The Eldritch Files

After climbing out the window, Han Su took a look and felt a slight sense of relief. The black, rusty pipe running flush against the castle wall was still there, leading straight up to the top of the Ancient Castle.

Any damage he had caused inside the Ancient Castle, along with small items like candles, would be repaired, disappear, or be moved to another location when he was captured and brought back. However, the pipes and staircases that were part of the Ancient Castle’s original structure usually remained unchanged.

Han Su had discovered this pattern long ago, though he couldn’t explain why.

’Maybe the Ancient Castle itself doesn’t change?’

He had no time to dwell on such thoughts. He slipped out of the window and began climbing the rusty pipe. For someone of his currently small stature but agile skill, this was a remarkably simple task.

After climbing a short way, he reached a window and tried to push it open, only for his heart to sink slightly.

Last time, this was how he’d climbed up to the third floor. This time, the pipe outside the window was still there, but the window that had previously been easy to open was unexpectedly locked.

Han Su hesitated for a moment, then clenched his jaw. Gripping the pipe with both hands, he drew back his leg and kicked hard at the glass pane.

CRASH! The glass shattered. Han Su quickly noted the position of the remaining shards, then carefully let go of the pipe and squeezed through the window into an unfamiliar room on the third floor.

It looked like a massive machine shop, filled with dust-covered precision instruments and components. Gears of various sizes were piled together, exuding a malevolent aura.

Many of the gears looked unsettlingly like human eyes or internal organs.

Every time Han Su saw these gears, a chill ran down his spine, but he didn’t have the luxury of wasting time on it. He quickly lightened his steps and approached the door.

The sound he’d just made by shattering the glass was obvious.

Even though thick smoke was now rising from the first floor, flames were flickering, and the faint cries of children could be heard, which in theory might cover some of his noise, it wasn’t a guarantee. The monsters in this Ancient Castle were all acutely aware of their territory.

Pressing his ear to the door, Han Su heard the faint, sharp laughter of a woman from outside.

A skittering sound echoed from the walls, as if a spider was rapidly crawling across the surface outside.

His heart leaped into his throat. Han Su couldn’t be sure if the woman on the third floor would come to his room immediately.

Thankfully, at that very moment, a loud BANG echoed from outside—the sound of a door being thrown open. It was immediately followed by the sound of stumbling footsteps running down the corridor.

’Perfect timing...’

The moment the footsteps rang out, Han Su slowly pushed the door open.

Stepping into the long corridor, Han Su saw it not far away: a monster whose body was only half-human. Its upper half was that of a bewitching woman with long, flowing hair, wrapped in bandages. Its lower half, however, was an intricate mechanical contraption like the body of a spider, and it was currently crawling on the wall.

The monster had clearly been about to reach the room he was in, its two eyes glowing with a sinister light.

Han Su could even see the joy and greed in the monster’s eyes as it looked at him, as if it had discovered a previously unnoticed treasure.

But at that same moment, farther down the hall, a little boy covered head to toe in bandages, clutching a rusty piece of iron wrapped in cloth, shot a stunned glance in their direction before turning to run.

The sound of the door opening that Han Su had just heard had been him.

He was the third boy to be chosen and brought upstairs. Only a few hours had passed since he’d been brought up, but his body was already covered in gauze and bandages, faintly seeping blood. He limped as he ran.

’The volatile boy from the third floor...’

When Han Su saw that boy, he couldn’t help but let out a long sigh of relief.

’This guy... just like before, he has to make a run for it every single night...’

He wasn’t the only one trying to escape.

As he took different routes to escape the Ancient Castle each time, he had run into this boy, also attempting to flee, on at least two or three occasions.

And he was also the boy who, during Han Su’s last escape, had been the first to die on the fourth floor.

He seemed to be a very stubborn person. His desire to escape was even stronger than Han Su’s; sometimes he didn’t even bother with a plan, he just ran.

But it was precisely because of him, seemingly engaged in a tireless game with the half-monster of the third floor, that the monster’s attention was diverted, making it easier for Han Su to escape.

