The Eldritch Files

The voice was deep and powerful, shouted with a rhythmic cadence. Accompanied by the heavy stomping of feet, it had a rustic and ancient quality.

It was like the Fishing Songs sailors would sing as they set out from port.

The Spell seemed to be in his own language, but it was so ancient and strangely pronounced that it sounded mysterious and bizarre.

Han Su listened and listened, then slowly opened his mouth to recite it.

What he chanted meant ”The Gods send down a decree,” but he was so focused, his thoughts so intense, that it seemed to stir something in his spirit—or perhaps just his taut nerves—causing his tongue to twist slightly.

The moment this simple phrase left his lips, it transformed into a mysterious, indistinct utterance. It was no longer the language he was used to speaking; instead, it was faintly similar in syllable and tone to the sounds from the voice recorder.

It was incredibly fluid, utterly natural. It lacked all the obscurity and difficulty Black Rose had mentioned. With just a slight stirring of his thoughts, the Spell flowed perfectly from the tip of his tongue.

In a daze, he felt a momentary weightlessness as he recited the Spell. It was as if an invisible force had suddenly wrapped around him, pulling him down into another world.

He saw, behind layers of space, countless tall, blurry shadows surrounding him. As the Spell rang out, they slowly opened their eyes.

Han Su felt their gazes. He looked up, like an ant staring at the sky, meeting a mysterious and unknown stare from above.

Eye to eye.

An immense calm suddenly settled over Han Su’s heart.

It felt as if everything was receding into the distance. But then, a vast ocean appeared in his mind.

It was hard to describe the strange and mysterious feeling of that instant.

Han Su felt his thoughts, his very spirit, suddenly become tangible.

It was like a sea of utmost clarity. It was so clear that the ”water” itself was nearly invisible, allowing one to see straight to the bottom.

But the Spell he had recited stirred the surface, creating ripples in this invisible water and making it manifest before his mind’s eye.

He knew, almost instinctively, what it was.

It was his spirit. His own Spiritual Power was omnipresent, a constant companion, yet normally difficult to perceive clearly—until that ”spirit” began to move.

Once it began to move, it needed an outlet.

Han Su didn’t know if his Spiritual Power was stronger than others or if it was something else, but he felt a violent churning in his brain. That unrestrained ocean was crashing back and forth inside his head, churning up terrifying waves.

Yet, just as it was about to burst from his skull, it was always forced back by ”himself”—or rather, by his physical body.

Vaguely, Han Su seemed to understand why:

The spiritual does not belong to the physical world. Therefore, it can influence reality, but it is not permitted to enter it directly.

This was a rule.

But this rule’s restriction on the spiritual was broken when the Spiritual Power reached his right eye. Suddenly, a real, sharp pain erupted from the eye that had long been dormant.

For an instant, Han Su thought his right eye had exploded.

The violent impact was more painful than being punched with all someone’s might. Except this punch was being thrown from inside his head, outward.

Innumerable illusions appeared. It was like seeing stars after taking a punch, a Flashing of countless distorted images before Han Su’s eyes.

He thought he saw a Giant.

It looked just like the Giant from the Ancient Castle, only much, much larger—so large that the naked eye could not take in its entirety.

When it stood, it rivaled mountains in height, exceeding the capacity of reality itself. When it sat, a black sun covered in solar flares was blocked behind it, casting a shadow that seemed large enough to cover an entire country.

Countless people in ragged clothes kowtowed before it.

Countless strangely shaped altars were built for it; countless poems and sacrifices were created in its honor.

A mysterious and frenzied feeling radiated from those fragmented images, crashing over and instantly submerging Han Su.

But this illusion only flickered a few times before disappearing as abruptly as a power outage.

The surge of Spiritual Power that had struck his right eye was again forced back by the rule that ’the spiritual is not permitted to manifest directly in reality.’

For a moment, Han Su’s mind felt like it had been scrambled. His spirit, memories, and thoughts were all out of control, surging and receding like a violent ocean.

He could only remain frozen in place, unmoving, allowing this ocean to calm on its own.

”I...”

He didn’t know how much time had passed before the intense dizziness finally faded. Dazedly, he raised his head, slowly lowered the hand covering his right eye, and tried to force it open.

’Still can’t see?’

’But this Spell... this Spell...’

Han Su sat there quietly, but his thoughts churned like the tide, and he found it difficult to contain his emotions.

’The Spell, it works.’

’But why did nothing appear in my eye?’

