"Boss, why did you suddenly come back to Petalburg Woods again?" Zoroark asked with confusion as it looked at Edward, its eyes filled with bewilderment. It genuinely didn't understand what was going on. After all, Edward had only just gone to Kanto. Zoroark had thought it could sneak in a break or two while the boss was away, but completely out of its expectations—Edward actually returned. This naturally left Zoroark puzzled, wondering what exactly Edward was up to this time.
"Of course, there's something I need to take care of." Edward briefly explained the letter he had received earlier. Upon hearing this, Zoroark also became interested. Zoroark had followed Edward to Petalburg Woods before and naturally remembered the western-style house inside the forest. But wasn't that mansion already reserved as their boss's private property? So why was a girl living there now?
Zoroark simply drove with Edward toward Petalburg Woods. But once they arrived at the entrance, they could no longer proceed by car, so Edward and Zoroark continued on foot. After entering, Edward immediately spotted Boss Gengar.
"So, what you're saying is—you came here this time to meet a fan? But isn't the entire mansion already converted into your exhibition hall?" Boss Gengar asked, staring at Edward in confusion. Edward nodded. That was exactly what he had thought, and that was precisely why he couldn't understand how a female fan ended up living inside that place.
When Edward arrived at the mansion with Boss Gengar and Zoroark, he took out the photo he had received and examined it. It was indeed this place. But that only raised another question: this mansion was part of Edward's theme park and memorial hall, so how could there be a stranger here?
"Edward-sensei?!"
A delighted voice rang out. Edward turned and saw a girl crawling out from beneath a large tree next to the mansion. Her face was filled with excitement, her expression overflowing with disbelief as she stared at Edward.
Edward opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but finding he didn't know what to say. No wonder the girl had taken a selfie here—Edward originally thought she lived in the mansion, but it turned out that wasn't the case at all…
Edward couldn't help feeling both amused and helpless, though at least this solved one of his earlier doubts.
"A-umm, Mr. Edward! I'm your fan! This is a script I wrote—could I trouble you to take a look at it?!" The girl spoke in an extremely excited voice. Hearing this, Edward actually became curious. He originally thought this was just a typical fan meeting, but he didn't expect he would get to read a script. Still, he didn't mind. Beside him, Zoroark wore a strange expression.
Goodness… people write scripts like this now?
But to be honest, being able to catch Edward's attention already made her impressive. Others had wasted half a day before without managing to interest him, but this girl succeeded in one go. That alone was quite something.
Edward picked up the notebook and glanced at it.
It was an ordinary notebook. After opening it, he saw messy handwriting and various scribbles. The girl, blushing, flipped the pages for him, and soon a story came into view.
…
Story 1 — "Landon and the Black Spot on the Ceiling"
Landon was a student who also worked part-time as a restaurant waiter. But due to the pandemic, he could only stay at home. The apartment he rented cost three thousand pokedolllars per month—an enormous burden for someone currently unemployed. Considering the circumstances, Landon planned to move to a cheaper place. After repeatedly checking with the real estate agency, he finally found a suitable listing.
The location wasn't bad. The unit was on the third floor, spacious, and fully equipped. The only downside was poor lighting. The agent explained that it was because a hospital next door blocked the sunlight—but on the bright side, it made hospital visits convenient.
Plus, the monthly rent was only two thousand pokedolllars, one thousand cheaper than his previous apartment—so to Landon, this place was already an excellent deal.
After hesitating briefly, Landon decided to rent it. His money was limited, so saving wherever he could was a blessing.
But after moving in, Landon noticed a problem: there was a black spot on the ceiling, fairly large, like a small ring. He didn't like it, but considering the cheap rent, he let it slide.
That night, when he was about to sleep, he heard loud creaking noises from upstairs—like doors opening and closing. Checking the time, he saw it was 11:20 PM. He was annoyed and planned to talk to the upstairs neighbor the next day to avoid future disturbance.
The next morning, he went up to the fourth floor, only to find no one lived there. The door was sealed, and through the mail slot he confirmed the unit was empty. Confused, he returned home.
That night, while video-calling his long-distance girlfriend, he mentioned the rental situation. They even planned to meet up after the lockdown was lifted.
But later that night, Landon heard the same sounds at exactly 11:20 PM. This time, he noticed half a woman's head emerging from the black spot on the ceiling. Terrified, Landon grabbed his laptop so his girlfriend could see it too.
Edward nearly choked reading this, this girlfriend must truly be devoted if she didn't break up with him right there.
But the girlfriend said she saw nothing.
When Landon looked again, the head had vanished. Yet in the following days, he continued seeing the woman's head every night at 11:20 PM.
Since he had previously strained his back, he went to the nearby hospital. The doctor, sensing something odd, told him that half a year ago, a woman had mysteriously died in the apartment above his.
This frightened Landon greatly.
That night at 11:20 PM, the woman's upper body fell halfway out of the black spot, hanging upside-down and smiling at him. Landon was so terrified he fell to the floor, and the woman disappeared again.
He was too scared to go home afterward, but sitting outside attracted the attention of Officer Jenny. With no choice, he returned home.
When video-calling his girlfriend later, she happily told him the lockdown was lifted; he could return to work, and she planned to visit him.
Then Landon remembered the upstairs unit. He went up again, but it was still empty. He tried to open the door to negotiate with the ghost, but it wouldn't open.
