Chapter 285

Sehee Research Institute, near the emergency staircase where people’s footsteps rarely reach.

Sehee glanced around and cautiously stepped into a secret space connected to it.

It was a space secretly created so as not to be discovered by Seoah, like the previous underground passage.

“It’s been a while.”

Sehee mumbled softly as she entered the room.

Since it was a covertly made space to avoid discovery, it was quite narrow, but it was fully equipped with necessities.

The floor was soft like a bed, and along the walls were lined up necessary items such as a refrigerator and bathroom.

And all around the room, there were small statues made of gold arranged everywhere.

All sorts of colored mini reapers and gray reapers.

The exquisitely crafted golden statues dynamically assumed various poses.

Whether because of the numerous golden statues placed by Sehee or due to something in this space that lured golden reapers…

Sehee’s secret space had always been bustling with golden reapers rolling around since its completion.

“Rolling!”

“Rolling!”

As Sehee suddenly looked up and glanced around, one golden reaper rolling on the floor caught her eye.

“Ah!”

Realizing Sehee’s presence now, the golden reaper showed a startled expression but soon smiled happily and waved at Sehee as if saying it was really glad to see her after such a long time.

It seemed to express its happiness with its whole body.

Seeing that, Sehee exaggeratedly shouted a battle cry and threw herself into the midst of the golden reapers.

“Iyaah!”

The golden reapers who got squished under Sehee giggled joyfully.

Sehee lay down among the golden reapers, gazing at the ceiling like them.

Because there were so many golden reapers, it felt less like lying on a soft bed and more like diving into a ball pit, with waves of golden light gently embracing Sehee.

Lying among the golden reapers and looking up at the ceiling, Sehee muttered to herself.

Almost as if speaking for the golden reapers to hear.

“I tried not to use this room, but I’ll have to rely on you guys from today.”

At that remark, the happily rolling golden reapers all turned their heads toward Sehee.

The ones rolling around.

The ones biting the belly fat of a sleeping golden reaper.

Even the ones wrestling on Sehee’s stomach.

‘!’

They all wore startled expressions.

And as if asking if it was really true, they all rushed toward Sehee.

“Lately, there are too many dolls. I don’t want to go outside the research institute.”

Sehee added, “Because I get kidnapped often.”

Then, mimicking the walk of the dolls with her fingers, Sehee continued.

“Have you seen how the dolls walk? It’s weird.”

“Their steps are all the same, and the angle of their legs is identical.”

“Clank. Clank. Clank.”

“Some cheaper models even make sounds, which gives me an eerie feeling.”

Like reading a fairy tale to children, Sehee made a frightened face.

“The dolls are so scary, but everyone seems unfazed.”

“For some reason, the scarier I feel about getting close to the mini reapers, the more curious I am. Why is that?”

Sehee asked a golden reaper she held in her hand, but it just tilted its head as if saying it didn’t know.

After talking about various things that had happened so far, when her stories ran out, Sehee turned on the TV mounted on the ceiling.

An advertisement for the upcoming ‘Doll Fair’ was playing on TV.

***

Near James Tower in Songpa District, temporary isolation room.

The early morning before dawn.

Inside the isolation room, Alex, who had been the team leader of the security team until recently, was locked up.

“Boss! Please let me out of here!”

Alex was pacing anxiously inside the isolation room.

“Hmm.”

James hummed thoughtfully upon seeing that.

“Boss, no signs of mental pollution were detected.”

A researcher handed James the data worriedly.

After capturing Alex with an electric shock last night due to his suspicious behavior…

No suspicious points were found in the captured Alex.

‘Was it my mistake?’

Furrowing his brows deeply, another set of data was delivered to James.

“Boss. The detailed examination revealed no similarities to dolls at all.”

Repeated tests were conducted to avoid misjudgment, but all results came back normal.

‘Did I hallucinate from watching CCTV too long?’

Although James usually trusted rational judgment over intuition, he wanted to believe his gut feeling this time.

While all researchers watched him, James crossed his arms and pondered deeply.

As he closed his eyes to think, James opened them again and said reluctantly,

“Temporary isolation measures for Alex…”

Just as James was about to say “are lifted,” a sticky sensation was felt on his back.

Turning his head, he saw a golden reaper with a Mecha Tyrannosaurus design sketch stuck to its back.

That golden reaper was peeling off the sticky adhesive from its palm using ghosting.

‘!’

