Chapter 4

But I knew Evelyn's personality best.

Though she was dependent on me, she would never lie to me, not even a single word.

When the car reached the foot of the mountain, it was already 2 AM.

I found a flashlight I hadn't used in a long time from the trunk.

Fortunately, it was bright enough to see the path ahead.

The mountain path was rugged, but I didn't feel tired at all.

This was a path Evelyn had walked, so I had to walk every step carefully.

Two hours later, I reached the place called Singularity Laboratory.

Weeds grew wild all around, and the cawing of crows occasionally echoed from the distant sky.

I hurried forward and found the door was locked.

The lock was covered in rust, as if no one had been here in a long time.

Would Evelyn really come to a place like this to do experiments?

I held the flashlight in my mouth, then looked around for a stone or something that could break the lock.

Just as the light swept over a patch of grass, something shiny reflected back.

I rushed over, pulled the weeds apart, and swept the flashlight back and forth over the ground.

At the root of the grass, there was a diamond half-buried in dirt.

"That's from Evelyn's bracelet."

"How did it end up here?"

I started talking to myself, unable to control my racing thoughts.

Because when Evelyn received that bracelet, she had told me.

"Mom, I love this bracelet so much. Unless I die, I'll never take it off for the rest of my life."

Evelyn never joked.

What she said, she would definitely do.

A bad feeling arose.

Could my Evelyn really have already...

I slapped myself several times.

She was just doing an experiment.

She had just temporarily disappeared.

The lock on the door was too big for me to break with my strength alone.

The stars began to fade, and an orange glow appeared at the edge of the sky.

There was a house not far from the foot of the mountain.

Someone seemed to have woken up.

I quickly ran down the mountain and walked to the door of that house.

It was an old woman in her seventies.

She held a sickle in her hand.

Seeing me, she looked like she'd seen a rare guest.

"Where are you going so early in the morning? You're not planning to go up the mountain, are you?"

I nodded and asked if she could lend me the sickle.

Hearing I wanted to go up the mountain, the old woman's expression suddenly became serious.

"I advise you not to go up the mountain. That laboratory was haunted a while back."

"I definitely can't lend you this sickle."

Haunted? A while back?

I carefully recalled the last time Evelyn and I spoke.

It seemed to be about half a month ago.

She told me she'd been very busy lately and might not have time to call me.

During that half month, I only occasionally sent her messages.

Evelyn seemed really busy, always replying with just a few brief words.

Half a month later, which was yesterday, Evelyn came home.

I quickly took out my phone and confirmed with the old woman.

"Ma'am, I want to ask when exactly this haunting happened."

"Was it half a month ago?"

Though the old woman was in her seventies or eighties, recalling that night's events still made her lean against the door frame.

"It was half a month ago. The sound was so loud---the crying could be heard across several mountains."

While the old woman was speaking, I glanced into her house.

I actually saw Evelyn's backpack on the floor piled with potatoes.

I quickly stepped over the threshold, rushed inside, and picked up the backpack.

But everything belonging to Evelyn inside was gone, replaced by a backpack full of sprouting potatoes.

I gripped the backpack straps, trembling as I looked at the old woman standing in the doorway.

"Where did this backpack come from?"

"Where are the things that were inside?"

"Have you seen a girl named Evelyn Parker?"