Chapter 241 – The Client and the Investigation
Inside the Living Room
"This is Pete. And this is my boyfriend, Trevor…" Laine introduced her friends.
She was a young woman about the same age as Madison. Her long brown hair framed a slightly broad forehead, yet her features retained the defined, sculpted look typical of Western faces.
After introductions were finished, Laine and her friends couldn't help staring at Madison.
Especially the two boys—their astonishment was impossible to hide.
"Hi… I'm Pete," one of them stammered. "I didn't know Laine had such beautiful friends."
Madison removed her sunglasses and slowly walked toward him.
Pete's heartbeat spiked instantly, his face turning visibly red.
"The one who got his head smashed into a mirror by a ghost shadow—that was you, right?" Madison asked coolly.
Pete hadn't expected the beauty in front of him to know about that incident. He scratched his head and lowered his gaze shyly.
Then Madison placed a hand gently on his shoulder and spoke in a softened tone.
"You're the only eyewitness who directly encountered the spirit. You'll help me later, won't you?"
Catching the faint fragrance from her hair and feeling her warm breath, Pete suddenly felt closer to her.
"O-of course!" he replied eagerly.
Madison turned her head, deliberately glancing at Gideon.
Gideon's mouth twitched.
What is that supposed to mean? Showing off that you're popular with boys?
If this was the extent of her retaliation, he wasn't worried.
But her behavior clearly offended the other girls present. Even though Pete wasn't their boyfriend, they couldn't help feeling as if something had just been "taken" from them.
"Ahem… let's talk about the commission," Laine quickly stepped between them.
Ah, teenage rivalry… nostalgic, Gideon thought.
He failed to notice that physically, he was about the same age as these college students.
"Yes, yes!" Zor said nervously. "Which room is the spirit in?"
Laine shook her head. "At Debbie's house. A few minutes from here."
Gideon spoke up. "Has anything new happened since we arrived?"
He had already observed the house. There were traces of lingering evil aura—but no spirit nearby.
"It's still that message," Laine said, holding up the Ouija board.
"I think it's Debbie trying to tell us something. She must have something to say."
"So we've decided to go back to the villa tonight and use it again. Maybe we'll find the truth."
Gideon inhaled deeply, suppressing the urge to kick her.
"I have a question," he said calmly.
"Based solely on the letter 'D' from the board, how can you be certain it was Debbie responding?"
"And why go at night? From visibility to emergency response time, daytime would clearly be safer."
"Lastly—why is that board still here? Debbie burned it. If it survived intact after that, doesn't that alone make it suspicious?"
Laine and her friends were stunned.
"So… professional," Zor whispered admiringly—until he felt a sharp glare from Madison.
After a moment, Laine responded stubbornly.
"Who else could it be besides Debbie? I don't believe she committed suicide. I need the truth. The board is the only way to contact her."
"As for going at night… well… it feels more atmospheric!"
She sounded relieved to have found something resembling an excuse.
"I admire your loyalty," Madison suddenly said. "We'll go tonight."
"If it really is Debbie, I'll let you speak with her. If it's an evil spirit, I'll destroy it."
"Really?!" Laine's eyes lit up instantly.
Gideon narrowed his eyes.
"Write down Debbie's address. I'll inspect the location beforehand."
"You're not coming with us?" Laine asked while writing.
"I've already explained why daytime is preferable."
"Since Father Gideon insists on acting alone, we should respect that," Madison said lazily, lighting a cigarette.
"After all, it wasn't his friend," she added, exhaling smoke.
Laine and the others looked at Gideon differently.
So that's your tactic—divide and isolate? Gideon thought.
"Hopefully you'll still be this clever when a spirit grabs your soul."
Madison crushed the cigarette in her hand.
"You—"
"Let's all calm down," Zor forced a nervous smile, standing between them.
---
Fifteen Minutes Later – Outside Debbie's Villa
Gideon and Zor stood before a fenced standalone house.
Laine and Madison had ultimately chosen to wait until night.
Unexpectedly, Zor volunteered to accompany Gideon.
"I should familiarize myself with the environment. That way I won't hold everyone back tonight," he said sheepishly.
"And… I'd like to learn from you, Father Gideon."
Gideon shook his head slightly. This kid really was a decent person.
He activated Ethereal Sight.
Instantly, he saw it—
A dense layer of evil aura enveloping the villa.
More disturbingly, the aura extended downward… into the basement.
"If something's hiding, it's down there," he muttered.
Seance. Isolated house. Supernatural disturbance. Basement.
Full horror checklist achieved.
According to the commission, this was supposedly a single vengeful spirit.
But from what Gideon observed—
There was more than one presence inside.
"This is classified as 'Disturbance' level?" he muttered.
It felt suspiciously like a trap.
Still, the concentration of evil energy was exactly what he needed.
After circling the house, Gideon began setting up preparations.
Zor watched, fascinated.
This was nothing like the teams he had worked with before.
Most exorcists rushed straight inside—
The first to wound the spirit claimed greater rewards.
And no one could truly gauge danger from outside.
But this priest was different.
"Father Gideon walked around the perimeter… is he tracking it?" Zor wondered.
"He even brought binoculars…"
"Why are we still outside…?"
