Chapter 22: The Boar‑Head Monster
The Pony‑tailed Girl shouted loudly, and the monsters around the dining table all stopped moving.
Each monster wore a strange smile, as if they found Pony‑tailed Girl amusing.
A ghostly figure silently vanished from the side of the dining table, and reappeared behind Pony‑tailed Girl, emerging quietly.
She was strikingly tall—over two meters—wearing a long black dress, with an elegant top hat on her head.
Her face was hollow; most of her features were hidden in the shadow cast by her hat, looking like a void of darkness.
Only one bizarre flesh horn grew from her forehead.
The flesh horn was about twenty centimeters long, extending past the brim of her hat.
It pointed gently downward as she looked down, as if with tender eyes, quietly sizing up the brave girl.
“Don’t—don’t come closer to me…”
Pony‑tailed Girl pointed the candlestick at everyone, but only when the surrounding children looked at her in horror did she realize a monster stood behind her.
She spun around sharply, aiming the candlestick at it, and shouted, “Run! Run, they’re…”
“…they’re monsters!”
“…”
This shout finally ignited the fuse of built‑up panic and fear since entering the castle, and it erupted all at once.
All the children pressed and jostled together; indeed, some were so frightened they began crying loudly, their sobs sharp and grating.
But they huddled together like lambs, terrified, unable to summon the courage to actually flee.
Next to them, the butler merely watched as the children grew noisy.
He could have solved everything with a few claps, yet he remained detached, as if escorting them in was all he needed to do.
Meanwhile, the woman in the black dress with the flesh horn behind Pony‑tailed Girl only shifted slightly, as if emitting a silent, unfathomable laughter.
Only Han Su suddenly realized something, feeling extreme worry as he glared at a certain figure on the dining table.
“I don’t want to, I don’t want to, I want to go home, I want to find Mom…”
“Mom, Mom, come save me…”
Spurred by Pony‑tailed Girl’s cries, all the children finally remembered their fear, and started wailing loudly en masse.
Among them, only one boy with a green backpack cried the hardest; his cries were especially loud, sharp, and piercing.
His sobs seemed to drown out all the other children’s crying.
He didn’t look at the other kids, nor at the monsters.
He raised his head, flailed his arms, stamped his feet, and wailed and screamed, as if demanding a teacher to report to.
And Han Su already realized what would happen. He looked at one monster sitting at the table.
It wore a black leather apron and had a bloated, pig‑like head—at first glance it looked like it wore a pig‑head mask, but looking closely, one realized it was his actual head, deformed and grotesquely grown that way.
He had been quietly sitting at the table, not discussing with the other monsters when the children entered, nor observing the frightened kids.
When the boy’s piercing cries began, he trembled suddenly, slowly lowered his head, and covered his ears.
He pressed with such strength that he seemed to be in intense pain.
A low moan emerged from his chest, uncontrolled—seemingly trying to tell the children to stop crying.
But nobody could understand the sound coming from his chest, and the children’s wails completely drowned it out—nobody heard it.
So he felt more and more pain, trembled more and more in fear, and his pig‑like face twisted into an indescribable expression of agony.
His eyes shut ever tighter, then flung open—revealing a blood‑red glare.
Han Su could no longer bear to look and almost closed his eyes.
But he didn’t try to stop it—he once had tried before, and it didn’t work.
That little boy, once he starts crying, will not stop until he gets what he wants—he had used the same tactic on parents, elders, and teachers, always successfully.
After that experience Han Su understood: never risk meaningless adventures in an ancient castle—always ensure one’s safety first, then attempt anything.
“Hoo…”
The crying continued until the burly man in a black leather apron suddenly sprang to his feet.
At the moment he stood, he violently drew a blood‑stained knife from his apron, and with all his strength, threw it at the little boy.
“Chi!”
While the children were crying, pushing, and calling for their parents and teachers, their faces were suddenly splattered with blood.
All the crying stopped at once.
The little boy who had been crying and stomping stood frozen, unable to make another sound.
That savage, heavy knife was embedded in the wall, half its blade sunk in, still swaying.
The heavy breathing of the boar‑faced man echoed in the empty hall.
The Worm Monk, covered in writhing worms, had all the insects retract into his robe and the wounds on his body.
Then, in the silence, he said nothing and continued leading the bespectacled girl upstairs.
The woman in the black dress behind the Pony‑tailed Girl slowly raised her hand, shielding the girl’s face as if to block her from seeing the bloody scene.
But the Pony‑tailed Girl seemed to have realized something; her body stiffened, and the candlestick in her hands clattered to the ground.
All the children in the room looked as if their souls had left their bodies.
The boar‑faced man was now crouched between the chairs by the dining table, as if still immersed in the previous torment and unable to recover, wishing he could crawl under the table.
But the other monsters all laughed silently at once.
They watched as the Worm Monk and Lady Meat Horns led their chosen ones upstairs, then looked upon the remaining children on the table with greedy admiration.
It was as if, having lost the last noisy lamb, they could now take their time choosing.
A half‑bodied doctor, wrapped in bandages, selected the boy with small glasses.
A giant monster with a bloated body and pale skin chose the Doll Girl, the one with angel wings on the back of her little dress.
One simply smiled, stood up, and gently beckoned with a finger at the group of children.
Because the distance was too far, the children didn’t know who the gesture was for, but each felt as if it was meant for them.
So, someone dazedly walked toward her, and she casually took the first child who approached, held his hand, and slowly went upstairs.
Even the boar‑faced man, trembling in pain beneath the table, eventually calmed down.
He stood up slowly, dazedly looking at the children he had just frightened—especially the headless corpse—and tears welled up in his eyes.
He seemed to want to choose someone too, but even the frightened children remembered his horror and pushed away from him.
But just then, a boy with a crew cut and a small tuxedo suddenly ran over to him and quietly stood before the boar‑faced man.
None of the children knew what he was thinking, but they could only watch as he became the last one to be taken upstairs.
“That guy is still as clever as ever…”
Han Su thought to himself.
He knew the monsters and these children extremely well.
Among these privileged brats, quite a few were crafty—others’ fear and cowardice served as their perfect camouflage.
Some behaved obediently the entire time without saying a word, but secretly observed their surroundings, as if looking for a way to escape.
Some stayed calm but subtly pulled other kids in front of them as shields.
Throughout the entire process, Han Su simply stood quietly.
He knew he wouldn’t be chosen.
These monsters seemed to dislike him a bit.
Not only in the first round—even by the third round—they still looked down on him.
Despite the dire situation, that was kind of insulting…
Each monster by the dining table chose one child.
Then the old butler, smiling, pointed to six children and personally escorted them upstairs.
Only then did the selection end.
The remaining dozen or so children huddled together.
Some sighed in relief, thinking they had survived, while others looked even more anxious, eyes fixed on the bloodstains on the floor.
“All right, you unlucky little ones, it’s time to rest.”
The butler who had taken the six children upstairs came back down smiling.
He looked at the remaining children, his gaze seemingly filled with sympathy and comfort.
“But don’t be disappointed. There’s still a chance.”
As he spoke, he gently raised his palm and clapped twice—sharp yet soft sounds.
And so, all the remaining children suddenly became vacant‑eyed again.
They stood motionless in place.
Han Su stood the straightest of all.
This time, he definitely didn’t want the butler to see through his secret of resisting the hypnosis.