Chapter 041: Turning the Corner, Meeting a Ghost

"Cheng, we meet again."

Chiyuki Kamihara, sitting in the living room, looked delighted to see Su Cheng and greeted him warmly.

But for Su Cheng, it was more of a shock than a pleasant surprise. For a moment, he truly thought the cat demon had chased him into the real world.

"You're Chiyuki Kamihara? How did you find this place?"

Su Cheng noticed that Chiyuki's aura was completely different from the shrine maiden's; she was clearly not the same person. But how did she suddenly appear in the apartment he was renting?

"Huh? Chiyuki-chan said she was your friend—aren't you?" Ryosuke Araki looked utterly bewildered, his face full of confusion.

"In fact, we've only met once. We met while working out in the park."

Hearing Su Cheng's answer, Ryosuke Araki was visibly impressed, giving him a look that said, "You're a legend, my friend!" To just chat up a girl in the park and have her follow him all the way to his apartment—what a feat.

"It's all your fault for leaving without saying goodbye last time. I had to search for ages to find out you lived in this building," Chiyuki said, feigning annoyance with a little huff. Yet her attempt at anger had no force at all; if anything, it made her look even cuter.

"Ahem, so... why did you come to see me?"

"To thank you, of course. I never got to properly thank you for last time, and before I knew it, you were gone."

Chiyuki Kamihara looked earnestly at Su Cheng.

"I appreciate the thought. Now, please—go back."

The atmosphere in the apartment instantly grew cold. Ryosuke Araki couldn't help tugging at Su Cheng's sleeve and whispered, "Cheng, talking like this will leave you single forever."

It wasn't that Su Cheng wanted to be cold; it was just that there was a spirit lingering in the apartment, and he was afraid something might happen.

Chiyuki Kamihara looked stunned. Men had always chased after her—she was used to being idolized, not ignored. Was Su Cheng hiding some secret he was afraid she'd discover?

"That's not fair. I want to buy you dinner to express my gratitude."

Seeing Chiyuki so determined, Su Cheng hesitated and said, "How about we get some ingredients and have a simple meal here? It's pretty expensive to eat out..."

Dining at a decent restaurant in Tokyo could easily cost thousands or even tens of thousands of yen. There was no way Su Cheng would let Chiyuki pay, so it was better—and healthier—to cook at home.

Men who knew how to live frugally like Su Cheng were rare.

Of course, the main reason was simply that he was broke.

"Alright then," Chiyuki nodded, not really caring what they ate.

Hearing that Su Cheng planned to cook with Chiyuki in the apartment, Ryosuke Araki tactfully slung his guitar over his back and headed out to sing at the bar.

Before leaving, he secretly slipped Su Cheng his prized little umbrella.

"The fridge is empty. I'll go down to the convenience store to buy some things."

"I'll come too."

After picking up two bags of discounted fresh ingredients from the supermarket, they returned to the apartment building, where Su Cheng noticed a black business van parked nearby. Several men in suits and sunglasses were smoking inside.

These men seemed to be waiting for Su Cheng. As soon as they saw him, they got out and surrounded him.

"Hey, do you remember us?" One of the men waved a contract in Su Cheng's face.

Su Cheng suddenly remembered he'd recently borrowed money from an unlicensed loan company. It looked like they were here to collect.

Of course, when he borrowed the money, he had never planned to pay it back. If you can borrow it, why should you return it?

"Cheng, who are these people? Should I call the police?" Chiyuki, sensing something was wrong, eyed the men warily.

"It's fine. Just a misunderstanding between me and these gentlemen. Go upstairs and wait for me in the apartment."

With that, Su Cheng and Kenta Ono, one of the men in sunglasses, walked into a nearby alley.

Once in the alley, Kenta Ono—who had been so friendly in the office—dropped his act and spoke with a lecherous sneer, "Hey, that was your girlfriend just now, right? She's pretty cute. But don't blame me if you don't pay up—we might have to take her away and teach her a lesson."

His companions grinned coldly. In their experience, foreign students like Su Cheng were easily intimidated and would cough up the money as soon as they were threatened. If he really couldn't pay, he might lose a few body parts instead.

"So this is how your gang operates? Not very scary, honestly—I expected more."

To their surprise, the foreign student seemed completely unfazed, even disappointed by their tactics.

"You little punk! Are you looking down on us?" Kenta Ono, deeply insulted, grabbed Su Cheng by the collar and raised his fist to teach him a lesson.

"If you're going to threaten someone, at least do it properly."

Just as Kenta Ono was about to punch Su Cheng, a hand appeared from nowhere and seized his wrist.

"Who the hell are you? Think you can meddle in Kurotaki-gumi business?" Kenta Ono snapped, not the least bit scared. With so many allies, any helper Su Cheng might have brought would be outnumbered.

But the grip of that hand was terrifyingly strong—it didn't budge no matter how he struggled.

As he realized something was off, he noticed his companions' faces had twisted in terror as if they'd seen a ghost.

"Kenta, look at that hand—something's wrong with it..."

Kenta finally saw that the arm clutching him was raw and mangled, as if seared by hot oil. The skin was rotted away, like a prop in a horror movie.

Even more chilling, the bloody arm was stretching straight out of the wall.

"What the hell is that?!"

Kenta Ono jumped back as if his tail had been stepped on.

Quick to react, he drew a sharp knife from his pocket and slashed the grotesque arm.

Scalding blood spattered his face, but in the next instant, countless horrific arms burst from the wall, grasping at the debt collectors.

"Ghosts! Ghosts!"

It was like a scene from a horror movie. Some of the weaker men were so terrified they wet themselves.

At that moment, Kenta Ono turned around—only to find Su Cheng had vanished.

"That kid is trouble. Let's get out of here!" Kenta gasped, recalling Su Cheng's words with a shudder.

The Kurotaki-gumi men nearly had heart attacks as they fled the haunted alley, screaming. Any thoughts of collecting debts were long forgotten.

Ten minutes later, night had fully fallen.

Kenta Ono, panting heavily, finally calmed down.

"We made it out... Wait, where's my bag?" Only then did Kenta realize the bag containing the loan contract was gone.

"Kenta, behind you... there's something..."

Terror spread through the night like a dark mist.

Kenta turned around and saw a horrifying face, as if mutilated by acid.

Clinging to his back was a female ghost, drenched in blood.