The skinny man told the story with great enthusiasm. When he got to the part about the town being reduced to ashes, he even acted out a gesture.
"The traveler freed the town, and the residents' toy bodies stopped moving. The traveler then invited a priest friend to bury the townspeople. Since every resident had died, the town became abandoned, and the king at the time had it sealed off. From then on, no one entered.
"As time passed, the abandoned town was forgotten. Its location and name were even erased from the maps. But as the traveler continued his journey, the story of Doll Town spread.
"One day, a group of young people accidentally discovered the abandoned town. They didn't connect it to the story, thinking it was just an old, deserted town. They explored it, claimed it as their own, and made it their secret base. Before long, a couple among them had a falling-out and parted on bad terms. The girl disappeared that day. When she reappeared a few days later, her friends and family all noticed something was wrong with her. Her behavior had become very strange, as if she weren't alive. Her family sent her to the hospital, thinking that she'd been driven out of her mind by the breakup.
"Not long afterward, the girl disappeared from the hospital again. This time, her ex-boyfriend disappeared with her. Their families reported it to the police, and everyone searched for them.
"The girl's friends—the young people who had discovered the town with her—went back to look for her. They found that the town had changed completely. It was brand-new and full of life, with lots of people moving about. They found the couple there. Like everyone else in the town, the couple behaved strangely, not like normal