Seoul Object Story
Chapter 193: A Full Moon (2)

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A seemingly gaunt high school student hurried along the school road amidst the chilly morning air. He hadn’t slept well due to a persistent, unsettling nightmare, and the cold seeped through his uniform. Buttoning his collar tightly, he hurried to the school.

As he rushed along, he saw a crowd gathered in the middle of the road, causing a commotion. The throng was near the entrance of the unnecessarily long, and high stairs that he had to climb to go to school.

The stairs were so steep and dangerous that people often slipped and fell, so he thought that maybe someone had fallen while rushing down the stairs.

“Another serial murder case.”

“Seriously?”

However, as the gaunt student approached the scene, the other students’ murmurings overturned his earlier prediction.

The police and people gathered in droves. The barricades were set up as if they were there to completely block the road.

Contrary to the student’s expectations, it seemed like a serious incident. It must be related to the ‘serial murder’ that had been appearing in the news and rumors lately.

A murder case targeting a person walking around alone after 6 PM in Mapo-gu. It was a large-scale case with over 10 victims already, and with new victims appearing every day, the entire Mapo-gu area was gripped by fear.

Since not only schools and academies, but even convenience stores closed before 6 PM, even the gaunt student who had little interest in the case found out about it. Everyone at school was scared, but the gaunt student clearly thought it was just a one-time incident.

With this much interest and how focused the investigative power was, he thought it was only a matter of time before the murderer was caught. Well, it was surprising that he hadn’t been caught yet.

“Haaaaaah.”

The tired student yawned and stood in line behind the crowded students. He didn’t want to stand in such a bothersome line, but he had no choice. If he didn’t go to school through the stairs, he would have walked longer.

The stairs that he had to go through to get to school.

And the sidewalk that had become narrow thanks to the barrier.

For those two reasons, the students had no choice but to go around the barrier of the murder scene and line up.

As he got closer to the stairs, a scene from his nightmare that had become blurry began to come back to him.

The yellow full moon shone down on the stairs.

A puddle of blood.

And the stairs overflowing with blood.

He looked up at the moon in the sky which seemed to be laughing.

When he absentmindedly looked at the scene which was circled by a barrier, it seemed like a puddle of blood was bubbling up on the empty asphalt.

Then, the decapitated man’s head floated in the puddle of blood.

The smell of blood seemed to spread so much that it made it hard for him to breathe, so the student closed his eyes and shook his head.

It’s because I can’t sleep. It’s because I’m tired.

When he opened his eyes again, the puddle of blood was nowhere to be found. However, he now could see a strange man wearing a large helmet turned towards him. ṝãꞐòβÊṥ

“Student, are you sick?”

The student looked down and saw a tag on the man’s clothes.

< Researcher - Object Association. >

He thought he was nothing but a strange person, but he was actually a proper office worker.

But why was he wearing a helmet?

Did the Object Association end up coming?

Well, if a criminal was this hard to catch, there’s a good chance that it was an Object.

“No. I’m fine. I’m just dizzy from not being able to sleep.”

“Really?”

The researcher’s voice was a little suspicious, but he let go of the student and walked away with a light gait.

After passing the murder scene and climbing all the way up the stairs, the student felt refreshed. He felt liberated as he could see a clear view because the other people who had gathered had dispersed on the wide road.

Then, a very unfamiliar scent began to tickle his nose from somewhere.

It was a strangely delicious scent that he had never smelled nearby.

When he turned his head to find the source of the scent, it seemed as if something small and golden was staring at him from a corner of the alley where the murder scene occurred.

*********

Plop-! Plop-!

Following Yerin, we continued on our way and arrived at a basement that was more dazzling than when it was under construction. Unlike before, the entrance to the basement was now equipped with a state-of-the-art security system.

Moreover, there were gorgeous Golden Reaper reliefs decorating both sides of the entrance.

It was a sculpture of a golden messenger with bright smiles and arms spread wide as if welcoming visitors.

It was a sculpture that truly suited the entrance!

The Golden Reaper in my head was so happy to see the relief that it ran towards it. Then it turned its head and looked at Yerin and me before smiling brightly and spreading its arms wide as if welcoming us.

It was the same pose and expression as the large relief.

When we arrived at the security door I could see many small palm shapes printed on the security door. From palms the size of my hand to the palms of the Mini Reapers.

When I looked back at Yerin with a puzzled expression, Yerin opened her mouth and pretended to put her palm on the wall.

“Press your palm on the palm-shaped groove.”