Just as he was about to leave, the door opened on its own. For some reason, Landon stepped inside.
Inside, he discovered black marks beneath the ceiling's black spot. Before he could react, the female ghost appeared, kneeling on the floor. Landon stared into her eyes, his own turning vacant.
Luckily, his girlfriend arrived, patting him on the shoulder. He snapped back to consciousness. But when they tried to leave, the door wouldn't open. Turning back, they saw the ghost smiling eerily. Only after they screamed loudly did the door finally open, allowing them to escape.
Afterward, Landon immediately requested to terminate his lease. The agent said nothing and refunded him without question. This made Landon realize this was probably not an isolated incident.
…
"Kind of short, but not bad overall." Edward felt fairly satisfied. The story was interesting. Not very scary, but there were parts that could be expanded with more detail.
"There's still more…" the girl said timidly. Edward raised an eyebrow and continued flipping.
Boss Gengar, meanwhile, was staring curiously, wondering what kind of horror story this was supposed to be.
…
Story 2 — "Paris and the Hospital Room"
The second story's protagonist was named Paris—upon seeing this, Edward nearly lost composure. He suspected the girl was doing this on purpose, though he also knew some scriptwriters intentionally leave character names same as famous places for easier editing later.
Paris was an office worker, extremely busy every day. As a single mother, she relied on her own mother to take care of her young daughter.
But one day, her daughter fell ill for unknown reasons and had to be hospitalized. Because the hospital only allowed parents to stay overnight, Paris's mother took care of the child during the day, while Paris watched her at night. Paris didn't think too much about it and agreed.
At night, while holding her daughter as they slept, she heard loud snoring—like that of an old man.
She was confused, though she knew someone lived in the bed next to theirs behind the curtain.
The next day, the snoring continued, and Paris felt as if someone was watching them, making her uneasy.
On the third day, the patient next to them was discharged. When Paris asked the nurse whether the neighbor was an old man, the nurse replied with confusion—it had been an old woman, not an old man. This troubled Paris.
Her work performance also dropped due to fatigue, though fortunately, her supervisor was kind and offered to cover her work so she could rest.
That night, Paris still felt someone watching her. Her daughter said someone was staring at them from the opposite bed. But Paris couldn't see anyone.
The next day, while picking up medicine, she overheard other patients discussing that something strange had happened in their hospital room before. Paris wanted to request a room change, but the hospital was fully booked, so she had no choice.
That night, her daughter once again said someone was watching them, accompanied by the old-man snoring. Paris barely slept and checked them out the next day.
While the nurse was packing up, she lifted the bedsheet—and Paris saw a mummified corpse lying underneath. But the nurse couldn't see it at all.
…
"This one's short too. Are the rest also like this? A segmented format?" Edward raised an eyebrow. Very interesting. The previous ghost tale was also a segmented horror story, and this one followed the same style.
…
Story 3 — "Landon and the Red Suitcase"
The protagonist was Landon again.
He was an overworked corporate employee. One night, after working late, he was riding the bus home when his boss suddenly called and asked him to revise another document. Exhausted, Landon dozed off.
When he woke up, he realized the bus was nearly empty—only a long-haired girl remained, holding a red suitcase on her lap.
He couldn't see her face, but based on her figure, he guessed she was a beauty.
Landon got off at his stop. The girl also got off, walking even faster than he did, surprising him.
Over the next few days, he encountered her repeatedly.
Believing this was fate, Landon called out to her, wanting to say something, but ended up speechless. The girl simply walked away.
Determined to confess, Landon prepared himself.
But the next time he got off the bus, the girl didn't get off. Landon was disappointed—until he suddenly heard the sound of the rolling suitcase behind him. The girl was already ahead of him again.
He mustered his courage to ask—but his manager called again, asking for another revision. By the time he finished the call, the girl had gone far ahead.
Feeling regret, Landon suddenly heard the suitcase again behind him. Turning his head, he saw the same girl—even though moments ago she had been walking far ahead.
It dawned on him that he had encountered a ghost.
What followed was the classic scene—legs going weak, unable to run, the ghost catching up to him, revealing pale white eyes, and asking:
"Do you know where the station is?"
Landon screamed in terror. The story ended there.
…
Edward was confused—this style felt a little too sloppy. It wasn't even particularly scary.
Continuing through the notebook, he found the next story was about sleep paralysis—not very scary either.
Though they weren't frightening to him, Edward knew these would still be terrifying for people in the Pokémon world.
"Not bad overall, but the horror level is still not quite enough. What are you planning to name this collection?" Edward asked with interest. Although the later stories weren't as good, they were still usable. Segmented horror films were quite popular recently, so this could very well catch attention in the future.
"I—I gathered real ghost encounter rumors from different people when writing these… so I thought I'd call it True Horror Stories." the girl replied timidly.
Edward froze for a moment.
Good heavens. Good heavens!
No wonder the stories felt familiar and oddly nostalgic—this was practically a classic old anthology style. "True Horror Stories" had been produced for many years, supposedly based on real experiences submitted by viewers. Whether true or not was another question, but the style was unmistakable.
"Not bad at all. So… would you be willing to sign a contract with our company?" Edward asked with a bright smile.
The girl nodded vigorously.
(End of chapter)