Seoul Object Story
Chapter 92: The Pudding Factory (4)

Beyond the headless corpse, the entrance to the dark building was wide open like the giant maw of a monster.

Thud-! Thud-! Thud-!

Loud footsteps, shaking the ground, echoed from inside. The scent of blood grew stronger and thicker, making my stomach churn.

I swallowed hard, the eerie atmosphere sending shivers down my spine. I gripped Reaper’s hand tightly, seeking comfort.

An ominous red light flashed in the darkness. It moved up and down in rhythm with the rumbling footsteps, looking like the eyes of a demon.

It’ll all be okay! The Reaper is with me.

But even with that thought, my whole body still went stiff with tension.

A silhouette emerged from the darkness—a giant teddy bear-shaped robot! It was half-submerged in the darkness, covered in blood, and giving off a sinister vibe.

Scratch-!

Along with a horrible sound of scraping metal, the teddy bear revealed its front paw, drenched in blood—probably from someone’s internal organs. Ew!

Even though I wasn’t moving, I felt out of breath, like I’d been running a marathon. So scary!

Thud-!

The teddy bear placed one of its blood-covered arms on the door, slowly stepping out to reveal its entire body. It was like a scene from a horror movie.

Then all of a sudden, it paused for a moment and slowly backpedaled back into the darkness.

“Huh?”

What’s wrong with it? Could it be… running away?

As the teddy bear vanished into the darkness, Reaper dashed like lightning into the building, its eyes gleaming. At times like this, Reaper looked like a cat chasing a toy. So cute!

“Haha… Hahaha.”

All the tension in my body melted away. The situation was so ridiculous that I started laughing.

For some reason, it was just so funny.

As expected, the safest place in the world is right beside the Reaper.

A monster had appeared.

I realized it the moment I made eye contact with it. Those yellow, shining eyes pierced through my very essence. This was a monster of a different caliber entirely.

I grit my teeth and get away from it as quickly as possible.

It’s fine. It will be fine.

A monster like that wouldn’t be interested in a weakling like me. Everything would be alright as long as I ran and hid.

I slipped into a dark room and closed the door. Covering my eyes, I crouched down, trying to hide even the faintest glimmer from them.

Bang-!

A sound echoed—something hitting the iron door from outside.

It’s not that monster, is it?

Bang-! Bang-! Bang-!

The sound of something hitting on the iron door from the outside echoed.

The pounding continued for a while, then finally stopped.

“…”

Was it finally gone?

“…”

It’s gone now, right?

I removed my hands from my eyes and looked around. Nothing had changed since I entered.

Ha, thank goodness.

Bangbangbangbangbangbangbang-!

As relief washed over me, the iron door was once again bombarded with frantic knocks.

No way!

Listening, I turned to see—a hole had appeared in the iron door.

And from that hole the monster’s head poked through, wearing a cruel smile that screamed, ‘Found you!’

No! I can’t die like this!

Screaming inwardly, I opened the door on the other side of the room and bolted.

Bang-!

I didn’t get far before I tumbled to the floor. Looking back, I saw my legs had been cleanly severed. Beyond them, the monster approached slowly.

Desperately, I pushed my body along with my hands, trying to get away even a little bit more.

Scratch-! Scratch-!

But it was hopeless.

Even with my legs, I couldn’t outrun it. Now, escape was impossible.

With a last burst of defiance, I threw a punch with all my might, hoping to catch it off guard.

But the moment I swung, the monster vanished from sight. Suddenly, my vision flipped.

I saw a torso falling backward—my torso, headless and legless.

Before I knew it, the monster was on top of me, knocking on my head.

Bangbangbangbangbang-!

Then my vision gradually narrowed before eternal darkness came to get me.

The bear that was desperately running away had died.

The condition to kill the bear was to < Separate the head from the body >.

In some ways, it might seem like a pitiful situation, but I didn’t really think about it that way.

Anyone who saw that teddy bear would probably think the same.

Its hands were covered in blood and pieces of internal organs, and its entire body was soaked in blood, making it look hideous.

Is this what a man-eating tiger feels like?

I got close to the pitifully crawling bear and stared at it. The bear probably thought of it as an opportunity and raised its arm to hit me.

The speed of its punch was so quick that it was hard to think of it as the slow teddy bear from before.

However, I easily avoided it with my phantom form and sliced through the joint between the teddy bear’s head and body.

Black mucus oozed from its severed neck—the same mucus I saw in the desert.

A black, smelly, unpleasant liquid. Ew!

But unfortunately, the amount of liquid present was too small. As it was, I wouldn’t be able to accidentally summon the Golden Reaper on it.

What a waste… I’d been looking forward to it ever since I smelled it faintly from the bear!

When I returned to Yerin’s place with a sad heart, Yerin greeted me with a fuss.

“Reaper, you are back?”

But when she saw my expression, she quickly threw another question with a worried look.

“Huh? Reaper, what happened? You look sad for some reason…”

Yerin looked worried as she poked my cheek. Amidst her worry, I felt something.