At that moment, James felt a flash of lightning strike his mind.

Carefully holding the golden reaper in his hand, it grinned foolishly as if saying “Are you playing with me?”

Its expression was filled with anticipation, probably because James had been too busy lately to play with it.

James slowly brought the golden reaper closer to Alex’s isolation room.

‘!’

The golden reaper, which had been wearing a happy expression, started making an aggressive face upon seeing Alex.

Well, the tiny and cute golden reaper couldn’t look truly menacing, but the fact that it changed its expression was significant.

“Alex is now under top-level object isolation measures! No objections will be entertained.”

James loudly proclaimed, raising the golden reaper high.

The golden reaper looked bewildered by James’s sudden loud voice.

***

Deep inside Sehee Research Institute, the ever-cozy isolation room.

I lay on the isolation room bed, unable to hide my thumping heart.

Doll Fair!

My heart raced as if I’d just heard that a game I’d been eagerly awaiting was finally being released.

Though, technically, I don’t have a heart.

On the TV, advertisements for the doll fair were airing, showing a large hall displaying various dolls and friendly-looking ones interacting with people.

[Are you looking for a lifelong companion in this dangerous age of objects?]

[That’s why many people entrust their lives to objects like Golden Reapers.]

Following that, images of golden reapers appeared on screen, each with sinister expressions.

Pointing at the screen with my finger, I conveyed encouragement to the golden reapers.

‘That’s what humans think you look like.’

Since the kids weren’t interested in the TV, they looked confused at first.

But eventually, understanding the concept of “sinister golden reapers,” their antennae shot up like exclamation marks.

‘Sinister golden reapers, huh!’

Realizing how humans perceived them, the golden reaper slumped dejectedly.

Ugh…

And losing all motivation, it melted limply onto my body.

Trying to lift the droopy golden reaper to tease it further, I stopped when it looked like it might cry.

‘It’s okay. It’s fine. This is just a nasty ad made by humans, so it’s fine.’

‘Really?’

I kept conveying reassurance to the wide-eyed golden reaper while revising my fair touring plan.

I thought about bringing the mini reapers to the fair, but it looks like I’ll have to go alone.

If the ads are this bad, there will probably be lots of “sinister mini reapers” at the fair too.

While patting the golden reaper, the seemingly endless fair advertisement was nearing its end.

[But unfortunately, the golden reaper is an object! It carries risks.]

[Don’t worry. We have association dolls. You can meet them at tomorrow’s association doll fair!]

With the appearance of the doll fair logo, date, and location information on the screen, the ad ended.

The fair is tomorrow!

***

In the private chamber of Oh Muryong’s mansion located in the heart of Seoul.

Oh Muryong slowly rose from the black liquid, wearing a satisfied smile.

“It feels like I’m coming back to life.”

Though Oh Muryong looked like he was about to die from old age, he had been regaining his health and vitality over the past few months.

Carefully wiping off the dark petroleum-smelling liquid and dressing himself, Oh Muryong began walking around the interior of the mansion.

Just then, a girl sprinted quickly toward Oh Muryong.

“Grandfather!”

It was Oh Muryong’s granddaughter, with beautiful golden hair and blue eyes.

“So, our granddaughter has come.”

And like a harmonious grandfather-granddaughter pair, they exchanged warm words.

“This old man has work to do, so I must leave.”

“Yes, Grandfather!”

Once the granddaughter left, Oh Muryong’s face hardened as if he had never smiled.

“No, this isn’t right.”

Entering a room with quick strides, Oh Muryong began playing a video.

[Grandfather!]

The golden-haired girl appeared on the screen.

“There’s something different. Still lacking.”

Though the girl on screen and the one he met earlier were identical in appearance and actions…

Oh Muryong kept muttering that something was off.

“What’s missing?”

“I don’t know.”

“But it’s insufficient.”

“Is it the evolution liquid?”

“That grotesque thing? Absolutely not.”

Oh Muryong mumbled incessantly like someone with obsessive-compulsive disorder, repeating that something was strange.

“So, that’s it.”

After mumbling for a while, Oh Muryong suddenly raised his head as if realizing something.

“That’s what was missing.”

Oh Muryong’s eyes glimmered eerily with madness, tinged with a hint of red.

[Grandfather!]

In the room where the video of his granddaughter before death played endlessly, two vintage lamps burned faintly.

From the lamps, a small laughter-like sound seemed to emanate.