Seoul Object Story
Chapter 244

Late at night, Seoah arrived home, exhaustion etched into her face.

Lately, thoughts of the Sehee Research Institute consumed Seoah, even as the shower water cascaded over her.

“I’m tired…”

Ever since the Gray Reaper’s appearance in Siberia, her workload had doubled. Countless documents needed to be submitted to the Korean Object Association.

Researcher Oh Yerin, responsible for the Gray Reaper, was perpetually late with her reports. Meanwhile, Director Lee Sehee seemed more invested in real estate than in actual research.

To make matters worse, the Sehee Research Institute had expanded significantly, burying Seoah under an ever-growing pile of work.

“I guess we should hire new people, huh?”

A researcher from the Object Association sent his resume a while ago, so she thought she should at least interview him.

Rumors from the association claimed he was skilled at handling mind corruption and competent in his work. She wished to have more employees who weren’t fooled by the Mini Reapers like Kim Jungrwi.

Glancing around, Seoah spotted the Bud Reaper mimicking her every move under the shower, perfectly synchronized.

Like a living mirror, its movements matched hers flawlessly.

“Didn’t I tell you that you didn’t need to do that?”

Ever since it broke the bathroom’s only mirror while playing, the Bud Reaper had taken on its role, mirroring Seoah whenever she entered.

To Seoah, it was amusing to see the usually playful Bud Reaper looking guilty for once.

“Now, Bud Reaper, your turn now.”

With her hands covered in soap bubbles, Seoah called for the Bud Reaper. Instantly, it froze, stopped imitating her, squeezed its eyes shut, and covered them with both hands.

Ever since it got soap in its eyes once, it had done this every single time.

An Object terrified of soap bubbles.

Seoah chuckled, it was adorable.

Hearing her laugh, the Bud Reaper pouted, puffing out its chubby cheeks.

But Seoah simply stroked its soft cheeks, soothing its indignation as she lathered it up with soap.

Soft cheeks and small body.

As she washed the Bud Reaper, it looked so fragile, like it might break under the slightest touch. Yet, despite its delicate appearance, it was still an Object.

And since it was a byproduct Object of the Gray Reaper, it should be incomparably stronger than a human.

By the time Seoah finished, the Bud Reaper was already perched on her pillow, thumping it.

Yeah, it was time to sleep.

As Seoah settled into bed, the Bud Reaper began humming a familiar tune from the TV.

“♩♩♬”

Listening to the gentle hum, Seoah murmured softly.

“Good night.”

*********

Inside the house, the Blue Girl and the muscular man pulled out various materials and began discussing something in increasingly complex terms, words that quickly became difficult for me to follow.

“But why did the religion keep this jade plate as their sacred relic?”

“I’m not sure. But their deity seems more aligned with that erased entity than with the foreign god.”

As their discussion grew more tangled in alchemical jargon, my interest quickly waned.

Plop-! Plop-!

So I walked to the window and decided to admire the peaceful scenery outside.

Resting by the window was a familiar shell, an Object long dead. A purple hermit crab shell, identical to the one I had seen in the snowfield.

Recognizing it as the Hermit Crab that had led me here, I reached out and picked it up.

A faint whisper echoed from within the conch.

The instant I pressed my ear against it, the sound, and the shell, vanished, dissolving into thin air. As if it had never belonged in this world to begin with.

Perhaps that’s a hint about where I should go to reach the right ending.

I gazed out at the scenery, attempting to sort through the tangled thoughts left in the wake of the Hermit Crab’s sudden appearance.

The alleyway, bathed in an eerie purple moonlight, carried an otherworldly air—unlike the dark, mundane alleys of the modern world. Smooth pebbles shimmered under the glow. Glass ornaments and windows glowed faintly, reflecting the violet hue.

For a fantasy, there sure were an unusual number of glass windows and glass crafts.

As soon as my thoughts shifted to the glass crafts, the once-serene streets began to shift. Moonlit objects trembled, rising into the air as if weightless. Reflections in the glass windows warped, twisting into grotesque, unnatural shapes.

Watching the glass distort, I recalled the Hermit Crab’s cryptic message.

I needed to move. Fast.

Once my thoughts settled, I turned to the Blue Girl. I hadn’t spoken in over a year, silence had become second nature. But this time, I had no choice.

Doing my best to sound composed, I spoke, my expression serious.

“H-hey, something strange is happening outside. The whole city looks different.”

However, the Blue Girl’s reaction to my words was strange.

Instead of responding, she simply clung to me, her eyes gleaming with fascination, like she had just discovered something incredible.

*********

Serious words. A serious expression. But the delivery? Not so much.

“H-hey, somefing stwange ish happwening ouwside… The whole cwity looks diffewent.”

The girl in black and white struggled to articulate her words, and the result was undeniably adorable.

The Blue Girl was worried because she never opened her mouth, but now she knew that the reason was just because she couldn’t speak well.

Looking down at her, the Blue Girl’s face lit up with a delighted smile.

But the Blue Girl’s excitement was overwhelming, and it made the little girl clam up.

She had the overwhelming urge to poke the girl’s chubby cheeks, but she couldn’t do that.

The girl in black and white dress insisted that they needed to go somewhere filled with mirrors and glass. Luckily, the teacher knew just the place.

“There is a ‘glass craft street’ in this city where glass crafts are made and stored.”

