Chapter 196: The Origin [4]

"No, wait!"

Zoey held back Kyle just before he was going to leave.

"What? Why are you stopping me?"

"Calm down for a second, will you? This fucker..." Zoey clenched her teeth while staring at Kyle. Seeing his usually calm self turn so panicky really was throwing her off. It was clear that Seth and the orphanage were his biggest weaknesses.

It was in such moments that he would turn from one of the stars of the department to a liability.

"You need to relax. I can see why you’d think there’s some sort of link, but we don’t know the full story just yet. Let’s look for more clues before we decide. Whatever the case is, the Guild is already on its way. By the time we get there, they should already be at the orphanage."

It was only after Kyle heard Zoey’s words that he managed to calm himself down. Taking a few deep breaths, his gaze regained its usual calm.

"You’re right. You’re right..."

Even he was starting to feel that his actions were inappropriate.

But this wasn’t something he could control.

This was his family. His only family.

He... couldn’t let anything happen to them.

"Alright, it looks like you’ve calmed down a bit. Let’s look a little bit more and figure out exactly what happened."

"...Okay."

Kyle nodded, and the two began looking around again.

"Rushing won’t do us any good."

As she looked around, Zoey began to talk.

"We’ve yet to have any real evidence that this person is involved with the situation. While it is true that he’s a cartoonist and his child is at the orphanage, that still won’t explain a lot of things. Like..."

Zoey paused as her fingers brushed against a particular frame. Lifting it, she stared at the plaque inside — an award titled

[Cartoon of the Year Award]

.

Staring at it for a brief moment, she placed it back down.

"...Like how Mr. Jingles came to be."

Kyle’s movements stopped in that moment.

Closing his eyes, he nodded.

"You’re right."

There was no real reason for him to react so nervously upon making that discovery. Anomalies weren’t just mindless manifestations of resentment. While their origins were often rooted in lingering resentment and grudges, this situation, when examined closely, lacked any true resentment at its core.

"Why would a cartoon try to haunt the people of this town? Why is it trying to get the people into the cartoon? For what reason? Why...?"

Questions, questions, questions.

If there was one thing that the two had learned in their years of experience, it was to always ask questions.

Anomalies were like mysteries.

Aside from their rules, one needed to figure out their roots in order to get a better idea of how to contain them.

Ultimately, once the root cause of an anomaly was identified, dealing with it became significantly easier.

"Hm, this is?"

Picking up another frame, Zoey caught a glimpse of the man in question standing with another man. Both were smiling for the camera, but the contrast between them was stark. Unlike James, the other man appeared cheerful and sharply dressed, his neatly combed brown hair adding to his polished look.

Zoey took a picture of the frame, using the Guild to see if she could get any information about the other man.

But just as she entered her search, she paused.

"Zoey..."

Kyle’s voice was soft, but there was a certain alarm to it that made her raise her head.

It was there that she saw him holding onto a certain leather diary.

Reading its contents, Kyle’s face grew extremely serious.

"What?"

Seeing him like this, even Zoey became curious as she walked up to him and leaned over to catch a glimpse of the diary.

The moment she did, however, her breath paused.

"This..."

"I know."

Kyle muttered, his lips pressing together tightly.

"...This just turned a lot more complicated."

[I had no choice.]

[...It was all for my son.]

[I stole because I wanted to help my son.]

***

Tap. Tap. Tap.

The rain tapped against the glass window, the rapid rhythm echoing so fast it nearly matched the beat of my heart, as the surroundings were shrouded in darkness.

I couldn’t see a thing.

However, in a single brief moment, when lightning flashed across the sky, I caught sight of everyone’s faces.

They were all smiling.

’O-oh, shit...’

My legs trembled, and my entire body felt extremely heavy.

I was paralyzed with fear.

’No, I have to leave... I have to run.’

As if my body finally started to listen to me, I turned around and made my way out of the place. I wanted nothing more than to look for Chris, but in the darkness, I couldn’t see anything at all.

I even thought about pulling the flashlight from my phone, but it was too late.

I could feel movements from all around me.

My skin crawled, and a shadowy figure appeared before me.

"Help me get out of here."

Although I couldn’t see what the Dreamwalker was doing, I could tell that it was dissatisfied with me. However, in the end, it still decided to move as it moved ahead of me and blocked anyone from approaching me.

I took the chance to run.

Having lived here for most of my childhood, I knew where everything was.

Light or not, it didn’t matter to me as I quickly moved towards the second-floor stairs.

It was just as I reached the stairs that I bumped into a figure.

"Ukah—Ah, it’s you! You made it in time!"

"Yes, I did."

It was the rat.

This was the plan from the start.

Once the lights were turned off, we would meet at the stairs of the second floor.

"Let’s go quickly."

Grabbing the rat by the collar, I dragged him up the stairs.

"Huh? What are you—"

"There’s no time. They’re coming."

"Coming? Who...?"

"Everyone."

I let go of the rat’s collar and rushed up the stairs even faster.

Shortly after, I heard his footsteps behind me, muffled but steady. Together, we hurried to the far end of the second floor, paused before a door, and stepped inside.

"You still haven’t told me what is going on? Why are we here? What is—"

"We were right. Mr. Jingles has already influenced everyone in the house. They’re currently after us. I don’t know their exact power, but I doubt I’d be able to do a single thing to them. Maybe you might, but I’m not entirely sure."

This was a lie.

I could already tell that the Dreamwalker had been overwhelmed by the people. I had no choice but to recall it before it was too late.

"....."

The rat’s movements paused, digesting all of the information before his usually serene face turned serious.

"In that case, why are we here? Aren’t we in a dead corner? If they come to us then..."

"I wouldn’t have gone here if I didn’t have a plan."

I looked around and switched on the lights, only to remember that all electricity had been turned off. In the end, I managed to take out a small flashlight from one of the drawers and flashed it around the room. The room wasn’t large, about half the size of mine and Kyle’s. The decorations were simple, but as I scanned the space, my eyes eventually settled on the window.

As if noticing my expression, the rat’s face changed subtly.

"Don’t tell me you’re thinking of jumping."

"No, I’m not."

I moved towards the window and opened it while looking around.

"Then what are you planning on doing?"

"....."

I didn’t answer the rat and just looked around.

I could hear the muffled sound of footsteps coming from the outside door.

’They’re coming.’

Fixing my gaze on a particular spot, my eyes brightened as I turned toward the rat. But the moment I did, I noticed him frozen in place, his eyes locked on the bed.

"Myles...?"

Silence.

"Myles?"

Calling his name again, I was met with silence, a sinking feeling settling into my chest as I slowly turned my head toward where he was staring.

That’s when I spotted the edge of a yellow cloth, lying plainly on the bed, and my eyes widened in shock.

"———!"

...Fuck!

Tatatata~

A familiar chime echoed through the air, and the rat slowly shifted his gaze toward me, raising his phone just enough for me to catch a glimpse of the clown on the screen.

A bright smile greeted me.

Shortly followed by a squeaky voice.

"Why hello there! Where might you be going...?"