Seoul Object Story
Chapter 50: Theme Park (1)

I fidgeted with boredom inside my containment room, the monotonous hum of the TV serving as mere white noise.

Yerin…she’s late…

I had been feeling really bored these days, as Yerin couldn’t come often.

In order to alleviate my boredom, I decided to wander around the research institute to kill time. During my exploration, I stumbled upon a new containment room.

In other words, a new Object had been delivered to the laboratory!

As I continued my adventure, I came across some additional information. It turned out that not one, not two, but three whole Objects had been delivered to the institute!

Each new Object was accompanied by a brief summary about them. Two of them were found through the ability of ‘Cute Puppy,’ while the other one had been transferred from another research institute.

In the past, the Sehee Research Institute rarely brought in new Objects. However, these days, they seemed to be increasing the number of Objects they contained, almost as if they were bored.

One of the new Objects was rather disgusting, as it moved about in a containment room full of sand. It looked so weird that it made me question whether the name was even accurate.

Was it even a spider?

To be honest, It resembled a bony hand more than an actual spider…

It looked more like a collection of bony hands haphazardly tied together with spider webs.

In fact, it was difficult to even see it as a human hand bone, given that it had over 20 fingers.

If one were to think of the fingers as the legs of a spider, the number of appendages on this Object far exceeded that of a normal spider.

After observing it for some time, I noticed that its behavior was like that of an insect. It would burrow into the sand and lie in wait, only springing out to attack when an easy prey passed by.

It was really strange for a fleshless hand bone to go out of its way to hunt, and as I continued to watch, I realized it didn’t seem to eat its prey. If the hunt was successful, it would just bind the prey with spider webs and bury it in the sand.

Furthermore, it had the ability to spin and shoot spider webs, using them to glide around.

I continued to observe it as if I was observing an ant, and it started to resemble a spider to some extent.

However, since It looked disgusting, I decided to not touch it and instead headed to the containment room where the other new Objects were stored.

The layout of this room was significantly different from the previous containment room.

It was a large facility built outside the institute, resembling a racing circuit with its numerous roads and intersections.

The Object contained in this isolation room was < Perfect Navigation >.

It was a navigation system that made clever use of the antique wave pattern of wood. As a result, It felt like a piece of high-end furniture or maybe a work of art. The only downside was that it was attached to a tricycle.

As I sneaked into the containment room and hopped onto the tricycle, the navigation system, which wasn’t even connected to power, miraculously turned on by itself.

“Please tell me your destination.”

A clear voice came from the navigation system.

The screen displayed a detailed map of the surrounding area of the research institute. What’s more, it seemed to provide real-time information about the roads, showing the people as well as the vehicles moving around the area.

As the name suggested, it appeared to be a truly ‘Perfect’ navigation system.

Usually, useful Objects such as this one would be immediately put to use upon discovery, so they rarely ended up in a research institute.

The fact that it was here, highly suggested that it had a fatal problem.

Still, for some reason, it seemed very fun.

Tiriring-! Tiriring-!

As I slowly pedaled the tricycle, a clear sound came from the metal connecting the tricycle wheels.

It must be a device installed to easily locate the moving tricycle within this large containment room, right?

As the bike moved forward, a voice from the navigation system spoke up.

“Switching to free driving mode.”

The tricycle inched forward, clearly in sync with the speed of my pedaling.

Now that I think about it, this containment room was set up like some kind of a ‘bicycle amusement park’. If someone discounted the possible dangers, it was extremely fun.

When driving the tricycle, an iron ball would suddenly roll in front of me, or an iron doll would pop out from the crosswalk. However, the navigation system would detect them and provide perfect instructions at the precise moment to avoid them each and every time.

If I were to exaggerate a bit, I could even drive with my eyes closed thanks to this Object!

As I meandered along the tricycle path, a thick fog suddenly enveloped the surroundings.

Woah, did they even create a device to simulate bad weather?!

Navigating through the fog proved challenging, as visibility was reduced to mere inches. But thanks to the navigation system projecting a simulation of the environment around me, no issues at all.

