Chap 9: Face to Face

"Because the kids who played Ma lon before never properly finished the game. They always thought they had won when they reached the light and left the ghost behind in the darkness... They didn't know that they had to drive the ghost's soul out of the can, so that it would stop haunting them. Only when the ghost's soul is expelled and the can destroyed will the game truly end, and no one else will be killed."

"Yeah, well, that's just the Ma lon game. It has nothing to do with Minh."

"I think all of this is because of the Ma lon, and the first victim was Minh. I don't believe he was like that..."

"Why do you think that now? Before, you kept saying things like 'Minh wants us to go with him' and 'he's lonely and needs us by his side,' didn't you?"

Dũng asked Ngọc, unable to hide his suspicion.

"It's just a guess..."

"Oh, Ngọc, Ngọc... Your little guess is putting both my life and yours at stake. If you're wrong, we die."

"We have to try. It's better than doing nothing and dying anyway."

"But to exorcise the ghost from the Ma lon, what do we need to do? You're just guessing about that too, aren't you?" Dũng sneered.

"Yeah. My guess is that we have to play with it. We have to keep it chasing us, keep running towards the light, making sure it can't catch us but also won't give up. We have to keep it there until sunrise. The sunlight will destroy the evil spirit, and then we'll be free..."

...

The shadow couldn't push its formless face close to Dũng's own, his hair now eerily white. He didn't know how long he could hold out, but at least he was safe under the glow of the streetlight. Coincidentally, this was the very streetlight under which they had exposed the true nature of Minh's Ma lon game.

The shadow knew it couldn't do anything as long as Dũng remained within the boundary of the light. It seethed with anger, hatred, and patience... waiting.

Dũng felt foolish as he shouted at the shadow.

"Why are you doing this—to us, and to all those other kids you don't even know, Minh?"

"The game isn't over. I want all of us to finish it together. But you all ran away and left me alone, so I had to find others to replace you."

"You call that playing together? That's murder."

"You all cast me into another world, so now I have to bring you into mine to play."

"Come on, just one step, my dear friend! Just one, and this will all be over quickly. We can all be together again, just like before."

"Don't you want to go to a world where it's only us kids, where we can play freely, without worrying about school, grades, money? No more doing whatever adults tell us to... And never having to become cold, cruel, calculating, emotionless grown-ups like my parents—or yours?"

"Bảo, Thắng, Chiến, Hoa, and I... we all miss you and Ngọc."

"Come on, just one step, and it will all end forever. No more suffering. I only want you guys, that's all."

"Everyone dies once, whether sooner or later. Why not end it early, before there's anything to regret? And you won't be alone like I was—you'll have all of us with you."