Chapter 3

Mom didn't come out until over ten minutes later. She did not lock the door, but instead, she called for the idol trainee from the stairs to come up.

I quietly inched out from behind the door and slipped into the room while she wasn't paying attention.

The room was decorated like an ordinary study. Before I could get a good look around, I quickly slid under the daybed Mom usually napped in.

Not long after, Mom walked in with the idol trainee. She told him to lie down on a folding bed on the other side of the room. Though he looked perplexed, he still did as he was told.

Then, she lit some incense, letting the fragrance gradually spread through the air.

Mom smiled and explained that it was aromatherapy incense that worked best when used together with her perfume.

The idol trainee nodded. But the moment I caught the familiar scent, I quickly covered my nose.

I knew that scent far too well. It was the sedative incense Mom bought.

Half a year ago, I was kept awake by mosquitoes in my room. So I went to the storage room to look for some mosquito repellents.

The only thing I found was a box of unknown incense with no instructions.

Desperate after being tormented by mosquito bites all night, I didn't think too much about it, figuring it was worth a try.

I lit the incense after I returned to my bedroom. I didn't expect to lose consciousness not long after.

It was still dark outside when I woke up. It wasn't until Mom came in to talk to me that I learned I had slept for an entire day, until the following night.

That was also when I found out that the box contained the sedative incense she had bought. It was so potent that a small amount was enough to knock out a full-grown adult.

I would never forget that familiar scent.

Sure enough, the idol trainee slowly closed his eyes and lost consciousness on the folding bed.

The room fell completely silent. After confirming that he was fully asleep, Mom walked to the bookshelf and pulled out a book.

Behind it, a hidden button was revealed. I watched as she pressed it.

A faint noise came from the smooth white wall beside the bookshelf, and a narrow seam slowly appeared.

It was a door.

That was when I realized that there was a hidden chamber inside this unremarkable room in the attic.

Mom came back out shortly after she went in. In her hands was a metal tray with something that I couldn't make out at first.

It wasn't until she picked it up that I realized it was a medical IV blood bag filled with dark red liquid, complete with tubing and a needle.

The entire setup looked no different from the blood transfusion equipment you'd see in a hospital.

Then, I watched as Mom hung the blood bag on a nearby stand and inserted the needle into the back of the idol trainee's hand.

The transfusion wasn't exactly slow, but it still took a little over ten minutes.

My eyes widened in disbelief as I watched the entire scene unfold.

Wasn't Mom supposed to be making him perfume? Why was she giving him a blood transfusion instead?

Besides, anyone with basic common sense knew that transfusions required matching blood types. Wouldn't this kill him?

Everything around me seemed like nothing was out of the ordinary, yet cold sweat broke out across my back.

The blood bag ran empty ten minutes later. Mom removed the needle and carefully cleaned the back of the idol trainee's hand.

She used just the right amount of incense. Before long, he slowly began to stir.

I stared at the idol trainee as he stood up and took Mom's hand to thank her. He didn't seem uncomfortable in the slightest.

Moments later, she escorted him out.

Every logical part of me screamed that none of this was normal.

Once I made sure the room was empty, I hurried out from under the bed and tried the door, only to realize Mom had locked it.

Through the window, I saw the wealthy socialite lead the idol trainee into a car in the courtyard. I knew Mom would be back any second, so I quickly scrambled back under the bed.

Sure enough, she came back shortly after and went back into the hidden chamber, staying in until the night.

The time on my phone showed a little past 8:00 pm when Mom finally left the attic. She'd usually go back to rest in her bedroom at this hour.

I couldn't leave as the door to the study was still locked from the outside. I had no choice but to text her, telling her I'd be staying over at a classmate's house.

Mom's short reply came almost instantly. "Okay."

Once I was done with texting her, I looked over to the hidden chamber. I reached out to remove the book from the shelf, my hand trembling as I pressed the button.

The door to the hidden chamber slowly slid open, and a wave of fragrance mixed with a rotten stench rushed out. The cloyingly sweet scent mixed with the foul odor was somehow even more nauseating than the foul odor alone.

I couldn't help but gag several times.

Unable to see things clearly in the dark, I dug out my phone and turned on the flashlight.

The light illuminated the interior of the chamber. I took one glance and froze.

The dimly-lit chamber was covered in a thick layer of soil. Right in the center grew a plant about half my height, with a grayish-green stalk and oversized leaves veined with black streaks.

A dark purplish-black flower bloomed at the top, its bloated petals looking like slabs of rotten meat. They reminded me of the man-eating plant from the game Plant and The Undead.

Its roots stretched long, bulging up from the soil and spreading toward the edges of the chamber. Along each wall of the room sat a long container, where its roots had crawled into each of them.

And in the farthest corner of the chamber lay an iron cage, with something trapped inside. It let out a weak sound when I stepped in.

I aimed my phone's flashlight at the cage and slowly inched closer.

It looked like a person.