My Possession Became a Ghost Story - Chapter 35

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Merai led Ranon and Mary to where the other children were. This was the first place Ranon had been to since being locked in the basement. Naturally expecting to go to a bedroom, Ranon was horrified after seeing the interior.

“Good children, you’ve been quietly staying put just as I told you.”

The children were huddled together in one corner, cowering. They were frightened by the scene inside the room. Unlike the basement scenery which, though gloomy in corners, was decent enough for lodging and meals, this room was particularly terrifying.

The weapons hanging on the walls showed signs of use with sharpened blades, as if they weren’t just for display, and there was also a chair of unknown purpose. The entire room was filled with a rusty, stale, fishy smell that seemed old and weathered. Ranon dry heaved.

“Yulma…”

What was even more horrifying was that Yulma was tied up. That troublemaker Yulma was slumped over, exhausted. Fortunately, it seemed she was only restrained and didn’t appear to be injured anywhere.

“I scolded Yulma for the sin of not taking good care of her younger siblings when you disappeared.”

The director whispered in Ranon’s ear. Then she pushed Ranon and Mary into the room.

“If you act up again, know that you’ll be scolded like Yulma.”

The director’s voice still carried the tenderness of singing lullabies while praying for peaceful sleep after nightmarish nights, which made Mary want to cry.

“My beloved children, you know well how much I cherish you, don’t you? I have something to bring, so I’ll be back shortly. In the meantime, you must all wait quietly and obediently. Keep your mouths shut and stay as quiet as the dead. You understand, right?”

The director made eye contact with each of the children once while warning them, then locked the door and left the room. Ranon confirmed that the director had gone far away as the sound faded, and tried turning the doorknob, but only confirmed with a clicking sound that the door was firmly locked.

Mary hurriedly ran to Yulma.

“Yu, Yulma, what should we do…”

As Mary’s tears were about to burst forth, a younger sibling from the orphanage went “Shh.” with a tear-stained face, warning her to be careful. Since Mary was a responsible older sister in front of younger siblings, she nodded and clamped her mouth shut.

Meanwhile, Ranon grabbed what looked like giant scissors or tongs from the wall. Pushing aside the curiosity about what purpose this had served to a corner of his mind, Ranon cut the rope with the tongs. After also removing the gag that had been covering her mouth, Yulma spat and breathed heavily.

“Because of me… it must hurt a lot, I’m sorry Yulma…”

“Hah… It’s not like you tied me up, yet you’re sorry about everything.”

The director had rambled on with all sorts of reasons about how Yulma was being punished as a representative for the children, but Yulma wasn’t the type to accept that at face value.

“Are you hurt anywhere?”

“No. Just tied up as punishment, that’s all.”

Ranon helped Yulma sit up. As the children gathered around Yulma asking if she was okay with concern, instead of saying thanks, Yulma dismissed them saying they were noisy.

“But is it okay to untie me? She said she’d come back, won’t I get in more trouble?”

“It’s okay.”

Ranon had just heard the footsteps of Troy entering with other people, and conveyed that the director had been very anxious because of that.

“She probably went upstairs. Maybe… Troy might rescue us.”

“That’s ridiculous, Troy? If that bastard returns empty-handed and the director comes back?”

“Then I’ll handle it myself.”

Through Ranon’s answer, Yulma realized that if the director returned, Ranon intended to use the tools hanging on the wall.

Is this crazy? How easy is it to harm someone while in your right mind? Moreover, the opponent was the director they had followed like a parent their whole lives, even if they felt betrayed.

Ranon had followed the director best among them all. Even after carelessly wielding a weapon, he would be tormented by considerable guilt.

Irritated, Yulma sneered.

“Then after that, where will you go with all the kids? To another orphanage? Or to Sister Daisy?”

“Then is there another way? Do you know what might happen to us if we stay here? Yulma, you’re smart so you know well. All the tools here have been used before.”

Yulma and Ranon had thought they would be sold. Even after being confined to the basement, meals were consistently provided and there was no physical violence.

But seeing that they were brought to a room like this, perhaps there might be corporal punishment in the future. Maybe some of the orphanage children who disappeared saying they were being adopted had already suffered this.

“And Troy is here.”

Ranon didn’t understand why he trusted Troy so much. Yulma touched the scar remaining on her arm. This wound was made by Troy. The planned adoption was canceled because of the injury, and Yulma had remained at the orphanage ever since.

Rely on Troy, who would open his mouth and shout “orphan bastard” and “this damn orphanage should be destroyed”?

