He turned his head left and right, his mouth slightly open. His legs trembled as he stood frozen at the edge of the sidewalk, one hand bracing against the building beside him, drawing the attention of passersby, some of whom began whispering about him. Yet he did not care. More precisely, his ears suddenly seemed to stop functioning.

  Then, a man wearing a white shirt beneath a brown coat happened to pass by and stared intently at Zavi's hunched back.

  His eyes widened. Recognizing the condition Zavi was experiencing, because he had once experienced it himself, the man quickened his pace and approached him.

  "Hey, Sir," he said. Zavi turned his head normally, but inwardly he showed confusion. "You look very pale. Haven't you eaten or had anything to drink at all?" he asked sympathetically.

  'Am I really that pale?' he wondered in confusion.

  Feeling uneasy, he quickly asked a question to satisfy his curiosity;

  "Is that true?" he asked, confirming the man's words.

  The man nodded in response, and quickly said in his hoarse voice, "It seems like you're lacking sleep! Is it a disturbance? If so, let me take you to an expert who can expel evil spirits from your body, Sir." The man gave a faint smile, not forgetting to promote his job of seeking out people troubled by supernatural matters.

  'Isn't this a coincidence?' he thought.

  Zavi glanced at the people passing in front of him and said with the corner of his lips lifting upward, "Perhaps what you're saying is true."

  'I feel like I've met this person before! But where? How could I forget?' he complained inwardly.

  The man fell silent for quite a while as if thinking about something. Finally, he cleared his throat, breaking Zavi's train of thought for a moment, and said in a restrained tone;

  "In that case, I happen to know an old expert who can solve your problem!"

  "I see."

  The man stepped forward and quickly added, "What are we waiting for? Come on, we'll go meet him."

  Zavi flicked his coat, unable to bear the stiff conversation, and promptly followed the man, intending to ask further about his physical condition.

  As they walked side by side, the man, Dave, took something out from his coat pocket, revealing a crumpled pamphlet, though the writing on it was still readable in the Talazze dialect.

  "I almost forgot to give this to you," Dave said suddenly.

  Zavi accepted it gladly, though his expression remained flat. He stared at the pamphlet's contents for five seconds, searching for information within it.

  After deciding to go there, he suddenly realized that he was being invited by a man who had appeared out of nowhere and started talking to him.

  "Sir…" His expression turned serious. "Are you sure you want to take me there? Won't that take up your time?" he asked to make sure.

  They looked at each other as they continued walking. Dave laughed softly and answered in his hoarse voice;

  "Don't worry. This is my first salary from working there, and there's nothing wrong with bringing someone like you. It's already part of my job."

  Realizing the formal tone was bothering him, Dave quickly added, "And… don't call me 'sir.' I'm actually only twenty." He gave a faint smile as he raised his hand and slipped it into his coat pocket.

  Zavi's eyes widened, his mouth slightly open as he examined his face more carefully.

  "You're really twenty? You look like an uncle who works at the market and on farms," Zavi said half jokingly.

  "Ahahaha, not bad." Dave did not expect to meet someone who could make such a strange joke.

  This was also the first time he had spoken to someone outside his own family. Thinking about that, he smiled, surprised that he had finally stepped out of that cage of loneliness.

  Zavi glanced at him briefly. Now that he knew he was a man of the same age and someone familiar with strange supernatural matters like the ones he was experiencing.

  "Sorry if my comment earlier made you uncomfortable," Zavi said softly, touching his chest lightly and handing the pamphlet back.

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  "It's fine," Dave replied calmly. "I'm used to it." He reassured him that he had often received such comments.

  "So… we haven't introduced ourselves yet. My name is Dave Matthews."

  "Oh… my name is Za, uh, Salilfai Lamena," he said flatly, extending his hand for a handshake.

  Dave understood and shook his hand with a small smile.

  "But I didn't expect we would meet again, Lemina," he said hesitantly, though already half certain.

  Zavi immediately raised his head, his blue eyes staring sharply as he tried to recall where they had met before.

  'Even though I used an alias as a precaution. But have I really met him before?' he wondered as he slowed his steps.

  His legs trembled slightly, accompanied by the corner of his lips lifting as he tried to remember.

  'Could it be… Dave, the one who stared at me during my trip to the library?'

  He finally remembered. Realizing after confirming that Dave was indeed the person who had unsettled his heart with his strange and mysterious behavior.

  "The carriage gathering place?" He slipped his hand into his coat pocket.

  "Right…" Dave smiled and reflexively snapped his fingers.

  Clack…

  "Huh. The world really is small," Zavi said, exhaling calmly, though it still felt strange to meet him again.

  The two of them chatted briefly about their life experiences and respective jobs, although Zavi disliked the topic because he was unemployed.

  But when they turned onto another street.

  "What exactly happened?" Zavi muttered as he saw several men and women surrounding something, accompanied by murmurs of anger.

  "Maybe a thief," Dave said beside him. "But we'll know once we get there."

  Zavi glanced at Dave, then the two of them tried to approach the crowd, making sure of the conditions around the street.

  They realized the weather suddenly changed. Gray clouds covered part of the sky, turning what had been bright into something gloomy as if nature itself bore witness.

  Thunder began to rumble, and several street lamps were forced to light up, illuminating the surroundings that were growing darker.

  People on the main road scattered in all directions, not wanting to get caught in the rain. Yet the darkness did not disperse the crowd. Instead, the angry voices grew louder after the thunder echoed.

  "Punish him!"

  "Just die already, you filthy rat!"

  "Hey, haven't you gone too far?"

  Those voices echoed along the corners of the street. From a distance, they saw something unpleasant in front of a building, a house where vine-like roots hung down, surrounded by several people beneath it.

