Chapter 289


Oh Muryong’s mansion, located in the heart of Seoul, had turned into chaos.

Just like the Association Doll went berserk and turned all of Seoul into a mess, the inside of the mansion was a complete disaster.

Most of the furniture was broken, and all the doors had been smashed to bits.

The dolls inside the mansion roamed about with glowing red eyes.

The few people left in the mansion had either fallen dead or were wandering around like zombies, contaminated.

But the mastermind behind all this—Oh Muryong—was in his secret lab, wearing a blissful smile.

The lab, which usually boasted a clean and stylish atmosphere, was now covered with a red liquid reminiscent of blood.

In the center of the red-stained lab stood a tank filled with that liquid.

Just a moment ago, there had been a doll modeled after Oh Muryong’s deceased granddaughter lying inside, but now there were no traces of the doll.

At that moment, the red liquid in the tank began to boil.

“Finally!”

Oh Muryong let out a jubilant shout upon witnessing the scene.

Having poured everything into resurrecting his granddaughter, he had finally sensed that she had come back to life.

From the liquid that had consumed his granddaughter’s corpse and numerous granddaughter clones, as well as a doll that almost completely replicated his granddaughter, something began to rise.

It was a grotesque sphere that appeared to be made from the faces of hundreds of granddaughters.

The faces on the surface of the sphere displayed a plethora of emotions: joy, despair, sadness, pain, and teardrops of blood flowed from each face.

And among those faces, the small arms and legs of his granddaughter jutted out, entangled.

It was made of his granddaughter but looked entirely inhuman.

A true monster had been born.

Yet Oh Muryong was different.

He shouted, “Finally! Finally back!” unable to hide his delight.

To the already deranged Oh Muryong, his granddaughter had returned perfectly.

He had completely lost his normal judgment, now believing that the monster he had created was his granddaughter.

It was unmistakable evidence of madness.

*

The party at the Sehee Research Institute had ended.

Yerin moved away from the raucous backyard to the quiet courtyard.

In that courtyard, she saw Golden Reapers resting, laying flat on the fluffy marshmallow floor, having set their watery spears and helmets down on the ground.

Some of the Golden Reapers resting were stepping out of the courtyard in a shift change with those coming in to rest.

The Golden Reapers, wearing cute helmets and holding long spears, walked out with proud expressions.

To Yerin, the courtyard looked like a lounge for the Golden Reapers on guard duty.

It was a bit amusing to think that the Golden Reapers had commandeered the courtyard for their exhibition.

Smiling slightly, Yerin approached a Golden Reaper lying nearby and began poking its chubby belly.

As she doddled there, an odd feeling began to wash over her.

“The courtyard feels smaller.”

The courtyard, originally connected to the Mini Reaper Garden and feeling spacious, had somehow shrunk.

“Strange… This has never happened before.”

Yerin murmured.

She looked around with a serious expression.

‘The connection between the courtyard and the Mini Reaper Garden has been cut!’

The disconnection between the Mini Reaper Garden and the courtyard clearly signaled that something serious had occurred.

With a growing sense of unease, Yerin turned on the TV in the courtyard and flipped through the channels.

But it seemed there was no channel broadcasting properly.

She began searching for personal broadcasts on her phone and finally found one that reflected the current situation.

On the screen, a man murmured in a dark room in a small voice.

“Look down there. They are dolls.”

In the area the camera illuminated, blood-stained caretaker dolls made squeaky noises as they wandered about, alongside a huge construction doll that was smashing buildings.

The man pulled the curtain again and whispered.

“I thought it was better to save money to buy good dolls later rather than buying cheap dolls instantly, but I almost made a huge mistake buying them.”

He continued to share entertaining stories about his sad experiences of being doll-less and how those unfortunate events allowed him to survive.

Click clack. Click clack. Click clack.

Suddenly, there was a clack sound coming from the door.

“Young man in room 405. Open the door.”

The man dropped his phone, startled, but relaxed upon hearing the voice and picked it up again.

“Phew, it’s just the landlady. Felt like my heart was going to drop.”

He spoke to his viewers.

“I’ll turn off the broadcast for now and come back in a bit.”

Then the screen went dark.

‘So it was indeed a doll problem.’

Watching the broadcast, Yerin was convinced it was a doll issue.

She had always felt uneasy seeing dolls, and now it felt as if something had indeed gone wrong.

Suddenly, she began to worry about the Reapers.

“I wonder if the Reaper is alright?”

From the Mini Reaper Garden onwards, Yerin felt an unsettling atmosphere enveloping all of Seoul.

She poked the soft belly of the Golden Reaper lying nearby, trying to shake off her anxiety, but the unease in her heart wouldn’t seem to dissipate.

*

Creak. Creak. Creak.

The Blonde Girl and the Red Reaper were walking down the streets of Seoul, filled with the eerie sounds of dolls.

‘I have to finish this matter myself.’

She believed that she, herself, needed to put a cap on the story of Oh Muryong and the numerous clones.

This was a path she embarked on alone, even leaving behind the Black Agent who wanted to follow her.

The Blonde Girl walked with a serious expression, but the Red Reaper on her shoulder looked simply delighted.

