Seoul Object Story

A huge problem had occurred!

No, scratch that. It wasn’t just a huge problem; It was a really, really massive problem!

Lee Sehee, the director of Sehee Research Institute, was facing a gigantic problem.

A room with a bed, a bathroom, and some snacks scattered on the floor.

At first glance, the combination didn’t seem to be problematic at all. But considering the fact that iron bars stood where walls and doors should have been, the seemingly innocuous room quickly turned into a prison-like place.

However, besides the fact that she was confined, there was a bigger problem looming ahead; the terrible screams she kept hearing.

The most horrible screams she had ever heard rang out non-stop from beyond the steel bars, never stopping, even for a moment.

Grumble-!

She hadn’t eaten all day.

Even though she was hungry, and the food was served on time, she didn’t dare touch the food that was provided to her.

After all, it was simply impossible to know what would’ve happened if she put whatever that suspicious person gave her, into her mouth.

The one who kidnapped her was a prominent figure in the area who was already over 80 years old.

However, even a simple glance revealed that the old man’s appearance was anything but normal.

He had no muscle whatsoever and his skin was as dried up as a dead tree, leading one to believe he was some kind of mummy.

Despite his appearance, his agility and strength were far beyond that of a normal human. It was clear that he was a human who was related to an Object.

Although the whereabouts of the old man’s remaining family members were still unknown, it seemed highly likely, by the looks of things, that they were already dead.

The old man’s exact purpose was hard to predict, but it was quite easy to predict that the outcome would be anything but good.

The reason she could deduce as much?

That’s because outside the prison-like room she was in, human bones were piled up like a mound.

Besides that, just across the steel bars, stood a towering steel statue of a pig that captured her attention.

In the pig’s indifferent eyes, flames flickered.

Around the crimson pig statue, fragments of human bone were scattered about.

Drawing from her vast experience of studying Objects, it was likely that the old man’s odd strength as well as the mountain of bone fragments were all caused by that pig statue.

She couldn’t believe that something like this had happened as soon as she came to investigate another abnormal phenomenon that occurred in Seoul Forest…

A year ago, she had come to Seoul Forest to investigate an abnormal phenomenon and almost died. Now, once again, her life was in danger. Did she underestimate the danger of the Seoul Forest too much?

Scrape-!

At that moment, light footsteps echoed, accompanied by the sound of heavy stones scraping against each other.

It was the old man’s footsteps, which came down the stairs several times a day.

“You haven’t eaten yet?”

The old man’s hoarse voice echoed from outside the prison-like room.

Before long, he clicked his tongue and left the basement once again.

The old man’s glossy eyes were strangely creepy, but she still could not discern the reason.

Apart from that, she was curious about many other things.

Just what was the food that he kept trying to make her eat?

What was that ominous pig statue?

What were those piles of bones?

Was her conjecture about the old man’s physical abilities originating from the pig statue true?

He seemed to be kidnapping and killing people. For what reason was he doing it?

Despite jotting down every question in her notebook whenever they came to mind, the list only grew longer.

It would be nice if the staff at the Sehee Research Institute noticed their director’s absence and searched for her. Meanwhile, she needed to stay alive until they found her…

However, that seemed far from easy.

***

Leaving the loud ringing of the alarm, I drew back the curtains and opened the windows, filling my lungs with the clean morning air to shake off my drowsiness.

It was another pleasant morning.

Hanging my employee ID around my neck, I went out.