Seoul Object Story

Near the emergency stairwell of Sehee Research Institute, where people rarely ventured.

Sehee glanced around before carefully stepping into a secret space connected to it.

It was a space secretly created to avoid detection by Seoah, like the previous underground passage.

“It’s been a while.”

Sehee murmured softly as she entered the room.

Though quite cramped, being designed for secrecy, it was densely equipped with necessities.

The floor was soft enough to serve as a bed, and necessities like a refrigerator and bathroom were lined up along the walls.

And throughout the room, small statues made of gold were abundantly placed.

Mini Reapers of various colors and the Gray Reaper.

The intricately crafted golden statues struck various dynamic poses.

Whether due to the golden statues Sehee had placed or something else that attracted Golden Reapers, since its completion, the secret space had always been full of Golden Reapers rolling around.

Roll roll!

Roll roll!

When Sehee suddenly looked up and around, a Golden Reaper rolling on the floor met her gaze.

Ah!

The Golden Reaper, just noticing Sehee, showed a startled expression but quickly smiled warmly and waved, seeming to express its genuine joy at seeing her after so long.

Seeing this, Sehee let out an exaggerated battle cry and threw herself among the Golden Reapers.

“Hyah!”

The Golden Reapers caught under suddenly-diving Sehee giggled as if enjoying themselves.

Sehee lay among the Golden Reapers, looking up at the ceiling like them.

With so many Golden Reapers, rather than lying on a soft bed, it felt like being in a ball pit, with golden waves gently embracing Sehee.

Lying among the Golden Reapers and looking at the ceiling, Sehee muttered to herself, as if for the Golden Reapers to hear:

“I tried not to use this room if possible, but I’ll be imposing from today.”

At those words, the Golden Reapers who had been happily rolling around all turned their heads toward Sehee simultaneously.

The one rolling around.

The one biting another sleeping Golden Reaper’s belly.

The ones wrestling on Sehee’s stomach.

!

They wore startled expressions.

And they rushed toward Sehee as if asking if she meant it.

“There are too many dolls lately. I don’t want to go outside the institute.”

Sehee added, “You know, since I often get kidnapped.”

And Sehee continued, mimicking the dolls’ walking pattern with her fingers.

“Have you seen how the dolls walk? It’s really strange.”

“The rhythm is the same, and the leg angles are all identical.”

“Click. Click. Click.”

“The cheaper models even make sounds, giving them a creepy feel.”

Like telling children a fairy tale, Sehee made a scared expression.

“The dolls are really scary, but everyone else seems to think nothing of it.”

“Somehow, it seems like the closer you are to mini Reapers, the scarier they feel. I wonder why?”

Sehee asked while holding a Golden Reaper, but the Golden Reaper just tilted its head with a puzzled expression.

After sharing various stories about what had happened so far, when she ran out of things to talk about, Sehee turned on the TV mounted on the ceiling.

The TV was playing advertisements for the soon-to-be-held ‘Doll Expo’.