Chapter 40: Cold-Hearted Devil

The moment Yelena’s eyes narrowed and her calm yet terrifying voice demanded their names, the entire room went silent.

The reporters felt their hearts pounding in their ears, each second heavier than the last. That suffocating pressure, the aura of a goddess who had truly lost her patience, pressed down on their spines like a crushing weight.

One of the men, his hands trembling, hesitated. His lips quivered as he stammered out. "W-Why...why do you need that...?"

His voice barely rose above a whisper, but Yelena didn’t answer.

She simply turned her cold, crystalline gaze directly onto him. The intensity in her eyes sent an unnatural chill crawling down his back.

Her tone didn’t rise, didn’t falter. It was terrifyingly calm as she asked again,

"Name. And the media outlet you belong to...Now."

The man felt the blood drain from his face. His legs buckled under him as he realized this wasn’t a request, it was a command.

And he wasn’t built to disobey a goddess.

"I-It’s Vincent Sartos. I work for The National Eye." He stammered, lowering his head.

"Next." f|re(e)web.n\ovel. (c)o.m

The next reporter, a young woman clutching her broken camera, swallowed hard, tears pricking the corners of her eyes.

"Ellie Thompson...The Morning Star..."

"Next."

One by one, they broke.

Even the ones who moments ago had been confidently shoving microphones into Mika’s face were now pale, stammering out their names and affiliations like children in front of a wrathful teacher.

By the time the last reporter had croaked out his name, the entire group was trembling.

Yelena nodded slightly, her face still unreadable, then she spoke.

"Congratulations." She said softly.

They blinked in confusion.

"You’ve all just lost your jobs."

The words hit like a sledgehammer.

"W-What?" One of them gasped.

"L-Lost our jobs?!" Another cried out in disbelief.

But Yelena wasn’t finished.

"When you return to your offices..." She continued in that same chillingly calm tone. "You will each be handed a termination contract. Effective immediately. You will pack your things, leave, and never step foot in journalism again."

The group erupted in panicked murmurs, their faces twisting with horror.

"P-Please! Lady Yelena, W-We didn’t mean—"

But she raised a single hand, silencing them instantly. She then tilted her head slightly, her eyes sharp as blades.

"Consider yourselves lucky. I’m sparing you far worse punishments because my Mika doesn’t really like any issues to be caused from him. If it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t have stopped at your jobs."

"I would have erased everything you’ve worked for, everything you’ve built. But even now...you don’t realize the gravity of what you’ve done."

One man fell to his knees, his palms pressed together as if in prayer.

"Please, Lady Yelena! We were wrong, we didn’t know, please forgive us! We’ll never do it again!"

But Yelena’s voice didn’t soften.

"The least you can do now is leave quietly. If you linger here a second longer..."

She leaned in slightly, her voice dropping into a dangerous whisper.

"I’ll make sure you’ll never get a job anywhere again. Not journalism. Not marketing. Not education...Not even cleaning the floors of a coffee shop. No one will take you."

The weight of her words sank deep into their bones. Their legs trembled violently.

Defeated, crushed, and with tears streaking down some of their faces, the reporters bowed their heads low in complete submission.

"W-We understand...!"

"Forgive us, please forgive us..."

"We’ll leave at once..."

And one by one, they began to retreat toward the door, their steps slow and unsteady, like prisoners being led to an execution.

Mika let out a small sigh, shoulders slumping in relief as he watched them go.

But then,

"Hey...you guys." Charlotte’s voice came through all of a sudden.

Mika blinked and turned to her, confusion flashing across his face.

"Hmm? What is it, Charlotte?"

"Not you, Mika. I’m talking to them...Look over here for a second." She said sweetly, her tone too innocent to trust.

Both Mika and Yelena looked at her curiously, along with the rest of the crowd...But suprisingly, Charlotte didn’t say another word.

Instead, she merely glanced toward the retreating group of reporters.

And then...it happened.

The male reporters suddenly froze mid-step.

Their eyes glazed over, their bodies stiffened as though invisible strings were controlling them.

Then, horrifyingly, their hands began to move on their own, pulling at their collars, loosening belts, unbuttoning shirts.

"W-What the hell?!" One of the female reporters shrieked.

The men ignored her, still in their trance as they began stripping piece by piece, until they were left standing in nothing but their underwear.

"W-Why are they doing that?!" Another woman cried, covering her face in horror.

It got worse.

The men then suddenly bent backwards unnaturally, their spines arching until they were in a grotesque upside-down "bridge" position. Then, like possessed crabs, they began crawling out of the room in reverse, their faces blank and eerie as their limbs jerked stiffly.

It was horrifying.

And yet...oddly comedic.

"OH MY GOD! WHAT IS THAT?!" A man’s voice shrieked in pure terror.

"WHY ARE THEY CRAWLING LIKE THAT?! ARE THEY SPIDERS?!" Someone else cried, their voice cracking halfway into a squeal.

"AAAHHHH THEY’RE NAKED! WHO LET NAKED MEN IN THE HOSPITAL?!" A nurse shouted, dropping her clipboard and sprinting down the hall.

