Seoul Object Story

Chapter 48: Exhibition - Aftermath (1)

Sehee POV:

---

The inside of the exhibition was quite chaotic due to the soldiers.

When I woke up after passing out, it was even worse because of the chaos.

I was at the exhibition hall when I suddenly felt dizzy, and when I woke up, an incident had occurred.

Now the soldiers were lining up the exhibition staff one by one to question them in order.

Yerin had a gloomy expression.

"Sister Sehee, it seems the exhibition is over with this, right?"

"It seems so. Over there I saw many body bags. It looks like there were quite a few casualties."

On one side of the exhibition hall, soldiers were putting bodies into bags and moving them in piles.

With such an incident occurring, there's no way they could continue the exhibition.

From the conversations around, I heard that not only were there casualties, but the loss of Objects was beyond imagination.

As the line shortened, it became Sehee Research Institute's turn.

The questioning consisted of simple Q&A.

They simply asked if any Objects were lost, if there were any casualties among the Research Institute personnel, etc.

There were also many questions related to the golden tree.

<Have you previously discovered the golden tree, or seen it at other Research Institutes?>

<Do you know any minor rumors or news about the reconstruction of Bucheon Research Institute?>

The investigators from the government seemed to view the golden tree as the cause of this exhibition incident.

It was normal to be suspicious when a never-before-seen Object was suddenly exhibited at the exhibition.

After the questioning of Sehee Research Institute was over, we were told to prepare for withdrawal.

"Once your withdrawal preparations are complete, please submit your documents at the desk over there. You'll receive a number in the order you submit, and withdraw in that order."

While packing up at the Research Institute booth, Yerin spoke in a gloomy voice.

"In the end, I couldn't even take out the pajamas."

"Well, it was uncertain whether Reaper would even wear them..."

As far as I knew, Reaper had never worn clothes before.

Sehee Research Institute didn't really lose any Objects.

The docile 'cute puppy' was safely in the corner of the booth, and the ethereal(ghostly/phantom) cat was of course fine too.

Only the blue lizard that drew aggro well had its head bitten off by someone.

According to old Central Research Institute data, as long as the tail remains, it can revive based on the tail, so taking just the lower body would be fine.

The gray Reaper?

The Reaper seemed to be walking around the area, but suddenly, it was nowhere to be found.

It probably went back to the Research Institute first.

We loaded the Objects onto a dedicated isolation truck and sent them off to Sehee Research Institute

The trusted truck driver was Kim Jungroo.

The rest of the researchers boarded a chartered bus with their luggage.

After loading all the necessary luggage onto the vehicles, we departed from the exhibition hall to the Research Institute.

Inside the chartered bus of the Sehee Research Institute on the road.

Yerin in the next seat was looking through the empty digital camera data back and forth.

"What are you searching for so intently?"

"I had a feeling I took some photos, so I was looking for them."

"It must be a mistake. You didn't even take out the camera, did you?"

"For some reason, it felt like I took a lot of photos of Reaper wearing the pajamas, but I guess it was just my imagination?"

Yerin muttered while putting the camera in her bag, "Well, something like that couldn't happen in reality, could it?"

And so Sehee Research Institute's first exhibition participation ended shortly like this.

***

Reaper (MC) POV:

---

The exhibition hall incident ended by reconfirming the 'sad jinx of the zoo'.

Lying on the bed, I stretched my hand towards the ceiling.

Pop.

I clenched my fist slightly and opened it.

The abilities I could use had increased.

It was because I had dealt with Objects at the exhibition hall.

But the biggest question was the change in the golden Reaper.

The duration of the ephemeral golden Reaper had significantly increased.

This was the first time an ability I gained spontaneously grew on its own.

The Objects killed by the golden Reaper seemed to become the power of the golden Reaper.

[Does it make sense that they still haven't caught the 'Maker' after causing such a huge accident at the exhibition hall?]

[The suspected terrorist is walking around freely! What is the government doing?]

The TV was full of stories about the criminal who ransacked the exhibition hall.

It was about the criminal commonly referred to as the 'Maker'.

At first, all kinds of stories and conspiracy theories came out.

