Seoul Object Story
Chapter 76: The Kkachisan Conference (2)

Park Seoah was bustling about in her personal room, meticulously preparing for her business trip. Unbeknownst to her, the Golden Reaper watched her every move with sparkling eyes full of insatiable curiosity.

The Golden Reaper, who was no different from a newborn, found everything in this room utterly fascinating.

The room was a far cry from the containment room of the Gray Reaper and had a completely different vibe from the Golden Garden where it usually lived.

Sunlight shone through the wide window, illuminating a serene view of grass and trees and warming the little reaper up.

While it couldn’t understand the significance of the various awards and commendation plaques adorning the walls—since it couldn’t read after all—it could sense that Seoah cherished them deeply.

Everything about the room was fascinating to the Golden Reaper: the spotless, polished wooden desk, the neatly organized folders, the sleek computer, the stylish lamp, and the picture frames filled with scenic views.

Despite having the ability to return to the Golden Garden anytime it wished, the Golden Reaper chose to linger here a bit longer. After all, there were many things the Golden Reaper liked here.

It liked the refrigerator that was always stocked with delicious treats, it also liked the magnet that made it fly. But above all, it loved humans—especially Park Seoah, who showered it with boundless affection.

“I will be going on a business trip. So, be good, okay?” Seoah said, placing a bunch of candy on the table. Though the Golden Reaper couldn’t understand the words themselves, it felt the meaning through her emotions. It could sense that Seoah was saying goodbye for quite some time.

The moment Seoah closed the doors to her office, the Golden Reaper, floating on top of a magnet, activated its Phantom Form ability and chased after Seoah.

Hop-! Hop-!

The Golden Reaper laughed joyfully as it frolicked around Seoah.

When she got into her car, it also sneakily slipped inside, giggling with delight as it hid in the shadows.

While Seoah was busy driving the car, the Golden Reaper unzipped the bag Seoah had kept on the passenger seat and sneakily went inside it.

As it curled up comfortably inside the bag, it had a thought.

I will always be together with the human I love!

***

Inside the cozy containment room, with the backdrop of soft music playing from the TV, I enjoyed my downtime while lying in bed.

Hop-! Hop-!

Meanwhile, a Golden Reaper was using my stomach as a trampoline, giggling happily with every bounce.

It bounced up and down, striking all sorts of cute and happy poses every time. Even though it looked a lot like me, it was a different existence altogether.

The Golden Reapers, huh? I suddenly became curious.

I can’t see my own killing conditions, so what are the Golden Reaper’s killing conditions? Hmm?

But as soon as I checked, the little guy who was until now using my stomach as a trampoline got startled and quickly returned to the Golden Garden.

Its killing condition was surprisingly rather simple.

Did the limitation of their lifespan duration disappear when the Garden of Golden Reapers was created?

Now that I think about it, the Golden Reapers’ lifespan these days… it seemed like they would return to the garden whenever they felt like it…

As for the killing conditions of the Garden of the Golden Reaper, I checked it a long time ago:

It seemed like I wouldn’t have to worry about the Golden Reapers. After all, they would be safe as long as I didn’t die.

In a way, as long as I was kept safe, the Golden Reapers could be said to be stronger than even me.

Jab-! Jab-!

When I called back the Golden Reaper who had run off to the garden, it started hitting me with its tiny fist, anger flashing in its eyes. I played along, catching its punches with my palm and then releasing it.

While I was having fun teasing the Golden Reaper, Yerin, all of a sudden barged into the containment room. Her expression was extremely tense surprised while her breath was quick and rough.

Bang-!

As she slammed the door shut, a metallic clang rang out from the door.

What’s going on?

As I tilted my head in confusion, the Golden Reaper stopped punching me and stared at the door. Hmm, did it feel something, it was more sensitive after all.

“Reaper, there are c-crazy penguins out there! T-they can even chew through metals! There’s a shit ton of them outside right now!”

Yerin, drenched in sweat and out of breath, stuttered out the information. However, the moment she said “penguins,” I couldn’t help but think about a certain Object…

That Dum-!Chit-!Dum-!Chit-! Dancing Penguin!

It was an Object with malicious intent toward humans. Did those guys finally appear?

Pierce-!

A penguin’s beak appeared through the steel wall of the containment room.

“AHHHHHH! Reaper!”

Yerin, terrified, ran to me and hugged me tightly. The penguin’s beak started sawing through the metal, making a dreadful squeaking sound.

The penguin’s beak starts sawing while making a squeaking sound.

