As Vani stepped down from the third floor to the second, a long trail of blood stained the red carpet, seeping into the fabric like the aftermath of a slaughter. He glanced left and right. The second floor was empty. Everyone had fled. Someone from the first floor must have warned them, and now, not a soul remained.
The silence was unsettling.
He reached the staircase leading down to the first floor. Halfway down, he spotted Gerald, crawling. The man clawed at the steps, dragging himself forward, his breath ragged and desperate. He wasn't running anymore, he couldn't. He was bleeding out, but his will to survive kept him moving.
Vani followed behind him, step by step, unhurried. Gerald must have sensed his presence because he looked back for a split second. The moment he saw Vani descending, his panic doubled. His hands scrambled against the wooden steps, pulling his broken body forward with everything he had left.
He was so close.
Three steps away.
Two.
He stretched his hand forward, his fingertips reaching, trembling, trying to touch the first floor. Just a little more. Just one more push, and he would win.
And then, Vani stepped on his leg.
A sharp, strangled scream tore from Gerald's throat as pain surged through his body. His fingers twitched, his arms shook, and he tried desperately to keep moving. His hand stretched forward, his fingertips barely brushing the edge of the first floor.
But he couldn't move.
His body jerked as he struggled, muscles tensing, breath coming in short, ragged gasps. He clawed at the floor, trying to drag himself just a little further, but Vani's foot pinned him in place. No matter how much he fought, he wasn't going anywhere.
"No, no, no!" Gerald cried, his voice breaking. "I was so close!"
Vani watched as despair finally settled in Gerald's eyes. It was over.
Down below, onlookers remained frozen in place. They had gathered on the first floor, watching, waiting. No one moved. No one spoke. Gerald turned to them, eyes wild with desperation.
"Help me! Someone… please! I'll give you anything! Help me!"
His voice broke, pleading, promising.
"I have money! Power! I can change your lives!"
No one stepped forward.
The only sound was Vani's voice, calm and final.
"Looks like I won."
Gerald shook his head violently, refusing to accept reality.
"No! No, you didn't! I won! I was right there! If I had just stretched a little further."
Vani tilted his head.
"Didn't I say? The stairs don't count. You have to be on the first floor."
His gaze lowered to Gerald's trembling form.
"Not even your fingers touched it."
Gerald's mouth quivered open, his face contorted with fury.
"That's bullshit! I was right there! I."
His words cut off as realization set in. He turned to the onlookers again, his voice growing more frantic.
"Someone bring Walter! Bring him here! I'll reward you for it! I swear, I..."
Vani sighed.
He spoke Gerald's name like a weary thought.
"Gerald."
The man turned his head to him, eyes filled with a flicker of hope.
"I didn't tell you, did I?"
Vani's voice was quiet, almost casual.
"I killed Walter before coming here."
Silence.
Then, a laugh, a broken, incredulous chuckle from Gerald's bloodstained lips.
"You killed Walter? You're lying. You're fucking lying, kid. There's no way."
Vani crouched down, resting his forearm on his knee as he watched Gerald.
"Think about it. You sent Walter to kill me and my mother. He never came back. Never reported to you. Never showed up. Didn't it ever cross your mind that maybe… he was already dead?"
Gerald's pupils shrank. He swallowed, his breath shallow.
"No… no, you're bluffing."
Vani shrugged.
"Believe what you want. It doesn't matter. What matters is." He gestured at Gerald's broken body, sprawled out before him. "You lost our bet."
Gerald's nostrils flared, fury overriding fear.
"You're fucking crazy! Do you have any idea what you're doing?! I have connections in the capital! People who will avenge me!"
Vani sighed again, tired of hearing the same desperate lies.
His voice dropped lower, colder.
"Do you really think I care? The only thing you should be thinking about is whether your death will be painful… or agonizing."
Gerald screamed. He clawed at the floor, dragging himself forward with every last ounce of strength he had left. His body twitched, shaking from blood loss, but he kept going.
Vani reached for his knife… only to realize he had left it buried in Eve's stomach upstairs.
No matter.
Gerald's leg was still propped awkwardly against the stairs, just slightly lifted from the wooden step. A perfect angle.
