Seoul Object Story - Chapter 58: Theme Park (9)

The Bucheon Research Institute, which became famous for the ‘Maker’ incident.

The black agents were still investigating at the Bucheon Research Institute.

At the temporary investigation camp set up in the Bucheon Research Institute parking lot.

A black agent was sitting under the camp tent, unfolding and reading a newspaper.

On the front page of the newspaper was a picture of mannequins flying around scattering light powder.

<What is the Smile Theme Park? Is it a new Object?>

<The mannequins suddenly appeared from the sky, dropped flyers, and disappeared>.

<Another exodus continues again, Seoul falls into anxiety.>

It was an article about the mannequins with hideous faces that flew all over Seoul a few days ago.

It was an issue that drew so much attention that it was explained across several pages, not just the front page.

First, the mannequins flying around sprinkling light powder alone drew attention, but when they even scattered flyers with strange contents, attention was bound to be drawn.

The contents of the flyer were directly copied into the newspaper.

<Smile Theme Park is coming soon!>

<Smile Theme Park will open in 30 days!>

<The entrance fee is just 1 coin!>

<If you have the flyer, admission is free!>

The problem was not the promotional phrase, but the map attached to the flyer.

According to the attached map, it referred to an area so wide that it would almost swallow most of Seoul as the ‘Smile Theme Park’.

Seoul citizens wondered after seeing the meaningful flyers distributed by the Objects.

‘Then what happens to the existing Seoul?’

The people of Seoul, who had already suffered from the immense Steel Tower, naturally thought this way.

‘They might really destroy all of Seoul and build the ‘Smile Theme Park’ in its place!’

Falling into such fear, people prepared to leave Seoul before the opening date on the flyer.

The blonde girl peeked at the front page article the black agent was reading and said,

“Wow, mister. Is this really okay? It says almost all of Seoul will become a theme park, but we can’t give up Seoul, right?”

“Fortunately, they say the Object causing this has been identified. It’s the Object being isolated at the Sehee Research Institute.”

“Then it might be resolved soon?”

“Well, there’s a high probability it won’t be that simple. The removal operation attempted by the government has failed, and now they are planning to move the Object far away from Seoul.”

Currently, the association and government were facing a very troubling situation.

Fortunately, the cause of this flyer incident had been identified.

The ‘Theme Park Invitation Doll’ from Sehee Research Institute.

There were 4 possible choices to resolve the situation.

1. Evacuate Seoul.

This is the last resort due to the huge financial loss.

2. Put more people into the doll and observe the changes.

This is uncertain in outcome. It could even cause side effects like the theme park expanding.

3. Destroy the doll.

This has already been attempted, but even reducing the doll to ashes resulted in it reviving.

4. Move the doll out of Seoul.

This is the current attempt, but has a high chance of failure.

Since Sehee Research Institute is already outside the theme park area, the doll’s location and the park’s location seem unrelated.

If the association and government’s plans all fail and most of Seoul is destroyed?

It would be a situation too dreadful to imagine.

***

Yerin POV:

—

“Hehe. Let me clean the antenna thoroughly.”

Humming a tune, happily mopping.

Scrubbing the antenna protruding from the ‘Theme Park Invitation Doll’s’ head until it shines.

Something unnecessary to do.

Rather, something warned as dangerous.

‘Yerin, it’s dangerous, so don’t go past the barricade.’

Despite such warnings, she polished the antenna to a sparkle every day.

The Theme Park Invitation Doll had already grown over 20m in size.

In fact, there were suggestions to move it to the backyard before it grew this big, but the conclusion was to demolish all the walls of the isolation room instead of moving the doll.

It was Seo-ah unnie’s opinion that there was no need to deliberately provoke the docile Object to move it.

They demolished all the walls to secure space, and in the secured space, they installed facilities with plenty of steel pillars to restrict the doll’s movements.

In the spacious area where the isolation room walls were all demolished, the doll lay motionless without moving at all.

It no longer made any gurgling sounds either.

Sometimes it would tremble all over and let out agonizing cries, but the cause was unknown.

Now, its fur had fallen out patchy like a cancer-ridden doll gnawed by mice.

From inside the mouth of such a doll, an arm suddenly popped out.

“Huh?”

A completely unexpected situation!

Based on the doll’s size, it was presumed that all the death row inmates who had entered were already dead!

I firmly pressed the emergency call button on the table.

The emergency bell rang throughout the Research Institute.

Police and staff rushed in to handle the situation.

The police waited to transfer the inmate, while the staff prepared for the doll’s rampage with flamethrowers and such.

The association staff who were preparing for the transfer also gathered, sending expectant gazes.

