

From those wounds, yellow flames trickled like blood.

Even though I wanted to live as an Object, I never wanted this kind of life…

Ever since I woke up in the forest, it felt like I had always been teetering on the edge of death.

Even my bare feet were covered in scars.

The soft soles of my feet were easily torn and pricked by the forest.

Even the most ordinary of tree branches easily pierced through my tender flesh.

Out of sheer frustration, I opened my mouth and screamed, just like when I was human, but to my dismay, no sound came out.

If I could at least yell out loud, I might have felt a little better…

I kept digging and digging, but there was no end in sight.

In order to kill the mole, which would die when exposed to the light of the full moon, I dug down relentlessly, to expose the place where the mole was sleeping.

To survive in this harsh, unforgiving forest, I continued digging further and further.

My hands and feet, softer than those of humans, became even more tattered every time I dug into the cold, hard soil.

My heightened senses, more acute than those of humans, intensified my struggle, even with the most minor wounds on my skin.

I couldn’t even cry out like a human, and neither did the biting cold ever go away.

The dark night seemed like it would last forever.

No matter how deep I dug into the ground, no matter how long I persisted, I couldn’t find the mole’s nest.