<The exhibition incident was a massacre by the gray Reaper.>

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<It was the work of the new gray Reaper, the golden Reaper.>

Starting with such daily Object opinions, all kinds of rumors spread, but those stories suddenly disappeared at some point when certain news spread.

It was the news that the 'Unbreakable Cube' had disappeared.

Since it was literally the 'Unbreakable Cube', it couldn't have been broken or moved on its own as an Object, so it must have been stolen.

The value of the Unbreakable Cube was so immeasurably high that the prevailing opinion became that this entire incident was to smuggle out that cube.

However, there were differing opinions on who had committed such an act.

The suspect was identified once the material of the golden tree was revealed.

<The Golden Tree was artificially made using Golden Horn as material!>

It turned out that the golden tree was an Object made from Golden Horn.

Naturally, the suspect was then identified as the 'Maker'.

<A criminal who makes Objects with an incomprehensible level of technology.>

<A criminal who makes Objects using Golden Horn.>

<A recently active criminal.>.

The 'Maker', a criminal who makes Objects using Golden Horn as material, became the prime suspect.

In fact, in my opinion, there were a few more questionable points about this incident, but it had already drifted away from public attention.

'Why were the soldiers, especially the commander leading the blockade, found dead at the exhibition hall?'

'Why were so many dangerous Objects exhibited at this exhibition?'

These questions remained.

But on TV, only the 'Maker' was being highlighted.

I turned off the TV that was just repeating the same thing and went outside the isolation room.

I should test out the new abilities I gained this time.

***

An abandoned former Research Institute on the outskirts of Gangdong-gu.

After escaping from the exhibition hall, the Research Institute director moved the base here.

Since they had caused an incident under the name of the Bucheon Research Institute, it was obvious they would be exposed sooner or later.

At this new Research Institute, the director's another experiment began.

"Alright, let's start the experiment."

A loud signal sounded and the countdown began.

It was an experiment similar to the previous ones.

<In a secret chamber made of golden horns, a kidnapped person is placed and forced to name an object.>

The only difference was that the 'Unbreakable Cube' was placed inside the sealed room.

Soon, a sound like a huge hammer striking a steel plate rang out.

The 'Nameless' had appeared and started mercilessly pounding on the sealed room.

The room reinforced by the cube showed a strength befitting its 'indestructible' nature.

No matter how fast and hard it was struck, the room stubbornly maintained its shape.

The booming sound of the steel plate being pounded, which seemed like it would continue endlessly, suddenly stopped at one point.

And then, a completely different phenomenon began to occur.

A sharp sound reverberated throughout the laboratory.

It was a chilling sound like nails being dragged across a chalkboard.

Along with that sharp sound, the 'Nameless' one's fingers slowly pierced through the wall of the sealed room.

At first, just one finger.

Then after a while, the wrist.

And then the entire arm.

As the sharp sound reverberated, the arm was slowly piercing through, growing longer and longer.

The 'Nameless' arm had penetrated through the 'indestructible' room and appeared.

The 'Nameless' arm seemed to be sustaining some damage as powder scattered, but it regenerated instantly.

However, unfortunately, the sealed room could not regenerate.

"Save me, save me! Save me!"

Seeing the arm pushing in further, the man in the sealed room screamed while covering his ears.

He just kept screaming to be saved.

But his wish, like the sacrifices of other experiments, could not be fulfilled.

After pushing its entire upper body inside, the 'Nameless' grabbed the man and slowly crushed him to death.

Being physically immune due to the cube, it killed him slowly and painfully.

Eventually, the man was crushed, leaving only the blood of the once human man inside the sealed room.

"So even the cube couldn't stop it. There was a way to penetrate physical immunity... The experiments on the 'Nameless' are suspended. It would be a waste of time until another solution is found."

The director declared an end to the experiment with an angry expression.

"At this rate, we may not even be able to start the 'KR-897' research."

Suddenly, blood spurted out from his chest with a frightening force.

"Oh, drat."

The grotesque arm that had emerged from his chest was slowly splitting his body in half.

Despite bleeding from his mouth and slowly dying, his expression didn't display much concern.

"Researchers, let's take a day off."

With those last words, the Research Institute director died, split in half.

On top of the director's mangled corpse from his slip of the tongue, the researchers danced joyfully in tears.