Edward naturally understood the other party's concerns, but he assured them that it was fine. Hearing this, the other person fetched a phone, opened a folder on it, and displayed a video file. At first glance, it looked completely ordinary—its title even sounded rather amusing: "Pure-Type Married Woman." If one didn't know better, they might have mistaken it for some kind of educational video.
"Is this the one?" Edward asked curiously. He hadn't expected Miss Sadako herself to end up doing this kind of work. Life must really be hard these days if even Sadako was resorting to clickbait titles.
"Mm, most likely," said the department chief. "We found it on the phone of the person who died seven days ago. The file size didn't match normal videos—it was identical in size to those cursed tapes, so we…" He trailed off without finishing, but Edward already knew what he meant. Without hesitation, he tapped the video open.
The screen flickered to life—there was an old, dried-up well, a woman with long hair covering her face, blurred and indistinct text, eerie whispering sounds, and flashing words in the middle, one of which was the character "贞." Once it finished, the screen went dark.
Edward looked up. Everyone else in the room had already backed far away, covering their eyes and ears as if avoiding the plague. They clearly wanted no part in this. Edward didn't care. What's wrong with Sadako anyway? In seven days, he'd be gone from this world. If Sadako showed up early, he'd gladly show her what real cruelty looked like.
Just then, his phone rang—ding ling ling!—and he took it out. The caller ID displayed a string of fours. Edward smiled. "Well, Sadako's efficiency is impressive."
"Hello?" he answered. The department chief cautiously opened his eyes, watching Edward with a complex expression.
"Oh, seven days later? That's too long. Can't we make it earlier?" Edward asked, yawning lazily as a muffled, garbled voice on the other end informed him he'd die in seven days. But instead of fear, he just sounded bored. His question was met with silence, and then the line abruptly disconnected.
The chief's mouth twitched. Was this man serious? Everyone else begged for their seven days to be extended as long as possible, but this guy actually wanted it sooner? That was basically begging to die! Still, considering he lived in that haunted house, perhaps this was normal for him.
In the Paranormal Containment Bureau, they kept many high-risk case files—among them, The Grudge House and The Cursed Videotape were top-level dangers. Yet, the cursed tape was especially severe. Unlike the Grudge House, the tape couldn't be contained—it vanished and reappeared on its own, forcing people to watch it.
And with the advancement of modern technology, people's phones and computers had become excellent mediums for curses to spread. Thus, management over such entities had become extremely strict.
By comparison, the Grudge House was still terrifying, but it posed a localized threat. As long as no one entered, it was safe. If someone did, that person had to be "handled" swiftly before the curse spread—and that would be the end of it.
To put it another way, the Cursed Videotape was like a highly contagious, uncontrollable epidemic—its infection and fatality rates were astronomical. If it ever spread on a large scale, half the population could die. No wonder they treated it so seriously.
Meanwhile, the Grudge was more like a stationary virus—dangerous only if you approached the source.
"Edward, sir," the chief finally asked, unable to contain himself, "why is it that you aren't attacked by Kayako?" He had originally come for another reason, but once he heard about Edward's situation, he rushed over immediately. After all, if this anomaly could be understood, it could be an incredible breakthrough.
"Oh, that's simple. Kayako and I get along well," Edward replied casually, waving his hand. "But that's just me. You guys better not try the same thing."
He wasn't exaggerating—his relationship with Kayako was so close he might as well have been Toshio's godfather. If this world even had the concept of godfathers, that's exactly what he'd be.
Still, this was a one-of-a-kind case; no one else could replicate it.
Judging from the chief's skeptical expression, Edward could tell he didn't quite believe him. But that didn't matter. Edward wasn't here to prove anything—he was here for research, gathering material for his next film. So, he decided to do what he did best—cut straight to the point and lure Sadako out early to study her properly.
Now came the question—how to make Sadako appear before the seven days were up?
The simplest method? Pretend to die.
See, Sadako was unique. When she declared someone would die in seven days, she meant seven days. But if that person tried to end things early, she might intervene to stop them—or, if she couldn't, she'd just kill them right away herself. Flexible boundaries, you might say.
So, Edward requested a gun, planning to pretend to shoot himself. He obviously wasn't suicidal, but he figured it'd be enough to trigger Sadako's appearance.
The chief readily agreed, though he insisted Edward carry out the experiment in a sealed observation room. They wanted to record the entire event for research purposes.
Edward didn't mind.
As he prepared to pull the trigger, the room's lights flickered and warped. On the massive TV screen before him appeared a familiar sight—an ancient well. Edward's eyes lit up.
"Oh, here we go!" he said, genuinely excited. Even though he'd already seen Sadako crawl out of the well countless times in films, witnessing it firsthand was still thrilling.
"Same routine as always, huh? A bit outdated, but whatever." Cradling his little companion, Q, in his arms, Edward stood up. Q gave a sleepy glance at Sadako, yawned, and burrowed back into Edward's embrace. Edward calmly walked over and unplugged the TV.
It didn't work.
Even with the power off, Sadako's image persisted. So much for stopping her by pulling the plug.
