Chapter 106
Morning passed by quickly as Zavi woke from his unconscious state, his white shirt now stained red with blood, while a throbbing pain hammered inside his head, making the world before his eyes blur and sway back and forth.
He did not know. He truly could not understand how he had survived after realizing the sensation raging inside his body, the same occurrence that reminded him of a nightmare, or more precisely, the memories belonging to the original Zavi before his suicide.
He curled up with an empty mind, a gloomy face, and a hollow heart as tears slowly streamed down his cheeks, washing away the dried blood on his face and easing his thoughts for a brief moment.
For far too long, he had been trapped in a state where he wanted to end his life immediately, yet failed because his determination forced him to keep living for one certain purpose; to find that devil, and kill it with his own hands.
Night arrived, and the air was no different from the previous day as snow fell heavily alongside violent gusts of wind. The flames inside the heating furnace crackled wildly while Zavi fell into silence again with a piece of cold bread still stuck to his lips.
'I don't know how I woke up this quickly? After searching for Aaron yesterday evening, I found him in the same condition as me. But that sensation... it felt similar to what Zavi experienced?'
Zavi completely finished his thoughts as he slowly unbuttoned his clean white shirt one by one, staring at the left side of his chest as though curious about what had truly happened while he was unconscious, or rather, the mysterious thing that had made him become like this.
He immediately stood up, tossed the cold bread into the blazing fire before him, then walked with incredibly heavy steps as though the burden inside his mind had flowed down into his legs as he headed toward the sofa.
The moment he reached the sofa not far from where he had been sitting earlier, he immediately lay down with his head resting on the cushioned armrest and his hand covering his forehead.
'Damn it. Get out. Get out. Get out. Get out. Get out. Get out of my body, you disgusting creature.' he thought with clenched jaws while his right hand repeatedly slammed against the round table with its white surface patterned with rose flowers.
Zavi did not stop cursing, yet he did not mention those two names at all because the same thing from before would happen again.
The moment he remembered it again, for some unknown reason, he suddenly laughed, though his face remained gloomy because his mental and physical condition were incredibly unstable.
When the laughter finally faded, sudden knocking sounds came afterward. The tense and silent atmosphere inside the living room immediately came back to life as the knocking refused to stop.
"Who's there?" Zavi asked, immediately rising from the sofa and walking cautiously while cold sweat covered his face.
The moment he arrived near the door under the dim hallway light, Zavi's breath caught as his mind went blank, and his hand froze while gripping the doorknob.
To drive away his tension, Zavi took a deep breath before slowly pulling the doorknob.
Click...
"Sir?"
Zavi froze for a moment at the worried voice, clearly feminine, making his heart instantly waver and freeing him from the emptiness that had trapped him earlier.
In front of him stood five people; three men and two women, one of whom was speaking to him, as well as the owner of the apartment, staring at him with expressions impossible to describe.
Panic. Worry. Relief. Fear. Everything mixed together as the owner of room number 6, previously rented by Aaron and Zavi, came out after hearing strange noises from their room for almost half a day.
'Damn it, why are there so many people here?' he thought in panic.
When he glanced to the left, since his rented room was located at the corner, Zavi was shocked to see little boys and girls, including the girl from room number 1 on the second floor near the stairs, all busily watching him while peeking through slightly opened doors.
Zavi was confused about what to say as the atmosphere suddenly turned tense, and eventually he figured out what he should say.
"Sorry," he said hesitantly, "but why are all of you standing in front of my room?" he asked, genuinely clueless.
A brown-haired man with gray eyes immediately stepped forward, about to speak, but abandoned the idea after being nudged by his friend, a black-haired man with deep dark brown eyes wearing a white long-sleeved shirt.
"Don't interfere," he whispered with a sharp gaze.
The man clicked his tongue and replied, "Yeah."
Meanwhile, as the apartment owner who had received unpleasant complaints from the other tenants, the woman finally revealed why she had come here.
