‘Wait, wait, wait…’
Staring at the recording in front of me, I didn’t know how to react. What did I just witness?
My eyes weren’t deceiving me, right?
This was… without a doubt the Twisted Man.
Staring at the horrifying figure that still haunted me in my sleep at times, I found myself swallowing nervously. From the all too familiar top hat, to the suit, and its long and lanky body that I could never forget about.
‘Yes, there’s no mistaking it… It really is the Twisted Man.’
I replayed the scene from the video in my mind, my heart lodged in my throat as a slow, creeping realization began to take hold.
The Twisted Man…
It was a man-made anomaly.
‘This…’
Something like this was possible?
Staring at the white garbed figures that were present within the tape, I found the sense of unease grow. This especially grew more pronounced when my eyes fell on a certain figure within the circle.
It was clear the figure was a woman, and remembering the previous tape, I recalled how the man inside the circle had been desperately staring toward her.
It didn’t take a genius to understand what had happened.
‘That woman and the man know each other. Most likely, the woman had some sort of involvement in how he found himself there, which in turn resulted in him becoming the Twisted Man.’
If I had to guess who the woman was, it would almost certainly be the old woman. Thinking back to her words about her husband, how he never returned after that trip, and realizing that the very man trapped within the circle was him… I knew without a shadow of a doubt that my theory was correct.
But that still raised a few questions.
‘Who are the people in white? Are they… possibly related to the same cult that I’m thinking of? It’s obvious the old lady is affiliated with them, and they are the ones behind the Twisted Man. But… What is their goal? And what about her second husband? How was he related to all of this? Could it be that he had also been turned into…’
My thoughts paused there.
Suddenly, taking out my phone and opening up the file related to the Twisted Man, my eyes paused on the number of incidents that the Guild suspected were all related.
In total, there were seven incidents…
Each on different island, with the case being the exact same each time.
‘Single two-story house. Attack when there’s only one person. Most attacks occur on the second floor.’
As I read the words carefully and took in the situation, a tangle of thoughts swirled through my mind. But gradually, as I recalled everything I had experienced lately, the once-scattered pieces began to fall into place.
‘Right, why didn’t I think about it before?’
It came as like a sort of eureka moment.
I thought about the layout of each house and the victims. Single two-story house with a single person. What other place was like that?
It was the old woman’s house!
‘Even if the old woman and the people she’s working with have full control of the anomaly, what they don’t have full control of is the hatred it has towards the one responsible for its creation. What if the reason why it haunts people with such criteria is because it’s trying to display the resentment it has for the old woman?’
Whoever the victims were, the Twisted Man killed them with the thought of killing the woman.
While I was still unsure about the reason for the poem and why the Twisted Man loved to play, I was certain that I was headed in the right direction with my thoughts.
‘Yes, it all makes sense…’
As more and more dots started to connect with one another, there was still one question that lingered at the back of my mind.
The second husband…
What exactly happened to the second husband?
Did he meet the same fate as the first husband? In that case… My thoughts paused as a horrifying theory struck me.
There were two Twisted Men?
The thought of another Twisted Man lurking around somewhere made me grow tense. But that was only for a brief moment as I suddenly looked back towards the information within my phone, and my eyes paused on the number of cases.
‘Seven cases, seven different islands…’
Covering my mouth, I shook my head.
‘No, I’m overthinking. It’s probably the Twisted Man moving between the islands. There’s no way. There’s absolutely no way that there existed seven Twisted Men. Absolutely no way—’
Flick!
Jolting me out of my thoughts was the sound of the television closing as the room suddenly plunged into darkness. But not for long, as a dim light cast right behind me, illuminating the area in front of me, faintly.
My entire body locked in place as the light swayed slowly to the right, then to the left. I watched, paralyzed, as my shadow shifted with it… along with the shape of a head leaning out just above my right shoulder.
“———!”
I nearly jumped out of my skin, every nerve screaming, but somehow I kept silent, barely. My breath caught as I slowly turned my head, dread crawling up my spine.
A pair of hollow, empty eyes stared straight into mine.
‘…Ah.’
The sound nearly slipped from my mouth, but I just barely kept myself from muttering them. I staggered back, every inch of my body trembling as a cold shiver gripped my bones and my thoughts became a jumbled mess.
But then, a voice echoed.
It was a hoarse, grainy rasp that seemed to drag itself across the walls, almost as if someone was scraping them with long and sharp nails.
“So you managed to find this place.”
She lifted her thin hand and held the lamp out in front of her, its dim glow revealing the lines and creases of her aged face as she peered at me from behind the light.
“…I did suspect that you might find this place, but I didn’t think you’d actually be able to. I’m starting to grow curious.”
Her head cocked slightly.
“How did you manage to find this place?”
Silence filled the room shortly after her words echoed. The thought of answering her never crossed my mind.
I knew all too well that this could very well be a trap to get me to speak.
‘If the Twisted Man is indeed here, then all it will take is one single word for me to meet my end. I’m not going to fall for it.’
“Hhm? You’re not much of a speaker, are you?”
Her lips slowly curled into a smile, but it was then that I noticed her mouth was completely devoid of teeth.
“…Well, it is of no issue.”
The old woman’s attention turned towards the marking on the floor as she tapped her foot lightly.
“Now that you’re here, you might as well become the very same thing my previous husbands became.”
The markings on the floor suddenly pulsed, and I felt a sudden change in my surroundings. Whatever the changes were, I didn’t plan on sticking for long as I made a move for the gap between the old woman and the house door, but…
Tonk!
My nose smashed against something hard the moment I tried to move away, forcing me back as I stared at the empty space before me.
Suddenly recalling the video from before, I reached my hand forward.
It was there that I felt a smooth and durable surface.
This..
What in the world was this?