He tried smashing the TV with the gun's handle next—but the screen remained unbroken. Normally, that much force would've shattered it instantly. Yet now it was indestructible. "If only every TV were this durable," Edward muttered dryly.
Turning it off didn't help either. As he pondered this, Sadako finally crawled out completely. At the same moment, Edward felt an invisible force clutching at his heart. Ah, psychic power—so that's how she killed people: scare them, then stop their hearts telekinetically. No wonder all her victims died the same way.
Too bad her powers didn't work on him.
"Chief, this is incredible," someone outside gasped as they watched through the surveillance feed. Normally, by this stage, people were either screaming or collapsing in terror. Even those who'd tried to act tough, wannabe "Ghost Hunters" ended up dying miserably before they could even finish their bravado. But Edward just sat casually on the sofa, watching Sadako approach as if he were watching TV.
"Hmm. Truly extraordinary," the chief murmured. "A man like that must have his own mysteries."
They didn't understand it—but they wanted to. If they could learn how Edward survived, maybe they could replicate it.
Then Sadako made her move again but this time, it wasn't Edward who reacted. It was Q, visibly displeased. Beside them, another spirit, Void, appeared, glaring daggers at Sadako. Only Fortune was missing—he was busy playing Monopoly with Toshio, babysitting duties and all.
Sadako hesitated mid-step.
"Would you like a glass of juice?" Edward asked cheerfully, handing her a cup of Fear Juice. Sadako paused, then the cup floated into her grasp. She took a sip.
Everyone watching outside nearly fainted. Did Sadako just… drink juice? Was this really the same top-tier cursed entity listed in their archives?
"Ah, so he's an onmyoji," the chief concluded, naturally assuming Q and Void were Edward's shikigami.
"Miss Sadako, hello. I'm Edward Stone, a film director," he said politely. "I came here to gather material and observe how you usually go about… killing people."
The moment he spoke, Q suddenly emitted a blinding light that blocked all visual and audio feeds from the outside.
Edward didn't care. It didn't matter if they saw or heard anything. He'd be gone in a week anyway, and he certainly wouldn't be visiting this cursed world again on his next film-tour trip.
If not for research, he wouldn't have come at all. This world was too much like his previous life—except here, the ghosts were real.
Sadako nodded silently. Edward exhaled in relief. Cooperation was all he needed. After all, you can't exactly collect data if your subject isn't willing to participate. And if she was willing, things would be much smoother.
"So then, Miss Sadako," Edward asked expectantly, "is there somewhere we could go for… field study?"
He studied her carefully. She wore a simple white dress, hair hanging messily over her face, dripping wet, fingernails torn off entirely—just like her lore described. She had clawed at the well walls until her nails broke, yet she never stopped struggling for life.
Of course, Edward knew Sadako had been biologically male once, but honestly, looking at her now, it was impossible to see anything but a woman. He'd stick with that.
Sadako seemed to think for a while before nodding and gesturing for him to follow.
Excited, Edward scooped up Q and trailed behind. When Sadako phased through the door, the agents outside nearly bolted in terror—until they saw Edward following right after her, calm as ever.
"I'm going to do some research with Miss Sadako," he told them with a smile. Everyone bowed their heads respectfully. An onmyoji of this level was not someone to offend.
A car was quickly arranged. The nervous, sweating driver almost jumped out of his seat, but when Sadako ignored him completely, he managed to relax—barely.
Meanwhile, Edward chatted amiably with Sadako, though she didn't respond much. She seemed reluctant to speak but was willing to listen.
He eventually asked if he could see her face, explaining that he wanted to model a movie character on her appearance. The poor driver nearly passed out at the mere suggestion, so Edward handed him a pair of earbuds blasting loud music to distract him.
To his surprise, Sadako actually revealed her face.
She wasn't ugly—far from it. Not breathtaking either, but she had a gentle, refined beauty. Her features were delicate, the kind that grew more pleasing the longer you looked. No one would ever guess she'd been born male.
Then, she shifted into her deathly form.
Edward didn't flinch. Drowning victims often bloated and decayed rapidly—he'd studied enough to know what "giant's corpse" syndrome looked like. Most medical students could barely stomach those images, let alone face the real thing.
"Thank you for your cooperation, Miss Sadako," Edward said sincerely. Her compliance gave him invaluable insight into her character. The only thing left was to witness her killing method firsthand—after all, this was the modern world. Surely even Sadako's technique had evolved with the times.
Following her lead, they drove to an ordinary residential building. Edward peered out the window, curious. He was just wondering how to enter when Sadako extended her hand—words appeared glowing on her palm:
[Phone]
"Oh! Got it, thank you, Miss Sadako," Edward said brightly, handing her his phone. He couldn't go in to film, but she could.
Sadako nodded and vanished through the wall.
"Mr. Edward… s-sir…" stammered the driver, his legs trembling.
"It's fine," Edward waved casually.
A minute later, a scream echoed from the second floor—and then silence.
Sadako reappeared beside the car, calmly handing the phone back to him.
Edward took it excitedly, noticing a new video file had appeared. He opened it immediately to review the footage.
(End of Chapter)