Near the emergency staircase of the Sehee Research Institute, in a place seldom visited by people.

Sehee cautiously made her way toward a secret space connected to that area. It was a hidden space, much like the underground passage from before, carefully constructed to avoid Seo-ah's detection.

"It's been a while."

Sehee mumbled to herself as she stepped inside. The room, designed to remain hidden and undetected, was quite small, but it was filled with everything necessary.

The floor was soft enough to lie on, like a makeshift bed, and along the walls were a fridge, a bathroom, and other essential facilities all lined up in an orderly fashion.

And scattered all around the room were small golden statues. These statues, made of gold, depicted various mini reapers, as well as a gray reaper. The intricate golden sculptures struck dynamic poses, giving the room a vibrant atmosphere.

Perhaps because of these golden statues, or maybe because something in the space was naturally alluring to golden reapers, the moment this secret space had been completed, it was always filled with golden reapers rolling around.

'Roll, roll!'

'Roll, roll!'

As Sehee glanced around the room, one of the golden reapers, rolling across the floor, met her eyes.

‘Oh!’

The golden reaper seemed startled for a moment, then broke into a wide smile and waved at Sehee, as if saying how happy it was to see her again after so long.

Seeing this, Sehee let out a playful shout and threw herself into the midst of the golden reapers.

"Yah!"

The golden reapers caught underneath her laughed gleefully, and Sehee lay down among them, gazing up at the ceiling.

The abundance of golden reapers made the floor feel less like a bed and more like a soft pool of golden waves gently enveloping her.

Lying there, surrounded by the golden reapers, Sehee spoke to herself, as if addressing them.

"I wasn’t planning on using this room often, but I’ll be relying on you for a while."

At her words, all the golden reapers turned to look at her simultaneously.

The one that had been rolling around.

The one biting into the belly of a napping golden reaper.

Even the ones wrestling on Sehee’s stomach.

They all stared at her, wide-eyed with surprise.

And then, as if confirming what she'd said, they rushed toward her.

"It's just that there are so many dolls nowadays. I don’t even want to leave the research institute."

Sehee added, “You know I get kidnapped a lot,” and mimicked the strange walk of the dolls with her fingers.

“Did you see how those dolls walk? It’s so odd.”

“The rhythm is always the same, and the angle of their legs is identical.”

“Click. Click. Click.”

“And the cheaper models even make noise, which gives them a creepy vibe.”

Sehee exaggerated a frightened expression, as if telling a scary story to children.

“The dolls are really scary, but everyone else seems to think it’s no big deal.”

“Why do you think it is that the closer someone is to the mini reapers, the scarier the dolls seem to them?”

Sehee picked up one of the golden reapers and asked, but the golden reaper just tilted its head as if it didn’t understand.

After telling various stories about recent events, Sehee ran out of things to say, so she turned on the TV hanging from the ceiling.

On the screen, an advertisement for the upcoming "Doll Expo" was playing.

Near the James Tower in Songpa-gu, in the temporary containment room.

It was early dawn, and the faint blue light of morning was still nowhere to be seen. Inside the containment room, Alex, who had recently been the head of the security team, was trapped.

"Boss! Let me out of here!"

Alex paced the room nervously, his anxious footsteps echoing.

"Hmm."

James, observing him from the other side, let out a low hum.

“Sir, there are no signs of mental contamination,” a researcher said, handing James some documents with a worried expression.

The previous night, after noticing Alex's strange behavior, James had used an electric shock to subdue and capture him. But despite his suspicions, nothing unusual had been found in Alex so far.

‘Was I just imagining things?’

James furrowed his brow, deep in thought. Another report was handed to him.

“Sir, detailed tests show no similarities to the dolls.”

The tests had been repeated multiple times to avoid any false readings, but every result came back clean.

‘Did I watch too much CCTV and end up imagining things?’

James typically trusted rational judgment over gut feelings, but this time, he wished he could rely on instinct.

With all the researchers watching him, James crossed his arms and mulled over his thoughts.

After a long moment of contemplation, he opened his eyes and sighed.

“Lift the temporary containment of Alex—”

Before he could finish his sentence, he felt something slap against his back.

When he turned around, he saw a golden reaper sticking a diagram of a mechanical Tyrannosaurus Rex on his back.

The golden reaper was using its ghostly powers to peel off the sticky adhesive from its palm.

‘!’

At that moment, a flash of realization struck James like lightning.

He carefully picked up the golden reaper, and the little figure giggled, seemingly pleased.

