Chapter 31: Chapter 31

A question.

If a person saw Kayako[1] crawling down the stairs at a swift pace, how would he or she feel?

If anyone asked Thales that question at that moment, he would definitely answer in rage while crying, “He would definitely feel like how I do now!”

Because the ghost/mummy/monster (“Who cares what it is?! Is it important?!”–Thales, after he recovered from his fear) was dragging its incomplete and roasted body on all fours while crawling on the ground bizarrely at lightning speed!

‘God damn it!’

Thales could practically feel his soul leaving his body in fear. He did not even think about whether this creature had any form of intelligence, whether it could talk, and whether they could talk it out, and not fight.

At that moment, as Thales ran around desperately in the small room, he could even feel his tears escaping uncontrollably from his eyes!

However, Thales soon came to regret his decision.

There was no other reason; the speed of the monster that looked like a mummy had already surpassed Thales’!

It emitted a roar and hopped, pouncing on Thales’ back, causing him to fall!

*Bang!*

Thales rolled on the ground with the mummy before landing on his back.

The experiences he gained during the past two (seriously unfortunate) extraordinary days seemed to have come into effect. Thales instinctively pulled out JC’s dagger with a reverse grip and stabbed the mummy with trembling hands!

He ruthlessly stabbed the mummy right in the heart… if it even has one!

However, Thales discovered, to his terror, that even though the dagger had stabbed right through the mummy, it was still lying unaffected on his body. It opened its large, black, and terrifying mouth towards his throat while revealing blackened, jagged teeth!

‘Could it be that I’m too scared and my hands are trembling too much, that’s why I didn’t manage to stab its heart?’ Thales thought in trepidation as he felt the weight pressing on his body. ‘That’s strange, it’s not heavy?’

But he did not have time to regret his decision.

*Rip!*

As the dull sound of something being ripped apart rang in the air, Thales despaired as the mummy bit through the skin on his neck.

Intense pain wracked his body. Thales opened his mouth in agony, but being as exhausted as he was, he could only emit hoarse cries.

Due to the pressure on his body, all the blood in Thales’ body gushed towards the artery that had been torn through.

‘It’s over.’ Thales thought in despair.

“If a person kills, then he must also be prepared to be killed.”

He remembered these words, then remembered Quide, who had died unwillingly as he clutched onto his neck.

Thales laughed bitterly in his heart.

‘Karma is a b*tch.’

Yet strangely, the blood that should originally be gushing out everywhere from his wound was…

… flowing into the mummy’s mouth silently and in an orderly manner?

Thales, whose throat was still in between the mummy’s teeth, found, to his shock and terror when he saw from the corners of his eyes, that the mummy’s body acted like a water pipe that had uneven amounts of water charging through its tunnels. Its ‘mouth’ to its throat, chest, abdomen, torso, and other parts of its body were swelling up, contracting, and squirming continuously.

It was like a thirsty traveler that drank madly from a spring, and the water tasted like rain that fell after a long drought.

That mummy seemed to be… sucking his blood?

Within a few seconds, as he lost more blood, Thales’ physical consciousness began to fade away, but the consciousness in his soul became more alert!

It became so alert that everything in his mind appeared once again before his eyes like a movie!

“Wu Qiren, what would happen if people like you who are afraid of ghosts really ran into ghosts?”

“Could you please not talk about that? We just finished watching ‘The Grudge’ two nights ago. I still don’t dare walk up the stairs at night alone, okay?!”

“Don’t be scared! If you really ran into a ghost, bite it! Bite its throat! If it doesn’t have a neck or a head…”

“Are you insane?! Stop it! Stop!!”

“When you’re feeling tired from writing your thesis and you lift up your head to stretch your neck, suddenly—”

Wu Qiren took a step forward in anger born from embarrassment, then used the method he was most accustomed with to seal that person’s mouth.

Then, as he tasted the sweet taste of her mouth, he saw her eyes, filled with laughter.

The eyelashes were very long, and her eyes were bright.

‘Really… What a sly and crafty girl…’ Wu Qiren closed his eyes, frustrated, and continued tasting his prize.

Or perhaps should he say that he was actually offering tribute to the true victor?

Another memory returned and was included with all Thales’ other memories. However, this memory seemed to differ from the rest. Once it returned to his mind, it did not fall asleep like the others of its kind. Instead, it expanded instantly and grew in size before it trembled in his mind, causing Thales, who had been immersed in the memories from his past life, to be forced out of this illusory consciousness!

Thales’ eyes flew open!

During that instant, he seemed to have suddenly gained strength.