Vani raised his foot.
And then he stomped.
A sickening crunch echoed through the brothel.
Gerald shrieked, his voice raw with agony. His leg bent unnaturally beneath Vani's foot, bones shattered beyond recognition. The first-floor onlookers flinched, some gasping, others covering their mouths. But no one moved to stop him.
Among them, Vani spotted Sophia. She stood there, silent, watching. Her expression was unreadable.
But he didn't care.
Gerald convulsed, his body trembling violently from the pain. His screams were hoarse, broken, desperate. But Vani wasn't done.
He stepped in front of Gerald.
The man looked up at him, eyes filled with terror. Tears streamed down his face. His lips moved, forming words that never left his throat.
Vani raised his foot again.
And with all his strength, he crushed Gerald's head.
The sound was sickening, like a ripe fruit splitting open. Blood splattered across the wooden floor, pooling beneath him. The room fell into complete silence.
There was nothing left of Gerald. Nothing but pieces.
As soon as it was done, a wave of relief washed over Vani. His revenge was complete. Gerald and Eve were gone. He should have felt satisfied. Happy, even. But instead, a strange emptiness settled inside him.
He stood there, body weak, barely holding itself together. Around him, the remaining spectators whispered among themselves, some still shocked, others indifferent. A few even smiled, as if Gerald's death was a cause for celebration. But then there were those with uncertain expressions, their eyes darting around as if wondering, what happens now?
Vani didn't care.
Whatever came next was up to them.
Exhaustion weighed him down, and he dragged himself toward the nearest table. His legs felt heavy, his arms like lead. He collapsed into a chair, his body sinking into it. On the table before him, a glass of untouched wine sat, dark and rich in color, with a faint fruity aroma.
He reached for it. His thirst was unbearable, and he didn't care who had left it there. He lifted the glass and drank, swallowing half of it in one go. The taste was unlike anything he had ever had before. Sweeter than juice, richer than milk, entirely unfamiliar.
With a sigh, he set the glass down and rested his head against his hand, elbow propped on the table. His gaze drifted toward Gerald's mangled body, still lying there.
And then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw her.
Sophia.
She walked toward him, her expression unreadable. In her hand, she carried a glass of water. Without a word, she placed it in front of him, sliding it across the table before sitting down across from him.
Her voice was calm, but there was something else beneath it.
"So, are you satisfied now?"
Vani expected her to scold him. To lecture him about what he had done. But when he looked into her eyes, he saw sadness instead.
He took a sip of the water before answering.
"I am. He deserved it."
Sophia hesitated, like she wanted to say something but wasn't sure how. He could see the struggle in her expression, the way she searched for the right words. Finally, she asked.
"Did you kill Eve too?"
His voice was steady.
"Yes. She deserved it as well."
Sophia's fingers tightened around the rim of her glass. Then, after a moment, her voice wavered.
"Do you have any idea why she betrayed Rena?"
Vani exhaled slowly, staring at the table.
I had my theories. Jealousy, an inferiority complex, maybe both.
But in the end, it didn't matter. Whatever her reasons were, they wouldn't change what she did. What she tried to do.
"She had her reasons… But honestly? I don't care."
Sophia swallowed hard. Then, softly, she asked,
"Did Rena ever tell you why she didn't tell me about her plan?"
Vani lifted his gaze to meet hers.
"She knew you would try to stop her."
I didn't know about the plan either, I just heard this from Eve.
Sophia's expression fell. A shadow passed over her face, and for the first time, she looked truly devastated.
"Yeah, I thought so," she murmured.
Silence settled between them. Heavy, suffocating. Neither of them spoke.
Vani finished the glass of water she had brought him, setting it down quietly. And just like that, the moment lingered, stretching between them like an unspoken truth.
After a while, Sophia finally spoke.
"So, what do you plan to do next?"
Her question lingered in the air, but he had no answer. He had done everything he set out to do. He killed Eve, Gerald, Walter, and those two bastards. He couldn't pretend he was innocent. Not that crimes mattered much these days, but he would still have to face trials. That thought weighed on him for a moment before he finally replied,
"For now, I just want to give my mother a proper funeral. I'll bury her somewhere peaceful, away from all this noise."
