Chapter 8
Let us turn the clock back.
Before the church doors were forced open.
Before fear took shape.
Noon in Shining City should have felt warm.
Alive.
Bright.
Yet inside a crowded café, something felt wrong.
Customers sat stiffly in their chairs. Some rubbed their arms as if winter had arrived without warning. Others quietly moved their seats away from a certain corner table.
No one wanted to sit near her.
Julia Denver sat alone.
She wore formal attire, her posture perfectly straight. A metallic dog tag engraved with the number 13 rested against her collarbone.
Her fingers tapped the table.
Fast.
Impatient.
The coffee in front of her remained untouched. A thin layer of frost had begun creeping along its surface.
“Huff… damn captain.”
Her voice was low.
“This was supposed to be my day off.”
She glanced at the window.
“And today is the premiere of my favorite movie…”
Her fingers tapped harder.
“If I weren’t assigned to watch that stupid clown…”
“…I wouldn’t be stuck working overtime.”
Her eyes narrowed slightly.
“Just wait until you show up again.”
She stood up, left a few coins on the table, and walked out.
The street outside was busy.
Normal.
Ordinary.
Then—
a crowd gathered across the road.
Excited voices.
Applause.
Phones raised high.
Julia slowed her steps.
“What are they looking at…?”
Then she saw him.
Painted face.
Bright costume.
No mask.
Grim Mirth.
A faint smile touched her lips.
“Hahaha… so I finally found you.”
He stood in the center of the crowd, praised and celebrated like a performer on stage.
Julia remembered her orders.
Report immediately upon contact.
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She pulled out her phone.
“What is it, Julia?” her captain asked.
“I’ve encountered Grim Mirth during patrol.”
A short silence followed.
“Keep an eye on him. Find out his identity.”
The captain’s voice hardened.
“And don’t do anything stupid.”
The call ended.
Tut.
Tut.
Julia slowly lowered her phone.
“Heh…”
“Even if you only told me to follow him…”
Her gaze remained fixed on the clown as the crowd began to disperse.
“I’ll improvise if necessary.”
She followed him.
Thirty meters behind.
At first, it was simple.
He walked casually.
Unhurried.
But the streets gradually changed.
Shops disappeared.
The noise of the city faded.
Abandoned buildings loomed around them like corpses forgotten by time.
Julia frowned.
“Why is he heading here…?”
Jack turned into an alley.
At the end of it—
an old church stood in silence.
Something tightened in her chest.
Turn back.
The instinct was immediate.
Clear.
She ignored it.
As she stepped forward, moisture in the air condensed rapidly.
Ice spikes formed beside her.
Floating.
Sharp.
Ready.
The closer she approached the church, the heavier her body felt.
Her skin prickled.
Her heartbeat pounded harder.
Why do I feel like this?
Julia stood before the doors.
Breathing slow.
Deep.
The ice spikes hovered beside her like loyal weapons.
Then—
she pushed the doors open.
BANG!
“Freeze! Don’t move!”
Inside, Jack had just purchased his first Talent.
The sudden shout made him turn.
A woman stood at the entrance.
Office clothes.
Ice weapons circling her body.
“Hello, miss, wha—”
Swish!
An ice spike shot past his face.
Close.
Too close.
Jack blinked.
Seriously?
He had been trying to talk.
She opened with spears.
It wasn’t bad aim.
But every time Julia tried to aim properly, her vision blurred. A strange darkness flickered across her sight like static.
It wasn’t that she missed.
It was as if her mind refused to let her kill the source of her rising terror.
A thought surfaced.
Uninvited.
If I hit him…
I’m the one who’ll be in danger.
Julia hesitated.
Her instincts screamed.
This isn’t an ordinary clown.
Jack stood there, confused.
He hadn’t even moved.
Yet she looked at him as if he were a monster.
No.
I can’t stop now.
She swung her arm again.
All remaining ice spikes launched at once.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
Jack ducked and squeezed his eyes shut.
“I’m dead…”
Seconds passed.
No pain came.
He slowly opened one eye.
None of the spikes had touched him.
“Whew…”
Julia’s hands trembled.
Why do I feel afraid every time?
If long-range attacks fail—
then close the distance.
She formed an ice sword and charged forward.
Jack flailed his arms wildly like a clown trapped in his own show.
“Wait! I can explain!”
Then—
a bell rang.
Clear.
Resonant.
Julia froze.
Between her and Jack—
a silhouette appeared.
Blurry.
Undefined.
Yet unmistakable.
“July… why didn’t you save me…?”
Her mother’s old nickname for her.
The voice was weak.
Broken.
“I’m your mother…”
Julia’s breath stopped.
“July…”
No one had called her that in years.
Not since her mother died.
Her blood ran cold.
It looked like her.
No.
Impossible.
“This is an illusion.”
“It has to be.”
The bell rang again.
Not merely a chime.
A toll.
Deep.
Hollow.
It didn’t vibrate through the air.
It vibrated inside her heart.
The figure never fully formed.
Never completely real.
And that made it worse.
Its neck tilted at an impossible angle.
When it spoke, the sound scraped like dry leaves dragged across stone.
“July…”
That voice.
Her mother’s voice.
“No… this isn’t real…”
Julia clutched her head and forced herself forward.
But fear had already reached her bones.
The ice sword trembled.
Then melted.
Darkness swallowed her.
“…What was that?”
Jack stared at her fallen body.
“Did I… cause this?”
His throat felt dry.
He didn’t fully understand what had happened.
But the answer seemed obvious.
Fear Carrier.
“I didn’t mean for it to go that far…”
He tried to deactivate it.
Once.
Twice.
Several attempts.
Finally—
the pressure disappeared.
[Congratulations! Host has gained 700 Points from your performance.]
Jack stared at the notification.
“…So terror gets applause too.”
Then his face suddenly paled.
His legs gave out.
He collapsed to his knees.
Breathing ragged.
“Hah… hah…”
“What is this?”
His body felt hollow.
Drained.
“Is this a side effect?”
“Why didn’t the system warn me?”
He glanced toward Julia.
Still unconscious.
“Lucky…”
“If she were awake…”
“I’d be the one in trouble.”
Jack forced himself to stand, grabbing the wall for support.
“I don’t know if this is really because of Fear Carrier…”
“But I need to leave.”
He stumbled out of the church.
Each step unsteady.
Time passed.
The sun disappeared.
The moon rose.
Silver light filtered through the broken stained glass windows.
Inside the abandoned church—
Julia’s fingers scratched faintly against the dusty floorboards.
Her eyes snapped open.
“Where… am I?”
Her head throbbed.
Slowly—
the memory returned.
Grim Mirth.
The confrontation.
The voice.
Her breathing quickened.
Cold sweat slid down her temple.
“Calm down…”
“He’s already gone.”
She looked at her hands.
Hands that could freeze entire city blocks.
They wouldn’t stop shaking.
Grim Mirth hadn’t just defeated her.
He had unraveled her.
He is not an ordinary Awakened.
He’s dangerous.
Her gaze hardened.
“Division 13 needs to know.”
Immediately.
And somewhere in the silent city—
a stage had already been prepared.
The audience—
was fear itself.
