"Who is knocking?" said the person lying down without looking toward the door, his face turned to the wall.
The beast raised the half-head in its hand and opened its mouth; its jaw expanded like a blossoming flower, and numerous other teeth protruded.
*Crunch... Crunch...*
The rest of the head shattered, and blood sprayed onto the face of the man staring at the beast.
He was unable to scream or move, for the blood in his body had frozen; behind the beast, he saw a lake of blood and numerous dismembered corpses.
In absolute horror... a man's soul shattered.
The beast grasped the head of the standing man with its bony hands, then—*Snap*—it tore his head off.
Blood splattered onto the wall and dripped onto the face of the lying man.
"What are you doing, you idiot?"
The man touched his face and wiped the blood from it. As soon as he looked at the blood on his hand, his expression changed. At that moment, he heard a gurgling sound coming from the neck of the headless man.
The man turned around and was shocked by the horror of the sight. *Hah...!!* "What is this...?"
The beast advanced after waving its hand, then—*Thud*—the headless man vanished from before him because he crashed into the wall and fell to the floor, his feet in the air, blood still leaking from his severed neck.
The beast advanced slowly while eating the victim's head, intensifying the man's fear.
"Fear..."
The man began to retreat, sweat pouring from him.
His voice came out trembling: "What do you want...?"
The beast smiled in a bizarre manner, as if savoring the fear of the person before it.
The beast raised its bony foot high.
The man stared with even greater fear after seeing the strange smile on the beast's face, and after seeing it raise its foot. He put his hands in front of him, but...
*Crunch*
The man's hands broke, and the foot descended onto his face, which smashed against the wall like a watermelon.
Its bony feet turned from white to red due to the accumulated blood from the killing.
Moments earlier...
"There is a strange scent in this place."
Yuray replied: "This is no ordinary scent."
... ... A hand flew into the sky... ... A white bone twisting like a serpent... ...
A white bone pierced through a person's mouth and exited from the back of his head... ... ...
Behind a distant window in the factories, eyes appeared, witnessing everything that happened while Yuray killed three people.
It was a middle-aged man with a bald head covered in sweat, wearing white clothes striped with black.
The man crouched down, unable to watch any longer due to his fear.
"We are doomed... who are they? What is that white bone coming out of that person...?"
Fear engulfed the man; he wanted to stand and run, but he couldn't. His mind was filled with fear that overshadowed his emotions.
He was in a room similar to the one where the two men preparing for sleep had been, but he was alone now. The room was dark because the person who lived with him had just seen a bone pierce his head a moment ago.
How could he not be afraid, and how could terror not control him when he had seen something beyond his mind's comprehension? Perhaps this is a person who has never heard of the Possessed, and does not know what is happening in the world. This type of people cannot endure what is happening, let alone this man with whom fear seemed to have been born.
"Sa... ve.... m... e..."
He sat hugging his knees to his chest. His body shook and trembled as he muttered, his words unintelligible.
Suddenly, black shadows appeared beneath him... those shadows began to expand slowly until they enveloped the entire room in darkness and fear.
And between the darkness and fear, a figure formed: two bony hands, and two legs no different from the hands, an inverted body, eyes resembling a frog's, a white bone emerging from his lower back, and white branches sprouting from his head.
The man raised his head, looking at the beast before him.
The beast looked at him too, then smiled and waved the bone that had pierced his mouth and exited from the back of his head.
Outside:
"Do you think I would care about the mockery of insects like you...?"
...
Current time:
Returning to the man climbing the stairs toward the roof, where the room full of screens was located on the second floor.
The reason he headed toward the roof was that he wanted to breathe some air to alleviate the tightness in his chest.
But deep in his heart, he felt that something was wrong... tension was evident on him.
He began to mutter in silence: "Is that liquid the cause? Has it started to affect me?"
"Should I request a transfer from here...?" He was climbing the stairs, and with every step he took, his heart grew heavier.
"What is this? Has death come for me...?" He began to sweat and breathe with difficulty.
After a short while, he reached the roof, where he found the rain falling heavily and the wind driving the water droplets eastward with its intensity.
The man raised his head toward the sky and closed his eyes, enjoying the rain and the beautiful scent of wet earth entering his nose.
His heartbeat recovered and returned to normal.
He sighed heavily: "It has finally eased." Then he adjusted his head, which had been looking toward the black rain clouds. His clothes and brown hair were soaked.
He took off his black glasses, then turned to leave the roof, but suddenly... on his right, atop the factory fence, he found a person staring at him.
A young man with wet black hair, wearing black clothes striped with purple. The wind moved his clothes while water droplets flew from them.
The man's eyes narrowed and his face paled... he hadn't noticed the young man who appeared to be sitting, clasping his hands by his side, until he turned around.
And this person was none other than Yousafer.
Yousafer looked up toward the black clouds, then whispered in a voice carried by the wind to the man's ear: "Contemplating the clouds while raindrops fall on you and the sweet scent of earth perfumes the place... is truly wonderful."
Who is this person? How could I not notice him? The man muttered internally.
The man pulled himself together after his shock and asked: "Who are you? And what are you doing here?"
"Who am I? And what am I doing here? Do not concern yourself with who I am... as for what I am doing here, your sin is what led me here."
The man gritted his teeth and said: "What is this nonsense you are saying?"
Yousafer nodded while staring at him: "What a scoundrel you are... You robbed dozens of people of their freedom, and you ask me what I am doing here? You must not regret it if it is taken from you as well."
"What are you spouting? Are you insane?" the man shouted.
