"I can go up to the second floor now," Al said lazily.
"But before that, I should pretend to visit the cleaning tools storage. It'd be suspicious if this place suddenly became clean without me ever going there."
With that excuse in mind, he headed toward the location Harun had mentioned.
Before long, he was standing not far from a large storage building behind the main house.
He didn't enter right away. Instead, he paused and turned his head slightly.
A faint scream—raw and full of pain—slipped into his ears.
…That sound? he wondered.
His gaze shifted, following the direction of the distant echo.
There!
It seemed to be coming from beneath the ground.
A basement.
Still, he didn't move toward it immediately. Instead, he calmly collected every cleaning tool he needed, then returned to his building.
After setting the tools down, he scanned the surroundings once more. Sensing no immediate danger, a small smile curved his lips.
Then—
The air around his body distorted.
Dark mist seeped from his skin, curling and twisting like living smoke. His form blurred, edges dissolving as shadows swallowed him whole.
In the next instant, his body turned entirely into black fog—and vanished from the room without a sound.
Moments later, part of his body manifested back into solid form, while the rest remained shrouded in shadowy mist.
He slipped into a narrow gap near the ceiling—an opening connected to the ventilation system.
From there, he could peer into the underground chamber without stepping inside.
And there—
Two humans, a man and a woman, were nailed to cross-shaped restraints, their bodies bloodied as a burly bodyguard lashed them without mercy.
Bia and Mail.
They were being punished.
Scream after scream echoed through the basement.
Al watched without a shred of emotion—not out of cruelty, but cold judgment.
They deserve to be punished, he thought. But I should be the one doing it. I'm the one they framed… yet I'm not even involved in their punishment.
A quiet irritation simmered beneath his calm.
Tch… I want to vent too, but they're already in this state. Should I punish them again later?
In the end, he decided to simply watch for now, rather than intervene.
Not long after, footsteps echoed down the stairs.
A young man entered the chamber.
…David? Al muttered inwardly. Why is he here?
David's expression was dark, his patience clearly worn thin.
"Stop," he said coldly.
The bodyguard froze, then immediately stepped back.
David walked forward, his gaze landing on Bia and Mail as if they were nothing more than trash on the floor.
"I'll take over," he ordered. "Leave."
The bodyguard nodded, handed over the whip, and left without a word.
Bia and Mail lifted their heads, a flicker of hope lighting their battered faces.
"Yo–young Master… David…" they murmured weakly, clinging to the thought that he had come to save them.
Reality crushed that hope in an instant.
"Don't look at me like that," David said coldly.
He flicked the whip through the air.
Snap.
Dark energy surged along its length, the pressure alone enough to make the air tremble and send pain rippling through the room.
"I had to bow my head to that orphan brat," he said quietly—too quietly. "And this is the result of your work?"
His eyes sharpened.
"And you thought I came here to save you?"
Bia's bloodshot eyes widened in terror.
"Y-Young Master David… p-please—"
David stepped forward, grabbed her hair, and yanked her head up.
"You almost exposed everything," he said, his voice low and razor-sharp. "Do you have any idea how close I was to being discovered because of your incompetence?"
Mail tried to speak—convinced this was all Bia's fault, that he should be spared for playing the scapegoat—
But David's heel slammed into his chest.
Crack.
A wet, choking gasp burst from Mail's throat.
David showed no favoritism. His anger boiled over, fueled by the humiliation of having to lower himself before Al.
"You were told to frame him cleanly," David continued. "Quietly. Efficiently."
"But in the end, you made me suffer humiliation?" he barked. "I was humiliated! Forced to bow my head to a lowly nobody like him. You knew that! Didn't you?!"
His fury surged as he lashed out several times, the whip snapping viciously across their faces.
Not long after, his breathing gradually steadied, and his expression slowly cooled.
"This level of punishment won't even begin to calm my anger," he said flatly.
He looked down at them, his gaze icy.
"Even death would be too merciful for you."
Bia completely broke down, sobbing hysterically.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! P-please forgive us!"
David straightened and stepped back, disgust plain on his face.
"Disgusting," he muttered. "All of this… because you couldn't even do a simple job properly."
Then the whip came down.
Again.
And again.
