Chapter 4

It turned out that when Joyce had received my gift, she hadn't even bothered to look at it.

She'd simply stuffed it into the pocket of whatever she was wearing. And today, by pure coincidence, she was wearing the same outfit.

After my apology, Joyce and Mamie gave me a stern warning before taking Sammy and leaving. Flavia, however, wasn't quite as forgiving.

She glanced toward my camera, which had been turned off the night before and hadn't been switched back on. Then, without warning, she drove her foot into me and sent me crashing to the floor.

"They may not hit you," she said coldly, "but I don't have that problem. If you ever bully Sammy again, you'd better think carefully about how you want to die."

I'd already gone an entire night without sleep, and that kick nearly shattered what little strength I had left. I hit the floor hard enough to knock the air from my lungs, then coughed up a mouthful of blood.

Joyce and Mamie might not have been willing to hit me themselves, but that didn't mean they were going to let me off easily.

After they left, they had the staff lock me in a small room. It was the kind of place no one was supposed to know existed, filled with all sorts of dark, evil entities.

The moment I was inside, they began gnawing at the ward protecting my body. When I finally stepped out an hour later, my face was bloodless.

Fed up with this farce. I walked straight to the production office and officially tapped out.

The director didn't even try to convince me to stay. Judging by her reaction, she had probably been hoping I'd leave from the beginning.

Once all the protective charms were taken back, I destroyed them. And with that, the people I'd once protected would finally suffer the full spiritual backlash.

They had no idea what was coming. But by tomorrow, they would taste the gruesome consequences of their reckless actions.

The production team soon announced that I had officially withdrawn from the show. The livestream chat erupted almost immediately.

[Finally! That disgusting creep is off the show! Poor little Sammy, my heart aches for him.]

[The girls don't have to deal with him leeching off their fame anymore. I hope Joyce never has to see him again. He's given her enough of a psychological scar already.]

...

The other cast members soon learned that I'd left.

"Seriously?" Mamie practically cheered. "He really left?"

The corners of Flavia's lips curled upward. Even Joyce's rigid posture visibly relaxed.

Sammy burst into tears. "Now nobody will ever stop me from playing with you guys!"

"Today calls for a celebration!" Mamie proposed enthusiastically. "Let me pull an all-nighter and do every single thing he forbade us from doing!"

"Count me in!" Flavia raised her hand.

Joyce nodded, and Sammy threw both arms into the air. Behind his innocent smile, however, something far darker was laughing.

"So what if you tried to protect them? You still got kicked out, and now they're my snacks."

As they planned out their night, Mamie scoffed, "Remember when Dante claimed sleeping in Sammy's room would drain our vitality? Joyce spent the whole night there with Sammy, but hey, look at her. She's perfectly fine."

"Exactly," Flavia chimed in, rolling her eyes. "Sure, the stories about this place are creepy, but nothing has happened since we got here, right? Only that idiot believed all that nonsense."

Following Sammy's lead, they first went to pay their respects to his late parents. Afterward, they sat down together and ate the huge spread of food Sammy had prepared.

Then the boy led them through the empty rooms, showing them one after another. Every now and then, he would find something inside and hand it to one of the girls as a gift.

"See that?" Mamie raised his chin. "Dante warned us that eating Sammy's food would ruin my vocal cords, but my voice is totally fine!"

Flavia hugged a toy Sammy had given her. "And he said accepting Sammy's gifts would make me lose my face. Seriously? Does he think we're living in some horror movie?"

The livestream chat joined in, mocking me right along with them.

[Right? Does he think the girls are idiots? Making up ridiculous stories like that.]

[Seriously! They signed up for a ghost-hunting show. None of these girls are scared-cats!]

...

No one noticed what had changed.

Without my protective charms, the girls were already beginning to show subtle signs that something was wrong.

After a night of wild revelry, everyone slept like babies, but a scream tore through the mansion just as dawn broke.

The camera feed abruptly switched to Joyce's room. A white-haired old woman stood in front of the mirror, staring at her own reflection in terror.

No one could believe it was Joyce.