"They’re like demons, DEMONS DOING YOGA!" A panicked man screamed into his phone, live-streaming the spectacle as the camera jostled wildly.

"CALL THE POLICE! NO, CALL THE ARMY! NO...CALL AN EXORCIST!" Blared a public monitor voice over the hospital intercom.

Children screamed in the distance, a baby wailed, and a wheelchair patient attempted to roll themselves to safety with record speed.

Meanwhile, the men continued their backwards crabwalk down the hall, one of them somehow managing to snap their neck back to grin eerily at a passing doctor, causing the poor man to faint on the spot.

"Just what is happening?!" One of the women reporters shrieked, clutching her hair as her male colleagues crab-walked grotesquely out of the room in only their underwear.

And seeing that only the female reporters were left in the room, they all froze in shock for a moment before panic overtook them.

"W-We need to get out of here!" One of them yelped, grabbing her friend’s hand.

"I-I can’t be in here anymore! This is insane!" Another cried, almost tripping over her heels as she ran.

The group of terrified women bolted for the door in a mad scramble, knocking over a chair in their haste. But as they neared the exit, they suddenly stopped in their tracks, shivers running down their spines.

A strange, ominous energy coiled around them like invisible chains. Their movements became jerky, their faces pale, and their eyes widened as if they felt something crawling deep within their minds.

"What...What’s going on...?!" One of them whispered hoarsely, clutching her chest.

And then, nothing.

They didn’t strip down or crab-walk like the men. Instead, an unnatural silence fell over them as they slowly turned and fled the room without another word, their steps quick and panicked as though trying to outrun some unseen horror.

Watching them leave, Yelena chuckled softly, a hand covering her lips as her eyes gleamed with amusement.

"My...That was something else." She murmured, her tone full of exasperation and amusement.

Mika, on the other hand, let out a loud sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Charlotte..." He said with a tired groan. "Was that really necessary? You’ve completely traumatized them. That was totally your doing, wasn’t it?"

Charlotte, who was standing proudly like she was admiring her work, gave a slow smile.

"Of course it was." She said sweetly. "What, you thought I’d just let them walk away after they barged in here and insulted my Mika? I was merciful, you know."

"Merciful?!" Mika shot her a look of pure disbelief. "How in the world was any of that merciful?!"

Charlotte tilted her head, her playful grin growing wider.

"Oh, you poor naive boy...you don’t even want to know what I really had in mind." She let out a small, devilish giggle. "Trust me, this was me holding back. I could’ve turned this entire hospital into their personal hell if Mama hadn’t been so nice and let them go."

Mika’s eyes widened while Yelena, still smiling faintly, raised an eyebrow.

"You went easy?" She asked in a calm tone, her voice carrying a faint warning edge.

"Yes, Mama." Charlotte said innocently. "Since you showed them mercy, I figured I’d do the same. But I still had to punish them a little."

"I mean...they dared to call Mika those filthy names. Hmph. They deserved worse."

Mika groaned again and dragged his hands down his face.

"Forget those reporters for a second, what about the poor hospital staff? Or the patients?! What are they going to think when they see a bunch of men crab-walking half-naked in the corridors? You’re going to freak people out!"

Charlotte smirked and gave a casual wave of her hand.

"I don’t care. Let them be freaked out. That’s their problem, not mine. If they want to blame someone, blame those idiots, that shouldn’t have been snooping around where they didn’t belong."

"You’re unbelievable..." Mika muttered, staring at her with utter exasperation.

But then, trying to salvage something from this mess, he added with a sigh. "Well...at least you didn’t go after the women reporters too. I guess you’ve got somewhat of a heart left in you, huh?"

For a moment, Charlotte blinked at him. Then she smiled, a smile so sharp and insidious that it sent a chill down Mika’s spine.

"Oh, Mika." She said sweetly. "You really think I let the women go?"

His eyes widened in alarm. "Charlotte. No. Tell me you didn’t—"

"Oh, I did." She clasped her hands together, her grin turning almost sadistic.

"The women may look fine now. But trust me...they’re not. I gave them a punishment far worse than what I gave the men."

"What...What did you do?!" Mika demanded, already bracing himself for the answer.

Charlotte’s eyes glittered with malicious glee as she leaned closer.

"I planted a little compulsion in their minds. When they return home to their families, their loved ones, their partners...they’ll feel an overwhelming urge to confess their deepest, darkest secrets. The ones they’ve been hiding all their lives. Lies. Betrayals. Affairs."

She let out a soft, almost girlish laugh that sounded all the more terrifying.

"And you know, Mika...some of those women? They’re cheating on their partners. Others have been embezzling from their companies. One even spread lies about her coworker to get a promotion. And now...they’ll blurt it all out."

Mika gasped in horror. "You...You’re insane! You’re going to destroy their relationships! Their whole lives will fall apart!"

Charlotte siple shook her head, an angelic smile on her face. "Exactly. And I can’t wait to watch the carnage unfold."

"You’re a cold-hearted devil, Charlotte. A devil through and through." Mika said, staring at her like he didn’t know whether to be furious or just give up.

Charlotte winked at him.

"Only for you, Mika. Only for you."

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