The staff’s shouts of spirit echoed inside the Research Institute.

“One, two. One, two.”

The staff grabbed and pulled the arm that popped out of the doll’s mouth.

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The woman pulled out of the mouth collapsed limply on the floor.

The returned death row inmate was a woman covered in tattoos.

As soon as I checked the woman’s appearance, I quickly hid behind Seo-ah unnie.

A death row inmate with a scary aura!

Peeking out from behind Seo-ah unnie’s back to observe, the death row inmate didn’t seem to emanate the sharp aura like before.

Did she suffer too much inside the Object?

“Seo-ah unnie, doesn’t this death row inmate seem to have changed her atmosphere quite a bit?”

“She does seem to have calmed down a little.”

The woman pulled out of the doll’s mouth was handcuffed again and prepared for re-transfer.

After testifying about her experience inside the Object and going through trial, she would be acquitted as promised.

Silently responding to the police’s questioning, her changed atmosphere was indeed palpable.

No longer feeling scared, I came out from behind Seo-ah unnie’s back, and she asked from the side,

“Researcher Oh-Yerin . Not hiding anymore?”

“Ahahah, yeah I’m fine since I don’t feel scared at all.”

I answered while scratching my head.

It was rare for such a feeling to change, definitely strange.

After a simple investigation, the death row inmate made shuffling sounds as she was dragged out of the Research Institute.

At the Research Institute entrance, a prisoner transport vehicle was parked.

Before boarding the bus, the death row inmate stared up at the sky for a long time, then was seized by the police and disappeared into the bus.

Was there something in the sky?

Looking up, it was just an ordinary full moon shining yellow.

***

Sehee POV:

—

The isolation room of the Theme Park Invitation Doll became quiet after the death row inmate left.

With the police personnel also gone, it felt several times more spacious.

“Oh, Sehee unnie came too?”

“Yeah, just. Had a feeling I should come.”

When I arrived at the isolation room, Yerin was already there first.

It had been long past quitting time, but somehow my feet wouldn’t leave.

Yerin, who waits for the Reaper, must have felt the same way.

Kek-kek.

Kekekek.

The doll that spat out the death row inmate was now gasping roughly.

The doll would soon die.

Just listening to its breathing gave that strong impression.

And when the doll dies, the Reaper will return.

I haven’t even imagined the case where the Reaper doesn’t return.

With everyone gone from the isolation room, it was so quiet that only the high-frequency hum of the artificial lights could be faintly heard.

Amidst that stillness, the sound of powder scattering came out – pussss.

The gigantic doll over 20m tall began crumbling into powder.

Like the wind blowing in a desert, the sound of powder scattering echoed through the stillness.

“The Reaper has returned.”

Amidst the billowing dust filling the isolation room, a familiar yellow light appeared, glowing brightly.

Yerin and I plunged straight through the powder, tightly embracing the Reaper’s body.

“Welcome back, Reaper!”

For some reason, the Reaper also hugged us back firmly today.

***

Seo-ah POV:

—

The ‘Theme Park Invitation Doll’ was destroyed.

“Seo-ah, I’ll leave the rest to you!”

Leaving only those words, Director Lee Sehee of the Research Institute dumped all the doll disposal reports and other tasks on me and disappeared somewhere, saying she had an urgent matter.

After the work was roughly finished, I went to find what Director Lee was up to.

Director Lee was discovered inside the special isolation room for the extremely high-risk Object ‘Gray Reaper’.

And she was in a sleeping state.

I checked the recorded CCTV footage to see what had happened.

The footage showed Director Lee and Researcher Oh-Yerin entering the isolation room.

At first, they seemed to be fighting over claiming the Gray Reaper, but quickly found a compromise.

It looked like they settled with Oh-Yerin on the left and Lee Sehee on the right.

When Researcher Oh-Yerin started giving a massage first, Director Lee followed suit.

They gave the Gray Reaper three full-body massages, from the fingertips and toes to the cheeks.

There was one report in the Institute database that the Gray Reaper has a habit of falling asleep when massaged, and true to that, it instantly fell asleep this time too.

After confirming the Gray Reaper was asleep, the two moved it onto a bed in the room.

Their management work was now complete, so they should have exited the isolation room. But they did not.

Instead, they lay down together on the bed where the Gray Reaper was sleeping, and fell asleep themselves.

Violation of the Institute’s isolation regulations!

By the rules, I should immediately remove them, but stimulating an asleep high-risk Object would also violate regulations.

I had no choice but to leave them be.

Instead, I took out a notebook from my pocket labeled <Gray Reaper Mental Contamination Report>