Seoul Object Story

Chapter 427

Deep in the Marshmallow Garden, the roller coaster was racing along the rails at an incredibly fast speed, like a centrifuge.

Watching the scene, I fell into deep thought.

The problem of the lamp kept swirling in my mind—how should I solve it?

Hmm...

The 'tracking ability' I had gained from the white goby had successfully led me to the lamp's owner in the past.

But since then, it seemed like someone was interfering, and tracking had become impossible.

‘No matter how I think about it, there’s no clear way.’

If I ordered the Mini Grim Reapers to break all the gas lamps on Earth, would I get some kind of response?

Furthermore, although the Lamp Man didn’t appear to have reached the level of a foreign mission, strangely enough, my senses told me he possessed combat abilities surpassing that rank.

Conflicting information from my otherwise reliable senses made me tilt my head in confusion.

As I walked around the garden, lost in thought, a sudden willpower from nearby reached me.

‘Mom!’

‘It’s a traffic light!’

Looking down, I saw Mini Grim Reapers of different colors stacking up in a three-story tower to call out to me.

At the bottom was a Black Grim Reaper with a smile so joyful it looked almost childlike.

In the middle, a Blue Grim Reaper seemed to have been dragged out reluctantly by the Black Grim Reaper.

At the top was a Yellow Grim Reaper, who surprisingly didn’t seem to be phased by such games.

Looking up at them with excited expressions, I sent my honest thoughts back to them.

‘That’s not a traffic light!’

With that, I pressed the Mini Grim Reaper’s three-story tower like a hamburger with my finger.

‘Aaaah!’

The Mini Grim Reapers pretending to be a traffic light screamed as they fell over.

If you’re going to act like a traffic light, you should at least include the red color...

As I thought that, I looked around and noticed something strange.

‘There are no Red Grim Reapers...’

The Red Grim Reapers, who always ran around hunting white gobies in the Marshmallow Plains, were nowhere to be seen.

In the places where the Red Grim Reapers used to play, only the white gobies were smiling happily.

And there was something even stranger.

‘In a game like this, the Golden Grim Reapers should never be absent...’

But just like the Red Grim Reapers, there was no trace of any Golden Grim Reapers in the Marshmallow Plains.

‘???’

Questions began to pile up one after another.

Did the Black Grim Reapers soak them all in for the sake of a council takeover?

Bwee-!

Stretching the cheeks of the Black Grim Reaper, who I suspected might be behind the dark plot, I began to sense the location of the Golden Grim Reapers.

At that moment, I realized something surprising.

Except for the Golden Grim Reapers performing essential duties, most of the Golden and Red Grim Reapers weren’t detectable by my senses.

It was an event of such a large scale that it couldn’t have been carried out by the Black Grim Reapers alone.

‘Did they all enter the foreign mission area without telling me?’

I remained puzzled as I teleported to the Golden Grim Reaper guarding the Sehee Institute.

I asked, “Do you know where the Golden Grim Reapers went?”

The Golden Grim Reaper looked truly shocked, its eyes wide open.

It had the expression of “How did Mom know that?”

Then, it covered its mouth with both hands and started running away.

“It’s a secret!”

I could not let the fleeing Golden Grim Reaper escape, so I turned it into a ‘Daeji’ (a sticky figure) with my Daeji Beam.

“Nooo!”

I looked down at the Golden Grim Reaper, who could no longer escape, and began interrogating it.

Where had the Red and Golden Grim Reapers gone?

Were they in a dangerous situation?

And why was it a secret?

However, contrary to how quickly the others would confess, this Golden Grim Reaper was surprisingly tight-lipped.

This was starting to annoy me, so I shoved the Daeji Golden Grim Reaper into its mouth.

“Ughhh!”

James Tower, located on the outskirts of Songpa District.

In the highest office, James sat at his desk, his face clearly showing signs of exhaustion.

On the monitor in front of him, a report sent by the Gray Grim Reaper’s Special Task Force was displayed.

James slowly read through the report.

His eyes were sharp, but fatigue lingered in them.

As he continued reading the long report, the conclusion was clear but succinct:

Final Conclusion

• Considering the circumstances above, it is presumed that the possession-type object pointed out by the Yellow Detective has already been destroyed.
• The disappearance of the smoke scent and the movement of the Gray Grim Reapers provide significant evidence supporting this hypothesis.
• This conclusion is based on the information currently available, and the findings may change if new evidence arises.

"Hmm."

After reading the report, James let out a small groan.

Now that he had finished reading it, it seemed reasonable to believe that the object pointed out by the Yellow Detective had indeed disappeared.

‘But...’

He leaned back in his chair and slowly closed his eyes.

Countless thoughts flashed through his mind: the sudden appearance of the Yellow Detective, the object from Texas, and the movements of the Gray Grim Reapers.

Everything was moving so quickly.

James opened his eyes and looked out the window.

The night view of Seoul stretched out before him.

The shimmering city lights sparkled like stars in the distance.