But Sophia wasn't satisfied with that answer. She pressed further.
"And after that?"
He sighed.
"Honestly? I don't know."
She didn't look surprised. In fact, it seemed like she had expected that response. After a brief silence, she spoke again.
"How about you travel somewhere?"
He raised an eyebrow.
"Travel where?"
She said simply,
"Anywhere. You have nothing keeping you here anymore."
There was sadness in her eyes as she spoke.
She isn't wrong. I have no idea what to do next, no direction, no purpose.
Then she added,
"How about the capital?"
"The capital?" he echoed.
"Yeah. Why not?"
He hesitated before asking,
"And what about the mess I caused here?"
Her answer caught him off guard.
"It won't matter. Gerald had plenty of enemies here and probably elsewhere, too. It won't be hard to cover it up."
He stared at her for a moment.
"Is that so?"
She nodded. "Besides, if you stay here, you'll be stagnant, like water trapped in a well. But if you go on a journey, you might break through the second stage. Maybe you'll even find a purpose, or answers. Who knows?"
He thought about her words.
The idea of leaving hadn't even crossed my mind until now. But maybe she is right.
"Alright, I'll do it."
Hearing that, she stood up and walked toward the stairs. She didn't say anything, but he could tell she was heading to the third floor, to Eve. Even after everything, there had to be some kind of connection between them.
He watched her leave, then exhaled deeply. A moment later, he pushed himself up from his seat and walked toward the exit. There was something he needed to do first.
He was going home.
To bury his mother.
—
And just like that, Vani stood before a tree, its sprawling branches stretching toward the sky like an ancient guardian watching over the land. The sun dipped low on the horizon, casting golden light through the skeletal limbs, illuminating the mist that clung to the earth like a lingering whisper. Beneath the tree, the roots twisted and curled, half-submerged in the gentle waters that reflected the sky above. A perfect, trembling mirror of the world.
This was where he buried his mother.
The earth here was soft, untouched by the filth of the city, and the air carried the scent of damp soil and distant greenery. The only sounds were the rustling of leaves and the occasional ripple in the water, disturbed by the evening breeze. It was quiet. Peaceful. A place far removed from everything he had come to know.
She would rest here, away from the noise, away from the suffering. No more dim candlelight, no more heavy footsteps outside her door, no more waiting for a life that never gave her kindness. Just this. An endless sky above, the whispering wind, and the stillness of the water reflecting the fading sun.
As he stood before the grave, lost in thought, a voice spoke from behind him.
"So this is where you decided to bury your mother."
He turned around. It was Sophia. She carried a small bag, and behind her stood another figure… Pinky.
She held a bouquet of flowers. Of course, they were pink. It had to be pink.
Somehow, that's funny.
But what surprised him more was seeing her here. When Pinky noticed his gaze, her face turned red. Maybe she was embarrassed that he had found out the truth about where she worked. He wasn't sure. But as he kept staring, she frowned, almost glaring at him.
Did I do something wrong?
Before he could ask, Sophia spoke.
"I came to check on you. You're planning to leave now, right?"
"Yeah, that's right."
She didn't seem convinced. "And do you even know which direction the capital is? Do you have any money on you?"
He froze. Truthfully, he had no idea. He had never left the village before, never needed to know where the capital was. And as for money, he had found the coins his mother had hidden at home… but he didn't answer. He just stood there in silence.
Sophia sighed, shaking her head.
"Yeah. I thought so."
She lifted the bag in her hand and handed it to him. When he opened it, he was shocked, five gold coins and around twelve silver coins. That was a lot of money. There was also water and some food.
She didn't give him a chance to react before continuing,
"For now, head west. Don't go through the next village. Take the woods instead. Word might have already spread about what happened here, and you might not be welcome."
She looked serious. He took her words to heart. He had no idea what kind of people lived in the next village, and he wasn't about to find out the hard way.
He nodded.
"Thanks… for everything."
And just like that, he left. He didn't look back. But as he walked away, further and further from the grave, he could still feel their eyes on him… like a quiet goodbye neither of them wanted to say out loud.