That mummy was still sucking his blood without a care for anything else as if it would not stop until it drained him completely dry.

And it continued sucking until a seven-year-old boy’s hands seized the spot connecting its shoulders and neck firmly and forcefully!

“If you really ran into a ghost…”

Thales gritted his teeth, seized the mummy’s body, and with his remaining strength, he lifted his head desperately…

“Bite it!”

He opened his mouth, revealing his small, baby teeth.

“…Bite its throat!”

Then, like a creature without intelligence…

…he bit down on the mummy’s throat fiercely!

They looked like a pair of lovers that were necking each other.

Time seemed to have frozen until a loud crack resounded in the air out of nowhere!

The burnt, dried mummy’s neck was not as tough as he imagined it to be, and a piece of flesh crumbled as Thales bit down on its neck!

That piece mystery meat was chewed on indignantly by Thales before he swallowed it!

A sentence that did not suit the atmosphere suddenly flashed in Thales’ mind.

‘Tastes like chicken. Crispy, too.’

Then, he continued to passionately and frantically bite down on the mummy’s ‘wound’ in large bites.

Just like the vampires in the Cullen Family.

A foul and salty liquid suddenly gushed into Thales’ mouth.

This crimson liquid flowed into his throat as he sucked it in large mouthfuls desperately.

It was like how his blood was flowing into the mummy’s body swiftly as if there was a pump installed. Similarly, the foul and salty liquid from the mummy’s body was being rapidly sucked into his mouth!

However, the mummy did not seem to possess any intelligence, and neither did it feel anything, just like how Thales had descended into a state of madness and how his mind had gone blank.

However, just a few seconds later…

He shuddered together with the burnt, dried, and rotting mummy!

“Ah—”

Immediately afterward, while drinking his blood, the mummy seemed to shiver and it loosened its bite around Thales’ neck. It let out a piercing roar and swiftly pushed Thales away!

Once Thales was shoved away, he became stunned for two seconds, as he was overwhelmed by a feeling of relief that he had just survived through a disaster before he instantly lifted his hand and touched the wound on the artery of his neck!

Strangely, even though blood should be spilling all over the place from his neck, not a single drop of blood was dripping out. There were only two warm puncture marks that gave off a numbing sting where his wound should be, and they felt sticky.

The mummy seemed to have rediscovered the thing called ‘fear’ in that dark room.

Once it pushed Thales away, it covered the spot on its neck where it had also been bitten. Thales’ dagger was still in its chest, and it limped towards the black coffin where it had crawled out from!

Thales did not fall into a daze. He stood up, shivering, and found that his physical strength which had almost been depleted just now had recovered slightly.

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It was just that the taste in his mouth—’Ack, ew… it’s a little disgusting. Hang on. What’s going on with that mummy?’

There might be a countless number of questions rising in his head, but he still pounced without any hesitation on the mummy that was fleeing in its pathetic state!

‘There’s no way you’ll always be lucky. Now, we have a score to settle.’

As Thales let out an enraged roar, he extended his hands and pulled the mummy down.

The mummy did not stop moving as it fell and rolled on the ground. As Thales was just about to ‘get to know’ it with his teeth again, it jumped up in a shocking manner, reaching an exaggerated height, seized the edge of the black coffin, and, with an unsightly posture, flipped back into the coffin.

As for Thales, who had seized one of its legs, he plunged into the gigantic black stone coffin along with it.

*Thump!*

It was as if Thales had fallen into a puddle of water. A warm and wet liquid submerged his entire body.

‘This taste..? It’s foul and salty. It’s blood?’

Thales wrapped his arms tightly around the struggling and squirming mummy from its back.

Before he completely lost consciousness—because he was drowning in blood—a smile appeared on Thales’ lips as he was submerged in blood.

‘Thank goodness.’ He thought with his muddled mind, ‘Thank goodness this guy still has a neck, and its head… is still intact.’

Sometime later, Thales woke up in the mysteriously dry, black coffin. He had no idea how much time had passed.

When he opened his eyes, Thales dragged himself up into a seated position. The first thing he did after that was to cough violently and cough up all the blood and water in his body.

“Cough, cough- Cough, cough-”

Thales licked a foreign object in his mouth and instantly registered what it was. As a wave of nausea rose in him, he spat it out.

He panted again and took about a few dozen seconds to recover.

Right at the next moment, Thales’s right hand touched the spot by his side and he sensed something cold from a dried-up thing.

‘The mummy?’

Thales continued touching it until he was certain that the mummy that had chased him around and had forced him to flee like a bird to the mountains had shattered into a good dozen something pieces, and had scattered everywhere in the gigantic coffin.

