Chapter 288
Late at night, a grand fireworks display began far from the Sehee Research Institute, lighting up the sky.
The faint sounds of fireworks combined with the sparks that adorned one side of the sky softly illuminated the institute.
Although most employees should have been heading home by now, people gathered in the backyard of the institute, enjoying drinks and food.
It felt like a company party.
The reason for all this commotion was simple: the Mini Reapers.
For some reason, the Mini Reapers were preventing their Attached Humans from leaving the research institute today.
It was an ordinary day, but as quitting time approached, the Sehee Research Institute started to descend into chaos.
Golden Reapers clung tightly to their pants legs as if saying “don’t go” and were dragged helplessly across the floor.
Blue Reapers were hiding in the corners, throwing droplets like they were playing a snowball fight at the security team employees who were on a break in shifts.
Black Reapers used their immense strength to firmly anchor others in place so they couldn’t move.
And the Sprout Reapers, even when trying to go down the stairs, kept getting pulled back to their original spots.
In a typical research institute, one might shout, “Finally, the Mini Reapers have shown their true colors!”
But the Sehee Research Institute was anything but typical.
Initially, the researchers had intended to go home, but as the strange occurrences continued, their thoughts wandered elsewhere.
‘Is something wrong?’
‘Is there a dangerous Object roaming outside?’
The Mini Reapers, known for their exceptional Object detection abilities, triggered these worries.
And the final touch to those thoughts came from Director Lee Sehee, who had recently disappeared and not gone home.
“Today is a festival! It’s a party!”
With that proclamation, the party began.
The researchers enjoyed barbecues and beer in the spacious, well-decorated backyard while watching the fireworks from the fair, and the Mini Reapers flitted around near their Attached Humans.
Drunk in the party atmosphere, the researchers played with their Attached Reapers, their faces slightly flushed.
Om nom nom.
A particular Golden Reaper, munching on chocolate, became curious about the golden liquid that a researcher was drinking.
It didn’t look sweet and smelled off, so the Golden Reaper usually didn’t care for alcohol.
However, perhaps due to accumulating experience and growing interest in their Attached Humans, many Golden Reapers started showing interest in the beer.
“Want to try?”
The researchers hesitated to give alcohol to the Golden Reapers, who strangely felt like children.
At that moment, one brave researcher poured some beer into a tiny Golden Reaper cup.
Many researchers exchanged glances, wondering, ‘Is it okay to give alcohol to a Golden Reaper?’
But that researcher stubbornly passed the beer to the Golden Reaper with the reasoning, ‘After all, Golden Reapers aren’t human!’
The Golden Reaper stared intently at the suspicious-smelling beer and licked the surface lightly with its tongue.
After tasting the beer, the Golden Reaper tilted its head, scrunched its face, and gulped it down all at once.
Blee.
The Golden Reaper stuck out its tongue as if it had eaten something awful.
Then, almost as if to ask why anyone would drink this, it started to poke the researcher’s cheek.
After a moment of throwing punches, the Golden Reaper lost interest and jumped back onto the table.
Yet, the Golden Reaper couldn’t keep its balance and slid with a thump, falling over.
Hehe.
The fallen Golden Reaper smiled sheepishly.
“Our Golden Reaper is drunk!”
The researcher observed the unsteady Golden Reaper and poked its soft cheeks.
In response, the Golden Reaper giggled in a ticklish manner and playfully nibbled on the researcher’s finger.
The Golden Reaper, already very cute, became even more playful after drinking, frequently smiling and nipping at them.
Seeing this, the researchers began offering beer to their own Attached Reapers as well.
It was a peaceful daily life at the Sehee Research Institute.
However, the party didn’t last as long as expected.
At some point, all the Mini Reapers suddenly stood up, looking up at the sky.
Even the drunken Golden Reapers instantly regained their senses, releasing golden flames from their bodies and turning their heads toward the direction of their Moms.
‘Humans are in danger!’
‘Mom is calling!’
Like tuning into a broadcast, the Mini Reapers perked up their antennae and scattered in all directions.
To protect the Sehee Research Institute, only a handful remained, while most vanished somewhere.
“I had a feeling it would come to this.”
The researcher muttered quietly, looking down forlornly at the palm that had just moments ago been waving goodbye to a Golden Reaper.
His voice echoed softly through the now quiet party venue.
*
I stood atop the tallest building at the Doll Fair, waving my hands passionately like an orchestra conductor.
But instead of tuning instruments, my gestures tore through space and dolls.