’According to Song Chushi’s logic, if I can really trigger some kind of mystical power, wouldn’t that be the perfect way to prove to others that the monsters exist?’

’But now, it seems different from what I expected. Outwardly, there’s no change at all. But inwardly, according to my own senses, this head—or rather, my brain—has been completely ravaged.’

’The ocean of Spiritual Power in my mind is constrained by the rules, unable to enter reality. My right eye feels like a breach, but... the breach hasn’t opened...’

’Maybe if I can just get it open, it’ll work?’

’Should I... try one more time?’

The urge was incredibly strong, but then he remembered the searing pain and dizziness from his first attempt, and he hesitated.

To describe that searing pain more vividly, it was like being struck forcefully with a massive sledgehammer.

One that struck from the inside out.

Or perhaps, it was like some brutal force was tearing open the scar on his right eye, a wound that had been healed for ten years.

”I’m still a little afraid of pain...” Han Su admitted he wasn’t tough enough. ”So, at the very least, I should bite down on a towel before trying again.”

He got up, grabbed a towel from the bathroom, and glanced into the mirror. He saw his scar-covered right eye. Though still closed, it looked as if it were faintly seeping blood.

Han Su stared and stared, then suddenly broke into a wide grin. His mood instantly soared to an extreme high.

’My eye is bleeding. This is a good thing.’

’Whose eye, after being blind for ten years, would just start bleeding for no reason?’

’This just goes to show that the Spell is effective. Reciting it is what triggered this change in my eye.’

”...”

Biting down on the towel, Han Su sat on the stool and touched his eye. Almost impatient, like a masochist, he was about to begin his second attempt.

”Hm?”

But at that exact moment, a cold, eerie wind suddenly blew in from the window behind him.

Han Su froze, looking toward the window with a sense of surprise.

’I thought I closed the window just now?’

But now, the window was wide open. A cold breeze passed through, gently lifting the curtain before letting it fall again.

Han Su stared blankly at the window for a long, long time. Suddenly, goosebumps erupted all over his skin.

He didn’t know how to describe the feeling. From where he sat, the view outside was of a pitch-black night sky, punctuated only by the scattered lights of the city and eerie neon signs.

And yet, he suddenly felt as if something was watching him. A bone-chilling sensation crept over him, and he shot to his feet.

The feeling was disturbingly similar to when the monsters in the Ancient Castle had their eyes on him.

He was familiar with this feeling.

’But this is reality, the here and now...’

’No, I celebrated too soon...’

He stood stunned for a moment before suddenly remembering what Black Rose had warned him about.

’A fake Spell isn’t scary.’

’What’s scary is if it’s real. In that case, whether you can activate anything is uncertain, but the person who recites the Spell for the first time will definitely face some kind of change.’

’Or perhaps, a crisis born from having one’s life forcibly twisted.’

’Or... the attention of some unknown entity?’

”Sigh...”

The night grew deeper and the surroundings fell silent. Han Su sat quietly, his eyes fixed on the window.

The unsettling feeling in his heart grew stronger and stronger, as if some kind of monster was clinging to the other side of the window, ready to climb in at any moment.

In the Ancient Castle, the monsters were visible. When Han Su saw them, he could at least think rationally—run, or hide. But this time, he was encountering something like that in reality, in the ”present.”

Han Su couldn’t see it, but he could feel something approaching, something taking effect. Knowing it was there but being unable to see it created a tension that made his whole body go stiff.

RING RING!

As he was focused on high alert, his phone suddenly rang. In the dead silence, it made Han Su jump.

The unsettling feeling in his heart was instantly broken. For a dazed moment, he wondered if it had all been his imagination.

He looked down. It was Xu Ji.

”Old Han, Old Han?”

He answered the call, and a voice immediately cried out from the receiver, ”Help me...”

Hearing Xu Ji’s cry, Han Su shot to his feet with a start. ”What’s wrong?”

Xu Ji’s voice immediately came through the receiver: ”There are too many pretty girls here! I can’t handle them all, I need you to come take a couple off my hands...”

”?”

Han Su was stunned for a few seconds before he realized what was happening. He furiously wanted to smash the phone.

He gritted his teeth. ”That idiot!!”

”...”

But just then, Xu Ji’s voice came through the phone again. ”Haha, just kidding. I’m right downstairs. Come on down...”

”Fine!”

Han Su walked to the window and glanced down, then ordered coldly, ”Stay right there. Don’t move. I’m getting a knife!”