BBDW 23 [Black Butterfly] - Nevereverland

Section 22.2 (UNEDITED)

The sound of the rain became so loud that it could be heard through the curtains. The sound of the wind crying was also deafening. Maybe the window will break at this rate. Then I’m going to send Tim SOS, just let me sleep for a day. Thinking lightly, Jude turned his attention to the phone in a mood to click his tongue. After a small sigh, the blond detective opened his mouth.

"…...the ghost in the newspaper, it was you."

[A ghost?]

"Didn't you see it? There was an article in the paper about the ghost of the Maples family because the little girl testified that there was another brother in the house besides them."

[Hahahaha, that’s funny. A ghost, maybe that expression is right.]

“What, you?”

[No, the reason why they killed each other. The term ghost might go well with it. Things that can't be seen, things that can't be grasped, things that can accumulate into a bottomless hole, and the ghosts that killed them aren't other people. What piled up inside them became the ghost. Except for themselves and their home, somehow great selfishness, sadness, hostility, and everything has evolved into a ghost named evil.]

“……….Is your dream to be a playwright? Quite a plausible remark.”

[Ahhaha, it’s just my thought. Ah, but it’s been a long time since I had fun. But I’m more excited that there’s still a lot of fun left.]

Jude frowned skillfully on one eyebrow. Are you saying that there is something more to suck out of this story?

"What."

[That child. The little girl who took the gem.]

"What's wrong with her?"

[She'll find out what happened to her family later. And what she did.]

Ah, and Jude exclaimed quietly. He could see what this blue-grey eyed young man with a delicate impression was trying to say. Alvin laughed in a low voice.

[What would this child be when she realized that her immature pranks alone resulted in this? I'm really curious from now on.]

"………what a bad guy. I'll pray that she won’t become like you."

[Ahahha...... I know you're not serious, Detective. You don't feel much sympathy for her, do you? You don't have to say things you don't mean, I’m telling you.]

“Shut up. I’ll hang up if you’re done talking. I’m sleepy, I’m going to take a shower and sleep.”

After spitting out in an annoying voice, the person on the other side unexpectedly withdrew.

[Yes, go to sleep. It's been longer than I thought. I'm sorry. It was so funny that I couldn't find a way to cut it. But it was an interesting case, wasn't it? You can make it public if you want to.]

"Bullshit. I might become a cult leader if I solve a case that I wasn't even in charge of. All right, hang up."

[Ahahaha, yeah. Good night.]

Tuk. Without hesitation, he turned off the phone and threw it on the sofa, and Jude stretched his body with a long sigh of exhaustion. He was too lazy to change his clothes. After falling on the sofa and blinked several times, Jude picked up the remote control and turned on the TV. The late-night talk show was in full swing. Meanwhile, looking at the picture that appeared on the screen above, his eyes frowned slightly.

It was a picture of a mother and daughter in the Maples family who were hospitalized in a mental hospital. And the title, ‘Shocking Fact Just Announced! The Ghost of Maples Family, Is It Imagination or Reality?’ Listening to the story with a dull face for a moment, it was a simple statement.

The mother and daughter of the Maples family, who were in a mental hospital, opened their mouths and asked for the whereabouts of another man in the house. Another man. No fingerprints or traces in the house, two mad women and another man whose existence could only be guessed through the mouth of a child. The host of the talk show roaringly drove the topic into the existence of a ghost buzzing in a third-rate newspaper, in addition to an abnormal historical story that goes back hundreds of years in the Maples family, which is not credible at all.

“……..ha.”

Sighing quietly, Jude turned off the TV. The moment he tossed and turned and lay down looking at the ceiling, the flickering fluorescent light went out completely. I don’t need to turn off the lights. That’s good, should I call it lucky? Jude, who was smiling, soon erased his smile and recalled the voice of the serial killer.

-All I did was not telling them that she took the gem.

-I just didn’t say it.

It’s just that I didn’t say it. Only that voice reverberated in his head. I just didn’t say it. That’s all, just that.

“……very, it’s unexpected……”

Mumbling once, Jude closed his eyes. After a long period of hard work, he was tired of hearing the story. The lights have been turned off just in time, and the windows have been closed. Jude fell asleep peacefully...... no, almost.

Exactly forty minutes later, the sound of a broken window shook the room and the sound of rain hit his ears loudly.

Jude mumbled an unknown insult and gazed at the pieces of glass on the floor, muttering, ‘Should I do it later……’ while busily took out his cell phone and dialled his partner’s number.

“Oh, Tim? It’s so loud that I can’t sleep.”

[Huh? What do you mean?]

-It was a summer day when heavy rain never stopped all night.