Seoul Object Story

“Please guide the guest well.”

The moment I opened my eyes, an overwhelming pain surged through every inch of my body. Above me, the sky was thick with creamy smoke. I lay in the ashes of what had once been a beautiful city, my gaze fixed on the crimson and ash-streaked sky.

Smoke billowed, writhing like a serpent swallowing the heavens. Beneath it, the flames raged, painting the world in hues of destruction.

The smoke, darker than the night sky itself, glowed with an eerie red as the flames below reflected off it. Every so often, the sky roared with thunder, like an ominous drum signaling the end.

“Ha

Breathing grew harder by the second. With every exhale, the blood filling my lungs gurgled, each breath no more than a boiling rasp.

Cough-!

Blood sprayed from my mouth, staining the cracked asphalt beneath me, leaving behind the only evidence that I was still alive.

Death was close. My body screamed in agony from every corner, though at this point, it was easier to identify the few parts that weren’t injured.

If I had been more cautious, we might have escaped…

Caught in this cycle of regret, I heard a faint rustling nearby. Slowly, painfully, I forced my head to turn.

“!”

James’ guest, Yerin, was rising from the wreckage. Despite the crash, she was still able to move.

Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, James’ guest stood.

Thank goodness.

Relief coursed through me. She was hurt, but it wasn’t fatal. At least she would survive.

This was James’ mission, and I had wanted to see it through to the end. I needed to guide her to safety, but my body refused to obey. No matter how much I willed myself to stand, to move, I remained paralyzed.

Sigh… I couldn’t guide her all the way, but isn’t this enough, James?

The words wouldn’t come, but in my mind, I spoke to him. Apologies mingled with the blood in my mouth—regrets for failing to complete the task.

My eyes barely opened now, my lips trembling, as I sensed something—someone—drawing closer.

In the blurry distance, yellow and grey flickered, swaying in my fading vision.

And then, everything went dark.

***The moment I glanced up at the blurry shadow looming over the city, I froze. There, in the sky, was a gigantic pig! I blinked, startled by its sheer size. I mean, I’d seen this pig before, but… wow, its presence was totally different now.

Back when I was using the mysterious dead body, it felt like looking at a tiny pet piglet. But now? Oh no, this thing had real weight to it. Power.

From its huge, gaping mouth, dark red lava poured out, smelling awful, and the leathery skin it had was burning with an unending flame. It was kind of fascinating, in a gross way.

Then, the pig lowered its massive head and looked right at me. Those violent eyes… they didn’t seem all that smart, but the way they stared? It was like they were pinning me in place.

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And just like that, poof—it started to blur, and before I knew it, the giant pig disappeared completely.

It was like it was stuck between being real and… not real. Maybe it couldn’t fully manifest yet?

To deal with that pig, I’d have to head back to the vortex Yerin and I had gone to check out earlier. Yeah, that was the plan.

When I turned around, there was Yerin, totally forgetting her pain and busy… licking my antennae? Well, okay, that’s one way to handle stress, I guess. But then she seemed to remember something important and quickly limped away from me.

She ended up next to the poor secretary who was bleeding all over the place.

“Reaper. What should I do?”

Yerin looked down at her, totally at a loss. The secretary was in bad shape, really bad, and even if we were in a hospital, I doubted she’d be easy to save.

Seeing her like that, I quickly summoned the Blue Reaper.

The little Blue Reaper appeared in my palm, giving me a worried look before flying off towards the secretary on its watery broom.

Just like Yerin and the Golden Reaper hanging out on my head, the Blue Reaper seemed all worried when it glanced back at me.

Do I really look that sick?

I only turned into a slightly dry clay doll…

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The Blue Reaper shut its eyes tightly and began writing things, one after another, as it focused on the secretary’s critical condition. Slowly, the secretary, who looked like she was about to die, started breathing steadily again.

But… that wouldn’t be enough. She still needed real treatment. The Blue Reaper’s help wasn’t going to completely heal her wounds.

So, I sent her to the Sehee Research Institute with a few Golden Reapers. Once she got there, they’d take her to the hospital, right? They had to.

