MBOMEN 40

Chapter 40. Secret Game (9)

The two of them turned their heads toward the source of the sound without blinking once, but there was nothing to be seen. The rustling noise didn’t return either.

Still on alert, Eustar spoke quietly.

“It might have been a small wild animal.”

But Laila didn’t respond. Eustar could tell she was trembling. And her reaction in a situation like this was never a good sign.

“Laila?”

He called to her, eyes still fixed on the half-crumbled ruins before them.

“Laila, stay with me.”

She flinched as if jolted out of a trance. A sharp intake of breath followed — urgent, like someone just pulled back from death’s door.

“It was there.”

Laila spoke. But as Eustar turned to her, she suddenly shook her head.

“No, it was there. Now it’s gone.”

“What was there? The Sync?”

She shook her head again. Her heart was pounding — so much so, it felt like it wasn’t in her chest anymore but beating right in her palm. That’s how vividly she could feel it in her fingertips — thump, thump, thump — pulsing through her whole body.

Swallowing dryly, Laila took a step back.

“It wasn’t the Sync. It was… something else. I can’t explain exactly, but I’m sure it was the ‘Tagger’.”

“Did you see it?”

At Eustar’s question, Laila frowned like someone with a headache, then nodded vaguely.

“I didn’t want to see it… it just appeared. A child. I don’t know if it was a boy or a girl. But definitely under ten years old.”

She didn’t know how to put into words what she saw. It made her chest tighten.

She almost wanted to pull her tongue out, smack it on the ground a few times, stretch it until it softened, and put it back in — maybe then she could explain it better.

But — thankfully — that wasn’t necessary. Even though Eustar hadn’t seen what she did, her reaction told him plenty.

First, there was clearly something hidden in these ruins.
Second, whatever emerged from the Sync was roaming the village.

“Laila, for now we should—”

“Wait, Eustar. Over there…”

She rubbed her bloodshot eyes and licked her dry lips.

“I want to go check it out.”

Eustar looked down at her face.

“You don’t have to push yourself. We can come back with the others after we learn more about this place.”

But Laila was stubborn. “No.” Her voice was firm — something Eustar hadn’t heard since they left Rizhikus.

She continued:

“There’s nothing there now. It disappeared. That’s why we should go now.”

She looked up at him, her red eyes silently pleading: Can’t we, please?
No — it wasn’t even a question. It was nearly a beg.

Eustar gave a resigned shrug. Then, almost absurdly graceful, he swept his hair back over his shoulder — a gesture so elegant that Laila couldn’t help but admire it.

“Fine. But stay close to me. No exceptions.”

With that, Eustar pulled a small box from a leather pouch and handed it to her.

Laila instantly recognized it — she even knew what would be inside.

It was the delicate chain Eustar used — to bind spirits back in Rizhikus, and again in the capital with his grandmother’s ghost.

“Hold onto this. Just in case something happens.”

She opened the box and picked up the chain. Outwardly, it looked worthless — thin and tarnished in spots, like a cheap necklace dug up from an old grave.

“I don’t know how to use this.”

“Doesn’t matter. It’ll work on its own without using your own magic. It has a small amount of inherent magical power. I’ve been keeping it with me. It’ll help. Just keep it safe.”

With that, Eustar began walking carefully toward the ruins.

Laila tucked the box into the leather pouch on her uniform and crossed over the nettles and thorn bushes with long strides.

Once she confirmed even sharp thorns couldn’t pierce her uniform, her steps became bolder.

The ruins reeked of dead wood, mold, and moss. Another stench — one like rotting soil — wafted up as well.

Eustar grabbed a handful of dirt under a crumbling foundation stone and let it fall. The soil was crumbly and lifeless. Nothing would grow here — not for years, at least.

“Over here.”

Laila called out, walking around to the back of the ruin, where only part of a wall still stood.

There was more debris here — fallen trees and shattered furniture strewn about like a battlefield.

“This is where it was? The Tagger?”

She nodded.

“Yes. It was here, I’m sure of it. But now… I don’t feel anything. Just that awful smell.”

“Do you see what might’ve caused this?”

She glanced around, but there was nothing to see.

Could one even perceive the “memory” of something non-living? Eustar insisted it was possible — but Laila shook her head.

“I can’t see anything.”

Eustar let out a quiet sound — half sigh, half groan — and took a few steps toward what must’ve once been a backyard.

The moment she saw his back, Laila once again felt as if her heart had been moved to her palm. The hairs on her neck and back stood on end.

Something was behind them.

She swallowed a scream and whirled around. Her foot caught on a half-buried piece of wood and she almost fell — but that didn’t matter.

“Eustar.”

Her breathing grew ragged. He didn’t respond — maybe her voice was too soft, or maybe he was too focused.

“Eustar, look — over there.”

When she raised her voice slightly, Eustar finally turned. And in that moment, he felt the same thing she had — fear.

People were standing among the dead trees. Faces twisted in painful smiles, shoulders twitching like they wanted to flee, bodies swaying.

But none of them moved. It was as if their feet had been fused to the ground.

Laila recognized one of them — a woman whose headscarf had slipped halfway down her face.

The feeling of a rotten apple falling from her basket suddenly came alive in Laila’s hands — so vivid, she thought she was actually holding it.

“That woman…”

Laila pointed to the woman’s apron with a trembling voice. A small palm-shaped mud print was still perfectly visible on it — untouched, undisturbed.

“She’s the one who bumped into the children earlier.”

Eustar looked again. The woman’s eerie smile didn’t fade, and her fingers twitched like a broken wind-up doll.

“Can you see it, Laila? They all have… handprints.”

Laila’s eyes scanned left to right, then back again.

He was right. Every one of them had muddy handprints. The locations varied, but they were all clearly visible — and all identical.

“That must be the Tagger’s mark.”

Eustar nodded. Normally, those tagged would become the next “Tagger.”
But these people — like the man in the branch office — were just endlessly being chased.

So that meant…

“The Tagger has arrived.”

Someone whispered.

As they turned to look, the same whisper echoed from the opposite direction.

“The Tagger is here.”

“The Tagger has come.”

“The Tagger has found us.”

The whispers swelled, merging into a low hum. Eustar drew his sword, and Laila clenched the box tightly.

The dead trees rustled.

The people grinned even more grotesquely — lips peeled back to reveal teeth, gaping mouths like black holes.

“You’re it.”

Suddenly, a small, old wardrobe appeared before them — as if it had always been there.

By the time they realized what was happening, the wardrobe door had opened.

A child — hair short on one side and long on the other — was hanging inside, braced on all fours. It giggled.

“Come find me.”

The child’s body dropped — and sank — and vanished.

At the same time, Laila felt something hard and invisible coil violently around her.

“Eustar!”

She screamed. He reached for her hand — but it slipped away like it had been greased.

“Laila!”

At that instant, the wardrobe door slammed shut.

Then, one by one, the people standing in the forest began to disappear — collapsing like sand figures, vanishing without a sound.

“Laila! Damn it, Laila!”

Eustar yanked on the wardrobe door and kicked it, but it wouldn’t budge.

Just as he raised his sword to break the handle, the wardrobe vanished from sight — gone in a blink.

The blade dropped to the soil with a dull thunk.

Staring blankly at the empty ruins, Eustar cursed under his breath.