When the braided ponytail girl shouted, all the monsters beside the dining table stopped moving.
Strange smiles spread across their faces as they watched her, as if they found her amusing.
A ghostly figure silently vanished from beside the table. When she appeared again, she had quietly grown out of the air behind the braided ponytail girl.
She was tall—unnaturally tall, a full two meters. She wore a long black dress and an exquisite top hat. Her face was blank, and most of her features were hidden beneath the hat's shadow, making her look like a mass of darkness.
Only a strange meat horn grew outward from her forehead.
The horn was a full twenty centimeters long, extending beyond the brim of her hat. As she looked down, it pointed quietly toward the floor, as if she were gazing tenderly at the brave girl.
"D-don't come any closer to me..."
The braided ponytail girl pointed her candleholder at everyone, but it was only when all the children around her stared at her in terror that she realized a monster was standing behind her.
She spun around and pointed the candleholder at the monster, shouting, "Run! Run! They're..."
"...They're monsters!"
"..."
That shout finally lit the fuse. The fear and oppressive tension that had been building ever since they entered the castle erupted all at once.
The children jostled and surged about. Some were so frightened that they burst into piercing tears, but they could only huddle together, shrinking like lambs. None of them could summon the courage to run.
The butler stood nearby, watching the noisy children.
He could have solved the problem with a single clap, but now he seemed entirely detached—as if bringing them here had completed his task.
Standing behind the braided ponytail girl, the woman in the black dress with a meat horn watched her panic. She only shifted slightly, as though letting out a laugh no one could hear.
Only Han Su immediately realized what was about to happen. His heart filled with dread as he looked toward a figure at the dining table.
"I don't want to! I don't want to! I want to go home! I want my mommy..."
"Mommy! Mommy! Come save me!"
At the braided ponytail girl's cries, the children seemed to finally remember their fear, and one after another, they burst into tears.
Of all the children, only one boy with a little green backpack cried the loudest. His wails were especially loud, shrill, and grating.
His cries seemed to drown out all the other children's.
He paid no attention to the other children or the monsters.
He threw back his head, flailed his arms, and stamped his feet, wailing and screaming at the top of his lungs, as if he were telling a teacher on someone.
Han Su already knew what would happen. He looked at one of the monsters at the dining table.
The monster wore a black leather apron and had a fat, misshapen head like a pig's. At first glance, it looked as if he were wearing a pig's head mask, but a closer look revealed that it was his actual head, grotesquely deformed and grown into that shape.
He had been sitting quietly beside the table. He hadn't joined the other monsters in discussing the children after they came in, nor had he looked at the frightened children.
But when the boy's shrill wails rang out, his body suddenly began to tremble. He slowly lowered his head and covered his ears.
He pressed his hands against them so hard that he seemed to be in unbearable pain.
A muffled groan came from his chest, a sound he couldn't seem to control. It sounded as if he were trying to tell the children to stop crying.
But no one understood the sounds coming from his chest. What's more, the children's bawling drowned them out completely, so no one heard him.
And so his pain grew worse. His body trembled more and more, his fear mounting. His piglike face twisted into an indescribable expression of agony, and his eyes squeezed shut tighter and tighter. When they suddenly flew open, they shone with a blood-red light.
Han Su couldn't help closing his eyes, unable to bear watching any longer.
But he didn't try to stop it. On one of his previous returns, he had tried to intervene, but it had been useless.
Once the Little Boy started crying, he had to get what he wanted. He had used this trick on his parents, elders, and teachers, and it had never failed.
After that, Han Su had understood that there was no point in taking pointless risks in the Ancient Castle. He had to make sure he was safe before trying anything.
"Whoosh..."
The crying continued until the burly man in the black leather apron abruptly stood up. The instant he rose, he yanked a bloodstained knife from his apron and hurled it at the Little Boy with all his strength.
"Thwack!"
The faces of the children who had been crying, shoving each other, and calling for their parents and teachers were suddenly splattered with blood.
Every cry stopped at once.
The Little Boy, who had been crying and stamping his feet, stood frozen in place, unable to make another sound. The vicious, heavy knife was embedded halfway into the wall, still quivering.
The pig-faced man's heavy panting echoed through the empty hall.
Every worm covering the Worm Monk's body had withdrawn into his robes and the wounds on his skin.
Then, amid the silence, he said nothing and continued leading the girl with glasses upstairs.
The woman in the black dress standing behind the braided ponytail girl slowly raised a hand in front of her, as if shielding her from the bloody scene.
But the braided ponytail girl seemed to have already realized what had happened. Her body stiffened, and the candleholder in her arms clattered to the floor.
All the children in the room looked as if their souls had left their bodies.
The pig-faced man had crouched between the chairs beside the dining table, as if still trapped in the agony he had just felt, unable to pull himself out of it. He looked as if he wanted nothing more than to hide beneath the table.
But the other monsters all laughed silently. They watched the Worm Monk and Meat Horn Madam take the children they had chosen upstairs, then turned their appreciative, greedy gazes toward the children left on the table.
It was as if the lambs who had lost their last noisy one could now be carefully picked over.
The half doctor, with only half a body and bandages wrapped all around him, took the boy with little glasses.
A huge, bulky monster with ghastly pale skin took the girl who looked like a doll, with two angel wings on the back of her little dress.
One of them simply rose with a smile and beckoned the children over with a finger.
The children were too far away to know who she was beckoning, but each of them felt as if she were pointing at them.
And so one child walked toward her in a daze. She simply took the first one who came near, held his hand, and slowly led him upstairs.
Even the pig-faced man, who had been in such agony that he had crouched beneath the table, silently trembling, had recovered. He slowly stood up and stared blankly at the children he had just terrified. When he saw the headless corpse, tears welled in his eyes.
He seemed to need to choose a child, too. But even the frightened children remembered how terrifying he was and desperately squeezed backward.
Yet just then, a boy with a neat side part and a tiny tailcoat suddenly ran up to him of his own accord and stood quietly in front of the pig-faced man.
None of the children knew what he was thinking. They could only watch as he became the last one the pig-faced man led upstairs.
That guy's still as clever as ever...
Han Su thought to himself.
He knew the monsters and the children extremely well.
Among these kids from wealthy families, several were very calculating. The fear and timidity of others served as camouflage for them.
Some stayed obedient and silent the whole time, but secretly watched their surroundings, as if searching for a way to escape.
Some even kept perfectly still while subtly pulling other children in front of them.
Throughout all of this, Han Su simply stood quietly where he was.
He knew he wouldn't be chosen.
The monsters seemed to find him a little off-putting. They hadn't wanted him in the first round, and even in the third round, they still seemed to look down on him. Setting aside his current predicament, that was seriously messed up...
Each of the monsters beside the dining table had chosen a child. Then the Old Butler smiled and pointed out six more, taking them upstairs separately.
Only then did the selection end. The dozen or so children left in the hall huddled together. Some let out a huge sigh of relief, thinking they had escaped disaster, while others seemed even more worried, their eyes fixed on the blood splashed across the floor.
"All right, you unfortunate little ones. It's time to rest."
The butler who had taken six children upstairs smiled as he came down the stairs and looked at them. His gaze seemed to hold a hint of sympathy as he comforted them.
"But don't lose hope. There's still a chance."
As he spoke, he gently raised his hand and clapped twice. The sound was crisp, yet soft.
At once, the eyes of all the remaining children grew vacant again. They stood motionless where they were.
Han Su stood the straightest. This time, he didn't want the butler to discover his secret—that he could resist his hypnosis.
Before you continue