The master's voice echoed in Star's mind as always.
"Go. Bring more friends."
Without hesitation, Star obeyed. That was his life-his purpose.
Wearing his black hooded cloak, he left the house, the decaying walls standing at the outskirts of town like a forgotten relic.
Moving like a shadow, he sneaked in the forest unseen, unnoticed. He knew the safest paths well, the blind spots where no one would detect him.
But tonight, something was different.
Meanwhile... in the Forest
Aliana and her friends, five boys and five girls, were having the time of their lives. Their trip had been thrilling, but the real adventure had just begun.
Rumors had spread through town-stories of people vanishing into the night, never to return. A supernatural phenomenon, they called it. A mystery that had the townspeople afraid to walk alone once the sun had set.
Aliana? She didn't believe a word of it. "There's no such thing as ghosts or demons. It's just silly paranoia!" she had declared with a laugh.
So, as a challenge, they had decided to camp in the most infamously unsafe place-the dense forest at the outskirts of town.
A place shrouded in darkness, where even the bravest hesitated to step foot after sunset.
The campfire crackled, casting flickering shadows against the trees. Aliana, dressed in a blue suit, stood near the flames, her white hair reflecting the golden glow as she told spooky stories.
Some of her friends shuddered. Others laughed, trying to act fearless. None of them knew how real the danger lurking in the darkness truly was.
Star crouched behind the thick bushes, his emotionless gaze locked onto the group.
"Eleven in one place..."
He had never been so lucky. If he took them all, his master would be pleased. Perhaps he would even receive food for two days instead of one.
Patience...
That was key. He had to wait for the right moment.
Slowly, the campfire dimmed as the group finished their stories. One by one, they retreated to their tents, each shared by a pair.
Only Aliana slept alone.
As the last ember of the fire died out, Star moved.
Silent as the night, he slipped into the camp.
The tents were close together, but he knew how to move without making a sound.
One tent at a time.
He hesitated at the tent's entrance, fingers brushing the fabric. Inside, soft breaths. Too easy. A whisper slid past his lips, and obedience followed like shadow to light.
"Come with me."
They obeyed without question.
One by one, he repeated the process, carefully avoiding noise. Each time, two more fell under his spell.
Until only one tent remained untouched-Aliana's.
Something inside him whispered that taking an extra one wouldn't matter. He already had ten. That was the requirement.
The master never asked for more. One extra friend wouldn't make a difference.
Without hesitation, Star turned and led his hypnotized captives back toward his master's house, fading into the darkness of the night.
Back at the campsite, Aliana slept peacefully, oblivious of something unnatural happening.
The night was silent, save for the distant hoots of owls and the whispering wind weaving through the forest.
Star walked expressionless, leading his ten hypnotized captives toward his master's house. Their footsteps were eerily synchronized, their eyes blank, their minds enslaved by his magic.
This was routine for Star. Another night, another batch of "friends." He felt nothing-no guilt, no excitement. Just obedience.
Meanwhile, back at the campsite...
Aliana stirred in her tent, annoyance flickering in her sleepy mind. A mosquito had just bitten her neck, its sting irritating enough to jolt her awake.
"Ugh, where's the mosquito repellent?" she muttered, rubbing the bite.
Still drowsy, she got up and walked toward the nearest tent.
"Hey, guys, give me the spray," she said, pulling open the tent flap.
Empty.
A strange feeling crept into her chest.
She turned to another tent. Then another.
All of them were empty.
Her annoyance turned into confusion. Where did everyone go?
At first, she thought it was a prank. They had been joking about supernatural disappearances all day-maybe this was their way of scaring her?
But as she stood alone in the middle of the campsite, with nothing but the rustling trees around her, an unsettling fear gripped her heart.
She was alone.
Her thoughts raced. Could bandits have kidnapped them? Could they have been taken by wild animals?
Her breath quickened.
Then, arming herself with a flashlight, she rushed deep into the woods, calling out softly.
"Guys? If this is a joke, it's not funny!"
No answer.
