There was nothing she could do. The police refused to believe Ting's testimony, so she took matters into her own hands. She went to Fai's residence alone, planning to look for clues late at night.
At that moment, Ting rang the doorbell. Fai opened the door, and it was as if she instantly understood why Ting had come. Only after confirming that Ting had come alone did Fai relax and allow her inside.
Edward, watching this part, was speechless. What were these people thinking?
Faced with a potential criminal suspect, not only did they not flee, they even took the initiative to approach her. And going alone, in the middle of the night—was she not afraid of dying faster?
Ting stepped into Fai's house. Meen's face, used as a "successful cosmetic surgery reference" was enlarged and plastered across an entire board. Ting immediately asked Fai about her relationship with Meen. Fai froze for a moment as if countless memories flooded back. Then she began recounting everything that had happened between her and Meen.
Back then, Meen had been nothing more than an obscure dancer, absolutely unknown. Yet in Fai's eyes, she shone brilliantly—radiant and captivating.
Later on, Fai even helped Meen undergo cosmetic surgery, and their relationship became increasingly unusual. Fai's affection for Meen grew stronger, deeper, almost obsessive. With Fai's support, Meen even won the title of Miss Thailand.
But then Meen married that fool, Charun. The moment Fai spoke about this, her emotions became violently unstable. Her voice grew louder and more frantic, startling Ting. Ting hastily excused herself to use the restroom, hoping to calm the atmosphere. But the moment she got into the bathroom, her phone began ringing. She didn't even have time to use the toilet; she rushed out to try picking up the call, only to find that her phone was nowhere to be seen.
At that moment, Fai appeared behind her, holding makeup materials, offering to do Ting's makeup.
Ting had no way to refuse, so she reluctantly agreed. Fai began applying makeup to Ting's face—the exact same makeup worn by Meen. As Ting watched the mirror, her own reflection grew more and more like the face Fai longed for day and night.
Fai gently touched Ting's neck, called her "my darling," and insisted she put on the dancer's ceremonial headpiece. Fai then ordered Ting to call her "darling" in return. Ting didn't want to comply at all, but the atmosphere was suffocating with terror; she could barely breathe. Forced down by fear, she whispered the word.
Fai appeared deeply satisfied. She embraced Ting tightly, inhaling the scent on her skin. In a trembling, emotional voice she murmured, "If you had called me this earlier, none of this would've happened. You wouldn't have had to…"
Ting pushed her away in panic, but when Fai stepped back, Ting's reflection in the mirror had already transformed into Meen.
That day, Fai had brought Meen to her house and confessed her feelings. She only wanted Meen to call her "darling" one last time. But Meen was extremely straight and had no way of accepting Fai's love. She refused.
The two argued fiercely, and during the quarrel Meen said many harsh, cutting things. Enraged, Fai drugged her. Then she dragged the unconscious Meen to a motel. If she could not have Meen, then no one could. She took out a knife and killed Meen. To frame Dr. Charun, she even left a lighter with his fingerprints behind.
Now, Fai lifted a knife toward Ting as well. Ting ran wildly, terrified out of her mind. The reflections in broken glass showed the faint image of Meen's ghostly figure. The room was small, and Ting was cornered almost instantly.
Just as Fai was about to stab her, Liuetenant Te, who had rushed over after receiving a call from a colleague, kicked the door open. He aimed his gun at Fai, yelling at her not to move. But Fai lunged forward anyway, trying to kill Ting.
Liuetenant Te Faired, knocking Fai down. She hurried to help Ting up, only for Ting's eyes to roll back. When Liuetenant Te turned her over, she had the face of a ghost, twisted and ghastly. Liuetenant Te screamed, shouting that there was a ghost in the room.
At that moment, Ting stood behind her, a man next to her crossing his arms, watching calmly. Suddenly a sharp "Cut!" rang out.
Everything was fake. It was all a film set.
Meaning everything up to this point had been part of the movie they were shooting. None of it was real.
Edward immediately cursed at the screen, calling it trash. This kind of twist disgusted him. He wasn't against such narrative tricks, but they required proper hints in the beginning. There had been none. The film abruptly pulled this stunt without any groundwork. Purely revolting. He figured the film's rating wouldn't be high and indeed, he assumed he'd guessed right.
But the movie continued. And as it went on, Edward realized that this was actually the real conceptual twist of the film.
In truth, this structure was somewhat interesting and rather novel for horror films of that era. Most horror movies weren't built like this. So, despite his annoyance, this particular approach was at least fresh. Still, even with this novelty, the ratings weren't great.
Everything so far had been fictional within the film. Ting's actress, Mei, was a real-life star. The story was loosely based on an actual case. They had now reached the final scene—almost done with production. But suddenly, rumors spread among the crew about hauntings on set. Very disturbing rumors. Yet everyone seemed to be hiding it from Mei. Mei herself was completely unaware.
During one shoot, the actors finished their lines. According to the scene, Mei should have stood up and said her lines next. But she remained motionless on the floor, not responding at all.
The director had no choice but to yell, "Cut!"
At that exact moment, Mei jerked her head toward him with unnatural stiffness. In the director's earpiece, a hateful, distorted voice hissed: "Why did you cut?"
The director nearly jumped out of his skin. No one else noticed anything. Mei then snapped back to normal, blinking as if waking up from a daze. Only the producer sensed something wrong and approached the director to ask about it. The director explained, and the producer said she was experienced in handling supernatural issues. She told him to leave it to her.
That night, the producer brought ritual offerings to the set, praying for the filming to proceed smoothly. Just as she was about to leave, she heard something behind her. She turned on the light.
The face of the old ceremonial dance doll had twisted—transformed for a moment into a ruined, blood-smeared visage.
