Joshua's eyelids fluttered before finally opening. The first thing that assaulted his senses was the dazzling white color and the pungent smell of antiseptic liquid.
The neon lights on the ceiling felt like spotlights burning his pupils. Joshua grimaced, his head feeling heavy and stiff from the bandages.
The constant beep... beep... beep... from the heart monitor beside the bed made his head throb even more. He could see the IV tube running from his pale wrist.
Now Joshua felt like his body had just been run over. And he confirmed one thing for sure: he was still alive.
The next second, his head throbbed violently as horrific images flashed through his mind—fire, explosions, then a clear image of his encounter with the man who was clearly dead and wanted to borrow his body as a vessel for his soul.
Joshua sat up with a jerky movement, his hands clutching his head. "A dream... it must have been just a dream," he muttered breathlessly.
"Finally, you're awake. I thought you were going to sleep until the end of time and waste my precious time." The deep voice echoed in Joshua's ears. He gasped. The voice was clearly the same as the one in his dream. He turned his head toward the sofa in the corner of the room.
There, a man sat with his legs casually crossed. He wore a black shirt under a dark suit—the same clothes as the corpse Joshua had pulled from the flames. The man looked athletic, with a sturdy posture that Joshua estimated to be 185 cm tall when standing.
For a few moments, Joshua stared at the figure... there was no mistake, it was the corpse he had found with a bullet hole in his temple last night.
"You...!" Joshua rubbed his eyes until the emergency glasses he was wearing tilted.
"A-are you a ghost? Or have I gone mad?" Joshua stammered, repeatedly trying to convince himself that he wasn't seeing things.
The man stood up and walked closer to Joshua's bedside.
"Is that all you have to say after I saved your life last night?" Alex sat carelessly on the side of the bed, causing Joshua to slide backwards until his back hit the iron headboard.
Alex leaned closer to Joshua.
"Five minutes," the man said flatly. "I'll give you time to gather your scattered thoughts and remember everything," his voice was arrogant, his eyes carefully examining every wound on Joshua's body.
Joshua pointed at the man with a trembling finger. Cold sweat dripped from behind the bandage on his temple.
"From that dumb look on your face, I'm sure you remember." Alex observed Joshua lazily. "Listen, Little Lawyer. You have one week. Just one week for the wounds on your body to dry and for you to be stable enough to stand. Because on the eighth day, you have to be out of here."
Joshua slowly reached out, trying to touch Alex's arm. He held his breath as his fingers passed through the air. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end.
"You... you're really a ghost?"
Alex sighed deeply, then rubbed the bridge of his nose. "You need energy to recover quickly, so stop making stupid jokes."
Just as Alex finished his words, the door opened. A nurse entered carrying a tray of medicine and food. Joshua's eyes lit up, feeling like he had found a savior in the midst of this madness.
"Nurse! Help!" Joshua shouted hysterically, waving his hands at the young nurse, an action that made Alex shake his head and snort. "How embarrassing," he sneered.
"Check my head, Nurse! I'm seeing ghosts! The man next to me... he's a corpse! Am I going crazy?"
The nurse stopped by the bedside, looking at Joshua with a pitying gaze, then glancing in the direction Joshua was pointing—which, to the nurse, was just empty air.
"Mr. Joshua, calm down. It's only been a day since your major surgery," said the nurse as she adjusted the IV tube. She glanced at the bandage covering the burn along Joshua's forearm, making sure there was no bleeding.
"The effects of anesthesia, blast trauma, and mild concussion often cause visual hallucinations. It's normal for you to see things." The nurse placed food and medicine on the nightstand. "The doctor said your recovery will be difficult, but if you are stable, we can start rehabilitation next week so you can go home soon. Now, eat and rest."
After the door closed again, Alex bent down until his pale face was right in front of Joshua's nose. His lips stretched into a wide smile, and Joshua grew even more frustrated after seeing that smile.
"I'm not your hallucination. I'm a vengeful ghost... and only you can see me," Alex whispered right into Joshua's ear, sending a chill down his spine.
Alex pulled back, then sat back on the sofa casually, ignoring Joshua, who seemed unable to fully accept this reality.
Joshua was still frozen, his breath caught in his throat as he stared at Alex for a long time, wondering if all of this was real.
"Eat, don't make me repeat myself, or I'll find a way to make you feel pain worse than just broken bones," Alex said with a glare.
