The Problem [2]

"Hmm, the stench of this demon is being very subtle." Anton only needed a few seconds to deduce the sensations around him to realize that indeed, the victims in this place had been taken by a dark entity.

"There's a man in the bathroom. The woman who was with him left after the suspicious guy entered this room." Detective Jack pointed it out carefully.

"Good grief..." Ko complained about the strong smell of putrefaction and then asked, "A woman?"

"They stayed together, this man and a woman named Seo Gyeong-suk. The security camera recorded the woman leaving after the incident," Jack explained as he watched what Anton was doing.

"How do you know her name?" Terry, who hadn't spoken until now, asked.

"She left her things, including her wallet," Jack replied, a bit confused.

Anton didn't pay attention to those small details and walked to the corner of the room. While the forensic team analyzed and collected evidence from the scene, he looked with dismay at the corpse of a victim.

"Who is this person?" Anton asked with a cold voice.

"The suspect I mentioned before. According to what I saw on the security camera footage when I arrived, he was fine when he entered this room. But, as you can see, now he's..."

Bones, skin, hair—everything showed that the corpse was completely devoid of life. Something that could be related would be a corpse that has been dead for many years; there was nothing; the whole body was withered.

Anton didn't wait any longer; he moved the chair aside and placed the corpse on the floor.

"Hey, what the hell are you doing?" Detective Ko shouted upon seeing what Anton was doing with the corpse.

"Terry, don't let anyone interfere. Have the forensic team leave; we need to consider infection," Anton said with a cold expression.

"Yes, sir." Anton understood what it meant. Now, this massacre was caused by a dark entity.

"What are you doing? If you destroy the crime scene like that, we could lose important evidence."

"Let the investigative team in; activate the protocol against dark entities. We're looking for a woman; if they find her, eliminate her immediately." Without paying attention to the others, Terry quickly ordered the Light agents out of the building.

"This is too strange..." Anton murmured, wanting to know how many bodies had been victims and which ones were marked by the demon.

For a normal person, this situation would be incomprehensible. How is it possible that the attacker was killed along with the man in this room by a woman? Could the woman be the killer? But if that's the case, how is it that only this man here ended up devoid of all vitality, leaving him completely dry?

"Check all the bodies. Those who are like this man mean they have been marked by the demon... So far, it seems to have dared the second body; I would consider it a class two dark entity."

"Terry, look at this." Anton signaled for him to come closer and said, "Look at this victim; his body dried up because of his attacker. Have you seen anything similar?"

"No, sir. As we know, the demon must go through eight bodies to become more powerful than before. If that happens, then we can do little because, at that point, it should have supernatural powers."

"I'm fed up with this. Hey, you, what big problem are you causing?" Ko approached Anton with a furious voice.

When Anton turned around, he looked at the angry detective and said, "If you speak again, you'll be one more corpse in this building."

Although Anton might have exaggerated, he couldn't bear the fact that the demon had moved on to the next body so quickly, indicating how dangerous it was.

After the forensic team left the room, Ko received a call from the team leader.

Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!

"Sir, what's happening?" Detective Ko asked cautiously. His situation was definitely bewildering; he couldn't understand the big problem that was happening.

"Detective Ko, the men who now have taken control of the scene where the investigation is currently taking place, One of them is a foreigner; the government has given them absolute clearance to operate on South Korean soil, and any interference could be reported as treason. I have no authority to question their demands; we can only support them in everything they need," said Ko's team leader.

"But sir..." Ko was very angry. "How can it be called protocol to act without any prevention?"

"I can't give you explanations; they are agents of a powerful organization," said the voice coming from Ko's phone.

"I understand, sir..." Ko nodded before hanging up the call. According to the new protocol established a long time ago, certain precautions should be taken when agents from an organization called the Light Association are on the scene.

"Sir, the investigators are here," Terry said, taking a step back.

After personally reviewing the dry corpse, Anton walked to the bathroom and checked on the man who accompanied the woman in this room just before the tragedy occurred.

While in the bathroom, Anton verified that this was a special case. The victim died from excessive bleeding but had no characteristics similar to those of the man who entered.

"Put on the mask," Terry said, pointing as he put on a military mask and handed it to the detectives to protect themselves.

"Sir, here you go."

"It's not necessary; I'm special," Anton said as he refused.

After saying that, many investigators with infection suits and many devices to detect small details more accurately began working.

"I want you to check the completely dry body; its condition will lead us to the demon that escaped," Anton pointed out. "Don't forget to check for any infection or virus; it could cause major problems if exposed to the outside."

As everything was sudden, the people who entered the building and had been in contact with the corpses of the victims still remained nearby. Therefore, it was the first thing they needed to check before continuing the investigation.

"Detective Ko, did you check the condition of the other victims?" Anton asked suddenly.

"The other victims died from stab wounds; there's nothing similar to that victim," Detective Ko, who had also received a mask, said.

"If it doesn't attack in the same way, it will be a big problem. There's no pattern, nothing directly related to how it attacks." Anton was somewhat perplexed.

Did the demon have time to have fun killing innocents?

After being silent for a moment, Anton looked at the man's corpse. Looking at his clothes, it seemed he had been in a place with a lot of mud; his clothes seemed dirty, and his boots still had mud.

However, Anton knew that it rained a lot yesterday. And apparently, this attacker doesn't look like the first host of the demon, so he should be the second.

"It's on the third body; the danger level of this operation is rising."

"Detective Ko, you and your team should investigate the relationship between this man and the woman, meeting places, sects, or any group that might have connected them." Anton said, "No matter what their relationship is, if they know each other or ate in the same place, report it."

"Yes, sir. By the way, you can call me Tony." Detective Tony introduced himself to Anton with his foreign name.

"When the investigators declare that everything is fine, you can start with your work." Anton smiled slightly, letting them know they were not in danger.

When Terry heard these words, he couldn't help but feel special. Then he asked with some doubt, "Sir, how do we proceed with the search for the demon?"

"Come with me." Anton said it with a serious expression. Although he felt different, he still needed to find the anomaly as soon as possible.

Terry felt that Anton's mind and research speed were very unusual. This kind of speed and foresight is unprecedented; even before entering the room, Anton realized that it was indeed the demon.

"Guardian, do you have any idea about this anomaly?" Terry looked at the mountain outside the hotel; the Light Association staff worked quickly, and immediate response agents waited silently.

"In biology, a host is an organism that harbors another inside it or carries it on itself, be it a symbiosis of parasitism, mutualism, or commensalism." Anton responded as he looked around and said, "If we find another victim similar to the man who was in that state, we can say it's parasitism."

"Sir, considering that the victim's body decomposed in less than a day when it normally takes more than twelve months, don't you think the demon is moving very fast?"

"That's why we need to find the relationship of the victim with the woman who left the hotel." Anton whispered, "Why didn't the demon attack the other victims in the same way? What relationship do they have, and how were they marked?"

"Sir, they found something on the corpse." Terry suddenly said, Then, he took out his cell phone and showed him a photo of the victim's neck.

"Rune? Have you seen anything similar?"

"It's the mark left by the demon; we have to find the boy as soon as possible." Anton was concerned about not finding the black eye because if they don't, many will die before they can locate the demon.