The courtyard of the Sehee Research Institute, bathed in the warm noon sunlight, was bustling with researchers enjoying their lunch break alongside the mini reapers.
The researchers were gathered around a newly installed golden statue of a Triceratops, discussing it curiously.
“Why is there a golden Triceratops statue here all of a sudden?” one of the researchers asked, puzzled.
“Maybe Director Sehee had it installed,” another researcher suggested, putting forth the most likely theory.
Given that such absurd things typically happened under Sehee’s direction, it was a reasonable guess. And who else but Sehee could have acquired such a massive chunk of gold?
Just then, Sehee and Seo-ah entered the courtyard together, walking slowly. The mont Seo-ah saw the golden Triceratops statue, her expression twisted in frustration.
She quickly turned to Sehee with a look that seed to say, "You didn't...?"
Sehee, wearing an exasperated expression, imdiately shook her head in denial, as if saying, "It wasn't !"
But Seo-ah, perhaps because Sehee was known to lie frequently, didn’t seem to believe her.
Hehe.
I was observing the scene from the cozy shade beneath the Triceratops’ frill.
Next to was the red reaper, holding a trembling white spirit captive. The red reaper, mimicking the stance of a painter sketching a landscape, was intently watching the golden Triceratops statue, holding an imaginary cara up to fra the view.
With a pipe-shaped fla in its mouth and a chisel of fire in hand, the red reaper looked as if it were about to create so sort of masterpiece.
After admiring the Triceratops for a long ti, the red reaper struck a dramatic pose and, with a flamboyant motion, jabbed the fire chisel into the white spirit's neck.
"Kyuu-hing-hing!"
The red reaper appeared to be carving the frill of the Triceratops out of the white spirit’s neck, but the chisel was too sharp and pierced right through the spirit’s throat.
‘Oops!’
The red reaper looked startled by its mistake, and the white spirit took the opportunity to flee.
And just like always, a playful chase ensued between the fleeing white spirit and the gleeful red reaper.
As the sun dipped towards the horizon in the late afternoon, the steady flow of supply trucks ca to a halt, and one by one, the association dolls that had been transporting the supplies vanished. The parking lot, once bustling with activity, now lay still in silence.
In the quiet corner of the parking lot stood Jas' makeshift containnt facility—a temporary setup designed for confining and observing objects, as well as conducting remote experints.
Inside the observation room, Jas and his subordinates, all dressed in lab coats, were peering into the containnt chamber.
Within that chamber were various association dolls, securely fixed in place by steel fras.
They were all different types of dolls that Jas had acquired from the association.
Through the transparent barrier separating him from the dolls, Jas carefully observed them.
A man dressed in a bulletproof vest and black uniform, unlike the others, broke the silence.
“Sir, wouldn’t it be safer to use the tower’s internal facilities?”
Jas, who was carefully disassembling one of the association dolls using a chanical arm, replied without taking his eyes off the control console.
“Of course, the tower's internal facilities would be much safer, Alex.”
“Then, let’s move the operation there right away! There aren’t enough security options here,” Alex responded eagerly, seeing that Jas agreed with his suggestion.
“Security-wise, sure, it would be the best option. But we won’t move,” Jas said, his voice low.
“Because the association dolls keep trying to enter the tower. Until we know exactly what’s going on, it's better to keep them out of the tower.”
Jas added quietly, “From now on, think of the Jas Tower not just as a lab, but as a fortress.”
After long hours of disassembling the dolls, Jas finally stepped away from the console.
“We’ve learned the basic structure of the dolls, but the most important part, their energy source, remains a mystery.”
Jas rubbed his eyes wearily, a result of spending too long working at the remote console.
Alex, sowhat surprised that Jas—the top object expert in the U.S.—was admitting uncertainty, didn’t say a word.
“We’re done for today.”
Jas glanced out of the window, where the sun had already set, and saw a golden reaper sticking sothing against the glass. The reaper was holding a sticky poster of a chanical Tyrannosaurus Rex.
