Chapter 292

In an apartment complex in Seoul, the master bedroom of an apartment spacious enough for a family of three was pitch black, so dark you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face.

The lights were off, and thick blackout curtains blocked any trace of light from entering.

It was as if the room had been completely cut off from the outside world—a serene space that seemed eerily quiet. It appeared someone had dragged a bed to block the entrance to the master bedroom.

KWAANG!

A powerful shockwave surged from far across the river.

BUSSHH.

The apartment swayed with the shockwave, sounding like a bombed-out building straight out of a movie, with bits of rubble crumbling down.

“Mommy…”

A terrified child’s voice echoed through the dark room.

“It’s okay. Everything will be fine.”

The mother, holding her child tightly, patted its back—but her expression betrayed deep anxiety.

Had the heavy darkness not obscured her face, the child would have been even more frightened.

What had started as the rampage of an Association Doll thought to be safe had escalated into intense shockwaves just minutes ago, leaving the mother trembling with unease.

Contrastingly, the father stood near the window, peering through a telescope slipped between the blackout curtains, observing the chaos outside.

“It’s over.”

The father’s low voice reverberated through the room.

The dolls that had filled the streets moments before had vanished without a trace, prompting his sigh of relief.

Though the situation outside remained dire, something had shifted when the shockwave erupted across the river.

The change began with a sudden increase in the number of Black Reapers.

Initially, the Giant Black Reapers had devoured countless dolls during the early stages of the incident but then stopped moving entirely, sitting still with bloated bellies.

However, at some point, they rose from their spots and marched briskly toward the southern part of Seoul.

When these reapers returned, their stomachs were noticeably slimmer, and they resumed devouring the dolls.

As the Black Reapers quickly reduced the doll population, other Mini Reapers became more active.

Golden Reapers, seemingly unsatisfied with merely clearing the dolls, began wandering around as if searching for something, while other Mini Reapers also peeked out and roamed about.

‘Of course companion Objects are Mini Reapers. Those Association Dolls were always troublesome from the start.’

The father, forgetting how his purchase of one of those dolls led to the living room being overrun, now praised the Mini Reapers instead.

‘If this keeps up, the doll rampage will soon be resolved!’

Just as the father was marveling at the Mini Reapers’ efforts, a massive Golden Reaper’s face suddenly filled his entire field of vision.

Hehe.

The Golden Reaper wore a slightly playful grin.

‘!!!’

Startled, the father pulled his eyes away from the telescope—only to find the Golden Reaper dangling right at the end of it.

The warm scent of the sun filled the dim room.

A soft golden glow spread gently throughout.

The lack of light made the warmth of the Golden Reaper feel even more pronounced, filling the room with its comforting presence.

This cozy warmth gave the impression that the doll rampage, which had wreaked havoc on Seoul, would soon come to an end.

***

KWAANG!

When the Purple External Being slapped its giant palm, a fierce shockwave shattered nearby buildings and roads into chaos.

I rolled along the ground to dodge the shockwave, but my reflexes weren’t fast enough to evade it entirely.

‘Ugh…’

One of my legs, touched by the purple shockwave, disappeared entirely before regenerating instantly.

Simultaneously, I sprang to my feet and thrust my fist toward the External Being’s hand.

But the External Being’s hand remained unscathed, unaffected even by the warped space around it.

‘Is this even possible?’

Clearly, I couldn’t harm parts of it that were influencing Earth.

If this were a game, this boss monster would need an urgent balance patch.

‘Hmm.’

Our current situation could be described as neither side being able to deal significant damage to the other.

My attacks had no effect on the Purple External Being, and while I burned through resources regenerating, I had plenty of firewood to spare.

Still, I was achieving my goal: buying time until the Mini Reapers found the anchor.

‘That thing is getting stronger…’

But optimism wasn’t entirely warranted.

The vague silhouette of the Purple External Being grew clearer, and with it, the range and power of its shockwaves intensified.

Worse, purple threads clinging to my wounds multiplied, requiring more firewood for regeneration.

Moreover, as the External Being grew stronger, the distortion of reality worsened.

If this continues, the distortion might reach where Yerin is…

Before that happens, the Mini Reapers better find ‘it’…

Or I’ll carry Yerin far away, even if it means enduring a million lashes.

***

An eerie residential area where the air itself had turned purple.

Nearby, the Gray Reaper fought, its shockwaves resonating like an earthquake.

This place had already been swept once by the Golden Reapers searching for ‘it’.

The blonde girl walked through the desolate neighborhood, guided solely by faint intuition.

Her destination was her grandfather’s mansion, the same place she’d intended to visit all along.

CREEAK.

Pushing open the gate, which screeched loudly due to the distortion, she entered.

‘Finally, finally here…’

The butler who always greeted her was gone.

The tranquil garden she remembered was now alien.

