“Hello.” The woman smiled, her white teeth shining in large contrast to her darkened figure.

“Hey.” Sunggyu replied, continuing to keep his poker face steady.

“Aren’t you afraid? Won’t you try to run away from me?”

“Not now.”

“Why?”

Sunggyu shrugged. “I’m not afraid of you anymore. It’s pointless trying to avoid you, so I’ll just accept you.”

Something in the woman’s eyes changed. She almost looked confused. “You…what?”

Sunggyu blinked. “I’ll just accept you as you are. Actually it’s relieving. The more I look at you, the less afraid I become.”

Now the woman’s face flashed in anger. “What are you saying!? You shouldn’t think like that! I am very powerful and I could destroy you in seconds!”

The room started to shake and one of the plants in the purple and pink room fell over, the vase bursting into many tiny pieces.

“Then do it. I’m really not afraid.” Sunggyu replied, keeping his gaze on the woman.

“I’m not interested in men who surrender themselves to me easily.” The woman replied with narrowed eyes.

“Seriously? You already have three guys like that in your grasp!”

“I haven’t captured you yet. I want to very badly, but it’s not interesting for me if you are as calm as you are right now.”

“Then I’m sorry to disappoint you, but I can’t fake being scared. So I guess we’ve reached an impasse.”

The woman continued to stare Sunggyu down harshly.

“Look, I don’t know how your life was when you were alive and I can’t imagine the horrors you went through right up to the minutes of your murder, but the souls you are holding belong to my friends and I don’t appreciate you keeping them here like this. Is there any way I can get you to let them go?” Sunggyu asked.

The woman was quiet for a very long time. The room gradually stopped shaking as the woman slowly straightened up.

“Would you like to know why you are the one I’m most interested in?” She asked.

Sunggyu blinked. “Um, that didn’t answer my question, but fine.”

“…you resemble the man who me and then stabbed me until I bled out all over my bed sheets.”

Sunggyu stared at the woman, truly at a loss of words.

“I remember feeling so conflicted…that face was very handsome…and his touch made me shiver…” The woman’s gaze slowly lowered to the floor. “I felt so many mixed emotions… the pain hurt but it was also extremely pleasurable…as if it was the only kind of attention I ever received in my life…I wanted more…I still do.”

Sunggyu was quiet for a long time. “…you can let go of that, you know. Then you can go to a better place where you can be happy.”

The woman slowly looked back up at Sunggyu. “Who said I wasn’t happy now?” She grinned. “Living in this house is my heaven. I don’t need anything else except the souls that empower me.”

“But you’re hurting my friends!”

“They don’t seem to be hurt, do they?”

“You don’t know that Myungsoo and Dongwoo have been going against your wishes by talking to me and explaining parts of your story?”

“Oh I know, and they’ve been… redirected in their thinking.”

Sunggyu sighed. “I’m getting tired of talking to you. If you’re not going to let them go then I’ll make you.”

The woman laughed amusingly. “And how are you going to do that?”

Sunggyu took in a small breath and took several steps forward toward the woman. The woman’s eyes rose slightly and she almost looked nervous.

“What are you doing?” She asked with a twinge of annoyance in her voice.

Sunggyu remained silent as he continued to get closer, coming right up to her. Now she almost stumbled backwards and her back met the pink and purple wall.

“D-don’t do that!!” She yelled.

“Why not? Don’t you want to have my soul? I’m giving it to you.” Sunggyu kept walking closer.

“GET AWAY!!” The woman screamed and held her hands out. A black beam of energy shot out from her outstretched palms and Sunggyu went flying back, hitting the opposite wall and falling to the ground with a loud grunt.

“DON’T EVER WALK UP TO ME LIKE THAT! EVER!” The woman shouted hoarsely, her eyes filled with fear.

Sunggyu slowly pushed himself back to his feet and stood up shakily. “Jeez you didn’t have to push me like that.” His poker face was fading and a small smile sat across his lips.

“WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE!? YOU’RE NOT ABOVE ME! I’M ABOVE YOU! I CONTROL YOU! DO YOU UNDERSTAND!?” The woman screamed some more.

“Um, that doesn’t seem like the case right now. You seem pretty upset.”

The woman glared and took several steps away from the wall. The room started to rumble and shake again. Sunggyu had to hold himself steady.

“I’ll destroy you…I’ll make you suffer so much until you beg me to kill you…” The woman breathed, the black pupils in the middle of her pale, yellow eyes were dilated and focused only on Sunggyu.

“Then what are you waiting for! Do it!” Sunggyu shouted.

“Oh I’m not going to take your soul.” The woman sneered. “At this point it won’t be painful for you and I won’t be satisfied. No. I’m going to torture you.”

Sunggyu sighed again. “Fine. Whatever. I can take it. If you’re going to torture me, then let the rest of my friends go. Otherwise I’ll approach you again and try to give you a hug.”

The woman was stone silent for several seconds. “…fine. I’ll let your precious friends go.”

“You must really care about me then.” Sunggyu chuckled softly.

The woman remained silent as her eyes slowly closed. The light in the room seemed to dim slightly and the shaking completely stopped. Many seconds went by and the atmosphere in the room seemed to get lighter. Soon the woman’s head lowered and she swooned a little. Sunggyu thought she was almost going to fall over.

“What’s wrong? You seem weaker.” Sunggyu said.

The woman slowly looked back at Sunggyu with eyes like daggers. “I wouldn’t be talking right now if I were you.”

“Oh right, because I’m supposed to be tortured now. But you know what? My friends are fine now, so that is enough to make me feel fine.”

The woman gritted her teeth and let out a low breath. Suddenly the room’s temperature dropped significantly and Sunggyu was caught in the middle of a room that seemed to be occupied by snow and ice water.

“Just because I’m without any souls now doesn’t mean I lost all of my power.” The woman smiled slowly. “Just thinking about the ways to torture you are already giving me strength.”

Sunggyu held his arms across his chest and rubbed them. “I’ve been through my own kind of hardships and torture. Believe me when I say whatever you are going to do isn’t going to be nearly as painful.”

A small spark of curiosity showed up in the woman’s eyes but it was quickly pushed down. She held her arms out on either side of her and her body began to glow with the same black aura as before. A big rush of adrenaline shot through Sunggyu’s veins and he shivered, lowering his head.

“It feels good, doesn’t it?” The woman sneered. She came right up to Sunggyu and her black aura enveloped his body. He let out cries of pain as the black cloud left his skin prickling like pins and needles.

“Don’t resist it. Let it take over you.” The woman’s voice almost cooed in Sunggyu’s mind. He clamped his eyes shut, genuinely afraid of hearing her voice inside his head.

“It will take over you completely. You’ll become insane. Then the rest of your life will be spent in fear and uncertainty.” The woman continued.

As she spoke, a large chill ran down Sunggyu’s spine and his entire mood seemed to enlighten in a strange and pleasurable way.

“But you won’t mind because you’ll be in bliss.” The woman chuckled lowly.

A feel of euphoria started to creep into Sunggyu’s mind and body but a very small part of him kept his mind grounded in place. It was enough for him to reach into his pants pocket and pull out the object he had been carrying around with him even before he entered the house with Woohyun and Hoya.

The woman’s scream echoed throughout the whole room as Sunggyu stabbed a small pocket knife blade into the skin of his lower arm. The pain completely brought him back to full reality and he broke away from the black aura cloud roughly. Through his eyes, the room started to change in shape and color. The pink and purple lighting disappeared almost immediately and Sunggyu spotted a door leading out into the hallway.