“It’s already been six hours, so you should switch shifts and go ho, too.”
Jas’ lab coat had already accumulated five different posters of chanical dinosaurs stuck to it.
By nightfall, as darkness fell, Yerin was walking ho, following the golden reaper.
Tap, tap, tap.
The confident steps of the golden reaper echoed as always, and its water-made spear and helt glimred in the moonlight.
Occasionally, the reaper would turn to check on Yerin, smiling bashfully each ti.
It seed like it was making sure Yerin was following along well.
When they reached the shared entrance of the building, an association doll greeted Yerin warmly.
“Welco back.”
Though the doll’s greeting was polite, Yerin, clearly annoyed, rushed past without a glance.
She hurried down the hallway and finally stepped into her ho.
“I’m back!” Yerin announced cheerfully as she entered.
She imdiately pulled a round, golden jelly from the jar by the entrance and handed it to the golden reaper.
“Thanks for escorting !”
The golden reaper smiled widely and started nibbling on the jelly, taking small bites.
Nom, nom, nom.
The golden reaper’s face lit up with happiness as it savored the sweet taste of the jelly, alongside the warm emotions Yerin exuded.
After finishing the jelly, the golden reaper waved its hand in a farewell gesture and vanished into thin air, using its ghostly powers.
As Yerin entered her room, she noticed sothing strange.
‘?’
There was sothing off.
Before leaving the house, Yerin distinctly rembered placing the white spirit on the lap of the leaden doll.
But now, it looked as though the leaden doll was embracing the white spirit tightly.
Leaden dolls had sowhat stiff joints, which allowed them to maintain certain poses when moved. But now, the doll’s arms were wrapped around the white spirit, holding it snugly.
‘Did the spirit adjust the position itself?’
It seed to Yerin that the white spirit had crawled into the doll’s arms and moved its limbs to get hugged.
The white spirit’s face was filled with happiness as it lay nestled in the doll’s cold embrace. Its small face looked even more lively, seemingly finding peace in the doll’s coolness.
‘The leaden doll must be cold, but it seems so comfortable and happy.’
Yerin smiled softly as she observed them for a mont.
The white spirit, always with a slightly pitiful expression, now looked so content.
Yerin gently poked its cheek and patted the soft head of the leaden doll.
‘!’
But as she stroked the doll’s head, Yerin jumped in surprise, her eyes widening.
“It’s warm?”
She muttered to herself, clenching and unclenching her fist as if to confirm the lingering warmth in her hand.
Late at night, in the security room of Jas Tower, Jas was still on edge, unable to leave for the day.
‘Two days left until the doll expo.’
To Jas, those two days felt like the last bit of ti he had left.
‘I hope we can figure out whether the association dolls are a threat or not before then.’
Jas sat in front of the monitor, analyzing the CCTV footage.
It was a video compilation of strange behavior exhibited by the association dolls.
[Click. Click. Click.]
On the monitor, the sound of a lock being turned echoed rhythmically. It was the sound of the association dolls trying to open doors.
The dolls would always turn the doorknobs in the sa rhythm and with the sa force.
Whenever they exhibited the strange behavior of trying to enter Jas Tower, this is what happened.
[Click. Click. Click.]
The dolls would always turn the knobs three tis, in perfect rhythm, and then, as if nothing had happened, they would return to their original positions.
As Jas sat in the security room, watching the monitor, a loud noise broke the silence.
Beep. Beep.
The security alarm went off, signaling soone approaching the room.
Jas switched the cara view and saw Alex, who had gone ho earlier, slowly walking toward the security room.
‘Did he forget sothing?’
When Alex reached the security room, he turned the doorknob.
[Click. Click. Click.]
[Click. Click. Click.]
[Click. Click. Click.]
“...”
Then Alex looked up at the security cara and spoke.
“Boss. Could you open the door, please?”
Reviews
All reviews (0)