Joshua swallowed hard. He glanced reluctantly at the tray of porridge on the nightstand. His stomach churned, but Alex's sharp gaze seemed to kill him, making him a little timid.
Joshua's brain began to spin rapidly. His gaze did not stray from Alex for a moment. The man knew about his mother and his family, but... he was clearly just a shadow.
"Listen," Joshua said hesitantly, "Aren't you just an ordinary ghost? How can you fight Billi's family? They have everything, while you... you don't even have a body."
Joshua stared at Alex, trying to find a clue that this man was just a hallucination. However, his gaze kept wandering to the mysterious tattoo on the man's neck.
On the other hand, Alex frowned. He felt belittled. There was an urge within him to reveal his true identity right then and there, just to see Joshua's dumbstruck face when he found out who was actually standing in front of him. But not now, the time wasn't right.
Alex snorted in annoyance. "You think I've been living without power all this time? Just so you know, I have countless amounts of money and power that makes people bow down when they hear my name."
Joshua nodded lazily, not expecting that even in spirit form, the man still had time to show off his arrogance. "Ooh, so who were you when you were alive?" Joshua asked with an innocent expression. In Alex's eyes, that expression looked like a mockery.
Alex felt his lips freeze. "I-I... can't tell you now."
Joshua cleared his throat awkwardly, feeling that Alex was becoming increasingly shameless. "I knew it, you're just bragging."
Alex's eyes widened. His jaw tightened and his hands clenched into fists—it was clear that he was holding himself back from punching Joshua in the face right then and there.
"I'm not bragging," Alex hissed. "Even though I'm just a soul, I have a thousand ways to destroy little rats like the Billi family."
Alex turned to look out the window. "The Billi family?" He smiled faintly. "I've taken down people much bigger than them."
Joshua was stunned. For some reason, he felt that this man was clearly not an ordinary person. In his entire life, he had never met anyone who was not afraid of the Billi family. But this man clearly had no fear at all when the Billi family was mentioned. In fact, Joshua felt that this man sounded like he was looking down on the Billi family.
"Who are you really?" Joshua narrowed his eyes.
Alex glanced at him briefly, his eyes darkening. He had no intention of revealing his identity just yet.
"Just call me Alex. You don't need to know any more than that. All you need to know is that I'm not a weak, ordinary person," Alex emphasized, feeling his pride slightly diminished because of Joshua.
Joshua knew he shouldn't trust this foreign spirit. However, in a world where he had just been abandoned and left to die, Alex was the only entity that didn't look at him with disgust.
Alex didn't see him as trash, but as a tool. And for Joshua, who had lost everything, being "useful" for revenge felt much better than being nothing. Could he really trust him?
Just as his mind was racing, the VIP room door opened roughly.
Joshua gasped as he saw the figure stepping through the door.
Dimitri stepped inside, followed by a giant bodyguard.
On the sofa, Alex casually propped his chin up, his dark eyes observing Dimitri with an unreadable gaze.
"Grandfather... you came?" Joshua muttered weakly, a faint smile appearing on his lips. There was a glimmer of sad hope in his eyes, feeling that his grandfather still cared for him even though he had been sent away.
Dimitri did not respond to his grandson's words. He just exhaled deeply, his expression looking disgusted.
"How troublesome," Dimitri said coldly. His eyes scanned Joshua's body with a look of disgust.
"Instead of still being alive, why didn't you just die last night? I'm sick of seeing your face."
Joshua's smile faded instantly. "Grandfather, what's wrong?"
CRACK!
A sudden slap hit Joshua's cheek, causing his head to jerk to the side. His ears rang, while a burning sensation began to spread across his face.
Joshua's jaw tightened. "If you want me dead so badly, why did you come here?"
"To make sure you're completely destroyed," Dimitri hissed. He leaned in so that Joshua could smell the expensive cigars on his breath. "My people found the investigation files on the embezzlement of my assets in your car. Were you planning to hand them over to the prosecutor to destroy me? In your dreams!"
Dimitri gave a small signal. Instantly, his bodyguard stepped to Joshua's side, his muscular hand reaching out to grab Joshua's neck.
"Ugh!"
Joshua choked. The grip was so strong that his throat felt crushed. His body was lifted, his legs kicking the air futilely. His face began to turn blue, the veins in his eyes bulging from the intense pressure. In the corner of his blurring vision, he stared at Alex. The man was still sitting calmly, watching his suffering with an emotionless gaze.
"Too... long..." Joshua moaned hoarsely.
