Seoul Object Story

When we arrived at a quiet military airport located quite far from the spirit barrier, James, who felt like it had been quite a while since the last time I saw him, greeted us. The haggard expression he had when he left James City had faded considerably.

James, who seemed briefly surprised to see me standing on my two feet in a chubby outfit with a crumpled expression, quickly turned his gaze and spoke to Yerin.

“First of all, let me thank you. I just got a call that my secretary was seriously injured and hospitalized in a Korean hospital. I’m sure it was possible because of your help. Thank you very much.”

Yerin waved her hand in response to James’ words.

“It’s fine. In retrospect, I barely survived because of her driving skills.”

Hearing her answer, James said that they shouldn’t talk here and asked us to sit down and talk before guiding us to the inside of the airport. James walked slowly with his unique gait and introduced us to the airport facilities. It was a simple and desolate facility, as expected of a military airport, but it seemed like they had prepared for our arrival because there were some convenient facilities.

James led us to a lounge built by surrounding a part of the airport hangar with a temporary wall and led us to a soft chair inside. At the tables, there were all kinds of snacks, most of which were my favorites.

Om nom nom-!

I quickly sat down and hugged a large pudding container and started eating it. In the meantime, James sat down on the chair and started talking while taking some snacks from the table and eating them.

“I am very embarrassed because I was the one who recommended this place. I never thought the perfectly good spirit barrier would collapse like that. It seemed like one can’t be too sure when talking about Object-related issues.”

Yerin, who was eating a small jelly, shook her head and said.

“How could you predict something like this, James?”

“Still, I can’t help but ask. Do you know anything about that situation? Just what happened?”

“I don’t know either. When I woke up, the barrier was suddenly on fire… Reaper might know, but we can’t really ask it.”

While looking at the back of my head as I absentmindedly ate my pudding, Yerin said so.

“When I woke up, the sky was red, Reaper was already not around, and the spirit barrier was already burning brightly. Then, your secretary came to see me and told me to escape quickly, so I hurried out of the hotel.”

“Then we collided with something and were thrown off the motorcycle, but luckily Reaper came just in time, so both me and the secretary survived. That’s all I know.”

When Yerin explained it like that, I thought it was a really close call.

What would have happened if I had delayed a little more to recover the firewood, I wonder?

Of course something really terrible would have happened.

“I see, I guess I would have to wait for the investigation result. The Object Association is currently predicting that it’s related to the ‘Object drug’ incident that’s been on the rise lately.”

James continued talking while looking at Yerin, who was sitting in an awkward position.

“Even though your complexion is pretty good, your posture looks uncomfortable. Are you hurt somewhere?”

“Ah yes. I think my ribs were broken when I was thrown from the motorcycle, but they’re better now. I think the Blue Reaper did something to heal me. But I think I should still return to Korea and get a thorough checkup.”

“I see. So you’re thinking of going back to Korea.”

Yerin answered James’ calm question.

“We should return now. My body isn’t perfectly fine, and I think Reaper also secretly wanted to return.”

At Yerin’s unexpected answer, I lifted my head from the pudding container and looked at Yerin. I thought Yerin would naturally ask to go somewhere else, was her health worse than I thought?

No matter how I looked at it, it didn’t seem so bad that I had to move her to Sehee Research Institute through the Garden of the Mini Reaper, though.

After hearing Yerin’s words, James glanced at my face for a moment.

?

Then he turned his head towards Yerin again and said,

“Then, you should take my private jet.”

“Wow, really?”

Yerin smiled brightly at James’ answer before taking my hand and shaking it happily.

“We’ll take a private jet together again this time!”

Yerin smiled brightly at the thought of taking the plane together with me.

In fact, I was thinking about secretly going back by teleporting alone, but I guess that wouldn’t work…

Knock-! Knock-!

At that moment, a quiet knock echoed from the wooden door.

“I think the plane is ready.”

James said as he got up from his seat.

“Let’s meet in Korea next time. We decided to build James Tower in Korea, so we’ll be able to meet again soon.”

Yerin got up from her seat and picked me up while I was eating pudding.

“Let’s go home, Reaper.”

Yerin’s soft voice rang in my ears.

It was the end of our difficult trip to America, where only strong Objects appeared.

*********There was no night in the  Garden of The Mini Reaper as it was always bright and cozy, but if there was a night, wouldn’t it be this kind of time?

The Mini Reapers began to return to the garden after helping people in the city near the spirit barrier. Once they gathered in the middle of the garden, the Golden Reapers shared their stories of bravery and bragged about the people they met.

They also shared the sad stories of humans dying, the brave stories of them saving humans, and the happy stories of being favored by humans.