I wanted to send Yerin back, too, but… I couldn’t. I still needed her to deal with the pig.

Ugh. I was hungry. And kind of dizzy. I didn’t have enough firewood.

After I moved the secretary far away, the dizziness hit me again.

Yep. I definitely needed more firewood.

I wobbled over to Yerin, who was sitting on the ground, probably exhausted, and without thinking, I licked the blood off her cheek.

“!”

Yerin jumped, totally shocked, and stared at me. But I just looked away, pretending I hadn’t done anything at all.

Hehe, thanks to my little prank, more and more firewood poured in from Yerin, who hugged me tightly from behind.

Then I gave an order to my mini-reapers: “Disperse and help the people.”

But the Golden and Blue Reapers shook their heads fiercely in protest.

I’m fine now!

I showed them how my skin had regained its luster and kept insisting that I was totally okay. Finally, the mini-reapers flew off, spreading out in every direction.

The city, which had been drowning in despair, began to feel a little lighter. Less intense.

Between the small bits of firewood, the mini-reapers gathered and the big chunk Yerin had given me, I was pretty sure I’d have enough firewood to face that giant pig… before it fully showed up.

***Plop! Plop!

I clung to Reaper’s hand, skipping along as we walked beyond the curtain of fire. The flames didn’t bother me much, though. I mean, with one Golden Reaper and one Blue Reaper sitting on my shoulders to protect me, I felt super safe!

Thanks to Blue Reaper’s healing, the pain had totally disappeared, so I was able to tag along on Reaper’s journey without any issues. Sure, there was still this weird, tingly feeling on my side, but, eh, as long as it didn’t hurt, I was fine! No biggie!

After we crossed the blazing spirit barrier, we were greeted by the ruins of a city that looked like it hadn’t been touched in ages. I think it had been abandoned because of all those pesky Ghostly Objects popping up everywhere.

There was no electricity at all, so it was pretty dark. But, hey, the burning barrier and that creepy red sky lit up the ruins well enough. The roads were all cracked, weeds were growing wild, and everything that used to be a part of civilization was, like, falling apart. Oh, and don’t get me started on the footprints—there were pig tracks everywhere. Gross.

We kept moving, heading in the opposite direction of wherever that giant pig was going. I didn’t really know where we were headed, but Reaper seemed to have a plan, so… I just followed along.

The sky was giving me the creeps, though. It had this weird, ominous vibe, and I got scared for no reason. So, naturally, I squeezed Reaper’s hand a little tighter. I mean, I didn’t wanna get lost or anything!

“Reaper, look at the sky over there,” I said, pointing up.

Dark smoke was curling and swirling, all gathering in one place like a big, twisty snake. Yikes. It was shaping into something freaky, like a vortex or… something bad.

But then I looked at Reaper. He’s invincible, right? So we’ll be fine. Totally fine! Right…?

***As we got closer to the pit, the whole place looked like it was being stretched and pulled like taffy—everything around us was all warped, like we were walking through one of those funny fish-eye lenses! It was kind of fun, but also… disorienting? But don’t worry, I kept the Garden of the Mini Reapers swirling around us to stop the space from getting all wonky on us. Because of that, we made it to where we needed to go super quick! Yay!

After we passed through the dark, creepy forest, this huge pit appeared, sitting right under an open cliff. Ooh, it looked way closer to the barrier than I thought! So, it wasn’t really the distance that was the problem—it was all that weird space distortion messing with us!

The pit? It was, like, totally different from when we saw it from the helicopter. Up close, the black, twisted land looked like it was alive, swirling and shifting like some giant dark creature. And right in the middle of all that mess was this giant, terrifying abyss, like it could swallow the whole world!

And there it was—the giant pig! It was hiding in the shadows, but it was finally revealing itself, taking these huge steps that made the ground shake like crazy! It looked so much scarier now than it did when we saw it through the smoke. Whoa. Each step it took made the ground twist and turn like a spinning vortex. It was bending space itself! That’s kind of impressive… but also terrifying?

Even though I was feeling a bit nervous—because, you know, that pig was, like, super powerful, maybe even more than the Hungry Ghost—I had to check its killing condition.