The golden reaper tilted its head, as if asking, ‘Are we playing now?’

Perhaps it was because James had been too busy to play with it lately, but the golden reaper's face was full of anticipation.

James slowly moved the golden reaper closer to Alex's containment room.

‘!’

The golden reaper, which had been smiling happily just moments before, suddenly grew fierce the moment it laid eyes on Alex.

Even though the small, adorable reaper's angry face only made it look cuter, the fact that it had changed its expression at all was significant.

"From now on, Alex will be placed under special object containment! No objections allowed," James declared, raising the golden reaper high in the air.

The golden reaper, startled by James' sudden loud voice, looked bewildered.

Deep within Sehee Research Institute, in the ever-cozy containment room.

I lay on the containment bed, unable to hide my excitement.

The Doll Expo!

My heart felt like it was pounding, as if I’d just heard about the release of a highly anticipated game.

Well, I don’t technically have a heart, but still.

The TV continued to play an ad for the Doll Expo.

The screen showed a grand hall filled with various dolls, along with friendly-looking dolls interacting with people.

[Have you been searching for a companion to join you in this dangerous age of objects?]

[That’s why many people entrust their lives to objects like golden reapers.]

As the commercial continued, images of golden reapers appeared on the screen—each one sporting a sinister expression.

I pointed at the screen with my finger and sent a wave of thought toward the golden reapers around me.

‘That’s how humans see you.’

The golden reapers, usually uninterested in TV, looked confused.

But once they realized the depiction of "sinister golden reapers," exclamation marks seemed to pop up above their heads like antennas.

‘Sinister golden reapers, they say!’

Upon learning that humans viewed them this way, the golden reapers grew disheartened, slumping to the ground.

“Oooh.”

Completely drained of energy, the golden reaper melted and collapsed on top of me, limp.

I had planned to tease the floppy reaper by picking it up, but it looked like it was about to cry, so I decided against it.

‘It’s okay. It’s okay. This is just an ad made by evil humans, so don’t worry.’

‘Really?’

As I reassured the golden reaper, its big, shining eyes filled with trust. I revised my plan for the expo.

I had thought about taking the mini reapers with me, but now it seemed like I’d have to go alone.

With ads like this, there would probably be a lot of “sinister mini reapers” at the expo, too.

As I comforted the golden reaper, the long-running ad for the expo finally came to an end.

[Unfortunately, golden reapers are objects! They contain inherent risks.]

[But don’t worry! The association dolls are here to help. You can meet them at the Doll Expo tomorrow!]

The screen displayed the expo’s logo, along with the date and location, before the ad concluded.

The expo was now just one day away!

In the heart of Seoul, inside a mansion—Omuryeong’s private room.

Omuryeong slowly rose from a pool of dark liquid, a satisfied smile on his face.

“It’s like I’ve been reborn.”

Not long ago, Omuryeong had appeared to be on the verge of death due to old age. But over the past few months, he had regained his vitality and health.

After meticulously wiping away the oil-scented liquid and dressing himself, Omuryeong began to stroll leisurely through his mansion.

As he enjoyed his brief walk, a young girl with golden hair and blue eyes came running toward him.

“Grandfather!”

It was Omuryeong’s granddaughter, a beautiful girl with golden hair and blue eyes.

“Yes, my dear granddaughter, you’ve come.”

They exchanged warm words, like a loving grandfather and grandchild would.

“This old man has much work to do, so I must be going.”

“Yes, Grandfather!”

As soon as his granddaughter left, Omuryeong’s expression hardened, as if he had never smiled at all.

‘No. This isn’t right.’

Omuryeong quickened his pace and entered a room, where he began replaying a video.

[Grandfather!]

The screen showed the image of the same blonde-haired girl.

“Something’s off. It’s still not enough.”

Although the girl in the video was an exact replica of the one he had just spoken to, right down to her behavior, Omuryeong continued muttering to himself, convinced something was missing.

“What’s lacking?”

“I don’t know.”

“But it’s not right.”

“Is it the evolutionary liquid?”

“No, that hideous stuff is definitely not the answer.”

Omuryeong, now muttering like a man obsessed, repeated to himself that something was wrong.

“Yes, that’s it.”

After mumbling to himself for a while, he suddenly lifted his head as if he had realized something.

“That’s what’s missing.”

Omuryeong’s eyes gleamed with a strange intensity, as if tinted with red.

In the room, where the image of his deceased granddaughter played on a continuous loop, two old-fashioned lamps flickered faintly.

From the lamps, it almost sounded like faint laughter could be heard.