“Holloway, these things are acting weird. Ever since they showed the island’s secret to the humans, the flow of demonic energy changed, and now even these things are going crazy. They shouldn’t attack us……”
Dilaf seriously analyzed the distorted situation and proposed several possibilities.
“Did those humans do something? What do you think?”
No answer came.
Dilaf looked toward Holloway in confusion.
Holloway hadn’t moved.
He was staring somewhere.
“Boss. What are you doing? Are you listening?”
“I’m going to the basement.”
“What? Are you insane?!”
The moment he heard ‘basement,’ Dilaf practically jumped.
The basement wasn’t especially dangerous to the demons.
But demons couldn’t kill the vengeful spirits down there.
That was part of their punishment.
And also what the spirits desperately wanted.
The basement was the spirits’ territory.
Even if Holloway entered, they normally wouldn’t attack him.
But even that was no longer certain.
Too many variables existed.
Especially the basement……
Dilaf fiddled with his blindfold.
After confirming their items weren’t there, the demons had never once willingly considered returning underground.
That place held everything.
“You’re seriously going down there yourself? Our items aren’t there anyway! We already checked!”
“Evelyn is there.”
“……What? How did that crazy woman get into the basement? Isn’t the basement entrance locked?”
Dilaf was confused.
But Holloway tried moving toward the basement without hesitation.
Dilaf urgently blocked his path.
Holloway’s brows twitched in irritation.
“Move.”
Going to the basement wouldn’t necessarily put Holloway in danger, but……
Dilaf swallowed the rest.
Then sniffed the air as though searching for Evelyn’s scent and changed the subject.
“How do you even know she’s down there?”
After the demonic flow changed, even the scent Suriel had marked her with could no longer be detected.
They could sense presences.
But only within a certain distance.
“She touched my item.”
If someone touched an item connected to him, its owner could sense that person’s energy.
And this was Evelyn’s.
Every human with a soul carried a slightly different energy.
Holloway had spent so much time beside Evelyn that he recognized her energy immediately through the object.
“……What? Wait. Your item has been in the basement this entire time?!”
“I have to retrieve it.”
“M-Me too……!”
Dilaf tried following.
Holloway blocked him with one hand.
Dilaf froze briefly.
Holloway disappeared.
That was effectively an order not to follow.
Staring at the empty space where Holloway had stood, Dilaf absentmindedly touched his blindfold.
Each demon possessed an item.
No matter how desperately they had searched, they had never found them.
And now one had apparently been underground all along.
How the hell did that woman find it?
***
Items connected to demons did not react when touched by vengeful spirits.
Only an ordinary human touching them could trigger detection.
For a thousand years, nobody had touched one.
That was why the demons never found them.
Evelyn had.
Something was definitely happening inside the hotel.
Holloway wanted to reach Evelyn immediately.
But he could only vaguely sense where she was.
He couldn’t pinpoint the exact location.
The moment he opened the basement door, damp mold and dust struck him.
He walked forward without reacting.
The distorted demonic energy warped space.
Holloway was suddenly transported somewhere else.
It was a phenomenon unique to the basement.
He wasn’t particularly surprised.
He saw ‘Laboratory 11’ written on the door nearby and looked away.
Evelyn’s presence wasn’t close.
The vengeful spirits and the basement’s distorted demonic energy made locating her more difficult.
The underground complex was enormous.
A nest full of vengeful spirits.
Finding her wouldn’t be easy.
Even the demonic energy itself was distorted.
Monsters upstairs had attacked him.
There was no guarantee the spirits below wouldn’t do the same.
This place was steadily becoming something different from the hotel they knew.
Part of him found the changes entertaining.
And yet……
‘People don’t give up hope.’
Evelyn’s words echoed in his head.
‘What would you do then? When your hope is crushed and there’s no possibility of restoring it?’
‘Hmm……. I’d probably try finding another one somehow.’
‘Even if there isn’t one?’
‘If there isn’t…… I’d make one.’
Evelyn had looked full of hope when she said it.
The memory remained unusually vivid.
It was different from Holloway himself—
whose hope had been destroyed.
