'Damn that stinky old man! Does he know how long it took me to do that essay?!'

A young man with a cloud of frustration hanging over him walked briskly through the quiet streets. He had just left college after presenting his essay, only to have it handed back with disparaging comments.

"Revise this and ensure it meets our standards next time. We expect quality here," the professor had admonished.

Each time the memory of the professor's words replayed in his mind, his irritation grew. He had poured countless hours into that essay. Just thinking about the other things he could've done with that time was exasperating. He could've binge-watched the latest season of his favorite series, caught up on chapters from his favorite web novels, or indulged in some anime.

He'd been pushing himself hard, striving to graduate from college, not for his own sake, but for his late parents. They always told him he was gifted and had high hopes for him. But the reality wasn't so kind. He struggled to fit in and couldn't find hobbies where his supposed brilliance shone. They had such high hopes, and while he often chafed under their expectations, their unexpected passing left him with a sense of duty. He felt he owed them to meet at least this one expectation, so they could be proud, wherever they were.

He sighed, he mused, "Why does life have to be this tough? Wouldn't it be great if a supermodel just appeared out of nowhere and became my benefactor? Then I could just relax, enjoy life, and always have someone stunning by my side."

He was about to turn 23 and felt the weight of never having a significant other. But whenever he voiced this sentiment to the few friends he had, they would chide him,

“You lazy bum, Do you think that girls will randomly spawn in your house? Are you stupid or stupid?! Put in some effort or grow old alone!”

This made him even more frustrated since he knew it was the truth. He never reached out to any of the girls he found appealing. While wanting a girlfriend was desirable for a young adult like him, he didn’t crave it.

He liked the freedom that came with being single. He doesn’t need to please anyone or have to be attentive to anyone. Even his friends started to talk to him first and not the opposite.

Even if alone he would be fine with it. His craving for human touch can be satisfied with other means…

“Damn it, I guess I will screw everything today and waste myself while watching some anime with stupid plot.”

He grumbled to himself while kicking the rocks lying on the road. Unfortunately on the way, he heard some voices talking about him.

“Why is he talking to himself?”

“I don’t know honey. Perhaps he is going through something.”

When he heard this his eyebrows twitched as he looked around. While most people just passed and didn’t care about his ramblings, some were looking at him with weird expressions.

Soon his expression turned awkward as he looked at the ground and picked up the pace.

Since his parents passed away and he was already an adult he inherited their house without any complications. With some good-paying part-time job, he was doing just fine.

Even though he hated to work. Hours of working only to be able to put cheap food in his mouth.

‘If I get a chance to get rich I will not let that opportunity slide!’

He once again sighed as he hurried home.

He lived in a small town so this place was very quiet which he is very grateful for. Every single building in this town, be it the building of state or private property, was absolutely gorgeous making a very pleasant scenery for the young man’s eyes.

He didn’t like the crowded places of the big cities where every corner had some blinking light coming and burning his eyes. He liked to look around in this kind of atmosphere where everything felt calming.

Passing by each street he always made sure to appreciate the place his parents chose to spend the rest of their lives. He knew it here like his own shoes. Each house, each park. He was going through the same path every day going to and from his school and part-time job.

And that’s why he was so stupefied when he saw one of the houses he didn’t remember.

“Huh? Was this house supposed to be here? But who lives there voluntarily? It looks like someone is a hardcore Halloween fan! Only someone like Baba Yaga would live there…”

Remembering the story from his childhood he laughed a little and shook his head. It seems his memory isn’t what it was. He was already turning old… Maybe he should retire or something.

With a small smile on his face, he continued on his way.

But before he could leave heard a sound.

“Meow..”

The sudden sound of the meowing cat was heard. But it sounded extremely weak.

The Young man stopped moving and looked around. Seeing nothing he waited if he would hear anything again.

“Meow..”

Once he was sure it wasn’t just his imagination he turned around towards the source of sound. There he noticed a small kitten hiding behind the trash bin right before the weird house he noticed before.

She was completely white with big blue eyes. She was like an untainted snowflake.

Unfortunately, that beautiful fur was smeared with mud and blood.

Seeing this the young man didn’t hesitate and rushed to the kitten. He didn’t think of himself as some animal lover but it didn’t mean he didn’t like them either.

“What’s up little boy? Are you hurt?”

“Hiss!”

The kitten hissed at him but he didn’t care. He slowly closed on to the animal and crouched just before it.

“Don’t be scared. I won’t hurt you.”

With a gentle voice, he soothed the small kitten not wanting it to try to run away. Once he was sure that it calmed down he slowly stretched his hand with his palm upwards. He remembered hearing somewhere that doing the opposite looked like clawing at the animals.

Soon his arm touched the kitten. The kitten didn’t fight back as it seemed exhausted. He took it into his arms and frowned when he saw its state.