  "I told you," Dave said while placing his hand on his chin, as if something was odd about the scene ahead.

  Meanwhile, Zavi stood frozen, not understanding what made those people beat a teenage boy until he was battered, his tattered clothes stained with drops of his own blood.

  Feeling pity, Zavi closed his eyes briefly, then stepped forward while gripping the empty revolver beneath his coat.

  'Lamena? Are you sure you're going to help him? Fiuhh, this person seems just like me.' Dave noticed the movement.

  He lowered his hand and stared at Zavi's back. Deep down, Dave actually did not want to interfere in other people's affairs. But seeing what Zavi was doing, his heart began to move.

  Dave shook his head slightly with a faint smile, then quietly followed behind him, ready to pull a sleeping paper talisman from his coat pocket.

  When they arrived.

  "Hey," Zavi said coldly, his sharp gaze fixed on the people in front of him.

  Four men turned around. One of them, a bearded man wearing a bowler hat, stepped two steps forward and said cynically, "You want to stop this? Don't be foolish, Sir."

  "Really?" Zavi replied indifferently, stepping closer and pressing the barrel of his revolver against the man's forehead.

  "What are you doing?" the bowler hat man asked in panic, holding his breath.

  Hearing that, the other three, who had only been watching the beating just like the bowler hat man, focused their attention on him, who now stood stiffly with both hands raised.

  From their angle, the three men could not see what was in front of the bowler hat man. Naturally, he was around 185 centimeters tall combined with his large build.

  "What's going on?" one of them asked curiously.

  Two to five seconds passed. No answer. One of the men decided to approach.

  Meanwhile…

  Seeing the crowd's attention diverted, including those beating the boy, Dave knew what he had to do. He quietly slipped toward the groaning boy and intended to take him to a safer place.

  Zavi glanced to the left, looking at Dave with hope that his plan would succeed. "Stay quiet and don't speak," Zavi threatened softly.

  "Something feels off," he thought after realizing there was something strange as he kept pointing the revolver.

  But suddenly, a man walked toward the bowler hat man. His footsteps sounded clear and heavy, making Zavi slightly panic.

  A few more steps, and the man tapped the bowler hat man's shoulder.

  "Why are you raising your hands?" he asked seriously.

  The bowler hat man lowered his hands according to Zavi's instruction, his eyes still staring straight ahead without turning, and said softly, "Ah… I was talking. I mean, I was greeting my friend…"

  Zavi was startled to hear his answer.

  'What kind of excuse is that?' he muttered, feeling the man could not be trusted and realizing he was about to be exposed.

  The man who had asked earlier stared sharply at the bowler hat man's back, even though he seemed fine now.

  "Hm… I see," he said calmly, acknowledging the bowler hat man's words.

  The bowler hat man nodded slowly, and a few seconds later—

  Bang!

  Everyone was shocked, including pedestrians passing along the small street and other sidewalks.

  Zavi's eyes widened, thinking the gunshot had come from Dave, and the sound was not far from his position.

  He immediately slipped his revolver back and blended into the people on the sidewalk.

  'Since when were there passersby?' he wondered.

  On the other side, the man from earlier grew suspicious and immediately spun the bowler hat man around. They looked at each other in silence, but fear was clearly visible on the man's face.

  "What's wrong with you? Your face is extremely pale. Are you sick?" he asked in confusion.

  "It's nothing," the bowler hat man replied, holding his breath.

  'What the hell was that? It felt like someone shot my leg,' he thought, still holding his breath.

  The man turned around, and the people behind him realized that after looking back when the gunshot sounded, the boy had already disappeared.

  "Where did he go?"

  "Damn it, is that gunshot connected?"

  "Find that kid right now!"

  Meanwhile, the four men.

  "We'd better leave this place."

  The other three nodded.

  The crowd quickly dispersed, the anger of the group that had been beating the boy erupting like a volcano. Around ten people, seven men and the rest women, spread out to search for the boy.

  Two minutes later, from the main road, Zavi ran toward the direction of the gunshot he had clearly heard, pushing through the crowd along the roadside, as if they don't care about the shooting! Or was it just the crowd and Zavi who heard it?

  As soon as he saw a narrow gap between two houses, he immediately entered, certain the sound had come from there.

  Behind the damp wall, atop a stack of crates, Dave and a teenage boy sat side by side. Seeing Zavi arrive, both stood up. Dave stepped forward first and greeted him with a tense face.

  "Do they know I took the kid?" Dave asked, glancing toward the street.

  Zavi was out of breath. "I don't know. But they definitely heard that gunshot."

  "My gunshot?" Dave frowned. "What do you mean?"

  'Here it is,' he thought.

  Zavi fell silent. "Hah? So that wasn't from you? I thought it was a signal."

  Before Dave could answer, Zavi felt something. A faint presence from within the dark alley ahead. Damp, without light. Yet the footsteps were clear, slow, certain, and drawing closer.

  Then from within the darkness—

  Dave appeared. Another Dave? His coat was dusty, and he carried a teenage boy whose face was slightly bruised and pale over his shoulder.

  The new Dave's face was pale and confused, just as shocked as Zavi.

  Zavi turned to the Dave beside him, who was now staring at him with a flat, expressionless face.

  The narrow alley fell silent for a moment…

  Only then did Zavi realize one thing. He was standing between the real Dave and something wearing Dave's face.

  "Who is he?" Dave asked in confusion, staring at Zavi who stood somewhat farther ahead.

  "Um, Brother… over there," the teenager said weakly, pointing beside Zavi. "There's someone whose face looks exactly like yours, and—"

  Before he could finish his sentence, Dave said in a trembling voice, "Yes, I know what you're thinking right now. Stay quiet and don't move, okay?" Dave turned his head, looking at the boy's panicked face.