“Make one even if it doesn’t exist……”
A faint smile appeared on Holloway’s lips when he remembered her.
It emerged unconsciously.
―Grrrk……? KRAAAAAAGH!
A spirit charged him.
It swung a long arm like a whip.
It never reached him.
Holloway stretched out a hand.
He seized the spirit by the throat.
Then slammed it into the wall.
BANG!
―Kgh! Ghhk……!
“So you really are attacking me.”
―K-Kill…… me……
The warmth inside Holloway’s eyes instantly vanished.
His cold gaze settled on the spirit.
Then he released it.
The spirit immediately fled.
Holloway could overpower the vengeful spirits here.
But he couldn’t kill them.
That was a rule governing the basement.
A compulsion forced him to obey.
The underground spirits were extremely sensitive to intruders.
Evelyn was probably in considerable danger right now.
And unlike upstairs—
nothing in this basement obeyed Holloway’s commands.
All he could do was pray that she survived.
‘……Pray?’
Holloway became confused by his own thought.
Even the fact that he was anxiously searching for Evelyn couldn’t be explained solely by wanting his item back.
A strange urgency pressed at one corner of his mind.
Without noticing—
Holloway’s pace steadily quickened.
***
“…….”
She still has my item……
Yet Evelyn was nowhere.
The spirits wandered everywhere.
Still, not a single scream could be heard.
Maybe she went inside a room and hid.
Imagining Evelyn cowering in some corner, terrified, while still cursing viciously until the monster passed—
Holloway’s expression softened.
He touched the corner of his mouth while walking.
Then abruptly stopped.
‘……No way.’
There was one room he could think of.
But could a coincidence like that really happen?
Holloway brushed his loose hair back.
The hotel was different now.
So perhaps anything was possible.
And Evelyn herself was also strange.
He didn’t suspect her.
She didn’t seem to be harming them.
But she was definitely hiding something.
Sometimes whatever she concealed appeared to irritate her so much that her face twisted violently.
Almost like she was embarrassed by something she herself had said……
Ah.
That ridiculous face again.
She really was remarkably consistent for a comedian.
Holloway gave a quiet laugh.
“Come to think of it……”
Whenever Evelyn repeatedly pressed at empty air—
her expression became especially vicious.
……What if something she couldn’t resist was forcing her?
What if, like them—
she was being made to do things she didn’t want?
“Should I save her?”
His low voice echoed through the air.
Then Holloway stopped walking.
He could sense Evelyn clearly now.
The thick iron door read:
‘Laboratory 44.’
Evelyn was inside.
Holloway grabbed the handle.
“…….”
He acted calm.
But thick veins bulged across the back of his hand.
His jaw tightened.
He gripped the handle hard enough to crush it.
Memories of that day surged back.
Holloway clenched his teeth and dragged a hand down his face.
A trembling breath escaped between his red lips.
Even after all this time—
this place remained revolting.
“Ugh……”
Evelyn’s groan seeped through the gap beneath the door.
Instead of relief, Holloway’s heart sank.
“Evelyn.”
“…….”
She didn’t respond.
Holloway bit his lip.
Then personally opened the door to the laboratory he’d believed he would never enter again.
The stench of rotting flesh poured out.
Memories rushed over him.
He staggered.
But pressed one hand against the wall and forced strength into his legs.
Then he saw Evelyn lying on the iron bed.
Her body was covered in wounds.
There wasn’t a single untouched place.
Red energy surrounded her.
“…….”
She seemed to be witnessing some other past—
not the Secret of the Island.
Cold sweat covered Evelyn’s face.
She shifted and groaned painfully.
Holloway pressed a hand to his throbbing head.
“What kind of trick are you pulling?”
He crossed the room in long strides.
This much—
he wouldn’t allow.
Holloway gathered demonic energy into his palm and placed it over Evelyn’s forehead.
CRACKLE!
A powerful spark exploded.
His hand was violently thrown away.
“…….”
Blocked.
Clearly.
Holloway remained still for a moment.
Then lifted Evelyn into his arms.
He immediately tried leaving the laboratory.
