The town's oldest coffee shop is located on the busiest commercial street in downtown Jericho. It's the favorite spot of many administrative workers who don't want to be found.
At 10:30 p.m., in the second-floor lobby of the café that had so far thrived on regular customers, Jonathan waited calmly beside a girl dressed in black; both oddly matched each other quite well. They were both silent: Jonathan held his chin while looking at the police report in his hand and stirred a steaming coffee with the other.
One turn, two turns, three turns…
I don't know how much time passed until the man with a scarred face across from him—someone named Sebastian, who since contacting The Order had been assigned as his right hand and who would do whatever served his interests—arrived.
Sebastian, who hadn't seen Jonathan in a long time, spoke in a calm voice after learning the type of monster that had been summoned in that area: "Regent, we should communicate with the other hunter families and coordinate with the exorcists so the mission results in the fewest possible casualties."
"Sebastian, we are agents of The Order. If we're always running to have the church's exorcists come save us, people will assume we don't have the qualities to fend for ourselves. Since the current head of the Belmont family himself requested that you and your men assist on this mission, it means he has full confidence in you. How can you say those words after knowing who's in front of you?"
"I understand…"
Suddenly Jonathan set the documents aside, looked at Sebastian; dark circles shadowed his eyes and his eyelids were half-closed weakly, as if he were about to fall asleep.
The café, which was already empty of people, felt even quieter.
Wednesday was at this meeting only to observe and see if she had any important revelation, but there was nothing.
After a while Jonathan suddenly sighed, reached up to touch the top of his head, and said with an ironic smile, "There will have to be a curfew after taking away the students involved; then we'll remove the video by planting a virus that ruins the computers of whoever is curious about it."
"We have control of that, but if we do it that information could leak and we'd attract the attention of darknet hackers. If they expose the truth and release the video, I fear it would cause many more deaths than necessary." Sebastian knew what it meant to intervene that way in the open network where everyone had control of anything.
"I'll take the risk."
Sebastian, who had calmed, said: "That at least would free us from the burden of the deaths related to this dark entity. Now that we have the opportunity, we must kill it."
"The truth is we can't kill Slenderman. Other hunters have tried and all have failed." Sebastian shook his head at the thought.
Jonathan, who was more focused, recounted the reports the Light Association had passed on. "We have detailed information on its existence and I'm a Belmont—don't confuse me with another hunter…"
Wednesday then looked at the report The Order had on this dangerous dark entity.
[Name: Slenderman, Slendy, Der Großmann, Der Schlanke Mann, among others.
Origin: Unknown.
Gender: Appears Male
Age: Millennia; the oldest recorded reference to this being could date back to 3100 B.C.
Classification: Mysterious Supernatural Being, Entity Group, Dimensional Being, Archetype of the Collective Unconscious.
Powers and Abilities: Superhuman physical capacities, teleportation, strong mental manipulation, strong spiritual presence, bodily control; provokes typical symptoms when in its presence.
Lifting Strength: 700 kg recorded.
Impact Force: High.
Endurance: High; conventional weapons are estimated to cause no damage.
Durability: Unknown.
Reach: Standard melee range; several meters with its tentacles and other abilities.
Intelligence: High. Slenderman is a ruthless being who has lived for an enormous amount of time and uses his abilities to cause great fear in his victims, gradually breaking their sanity—attacking primarily when they are alone and weakening their mental defenses, facilitating their capture, or in certain cases, stalking them long enough that they choose to commit suicide.
He always knows when to strike, is quite skilled at hiding and blending with his surroundings, never leaves traces of his victims, and when he deems it necessary, destroys evidence by causing fires that are seen as mere unexplained accidents.
Weaknesses: None notable.
Armament: Tentacles.]
"If it exists, that enemy is impossible to kill—many will die," Wednesday said, then put the documents down.
"It hasn't faced my weaponry yet. I think I can handle that son of a bitch," said Jonathan, who wielded an ancient arsenal that had subdued thousands of dark entities of all levels.
Father Doung approached with a tray of chocolate donuts and asked, "So what exactly are we looking for? I mean, to kill that black thing, we must know it better."
Every dark entity had a purpose, desires, and things that satisfied it.
"Although it's rumored to kill children almost exclusively, it's hard to say if its sole objective is slaughter. Many sightings have been reported in forests as well as urban areas. It has also been reported near large groups of children, as many photographs depict."
Sebastian pulled out a series of printed photographs and placed them on the table, then said: "It is commonly thought to dwell in woods and jungles and to feed on children. It doesn't seem concerned about exposure to daylight or being captured in photos."
"It is often believed to enjoy stalking people to the point that they become overly paranoid. And so it is, in effect: it continues to appear before them to perpetrate the fear it induces, especially in them. There is also talk that there are eight pages hidden in the forest where Slenderman dwells: if you collect them all, he will disappear forever."
Sebastian, who had studied it on the way there, continued his explanation: "Frequently this entity seems to float or hover rather than walk. That would explain why it can maintain mobility despite its malformed body."
"Some people have reported sightings without being killed by it; nevertheless, official information about Slenderman's origin indicates encounters mainly at night—looking through open windows, or appearing in front of solitary drivers on deserted roads."