He exhaled a breath and chased away the disgusting taste in his mouth.

It was dark in the black coffin.

Thales continued groping his way about in the cold coffin. Once he touched something that felt like a step, he stood on tiptoes and climbed out of the black coffin—that was as tall as an average man’s height—with great difficulty.

‘This thing isn’t like a coffin but more like… a children’s pool?’ As Thales thought about this, he came to understand how that small mummy had been able to climb out of such a tall coffin.

By using both his hands and feet, he finally climbed out of the black coffin and crashed onto the ground with a thud.

The familiar sounds of battle traveled to his ears. The sounds of a woman rebuking someone and the Count’s shouts as he yelled his commands did not go unnoticed either.

Thales’ face was down on the ground. As he massaged his shoulder, which was aching due to the fall, he painstakingly pushed up his upper body. ‘I wonder what is the situation of the battle outside.’

Only then did Thales lift his head.

And he was then stunned.

Right before his eyes stood a single person.

It was a small person.

More accurately speaking, it was a small figure with long, silver hair falling down her shoulders. She looked a pitiable sight as she stood under the moonlight, and she was trotting forward with unstable footsteps.

With great effort, she took one step.

With great strength, she took another step.

With each step the small figure took, she would stop, and swayed as she walked towards Thales, who had just crawled out of the black coffin.

She continued walking until, with much difficulty, she stood before him.

She had red irises, a pale face, tender skin, delicate limbs, and an adorable face that still had some baby fat on it.

However, at that moment, this ‘small person’ was staring at Thales on the ground coldly and even arrogantly while looking down on him.

Thales remained stunned for a time and also pondered for a long while before he struggled to his feet with a lot of questions floating in his mind.

Then, he saw the girl’s entire body clearly.

She still did not say a single word, only continued looking at him with a cold and stern gaze.

After a long while…

Thales seemed to have come to a sudden realization of something. The abnormal seven-year-old boy blushed, a sight that was rarely found on him, and he scratched his head before he let out an awkward laugh.

“Little- Little girl.”

He lowered his voice with slight embarrassment, and while faltering over his words, he hesitantly asked in a weak voice, “Um… Why aren’t you, you know…

“… wearing clothes?”

The little girl who was not wearing clothes was standing all by her lonesome on the ground, and she was a full head shorter than this frail, seven-year-old boy.

She regarded the boy with hostility.

When Thales received no answer, he felt even more awkward.

Thankfully, this awkward atmosphere only lasted for several seconds. Because Thales suddenly realized a spot in the ‘little girl’s’ chest.

The was a dagger stuck in there.

The blood on the dagger had yet to dry up.

There were two letters carved on the blade.

JC.

Thales’ hand that was scratching his head froze up in an instant.

The boy no fool. Besides, even the retarded antagonists in those simplistic novels who had plot armor protecting them would have their IQ rising at this point.

Of course he would remember how he had stabbed the mummy’s heart with the dagger just now.

However, the naked ‘little girl’, who did not seem to think that being naked was abnormal, was staring at him coldly.

She did not speak. The expression on her round face was calm. Thales’ figure was reflected upside-down on her blood-red irises.

Thales put his hand down gently and regulated his breathing. His eyes were trained on the adorable but strange little girl in front of him, and as he looked at her, his mind began switching her figure back and forth with the terrifying phantom/mummy in his memories.

‘This is seriously… abnormal.’

Thales exhaled deeply.

The naked red-eyed (mummy) girl was still staring at him with the gaze of a statue.

Anyone else in his place would begin to feel their skin crawl once they were stared at in such a bizarre fashion by this thing for such a long time.

Thales forcefully gulped, then put on a relaxed look and smiled. Once he mulled over it, he forcefully bit back on asking her which sunscreen brand she used.

‘This is not a good time to test her. She might look cute, but if she’s the mummy from just now, then most probably, she won’t have any intelligence-‘

“Who are you?”

A young voice rose into the air before him.

‘Yup, even though the little girl’s gaze still hasn’t changed, but the words she said are quite clear, understandable, and rational.

‘Compared to the mummy’s roars that sounded as if it was coming back to life, her voice is so sweet, cute, and-

‘Hold it!’

Thales widened his eyes in shock and scrutinized the extremely strange girl with silver hair and red irises.

‘She can speak. She possessed intelligence. She’s not wearing clothes- Ack, no!

‘She can communicate!’

Then, Thales’ mind—which seemed to have disappeared from his life for ages due to his shock—started working smoothly in that familiar manner he was accustomed to.

Translator’s Notes:

1. Kayako: From The Grudge.