For Han Su, the way out was on the fourth floor, and this half-monster on the third floor was the most terrifying one. She could crawl on walls, spit a kind of mechanical silk, and was unnervingly fast and agile.

Without this boy from the third floor, dealing with her would not be easy.

’Sorry, little bro. Props to you for being a badass, but this is useless...’

As he thought this, Han Su also turned and ran toward the staircase in the opposite direction of the fleeing boy, his movements looking tense and terrified.

The mechanical monster on the wall clearly hesitated. But her hesitation was brief; after a glance at Han Su, her eyes glittering, she turned without a second thought, her mechanical legs tapping rapidly against the wall as she chased after the little boy.

As she gave chase, a laugh like a sheep’s bleat escaped her lips, echoing down the corridor.

She seemed to be having a great time.

But she never expected that Han Su, after running a few steps, would immediately turn back. Sticking close to the wall, he followed behind the half-woman, striding towards the staircase at the opposite end of the hallway.

The Ancient Castle had staircases on both the left and right, but the one on the right leading to the fourth floor was broken. A child couldn’t make the jump. Once, Han Su had seen this gap and been forced to turn back and find another route to reach the fourth floor.

Ahead, the half-woman was closing in fast on the limping little boy.

The little boy, realizing the half-woman was chasing him, made a surprisingly calm decision. He ducked into a room on the opposite side of the hall, and the sound of countless bottles and jars shattering quickly followed.

Mixed in with the noise was the little boy’s shout, ”Monster, I’ll fight you to the death!”

”Baa, baa, baa... baa, my ass...”

”Ugly bitch, come at me!”

Han Su didn’t stick around to watch the intense battle. He quickly crossed the corridor and dashed up the left-hand staircase.

He felt a pang of pity. Putting the boy’s crude manners aside, his will to fight was truly formidable. He’d run if he could, lead the monster in circles if he couldn’t, and if he got cornered, he’d start throwing insults...

It was a shame, but he knew the boy’s repeated escapes and resistance were ultimately meaningless. The Ancient Castle had long since repaired any loophole that might have allowed a child to escape. From his fifth escape onwards, even Han Su himself could only succeed by relying on the door that could be summoned with a key.

Everything this boy was doing now only served to indulge the half-woman’s sadistic pleasure.

Like a game she never tired of.

CLANG...

Sure enough, as Han Su sped past the room’s doorway and rushed toward the stairwell, he heard a series of metal racks toppling over inside and couldn’t resist a glance back.

He saw that everything inside the room had been knocked over. The boy was using the clutter to block the half-woman.

But the woman, who crawled on walls as if they were solid ground, easily bypassed these obstacles. She crept up behind the little boy, and with an excited smile, one of her mechanical legs pinned him firmly to the floor, its sharp metal tip piercing his shoulder blade.

The little boy lay sprawled on the ground, a look of frustration on his face.

It was then that he struggled to lift his head and saw Han Su passing by the doorway. He immediately forced his hand up.

’Is he asking me for help?’

Han Su didn’t know, nor would he slow down for it. But then he saw the boy, with a final burst of effort, fling something black out of the room.

CLANG.

It was the knife wrapped in cloth.

The boy’s final gesture had been to throw the knife out...

This had never happened before.

Han Su’s heart stirred for a moment. Had the volatile little boy, seeing he could no longer escape, decided to throw his only useful tool to the one who was still running?

He quickly bent down, snatched the knife, and then accelerated again, continuing his sprint toward the left stairwell and swiftly climbing the steps to the fourth floor.

In a brief moment of relief, the scene from just now flashed through his mind.

As he’d picked up the knife, he’d caught a glimpse out of the corner of his eye: the half-monster, its metal leg pinning the boy, had slowly raised its head. Its eyes, hidden beneath a curtain of black hair, were fixed on him with a strange, eerie smile.

And under the mechanical leg, the little boy lying in a pool of blood stared blankly at Han Su’s disappearing figure. He slowly lowered his hand, his eyes filled with disappointment.

’Why are you running...?’

’Grab the knife and come get her...’

’...’