Seoul Object Story

The interpreter scolded his past self for complacently believing that the situation was safe just because it seemed less dangerous than he initially thought.

To think he once imagined he could enjoy the thrill of watching a monster movie unfold before his eyes, all while snacking on treats provided by the Golden Reapers!

He should have been thinking about something crucial for survival, like, How can I escape from this place?

Now, the sky was a mass of black water, writhing and undulating like a restless sea. Below, the vast land was covered in ink-colored slime.

The boundary between heaven and earth had vanished, as if the two had become one.

But the eerie calm of this bizarre world was shattered by an unexpected storm.

The storm, seemingly caused by Giant Jellyfish, upended the laws of nature, turning the world upside down and plunging everything into chaos.

It tore the people from the white earth, hurling them into the sky. The black liquid above and below twisted violently, forming a vortex that defied direction.

Gravity itself reversed, making it nearly impossible to discern up from down.

Amidst this chaos, only two things stood between the interpreter and certain death: the Golden Reaper, clinging to his shoulder with a grim expression, and the water droplet shield surrounding him.

In this terrifying ordeal that tested his very consciousness, the interpreter forced himself to stay calm, scanning all around him for any chance of survival.

He was swept into the sky by the wind, then plummeted down. It was a horrifying experience—gravity had flipped, and he felt as though he was falling endlessly.

It was as if he’d been tossed into a gigantic washing machine, spinning uncontrollably, unable to tell up from a down. But instead of being cleaned, tentacles sprouted from all directions, ready to strike at any moment. Black droplets of water, capable of dissolving human bones and flesh with ease, were everywhere.

Suddenly, a glowing White Hungry Ghost, its short limbs flailing, flew directly toward the interpreter.

It came at him in a straight line, as if it were targeting him specifically.

“D-Don’t come any closer!”

Even though it had no teeth whatsoever, the sheer size of the White Hungry Ghost terrified the interpreter as it hurtled toward him.

He felt certain that if such a massive Object collided with him, he’d be lucky to die instantly, without pain.

If he was unlucky, he’d be left in a vegetative state, every bone in his body shattered into millions of pieces.

As the White Hungry Ghost drew near, it opened its enormous mouth, as if trying to swallow him whole.

“Aaaahhh! No!”

In a panic, the interpreter flailed his arms, but as soon as he was swallowed into the ghost’s gaping maw, he lost consciousness.

*******With the interpreter being the last human swallowed, the Hungry Ghost finally succeeded in putting everyone into its mouth.

Originally, I wanted to spread the Garden of the Mini Reapers and send everyone to the Sehee Research Institute, but that plan didn't work out. Maybe it was because this space was created by the Giant Jellyfish.

Even though it was much easier for me to erode the space now, trying to expand it still needed way too much firewood for my liking.

Plus, since relying on just the Golden Reapers and Blue Reapers for protection didn’t seem like enough, I told the White Hungry Ghost to keep everyone safe by stuffing them all into its mouth.

At first, I thought the White Hungry Ghost would need some convincing, like the Mini Reapers, but nope—it just silently obeyed.

This White Hungry Ghost is so nice! And yummy!

Suddenly, the Giant Jellyfish threw a fit, making a mess of the whole space.

Inside all the chaos, the White Hungry Ghost was still flailing its short limbs as it flew around.

Meanwhile, the Golden Reapers were darting about, laughing happily, like they were playing in an amusement park. Hmm, they always seem so cheerful…

Hehe! Since the Golden Reapers liked really being tossed around, I bet they’d love being put in something like a washing machine. Hihihhii! It sounds so fun!! I’ll have to try it later!!!

Then, a massive storm hit the space, where there was no difference between up and down.

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I thought, Hmm, maybe this'Storm'showed up after the'Talkative Jellyfish'died.

Makes sense, right? But where’s the‘Eye of the Storm’?

Since the Giant Jellyfish caused all this, maybe it’s the‘Eye of the Storm’?

The Giant Jellyfish floated there so calmly, keeping its position even as gravity flipped and turned everything upside down.

Wouldn’t it be nice to break the‘Pearl of Night’by just ripping that jellyfish apart…?

Well, since that thought crossed my mind, I figured, why not give it a try?

Clench-!

I clenched my tiny fist and swung it in the direction of the jellyfish.

As my fingers traced the sky, it split apart. The black sky, which looked like foam, tore open, revealing a void darker than black.

And when my fingers touched the Giant Jellyfish, it split into five pieces.

Kieeeeekkk-!

With a sound that was both mechanical and irritated, the jellyfish dropped into the black sea, fluttering like a popped balloon.

Huh? Is it over?

But nope, the Giant Jellyfish defied my expectations and rose back up to the surface as if nothing had happened.

So stubborn! Just as I thought—it’s not working. Seems like the only way to kill an Object is to fulfill its killing condition.

Even if I squished it with space compression, it’d probably be just fine. Ugh…

I should give it a try once I have the time. But this jellyfish was so big and resistant to space erosion that it’d take loads of firewood for me to do anything against it.

I’ll try the space compression test next time I meet a smaller guy. Let’s see how it works!

Considering the killing conditions of the Giant Jellyfish, finding the 'Eye of the Storm' seemed really important.

While gravity bounced me around up and down and my body was spinning randomly due to the intense whirlpool, I came across a particularly large water pillar.

Among all the water pillars connecting the sky and ground, this one was super thick—thicker horizontally than vertically.

Since I couldn’t fly (bummer), I had to burn some firewood and grab the space to zoom toward the water pillar.

Clench-!

