The phone rang.

Not the one in Kai’s hand.

The one tucked beneath the hallway table.

Its ringtone was painfully ordinary. No distorted static. No eerie music box melody. Just the default chime found on millions of phones around the world.

For some reason, that made it even worse.

Fear was easier to process when it looked like something from a horror movie.

This didn’t.

This looked like real life.

Kai remained crouched, the beam from his phone’s flashlight fixed on the cheap black device hidden beneath the console table. Dust had collected around it, leaving only a clean outline where the phone rested.

Someone had placed it there.

Deliberately.

And judging by the lack of dust underneath it, not very long ago.

"Luna."

"I’m here."

"I found it."

"I know."

Kai blinked.

"...You know?"

"I heard you stop walking."

For a second, he simply stared into the darkness.

Then he almost laughed.

Right.

She wasn’t reading his mind.

She was just paying attention.

The phone continued ringing beneath the table, vibrating softly against the wooden floor.

His own phone buzzed in his hand.

Another unknown number.

He looked down.

Don’t touch it.

Before he could even lock the screen, another message arrived.

A different number.

It’s for you.

Kai let out a slow breath.

"They’re doing it again."

"I figured."

"They’re impossible."

"No."

Luna’s voice remained as calm as ever.

"They’re predictable."

That pulled his attention away from the hidden phone.

"What do you mean?"

"They’ve spent hours controlling where you look."

The ringtone continued echoing through the apartment as she spoke.

"They send messages because messages control your attention. Now they’ve placed an object inside your apartment."

She paused for only a moment.

"So naturally..."

"You’ll focus on the object."

Kai looked back toward the phone beneath the table.

"...I am focusing on the object."

"I know."

Another brief pause followed.

"I would be too."

There wasn’t the slightest hint of judgment in her voice.

Just understanding.

Oddly enough, that helped.

He wasn’t being irrational.

Anyone would have been staring at it.

His livestream chat, meanwhile, had apparently transformed into a detective agency with absolutely no qualifications.

BurntToast404:

BRO DO NOT TOUCH THE CURSED IPHONE

SleepyGoblin:

WHY DOES EVERY VILLAIN HAVE UNLIMITED PHONES

IRS_Employee_Official:

CHECK IF IT HAS APPLECARE FIRST

Kai let out a breath that nearly became another laugh.

"Even now..."

"What?"

"They’re making jokes."

"They’re scared."

He frowned.

"What?"

"People joke when they’re scared."

Kai glanced toward the dark living room where his monitors had gone black.

One hundred and thirty thousand strangers.

Some were probably sitting alone in apartments just like his, unable to do anything except watch events unfold through a screen.

"...Yeah."

"They’re trying to help themselves."

The thought settled quietly in his mind.

He’d always pictured chat as one giant chaotic blur of usernames and emotes.

Tonight, it felt more human than ever.

The ringing stopped.

Instantly.

Silence flooded back into the apartment.

Kai stayed perfectly still.

Waiting.

Listening.

Nothing.

He slowly let out the breath he’d been holding.

"Maybe that’s—"

The black phone lit up again.

No ringtone.

Just the glow of its screen.

Incoming Video Call.

Unknown.

The caller ID displayed only a single symbol.

•

Kai’s stomach tightened.

He hadn’t touched it.

Nobody had.

"So why..."

"Luna."

"I know."

"I didn’t—"

"I know."

He swallowed.

"It’s calling itself."

She didn’t respond immediately.

Instead, she asked quietly,

"Kai... is your flashlight bright enough to see the screen clearly?"

He adjusted the beam.

"Yeah."

"Don’t answer."

"I wasn’t planning to."

"Good."

The phone continued vibrating gently beneath the table while the call rang unanswered.

A few seconds later, it stopped.

The screen changed.

1 New Video

Automatically downloaded.

A cold shiver crawled down Kai’s spine.

"I hate technology."

"You stream for a living."

"I contain multitudes."

That earned another tiny laugh from Luna.

It amazed him how effortlessly she could sound normal.

As though they were discussing a broken printer instead of a mysterious phone hidden inside his apartment.

His own phone vibrated again.

This time it wasn’t an anonymous number.

It was Derek.

A normal text message.

No six-figure donation.

No dramatic entrance.

Just a simple notification.

Derek:

Don’t open any files you didn’t ask for. Seriously.

Kai stared at it.

"...He texted me."

Luna remained quiet for a second.

"What did he say?"

Kai read the message aloud.

When he finished, she answered without hesitation.

"He’s right."

Kai blinked.

"You actually agree with Derek?"

"I agree with good advice."

He couldn’t help smiling.

"...You’re weird."

"I’ve been told."

The tension eased just enough for him to breathe normally again.

His eyes drifted back toward the hidden phone.

The downloaded video still waited on its screen.

Untouched.

Patient.

His curiosity clawed at him.

He hated that feeling.

It was the same impulse that made people read hateful comments about themselves.

The same one that kept him refreshing trending topics even when he knew they would make him feel worse.

The same one that had convinced him to answer a late-night Discord message from a viewer named Luna.

Curiosity wasn’t always courage.

Sometimes it was just another form of self-destruction.

His phone buzzed yet again.

Another unknown number.

Only a single sentence.

The video isn’t for the phone under the table.

Kai frowned.

"...What?"

Before he could think it through, his own phone chimed.

A download notification appeared.

He hadn’t accepted anything.

Hadn’t tapped a link.

Hadn’t even unlocked the screen.

Yet a progress bar was already moving.

Video received.

His pulse quickened.

"No..."

The bar climbed relentlessly until it reached one hundred percent.

Then, without waiting for permission...

His phone opened the file by itself.

Shaky footage filled the display.

Someone was filming from inside a parked car.

Raindrops streaked across the windshield.

The camera slowly zoomed toward the entrance of Kai’s apartment building.

A timestamp glowed in the corner of the screen.

Kai’s blood ran cold.

It didn’t show today’s date.

It showed—

Tomorrow.

11:42 PM.

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