“This is horrible. Did someone hit you with a car or something?”

Roadkills were big problems in some places with high traffic. Seeing the pitiful creature he had an urge to treat it but seeing its terribly wounded body he knew that he wouldn't be able to do it.

“I guess we should go to the vet. What do you think, little boy..? No wait, little girl?”

The kitten purred as it rubbed its small but adorable head on his hand. It didn’t fear him anymore.

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He realized that it was a tomcat but instead a little girl kitty once he properly looked. With this knowledge, he turned around intending to leave.

Unfortunately, before he could even step the kitten in his arms quickly weakened until it stopped moving completely.

Seeing this the young man's expression turned sad. He knew that it wouldn’t probably survive but he didn’t expect it would be even before he could try to take it to the vet. He hoped for a miracle.

He sighed once again that day. This time not because of his life problems but simply for the unfairness of life.

“Sorry, Kitty. I came too late.”

He could only shake his head. But he didn’t throw the body of the kitten into the trash bin or even on the ground. He wasn’t much trash to do that.

He would at least bury it properly. Not that it would take too much time since it was so small…

As he thought about that he closed the kitty’s eyes.

What he didn’t know was that while he was back to the suspicious house the house started to visibly and audibly creak and wriggle. The windows started to shine in myriad colors as if someone turned the lights in all of the rooms.

*Boom*

With a loud noise, the doors of the house were forcibly opened.

“Ahh? What?”

The man almost jumped in fright as he quickly turned around. When he saw the doors swing open he complained loudly.

“What the heck is wrong with you?!”

‘I almost let her go. That would be terrible.’

He had other insults at the tip of his tongue but when he finally turned around he stiffened. Seeing the house shining while wiggling itself made his skin crawl.

Immediately he noticed the doors wide open while nobody was standing in the frame of theirs.

His instincts were telling him to run and never turn. But something made him want to look at what's inside.

Was it just pure curiosity? Maybe.

He tried to look from different angles to see what was inside but didn’t get closer.

After all, curiosity killed the cat.

But what he saw inside surprised him.

Mixtures of colors similar to the ones in the windows shined from the doors while he saw unspeakable things.

He felt as if he was tripping. At one point he saw a galaxy upon galaxy with an innumerable count of stars flying inside of those doors. But in another, he saw a thick jungle with ancient trees, civilizations he never thought of as real or even beings told in the myths.

He was totally mesmerized.

That was until he saw something coming out of the door.

“Wha-?! Tentacle? Or rather tongue?”

The young man woke up from his reverie and realized that he was in trouble. And so he ran away as never before like his life depended on it - because, well, it probably did.

Once he got to the edge of the street he thought he was already safe but didn’t slow down.

Unfortunately, he wasn’t quick enough.

In an instant, he felt something wrap around his leg stopping him in place.

“What is this damn thing?!”

Turning around he saw this ‘tongue’ wrapped around his leg and started to panic.

“No, I don’t want to die this way! I don’t want tentacles- Aaaaghh!”

Before he could finish he sucked into that house in an instant. Over 50 meters distance was covered as the appendix pulled the young man’s leg deep into the door.

All that while he still instinctively held the body of the dead kitten.

The door closed with a bang and the entire house suddenly stopped showing any uncommon signs as if it was a normal albeit weird-looking house.

Over the entire time, no one was seen on the streets or even the neighboring houses. The entire place was eerily quiet…

“Bleh, Disgusting!”

That was until the sudden feminine voice sounded out with a childish tone.

The door opened once again and with force threw up several things.

If someone was there and looked closely then they would notice that it seems to be standard male clothing. It was the exact clothing of the young man that was just swallowed…

Meanwhile, the door closed again and this time the entire building started slowly collapsing as if it was fusing into the ground. In just a few minutes the entire house disappeared and the houses around shifted themselves to fill the gap, leaving only clothing as evidence of its existence.

……..

“Aaaaargh!!! What the fuuuuck.”

Once the young man was pulled inside of the house the real chaos began.

He flew through the unspeakable things not understanding anything around him. He firmly held the body of the kitten as that was the only comfort he felt.

Looking around he realized that he wasn’t in any building at all and instead saw the town he lived in from a bird's perspective. But it was different than normal. All kinds of weird creatures were going around in the streets and everything was more vibrant and full of life.

The sky shone as if several auroras danced together while the gigantic trees were visibly swaying with wind.

“This isn’t Earth, isn’t it? Where the fuck am I and where is it taking me?”

Once he noticed that the tentacles didn’t harm him and instead were taking him somewhere upward he calmed down. He was hung upwards down looking at the completely different scenery than he was used to.

Soon he realized that this was one of the visions he saw through the door. And that this wasn’t something that could be explained by Earth’s laws.