The Red Reaper seemed to feel as if it was on an outing with an older sister for the first time in ages.

Since waking from a long slumber, the Blonde Girl had effortlessly come to know where the other “granddaughters” were.

It might have been due to being reborn entirely as a Mini Reaper, or perhaps something had happened to the granddaughters.

Moreover, she could faintly sense their emotions.

It felt as if, just like the Mini Reapers were connected, something connected the many granddaughters as well.

‘Sadness, pain, and injustice.’

She seemed to hear their tortured screams echoing on.

Boom!

While she was wandering towards her grandfather’s mansion, the building beside her suddenly collapsed, casting a large shadow that started to reveal itself.

As the massive construction doll slowly revealed itself, the Red Reaper raised flame weapons in both hands, exuding determination.

‘Revolution!’

The Blonde Girl frowned slightly at the sight of the Red Reaper raising the burning scythe and hammer.

‘Seems like I learned something strange during my slumber.’

As she thought that, she stretched out her right hand towards the construction doll.

Whoosh.

With the sound of something igniting, her hand began to turn red.

Just like the skin of the Red Reaper.

Her once golden shimmering hair also turned red, just like her scarlet eyes.

‘Burn!’

Sending her wishes inwardly, the girl snapped her fingers, producing a ‘pop’ sound.

In that instant, bright red flames erupted from the construction doll’s entire body.

Flames of the desert.

Even if there was nothing left to burn, as long as there was firewood, it would never extinguish—flames of the red moon.

The construction doll, blazing red, melted in an instant as if touched by a white flame of a hungry ghost.

Boom boom boom.

The Blonde Girl passed by the doll as if she had already defeated it without even glancing at it.

At the same time, her body, once painted red, gradually began returning to its original color.

The Red Reaper, seeing this, opened its mouth wide in astonishment.

As the girl’s body reverted fully to its original color, the Red Reaper jumped about, getting all flustered.

‘So strong!’

And the Red Reaper started to hand over its weapons to the Blonde Girl.

‘Revolution!’

It whispered that by creating burning scythes and hammers, she could truly become a revolutionary warrior.

However, the Blonde Girl, knowing the meaning of the red scythe and hammer, could only smile faintly.

And with a hint of anger towards the one who had taught the kind Red Reaper something strange, she asked:

‘So, who introduced you to those revolutionary weapons?’

‘Mom!’

‘I see.’

Ah… the Gray Reaper couldn’t be helped.

*

Like the boundary between a clear sky and rainy clouds, the rain of Golden Reapers falling from the sky also marked a division.

Like the monsoon front, the downpour of Golden Reapers was spreading throughout Seoul, centered around Sehee Research Institute.

I was running around, excitedly watching the Golden Reapers bustling to and fro.

Boom boom boom boom boom.

My destination was the center drawing in the Color Universe.

I thought only the exhibition hall was in chaos, but as I stepped outside, I saw an even greater turmoil had descended all over Seoul.

Corpses that had been attacked and killed by dolls were seen scattered about.

And every time the Golden Reapers passed the dead bodies, they shed a few tears but continued on, ignoring them.

A sad feeling radiated from around those Golden Reapers.

It seemed they’d rather grieve but had no time for it, which only deepened their sorrow—a chain of sadness.

Thud thud. Thud thud.

I frequently saw Golden Reapers, with the same urgency as me, running back and forth between dolls.

There were so many dolls still in action, and the number of Golden Reapers was utterly insufficient compared to the dolls, leading to the unfolding situation.

They dashed in, headbutting the hearts of the dolls attempting to revive!

Then without a break, they charged at another doll for a headbutt!

Each Golden Reaper seemed to be responsible for at least ten dolls.

Moreover, upon finding survivors, they called forth cloud fish to secure them safely.

Occasionally, other Mini Reapers were spotted as well.

The Black Reapers merged into Giant Black Reapers to devour the dolls.

The sturdy stomachs of the Black Reapers made excellent doll prisons.

The Orange Reapers were summoning cloud fish to take in humans, while the Blue Reapers roamed about, treating injured humans.

Everyone looked incredibly busy.

While I dashed forward, ghosting and watching the efforts of the Mini Reapers, a foreboding cocoon-like object began to reveal itself from the sky.

It was a horrifying, inflammation-like red cocoon.

‘Ah, this is bad.’

The moment I saw the cocoon, I realized it was one of the external beings of the Color Universe.

The cocoon, thumping rapidly, began to slow its pulse and rot into a deep purple, then it tore apart with a screech, spilling out putrid blood.

Crack.

Along with that blood, something huge fell to the ground.

What had been tightly bunched up like a purple mass, began reaching dozens of purple arms toward the sky, just like a butterfly hatching from its cocoon.

Thin and elongated purple arms, reminiscent of a water strider.

In the center of the countless arms, there was a grotesquely shaped face with not a single piece of flesh on its ribs.

It looked like a human face flipped upside down and hanging.

The red blood clinging to its body had dried up as if time was fast-forwarding, and the dry blood formed a thin film that fluttered.

Then that Purple External Being opened its mouth and screamed.

A dreadful vibration that shook the space, yet emitted no sound.