The Faceless Woman let out another piercing shriek, her pale, jade-like hands slashing through the air. Every waterlogged head her fingers touched had its features wiped clean, then sank back into the river, lifeless.

  But it was useless.

  There were far too many heads, surging toward her like a black tide.

  Her supernatural power drained away in an instant, until all she could do was let out shrill, terrified wails.

  Even as a vicious ghost, she was terrified—truly terrified.

  Once fear took hold, her fate was sealed.

  The countless bloated heads tore at her, gnawing and dragging her down into the depths.

  In the blink of an eye, the white-cloaked figure vanished beneath the Peaceful River, as if she had never existed at all.

  At once, every head on the river’s surface twisted in unison. Their cold, horrifying gaze locked onto John, standing alone on the bank.

  “Uh… I delivered that midnight snack specially for you guys. It was pretty good, right?”

  “You keep your party going. I think I left the gas on at home—I gotta bounce!”

  John’s face went stiff. He scrambled over the riverside railing at once and bolted, fleeing the terrifying Peaceful River as fast as he could.

  What the actual hell was that?!

  The Faceless Woman was the strongest vicious ghost he had ever faced—and those river heads had devoured her like a snack.

  Just how many people… how many ghosts had this river eaten?!

  He thought of all those who had jumped to their deaths here.

  It wasn’t that people were too mentally weak. It was a terrifying supernatural force controlling them!

  His heart hammered in his chest. He had never imagined Blackwater City held a horror site this unspeakable.

  The Peaceful River cut straight through the entire city. No one knew how many rotting heads lurked beneath its surface.

  He had a terrible premonition: if the supernatural power inside the river fully erupted, it could destroy the whole city.

  “Thank God for the Ghostly Mask…”

  John glanced at his chest, which still burned faintly. Sure enough, the terrifying, blood-etched mask had surfaced on his skin.

  From what he could piece together, both he and the Faceless Woman had been bewitched by the river’s power, driven to throw themselves into the water.

  They should’ve died together, a twisted “you jump, I jump” farce.

  But the Ghostly Mask inside him had yanked him back from the brink.

  “You’re my literal savior, doc!”

  John patted his chest, relief flooding him. His trust in the Ghostly Mask was absolute now.

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  “I have to tell Ron about this, right now!”

  He didn’t linger for another second. He jumped back on his shared bike and pedaled away.

  “Still no signal…”

  He rode farther and farther, but his phone remained dead, completely jammed by supernatural interference.

  Finally, once he was far enough from the river, the signal flickered back to life.

  “Hello? Instructor Ron! It’s a disaster!”

  Half an hour later, John burst into Blackwater City No.5 Academy.

  “What’s wrong with you? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” Ron raised an eyebrow. He rarely saw John this flustered.

  “I’ve been cursed!”

  John didn’t rush into talking about the river. He wanted to sort out his own safety first.

  He held out his right hand. Dark, corpse-like spots mottled his skin, though they had already shrunk significantly.

  “Hmph. That’s definitely a vicious ghost’s curse.”

  “Is it gonna kill me?”

  “If you’d gotten here any later…” Ron’s gaze turned grave, and he said slowly, “it might’ve healed completely.”

  “???”

  John’s mouth twitched. Was he making fun of him right now?

  “Quit joking! This was from a female ghost, okay? A serious one!”

  “Do I look like I’m joking?!” Ron’s expression turned sharp. “Look at it. You only touched her for a split second, and your body has natural resistance to the supernatural. It’s already almost gone.”

  “Is that so…”

  John scratched his head. He knew nothing about curses, so he’d panicked that it would spread and rot him alive.

  “This is the ‘disaster’ you dragged me out of bed for?” Ron stared at him, utterly unimpressed. “Wasting my sleep.”

  “It was a disaster for me! But what I really need to tell you is something that affects the entire city!”

  “Oh? Let’s hear it.”

  John quickly recounted every detail of his nightmarish ordeal.

  Ron hadn’t taken him seriously at first—but the second he heard the Peaceful River had devoured the Faceless Woman, his face turned stone-serious.

  He rested his chin on his hand, muttering under his breath for a long while.

  “You’re sure the Faceless Woman was also bewitched? That she jumped in on her own?”

  “100%!” John said firmly. “Why else would she jump? To take a bath?!”

  “This is bad… really, really bad…”

  Ron repeated the words over and over, his face grim.

  John saw his expression and pressed, “That river’s a high-level horror site, isn’t it?”

  “I can’t even grade it. It’s definitely beyond what I can handle.”

  Ron shook his head and explained, “The authorities have a file on the Faceless Woman. Her supernatural power is roughly on par with mine—fifty-fifty.”

  “So she’s a Grade 1 Spirit Wielder level? Then the river isn’t that scary. Just send a Grade 2 to take it out, right?”

  “It’s not that simple.”

  Ron shook his head again. “You encountered her, so you must’ve been trapped in her Ghost Wall, right?”

  John nodded. If not for the Ghost Wall, he never would’ve ended up dazed and wandering all the way to the Peaceful River.

  “That’s a mental-type ghost art.” Ron went on. “Which means the Faceless Woman is a mental-focused Cursed Ghost. If she fell under the river’s spell, we can’t even guess how terrifying the river’s power is.”

  “Besides, all those heads are just the bodies of the dead. The real vicious ghost at the core of the river hasn’t even shown itself yet.”

  John’s heart jolted. The underlings alone had devoured the Faceless Woman—and the boss was still hiding.

  “Then call for backup! Hurry!”

  “I’m reporting this right now—”

  Ron stood up at once, but halfway to his feet, he froze. His entire body tensed, and he slipped on his human-skin glove, staring at John with sharp, suspicious eyes.

  “What?” John blinked, confused. “What’s wrong with you?”

  “How did you escape?”

  Ron narrowed his eyes, and a faint wisp of supernatural power oozed from the glove.

  The Faceless Woman was the equivalent of a veteran Grade 1 Spirit Wielder. Even at full strength, John was only on the level of a fresh Grade 1—he had brute strength, but no supernatural power of his own.

  And his mental resistance should’ve been far weaker than hers.

  “Uh…”

  John hadn’t expected to be suspected.

  “You think I’m a ghost?”

  “You sure as hell don’t act like a normal human.”

  “…”

  John’s mouth twitched. “If I was a ghost, would I come here to snitch on the river?!”

  “Maybe this is the river’s plot. Lure the authorities into sending more people… for it to eat.”

  “…”

  John’s forehead was lined with black lines. You’ve already written the whole conspiracy theory in your head. Why not just arrest me and get it over with?

  “I wasn’t even bewitched at all!”

  “Why?”

  “Because… my heart is like iron. Unbreakable.”

  “???”

  Ron stared blankly. What kind of nonsense was he spouting?

  “C’mon, Instructor, it’s really me.”

  John knew it sounded ridiculous, but he couldn’t exactly tell him about the Ghostly Mask living in his chest.

  “I have ID to prove it!”

  He pulled a crumpled document out of his pocket and slapped it on the table.

  It was his mental illness diagnosis record.