The screams grew louder, more desperate. The sound of flesh striking stone echoed through the chamber.
Each strike knocked them unconscious—
the next dragged them back into awareness.
Over and over.
From above, hidden in the shadows, Al watched in silence.
His eyes were calm—but deep within, something dark stirred.
So that's how it is…
He's far more unhinged than I thought.
A faint, unreadable smile tugged at the corner of his lips.
Looks like I don't need to do anything for now.
With that, he turned away, choosing to return to his room rather than continue watching something so thoroughly repulsive.
Not long after, he returned to his building and headed straight up to the second floor.
The space wasn't as wide as the first floor, but for a bedroom, it was more than sufficient. A medium-sized bed had already been installed, though it was covered in dust.
Cracked stains crawled along the walls. The curtains hanging beside the large glass door leading to the balcony were torn and frayed.
Still—overall, the room was usable. Livable.
Al slowly scanned his surroundings, curiosity flickering in his eyes.
So… are there really ghosts here?
A faint crimson gleam surfaced in his gaze.
And sure enough—
Several large shadowy figures revealed themselves. A woman in a white dress with a shattered face. Pale silhouettes mixed with blackened shapes, their forms warped and unstable.
All of them turned toward Al, faces twisted with rage.
A cold gust swept across the room, heavy and biting, as if declaring their rejection of his presence.
Al simply shook his head.
"So all those horror rumors were caused by weak creatures like this?" he muttered in disbelief.
The faint crimson gleam in his eyes deepened.
His pupils shifted—from pearl-black to blood-red.
The aura around his body changed instantly.
It grew heavier. Denser.
Oppressive enough to suffocate the very air.
The spirits that had been preparing to rush toward him froze in place. Their bodies trembled violently, primal instinct screaming at them to flee.
But with Al's nonchalant demeanor, hands tucked into his pockets and a faint smile on his lips…
"Kneel," he said lightly.
An overwhelming pressure—one that could affect even spiritual beings—crashed down upon them.
Their forms were slammed into the floor, pinned by invisible force, compressed as if the very world was pressing down on them.
The space itself shuddered.
Reality quivered under the strain. The ground trembled faintly, animals in the surrounding area instinctively moving away.
A few guards working near the garden felt a faint vibration pass through them, but quickly dismissed it as nothing more than their imagination. It vanished as suddenly as it appeared.
"Did you feel that vibrtaion just now?" one of the guards muttered. "Or am I imagining things?"
"Really?" the other replied. "I think I felt it too… but I'm not sure. My blood pressure's been low lately, so I thought that vibration might've just been my body reacting—some kind of symptom."
"Ah… that makes sense." The first guard nodded. "I've been staying up late recently. Maybe I've got low blood pressure too, haha."
"Hehe." The other guard laughed softly, then glanced toward Al's building. "By the way, I heard that kid is staying there instead of the main residence—and starting tonight, too."
"Yeah, I heard the same thing." The other guard shuddered. "Poor kid. Out of all the buildings, he had to stay in that place."
An uneasy chill crept over both of them as the horror-filled rumors surrounding that building surfaced in their minds.
Meanwhile, inside the room—
The spirits had already been crushed.
Reduced to nothing but drifting particles of dark energy.
Al slowly opened his fingers. With a simple spell, he absorbed all the scattered energy dust into his palm.
And strangely enough, the building—and even the surrounding area—felt brighter than before.
The guards nearby noticed it too. The inexplicable sense of unease they'd always felt around this place was simply… gone.
Al shook his head once more.
"I only told you to kneel," he muttered, watching the last traces of dark energy fade from his palm.
"But you chose to be destroyed instead. Huff… pathetically weak."
He reached out, sensing the flow of energy in the air as he analyzed it.
"Just as they said. This place has already been purified… but—"
His gaze shifted downward.
"…whatever is buried beneath this building seems to be what's drawing all those creatures here. No matter how many times it's purified, new ones will keep coming."
A faint smile curved his lips.
"But I'm here now." He chuckled softly. "Come if you want—just come and be destroyed."
He didn't dwell on it any longer.
Using a touch of magic, he cleaned the second floor with ease, then sat down quietly—letting his body rest in complete stillness.