After hearing that, I placed my palm on the groove that was the same height as mine, and the security door began to open with a cheerful mechanical sound.

It was a door that worked in a similar way to fingerprint recognition.

“This is a resting facility made for Reapers, so the entrance was made with the thought that you can use it at any time!”

It seemed like the reason why Yerin had been stamping my palm with paper or clay lately was because of this.

Since Yerin usually spent an hour a day fiddling with my palm, I never expected that she would make a door like this. Well, actually, since we can just enter with our Phantom Form, there’s no need for an entrance, but it indeed felt a little different to press our palm and enter.

After passing through the security door, there was a room decorated like a break room. It was a break room with all kinds of snacks and drinks. There were also a lot of small chairs and mini snacks for the mini reapers.

I looked back, thinking that the mini reapers would like it, but they didn’t pay any attention to it. They just clung to the security door and played with it.

The Mini Reapers smiled brightly and happily as they looked at the door that opened when they touched the mini palm groove. All of them were waiting in a long line to touch the door that opened automatically. It seemed like it would take a long time for all the Mini Reapers to get a chance to open the door.

I took the Mini Reapers who didn’t seem to be interested in the security door and who were already satisfied playing with the palm groove and went beyond the break room.

Beyond the room was a beautifully decorated hallway. On both sides of the hallway, where soft white light poured down, there were golden statues shaped like me and the Mini Reapers.

The mini reapers were curious about the golden statues made to look like them and their eyes sparkled as they pressed their faces against the glass walls surrounding the golden statues.

There was also a golden statue made at the same size as me, and when I saw that golden statue, I remembered a doll I had forgotten about.

Dolls that looked exactly like me that I had picked up at the Blue Girl’s Workshop. I thought since there were quite a lot of those dolls, I would give them to Sehee, Yerin, and Seoah, but I just forgot about them.

Compared to those dolls, that golden statue definitely looked awkward.

Well, the dolls found at the Blue Girl’s Workshop were so similar to me that people might not be able to tell which was me and which was the doll if we lay side to side, so there’s nothing they could do about it.

As I walked out while looking at the golden statues, the hallway ended and a large bathroom greeted the Mini Reapers.

A huge fountain that made a refreshing sound and a bath so spacious as if it was a swimming pool.

There’s also a huge golden statue that caught my eye at first glance. It stood on a size that made me exclaim in awe no matter how many times I saw it.

As I slowly looked up at the golden statue, the sound of small footsteps running wildly on the wet floor echoed.

Giant Golden Mom Statue!

It was the sound of the Golden Reapers, who strangely liked the golden statue, rushing to the spot and jumping around.

While looking around the bathroom where colorful lights were pouring down from the huge mosaic that filled the ceiling, I could see the Mini Reapers playing in the baths that were made small to their size.

The most unexpected of them was the Orange Reaper.

I thought it would hate water because it had a lot of fluffy hair, but surprisingly, it was the first one to soak its body and enjoy the bath.

White hair that spread endlessly in the water.

Mini Reapers swimming and playing in that hair.

And a white Hungry Ghost looking at them with a grin.

Come to think of it, I hadn’t eaten the white Hungry Ghost lately because of the Hungry Ghost Reaper, so the white Hungry Ghost’s expression was quite bright.

For some reason, I felt a slight contempt rising inside me.

There must be many opportunities to play pranks in this bathhouse, right?

Hihihi!

*********

As school time passed, the number of people passing by the street decreased significantly, and the murder scene became deserted. By that time, what was left was the police and researchers from the association who were inspecting the scene.

“Seriously. Even ghosts will be envious of what this guy did.”

The police looked embarrassed at the scene which had no traces remaining.

Even though the incident had already occurred several times, they had not found a single evidence at all.

They used CCTV and various circumstantial evidence to randomly throw suspects into the detention center, but the next day, without fail, a murder would still occur.

It was a case that seemingly would be a cold case.

On top of that, the victim this time was a police officer.

They had emphasized that they should work in pairs, but in the end, the murder occurred when they were alone.

The police officer who had been working together with the victim insisted that they had been together the whole time, but after checking the CCTV and various other things, that claim was not credible.

At that scene, a researcher dispatched by the association was walking around the scene while carrying a mental contamination meter.

“Hey, you from the association, did you find anything?”

“Yes. We are going to report this incident to the association as a ‘murder case by an Object’.”

The researcher raised his head and answered, holding a mental contamination meter in his hand that was indicating the ‘dangerous’ level.

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