With the distorted reflections in every glass surface, the little girl’s reasoning seemed plausible. They decided to head there first.

As they made their way down the street in search of the Magic Book responsible, they found the city in complete disarray.

When people witnessed incomprehensible phenomena, they thought it was magic or the power of the Magic Book.

Much like the mystical arts in martial arts novels, anything beyond comprehension in this world was attributed to a Magic Book.

The current chaos was bizarre, incomprehensible, and outright dangerous, clearly a ‘Magic Book’ situation.

As defenders against such unnatural threats, the alchemists moved swiftly.

Meanwhile, the little girl observed her surroundings, not with fear, but with unwavering confidence.

What made it even stranger was that she wasn’t looking around out of curiosity, either.

*********

Plop-! Plop-!

Hand in hand with the Blue Girl, I navigated the maze-like city, following the muscular man’s lead.

After some time, we finally arrived at our destination.

It was a land full of mirrors and glass, Glass Craft Street.

“It’d be easier if I brought the white Hungry Ghost here… but they’re banned from the city. How annoying.”

The Blue Girl standing next to me grumbled with a slightly distorted expression. Despite the dazzling array of mirrors and beautiful glass ornaments, the atmosphere was anything but beautiful. It felt eerie and deeply unsettling.

After all, the image reflected in the flat mirrors were distorted like it was being reflected in a fish-eye lens. Worse, some mirrors failed to reflect things they should have, while others revealed things that shouldn’t be there at all.

It’s unsettling.

Why can’t humans see through their skin?

My neck ached from constantly turning to check my surroundings.

It’s gross.

As I carefully walked, an appearance of a monster that I caught a glimpse of on the glass surface was truly terrifying. Its face was grotesque, with fingers growing where hair should be, mouths replacing its eyes, and a nose positioned where its mouth should have been.

Its presence confirmed one thing, something was lurking within this street.

I used my ‘eye’ to search all around, but I couldn’t see any Object.

Then, suddenly, every distorted mirror returned to normal.

…

A quiet moment where no one made a sound.

I turned around, my palms slick with sweat, and every mirror reflected the same horrifying face, grinning at me.

Instinctively, I lashed out with my space-cutting ability. The sight was unbearable. I didn’t care if my hands were drenched in blood, I shattered every mirror into fragments.

But the moment the mirrors shattered, so did the world.

Time travel?

It was a phenomenon in which time in a dream flowed backwards, something I had seen 9 times.

Why?

Time rewound in an instant. I whipped my head toward the Blue Girl, just in time to witness the monster in the mirror slicing through her neck.

Failure of the 10th round.

And so, the 11th round began.

The purple moon was now at its limit, on the verge of crumbling.

When I closed my eyes and opened them, I was back at the entrance of the glass craft street.

?

I was surprised. I had expected to reset back to that room, just like before.

But there was something I needed to do first. Regaining my composure, I looked up at the Blue Girl.

Swallowing my embarrassment, I called out, asking her to lift me onto her shoulders.

“Lewtme riwde own your shoulder pwease!”

Since the pronunciation of Isekai Yerin was awkward, I tried not to speak again!

But without eyes on the back of my head, I had no choice.

*********

Was it really a good idea to let someone ride on your shoulders before battling a Magic Book?

The Blue Girl hesitated briefly before giving in to the kid’s request.

The little girl’s pronunciation and tone seemed somewhat cute, but her expression was serious. In addition, she was confident that most of Magic Books could be easily removed with her white flames.

Of course, a small part of her simply wanted to let the kid ride on her shoulders.

The soles of her feet are so soft.

With the kid perched on her shoulders, something felt off.

Soft?

When she lifted the little girl’s feet to check, she found it barefoot. The long clothes had hidden it this whole time.

Yet, despite walking around barefoot, her soles were impossibly smooth, untainted by even a speck of dust.

With that thought lingering, they continued toward Glass Craft Street.

The Magic Book lurking in the craft street was a grimoire that used mirrors as a conduit, phasing in and out of reflections.

Then, like the eerie calm before a storm, all the mirrors returned to normal. The Magic Book’s presence faded, and the city fell into silence.

In the stillness, the Blue Girl gripped her alchemist’s sword tightly, her gaze sweeping the area.

Just as the tension in the silence was about to break, an eerie face flickered into the mirror’s surface.

Then, as if the mirror had only been a distraction, the Magic Book materialized in midair, completely detached from its reflection.

No way!

The Magic Book’s target was the girl on her shoulders.

Alchemist shield!

The Blue Girl flicked her hand, and white flames erupted in all directions, forming a protective sphere.

But the purple-tinted blade sliced through the shield with ease.

The power of the moon? Why?

Blood burst into the air, drenching the surroundings in its thick, iron-rich scent.

“No!”

The Blue Girl’s scream of horror barely left her lips before the girl’s neck was severed, blood exploding in every direction.

Yet, despite her severed neck… the girl was smiling. Cheerfully.

*********

Late at night, in an apartment near the Sehee Research Institute in Songpa-gu, a faint light pulsed from the room where Yerin slept, arms wrapped around a large Gray Reaper doll.

Faint room remained still, unchanged at first glance, but something was different.

The bedroom seemed unchanged, but there was a slight change.

A faint, nearly invisible scar, encircling her neck as if a blade had sliced clean through, marked Yerin’s skin.

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