The Party That Killed || Hyunlix

63 🕸️

3rd person pov.
Seungmin and Jeongin sat in a dark room, illuminated only by the flickering laptop screen. The file on the flash drive was named "Cult_Entry.mp4."

"This is it..." Jeongin murmured, his voice a mix of curiosity and unease.

Seungmin moved the cursor over the file icon but hesitated for a moment. "Do you think we should watch it now?" he asked, glancing at his friend.

"No point in waiting. If what's on here can help, we need to know," Jeongin replied, his gaze fixed determinedly on the screen.

The click of the mouse filled the silence, and the screen began playing the footage.

A blurry image appeared on the screen. For a few seconds, only static and muffled noises could be heard, as if the camera had been hidden in a pocket. Then the picture sharpened, revealing Jungmin's face. He looked exhausted, his eyes filled with fear and determination.

Seungmin froze. His heartbeat quickened, and his eyes welled up with tears. "It's him..." he whispered, barely audible.

Jeongin glanced at him with concern. "Seungmin, are you sure you want to watch this?" he asked cautiously, though he already knew the answer in his friend's gaze.

Wiping his eyes with his sleeve, Seungmin nodded. "I have to. This might be the only way to understand..."

In the video, Jungmin took a deep breath and stared directly at the camera. He whispered a date, time, and location: "March 25, 2021. 11:45 PM. Abandoned factory building, River Street 12."

Seungmin swallowed hard as the image briefly shook, as though the camera was being hidden.

Jungmin’s voice grew steadier, though tinged with dread. "I’m recording this… before it’s too late," he said, his tone low and trembling with emotion. "This whole thing... it’s messed up."

Seungmin bit his lip, a growing weight settling in his chest. Jungmin continued:

"This cult... there's a main base no one really knows about. But what they do—the rituals, the manipulation, the brutality—happens in other places. Places like this—abandoned, forgotten. It's all set up so that even if the police find them, they won’t uncover the real base."

The footage shook momentarily as though Jungmin needed to quickly conceal the camera. Faint footsteps and muffled voices echoed in the background. When the camera refocused, it revealed a dark hallway with peeling walls and tattered fabric fluttering in the wind.

"This place is just the tip of the iceberg... but what they’re doing here is sick enough to understand what we’re up against," Jungmin whispered.

Suddenly, the video showed a room. Inside were several people in long, dark robes. On the floor lay objects that appeared to be bloodstained tools. One man held what looked like the body of an animal.

Seungmin gasped sharply, his fists clenching. Jeongin turned away, struggling to keep his composure.

"That’s enough, Seungmin," Jeongin said softly, placing a hand on his friend's shoulder.

"No, I need to see this through," Seungmin replied, his voice trembling but resolute.

Jungmin’s voice on the recording was barely above a whisper: "I don’t know if I’ll ever make it out... but you need to see this to understand what we’re fighting."

The camera shook as Jungmin lifted it, trying to capture what was happening in the room.

In the center of the room, a circle of candles surrounded a person—unconscious or dead, it was hard to tell. The robed figures moved rhythmically to a low, menacing chant that echoed against the empty walls.