Her feet crunched against the fallen leaves as she wandered aimlessly, the dense trees making it harder to see. Every shadow seemed to move, every sound made her pulse jump.
Then, she saw them.
A line of figures moving through the forest.
Her breath hitched as she ducked behind a tree.
It was her friends but something was wrong.
They walked in perfect unison, their faces emotionless, their movements robotic. And leading them, a little ahead, was a figure in a black hooded cloak.
Aliana's eyes widened. Who was that?
She immediately pressed her hand to her chest, unsure if the rapid beats were fear... or curiosity pulling her deeper.. This was definitely not a prank. Something was seriously wrong.
Instead of acting recklessly, she followed them quietly, staying hidden behind trees and bushes.
For several minutes, she tailed them deeper into the forest, where the trees grew thicker, blocking out even the moonlight.
And then, she saw it-
A house.
A shady, eerie-looking house, standing alone in the middle of the forest, as if forgotten by time.
Aliana's stomach twisted in unease. This place shouldn't exist.
She watched as Star led her entranced friends through the door.
Without thinking, she crept closer, her heart hammering in her chest.
Taking a deep breath, she carefully sneaked inside.
_ _ _
The air inside the house was thick and stale, as though it hadn't been opened to the outside world in years.
Dust clung to every surface, and the faint smell of something metallic and rotten lingered-like the air itself was warning intruders to stay away.
Aliana's heart pounded in her chest as she pressed herself against the wall just inside the entrance, careful not to make a sound.
Her friends stood eerily still in the center of the dimly lit room, their eyes blank, their bodies unmoving.
They looked less like people and more like lifeless puppets, waiting for a command.
And there he was-Star.
He stood silently before them, his skin contrasting sharply with his face. His presence was cold, calculated, yet strangely... handsome.
Aliana's gaze narrowed.
"Who is this guy? And what did he do to them?" these thoughts cluttered in her mind.
Star didn't speak to the "friends" he had gathered.
A simple flick of his fingers, and they all knelt down in unison, as though their will had been stripped away.
Then-
Footsteps.
From a shadowy corridor emerged the Master-a tall, older figure cloaked in even darker robes.
His face was hidden beneath a hood, but the aura he radiated was suffocating, almost predatory.
Aliana instinctively held her breath.
"You've done well." the Master said, his voice a smooth, sinister whisper.
Star didn't respond-he simply nodded like a puppet.
The Master removed his hood and paced around the frozen "friends," examining them like objects on display.
"Ten...? You brought ten... at once?" the Master noted. "How generous."
Star remained still, his face unreadable.
"You know the rule-ten is the limit, so you don't need the extras." the Master said, his tone a little colder now.
The extras were the ten previous friends Star already brought before bringing Aliana's friends.
Aliana watched from her hiding spot, thinking. What happens to the people whom they are calling extras?
Then, the Master smiled.
"I'll set the extras free," he said softly. "Just as always."
Star gave a small nod without any change in expression.
Aliana, however, felt a wave of fear.
Set them free?
She didn't really feel comfortable about the situation.
Then suddenly from beneath his cloak, the Master conjured six cup noodle cans and placed them on the dusty table with a soft clink.
"For your loyalty. Two days of freedom from hunger," the Master said.
Star's face didn't change. There was no joy, no excitement - just a blank acceptance of the so-called "reward."
But that wasn't exactly the case for Aliana as she was unable to process what she was seeing.
The Master then turned to the extras.
"As for you all...Freedom Awaits..." he shouted with a cold yet unsettling grin, the dark aura swirling around him and his new captives.
Without another word, he led the hypnotized people out the door, moving away from the house and deeper into the forest in the opposite direction of the town.
Aliana's breath tightened in her chest. One by one, the people vanished into the black, swallowed by something deeper, something hungrier than the night itself. Silence didn't settle - it loomed, heavy and deliberate, like a breath held just beneath the surface.
She pressed herself against the cracked frame of the window, fingertips scraping against the dusty wood. Something in her bones told her this house hadn't been meant for people. Not for living ones, anyway.
Her heart was beating so loud that she was scared that Star or his Master may notice her.