Chapter 17: Don't Add Up

CLICK! CLICK!

P input the name "Hanabi" on the search bar of the police database, which he had successfully connected to the government information bureau, then clicked search.

The monitor displayed a massive list of Japanese women with the exact same name, but completely different surnames.

"TSK," P muttered, glaring intently at the screen for some moments due to the excessively long list of names.

"Damn it..! I wish I asked for her surname instead," P said, highly frustrated.

He seriously stared at the screen for a little moment. Suddenly, an idea came to his mind.

He picked up one of his new stolen phones from the table and logged into social media via Instagram. He tapped the search icon, bringing up the search bar.

Tap! Tap! Tap! Tap! Tap! Tap!

#Hanabi#Yuki

P typed the tags into the search bar and clicked the search button. The screen instantly displayed pictures and posts of Hanabi, Yuki, and some of her other friends, with hashtags of their names attached to different posts.

P clicked on the blue-colored hashtag "Hanabi" in a specific post showing Hanabi's face smiling and throwing a hand sign at the camera. The link took him directly to her main account profile.

P's eyes scrolled up to the handle on the top of her profile, which read: g_LHanabi.

"Hmph," P reacted.

His eyes then scrolled down just under her profile picture until he spotted her full name:

Hanabi Hwang (황)

P's eyes widened a fragment upon seeing the name.

"She's Korean... half... Korean," P said to himself.

He pressed the power button on the side of the phone, turning it off completely, then gently but quickly dropped it with his left hand on top of his second phone. He proceeded to start clicking the system keyboard.

"It could be her father is Korean," P muttered to himself.

He typed Hanabi's full name into the hacked database. An official government image of

Hanabi with her full name displayed clearly on the screen, along with all of her personal records and information.

"Hmmf," P breathed.

He quickly started to go over the details of Hanabi from childhood, picking out all the important details as fast as he possibly could.

The police would be here any moment now... P noted subconsciously while scrolling and scanning the information.

After some time, he was finally done. He remained completely blank, sitting silently on the chair for a moment.

"That's.... it," P said. "Nevermind, time for the b—"

P was immediately cut off by a sudden sound.

Cling!

The entrance bell rang as the cafe door opened. It was the police.

Two police officers slowly pushed open the visible glass door, calmly walking straight into the cafe.

The exact moment P heard the sound, he stopped for a second, then quickly started clicking the computer mouse to completely release his access to the database and log out of the strange, glitching system he had used for the hack.

One of the police officers behind his colleague adjusted the comm-link behind his vest back.

Their eyes slowly scanned the entire room as they walked directly toward the registration desk at their left side.

The police started talking to the three employees working at the counter to gain permission for an investigation, which they quickly agreed to. They immediately began investigating and searching all the systems in the cafe to find anything suspicious.

"There's an old PC at the end of the shelves in the library section," a female employee pointed out.

"Thanks.." Cop One said.

He was standing close to a guy operating a laptop at a table while he scanned the library shelves, then began walking toward the back slowly.

STEP... STEP... STEP...

BSHT! BSSHT!

His comm-link sounded. "Officer dispatch one, do you copy?" a man's voice asked over the radio.

The cop pulled out the comm-link from behind his vest with his left hand, raising it close to his mouth.

"Dispatch one, copy..." Cop One said.

"The database and all systems have been fully restored and we have completely gained back access.... any sign of a suspect?" the voice on the radio asked.

P immediately took off his black Nike cap and placed it flat over both of his stolen phones so they wouldn't look shady, completely brightening his facial expression.

BSSHT!

"Not yet... still at it," Cop One said.

"Copy that.." the voice replied.

The cop put the comm-link back behind his vest and walked directly in-between two massive shelves, spotting P at the very end of the row, quietly operating his system.

The cop suddenly became highly suspicious of P because of how intensely focused and serious his face looked, appearing very anxious while operating the old PC.

The cop started walking directly toward P, while P kept clicking his laptop as fast as humanly possible.

STEP... STEP... STEP...

CLICK! CLICK! CLICK! CLICK!

STEP... STEP... STEP...

CLICK! CLICK! CLICK! CLICK!

STEP... STEP... STEP...

CLICK! CLICK! CLICK! CLICK!

"I want to see your hands up in the air, sir," Cop One said, holding and resting his left hand firmly on the gun sheathed to his vest.

P glanced up instantly at the cop in surprise and shock.

"This is the police... hands off the system," Cop One commanded.

P raised both of his hands up into the air, his face showing utter confusion.

"Wha... what's going on?" P asked calmly, shrugging his head in total bewilderment.

"There has been a serious breach in our systems, and we are currently investigating the cause, which seems to have something to do with someone in this cafe," Cop One stated, standing right before the back of the computer monitor.

"Then that has absolutely nothing to do with me... I don't know much about that stuff," P said with a serious, calm voice, his face looking directly up at the cop from behind the monitor.

"But you know a few things about it," Cop One questioned, highly curious.

"Yes, I do know a few stuffs about hacking," P said, nodding his head slightly.

The cop tilted his head to his left a little bit, his face turning into pure curiosity mixed with a highly surprised expression.

"Let me see what you're doing, sir," Cop One said, raising his right hand and pointing directly at the monitor screen.

"Sir, I can't. It's personal," P said in restraint, grabbing the sides of the monitor.

"I said let me see it," Cop One demanded.

P looked at the cop for a long moment, let out a heavy sigh, and then slowly turned the monitor screen to face the officer.

The cop leaned in close to the screen, his eyes scanning the display for a brief second before he loudly exclaimed, "What the fuck?!"

