"Hey, Finn. Do you believe in ghosts?"

"The hell? Ghosts? Hah, as if," Finn chuckled as if it were the stupidest thing ever, before turning his attention back to the stacked pile of paper known as homework.

"Hmph, why are you so quick to deny everything?" his neighbor, Leonardo Castovich — the one who had asked this seemingly dumb question — sighed, kicking his feet up onto his desk.

"The only thing I believe in is science. If you can prove ghosts exist to me using science, then I'll gladly accept everything you say."

"Oh yeah? Well, you heard about what happened to District C last night, didn't you?"

"The huge explosion that destroyed most of the city?" Finn raised an eyebrow. "Yeah. It was all over the news this morning. A nuclear station malfunction or something, right?"

"Yeah... at least that's what the news tells us." Leo grinned mischievously. "But you know, I've been seeing some strange rumors on the Internet lately... apparently, citizens of neighboring districts are saying they've been seeing white monster-like things and hearing creepy voices when no one else is nearby. Sounds pretty paranormal and ghost-like to me, don't you think?"

Finn snorted. "Stuff like that goes around on the Internet all the time. You really think it's reliable information?"

At this, Leo sighed in disappointment. "What a downer... man, you're no fun, you know that?"

"Oh look, Mr. Sojin is back."

"H-Huh?! Where?!" Leo cried, quickly adjusting his pose to that of a proper student and looking around frantically.

"Heh," Finn snickered, shaking his head and doing his best to ignore his pathetic friend.

"T-Tch… bastard," Leo spat in annoyance, before starting to flip open his own textbooks as well. "I'm going to make you pay for that soon."

Finn raised an eyebrow and smirked like a devil. "Is that so? Guess I'll be keeping my homework to myself, then…"

Leo's eyes widened as he immediately got to the floor in a kneeling position. "I am sorry, Lord Finn, for I have sinned. Please forgive my mistake and continue to grace me with your answe- I mean, your honorable presence."

"Get up," Finn rolled his eyes. "Are you a man or not, kneeling so casually?"

Leo grinned and sat back down in his chair. "I am a man, but a man's gotta do what he's gotta do to live, y'know?"

Finn sighed. "Whatever. There's still about half an hour until class ends, so I suggest getting started on your homework already. We've got a shit ton today — that's why Mr. Sojin gave us this independent work period."

"My ass… he just wanted an excuse to go out and smoke cigarettes on the roof," Leo snorted. "This university doesn't require us students to be supervised 24/7, so he can do whatever the hell he wants after he's taught the lesson."

"Either way. Unless you want to fail this course as well, you should probably turn in homework and assignments on-time."

"Yeah, yeah… work, blah blah blah… anyway, want to hang out after class ends? I already booked a room at the karaoke right down the street from her-"

"Nah. I'm going to head to the library after this to finish all this shit. Hit me up on the weekend though, for sure."

"Alright man, whatever. Just be careful on your way back home later, yeah? You never know when a ghost might jump out at ya," Leo laughed heartily.

Finn looked out the window at the pouring rain outside, accompanied by a dark gloomy sky and devastating flashes of lightning despite it only being early afternoon.

"Ghosts… don't exist. They just don't."

Finn spoke those words with full confidence.

But little did he know, in the dark corners of an alleyway near his own home, a monster was born, ready to feed.

Soon, the very things he deemed non-existent would forever change his life — and not for the better.

*****

- A Few Hours Later -

"Agh, finally done," Finn muttered, slamming his textbooks shut and standing up. Letting out a deep breath, he began stretching his arms and back.

"Mm… man, that feels nice. Now, what time is it…"

He pulled out his phone from his pocket and turned it on to check the time. And when he did, his eyes widened in shock.

"The hell? 7 PM already? Damn, I lost track of time…"

Quickly packing up all his belongings, Finn left the campus library after making sure he didn't accidentally leave anything behind.

Outside, the weather had not gotten any better compared to this afternoon.

"Still raining…?" he sighed, before taking out his umbrella from his backpack and opening it. "There's been way too many long storms like this recently... and all the deaths happening across the country too..."

