Seoul Object Story
Chapter 222: The Labyrinth: Epilogue (1)

The adventure came to an end as everything was scattered into sand.

The moment when even the sky turned into sand and collapsed, I realized.

Ah, it was a trial inside an illusion.

Moreover, I began to understand the killing conditions that I saw through my ‘eyes’.

They were not killing conditions for the labyrinth Object, but killing conditions for destroying the illusion. The <Die in this world.> must have meant that I could escape the illusion by dying.

With that realization, the consciousness buried in the illusion began to surface, and I was able to escape the illusion.

When I woke up, I saw a vortex that surrounded me and towered as if it would reach the end of the sky. In the centre of the vortex, there’s remains of a building that looked like it would turn into sand at any moment.

Naturally, I thought I would be in a space filled with flowing sand as that was the place where the cracks opened, or in the insides of the labyrinth’s cubic rooms. However, what greeted me were vortex, ruins, and Black Reapers.

The Black Reapers were fast asleep, clinging to my stomach. They must have come through the vortex to help me snap out of the illusion. Judging from how the light from their firewood had become very weak and their shapes had slightly melted, It must have been quite difficult for them to intervene with the illusion.

I lifted the tattered Black Reapers one by one, stuffed them with a lot of firewood. However, as I patted them, a different idea suddenly occurred to me.

If the black reapers hadn’t come, wouldn’t I have died in the illusion a long time ago and been at peace?

It was a very smart and logical thought, as expected of a cool-headed person like me.

Hmm…

I lifted the Black Reapers one by one, who had become bloated from being fed too much firewood, and started burying them in the sand.

Hihihihi!

It was a little funny to see the Black Reapers’ heads sprouting out of the sand, as if they were sprouting plants. Seeing them, I felt like all the stress from passing the trial was washed clean.

Moreover, the Black Reapers would surely show even more interesting reactions when they wake up.

I left the fun for later and started to look inside the ruins. The harsh sound of the wind constantly rang in my ears, making it hard to hear anything else. The darkness was also challenging, as it was a level of darkness that would make ordinary people have a hard time distinguishing between heaven and earth.

Even though it was an environment where it would be difficult for a human to move around properly, it was not a big problem for me, who had light shining from my eyes. The ruins were quite large, but they were completely weathered and collapsed, so there were almost no structures left.

I don’t know much about architecture, but considering the scale, wasn’t it a huge building like a royal palace?

There was only one place in the weathered ruins that had maintained its shape. It was the throne. Even though it had already weathered and eroded, and all of its splendor had disappeared, the shape of the huge chair was still there.

The floor had yellowed, cracked, and crumbled, and they looked like they would turn to sand at any moment, but it was the only solid stone in the ruins full of sand.

And as if decorating the space, there were huge pillars around the path leading to the throne.

The place felt like a king’s audience chamber.

On the throne, a skeleton wearing completely tattered clothes was fixed with large rock nails into it. Each and every bone joint was nailed to the throne so tightly that it would be hard to move.

Even though I wasn’t the one being nailed, it was such a horrible sight that I couldn’t help but frown.

And on top of the skeleton’s hand was a ring of light that was emitting white light. This skeleton looked like the old man who had created the labyrinth and trials using the ring of light.

I don’t know exactly why he did that, but he must have his own reason. It must have been something necessary enough to nail himself to the throne..

Well, I wished that I had achieved what I wanted by passing the trials.

*********

I slowly climbed the nine dais in front of the throne and placed my hand on the halo. Then, light began to emanate from the halo  to consume the surrounding reality. It was as if an invisible hand was delicately rewinding the flow of time in the middle of the ruins.

The old, yellowed floor, which was on the verge of crumbling, was transformed into a polished marble floor, and the polished surface was reflecting the sunlight that had begun to shine.

The pillars, which were on the verge of crashing down due to the passage of time, were reborn as pure white, and their solid form regained the dignity and power they had already lost.

The ceiling, which had no trace left and showed the sky as it was, regained its appearance once again, along with the gorgeously colored ceiling painting.