"Excuse me, Sir," the woman said professionally. "You're disturbing the other tenants, and I sincerely apologize, but you are no longer allowed to stay in this apartment."
'Ah, I see. It must be because I made screaming noises or other strange sounds that disturbed their New Year holiday?' Zavi thought while staring at the expressions of the five different people looking at him.
He let out a deep sigh before speaking with guilt and gentleness;
"I'm sorry if all of you, and the apartment owner too, were disturbed by my presence. I sincerely apologize and please give me time to prepare before leaving this place."
"Very well," the woman said calmly. "Five minutes is enough, right?"
"Ah, that's enough. Don't worry," Zavi replied before turning around and slowly closing his room door.
Meanwhile, outside his room. The tension on all their faces eased as the goosebumps they had felt earlier immediately subsided the moment Zavi went back inside.
'What the hell was that?' thought the brown-haired, gray-eyed man whose body trembled violently after he briefly felt a shadow blocking his vision.
He had been holding it in this whole time, and felt a strange sensation embracing his body from behind after finishing his conversation with him.
"Planning to wait until that man comes out?" asked the black-haired man with deep brown eyes calmly.
The man sighed before replying hesitantly, "Good idea." He paused for a moment before continuing, "And I can't rest peacefully after hearing screams coming from his room."
The woman beside him responded to that statement.
"Screams of pain and cries for help?" said the woman who was still wearing her nightclothes.
The apartment owner glanced backward while continuously waiting for Zavi and Aaron to come out, her right foot tapping repeatedly against the floor.
After letting out a heavy sigh, she immediately turned around and stared intensely at the four of them.
"You all should return to your own rooms."
"No."
The woman fell silent after speaking.
"I'll wait for that man until he comes out of his room."
"I think you're overreacting," commented the black-haired man with dark brown eyes, frowning.
The other man, with blond hair and deep gray eyes, stared at the closed door in front of him while continuously thinking about something regarding the tenant inside.
"He looked terrified when he heard those screams. That's my reason too. I'll wait for him to come out, then I'll leave immediately."
The apartment owner was left speechless because they had no intention of causing trouble, they only wanted to make sure the tenant of room 6 left this apartment immediately.
Inside the room, Zavi wanted to head toward the bedroom after getting ready in a fur-collared jacket and a wide hat, heading toward the room on the right side of the living room where they had talked earlier.
Darkness greeted him as he entered the room. Feeling around blindly, Zavi found the switch on his left after taking two steps, and once the light turned on, he saw Aaron sitting with his back facing him.
The moment Zavi saw him, he immediately became worried and shocked because earlier he had seen Aaron still unconscious, making him think of approaching him to find out what was going on.
With every step, the air inside the room felt frozen, covering Zavi's face in sweat as he held his breath while slowly extending his hand and placing his palm on Aaron's left shoulder.
"Are you okay?"
Suddenly, something soft moved against his heel.
"Huah..."
Zavi was so startled that he spun around completely and stumbled backward before smashing the back of his head hard against the wall.
Bang...
"Eh, damn it. What just happened?"
He glanced to his left and saw that Aaron, who had been sitting on the bed moments ago, had vanished without a trace as though what he saw earlier had only been a dream!
'What exactly is going on?' he thought in confusion, trying to stand up to check whether Aaron had fully regained consciousness and was trying to prank him.
Goosebumps rose all over his body as he spoke with trembling lips and uncertainty.
"This is... strange. Seriously strange."
He immediately pulled open the wool blanket covering part of the bed and found nothing except the mattress itself.
Then, the strange event happened again when the room light suddenly went out, causing the right side of the room to be swallowed by shadows.
Not only that, the light now flickered in rhythm with Zavi's increasingly rapid heartbeat as he stared at the light switch beside Aaron's black coat hanger.
"This isn't funny, Aaron," Zavi said while swallowing hard. "Are you still holding a grudge because of that?" he asked, trying to confirm whether it was truly Aaron or something else entirely.
