Reborn as a Prophet in a Horror Movie

#146Reader Mode

T/N: procritor said ‘here’s some coffee’ and I said ‘here’s twice the content.’ Seems like a fair trade! Double chapters incoming!

Thanks for the support! 1/2 ദ്ദി ˉ͈̀꒳ˉ͈́ )✧

#146

Seojun staggered back, his empty stomach churning with nausea. The room spun around him as he grabbed for the heavy curtain, desperate to steady himself. Unfortunately, the old fabric couldn’t handle the weight of a grown man, even a slender one. It tore from the wall with a rip, tangling around his legs as he stumbled.

Blinding sunlight flooded the room, chasing away the shadows and stabbing at Seojun’s good eye. He coughed and sputtered, choking on the thick, musty dust that billowed up from the ruined curtain. The grit coated his tongue, making him gag.

“Keugh! Cough— Ack!”

“Oh my god, Seojun! Are you okay?”

Camry’s voice came first, then her blurred shape swam into focus through the dust motes dancing in the light. She started forward to help, but Seojun waved her back, frantically kicking free of the decaying cloth. He glanced nervously toward the window, relieved to see no one outside had noticed the commotion.

“What was in there?” Camry asked, her voice hushed, still lingering near the edge of the shadows.

Seojun’s jaw clenched. A simple question, but the answer felt lodged somewhere deep and unpleasant. Instead of speaking, he pushed himself to his feet and stumbled to the large jar.

Tipping it without shattering it was tricky. Grunting with effort, Seojun wrapped his arms around the dusty mouth of the jar and wrestled it onto its side. The contents slid out and thumped heavily onto the floor.

“What is…?” Camry edged closer, morbid curiosity drawing her in.

She knelt down, squinting at the shriveled lump. Unthinking, she reached out, her fingers closing around the handle—only to recoil in horror as she realized it was attached to the stiff, desiccated body of a rat impaled on the blade. Revulsion twisted her features.

“Eek!”

Camry yelped in disgust, flinging the knife away. It clattered against the floorboards as she shuddered violently. She rubbed her palms frantically against her clothes, as if trying to scrub away the very memory of touching the grisly object.

“Why would someone hide a knife in there? With that… that disgusting thing?” Camry said, still looking thoroughly grossed out.

“I… I have no idea either.”

Seojun was basically still as naïve as a newly emerged hatchling. He’d only started figuring out how the world worked a few months back. Expecting him to explain why there was a knife stashed in a jar in some creepy haunted house was asking for too much. His troubled eye flicked between the shriveled rat and the blade, clearly baffled.

Camry sighed heavily, her gaze fixed on the knife. “Remember, Leimia said she saw a woman with a knife,” she mused, her eyes narrowing thoughtfully. “What if this is it? Maybe she stabbed someone, wiped it clean, and then hid it here.” She made dramatic stabbing motions in the air, acting out the scene.

Seojun grimaced. “That’s pretty dark. But isn’t it a bit careless to just leave it here like this? Feels more like someone just dumped it here.”

“Ah, but what if the rat is meant to be a distraction?” Camry countered, warming to her theory. “You know, like in mystery novels! They always use weird tricks to throw you off the real clue.”

“So, you think she just left the murder weapon right at the scene of the crime?” Seojun asked skeptically.

Camry shrugged. “Maybe she had a spare knife? Better safe than sorry, right?”

“I guess it’s possible, but still…”

Seojun had to admit, the skewered rat was a morbid touch. But leaving a potential murder weapon here just seemed sloppy. Too obvious. If it were him, wouldn’t it be simpler and smarter to toss it in a river or the ocean? Anywhere but here.

He looked uncertain, and Camry’s lips tightened slightly, a hint of disappointment in her eyes. But she didn’t argue further. Even she seemed to realize her theory was mostly just speculation.

As he watched her from the corner of his eye, Seojun absently rubbed his left eyelid. The real problem, he realized, wasn’t some random knife that had been left behind, whether hidden or discarded.

No, the real issue is that Leimia almost certainly ran off on her own.

The truth was painfully clear now. Leimia wasn’t in the jar. She wasn’t anywhere in the house. That last desperate hope, as ridiculous as it had been, flickered out. Honestly, it would have been more surprising if Leimia hadn’t already bolted from this creepy place, leaving Camry behind.

Seojun sighed quietly, rubbing his tired eye. He knew Camry probably just didn’t want to face the fact that her friend had ditched her. But they had searched every nook and cranny, upstairs and down. Leimia was long gone.

His strained eye pleaded for a break. Wandering around in the dark had only made his already limited vision worse. Ironically, his clumsy fall earlier had actually brightened the room, but even so, the constant strain was taking its toll.

“Well,” Seojun said, pushing aside his exhaustion, “we’ve confirmed Leimia’s not here. Let’s grab your stuff from the other room and get out of this place. You were right, Camry. No point in staying any longer than we have to.”

Camry nodded in agreement, but then paused. “Wait, what about the knife? Should we take it with us, just in case?”

“Hmm…”

Seojun hesitated, glancing back at the knife lying on the floor. Would having a weapon be the smart choice if they ran into the psycho who had wielded it before? Or would it be riskier to carry something dangerous that could be turned against them in an attack? He knew he’d second-guess himself either way.

“Your call, Camry,” he finally said, passing the decision to her.