‘No matter how much I break, it never ends.’
Fortunately, the combat abilities of the dolls were pathetic.
Even the so-called “Hungry Ghost-grade” security dolls were just a flimsy, exaggerated claim.
However, there was one serious problem.
No matter how much I killed or destroyed, these association dolls kept coming back to life.
The condition for destruction, as seen with my ‘eyes,’ was
Luckily, the location of the ‘Doll Queen’ was clearly established.
I could figure it out even from the shining antenna I got from the Hungry Ghost, or by examining the distorting Color Universe in the sky.
The Color Universe seemed to be spreading from somewhere in Seoul.
It looked like a madman who created these association dolls had summoned the Color Universe, leading to this mess.
However, I couldn’t escape from the fair because of the humans being threatened by dolls.
Moreover, the people in the fair also began to show increasingly bizarre behavior.
It seemed as if they were becoming ‘infected’ if they were injured by a doll or stayed nearby for too long.
Infected humans rushed at me as if they were becoming dolls themselves.
If they were Objects, I could have just disposed of them, but they were still humans.
‘….’
Humans are not Objects, so it was all too easy to kill them.
If it were up to me, I wanted to turn the entire fairground into a sinkhole, but that would mean many firewoods would die, so I held back.
I reduced the dolls to dust with Spatial Cuts, while causing humans to tumble and roll around, buying time with the ‘Probability Manipulation’ ability I gained from the Orange Moon.
When I twisted the probability with my ‘eyes’, something was always bound to be destroyed or killed, but the Orange Moon’s ability didn’t necessitate destruction or death, making it quite suitable for this situation.
In fact, I should have called the Mini Reapers at times like this, but no matter how hard I tried, the Mini Reaper Garden wouldn’t open.
It had to be because of the Color Universe.
As time passed, my patience began to run thin.
‘Is it okay to give up on the fairgoers?’
‘After all, they probably came to the fair with death in mind.’
‘I feel like I’m neglecting their spirit of sacrifice.’
Moreover, the fairground was littered with precarious structures, explosives, oil, and gas.
It was practically a setup inviting a sinkhole to happen!
‘It can’t be helped. It’s too regrettable, but I can’t overlook the fairgoers’ spirit of sacrifice.’
Clap clap.
Just as I clapped my hands twice.
“Mom!”
“I came to help!”
Like golden starlight pouring down from the night sky, the Golden Reapers descended from above.
It was a horrifying hailstorm, piercing the dolls with Golden Reaper-shaped holes using Ghosting-Overlapping.
At the same time, countless Cloud Fish rushed in from the sky, beginning to swallow the humans.
The Cloud Fish isolated each infected person by devouring them one by one.
One doll per Golden Reaper.
One piece of firewood per Cloud Fish.
In the blink of an eye, the Golden Reapers began cleaning up the troublesome fair and shot bright smiles at me.
The humans in danger would be saved by them, so their Moms were to capture the external beings of the Color Universe.
*
James Tower, located on the outskirts of Songpa District, fortified itself the moment the incident broke out.
The sturdy outer walls of James Tower effectively blocked the dolls’ approach.
The high-mounted machine guns smoothly obliterated the threatening large dolls.
James surveyed the surroundings with a telescope, asking with a worried voice.
“The dolls seem to resurrect even after being killed by Object ammunition. At this rate, how long can we hold out on our ammo?”
“At the current rate of doll numbers increasing, we should last about a month or so. However…”
“Right, thinking the dolls will invade at this pace is too optimistic.”
That was understandable since this doll crisis wasn’t just occurring near James Tower; it was happening all across Seoul.
It was essentially the Doll Apocalypse erupting across the city.
While James was checking supplies in the first-floor lobby, a peculiar sound reached his ears.
Thud, thud, thud.
It was the sound of a fist pounding against the iron door.
“Please, let me in! Open the door!”
A desperate voice followed.
An employee checking the CCTV that overlooked the outer area said to James.
“On the outside, they look human. What should we do?”
“We need to perform a doll verification test.”
The employee, who looked a bit flustered by that remark, quickly fetched something and set it before a small hole at the entrance.
“Bring your face to this hole!”
Opening a small door on the hole, the employee shouted in broken Korean.
Just then, a haggard man’s face popped out from the hole.
Smack.
Before he could even pull back, the Golden Reaper standing in front of the hole slapped the man’s cheek.
“It’s a doll.”
It was a more accurate judgment method than any machinery developed in America.