Silence. The atmosphere inside became terrifying as cold sweat streamed down Zavi's increasingly pale face. Still assuming it was a joke, Zavi immediately left the room.
The sound of metal hitting the floor greeted him just after he took around two steps.
He quickly turned toward his left side, swallowed by darkness and silence itself.
"Bastard." He pretended not to be afraid, trying to explain what was actually happening.
"Come out.
"You remember I'm scared when you do that, right?"
But suddenly...
Knock... Knock... Knock...
'Huh?'
"Who's there?" Zavi asked anxiously, feeling like he was being toyed with by someone whose identity he did not know.
"Who am I?" the voice repeated in confusion, flat and clearly feminine.
"Five minutes have passed," she said, "were you sleeping in there or what?"
'Sleeping? What did she just say?'
Zavi's mental state was being eroded with every passing second, making his thoughts unclear and changing the way he saw the world.
His jaw tightened, veins bulged on his forehead as he walked through the hallway and stood motionless right behind the door before slowly pulling the doorknob.
"Why are you taking so long?" the apartment owner asked angrily.
"I, I... something was bothering me earlier," Zavi answered stammering, not knowing what else to say.
The five of them were left stunned by his behavior, and while rubbing her forehead, the apartment owner finally vented her frustration through a long rant.
"Who was bothering you?"
"An excuse about seeing something 'supernatural'?"
"Possessed by a wandering spirit?"
"I don't want to hear your excuses anymore, Sir," muttered the apartment owner with a long sigh.
The apartment owner immediately glanced backward.
"Has your friend really gone insane?" Since she was already fed up, she was forced to say it.
"Ah, I don't know how to answer that. But you could say yes," the man replied without the slightest hesitation.
Feeling that this had gone too far, the blond-haired man with gray eyes immediately stepped forward, passing the woman before flicking Zavi right on the forehead.
That man was Aaron.
"Have you lost your mind, huh?" he whispered, confused and embarrassed because he had only been standing there silently watching the entire time.
Zavi was once again thrown into confusion by the man's way of speaking.
"Who are you?"
Smack...
Feeling irritated, Aaron instantly struck the back of Zavi's head hard, wrapped in his spiritual power and Exorscist ability, causing Zavi to collapse forward and fall face-first onto the dirty and cold floor.
"Owowowowow..." Zavi quickly stood up, turned around, and glared at Aaron to protest.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" he asked with tightly clenched fists. "You wanna fight? Then come on, step up, bastard."
The four of them were left speechless watching the ridiculous scene Zavi was causing.
Aaron merely shook his head briefly while forcing a bitter smile toward the apartment owner before grabbing his wide-brimmed hat and dragging Zavi out of the place immediately.
'This guy's seriously embarrassing. Is he still affected by 'It'?'
After thinking for a moment, Aaron finally hoisted Zavi over his shoulder and immediately hurried down the stairs and out of the apartment as fast as possible, despite the freezing weather outside, especially at night.
Using Zavi's pocket watch, Aaron checked the time while pressing open its cover with his thumb.
Click...
'Half past eight, huh?' he thought while closing it again and slipping it into his coat pocket.
Meanwhile, the four of them were still standing where they were before, not moving an inch, as their minds momentarily went blank, feeling the previously stifled air flow back as before as they watched the two men leave the place.
On the other hand, outside the apartment, on the terrace of a closed shop, Aaron blew on Zavi, freeing him from his restraints, and watched as he saw Zavi regain full consciousness.
"You're Aaron, right?" he asked to confirm.
Aaron grunted as he flicked his finger once more on Zavi's forehead. A groan of pain followed. "What the hell are you doing? What exactly happened to you and you?"
Afraid of a repeat of the incident, Aaron combined his spiritual energy and Extraction to create a question mark next to the number two.
Zavi didn't understand what he meant as he glanced at Aaron, who had a tense expression on his face, and told him to think about the answer to the riddle.
After much thought, Zavi quickly realized it. Yes, it was question number two, which had been the answer before.
Rhythm Mystical.