“A book?”
“It’s a sort of prayer book. I’m sure it’s somewhere in this room, but I cannot find it.”
When she saw him earlier, he said something like a prayer. Sally shuddered, wondering if Mr. Henry was actually a cultist.
“Hm… What does it look like?”
“It’s as large as my hand and the cover is made of leather. The stars… are hand-drawn.”
At the end of his sentence, Mr. Henry stood quietly with his arms folded. It seemed he wanted her to find the book quickly. Does he not even remember where he left it?
She wanted to complain, but what could she do when it was an order from her boss? Sally calmly began searching every corner of the room. From the magnificent bed to the marble fireplace, the luxurious desk made of mahogany to a bookcase full of books with notable titles…
“Huh?”
As soon as she inadvertently grabbed the side of the bookcase, it moved and revealed what was behind it. Embedded in the middle of the wall was a small, steel safe. Sally’s eyes widened as she saw the secret safe she only read about in books.
Mr. Henry, who was behind her before she knew it, pointed to the safe. “Open it.”
“But…” Sally was very reluctant to touch the safe since it was obvious there was a password.
Henry spoke in a commanding tone. “The password is 666.”
“…”
Sally furrowed her brows. Why don’t you open it yourself? “Maybe you should—”
“The password is 666. Open it.”
Sally sighed and did what she was told. “Boss, is this it?”
Inside the safe was a small book with hand-drawn stars on its leather cover as Henry described. At first glance, it looked like a bible; however, it was too thin. Sally thought it was a book of heresy.
“…”
“Boss?”
Mr. Henry did not touch the book. He stood where he was with his arms folded and gestured to it with his chin.
“You want me to take it out?”
Mr. Henry didn’t answer. For some reason, Sally felt his eyes looked a little more bloodshot, but…
Let’s finish this as soon as possible. Sally, creeped out by her boss’s behavior, quickly took out the book from the safe. The cover felt like it stuck to her hand. What on earth?! It felt like she was touching human skin.
“Here!” She held it out to Mr. Henry, but he didn’t take it. “B-Boss…”
“Read it.”
“What?”
Mr. Henry’s gaze wasn’t focused. His voice was also strange; it seemed to hum and resound in the air.
“Read it.”
“…”
…Should she just throw it away and run? As soon as her body had a visceral rejection of the ominousness that swirled around her body, an intangible force restrained her.
“…Um.” Sally looked down at her hands. Against her will, her hand opened the prayer book to the first page. The yellow paper was filled with strange letters.
She stopped thinking.
“Ph’nglui…” Her mouth opened and strange words she never heard in her life poured out of her mouth. Her face paled. “Mglw’nafh…”
Blue energy from the book began to envelop her whole body. Sally Melbourne’s body was at the mercy of a “consciousness” with it being completely bound by an “unknown will”. Henry Jekyll Langham, or the person with the face of Eddie, smiled. Only a little more… A little more…
Bang!
The door to the room opened.
“Who are you?”
From the darkness of the hallway, gunfire flew out. The pungent smell of gunpowder burned the tip of one’s nose. Eddie quickly checked his body. He was relieved his soul was not injured.
“…W-What the hell am I…” Sally Melbourne, disconnected from the prayer, murmured in confusion.
“Tch! Just a little more and it would’ve been finished!”
Was this the result of only saying half of the command? The woman’s body, which was writhing in pain, fell to the ground.
“No, it can’t end like this!”
If the ritual fails, there should be at least a sacrifice. At that thought, Eddie pulled out a knife and was about to stab Sally when he heard a powerful voice.
“Stop.”
“…”
Eddie slowly turned around. Beyond the door, the intruder entered the room. He heard the sound of a gun being loaded.
“Don’t move unless you want a hole in your body.”
A beautiful woman with long, platinum blonde hair. Emily Carter’s hunting rifle was pointed his way. Eddie recoiled subconsciously. Damn it!