I found myself grinning widely, fueled by the excitement bubbling within me, and gradually increased my speed.

Pedaling and speeding along a road where I couldn’t see anything turned out to be even more fun than I had expected. The combination of slight unease and sheer amazement filled me with a thrilling sensation.

Just as I thought the fun would last forever it came to an end.

The fog that followed me wherever I went, one so dense that I couldn’t even see the tricycle wheels, suddenly disappeared.

Huh?

And then, I fell down from a steep cliff.

Swoosh-!

The place I fell into was a tomb for tricycles. It was a graveyard with numerous bicycles strewn about.

Fortunately, I was perfectly fine since I was immune to any physical damage, but this height would surely kill an average person.

I quickly slipped into my phantom form and left the room to read the Object’s summary.

I thought this Object was a good guy, but it turned out to be an evil navigation system…

***

I picked up a blood-stained photo that had fallen to the floor.

“A photo of the ‘Cute Puppy’?”

A dismembered corpse, a torn notebook, and a photo of the ‘Cute Puppy’.

I thought it would be a clue, but I couldn’t recall it.

Ah, I need to remember, it’s dancing just out of reach in my mind…

“Seems like the ‘Maker’was putting the ‘Nameless’ to the test. He was trying to solve a global Object problem. Is this why he stole the cube?”

“Nameless?”

Agent Black made a cryptic statement while shielding the girl’s eyes from the horrible sight of the basement.

For some reason I felt like I had heard the name ‘Nameless’ before.

What was it again?

“Don’t dwell on it. It’ll only give you a headache.”

“Well, I don’t really like worrying unnecessarily about things in the first place. I guess me not being able to remember has something to do with Objects.”

In frustration, I ran my fingers through my hair.

“So have you learned anything from this disaster?”

“I found close to no useful information. Most of what remained were some traces of failed attempts.”

“Looks like you missed the ‘Maker’, then.”

A group of employees in blue uniforms descended into the basement. With the help of specialized equipment, they scoured the area meticulously, looking for the smallest of clues.

Although chasing the maker would be quite an interesting job, sadly I would have to return to the office and wait for the next request since no one had yet asked me to look for him.

“Hoobae. Let’s head back!”

“Sunbae! Are you going to leave Hyejin behind?”

***

Leaving behind the ‘Skeleton Spider’and ‘Perfect Navigation’, I found myself in a far more sturdy containment room housing the last of the new Objects.

The moment I saw it, a sense of excitement washed over me.

This will be fun!

The Object was a walking doll.

Its head was round like a ball, and its eyes and mouth were roughly sewn shut. Moreover, it was dressed in a flashy manner just like that of a performer.

Overall, it was a nice doll, except for the face. The face looked strangely realistic, giving off an unsettling feeling.

The doll roamed around the containment room, nodding its head while holding out an envelope.

Written on the envelope was—

Maybe that was why the Object was named the < Theme Park Invitation Doll >

The doll wandered around holding out the invitation, but none of the lab staff dared to accept.

Receiving an invitation from an Object was akin to signing a waiver to express your willingness to gamble with your life.

Yet, as the doll toddled around, it unexpectedly extended the invitation toward me.

Hmm, I have a feeling that something very interesting will happen if I take that invitation…

***

In a cemetery shrouded in melancholy, I patiently waited for someone while leaning against a tree. Surrounding me were employees of the secret Central Research Institute stationed throughout the cemetery to protect me.

Instead of sending me back to prison, the secret Central Research Institute appointed me as the deputy director.

Even in a situation where it was impossible to bring back the Object Director, they opted to keep the director’s position vacant and put me in charge as the deputy director.

My first duty as the deputy director of the secret Central Research Institute was to wait for someone at a certain grave.

I had a strong feeling that he would come here, now that he was free.

It was his mother’s grave, after all.

Tap-! Tap-! Tap-!

Suddenly, the familiar sound of footsteps reached my ears.

When I looked up, I saw a man with the same face as the one I remembered from thirty years ago.