Seoul Object Story

Chapter 44: Object Exhibition (5)

A golden wave spread out.

The tiny-sized Golden Reapers scattered all at once, looking like a wave with concentric circles.

They collided with each other and fell over, or rolled around after getting caught on something.

They intermittently disappeared and reappeared, using ghostification to spread out in all directions.

However, the Golden Reapers seemed unfamiliar with ghostification, rolling around on the floor each time they used it.

They ran with their little feet, then ghostified when they hit an obstacle.

And they reappeared on the other side of the obstacle, planting both feet but unable stop their momentum, rolling around.

When they found a human, they fervently moved their feet to run and cling to them.

The first Reaper to cling to a human raised its tiny hands triumphantly with a winner's smile.

If another Reaper approached, they glared to chase it away.

Before the Golden Reapers spread out, the exhibition hall was a buffet of Objects hostile to humans.

A buffet of prey that had lost consciousness and collapsed everywhere.

But the Objects that had tried to sample from that buffet had to stop when the Golden Reapers appeared.

To the Objects, the Golden Reapers gave off an ominous aura.

Plus there were so ridiculously many of them, it felt daunting.

The air, which had been hostile toward humans, instantly became eerily calm.

However, the calm atmosphere created by the Golden Reapers' appearance didn't last even 10 minutes.

The impatient Objects began ignoring the Golden Reapers and blindly charging at the collapsed humans.

The Golden Reapers' seemingly harmless behavior contributed to this as well.

They showed no interest in the Objects, simply clinging to people and staying still.

This indifferent behavior from the Golden Reapers gave the other Objects courage.

The hope that these Golden Reapers were actually just passive, harmless creatures.

The Objects that had been watching the Golden Reapers for an opportunity began baring their fangs at their prey again.

It started with a lizard the size of a tiger.

Dinosaurs that had crossed over from the past to be revived in the present.

The dinosaurs, having lost their patience, charged at the sleeping people.

At that moment, the Golden Reapers' eyes lit up as they raised their heads.

Even the dinosaurs would have hesitated receiving the gaze of dozens of those shining eyes.

Unfortunately, however, these dinosaurs were not Objects with that level of intelligence.

The price for ignoring the Golden Reapers' warning gaze was gruesome.

It was left to bleed to death with dozens of tiny Reaper-shaped holes in its body.

The Golden Reapers' shining golden bodies were stained red with blood.

Such cute yet grisly scenes played out all over the exhibition hall.

Until there were no more Objects charging with the intent to harm humans.

***

At that time, when all the people in the exhibition hall were asleep and the escaped Objects had made a mess of everything.

At that time when there should have been no one moving, the management office door at the Bucheon Research Institute opened.

A man in a neat suit, a lab coat, and carrying an ornate cane, led the way out.

Behind him, researchers followed like servants.

The Institute Director walked with dignified strides across the exhibition hall where everyone had fallen asleep.

They were headed toward one particular Research Institute booth with a clear objective.

The Research Institute Director's purpose was to visit the fair booth created by 'Sejong Research Institute'.

The object on display in it was an <Unbreakable Cube>

The Director easily obtained the desired Object after arriving at the Sejong booth.

The isolation room door was already open, and the staff in charge of security had all fallen asleep.

The CCTVs and other electrical facilities had long since gone silent too.

The Director smiled with satisfaction as he read the description attached to the Object.

<Unbreakable Cube>

"With this, I've obtained the necessary Object."

The Research Institute Director looked around, holding a cube in his left hand and a cane in his right.

After finishing the necessary work and exiting the isolation room, the atmosphere in the exhibition hall had changed slightly.

In the exhibition hall that had been filled with only collapsed people, small creatures about the size of a palm had appeared in large numbers.

They were golden Objects that closely resembled the Gray Reapers.

Standing on the bodies of the collapsed people, they stretched their necks and gazed at the Research Institute Director.

With dozens of Objects staring at him like that, it gave off a rather ominous feeling.