I grabbed the space and shot forward without tearing it.

Whoosh!

I felt my firewood burning fiercely as I messed with the space, speeding toward the water pillar.

As I entered the water pillar, I was greeted by a peaceful space—no wind, sound, and no gravity.

This space was the total opposite of the chaotic space I’d just been in. It felt like a different dimension altogether.

The distorted space—which was a hundred times bigger than it seemed from the outside—was filled with still air and silence.

Both the dark sky and the pitch-black sea inside this water pillar were vast, making me feel like I was floating between two giant oceans of darkness.

And there, shining in the black sea, was a moon as white as a pearl. Could that be the ‘Pearl of the Night’?

Even though there wasn’t a moon, there were two reflections of the moon.

Plus, there were lots of mirror-like obsidian stones floating around everywhere.

Two moons reflected in water that couldn’t be broken, and a mirror that could reflect light.

Hmm, it looks like a puzzle. It also looks hard! But puzzles are fun, right?

*******James, after being swallowed by the Hungry Ghost, found himself pleasantly surprised by how comfortable it was inside.

The Golden Reapers were scattered all around, casting a soft, soothing light. Honestly, it felt more like a chill hangout than the belly of some supposedly terrifying creature.

Thanks to the gentle glow of the Golden Reapers, he could actually see the inside of the Hungry Ghost’s stomach pretty well.

And what a surprise—it was way bigger than he’d expected. And as if that wasn’t weird enough, it was packed with these soft, fist-sized balls. A ball pit? In a stomach? Really?

As he looked closer, he realized the balls were shaped like little Hungry Ghosts, only with much shorter limbs.

Adorable, but seriously, what kind of stomach has stuff like this?

Curious, James picked up one of the little White Hungry Ghosts and gave it a squeeze. And amusingly, the thing squeaked back at him.

Gyu-!

A ball pit that makes squeaky toy sounds and is lit by floating Golden Reapers? Honestly, this was turning out to be more entertaining than he’d thought.

When the unconscious interpreter was unceremoniously tossed into the ball pit, James was able to confirm that, yes, everyone in their group was safe and sound. Not bad.

Still, even though it felt pretty safe inside, there was no way to tell what was going on outside.

Eh, whatever. Shrugging, James decided to make himself comfortable, lying back in the ball pit. Why stress when you can relax, right?

He turned on the recording function on his smartwatch and started organizing his thoughts by recording all the things that happened that day.

“The Gray Reaper absorbed Relic No. 0.”

“The Gray Reaper destroyed the Hungry Ghost and brought it back as a White Hungry Ghost.”

“And the ‘Jellyfish Torture’ the Gray Reaper carried out seemed to be intentional. It was too bothered by its actions to say it did it just for fun.”

More events floated through his mind—like the Gray Reaper’s random dance performance and those odd red and blue that had suddenly risen in the sky.

Then, with a lazy grin, James made a little hypothesis.

“The Gray Reaper can destroy Objects and turn them into his own.”

“The Gray Reaper knows how to destroy Objects.”

“We should probably figure out how to prove that hypothesis.”

Hmm, Is this all I can come up with right now?

Once he finished recording, James let his serious expression drop. He picked up one of the Golden Reapers that had been staring at him and started playing with it.

*******Woong-!

As I swam through the quiet space, I couldn’t resist tapping on one of the mirrors. The moment I did, all the mirrors started spinning around, changing their positions.

But it wasn’t just the mirror I touched—three more decided to join in and move along with it.

The mirrors seemed to be bound by some kind of rule. It was like they were playing a game with me, when I poked one, a few others would shuffle around too.

Yep, it's definitely a puzzle.

It looked like I’d need to move these mirrors just right to get rid of the two moons floating on the water…

Ugh, puzzles like this always made my head hurt. I usually just messed with them until they solved themselves somehow. But this one? It wasn’t budging no matter how much I tried.

Hmph, so annoying!

Would it really be so bad if I just, you know, got rid of the moon’s reflection on the surface?

Sigh… I decided to go for it, even if it meant pushing myself a little. Who needs to think too hard anyway? That was boring.

Lying in the air, I spread my hands out and opened my palms wide.

Then, with a little effort, I clenched the vast space of the black sea, both above and below.

It was like squishing a giant marshmallow, only more… watery.

And just like that, I erased the sea with a flick of my hands. Poof!

The waterspout that had been blocking everything like a big, annoying wall disappeared like it was never even there.

As the barrier disappeared, gravity decided to make its grand comeback, tugging me downwards.

Whee! The breeze tickled my face as I fell, and oh, what’s this? A familiar figure was waiting for me below.

The Giant Jellyfish! The Object that once dominated the skies of China as well as Gwanak-gu was finally coming to the end of its very dramatic life.

It slowly disintegrated, its once grand and noble self now just a wriggling, pitiful mess. It thrashed around, screaming in pain.

Kieeeeek-!

The scream was pitiful, it was as if the Jellyfish was pouring out all its sadness, all its incomprehensible feeling into that one final death throe.

The sound echoed through the air, leaving an indelible mark on the space as if it were carrying the very presence of the Giant Jellyfish.

But the screams got weaker and weaker, and the moment they disappeared completely, something wonderful happened. The blue sky! It began peeking through the darkness, bright and bail.

See? As expected! The option that didn’t make my brain hurt was totally the right one. Hihihi!

And then I noticed them—lots of media helicopters in the distance, all busy filming me as I gracefully fell.

As I looked at the helicopters, a little spark of excitement buzzed through me. Yep, this whole thing was wrapping up nicely.