Chapter 2

The scene currently displayed in front of Irene can only make her stomach drop. A woman is currently... having intercourse with what Irene could only describe as a beast. Its stature is gigantic, maybe about 3 to 3.5 metres tall, its whole body is covered in raven fur, sharp, yellow teeth poke out of its mouth, and its eyes are bright red. The beast doesn't seem to notice Kai and Irene's presence as it's busy with the woman it's currently having sex with.

"I'll explain later. You just sit here for a bit." Kai whispers and lets go of Irene.

Kai then turns to face of whatever that beast is, muttering something under his breath before barging into the room. Irene can only watch helplessly as the beast nonchalantly throws the now unconscious woman away to deal with Kai. The beast stops pursuing Kai, however, as its blaring red eyes lock onto Irene's figure from behind the door.

Irene can see Kai's confusion as he turns to try and call the beast, his insults and provocation falling on deaf ears. Even as he starts reciting mantras in a language Irene doesn't understand, even when the beast is clearly in pain and twitching because of Kai's mantras, the beast keeps pursuing Irene without stopping with eyes filled with a sense of want.

The horrid stench of the beast finally fills Irene's nose, and it's unlike anything she's smelled before. Irene can only describe the stench as every rotten meat in existence mixed into a bucket and left outside to rot even more for some time, it is simply revolting.

"DON'T JUST STAND THERE! RUN!"

But Irene can't run. Her feet are glued in place as she trembles at the sight of the monstrous beast currently getting closer with every breath she takes. Just as the beast bends down, so close that she can feel its breath on her, she's pulled back and her body is enveloped by Kai. Irene herself isn't short, she's quite tall standing at a solid 170 cm (5'7), but if she would compare herself to Kai, she's simply tiny.

Irene closes her eyes and grips Kai's coat, listening to Kai continuously shouting mantras without stopping, until a curse flows out of his mouth instead. "Kai...?" Irene mumbles, finally willing herself to open her eyes, seeing the black-haired man staring at nothingness with his eyebrows furrowed in frustration.

"Damn it Irene, you would've been in serious trouble back there!" Kai lectures as he pushes Irene at arms length and begins checking her all around. "That thing didn't touch you anywhere, did it?"

Irene weakly shakes her head no, still shaking in her current position. "What... what was that thing?" She asks.

Kai sighs in relief and stands up, giving a hand for Irene to take. "That thing you saw was a ghost, its name is gandaruwa, or more commonly known as genderuwo since it has Eastern or Central Javanese origin, but since I'm more familiar with the Western Javanese term, I'll continue calling it a gandaruwa." He explains as Irene takes his hand.

Kai leads Irene into the room where the woman is, currently dishevelled and laying unconscious on the ground, her face is pale and her lips are dry, as if she had been sucked of all her energy. "But... but a ghost shouldn't be able to do... that to a living being... should it?" Irene asks, standing back as Kai fixes the woman's clothing.

"Well, I'm not sure about sasquatch or bigfoot since I think that's the American equivalent of the gandaruwa, but gandaruwas usually target lonely wives and widows, though they sometimes go for women and children in general. They're quite the perverts and are basically looking for human wives themselves though their means are... non consensual. It's like, they disguise and lure these lonely wives and widows and impregnate them to carry their offspring." Kai explains as he pulls out a pouch filled with herbs from his bag and sprinkles it on the woman's stomach. "I was a bit late for her... I sure do hope the remedy works so she won't carry a gandaruwa's offspring."

"I don't... I don't get it, that doesn't make sense! Nothing that just happened made any sense!" Irene mutters rapidly, biting the nail of her thumb.

"Well, you basically have never seen a paranormal haunting in the flesh before today, not to mention the first you see is in a different culture entirely with its own set of rules and characteristics. It's a lot to take in, especially if you've never believed in the supernatural." Kai says as he searches around the room, finding a small bag nearby and taking a wallet out of it. "Huh, no wonder. Post-grad student from Sulawesi, I'm guessing she has a partner and they didn't come to Bandung and that's why she was an easy target to that gandaruwa."

Kai cleans up the bag and places a blanket over the unconscious woman before placing a small rattan bowl next to the woman. "What... what are you doing? Shouldn't you quickly take her to the hospital?" Irene questions, watching curiously as Kai starts filling the bowl with plants and aromatic herbs, leaves, and flowers from the pouch he has.

"Well, I can't exactly send her to the hospital unfortunately. She'd be much safer here than the hospital since her soul is currently... weak, I guess you could say, after the encounter she had with the gandaruwa. If I were to bring her to the hospital, I would risk letting more harm to her since the hospital is crawling with restless spirits, more so than here." He answers as he rummages his bag for a while before finally pulling out a water bottle, some snacks, and a vitamin pill for the woman.

"Alright, I think I'm basically done here. We need to talk for a bit, but it's not safe to talk here." Kai says as he takes Irene's hand and pulls her out of the hallway and into the main building. "Irene, I think you're not in a good position."

"What?! Why?" Irene asks, dumbfounded.

Kai stays silent as he pulls her out of campus grounds and to his motorcycle which he parks in front of the cubic monument across from campus. He hands Irene his spare helmet which she reluctantly takes before they both mount the motorcycle and leave for the homestay areas to the north of campus.

After about 7 minutes, Kai reaches his destination as he enters the basement of an apartment with at least 15 floors, ushering Irene with him up the elevator and onto the top floor, that being the 18th floor. The room is neater than what Irene expected of Kai, spacey with a small kitchenette by the door, the bathroom across from it, and a general area with a sofa, a double bed, a wardrobe, a desk and chair, and a rug.

"Alright, don't freak out or anything, but this is the safest place to talk about what I want to talk about." Kai says as he opens the balcony door, letting the cool air in. "I've purified my apartment time and time again and I can confidently say nothing can harm you in here."

Irene leans on the kitchenette and raises her eyebrow. "Nothing, huh?" She comments sarcastically. He said her life is basically in danger but he's now forcing her into his apartment? Unbelievable.

"Look, I'm a man and all but I won't touch others without consent. One, doing anything remotely like that is just an asshole move in general, criminal move actually. Two, I don't want to go to prison, I can barely make money in there. Three, I don't want to have a kid at 19, accidentally or purposely, 25 at least. Anyway, I brought you here to ensure your safety 'cause I think you're basically in danger." Kai argues exasperatedly. "But back to the main point, do you have a lover?"

"And you said you brought me here to ensure my safety..."

"Irene!"

"Fine, no." Irene relents, holding her hands up in defeat.

"... And you're not lying?" Kai asks cautiously.

"Look, if you're interested in me, there are much better ways to--"

"Irene, listen to me. If you don't have a lover then you're basically double fucked." Kai says, cutting Irene off her sentence. "That means you have rare blood and supernatural creatures will be far more attracted to you. To them, your blood would probably be the sweetest thing they've ever tasted."

"And how are you so sure of that? It's not as if you can taste it or whatever. You're not a vampire, are you?" Irene asks, crossing her arms as a subtle means of defense.

"... Because I didn't manage to banish and seal the gandaruwa. It disappeared once it was able to confirm that you have rare blood and it's probably searching for you right now... with some company..." Kai explains nervously.

"... What?!"