Seoul Object Story

In a gloomy factory hallway without a single light source except for some blinking red lights, stood iron pillars that looked like well-painted ribs.

“Huff-! Huff-!”

Nothing had changed at all since I entered the factory, yet it became harder and harder to breathe, and my anxious mind made all the structures in the factory look terrifying.

It was like the whole place was closing in on me, squeezing tighter with every step I took. My chest tightened, and nausea churned my stomach. The more I ran, the more out of breath I became.

The unpleasant smell of petroleum wafted through the hallway. At first, I dismissed it as just a typical factory odor, but now I realized it was something worse. That stench was a warning, proof that this factory was tainted with something horrid.

I threw the ‘Anti-Object Suppression Shield’ to the floor. I needed to run faster, and that piece of metal was only slowing me down.

“I shouldn’t have taken a request from such a suspicious foreigner!”

I remembered the man who had promised a large sum for this job. He was strange, wearing odd clothes, but the money had blinded me. Now, I regretted every second of it.

The lonely sound of my footsteps echoed through the hallway, a reminder that I was utterly alone. My colleagues, who had been with me, were gone, their pained faces etched into my memory.

A parking lot came into view. Beyond it, I saw the shimmering mirage of freedom.

Finally!

The escape was so close.

As long as I passed through that parking lot, I could make it out.

The Objects that had taken over the pudding factory didn’t seem to leave the premises for some reason.

Hope surged in my heart, and I swore that if I made it out, I’d never do something this reckless like ‘Object Retrieval’ again.

But that hope was crushed before I could act on it.

“Ha, hahahahaha.”

A dry, bitter laugh escaped my lips, echoing through the empty parking lot.

There, standing in the middle, was one of the Objects.

One of the Objects that occupied the pudding factory.

A massive teddy bear made of iron, towering at least 2 meters tall.

It was a monstrosity, nothing like the Objects described in the reports.

The teddy bear moved its grotesque face and rattled, as if it were laughing at me.

Was it not me who had escaped? Had it just let me escape, in order to toy with me? The realization sank in like lead.

My legs, which had been fueled by the hope of survival, turned to rubber. I crumpled to the asphalt, the weight of despair pinning me down.

The teddy bear’s eyes flashed a fierce red light, and a cruel glint appeared in them as if saying that hunting prey that didn’t put up a fight was no fun.

The Object charged at me with a ferocious expression, its steel fist striking my head with a brutal force.

The very last thing I saw was an endless amount darkness of swallowing me up.