"My help isn't free, Little Lawyer," Alex replied flatly.
"H-Help... S-Save me..."
Alex stood up slowly. He stepped closer, whispering a final warning right into Joshua's ear. "Ten minutes. Your body will suffer the consequences after this. Are you ready?"
Joshua could no longer speak. He only stared at Alex with a pleading look.
Alex closed his eyes. Instantly, thick dark energy surged into Joshua's pores.
Joshua's body tensed. His bones cracked loudly as if they were being forcibly rearranged. Inside, Joshua's soul was pushed into the darkest corner of his consciousness, falling asleep in a silent void. Meanwhile, Alex took control of his body.
[POV: Alex]
As soon as the central nervous system connected, Alex immediately felt a burning sensation. He knew he had to move quickly. Ten minutes was the limit of human nerve "elasticity." If Alex held on any longer, his extraordinary energy tension would burn Joshua's motor nerves to a crisp, leaving the young man completely paralyzed or suffering from a brain hemorrhage. Even worse, Alex could be locked forever inside this damaged body, while Joshua's original soul would be erased forever.
Suddenly, Joshua's hand, which had been struggling weakly, now moved to grab the wrist of the guard who was choking him.
Joshua's eyes widened. The warm brown color in his eyes vanished, replaced by sharp, dark black.
Alex hissed inwardly, "Damn it, this body is really a wreck!" He felt a surge of frustration when he realized how difficult it was just to lift his bruised arm. For Alex, who was used to a trained and agile body, Joshua's unfit body felt like a narrow prison. Every explosive movement he forced himself to make seemed to tear Joshua's muscle fibers from within, making his movements slow and painful.
However, behind that torturous physical obstacle, there was a glimmer of dark joy boiling in his chest. Feeling the hot rush of adrenaline and his racing heartbeat again gave him an incredible sensation, making him feel truly alive again. It was a passion he had longed for.
Not wanting to waste any time, Alex grabbed the ceramic vase on the nightstand.
CRACK!
The vase shattered right on the guard's temple. Thick red liquid immediately flooded the man's face. As soon as the chokehold was released, Alex wasted no time. He grabbed the sharpest piece of ceramic, then with a lightning-fast movement, he stabbed it into the guard's shoulder—the nerve point that caused instant paralysis of the arm. The guard groaned, falling to his knees while clutching his numb arm.
Alex smirked, feeling the adrenaline burning through Joshua's nerves. Luck was on his side; this VIP room was located at the end of a quiet corridor, far from the nurses' station, so he had plenty of room to maneuver.
Dimitri recoiled. He stared at his grandson with horror. The Joshua he knew never had the guts to even kill a fly, let alone carry out a brutal attack like this.
"Jo... Joshua? Have you gone mad?!"
Alex smirked. He forcefully pulled the IV needle from the back of his hand until blood spurted out, then got off the bed and walked slowly towards Dimitri.
"Old man... why are you backing away?" The voice came from Joshua's mouth, but the tone was low and threatening.
Dimitri continued to back away until his back hit the door. "Stop! What are you doing, you bastard!
Alex got closer, the sharp edge of the broken vase now pressed against Dimitri's carotid artery. Dimitri's skin was scratched, a drop of blood seeping onto the collar of his expensive suit.
"One more move, and you'll follow your beloved daughter to the grave," Alex whispered coldly.
However, just as Alex was about to press deeper, a violent shock occurred. Joshua's heart rate exceeded safe limits, triggering an automatic biological rejection.
Joshua's body suddenly convulsed. A burning sensation seared his nerves, as if fire were spreading beneath his skin. His body resisted—reacting violently to expel the "something" that had just been forced into him.
"ARGH!"
Alex's soul was forcibly pushed out. He was thrown back into a transparent shadow in the corner of the room. His breath was ragged, his spirit body shaking violently from the clash of identities that had nearly destroyed him.
Instantly, the power supporting Joshua vanished. His eyes returned to a dull, empty brown. Without Alex's energy to support him, Joshua's body, which was already at its limit, suddenly went limp. He fell face down, unconscious, right at Dimitri's feet.
Alex leaned against the wall in the corner of the room, his transparent shadow flickering unsteadily. He clutched his chest, which felt tight from the forced rejection, his breath coming in gasps.
"You will sleep for two full days, poor man," Alex murmured weakly.
The room fell silent again, while Dimitri stood frozen, staring at his grandson with hatred.