Seoul Object Story
Chapter 95: The Pudding Factory (7)

A golden flame blazed from the Reaper’s body as it suddenly leaped and clutched the book tightly with both hands.

The book started to burn first, then the fire spread to the Reaper too!

Oh no! What do I do?! Should I just take the book away?

As I was flailing around like a lost kitten, unsure of what to do, I heard James’ calm, soothing voice from beside me.

“As expected, the Gray Reaper is special.”

I blinked and turned to look at him. What was he on about now? He was pointing at the Gray Reaper, motioning for me to take a closer look.

“Rather than the Gray Reaper getting burned by the flame, doesn’t it look more like it is absorbing the flame instead?”

Wait a minute… Now that he mentioned it, the fire from the book was being sucked into the Gray Reaper’s body.

And, for some reason, its face actually looked kind of… cozy?

“Normally, whenever an Object touches that book, it goes up in flames and turns to ashes. Even Objects that can regenerate can’t come back from touching that fire. But the Gray Reaper seems totally fine.”

“It’s just a hypothesis, but maybe the Gray Reaper isn’t an Object,” James murmured softly. “The Anti-Object bullets I designed and produced in the United States also imitate the fire from that book…”

“Umm so, what do we do with the Gray Reaper now?”

“I’m not sure. This is the first time I’ve seen an Object react like this. Usually, Objects either try to rip that book apart or are scared stiff of it, but the Gray Reaper doesn’t seem to be either.”

Ugh, I guess all we can do is keep watching. Also, am I imagining things, or is the Reaper slowly turning white inside that golden fire…

Infinite firewood!

Since I could do almost anything as long as I had enough firewood, the idea of having an infinite supply of firewood was quite attractive.

But, ugh, the book wasn’t all that good… The rate at which it supplied me with the firewood was teeny-tiny, barely enough to toast a marshmallow.

I mean, if I had to put it in perspective, the rate at which the book gave me firewood was like 1/100th of the rate at which Yerin gave me?

Seriously, it felt like just standing still around ordinary people would give me firewood at a better rate than holding this book.

Just by being my adorable self—whether people become afraid of me or find me cute—I can usually gather way more firewood.

Hmm, maybe I could use this book as a source of emergency firewood for when nobody’s around?

But that sounds kind of… meh. Plus, lugging around tangible items is such a drag!

For someone like me, who’s all about that phantom form life, the choice between emergency firewood and my phantom form is a no-brainer. Phantom form wins every time.

There was also a fatal drawback with just stashing it in my containment room at the Sehee Research Institute and using it when I was bored.

It tasted bad. Like, the taste of the emotions from burning the firewood is totally bland. Yuck!

What was this weird sensation? Books weren’t humans, so I couldn’t quite put my fingers on what emotions the book’s flame was trying to make me feel.

It’s like pure firewood filled with just one monotonous emotion.

If I had to compare it to my human days, it was like sucking on a piece of plastic—completely inedible and totally boring.

Even boogers taste better! (Not that I’d eat them, of course. Eww!)

So instead of munching on this favorless fire, it’d be way more fun to just go outside the institute and give someone a scare. Hehehehe!

As for firewood, Yerin was still the best. No contest there.

So, I stopped absorbing the book’s lame flames and chucked it back at the man who was looking at me intently.

He carefully caught the book with a confused expression on his face. Ha!

Anyway, I have more important things to do. Like, I need to get my hands on some more Golden Rabbit Pudding. Yum!

Judging by the foul smell in the air, I had a pretty good idea where those killer rabbits were.

I turned towards the factory’s center, where the foul smell was the strongest.

Bet there were tons of those rabbits there. Hehehehehe!!

Reaper, seemingly having lost all interest in the book, casually tossed it into the air and turned its gaze toward the factory’s center.

Well, the pudding factory was still occupied by Objects, so it was kind of expected. Still, it was my first time seeing the Reaper this enthusiastic.

It really liked that pudding, huh?

Pft!

I couldn’t help but giggle, imagining how underneath the stoic expression on its face, all it was thinking about was pudding.

James, ever the meticulous one, caught the book and carefully tucked it away in his bag.

“Now now, everyone. We don’t know how long we’ll be safe here, so let’s make a quick getaway, okay?”

I just pointed at the Reaper who was still intently staring at the center of the factory. “I think Reaper wants to sort out this whole pudding factory mess, though?”

James shook his head with a serious expression.

“Even for the Gray Reaper, recapturing the factory is impossible.”

“Why? Is there even an Object that Reaper can’t handle?” I pouted.

Hmph. James clearly didn’t get it. Nothing was impossible for the Gray Reaper!

The Reaper seemed to be fully focused on the center of the factory, but its hair-antenna¹ was leaning towards us, like it was curious about what we were saying.

“Still, it’s too tough. The factory is under the control of a really troublesome Object. It’s an Object that Koreans know all too well—the ‘Hungry Ghost’.”