Sqreeeeeuuuuueak. Sqreeeuuuueak.

The unpleasant noise of metal bending and grinding filled the room.

“W-what should we do, Reaper?” Yerin asked, her voice trembling.

Her strong emotions filled the flame in my heart. The extreme fear Yerin felt, it was delightful…

While I savored the growing flame inside of my heart, the Golden Reaper on my shoulder suddenly got angry and punched me in the cheek before running out of the room.

Huh? Did it just scold me for being lazy? I mean, I was eating! Let me eat in peace!!

The Golden Reaper seemed to be displeased by Yerin’s fluster and fear, rather than enjoying it.

Maybe it was an inferior copy of me? One that only fed on positive emotions?

Following the Golden Reaper out of the containment room, I was greeted by the utterly messy and chaotic hallway.

Thick steel partitions sealed it off, and the sound of penguins biting into them was anything but pleasant.

The hallways were also littered with penguin corpses.

Just how many of these penguins are here?

Going by the number of corpses just I saw seemed like every employee had been given ten ‘Dum-!Chit-!Dum-!Chit-! Dancing Penguin!’ photos to all employees.

Probably because of the hard work of the Golden Reaper who had run off before me, I couldn’t see any live penguins in sight.

As I plopped around the hallway of the institute, I saw the security team blocking the way and fighting in front of the conference room.

“Stop them!”

“Don’t let them bite the shield! Move!! Don’t stay still!”

They were armed with special alloy shields and heavy batons, but their attacks were ineffective.

So, I approached them in my phantom form and quickly popped the heads of the penguins in front of the conference room.

When all the penguins were dead and the situation stabilized, the Golden Reaper, having killed all the other penguins in the institute, returned.

It climbed up to shoulder, sat there and stared at me. Oh, does it want a compliment? Well it does deserve one. So I gave it a few pats.

There, there. Well done.

I was really thankful, after all, Sehee Research Institute was a precious place.

Hmm, by the way, I heard that the ‘Dum-!Chit-!Dum-!Chit-! Dancing Penguin!’ Photo was so popular that it sold like hotcakes…

They might cause quite a bit of damage… Will it be okay?

Wait, didn’t Yerin say that it was that ‘Daily Object’ who sold most of these photos? Kek, this incident might just put them out of business forever.

***

On the way up Kkachisan, I wiped my sweat and looked down towards the base of the mountain.

Tiny buildings, roads, and warm sunlight shining down and the cool breeze blowing past that cooled me down.

Just why did they build a research institute on a mountain?

Even if it was somewhat like a hill, it was still an inconvenient mountain.

Hah, it had been so long since my last hike… Was it just in my head? The unfamiliar smell of sunlight lingered as I climbed, though the sun wasn’t particularly strong today.

It was actually closer to the scent of sand heated up by the sun.

Wait… Did sand even have a smell? I looked up and saw I still had quite a bit of climbing left.

“Hah, it’s been a while since I moved this much; it’s tiring.”

At that moment, someone wiped the sweat from my forehead.

However, the hand was too small to be of much help… Wait, small hands?

…

…

…

I whipped my head to the side, and saw it… Yup, there on my shoulder, was the Golden Reaper with a beaming smile on its face.

Startled out of my mind, I quickly put the Reaper in my bag and only then did I take a proper look.

The little Reaper just smiled happily, laying around on the bed of the documents, wallet, and cell phone in the bag.

Sigh… Did it follow me…? Ah… sigh… My head hurts…

Meanwhile the Golden Reaper just rolled around in the bag, holding the car keys with an innocent expression.

Right, what harm can it even do?

Feeling a little relieved, I put my hand into the bag and gave the Golden Reaper a few headpats.

“I’ll give you some candy. So, even if you’re bored, don’t come out of the bag, okay?”

I didn’t know if it understood or not, but the Golden Reaper held the candy in its arms and nibbled on it slowly.

The conference hadn’t even started, yet I was already this exhausted. Should I just return to the Sehee Research Institute?

***

In a deserted hillside located directly opposite the Kkachisan Research Institute, a strange phenomenon was taking place.

The ground boiled, and crimson sand rose up from the ground, bubbling like water on a stovetop. Then, out of nowhere, strange shadows appeared.

Even though there was nothing obstructing the sunlight, shadows still appeared on the ground.

The shadows came in all sorts of shapes and sizes.

Some of them looked like a cube and some of them looked like blobs with human-like limbs. There were so many of them that it was impossible to distinguish their shapes individually.

Above, a faint red moon emerged in the sky, casting an eerie glow over the whole scene.