Where trained staff once served, malfunctioning dolls now stood. The orchids her grandfather nurtured had all withered yellow.

WHOOSH.

She advanced step by step, burning the dolls with flames.

Each step brought her closer to the agonized screams of her cloned sisters.

The Red Reaper tilted its head curiously, questioning her path.

‘Why are you coming here?’

The order given by the Gray Reaper.

‘Find suspicious Objects.’

Since the Golden Reapers had already swept through here, there was no reason for her to come.

“I have something I must do here.”

The blonde girl firmly stated this as she entered her grandfather’s room and began operating the device to access the secret chamber below.

Once the hidden passage opened, a deathly stench overwhelmed her.

The overwhelming smell of blood numbed her senses.

And only she could perceive the deaths of countless sisters.

Their lingering soul traces surrounded her.

Through her eyes, she saw her sisters torn apart and dismembered everywhere.

‘I’m sorry…’

Sorry for arriving too late.

Muttering this to herself, she descended into the basement. Each sister’s trace slowly ignited into red flames and vanished.

Every step the blonde girl took inside the mansion transformed into flames, setting the house ablaze.

‘!’

With each trace disappearing, Red Reapers materialized mid-air.

They looked somewhat melancholic.

Yet the Red Reaper watching this smiled genuinely, expressing pure happiness.

‘So many younger siblings!’

With renewed determination, the Red Reaper charged forward, only to be gently embraced by the melancholic ones.

By the time the blonde girl reached the basement, she was leading hundreds of Red Reapers.

There, amidst grotesque entanglements of her sisters, she saw the figure of her grandfather, Oh Muryong, fused with them.

“Grandfather…”

Her voice, devoid of emotion, went unheard by Oh Muryong.

Lost to madness, he merely caressed the twisted forms of his daughters as if loving them.

The blonde girl extended her hand and flicked her finger, igniting a colossal flame woven from the power of all her Red Reaper sisters.

***

KWAANG!

A different vibration from the Purple External Being’s shockwaves resonated across Seoul.

The crimson pillar of fire consumed the entirety of Oh Muryong’s mansion, soaring skyward.

But the pillar dissipated almost instantly under the influence of the purple wave.

From within the chaos, the blonde girl was ejected, battered and bruised.

“!!!”

Oh Muryong, consumed by madness and having lost his ability to speak, emerged from the wreckage.

His strength, surpassing even the Mini Reapers, left the blonde girl feeling powerless.

Could I lose again like this?

Even now, the agonized screams of her sisters trapped within the mass forming his lower body continued!

At that moment, the high-end residential area was bathed in radiant golden light, like sunlight.

‘Light?’

Lifting her head, the blonde girl saw a massive rock filling the sky.

It was the Golden Armored Reaper, carrying a boulder reinforced with copious amounts of firewood.

‘We must escape!’

‘Danger!’

Realizing the impending doom of the falling rock, the Red Reapers grabbed the blonde girl and pulled her away.

Reacting instinctively, she unleashed flames beneath her feet, escaping the rock’s trajectory at high speed.

Once she was clear, the Golden Armored Reaper dropped the massive boulder directly onto Oh Muryong.

***

BOOM.

A thunderous crash echoed as the enormous rock struck the empty high-end residential area.

Where did they even get such a rock?

While pondering this, the flames of nullification adhered to the skin of the External Being, beginning to burn it.

WHOOSH.

‘The anchor has disappeared!’

Having fulfilled its destruction condition, the purple entity not only ceased being an External Being but also failed to qualify as an Object.

Now merely a byproduct of the abilities of the Red External Being, it melted away under the white flames.

KEEEEE!

A painful scream as its entire body dissolved.

The cries of the External Being, once hidden in a space detached from Earth, now clearly reached Earth.

First, the liquid-like surface covering the ground began to solidify.

Then, the reflective surface that mirrored the Color Universe cracked like a mirror, shattering with a sharp sound.

The shattered fragments, before even hitting the ground, were enveloped by the halo’s flames like sparks from a campfire and vanished.

The harsh scars on the sky gradually healed, and the Color Universe, which had drawn so close, began to recede.

As the Color Universe faded, the Association Dolls, hailed as masterpieces of the Association, lost their power and disintegrated.

As if they couldn’t exist according to Earth’s rules alone.

The tangled threads created from distorted oxygen and nitrogen unraveled with the disappearance of the distortion, blending back into the air.

‘Aaaand!’

The Golden Reapers, who had wrapped themselves in threads to save humanity, sighed regretfully.

Like gold statues with only their legs protruding from cocoons.

Everything that had been distorted began returning to normal.

And as the distortions faded, the sun gradually rose in the eastern sky.

The Golden Reapers cheered toward the sun, and the Mini Reapers basked in its warm rays, smiling.

With the defeat of the Purple External Being from the Color Universe, the Association Doll incident must be resolved, right?

Too bad the expo got ruined again.

Hehe.