P blinked, looking up at the officer. "You've got a problem," P said, sounding a bit annoyed.

"So people like you are still around, huh?" the cop muttered in disbelief.

"It is my personal research! I firmly believe that the earth is completely flat and that all those 4D or 5D dimensions don't actually exist! What you've been taught from birth were all total lies!" P yelled right at the cop.

This man is completely crazy... Cop One thought to himself.

"We black people own this! This entire planet was fully ours in ancient times! We are the true children of God!" P shouted, aggressively beating his chest with his left hand.

"And someday... I'm going to have ultimate power, and we black people shall rise and completely conquer this world! Y'all are gonna be slaves.... you better remember that... cop. So back off!"

The cop stood there with his mouth slightly open in complete shock, looking down at P who was continuously spouting absolute nonsense with a deadpan face.

"What the... nigga.... are you insane? Is this honestly what you have been doing with your entire life? Did you even go to school?!" Cop One asked, entirely stunned.

"You've got a problem," P retaliated sharply.

The cop just stared down at P in a confused, heavy silence.

"What the fu—" Cop One started, but got cut off entirely.

"Sergeant! Have you found the suspect?!" Cop

Two shouted from the other end of the bright side of the library shelf.

"No, suspect isn't here!" Cop One shouted back, while staring down at P, who was frowning disgustedly up at him. "I just only ran into a crazy fanatic which I deeply wish I never crossed paths with in my entire life! It seems the suspect might have already escaped!"

"Then let's go!" Cop Two yelled back.

Cop One shook his head in absolute disdain at P, then turned around and started walking away from the desk.

"Yeah, walk away! This is exactly why I hate cafe stores!" P shouted after him.

The cop, who was just about to walk in between the shelves, stopped dead in his tracks and turned back to face P.

"Sir, a piece of advice.... start doing something meaningful with your life. What you're doing right now..." Cop One said, shaking his head. "It will take you absolutely nowhere in life, I can clearly see it..."

The cop turned and finally walked out of the section.

P watched silently as the cop completely disappeared into the shelves. The moment he was gone, P's face instantly turned into a cold, deadly serious gaze.

"You fool.... what do you know," P said coldly.

He turned the monitor right back to face him.

"Now, where was I?" P muttered, loudly cracking his neck and his hands.

He quietly used the mouse to click back onto Chrome, displaying the site and the search bar. P stared at the empty bar for a moment as he suddenly started having a vivid flashback of the plane crash incident that involved Hanabi.

Memories of the cult who had kidnapped her—and the red demonic symbol branded onto the foreheads of their masks—flashed violently through his mind.

His gaze turned damn serious, locking directly onto the search bar as his fingers rested firmly over the keyboard, about to type.

DEMONIC SYMBOLS_

P typed the words out, then stopped, glaring at the monitor for a moment as he remembered a specific conversation he had with Hanabi during the plane crash incident:

> "Why...?" P had asked, calmly curious.

> "Because the cult has a massive party right below us, and I'm basically their sacrifice food to be offered to Death!" Hanabi had cried out.

"Death..." P said calmly to himself.

DEMONIC SYMBOLS OF DEATH_

P finished typing the phrase and clicked search, which immediately displayed endless results.

He clicked on the image tab on Chrome and started meticulously searching for the exact symbol he remembered from the masks. He scrolled down until his eyes locked onto it: a distinct red hexagon containing a death scythe and a scale.

P clicked on it, using Google to search much deeper into the image origins. He began looking up the classified information regarding the symbol, which related directly to an ancient cult called:

(Kalbē Mōṯ) כלבי מות

TL/N: In Aramaic, it means Deathhounds or Hounds of Death.

Kalbē Mōṯ... what could they possibly want with this woman? There is absolutely nothing special about her when I checked her entire background, P pondered subconsciously.

He stared at the monitor while actively, rapidly tapping his left foot on the floor.

Tap! Tap! Tap! Tap!

"They seem like an old and extremely powerful organization for a cult since they are directly under Death itself... that asshole. This cult is going after a normal human, but their priorities are heavily related to souls. Well... she's none of my concern," P said nonchalantly.

Then, he suddenly remembered her sweet face looking up at him from the bed.

"Tsk. I will have to find out why they would go after her, which means I will have to get closer to her," P muttered.

"No.... I shouldn't involve myself in other people's problems. Damn it...!" P said, sounding highly frustrated.

"This cult would be a total pain in the ass, and I know exactly who to call on this. I need more information about this cult organiz—"

P paused mid-sentence.

He heard a faint, distinct footstep to his left side. There were rows of library shelves lined up to his left several steps away, and the sound seemed to have come from right behind them.

He instantly deleted all of his research from the history settings on Chrome, then shut down the system entirely. He slowly got up from the desk, picking up his black Nike cap and placing it on his head.

He slid his two new phones deep into his jacket pockets, pushed the chair backward, and turned to his left, walking straight into the narrow space between the shelves.

He walked straight to the very end of the row, where the shelves met the concrete wall. He turned his head down to his right and saw a thick, hard book lying flat on the floor.

Behind him, a dark shadow was slowly approaching P's back.

Unknowingly of this, P zipped up his Lakers jacket then proceeded to turn around to head back.

"Hmmm... my head is playing tricks with me again," P muttered to himself, letting out a faint scoff.

As he turned his body to walk out, a man was suddenly standing directly behind him out of nowhere.

The man violently grabbed P by the neck, pulling P's body forcefully toward him. In a flash, he pulled out a black pistol equipped with a suppressor and fired directly into P's chest.

P's eyes violently widened in surprised shock as his heart skipped a heavy beat.

BANG! BANG! BANG!