“The Hungry Ghost? How did it even get here from that sinkhole in Songpa-gu…?”

“Well, it’s not the same Hungry Ghost, but it was similar enough to it that we believe it to be a subspecies. All in all, this one is just as nasty as the original.”

He kept talking while the Reaper’s antenna swayed gently, almost like the tail of a curious cat.

“But didn’t the Reaper already beat the Hungry Ghost before?”

James let out a sigh. “This subspecies is much, much more dangerous. It’s incomparable to the original. And even if the Reaper could deal with it just like the original, there’s a whole separate issue.”

Huh? There’s a problem even after exterminating it?”

“Remember, our goal isn’t just to defeat the Hungry Ghost. We need to recapture the factory without destroying it. Remember what happened to Songpa-gu after the Gray Reaper fought the original Hungry Ghost?”

“Oh! The sinkhole! So if we fight, the factory could collapse?”

“Exactly. Even if we deal with the Object, the factory could still be destroyed, and we’d still fail.”

His logic made sense, but, honestly, our opinions didn’t matter much at all.

The Reaper’s antenna seemed to have long lost interest in our conversation.

Plop-! Plop-!

See?

I pointed towards Reaper who was cutely walking towards the center.

“Sigh… I guess, I can’t help it.”

James just picked up his bag without any protest and trudged behind the Reaper.

The timid man who had been hovering nearby ran towards us and looked at me and James with wide, worried eyes.

“Umm, Mr. Owner? Can’t we just escape without them?”

“The factory’s still too dangerous for us to leave them behind and go on our own. And with all those rabbit dolls running around, we don’t really have a choice.”

With a heavy sigh, the timid man trudged behind us, looking all discouraged.

Holding the bag containing book number 0 tightly, I followed the Gray Reaper towards the heart of the factory.

As we went deeper and deeper, the disgusting stench of blood grew stronger and stronger.

The factory’s decor only got more and more “charming” as we went on. Human intestines and chunks of flesh dangled everywhere, it was as if someone had deliberately placed them to scare visitors.

The chunks of flesh were stretched out in thin sheets, creating their own grotesque patterns, hanging like bizarre, blood-soaked tapestries.

I couldn’t help but be impressed.

“That’s fascinating.”

They were just robotic rabbit dolls, yet, while distorted, the interior was designed with some kind of aesthetic sense!

It was a completely unexpected discovery.

Was there an error in the programming, making them have a lack of consideration? Or was it due to the black liquid that had contaminated the rabbits?

Meanwhile, the interpreter looked like he was about to faint. The poor guy’s face had gone white as a sheet, and he was wobbling on his feet like a loose leaf in a storm.

Great! If he passed out now then I’d have to carry him on my back.

As soon as we arrived at the warehouse where the pudding was supposed to be packaged, we were greeted by the sight of shredded boxes and puddings spilling their guts all over the floor.

The puddings had been mercilessly torn apart, smeared across the ground, and trampled by rabbit tracks.

The destruction was almost poetic. The traces clearly made me feel the rabbits’ loathing for the puddings.

Hmm? The Gray Reaper had stopped walking, looking down at the carnage with what could only be described as a look of silent devastation.

Oh Yerin gently patted its head, her expression tinged with worry.

Something was definitely off here.

Though the Gray Reaper’s face remained as stoic as ever, it also seemed like it was saddened by something.

Is it experiencing some kind of mental corruption?

Looking closer, I noticed that the pudding containers, once filled with treats, were now stuffed with ground flesh.

The Reaper’s expression darkened with a fury that was almost palpable.

Looking around, I realized that we were already surrounded by the rabbits.

Oh, wonderful, Just what we needed.

With their eyes glowing ominously, the rabbits charged. But the Gray Reaper remained unphased and just spread its arms wide.

All of a sudden, a swarm of Golden Reapers appeared out of nowhere and scattered in all directions.

A swarm of small, plump, and utterly ferocious swarm of Golden Reapers surged toward the rabbits, leaving nothing but bones in their wake.

All of those rabbits that had made human pudding? Well, they were all gone now.

It should’ve been a moment of celebration, but the Golden Reapers, the protagonists of this battle, looked so, so sad.

It was quiet around us, but the air was thick with their tears and cries of bitter lament.

The Golden Reapers were sprawled in despair around the containers filled with human pudding, bawling their hearts out.

Not a single one of them could bring themselves to touch the containers… They just sat there, tears streaming down their cheeks.

Their cries of despair, made me feel like a big, heavy boulder was crushing my heart.

“There, there. It’s okay. It’ll all be okay…”

Hoping to cheer them up a bit, I went around, giving all of the Golden Reapers some pats.

While I was busy with that, I noticed that, unlike the Golden Reapers, the Gray Reaper’s gaze was fixed on something up in the air.

What’s it looking at?

I followed its gaze and squinted up at the ceiling.

There is something… What is that?

It seemed to be floating near the ceiling?

Floating around covered in bubbles was a… Pudding?