When the possessed body dies, the soul in it is also destroyed. It was no different from true death. But that woman…
He realized the woman was none other than the one brought here by Jekyll himself. He found himself smiling again.
“Are you going to threaten me when I have your lover’s life in my hands? Will you put a hole through him too?”
“…”
“If you want to kill me, then do it. But this man will also die.”
The woman didn’t move an inch. Eddie, who had been through all sorts of hardships, knew. She’s hesitating.
Of course. Even if he was possessed by an evil spirit, she couldn’t just kill her lover. Haha. With an evil laugh, he lifted the knife.
Bang!
The sound slammed into his eardrums… He felt a very intense pain in his chest.
“Ugh…”
Did she shoot her lover to save a hotel employee? The moment Eddie looked down at his body, he got his answer.
“Did you actually think I would kill Mr. Henry?”
Eddie’s eyes widened as he saw a sleeping dart stuck in his chest. Feeling the connection between his host and himself quickly fade, the evil spirit had an epiphany.
“Hahahaha! You’ve made a big mistake!”
A mistake that newcomers often make. There were cases where sleeping darts were used to save people possessed by evil spirits. The host’s life may be preserved, but the problem was what happened to the people around the evil spirit who was released. Unlike a spirit trapped in a human body that had limited willpower, the evil spirit was able to maintain its existence without the need for a host. In the end, it was going to make a bystander go crazy and die a terrible death.
“You don’t know what a free monster will do!”
The connection between Eddie and Mr. Henry was completely severed. The moment Henry Jekyll fell to the floor like a ragdoll, a black shadow came out of his body.
“Aaaah!” The demon Eddie, fully formed, screamed and ran toward Emily.
In her calm mind, she heard an old whisper.
“My apostle, Emily Carter.”
“Your spirit…”
She stared straight ahead. With an indifferent look, she murmured, “If you want to try, go ahead.”
…It will not be easy. She swallowed those last words.
***
A few hours ago.
I was heading to Room 333 in a hurry. Because… Eddie’s ghost wasn’t the only one there. Jimmy gave me new information, which he found out through other guests. In addition to ghosts, strange phenomena occurred.
“The room lights flicker, turn off and on, and the door opens and closes on its own. Sometimes things float in the air.”
The moment I heard it, I recalled a term I heard in my previous life: poltergeist. It simply referred to ghosts that caused supernatural, physical disturbances. If I was right, Eddie, or Edward, was the main culprit. Then, if he really gained that power from the Book of Eibon… Mr. Henry’s life could be in danger. As soon as I realized that, I headed straight to Room 333.
Here it was. I used the key given to me by Mr. Graham.
Squeak.
When I opened the door and entered, Room 333 was more normal-looking than I thought. Was it really the same as any other room? I looked around it eagerly. The bed, table, bookcase… I even crawled into the fireplace and searched it.
I didn’t see anything. I thought the key to the solution might be hidden in this room. However, at the moment, I couldn’t be sure. Eddie, who Sally Melbourne met, hadn’t appeared.
In that case. It might be best to attack as soon as he appeared. I took out a special item from my inner coat pocket. It looked like a normal makeup compact, but…
It was actually a Migo Detector.
In executing the orders of the King in Yellow, I met numerous races and demons. In the process, I obtained objects that were difficult to understand by human reason. This was one of them. It was a machine that detected unknown mysteries humans couldn’t recognize and immediately signals its owner.
“Where should I put this?” After pondering for a while, I put the detector on the dresser. It blended in with the other makeup items.
I left Room 333 after that.
Once I returned to my room and finished the preparation to face Eddie, I lay down on the bed. I intended to only do it for a few minutes. When did I start to feel this tired? I fell asleep without realizing it.
Time passed.
Ring, ring! Ring, ring!
It was 3 A.M. when I woke up from a loud alarm. I turned on the light, and red letters appeared on the white walls like they were written in blood.
It was a warning.
[An evil spirit has been detected.]
“…Finally.”
I rushed out of the room.