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Huh? That’s it? Really?! That’s all? I mean… that sounds kinda easy for a pig that’s bending space and spitting fire like that! But I guess… I shouldn’t complain, right?

Still, it felt a little too easy. I squinted at the pig suspiciously, and then… I noticed it. There was this faint stench coming from it, and black lava was dripping from its mouth. Ew. Gross. It had fire that could burn that nasty black stuff, but… was it not enough?

Ohhh! The pig was soaked in that gross black liquid! I thought it was just some smelly goo, but maybe it was way more dangerous than I realized! Huh. That makes things a lot simpler.

I decided to try out that new technique I picked up while playing around with the dead bodies. Hehe, let’s see how this works!

I stretched out my right hand, and poof—the skin on my hand turned all black.

Clench!

As soon as I made a fist, the space around me started to shrink, pulling everything together into this awesome little black sphere. It looked just like the one I made when I used the dead body! Cool, right?

The sphere hovered in front of me, all-powerful and swirly, ready to crush that big ol’ pig into nothingness. It was made from all the favors and affection Yerin had sent my way, and I could totally feel it was going to do the trick. Time to squish that pig!

***As Reaper’s right hand turned all black, the air around it started to shrink, pulling everything in to create this super cool black sphere.

“Whoa! It’s like a black hole!” I squealed, totally impressed. I mean, how awesome is that? Reaper was pulling off some serious magic here! I mentally gave Reaper a round of applause. Go, Reaper, go!

But… wait. Things didn’t go exactly how I expected. Actually, not even close.

The giant pig started biting at the space around it, including the black sphere! Like, what?! That wasn’t supposed to happen! It must’ve been super hard for the pig though, ‘cause half of its body got all torn up and disappeared. Still, it somehow managed to chomp down on the space and… isolate it? Ugh, rude.

Then, things got worse. The space that was crushed between the pig’s giant teeth twisted into this crazy vortex, and—oh no!—it started flying toward us like a speeding bullet!

“Aahhh!” I gasped, my heart racing. The black sphere had turned into this dangerous, twisty vortex of doom, ripping through the space and heading straight for us! Yikes!

Before I could even blink, Reaper let go of my hand and—oh my gosh—kicked me away with both feet! What the heck, Reaper?! I tumbled backward as the black sphere flew past the exact spot where Reaper had been standing.

“Reaper!!” I yelled, panicking. Did Reaper just… die?! No way! Reaper just vanished without a trace!

***In the place where the Gray Reaper had vanished, Yerin stood motionless, her mind fractured, as if reality itself had unraveled before her eyes.

The king of pigs, a monstrous being now stripped of most of its grotesque form, turned its gaze toward her. Its movements were slow, deliberate, each step resonating with the sickening crackle of sinew reweaving itself. Rotten blood vessels wound together, muscles stitching over bone, the blackened skeleton once again cloaked in decayed flesh. It was not alive, not in the way living things should be.

The Golden Reaper and the Blue Reaper stood tense, their small forms rigid as the abomination drew nearer. Fear rippled through the air, thick and choking, as if the very ground recoiled from the creature’s presence.

It seemed inevitable—the beast would charge, crush everything in its path, and drown the world in its rot.

But then, it stopped.

A sound broke the stillness, something out of place, almost absurd in the grim tableau.

Plop. Plop.

Tiny, almost innocent footsteps.

The marshmallow ground stretched out toward the pig, rippling softly under the weight of those steps. And from the silence emerged the Gray Reaper, delicate and untouched, walking alone across the shifting landscape.

Its form rebuilt itself with each step, rising slowly from nothing. From that small ankle, to the soft, ethereal figure that came back to life, piece by piece.

Fully restored, its antennae twitching, the Gray Reaper stood firm. But the look in its eyes had changed. It was no longer the fragile, spectral figure of before. Now, it glared at the monstrous pig with a fury so raw, so terrifying, that even the king of pigs hesitated under its gaze.

The silence returned, heavy and ominous, broken only by the beating of hearts that dared not hope.