For a moment, Yulma even reached the thought, ‘Did Troy act that way on purpose?’ If he deliberately returned to the empty orphanage and even brought other people, then all his past misconduct might have been intentional. Was this too hopeful a wish?

“Yeah… fine. You’re right that staying here won’t help at all.”

Still, since there was no other way, they had no choice but to trust him once. After succeeding in persuading Yulma, everything proceeded swiftly afterward. Yulma turned to the children and told them to go to the corner.

“No matter what sounds you hear, you must never turn around.”

There was no need to make the younger siblings bear collective responsibility too.

“Yulma, I hear sounds. It seems like someone’s coming back.”

Ranon stood right next to the door holding a weapon. Yulma swallowed. Soon after, the lock was released and the door opened.

***

The children thought the director had gone upstairs, but in reality, the director was standing in front of the man entangled in chains. After continuously scratching his arms, blood droplets had formed and were flowing down his arms.

“It’s already been ten days. Aren’t you hungry?”

“I’m always hungry.”

Especially now with the scent of blood wafting right in front of his nose, how could his appetite not be stimulated? Melek swallowed.

“Then why won’t you eat?”

The director tilted her head as if she couldn’t understand at all.

“I told you I absolutely don’t eat people, especially not children.”

“You don’t eat them?”

The director’s lips curved up grotesquely. Soon the director burst into laughter at that joke.

“Hahahahahaha! That was truly the funniest thing I’ve ever heard.”

She laughed so much that tears welled up.

“You’re a demon. Twenty years ago, you chewed up a child alive, enjoyed watching them burn in fire, so why are you refusing the offering now?”

When the director was still called Merai, twenty years ago, Merai was an orphan at Ainoa Orphanage.

Merai was a particularly cunning child, and the director at that time found Merai, who acted like a tongue in the mouth, very endearing.

So much so that she shared her filthy deeds with Merai.

The first day going down to the basement was when she saw that detestable child who had been bragging two days earlier about being adopted by a wealthy elderly couple, now nearly dying in the underground torture chamber. Besides that child, other children known to have left the orphanage were suffering in the basement.

Covering all the screams, moans, and gasps was one sound of laughter. The demon that the director served devotedly was smiling as if watching a comedy while looking at the horrific scene.

The director held Merai’s head so she couldn’t look away and said:

“Merai, that’s a demon who grants wishes. If you please the demon, you can receive compensation. The food you eat and clothes you wear were all obtained with money the demon gave.”

And when the one-act play just for the demon ended, the demon would tip the theater owner.

“You know well that I think of you specially, don’t you? Merai, you should help the director from now on too.”

After that, Merai helped the director serve the demon. For a full two years. By then, there was no child older than Merai in the orphanage.

The praise that seemed like it would continue forever ended when the Grand Temple began catching sorcerers.

At that time, countless people were executed on charges of being sorcerers or collaborating with them. Ainoa Orphanage couldn’t escape the crackdown either.

The director locked the door leading to the basement and hastily disposed of all sorts of materials.

“Merai, did you report this? It wasn’t you, right?”

Yet somehow they found out, or perhaps someone intended to frame her, but the director was sentenced as a sorcerer and burned at the stake.

Merai inherited the orphanage and the useless children. Because she was legally the director’s adopted daughter. Merai operated an orphanage again in that building. The children who had lost their guardian clung to Merai, who was the oldest, so she had no choice.

“I’m hungry, sister.”

“Big sister, what do we do now?”

Initially, she could manage a decent orphanage with the money the director had left behind. However, as the money gradually ran out and after giving birth to Troy, everything went wrong. The children were hungry and cold. Money was insufficient.

Merai was wracking her brains when one day, remembering the director, she tried opening the basement door just in case. The demon wasn’t there. Since he couldn’t stand boredom, there was no way he would have stayed.

Since there was no demon, Merai chose the next best option. She sold the children to slave traders.

Someone might be watching, so very secretly, without the children noticing, and to avoid following the director’s path, she even bribed and brought in temple priests with money. As time passed, rather than being an intermediary, she gained a main customer base through word of mouth.

Merai fed and raised the remaining children with money from selling children. However, the price of just one child could barely sustain them for half a year. Even that was often disrupted when Troy interfered and ruined several deals. She had never told Troy the truth, but somehow he had caught on.

When he was young, it stopped at that level, but Troy’s rebellion grew increasingly severe, and recently he had thrown a tantrum demanding she hand over the building, claiming he had borrowed a large sum using the orphanage as collateral. Telling her to stop running this damn orphanage immediately.

That wicked son, didn’t he worry about the children who would starve to death immediately without Merai?

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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