Chapter 022 - Moonlit Mirage 09

  I knew exactly what this meant.

  Yangjin had flayed part of someone’s skin and draped it over herself like a grotesque trophy.

  It also meant that any one of us—127 people in total—could be next.

  The first person she approached was a short-haired girl in a sports jacket. Despite the suffocating tension in the air, she remained unnervingly calm. Without hesitation, she picked up a few items from her belongings and held them out.

  “Will these do?”

  In her hands were an assortment of objects—a small rattle drum, a tanned leather rope, a long, worn blanket, and a flag darkened with age.

  Yangjin’s bony fingers ghosted over them, pausing on the black flag. Her nails, sharp and yellowed, scraped lightly against the fabric as she examined it. A slow, thoughtful hum rattled in her throat.

  “This isn’t my skin,” she murmured, her voice as brittle as dried leaves. “But it’s close enough. I’ll take it. Hahaha!”

  The moment the words left her lips, the black flag crumbled into nothing, vanishing as if it had never existed.

  Without another word, she hopped past the short-haired girl and landed in front of her next target.

  The girl exhaled sharply, her shoulders sagging in relief.

  The next unfortunate soul was a broad-shouldered man with a buzz cut, gripping a small, leather-sheathed knife. His knuckles turned white around the handle as he swallowed hard.

  “I... I only found this…” he stammered.

  Yangjin tilted her head, her hair shifting slightly, but never enough to reveal the eyes hidden behind the dark curtain of strands. She studied him for a beat before a raspy giggle clawed its way from her throat.

  “Not my skin,” she mused. “But since you tried so hard, I’ll spare you.”

  With a playful bounce, she leaped forward once more.

  The next person was not as lucky.

  A middle-aged woman in a pristine business suit crumpled to the floor, her breath coming in ragged gasps. Hands trembling, she turned to the person beside her and pleaded, desperation thick in her voice.

  “Please! Give me your extra map! We can find more after this round, I swear!”

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  Her supposed companion recoiled, clutching their belongings tightly as if warding off death itself. With a shake of the head, they took a slow step backward—then another.

  Distancing themselves from the doomed woman.

  A flicker of realization passed over her face.

  A silent acceptance.

  Still, she looked up at Yangjin with one last flicker of hope. “I—I’m sorry… I have nothing…”

  Yangjin’s lips curled.

  “What a shame.”

  The grin stretched wider.

  And wider.

  Until it reached her ears.

  “Then I’ll just have to take you instead.”

  Before the woman could so much as scream, Yangjin’s entire form expanded.

  Her mouth stretched impossibly wide, the pale flesh of her cheeks splitting, revealing row after row of jagged, blackened teeth. Her jaw unhinged like a snake’s, a gaping maw swallowing all the light around it.

  And then, in one swift motion—she devoured the woman whole.

  The only thing left outside was a single leg, twitching, kicking weakly in the air. For a brief, sickening moment, it dangled there, as if refusing to accept its fate.

  Then Yangjin slurped it up, lips closing around the flesh with a wet crunch.

  A satisfied sigh slipped past her blood-red lips.

  Had her mouth looked that full before? Had the color of her lips always been so rich, so alive?

  The air grew heavy with silence.

  No one moved.

  No one spoke.

  The only sounds were the hushed, trembling voices of those still being questioned, their fates hanging by a thread.

  Yangjin’s game continued. She moved swiftly, her gaze flicking from one person to the next. By now, I had confirmed her pattern.

  If you had a leather object, you lived.

  If you didn’t, you died.

  The air grew thick with the scent of fear. More and more people screamed, their voices cut short as Yangjin made her selections. The living averted their gazes, unable to bear the sight of what happened to the unlucky ones.

  After making a full circuit around the third floor, Yangjin paused, as if admiring her handiwork. She stretched lazily, satisfied.

  And then—she bounced down to the second floor.

  Moments later, another wave of screams erupted, echoing through the wooden corridors.

  Then silence.

  And just as the tension began to settle—

  That eerie, grating song started up once more.

  Yangjin had leaped down to the first floor.