The phone that Strass mentioned - in fact, most violent ghosts that claim lives and harm people wouldn't use such elaborate methods. If they really wanted to kill you, they'd do it directly with their hands rather than bother with something like a dead man's comb.
Stein and I exchanged glances, wondering what Strass was implying. Did this mean Markus had lied to us?
Strass continued, saying this Markus fellow might actually be a ghost too!
That statement hit Stein and me like a thunderbolt - we both jumped to our feet.
Stein said no, that couldn't be. A living, breathing person had just stood before us - how could he be a ghost? Don't scare us like that.
But truth be told, that Markus was pale and haggard, and really didn't look normal.
He did offer an explanation though, claiming it was because of using the dead man's comb, which could gradually comb away a living person's yang energy, leaving him pale and his body increasingly weakened.
But that was just his side of the story - we couldn't verify whether it was true or not.
That's when Strass asked us if Markus, the supermarket salesman, worked night shifts.
Stein scratched his head and said it seemed so, because all his stories took place at night.
Strass added that this meant Markus hadn't been seen in sunlight. If all his activities occurred at night, it was possible he might be dead without even knowing it himself.
Dead without knowing it? Could something so bizarre really happen?
Strass said yes, he'd witnessed it once before - a farmer who died of heatstroke while working alone in the fields. That night, he'd returned home carrying his hoe as usual, and his family noticed nothing amiss until the next day when someone discovered the farmer's body.
At first the farmer's family refused to believe it - they could clearly see the farmer lying in bed when they opened the bedroom door. How could the man be dead? That made no sense!
Later, someone carried the farmer's corpse to the house. When the family saw the stiff body, they had no choice but to believe. Terrified out of their wits, the whole family fled the house, too afraid to ever return.
Eventually the farmer's family sought out Strass. At the time, Strass didn't believe their story either, so he went to their house carrying a razor. There was indeed a body in front of the house - the same one.
But the family insisted the farmer was inside the room. No one understood what was happening, and the situation felt profoundly eerie and terrifying.
The family should have been grieving the farmer's death, but this shocking turn left them only frightened.
While everyone else was too scared to enter, Strass fearlessly went inside with his razor.
Upon entering the room, Strass saw the farmer lying on the bed with the covers pulled over his head.
Strass lifted the covers, and as soon as the farmer saw the light, he immediately shrank back to the foot of the bed, demanding to know what Strass was doing.
Strass stepped forward and slapped him, then said, "You're dead—whether you know it or not."
The farmer cursed, insisting he was alive and well—how could he possibly be dead?
Seeing his disbelief, Strass quickly brought in the corpse. At the sight of his own body, the farmer let out a horrified howl before vanishing in a trail of black smoke that shot out the window.
After hearing Strass's story, Stein and I were thoroughly creeped out… So there really are people who die without realizing it… Could Markus be like that?
But think about it—if Markus is a ghost, then everything makes sense.
First, Markus can see ghosts when others can't. Well, if he's a ghost himself, wouldn't that be perfectly normal?
Second, the bald woman wanted the dead man's comb—and the only one she mentioned was in a ghost's possession. That's why she kept asking for Markus when she came to the supermarket!
Third, Brzenska had no grudge against Markus, so she wouldn't have haunted him after death to demand his life. More likely, she was trying to tell him that he was already dead and that she was taking him to reincarnate with her.
A few other details don't quite add up, but that's because Markus told everything from his own perspective—believing he was still alive—so there were bound to be inconsistencies.
For instance, his stories about working at the grocery store, burning rag dolls for the little girl, or the bald woman telling him he was dying—some of these might not be true.
Then Strass added that if Markus really is a ghost, then combing his hair with a yang comb would cause it to fall out until he was completely bald.
However, there is a slight benefit—using a comb from the living world could slightly boost his yang energy, making it easier for him to move around among the living.
A living person using a dead man's comb loses yang energy, while a dead person using a living person's comb gains it.
Now it all made sense. Strass's explanation solved so many mysteries—why Markus was bald, why he couldn't let go of that comb.
At this point, I was certain he was a ghost. Thank goodness Stein thought to ask this shaver—otherwise, I'd have been in deep trouble!
I know better than anyone what happens when you tattoo a ghost. The memory of that night—a thousand ghosts surrounding the house—was still fresh in my mind.
We quickly thanked Strass before hanging up respectfully. This Strass wasn't young—otherwise, he wouldn't have retired to the countryside. He was an experienced shaver, and his insight was truly profound. Just a few hints from us, and he'd pieced everything together.
Stein turned to me. "What do we do now? What if Markus comes back? He's a ghost."
I wasn't worried about Markus, but about Antonio. If Markus was a ghost, then the things he said couldn't be trusted. What kind of person was that bald woman? I had no idea. Antonio still hadn't returned, and I was starting to panic.
Markus had come in the evening—when there was no sun. Antonio had also left in the evening. Now it was past 10 p.m., and there was still no news from him. His phone wasn't answering. What could have happened?
"Should we go look for him?" Stein asked.
I shook my head. "Not yet. It's too late at night, and we don't even know which nunnery Antonio went to. It'd be hard to find him. We'll have to wait for him to contact us."
Another thing I didn't understand: If Markus was a ghost, then Webster must have known. So why had Webster pushed Markus toward us?
Gods and Ghosts tattoos were so taboo that even Philip, Raul Master's protégé, knew about them. There was no way Webster wouldn't know. He had to have some hidden agenda.
I asked Stein if he knew where Webster lived. "Why don't we go ask him?"
Stein said he did—Webster lived under the overpass.
I laughed bitterly. "Webster's a master too. He doesn't have to live in such a miserable place under a flyover, does he?"
Stein shrugged. "I don't know. Webster uses all the money he earns from fortune-telling to do good deeds. He barely spends any on himself. Sometimes, he even has to beg to get by."
I was confused. "Why beg if he earns money from fortune-telling? What kind of strange habit is that? With Webster's skills, he could make plenty. Even if he gives most of it away, can't he keep a little for himself? If he's sleeping under flyovers and begging, it feels like an act."
Stein shook his head. "Webster has his reasons. Fortune-telling—that's leaking heaven's secrets!"