Looking at the scene, James fell into deep thought.

‘It doesn’t seem like anything crucial has been solved yet...’

However, it was time to make a decision about pulling back.

This was the most crucial time in human history, so the James Institute had much work to do.

James picked up his phone and, based on the report, gave the special mission team in Texas orders to retreat.

After sending the order, James muttered wearily.

"I feel like I’m twice as tired with no Golden Grim Reapers around."

It felt like it had been a distant past since there were no Golden Grim Reapers around.

James rubbed his tired eyes and opened the next report.

The title that appeared on the monitor caught his attention:

“Mid-Term Report on the Mini Grim Reaper Public Opinion Increase Project”

He furrowed his brow.

“Strange. This report shouldn’t be out yet…”

His fingers moved the mouse to scroll down.

The first sentence immediately grabbed his attention.

“With the Golden Grim Reaper supply rate surpassing 50%, discrimination against those who do not possess Mini Grim Reapers has begun to emerge in mainland America.”

The report was filled with numerous newspaper articles and unreported events.

He slowly read through the details, one by one.

Was it because the Golden Grim Reapers were affectionate toward humans, or was it due to their mental contamination?

The incidents involving Golden Grim Reapers were relatively mild.

From newspaper articles about people staring with strange expressions at those who didn’t have Mini Grim Reapers, to stories of detectives monitoring a young man without a Mini Grim Reaper who, in the end, prevented a murder, and even a case where someone was rejected at a job interview because they weren’t an affectionate human.

All of these situations were worrying, but they were somewhat expected.

He reminded himself.

‘The future of humanity depends on the Mini Grim Reapers. This transitional chaos... is unavoidable.’

As he reached the conclusion of the report, his expression hardened.

“It is believed that raising the supply rate to over 80% will resolve these conflicts.”

“However, as most of the Golden Grim Reapers have disappeared, the plan to increase the supply rate has encountered setbacks.”

“As a result, the likelihood of significant conflict among those who do not possess Mini Grim Reapers has increased.”

James leaned back in his chair, closing his eyes.

All kinds of scenarios flashed through his mind.

He slowly opened his eyes and looked at the desk.

“Where on earth did they go...?”

His gaze stopped on a small cake plate, sitting alone on the desk.

It was so tiny, almost like a toy, far too small for a human to use.

On top of the plate, a Mini White Goby, left behind by a Golden Grim Reaper for protection, lay in place.

Junior 2 walked carefully through the city submerged in Evolution Liquid.

With each step, her heart pounded anxiously.

The closer she got to the place where the Black Grim Reaper had said the jade plate could be, the more the surrounding mirrors grew, covering the area in increasingly large numbers.

And those mirrors all seemed to break and be pieced together, as though hastily repaired.

Dim light seeped from the cracks between the mirror shards, casting an eerie atmosphere.

"I’m uneasy..." Junior 2 muttered quietly.

Her eyes constantly scanned the surroundings.

It felt like something could pop out of the mirrors at any moment.

Seeing this, the Golden Horn Grim Reaper patted her cheek, as if to reassure her not to worry.

However, Junior 2’s anxiety did not ease.

After passing through the long mirror tunnel, they finally arrived at their destination.

It was a vast basin made of giant mirrors.

In the center of the basin stood an enormous mirror that seemed to pierce the sky, with a building behind it, resembling the one where the Saintess had been.

‘That’s it!’

The Black Grim Reaper pointed toward the massive temple beyond the basin.

Boom. Boom. Boom.

At that moment, heavy footsteps suddenly echoed.

A shape began to appear in the giant mirror.

At first, it was faint, but slowly, it became clearer.

The figure was so horrifying that Junior 2 inhaled sharply.

It was a monster wielding a huge scythe.

Its body was covered in a black cloak, and instead of a head, it had a long spike.

From the end of the spike, Evolution Liquid continuously erupted, forming a terrible head-like shape.

Even though the creature hadn’t fully emerged from the mirror yet, its overwhelming presence made Junior 2 instinctively step back.

Boom. Boom.

With each step the horrifying object took, it moved closer and closer.

"Special class...? No, it looks even stronger..."

She muttered in a trembling voice.

With a scraping sound, the object in the mirror slowly extended its giant scythe-like blade outside the mirror, gradually pulling its body out.

The mirror cracked and shattered as the powerful object emerged.

At that moment, the Golden Horn Grim Reaper raised its small hand, pointing at the object and releasing its will.

‘It’s an enemy!’

From the shadow of the Purple Grim Reaper, the heads of numerous Golden and Red Grim Reapers emerged.

The Mini Grim Reapers began to walk slowly forward, as if walking toward the beach, rising from the shadows.

At the forefront, the First Sword of the Golden Grim Reapers and the Red Sun Grim Reaper took their positions.

Then, when the First Sword of the Golden Grim Reapers made eye contact with the object in the mirror, it slowly began to...

Boom. Boom.

Slowly, the object began to disappear back into the mirror, step by step.