“Is this some kind of twisted reincarnation? Transmigration? Well, I don’t like it! Take me back!”

He started wiggling again in protest. But by doing so he noticed that the skin contact was somewhat higher than normal. And so with suspicion, he looked up.

“Where are my clothes? When did they disappear? No way, I don’t wanna die naked. Nooo!

The tentacle taking him to the unknown slowed down as if it had self-awareness and saw his struggle.

This made him a little hopeful but what he certainly didn’t expect was that the number of the tentacles would suddenly multiply and start binding him from all directions. Sudden rubbing on all his body parts gave him goosebumps.

“Am I going to be violated? By tentacles? Hell no! What kind of sick stupidity is this? Is this punishment for watching those forbidden materials? I will apologize! I promise~”

As he was more and more restless the tentacles firmly grasped his body and accelerated to such an extent that his tolerance couldn’t take it and he lost consciousness.

Thankfully the little kitten’s body didn’t fall out of his hands and was held against his chest.

But that didn’t mean that nothing was happening to it. As the speed heightened the body of the kitten seemed to start to melt. If the young man saw that he would be horrified. This continued until everything from the kitten disappeared. Or so it would look like on Earth.

The kitten was still in the arms this time with fully opened eyes curiously looking around. It seemed that one of its eyes was still deep blue while the other turned amethyst. Such rare genetics would be highly loved on Earth.

Yet here nobody was able to appreciate it.

Looking around it seemed to enjoy the splendor of colors that flowed around it. But soon when it tried to move it noticed it was firmly held in the arms of the human. When it looked closely it realized it was the man who tried to save it.

And so snuggled up deeper into his arms while rubbing its head on his chest. It took one last look at the scenery and it closed its eyes and fell into deep sleep.

……..

“Ugh…”

After who knows how long his consciousness finally started to return with slight pain in the head.

“Huh, what happened?”

He was still in a confused state and didn’t know where he was. The only thing he was sure of was that he didn’t lie down in his bed but on some hard surface.

“Oh. He is conscious! What do we do, What do we do?”

While trying to orientate himself he heard a panicking voice talking to someone. He could easily discern that it was the voice of a young woman maybe in her twenties.

“Calm down, Miss Sera. Nothing bad will happen. He is just a human boy.”

On the other hand, the calm voice tried to calm her down. It was the voice of an old man with a reliable tone.

“But.. But… Sir Araaz! What if he is as crazy as previous ones?! I can’t handle another one like that! Just thinking about it makes me want to cry!!!

The girl fussed over, presumably, his mental health making him feel a little offended. And so he used his arm to prop his upper body and looked at the girl and called out.

“Who are you calling crazy?!”

“Augh!”

What he didn’t expect was that the girl would be so scared that she slipped. That wouldn't be the weird part. The problem was that the head was falling in a different direction than the body.

“What…No way...” He opened his eyes wide as if someone died right before his eyes.

He looked next to the body where he saw a tall and neatly dressed old man with a suave appearance with a very calm voice.

“Good morning, sir. My name is Araaz. And this person on the ground is…”

“She is fucking dead! What is happening, where am I!”

The young man was now even more restless than when he was forcibly taken away. The situation before was too outlandish for him to perceive the real danger. But murdering was something much closer to humans. He immediately got up and wanted to run in whatever direction he could.

But what he saw around was utter chaos. He was in some very old house made out of wood. No, it was too big to just call home. But what surprised him more was that everything was too crooked making his head spin even more. Every piece of furniture was in a place they shouldn’t be and random objects were lying on the ground, on shelves, or even on the roof!

Because of that, he didn’t even know where he should go, making him hesitate for a moment.

“Sir, You needn’t worry. She is just a little clumsy and her head falls down often. She is, after all, a dullahan.”

“Huh?”

Is this man crazy?

But before he could say his doubts, he heard a voice from behind.

“He isn’t crazy, you are just ignorant.”

There he saw another woman. The most beautiful he ever saw. But her chilling eyes ruined a little bit of her beauty.

‘Wait… Eyes…’

The sight of her icy eyes was eerie. Even more so when he realized she had one extra. Right between her eyes.

“What about my eyes?”

“Wha- Wha- What?”

He was too surprised to formulate a sentence. He slowly retreated trying to get a little distance from the woman but soon his leg stopped over something.

“Augh. Sir, can you please lift my head?! This happens all the time..”

There the head of the fallen woman lay down on the ground. Her face faced the young man as she pleased with a teary face.

This absurd sight made the young man stiffen as he stared at the head. At that moment he realized that the head was on the same level of beauty as the cold woman. With her innocent face, long flowing hair with light pink eyes she was beauty just from fantasy fairy tales…

But the fact she was only head was a little too much.

“Sir? Whoa- Sir!”

The young man was defeated and fell to the ground back to his deep sleep.