The red cloth that had crumbled over time began to flow across the floor and between the pillars like a crimson silk river. The red cloth slowly moved to the center of the ruins, and its final destination was a large throne that had already lost its color. The moment the red cloth touched the throne, the throne regained its majestic appearance, shining with power and authority.

At the same time, the king who had been silent on the throne began to open his eyes. Flesh and tendons wrapped around the weathered bones, and a magnificent crown settled on the resurrected monarch’s head.

The reborn king sat on the restored throne and slowly began to look down at me.

Illusion!

If I hadn’t gone through the ordeal inside the illusion, I would have thought that I was sent back to the past as the illusion was so vivid.

It was truly an ‘Eye’-level illusion!

Come to think of it, even though I had destroyed the Illusion, I hadn’t destroyed the Object that created the labyrinth.

Was the old man on the throne the Object?

If I hadn’t noticed it, it would have worked on me, but since I already know…

The moment I was about to summon a Halo which could nullify all abilities while smiling confidently, I heard the old man’s voice cracking.

“You’ve finally come. Trial Passer.”

A voice that had no hostility and filled with feeling accomplished and relief entered my ears.

He didn’t seem to want to fight, so I stayed still. Then, the old man continued talking.

“Trial Passer. Before I hand over the Eye of God, may I ask you a question?”

“…”

Since my character was an Object who couldn’t speak, I stayed still. But then, the old man sent me a wave of thought as if he had read my thoughts.

[ It doesn’t matter if you can’t speak. You can talk just by thinking. ]

I had a feeling that he would force me even if I didn’t want to, so I stayed still, and then a question that wasn’t very interesting came flying at me.

[ Let’s say two people are going to kill each other to make their wish come true. ]

[ One of them has a good wish and a good reason. ]

[ On the other hand, the others have no wish at all, just anger and jealousy. ]

[ If you could realised their wish, what would you do? ]

As soon as I heard that question, I thought.

Why should I care about that?

Even if I could grant their wish, I would just ‘ignore’ them.

Of course, I decided to keep this in my mind, and while I was imagining a useful answer that I could give to the old man, a voice suddenly came.

[That’s the right answer.]

I didn’t even send a will like I was talking with the Mini Reapers, yet the old man smiled with satisfaction as if he had heard the answer.

[We wanted a god like that.]

At that moment, the old man turned into sand and poured down, and all the illusions began to crumble.

?

Why is he acting like that all of a sudden?

***

Mom needs help.

A single will came to all Mini Reapers all over the world.

The Golden Reaper, who was exploring Seoul to find its own precious human, was no exception.

Upon hearing that will, the Golden Reaper stopped what it was doing and extended a helping hand to its mother.

The weight that its mother was carrying was so heavy that it felt like its whole body was burning, but it felt so proud that it could help its mother.

However, since it was so painful, the Golden Reaper curled up and endured it, and eventually lost consciousness.

Curled up on the ground and sleeping, the Golden Reaper seemed to be dreaming about helping its mother as it smiled faintly and munched on something as if it was eating.

The Golden Reaper, who had been dreaming such a happy dream, soon woke up, rubbed its eyes, and got up. It then stretched its small arms out to the sides and stretched!

The Golden Reaper, who was still dazed, looked around, then opened his eyes wide in surprise.

!

Where am I!

It was clearly walking down an alley in Seoul, yet now, it was transported to a strange place. It smelled of disinfectant, and it was a white and clean place.

The Golden Reaper had never been to the place before, but it knew a similar place.

Sehee Research Institute?

The place the Golden Reaper was currently in resembled other containment in Sehee Research Institute.

‘?’

Then, a person wearing a white gown like the researcher at the Sehee Research Institute appeared in front of the Golden Reaper who tilted its head.

“Hehehe. If I can just successfully contain the Golden Reaper! I can also establish a proper research institute!”

The woman had a distorted smile.

She gave off an aura that a Golden Reaper would avoid normally, but the Golden Reaper just stretched its both hands when it saw her.

Hug me!

The Golden Reaper, who liked human so much, was smiling and jumping up and down for a hug.

***

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