【Human-faced Ulcer】Chapter 8—The End— :It’s Hungry Too

As soon as Ya Ting got home, she rushed straight into her room and slammed the door behind her. Locking it, she immediately ripped off her jeans and peeled back the gauze. The human-faced ulcer had opened its pale, dead eyes.

She held up the Taowesuwan amulet, aiming it directly at the human-faced ulcer on her knee."Can those dead eyes see? Look what I've got!"

The thing twitched violently.

It works.

"Scared? Then disappear! Or let the Taowesuwan devour you!" She waited. Beyond the twitching, the thing gave no further response.

"Tch. Guess you need something stronger."

Ya Ting lowered the amulet and pulled out the small vial of tiger elixir. The moment she popped the cap, a sharp, pungent aroma hit her nose—something between medicinal balm and burnt herbs.

Don't tell me Ajarn Ken is really trying to fool me with muscle liniment?

Just then, the human-faced ulcer contorted in pain, twitching even harder than before.

Guess not muscle liniment.

A grin spread across her face.

"Now you're afraid?"

Then her smile faltered.

Shit! I never actually asked how to use this stuff.

Thinking quickly, she went with the most obvious method: direct application.

She let a few drops fall onto the human-faced ulcer.

It spasmed violently, its features twisting into a mask of agony.

"Yyyii... ah... ahhh..."

Even with its mouth stuffed full of gauze, it managed to make sounds—faint, but chilling. She didn't dare imagine the noise it would make without the gag.

Still, it wasn't gone.

"Fine. You want the whole thing?"

Ya Ting poured the rest of the tiger elixir directly onto the human-faced ulcer.

The flesh beneath it began to leak thin lines of blood. The face convulsed, its skin bubbling like boiling tar.

And then it began to melt.

"Holy shit—!"

She frantically pressed a fresh wad of gauze onto the liquefying mass, barely stopping the bloody mess from spilling. If that blood hit the floor, she had no idea how she'd clean it.

Without hesitation, she sprinted to the bathroom. Once inside, she locked the door and released the pressure—only to see two eyeballs plop onto the tile.

"Fucking disgusting!"

In less than a minute, the human-faced ulcer had dissolved into a puddle of thick, dark blood, coating her thighs in a gruesome mess.

Ya Ting used the gauze to pick up the eyeballs and flushed them down the toilet. Then she spent the next fifteen minutes scrubbing the blood from her knees and the floor.

By the time she returned to her room, the human-faced ulcer was gone, not a trace of the thing remained, leaving only an open wound—clean, but still raw.

She re-wrapped it carefully and muttered, "That should be the end of it... right?"

Night fell. She unwrapped the bandage once more, just to be sure.

The wound had already started to scab over.

It was the first time since the injury that her skin had actually begun to heal. For the first time in days, she allowed herself to breathe.

Looks like the tiger elixir really got rid of the human-faced ulcer for good—

and it actually works like muscle liniment, too!

Things wrapped up surprisingly smoothly. Ajarn Ken had even suggested performing a ritual, though Ya Ting couldn't help but wonder if he was just trying to squeeze more money out of her.

As if summoned, her phone buzzed—Ajarn Ken calling.

When Ajarn Ken asked about the situation, Ya Ting gave him only the bare minimum—just that it was over. She didn't mention the human-faced ulcer, or any of the details. He didn't press. Before hanging up, he said the same thing he always did: "Call me if anything else happens."

Days passed.

The wound had completely scabbed over, and she no longer needed to keep it bandaged. The strange cravings were gone too—no more gnawing hunger, no more urges for raw meat. She could finally breathe again. The horror faded into memory.

By Sunday night, she was in bed early and fast asleep.

That's when the nightmare came.

In it, the human-faced ulcer was back—worse than ever. It took control of her body. It made her do unspeakable things. In the dream, she ate her own mother.

"No—!"

She woke with a start, drenched in sweat and gasping for breath. Her hands flew to her knee. The wound was still there, scabbed but peaceful. No changes. She exhaled slowly.

Then she heard it—

A sound. From the kitchen.

She glanced at her phone. 3:17 AM.

Heart pounding, she grabbed her Taowesuwan amulet and crept to the door. She opened it and stepped into the dark hallway.

The kitchen lights were off, but a faint glow spilled from inside.

She inched forward. The fridge was open. Her mother was crouched in front of it, dressed in pajamas, back turned.

It was rare for her mother to be awake at this hour.

"Mom?" Ya Ting called softly. "What are you doing?"

Her mother turned slowly. "I was hungry."

Something was in her hands. She was gnawing on it.

"It's delicious. Want some?" she said, holding it out.

The fridge light caught it perfectly.

It was a raw chicken leg.

Ya Ting's breath caught in her throat.

No… it couldn't be.

Her mother giggled softly. Then, slowly, she lifted the hem of her pajama top.

And revealed her stomach.

A face. Embedded in her abdomen.

Stretched skin shaped lips, a nose, and eyelids that slowly peeled open—revealing milky, pupilless eyes, cloudy and dead... yet disturbingly aware.

"It's hungry too," her mother whispered.

She brought the raw leg to the face.

Crk-SNAP.

The thing's mouth split open and bit into the leg, snapping through bone like brittle wood. Blood smeared across its lips.

"No—" Ya Ting stumbled back, knees buckling as she collapsed to the floor, too frozen to scream.

Silence.

Only the wet, grinding chew of the thing—swallowing, gulping.

The chewing stopped.

Then, the human-faced ulcer spoke, its voice thick like bubbling tar:

"Mmm... good."

—The End—