"Is this the Gray Reaper's ability? I've never seen it before. An ability I haven't witnessed even in the cracks of time. What happened?"

The fact that the Gray Reapers he had observed and researched for a long time possessed an ability unknown to him came as a great shock to the Research Institute Director.

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He was currently researching how to deal with the 'Nameless' one, but he thought he would have to capture and study the 'Gray Reapers' afterwards as well.

The mini Reapers did not miss the departing director, keeping close watch on him.

There was a strange sense of hostility emanating from the mini Reapers observing the Research Institute Director.

As the director, he found this puzzling.

Why were these mini Reapers being hostile towards him?

No matter how much he pondered the cause of that inexplicable hostility, he could not figure it out.

The research director snapped his fingers, summoning the researchers into his shadow.

Tap tap.

With the sound of his cane tapping the ground twice, the director and researchers vanished without a trace.

***

Reaper (MC) POV:

---

The Golden Reapers I created scattered in all directions.

They rolled around, colliding with each other in chaos.

The Objects that had been threatening humans seemed unable to comprehend the sudden appearance of the Golden Reapers.

Well, if tiny creatures that size suddenly started running around, it would be confusing.

Since it now seemed quite safe, I left Yerin on the ground and climbed up a utility pole to observe the situation.

From above, the behavior of the Golden Reapers could be easily summarized,

'...These guys really love humans, don't they?'

That was my impression watching from above.

The Golden Reapers loved humans for no particular reason.

The first thing that caught my eye was a Golden Reaper piercing through a yeti's heart.

It was a combination of three Object abilities.

Seeing the tiny creature I created covered in blood and wandering around felt a bit strange.

Crouching on the utility pole, I continued observing, and the Golden Reapers' behavior patterns were consistent,

• No interest in Objects whatsoever.
• If an Object threatened a human, they became ferocious and attacked.
• They seemed to place great importance on protecting their attached humans.

There didn't seem to be any criteria for choosing an attached human.

Did they just like any human?

It looked like whichever Golden Reaper claimed a human first treated them as their possession, an emotion I found hard to understand.

Right now, one was even clinging to my hair, gripping it tightly with both hands.

I'm not human, but an Object. Did it treat me as human since I'm the creator?

The Objects that could potentially attack humans were driven out to the outskirts of the exhibition hall by the ferocious Golden Reapers.

The Golden Reapers showed no interest at all in Objects that did not directly harm humans.

Watching carefully as the Objects driven out by the Golden Reapers tried to escape outside the exhibition hall, something seemed strange.

This exhibition hall was designed like a kind of prison?

It was designed in a way that made it difficult to notice it was a prison unless you looked closely.

The Objects that fled from the Golden Reapers were blocked by the walls surrounding the outskirts of the exhibition hall, unable to move an inch.

Well, the design of the exhibition hall wasn't really my concern.

What I was interested in was this sudden mass sleeping incident that occurred.

It was how to resolve this mass sleeping incident.

And the solution might be held by that large golden tree.

With the golden Reapers guarding them, people had room to move around.

Of course, the golden Reapers' protection was only temporary, so I had to solve this quickly.

***

Leaving Yerin's protection to the golden Reapers, I headed toward the large tree.

Strangely, there didn't seem to be any researchers at the Bucheon Research Institute's booth.

The other booths had plenty of sleeping researchers, but here there was no one who looked like a researcher except for a few visitors.

If they were going to appeal "Our Research Institute is not the culprit!" to this degree, only a fool wouldn't understand.

It must have been a crime committed by the Bucheon Research Institute!

What did they want to achieve by putting people to sleep like this?

To prevent the establishment of a zoo... That's unlikely, this will probably prevent the zoo from being approved even more.

And so another one of my dreams disappears...

I arrived in front of the golden tree, still emitting intense light.

The tree stood alone in a spacious vacant lot.

I checked the condition for destroying the solitary tree.

[A human must overcome the tree's nightmare.]

'Huh?'

At least this hint was understandable.

Since people are asleep now, they must all be having nightmares.

If someone wakes up here, won't the tree be destroyed?