“Let’s take it then. Just in case.” Camry decided, tucking the knife carefully into her waistband. “Ah, so this really was the last time…”

Regret flickered in Camry’s eyes as she took one last look around the room. Seojun stayed close behind her as they cautiously made their way out, moving quickly but quietly. They slipped back into the adjoining room, ears straining for any sound from downstairs.

This room—the one that had started it all, the source of the house’s haunted reputation, the very mystery that had piqued Seojun’s interest in the first place—still carried an eerie chill. Nothing had changed since their last visit. Pills crunched underfoot, the two identical bags sat neatly side by side, and the grimy mirror hung on the wall, reflecting his wary expression.

Seojun tried to push the memory of that chilling scream from earlier out of his mind. He tore his gaze away from the mirror and turned to Camry, who was slinging her bag over her shoulder.

“Hey, didn’t that door seem a bit… too easy to open just now? It felt different than when we first came in.”

“Probably just because of that other door down the hall, the one that was jammed shut with all those nails. After struggling with that stubborn thing, any other door would feel like a breeze.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right,” Seojun admitted, accepting her logic with a nod.

As Camry packed Leimia’s bag next, she flashed him a gentle, reassuring smile. Then, she held out the thermos to him once more.

“Want a sip before we go?” she asked, her voice hushed to avoid being overheard. “We need to stay sharp if we’re going to sneak out of here.”

Her tone was perfectly normal, just quieter out of necessity. The offer seemed innocent enough.

And yet…

Seojun stared at the stainless steel thermos in Camry’s hand, his throat tightening with uneasy dread. His own distorted reflection stretched across the shiny metal, a twisted face that seemed to mock him with the question that had been gnawing at his mind this entire time.

Why am I still here?

The answer came readily: To avoid the woman with the knife.

But why am I avoiding her?

Because… he had been warned she was dangerous

And why did I search all these rooms?

Looking for Leimia. Hiding from the knife-wielding woman.

No… That didn’t feel right. The sequence was wrong. His purpose, his sole reason for coming here, was the teddy bear. Not Leimia.

Sure, he was acquainted with Camry. They weren’t complete strangers, but that was about it. Getting the teddy bear should have been a simple in-and-out job. All he needed to do was find the vitamin bottle containing the bear in Leimia’s bag, then leave immediately. It sounded cold-hearted, but technically, he didn’t even need to find Leimia herself.

But somehow, somewhere along the way, his objective had changed. A creeping paranoia had taken hold, a chilling conviction that he needed to hide, to search every eerie room, to evade some faceless knife-wielding woman he’d never even seen.

When, exactly, had he lost sight of his own goal?

At what point had locating Leimia, rather than the bear, become his sole focus?

“Seojun?”

Seojun blinked, Camry’s voice yanking him back to the present moment.The answer came to him then. His gaze locked onto her, standing there with a thermos in hand, an expression of innocent confusion on her face. But that confusion now seemed like a carefully crafted mask. Every strange event, every step leading him astray, had started the instant he’d met her in this very room.

“Is everything okay? You’re staring again,” Camry said with a soft chuckle, her lips curving into a small, self-conscious smile. But as she shifted her grip on the thermos and the liquid sloshed audibly inside, Seojun felt his unease sharpen into piercing suspicion.

That rat.

The image of the rat flashed through his mind again. Dried, stiff, impaled on a knife thrust through its belly. More unsettling than any vague fear of attackers, it burrowed deep into his thoughts and festered there. That disturbing discovery had marked the beginning of this creeping dread that now reached its apex in this moment: Camry watching him, her calm curiosity feeling more predatory than benevolent…

An icy chill gripped him then, the primal terror of confronting an unknown horror concealed behind a familiar face. Like hearing frenzied scratching coming from a sealed box, Seojun couldn’t see the malice hidden within, but he knew with sinking certainty that it was there. Waiting.

“Camry.” He kept his voice soft and even, belying the panicked clawing he sensed inside his own head.

“Yes?” Her dark eyes met his, unwavering and composed. Revealing nothing but gentle patience.

If eyes truly were windows to the soul, if he had the ability to discern intent with a mere glance, he’d have been lounging on piles of cash long ago, not stuck wandering this haunted house. Weighing his words with care, Seojun addressed the woman he could no longer simply view as an ally.

“In this room… did you and Leimia look into the mirror together?”

There. A way to pry open the metaphorical box, just a crack. Just enough to glimpse what might be lurking inside.

Camry paused, a flicker of confusion passing over her face. “What? Oh. Yes, we did. That’s right. That’s actually why we came up here.” A gentle smile touched her lips, appearing genuine, warm even.

As her seemingly innocent words hung in the quiet room, Seojun slowly, purposefully began peeling the latex glove from his left hand. Camry blinked, her smile faltering as she watched him. It vanished entirely, replaced by a glimmer of uncertainty. She drew back slightly.

“Why are you taking your glove off?”

“Sometimes I find it’s necessary…” Seojun murmured, flexing his bare fingers. “To have direct contact. To feel the truth of it.”

A breath escaped him, a quiet sigh. Even to his own ears, it sounded like cheap theatrics, the vague pronouncement of a charlatan. But then his pale fingers, white as freshly fallen snow against the gloom, made contact with the cold, smooth surface of the mirror.