At that moment—
Sssss……
Red energy rose from beneath his feet.
Like snakes, it wrapped around Evelyn.
The power bound her so tightly that she couldn’t leave the laboratory.
Then it transferred to Holloway and seized his ankles.
He tried throwing it off.
His power had no effect.
The red energy wrapped around both Holloway and Evelyn.
It pulsed ominously.
Holloway stared at it.
“Were these events caused by this energy?”
Energy moving with a will of its own.
Holloway’s expression turned cold at the phenomenon he had never seen before.
“Stop digging through the past without permission.”
The red energy gave no answer.
Holloway easily shifted Evelyn to one arm, supporting her butt and thighs.
Then condensed demonic energy into his free hand.
“If you won’t release her willingly, I’ll force you.”
The instant Holloway touched the red energy—
it rejected him even more violently than before.
Sssss……
Gray smoke rose from his blackened skin.
This force vastly exceeded his own.
How had he never known that something this powerful existed here……?
As the burns on Holloway’s hand began disappearing—
a rectangular window appeared in the air.
Unknown writing was engraved inside.
[(ᗒᗣᗕ)՞(ᗒᗣᗕ)՞(ᗒᗣᗕ)՞]
Holloway’s eyes narrowed.
He had never seen the symbols before.
Yet somehow, they felt as though they were denying him.
[※DO NOT TOUCH※]
At last—
it showed itself.
Holloway stared crookedly at the red energy and the floating window.
“So that’s what you are. Have you been controlling Evelyn like this?”
[I refuse to answer the question. ( ✋˙˙ )]
The sentence and picture were strangely irritating.
Holloway gave it one short command.
“Show your true form.”
[Refused. ( ✋˙˙ )]
“Let’s see how long you can keep refusing.”
He poured even stronger demonic energy into the red force.
It didn’t budge.
[Refused! Refused!]
[(●_―)–ε/̵͇̿/’̿’ ̿̿̿(●_―)–ε/̵͇̿/’̿’ ̿̿̿]
The more violently it reacted, the more the entire laboratory shook as though struck by an earthquake.
Holloway didn’t blink.
“You……”
[Refused. ( ✋˙˙ )]
The window had been repeating itself.
Then suddenly—
its tone changed into something more like a human conversation.
[I’m not leaving.]
[If you want Evelyn to remain safe, leave this alone.]
“You showed the island’s secrets too. Are you doing this intentionally? What do you want?”
The window answered with silence.
[It cannot end yet.]
That had nothing to do with his question.
[If you attack again, Evelyn will die instantly. Wait.]
[( ◦▭◦)づ/̵͇̿̿/’̿’ ̿̿̿̿̿̿̿ (˚☐˚”)/]
The image looked like someone shooting Evelyn with a gun.
Holloway’s face turned ice-cold.
He reached toward the window.
It vanished without a trace as though mocking him.
In the past—
Holloway wouldn’t have cared whether Evelyn died.
But now……
hesitation had already taken root inside him.
He could no longer kill Evelyn.
He could no longer recklessly interfere.
More importantly—
when his power briefly clashed with that red energy, Holloway sensed something.
That force contained divine power—
something even Holloway could not resist.
“Cruel until the end.”
Holloway murmured as though addressing someone.
Contempt.
Disgust.
Pain.
All flashed through his eyes before disappearing.
For the first time—
a fierce hatred toward someone clearly surfaced.
If only he could kill a god with his own hands.
Holloway looked toward the ceiling and breathed as though forcing down his rage.
The veins along his neck bulged.
But only for a moment.
He exhaled slowly.
Closed and reopened his eyes.
Then lowered his gaze again.
The hatred sharp enough to pierce flesh disappeared without a trace.
“You told me to wait.”
Looking exhausted, Holloway laid Evelyn back on the iron bed.
Then dropped into a nearby chair.
He watched her groaning continuously.
With one finger, Holloway wiped away a bead of sweat mixed with blood.
Evelyn’s battered body was rapidly healing.
“Then I’ll wait.”
Until those eyes opened—
and he filled every corner of them.
As long as it took.
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