The reason the man hadn't attacked Yousafer yet was caution... he was slightly hesitant, and the cause was the tightness in his chest a moment ago.
"Who is the owner of these factories?" Yousafer asked.
A sense of provocation took hold of the man... how could this young man ask him about the owner of the factories while he stood right before him? He coated his voice in coldness and said: "And why would an insect like you want to know the owner of these factories?"
Yousafer's face changed. One eyebrow rose and the other fell, and his lower lip lifted slightly, while his eyes widened as he looked at the man. "You made the villagers work in your factories for a long time, and you took their freedom and passion for life... you displaced their children, and left them hungry. How do you intend to repay this debt?"
Yousafer sighed: "Ah... ah... are you capable of returning those years?" He shook his head from side to side as raindrops flew. "You cannot return them."
The man wondered: "The villagers? Ah... so that is how it is. You are one of the two people who entered the forest recently. What happened to my men? And where are they?"
"If you want to see your men... you can go see them. They are at the entrance. But you must answer my question first."
"You and your question can go to hell, you bastard!"
"Prepare for your death then." Yousafer stood up, his clothes moving due to the wind, smiling. Terrifying features appeared on his face; an upward-curving smile, a red tongue protruding from between his lips, sleepy glistening eyes, like a predator staring at its prey.
The man's eyes opened wide, saturated with horror at the terrifying gaze of the young man before him. He retreated a step without realizing it.
But soon his consciousness returned to him... what are these strange expressions? The man filled with malice when he realized his right foot had taken a step back.
"You are confident in yourself, you brat?"
Yousafer's expressions remained the same as he said: "Confidence has nothing to do with what I say... when you have the power to back up what you say, you can say whatever you wish."
The man began to laugh after adjusting his stance: "Are you saying you are stronger than me?"
"Yes... by far."
The man exhaled forcefully after seeing the mockery on Yousafer's face, dropped his glasses, and attacked immediately without realizing the dangers. He didn't realize it because anger outweighed his other emotions.
The man's green clothes began to move... or rather, something under his clothes was moving.
The clothes began to tear slowly as he ran toward Yousafer.
*Rip... Rip...* With every tear, locks of brown hair appeared.
He raised his hand toward Yousafer... hair spikes.
Several sharp locks of hair launched toward Yousafer, who smiled and flipped in the air to the side, avoiding the spikes.
The man looked at the spot where Yousafer landed, then moved his hand, and spikes of hair launched toward him.
The spikes approached in three waves, their tips sharp.
Yousafer glimpsed a gap between them and passed through it, while the spikes passed by his sides. Quickly, he reached the man, who was surprised by his speed.
*Boom...*
Yousafer's fist landed in the man's stomach, lifting him from his place as water expelled from his mouth.
Under the heavy rain, the man crashed into the wall and slid toward a pool of water, as if the factory roof was tilted in a certain direction. His brown body hair hung loose in every direction.
The man held his stomach with one hand, and with the other leaned to stand, his gaze fixed on Yousafer, who had his arms crossed over his chest. He felt the power of the blow, and knew that the person before him was not ordinary.
The man straightened up, wrapped his body in hair, and advanced quickly toward Yousafer.
Yousafer scoffed as he advanced.
The man swung a hair-covered fist.
Yousafer turned sideways and delivered another blow.
The man placed his hand in front of his face, and Yousafer's fist collided with it. The man smiled as if he was unharmed.
Hair Germ... Hair Spikes. After Yousafer got very close, the hair separated from the man's body and formed into spikes heading toward his opponent's stomach.
But with mockery on his face, Yousafer swung his right foot quickly toward the knee of the man, who suddenly lost his balance and began to fall forward toward Yousafer, who swung his hand.
*Boom*
The fist descended on the man's face. Everything happened very quickly... the man understood nothing.
The man retreated again, along with the spikes, sliding on the roof until they hit the wall.
"You have the Hair Germ... but you use it in an insulting manner. What a ability... a carrot eaten by a toothless rabbit. Just answer my question and we will end this quickly."
The reason Yousafer said these words was that he had seen a user of this Germ before... in his nightmares.
The man wiped the blood from his nose while still lying down. He began to stand again, but he didn't attack this time.
"I won't tell you, you insolent brat!" he shouted loudly.
Yousafer narrowed his eyes: "It seems you want to die early..."
The man felt terror as he stared into Yousafer's black eyes. "What do you want from me?"
"I told you... you will pay the price for those wasted years of the villagers' lives."
"And what business do you have with their lives?"
"I have no business... people who wished to live a simple life, and needed a little freedom... can they not?"
"So what? Are you a person who grants wishes? Huh!?" The man laughed. "You are playing with fire, little one. If I tell you who owns these factories... you will wet your pants and kneel to me for your life."
Yousafer stared with contempt, then spat on him. *Ptoo...*
One of the things Yousafer hated: a person taking pride in someone else.
He had a rule: If you do not take pride in your own self and soul... then you are a disgrace to yourself.
"I am eager to know who this person is whose name will make me wet my pants..."
The man began to stand while staring at Yousafer, anger clear on his face after being spat on.
"Tell me first the name of..."
*Clink... Clink...*
He didn't finish, for he heard the sound of a chain hitting his ear. No sound rises above the sound of the chain... even the sound of the rain and wind vanished.
*Clink... Clink...*
Suddenly the man fell again... but this time his foot was not in its place.
"Aaaaaagh!!" The man let out a horrific scream as he watched his foot beside him, while a thin black chain with a faint purple aura encircled his neck and his entire body.
End of Chapter