Murmuring these words amidst the heavy fog and pouring thunderstorm, Finn began the long walk home.

His family was poor, and the scholarship he worked so hard to earn was only enough to cover the tuition fees for the university he attended, nothing more. Luckily, his home with his parents and little sister was still within walking distance from the school, so he just stayed there every night.

Quite frankly, it was a bit embarrassing for a university student to still be living in his parents' house, but this was the only option. Finn had tried applying for a bursary, but his application was rejected because he was still able to live just fine without it. It was just a bit… troublesome.

While within walking distance, the road between the university and his home was by no means short. With a total of about four kilometers, it usually took Finn around 40 minutes to travel between the two locations. However, because of the rain today, the estimated time would be closer to 50.

Strangely, as Finn walked, there seemed to be no other pedestrians. He judged it was just because of the heavy rain, but for some reason, he could not shake the uncomfortable feeling in his stomach.

The howling thunderstorm, the dense fog, walking alone at night… all three of these were major flags in horror novels and movies, but Finn was not frightened whatsoever.

Paranormal things like zombies, vampires, or ghosts… to him, they weren't real. He strongly rejected anything that could not be proven by science or logic, from baseless assumptions to the possible existence of aliens. Ever since a young age, he's been like that. And he has not changed, even now.

But perhaps, today, he would find out that his whole life has been a lie. Everything he believed in, everything he originally thought was the final answer, would all be shattered today.

As Finn walked, he suddenly heard the sound of a high-pitched scream, followed by a demonic growl that sounded suspiciously like maniacal laughter.

He immediately stopped in his tracks, letting the pleasant sound of rain wash down around him.

"A hallucination…?" he murmured to himself uncertainly.

Indeed, it wouldn't be weird to mishear things amidst this loud rain. But then, the demonic voice came again. This time, it was a roar of triumph, of satisfaction and pleasure.

Finn tightened his hand on his umbrella's handle and began walking once more. Both the scream and the growls came from right up ahead — not far from where he was.

'Do I go investigate?' he thought, hesitant.

Either way, he would have to continue walking this way to reach his house — there was no other road leading in. He decided that he might as well check the situation out.

No, that was a lie. Nothing more but a facade to cover up his true intentions.

The reality was, Finn was curious and nervous at the same time. He wanted to see what was going on… but clearly, those growls did not belong to any human or animal. He didn't want to believe it, but he had to find out.

Find out if science is not truly almighty after all.

Tightening his grip on his umbrella once more, Finn picked up his pace and began heading for the location where the voices had came from.

*****

"Grr… grah… grawl…."

Finn was close. He pressed his back against the wet white wall, right before an intersection. His heart was pumping loudly, though even he didn't know why.

The low-pitched demon-like growls were right beyond this turn. If he just peeked around the corner here… he would be able to see the situation.

But suddenly, he felt a gush of wind whiz past him. It was quick, and left as fast as it came.

At first, he thought someone — or something — had dashed past him just now. However, due to his science-abiding nature, he decided it was just part of the howling storm, nothing more.

That is, until he turned the corner.

There, within the dark alleyway, lay a mutilated human body. It appeared to be a young woman, though the corpse was far too disfigured to be sure.

Her hair was disheveled, her skin torn to pieces. In fact, most of the body had been pricked clean of meat, leaving nothing but bones behind. However, some parts, like the head and feet, remained intact, adding to the horror factor. Blood was splayed everywhere on the corpse and around. Bitten off limbs and fingers lay surrounding the main body, disjointed and deformed.

The scene was so gruesome that Finn immediately turned away, feeling the urge to vomit.

Whoever did this, one thing was clear — they were certainly not human.

No human would be able to mutilate a body to this state in the short span of time between the scream earlier and now.

And the gush of wind that just shot by Finn… it was no mere stormy breeze either.

He could feel it. There shall be blood spilt today — and he would be unable to stop it.

Whatever that thing was, it either clashed into Finn, or it went the other direction, continuing down this narrow road. Since he felt no impact, there was only one possible way the creature could've gone:

The way leading to Finn's house.