All of those feelings were diluted, amplified, and disappeared as they held each other’s hands and shared their will.

The sadness disappeared when it was shared, while the joy doubled when it was shared. What remained were stories about 100 people and 100 different colors of humans.

The Golden Reapers were always happy and had fun whenever they talked about people.

Hop-! Hop-!

The Golden Reapers exchanged their wills while smiling brightly. Then, some of the Golden Reapers discovered something and began to look up to the sky.

It was because of the black round sphere which was floating in the air.

The curious Golden Reapers stared at the sphere and wondered.

What is that?

Is that an attraction that Mom prepared for us?

The Golden Reapers, who had been looking up at the sky, lowered their gazes and began to look at each other. In the middle of the softly shining Garden of the Mini Reaper, a silent resolution was exchanged. Then, the Golden Reapers dispersed and began to create something.

Plop-! Plop-!

The Golden Reapers scattered in all directions with cute steps and tore off some pieces of the marshmallows and shaped it into squares like bricks. Then they began to stack them under the round sphere. The hard stick-shaped cookies became pillars, while the thin biscuits became the floor for the stairs.

As countless Golden Reapers happily worked on the construction as if they were playing with clay, a tall tower was completed in no time. It was a tower that was high enough to touch the sphere.

Once the tower was completed, one of the most curious and courageous Golden Reapers slowly began to climb the tower. Below, the other Golden Reapers were watching with bated breath.

With every marshmallow it climbed, it got closer to the black sphere. Even though the tower made of candy swayed in a terrifying manner, the Golden Reaper was able to slowly climb the tower with its unique sense of balance.

Ta-da-!

Having reached the top of the precariously swaying tower of candy, the Golden Reaper spread its arms wide and took a pose with a bright smile. It was a pose that symbolized the joy of being able to climb the tower to the end.

The Golden Reapers who were watching from below also jumped up and down to congratulate their kin on its success.

The Golden Reaper, who had been laughing bashfully at its kind action, jumped from the tower with a determined expression. Its target was the black sphere floating in the air!

The Golden Reaper jumped, surrendering its body to gravity, and prepared for a collision with the sphere. However, despite the appearance of the sphere, it gently sucked the Golden Reaper.

As it entered, a desolate space appeared in front of the Golden Reaper. Inside the black sphere, the space was endlessly spreading. In that space, there were remains of destroyed Objects, ground contaminated with black mucus, and a huge, very huge empty thing lying on the ground.

The Golden Reaper walked slowly and carefully through the ominous-looking environment. As it walked through the space that felt foreign yet familiar for some reason, the Golden Reaper was able to find a piece torn off from the huge thing.

The piece that had fallen off from the thing then melted away and transformed into something that looked exactly like the Golden Reaper from the antennae to the tips of the feet. It had transformed into something exactly like the Golden Reaper.

The only difference it had with the Golden Reaper was its black skin and white flame.

When the Golden Reaper tilted its head to the sides while looking at the Black Reaper who looked exactly like it, the Black Reaper also tilted its head in the same way.

When The Golden Reaper raised its arm, its black counterpart also lifted it.

And when the Golden Reaper jumped, it also jumped the same way.

The Golden Reaper, who had a puzzled expression on its face, smiled brightly and reached its hand towards the Black Reaper as if it had found something interesting.

The Golden Reaper held the Black Reaper’s hand as if it was reflected in a mirror, and laughed heartily.

New sibling?

Even though It felt slightly different, it also felt like its sibling.

The Golden Reaper was very happy and joyful because it had a new sibling again.

And as if affected by that emotion, the Black Reaper’s firewood gradually burned yellow, and it also smiled faintly.

Another child was born in a place unknown to the Gray Reaper.

*********Late evening at Sehee Research Institute, the cute puppy walked with a tired expression and plopped down in front of its kennel.

Since the cute puppy ran around with the Golden Reapers who boasted infinite stamina every day, it always came home every day in a tattered state. In front of it, the special food that came once a month filled its food bowl.

The cute puppy then looked up at the ceiling with a hazy expression while eating the food. It was reminiscing the happy times when it ate food much better than this food every day. It was a joyful time when all the people around it moved only for it.

However, those happy days had all passed, and only the traces of it remained, making the cute puppy sad.

You’re the only one left.

The cute puppy placed its paw on the gigantic golden kennel and lamented.

Thud-!

However, the feeling it got from the kennel was strange. It was light.

Suddenly, a terrible thought occurred to the cute puppy, and it raised its claws to scratch the kennel hard.

Then, the cruel truth was revealed.

As the gold-plated shell was peeled away, a bare grey plastic was revealed.

No!

The cute puppy cried and fainted from the shock of the terrible reality that had been revealed.