Diary of a Dead Wizard
Chapter 488: Charred

Having received the result, Izzy dejectedly withdrew her resignation. She had to continue working for another three months just to maintain her life in the city for the time being.

“I’ll have to wait until the approval comes through before I can resign again.”

Izzy returned to her rented apartment, stepped into the bedroom, and locked the door behind her.

Ever since her roommate disappeared, Izzy would always lock her bedroom door every time she got home.

She tossed the application receipt and other documents carelessly onto the bedside cabinet, then collapsed onto the narrow 1.2-meter-wide single bed.

But no sooner had she lain down than she sat up again.

“Ugh, so hot. Why do I keep feeling so irritable lately?”

Izzy sat up, tugging at the collar of her shirt.

It was already late September, and the weather had shifted from the recent heat to a pleasant coolness, yet she felt more sensitive to heat than ever.

It was as if a fire was constantly burning inside her body, making her restless and agitated.

Just as Izzy was debating whether to head to the public bathhouse to cool off, she suddenly heard an odd noise from the room next door.

It sounded like someone dragging their feet across the floor, the soles scraping out a long, shrill friction sound against the surface.

Izzy’s hand, still fidgeting with her collar, froze in midair.

She didn’t dare move her body, only her eyes shifted toward the wall adjacent to the neighboring room.

“What... What’s going on? Why is there a sudden noise next door?”

The interior walls here were rather thin. In the past, even a slightly louder sound could be heard by her roommate.

But this was the first time Izzy had ever heard what sounded like actual footsteps from next door.

“Could it be that a new tenant has moved in and the landlady hasn’t told me yet?”

With this thought, Izzy’s tense body gradually relaxed.

“Seriously, shouldn’t she at least inform me if someone else is moving in?” Izzy continued tugging at her collar, trying to alleviate the heat welling up from within.

Though annoyed and somewhat displeased, she still stood up, intending to go meet her new neighbor.

Even if they might only be living together for the next three months.

However, just as Izzy stood up, the communicator in the corner of the room rang.

The communicator was usually kept in the living room, but since Izzy lived alone now, she had moved it to her bedroom for convenience.

As the communicator's pleasant chime rang out, the footsteps from next door suddenly stopped.

Izzy didn’t notice that detail. She picked up the communicator.

“Hello?”

“Izzy, the room next to yours was rented out today.”

It was the landlady.

Though she was called that, she was really just in charge of renting the place out. The real owner was unknown.

“Mm, I know.”

“Huh? You know? Well, he should be moving in tonight. But he doesn’t have the key. Since you’re home, could you open the door for him?”

The footsteps next door resumed.

Izzy’s hand trembled slightly as she held the communicator. “You... you mean, he hasn’t moved in yet?”

“Of course not. If someone else had already moved in, I’d have let you know beforehand.”

Izzy didn’t respond.

“Hello…? Hello?” The landlady’s puzzled voice came through, and after receiving no answer several times, she muttered to herself and hung up.

Izzy remained frozen, still gripping the communicator.

If the person next door wasn’t a new tenant… then who was it?

Her ears perked up like a rabbit’s, straining to catch every sound from the adjacent room.

Those dragging footsteps, as if the person couldn’t lift their feet.

The sound came from behind the wall beside her and slowly moved toward the front door. Then—

Creak.

The door was well maintained and usually made no sound when opened. Normally, Izzy wouldn’t hear it, but today, for some reason, she heard it loud and clear.

Then she heard footsteps approaching her bedroom door.

Under Izzy’s petrified gaze, the door handle began to turn.

Just like the day her roommate disappeared.

Exactly the same.

Izzy didn’t dare move. She feared that even the slightest noise might trigger something more terrifying.

“My door is locked. They can’t open it. If they can’t open it, they’ll leave… right?”

But this time, instead of just rattling a few times like before, the handle began to turn faster and faster—more and more violently!

Several of the screws holding it in place visibly started to shake, and the handle spun even faster.

The lock clattered against the frame in a high-pitched rhythm, each impact striking like a blow to Izzy’s heart!

Suddenly!

The sound stopped.

The handle ceased moving, now hanging loosely from the door.

“Did… did they leave?” Izzy was still clutching the communicator tightly, nearly crushing the casing.

But the footsteps she desperately wished to hear moving away… never came.

“Is that person… still standing outside the door?”

Just then, the communicator in Izzy’s hand rang again.

Startled, she nearly dropped it. In her panic, she meant to hang up but accidentally pressed the accept button.

The landlady’s voice came through once more.

“Izzy, your new roommate just arrived. He couldn’t open the door. So, I told him to knock. Could you please open it for him?”

As the landlady spoke, a knock—thump, thump, thump—rang out.

Izzy slammed the communicator off.

But the door being knocked on… was clearly her bedroom door.

And a few seconds later, the same knocking echoed from the communicator’s speaker—a delay caused by the transmission lag.

“This must be a dream, right?” Izzy was so terrified she felt numb. “If it’s a dream, please let me wake up already.”

The knocking only came once, then stopped. It was as if the person outside was politely waiting for the girl to open the door.

“Yes, I locked the door. They can’t get in.”

Izzy’s throat felt parched, like it was burning. She desperately wanted a sip of water, but still didn’t dare move.

As she couldn’t help but turn to look for the water glass on the desk, something caught her eye—a shadow in her peripheral vision, slowly approaching the left side of her face.

The person outside… had come in?!!!

“AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!”

Izzy couldn’t hold back anymore. Her shriek pierced through the room, nearly shattering the walls and windows.

…

“AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!”

Just as Saul was about to inspect the wraith in his hand, the scream from the other side of the door made him jump.

“What the—? Is there another wraith inside?”

Without hesitation, Saul reached out, twisted the doorknob, snapping the lock clean off, and pushed the door open.

Inside the room, Izzy was collapsing backward in a faint, while Little Algae was wrapped around her waist, keeping her from hitting the ground.

As Saul stepped inside, Little Algae looked up at him, eyes full of helplessness.

“…It’s not your fault. She was just too nervous.” Saul recalled what had happened just moments earlier and comforted the aggrieved creature.

When he had arrived outside Izzy’s rental unit, Saul had used “Silent Gate” to unlock the front door. The first thing he saw was a dark figure kneeling in front of one of the bedroom doors.

On closer inspection, the figure wasn’t kneeling—it was a charred corpse. Its legs had completely melted away, and it could only drag itself forward using its knees.

It had no arms either, and was pressing its uneven, blackened skull against the bedroom doorknob.

It was a newly born wraith.

Without saying a word, Saul had flung a tentacle from his palm, splitting the creature in two on the spot. Then he took out a round-bottomed flask used to contain wraiths and sealed away the now-immobile spirit.

Just as he finished, the scream from inside startled him so badly he almost dropped the flask.

After calming Little Algae, Saul walked over to move the unconscious girl onto the bed.

But when he grabbed her wrist to lift her up, the resistance in his hand suddenly vanished—his arm recoiled abruptly from the effort.

Looking down, Saul opened his palm and saw he was holding a shriveled, flesh-colored “glove.”

Opposite him, wrapped in Little Algae’s tendrils, the skin on the girl’s left wrist had begun to peel away.

And underneath the missing skin, the exposed flesh looked just like a charred corpse…

Shriveled and blackened.

(End of Chapter)