A mask… a beautiful smiley mask.

  But the reality behind it was just as disgusting.

  Six years ago, terror had ruled the city— the terror of a serial killer known as the Smiley Mask Murderer.

  That mask was their identity… their signature.

  The moment Ira and Aditya saw the mask, the image of their parents’ lifeless, peaceful faces appeared before their eyes—the same mask that had been found near them that night.

  The moment Ira touched the mask, she stood up abruptly and held onto Aditya’s arm from behind.

  Her touch brought Aditya back to reality. He swallowed his rage.

  Rivan opened the chest kept downstairs. It was covered in dust—clearly untouched for years.

  The contents raised countless questions in everyone’s mind.

  Inside were clothes… several Kitsune masks… half-burnt paintings… and at the very bottom—a knife, and many other things.

  Aditya fell to his knees and began examining everything. That’s when he noticed a DVD buried beneath all the items. A piece of paper was stuck to it, bearing the same date from six years ago—the day his parents were murdered.

  He glanced at the DVD once, then looked at Aniket, as if questioning him silently:

  He stood up, went into the other room, removed the DVD already inside the player, and inserted this one instead. One by one, everyone followed him into the room.

  As the DVD started playing, their eyes widened in disbelief.

  On the screen stood a woman wearing a mask outside Aditya’s house—and that mask was the smiley mask. It didn’t take them long to realize… This was the Smiley Mask Murderer.

  Before ringing the doorbell, she looked straight into the camera and made a heart gesture, as if expressing her love for the person who would eventually watch this video.

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  Then she pulled out five rings from her pocket. These weren’t ordinary rings—they had tiny sharp spikes that helped her grip any surface firmly.

  She wore all five rings over her gloved fingers. After one last look into the camera, she rang the doorbell.

  Footsteps approached from inside. Along with them came a little girl’s voice saying, “Now you both will apologize to my brother! Don’t say that he was late or anything else…”

  The door opened.

  Inside stood little, innocent Ira—with her parents right behind her.

  The moment Ira saw them on the screen, her eyes filled with tears. Along with the video, memories of that night flooded her mind.

  The masked woman attacked Ira first. Seeing this, her father tried to push the woman away. Somehow, when Ira slipped out of her grip, her father shouted to her mother, “Run! Take Ira and run!”

  But just as they tried to leave the house, the person holding the camera stepped in front of them.

  Seeing this, they ran back inside.

  The cameraman followed them in and placed the camera in a corner—where the Smiley Mask Murderer could be seen torturing Aditya’s father.

  He couldn’t stop her. And she seemed to be enjoying every second of it..

  After placing the camera, the person came into view, adjusting it.

  That person was wearing a Kitsune mask.

  Half of her face was scarred.

  Her hair was loose.

  She was around 18 or 19 years old.

  Her eyes were lifeless.

  Seeing her on the screen, Aniket felt a strange sense of familiarity—but he couldn’t place it. He dismissed it as imagination.

  As the video continued, Aditya’s rage grew at an alarming speed.

  Meanwhile

  When her mother was trying to escape with her, the girl wearing the Kitsune mask caught them.

  But instead of attacking, she made an offer: “One life… for saving one life, I can help you. Tell me—whose life do you want to save?”

  Without hesitation, Ira’s mother chose Ira.

  The masked girl helped Ira escape the house.

  As they were leaving, Ira’s mother made a request, “Please… never let your brother or yourself be sad, Ira! ”

  Ira still remembers when she begged the masked girl to save her parents too, the girl replied:

  “Focus on staying alive. When monsters go out hunting, they show no mercy.

  In times like these, saving your own life matters more. Relationships mean nothing.

  Save the ones who are alive and let the dying… die. If you get yourself killed in front of the monsters, who will keep your brother happy then?”

  Perhaps those words were the reason Ira always fought to stay alive.

  But today… watching her mother being beaten to death in the video, she felt regret for her choice.

  Breathing felt heavy.

  Rivan, sensing the suffocating atmosphere, wondered what they should do next.

  Aniket’s eyes met Rivan’s, and he gestured toward Aditya—who was staring at the screen.

  His eyes had turned dark.

  It felt like destruction was inevitable.

  Just then, a familiar voice came from the doorway:

  “So… finally… a beautiful dream has ended. I wanted to hide it a little longer, to live in this beautiful dream—but it’s already over.You all have learned the truth.”

  Aditya, Aniket, Ira, and Rivan turned toward the door together.

  Seeing the person standing there, they couldn’t believe those words had come from his mouth.

  Aditya walked toward him, grabbed his collar, and shouted, “You knew this? You knew the truth about that killer?! Tell me—why… how… how do you know that killer?!”

  The man standing there was Rudra, a faint, painful smile on his lips.

  Beside him stood Ruhi, who stepped forward, glanced at the video playing on the screen, and then looked at Rudra.

  Her heart shattered into a thousand pieces.