The producer panicked and shut off the light immediately, hurrying toward the exit. But behind her, a pair of long, elongated hands reached out, grasping toward her in the darkness.
The next morning, Mei received a call telling her filming was canceled for the day due to "uncontrollable circumstances." The producer had been found dead in her bathtub, her death horribly reminiscent of Meen's.
Mei then found the actress who played Meen and demanded an explanation. Under pressure, she confessed everything. All the supernatural events had been centered around Mei, yet the entire crew had kept her in the dark.
One of the eeriest incidents had occurred during the scene where Meen's character teaches Mei to dance. Mei had lowered her head and refused to let anyone touch her. Even the traditional dance coach had been pushed away. Mei performed with a hateful, haunted expression. Then she closed her eyes and began dancing, on her own.
Yet Mei had no dance training whatsoever.
Afterward, she collapsed on the ground, frothing at the mouth. The director came over and removed the ceremonial headpiece, and only then did everything return to normal.
By this time, word of the producer's death had spread. The editing department then made a chilling discovery. In the first scene, where Mei lit incense for the dead, she had looked toward a certain direction. Initially the crew thought it was a mistake, since the shrine wasn't there. But when they enlarged the footage, a ghostly figure could be seen standing exactly where she had looked, vanishing in an instant.
The second abnormality was during the dance scene. They had planned to use VFX to show the traditional dancer guiding Mei. But frame by frame, they could see a black, smoky shape moving beside her.
If that still wasn't enough to confirm the supernatural, then the next frame sealed it: slowed down, a horrifying face of a traditional female dancer wearing a ceremonial headpiece, appeared for a split second.
Just then, a sudden phone call interrupted the editor and director, making both of them jump. The editor took the call and stepped out. The director stayed, remembering Mei's earlier scream: "What are you cutting for?!" He wanted to see if it had been recorded. He sat alone reviewing the footage.
Thinking of the woman who had sent those items to Mei, he called her to ask questions. Suddenly the exact same voice from before hissed through the phone: "Why did you cut?"
The director dropped the phone in terror and didn't dare look at the screen anymore.
Inside the monitor, the woman on-screen stared outward—directly at him.
He then heard the sound of ceremonial bells, the rhythmic jingling from the traditional dance. The woman on the screen vanished.
Two ghostly silhouettes appeared in the room, shrouded in black mist.
When the editor returned, the director was already dead, his body shriveled like a dried corpse, identical to the producer's horrific death.
Meanwhile, Mei was on her way home when she received a call from the director, warning her to be careful. Immediately after that, another colleague called to inform her that fiming was suspended and that the director had died earlier that morning.
Mei froze in terror.
If the director had died that morning…
Then who had called her just now?
Another call came in. Mei hesitated to answer. Before she could decide, she heard something behind her. She turned.
Meen's ghost was standing there.
Mei fled into her apartment, locking the door. She looked through the peephole but two pale hands reached straight through the door, grabbing her by the throat. She stumbled backward, terrified, retreating until she reached the balcony. Something wrapped around her waist and pulled her. She fell plunging to her death.
An alarm rang.
She woke up.
It had all been a nightmare.
Edward wanted to curse again. A director inside a dream, now a dream inside a dream, were they trying to cram every terrible trope possible into one movie? And besides, falling from a height in a dream should wake you immediately, not die first.
Mei dragged herself to the bathroom, taking vitamins to calm down. Suddenly faint whispers came from the mirror, as if someone were speaking from the other side. Mei jerked back. The mirror was mounted on the wall, how could anyone be behind it?
She lifted her head and saw her own reflection—with heavy makeup and a twisted expression. Horrified, she gasped and woke again.
Another dream.
Edward nearly threw the DVD across the room. What kind of deranged film was this? Shooting a movie inside a dream inside another dream? Ridiculous. Outrageously ridiculous. But since he didn't want to waste the rental fee, he forced himself to continue watching.
Mei's mental state deteriorated rapidly. She noticed lipstick smeared across the back of her hand, yet she hadn't applied any before bed. Fear gnawed at her constantly. She could barely function. Then a coworker called, confirming the director's death. The news also appeared on TV but on the screen, Mei's portrait had been distorted into a ghostly face.
Traditional dance bells chimed again, growing more frantic. Mei screamed, trembling until the eerie signs finally faded.
Desperate, she decided the only way to stop Meen's haunting was to go to her grave.
At the cemetery, she begged Meen to rest in peace and stop tormenting her. But on her way back to the parking lot, the bells rang again sharply and alarmingly. Mei bolted toward the elevator. Just as the doors closed, she felt something rush in behind her. She didn't dare turn around. When she finally glanced sideways—
A ghostly face stared back at her.
Mei's own face began to corrode and distort.
Then she found herself elsewhere—dressed in traditional Thai dance attire, dancing ritualistically. She snapped awake again, sobbing uncontrollably in her car as she wiped the makeup from her face. She had no memory of how she got there.
Realizing everything started the moment she danced, Mei called the props master, begging him to tell her what had really happened during the playback. The props master finally agreed—but the call was abruptly interrupted by harsh static. He realized something supernatural was happening to him as well. He heard the bells. Through the blinds, he saw a shadowy figure, wrapped in black mist, wearing traditional garments, dancing outside his window.
His pupils contracted in horror.
When Mei didn't receive a response, she drove to the company to find him. The entire building was pitch black. The lights wouldn't turn on. Only the props master's computer glowed faintly. On the screen was an email he had been preparing for Mei.
She sat down and opened the attachments.
They were video clips.
"This idiot really doesn't get it," Edward muttered as he wrote. "When something like this happens, shouldn't you immediately go find monks or a temple? If not, at least a shaman or spiritual healer!"
(End of Chapter)