I felt someone was watching us. It’s not an Object’s gaze, but a human’s gaze.

Hmm, who?

Inside a secret room located in the corner of the factory, all kinds of electronic equipment that would baffle an ordinary person lined the walls. On one side of the room, CCTV screens displayed various places in the factory.

Two men watched one particular screen with serious expressions. The screen showed a horribly smashed teddy bear.

The two men felt like the severed teddy bear’s head resembled their own.

“As expected, it’s a special grade Object. Level 2 Objects are no match for it. I can’t fathom the mindset of civilians who danced while watching such an Object perform.”

“Ah, I was equally shocked. There have been several major incidents involving the Gray Reaper, yet they reacted that way… why?”

The two men, monitoring the parking lot of the pudding factory using CCTV and a telescope, were troubled by the sudden appearance of the Gray Reaper.

This operation, aimed at isolating the factory and inducing accidental deaths, had been meticulously planned for a long time.

However, the sudden appearance of the Gray Reaper was an unexpected complication that had never been simulated.

“Since the Gray Reaper has appeared, we might need to alter our plans. Worst case, we give up on one of our goals.”

“Would it be okay to just retrieve the ‘item’ we secured and leave? The client wouldn’t be happy…”

After pondering for a moment, the brusque man quickly came to a conclusion.

“We continue the operation as planned but change our methods. Accidental death due to Object containment failure would be ideal, but there’s nothing we can do.”

He opened a long bag and took out a gun with an unusual size from it.

It was a sniper rifle with a large scope.

“There are still other Objects left in the factory, but with the Gray Reaper here, our options are limited.”

The man with the sniper rifle scanned the parking lot with the scope.

“After taking out James with a snipe, I’ll handle the interpreter and the researcher. Once done, we need to leave immediately, so start packing the equipment.”

But his colleague remained silent.

“Hmm?”

“Glurg… Glurg.”

Finding it odd that his colleague didn’t respond, the man lowered the scope. He saw his dying colleague, clutching his neck, riddled with numerous finger-sized holes.

Behind him, the Gray Reaper glared menacingly.

How did it find this place?

The man was momentarily flustered but quickly sprang into action. He pulled out a pistol and fired at the Gray Reaper.

Bang-! Bang-! Bang-!

Three bullets, equipped with a silencer, ejected from the pistol. Two to the body, one to the head. The man smiled with satisfaction.

The bullets were Anti-Object bullets made in the United States—a weapon designed to burn and kill even immortal monsters. The white fire that erupted from the bullets engulfed the Gray Reaper’s body.

However, despite the flames, the Gray Reaper continued to approach with an angry expression. Once it was right in front of the man, it blew his head off.

The burning white fire soon died down, and the Gray Reaper stood blankly, as if trying to control its emotions. Before long, it looked around the room.

The narrow space was filled with the strong smell of blood.

I was furious the moment I heard they were going to kill Yerin, so I killed them all. Nobody gets to hurt my friends!

Looking around, there seemed to be no clues to identify the men’s identity or affiliation. These bad people need to be rooted out, so it was quite disappointing.

The room the men stayed in was filled with all kinds of complicated electronic devices, and at first glance, they looked like suspicious items used for illegal things.

However, one of the things had a slightly different feel. Maybe it was the ‘item’ the bad people were talking about?

It was a briefcase made of some kind of antique leather.

Ooh, fancy!

It wasn’t just the elaborately decorated appearance that was special; the material of the bag itself was something unique. It felt like an Object, but not quite an Object.

But well, it seemed important, so I just took it with me. Then, I made a hole in the wall and jumped down towards Yerin. Wheee!

Now that I’d taken care of the people who were watching us, I only had one thing left to do—

Saving the pudding factory!

James, who was lying comfortably on the bed with his eyes closed, suddenly opened his eyes and stood up.

“It’s too quiet.”

The interpreter looked puzzled by James’ words but quickly realized that something was off.

“Indeed. I can’t hear the sound of a teddy bear demolishing the building anymore.”

James glanced at his watch and smirked.

“They disposed of the steel teddy bear in under an hour? Something’s fishy. It doesn’t add up.”

“Then, did it set some kind of trap again? Was it waiting for us to come out?”

James jumped out of bed and sauntered to the office door.

“Even if it takes its time, it still has a high probability of killing us. So, I don’t think it would bother with traps. Maybe some passing scholar decided to save us out of pity.”

Suddenly, James put a finger to his mouth and gestured for the interpreter to be quiet.

“Did you hear that?”

As the interpreter strained his ears to listen to the ceiling just like James, he heard a small sound.

The interpreter’s expression instantly turned white.

“Don’t tell me… It’s those rabbit monsters?”

As the interpreter spoke, pink rabbit robots poured out from the vent in the management office.

They were cute rabbit robots wearing chef hats and holding whisks and measuring spoons.

“Run!”

James and the interpreter kicked down the management office door and bolted, dodging the sharpened whisks and measuring spoons as they fled.