Finally, Zor couldn't contain himself.
"Why are we circling?"
"Escape routes," Gideon said calmly, burying a demon-sealing bell in the soil.
"Escape…?" Zor blinked.
"As an exorcist," Gideon continued, "failure isn't the worst outcome. Dying is."
"The longer you survive in this profession, the more evil you can cleanse."
"Dead exorcists cleanse nothing."
Zor's eyes slowly brightened.
He had seen powerful exorcists confront demons head-on.
Usually, they won.
But cunning demons exploited emotional weaknesses—
And when exorcists fell, their souls became permanent servants of hell.
"If they'd been as cautious as Father Gideon…" Zor thought.
Suddenly it clicked.
Madison is making the same mistake.
"I have to warn her later…"
Meanwhile, Gideon completed his perimeter array.
Since he needed the spirits inside to cultivate his theology—
He couldn't corner them too tightly.
Weaken them first.
Let them believe escape is possible.
Force them to draw on deeper reserves of evil energy.
Then—
Strike.
His lips curved upward.
Then he froze.
"Wait… why am I thinking like this?"
He quickly checked himself for spiritual contamination.
After confirming nothing had influenced him, he relaxed slightly.
"Side effect of that Cursed Smile Mask… I need to use it less."
Nearby, Zor swallowed nervously.
Is this some advanced exorcism method…? Why does he look slightly villainous?
"Oh, right," Gideon suddenly said, approaching him.
"To handle emergencies—take this."
He handed Zor a small object.
"What is it?"
"A Holy Nail."
"In cases involving seances and isolated houses, spirits rely heavily on mental interference—hallucinations."
"Without specific defenses, you may not even realize you're affected."
"They'll push your mind toward collapse. Once that happens, possession becomes easy."
Zor nodded, half-understanding.
"The nail won't block hallucinations outright," Gideon continued.
"But it carries consecrated power. It forms a symbolic anchor."
"If something feels wrong, check it."
"If the nail appears missing, you're in a hallucination."
"It's still there physically. Use it to stimulate pain. The shock will break the illusion."
Zor stared at the nail in awe.
He felt like he was seeing a completely new world of exorcism.
This idea had come to Gideon during the Freddy commission.
By now, after so many battles, he rarely carried low-year holy artifacts anymore. Most of what he possessed were high-grade relics infused with powerful sacred force.
But such intense holy energy could easily scare spirits away.
And relic-level sacred objects weren't meant to be handled by just anyone.
So Gideon devised another method.
Giving the Holy Nail to Zor ensured he would have at least some means of self-protection during the night's operation.
After all, Zor was the one who accepted the commission—and more importantly, he wasn't a bad person.
As for Madison?
Gideon frankly couldn't care less whether she lived or died.
"Th-thank you…" Zor's voice suddenly turned hoarse.
He lifted his sleeve to wipe at his eyes.
Gideon blinked. "You don't need to be that moved…"
"Sorry… hahaha…" Zor forced out a laugh.
"In past missions, they always treated me like a disposable scout—someone to test whether the spirit was there. No one has ever…"
Gideon fell silent.
"Don't lose it," he said at last, patting Zor on the shoulder.
"I won't! I'll keep it safe!"
---
Evening
A group of young people gathered outside the villa.
"Hold on, I need to find the key," Laine said, rummaging through her bag.
"That won't be necessary."
Madison strode forward confidently. She raised her hand.
With a sharp cracking sound, the front door burst open on its own.
Everyone except Zor stared in shock.
"Is that… telekinesis?" Pete muttered.
"Stop gawking. The spirit's waiting," Madison said coolly, stepping inside without hesitation.
"W-wait… if there's really a spirit here, we should be more cautious…" Zor tried.
But Laine and the others walked past him, calm and almost excited.
His warning felt powerless.
"If a little caution could prevent so many dangers… why doesn't anyone…" Zor sighed and followed them in.
---
Meanwhile – Town Center
Not far from the villa, the small police station had already closed for the night. Only a few officers remained on duty.
Inside the records room—
It was pitch dark.
But if one looked closely, a faint silhouette could be seen standing before the filing cabinets.
"…The older files should be around here," Gideon murmured softly, flipping through folders.
After finishing the perimeter array during the day, he had come into town.
Through inquiries, he learned that Ouija boards had been popular here for many years.
And decades ago, there had also been a homicide in the area.
To determine whether the two were connected, Gideon asked around extensively.
The good news: the case records still existed.
The bad news: they were stored in the police station—
which certainly wouldn't grant access to a priest.
So Gideon waited until deep night and slipped inside.
"As expected… the police station is always a must-visit location in horror stories…"
Soon, his eyes lit up.
He pulled out an aged envelope stuffed with documents.
It detailed the history of the Zander family, longtime residents of the villa.
He focused on one page.
"Alice Zander, widowed after her husband died in a car accident, moved into the town villa with her two daughters…"
"At first, Alice made a living through spiritual divination. Later, she began using the newly popular Ouija board. It seems that from that point onward, abnormalities began to occur…"
Gideon's gaze darkened slightly.
If the source truly dated back decades—
Then what they were facing tonight might be far more than a simple wandering spirit.