Chapter 267 — The Clown in the Town (Part 4)
"What… what is this?!" Beverly's heart jolted in shock.
She tried to pull free, but the black strand of hair was incredibly strong, dragging her hand toward the drain.
With no other choice, she reached out with her free hand to tear it off—
But at that moment, more strands shot out from the drain, wrapping around her at terrifying speed.
Her neck.
Her legs.
Her hair…
Even her face.
A tightening pain spread across her body, and a foul, sewer-like stench flooded her nose.
Whoosh—whoosh!
Two more strands lashed out, coiling tightly around the back of her head.
The balance of force shattered instantly.
Beverly's entire body was yanked forward toward the sink. She could only cling desperately to the edge, struggling to hold on.
"D-Dad… help me!" she cried, her voice trembling.
In this moment of terror, the prematurely hardened girl reverted into a helpless child, instinctively calling out to her only family.
But the hallway remained silent.
No answer came.
Then—
A strange gurgling sound rose from the drain.
Beverly trembled as she looked down.
Something was… coming up.
A moment later, she understood.
A splash of red appeared—
Then suddenly, blood burst out of the drain.
Because she was directly over the sink, it splashed across her face.
Then the mirror.
The floor.
The walls.
The ceiling…
The entire bathroom was painted crimson.
The shock loosened the restraints.
Beverly fell backward, scrambling to the wall, curling into herself as she trembled uncontrollably.
Creak—
The bathroom door opened.
"Sweetheart, what's wrong?" her father asked, puzzled.
"You… you can't see this?!" Beverly stared at him, eyes wide with disbelief.
But her father looked at the horrifying scene as if it didn't exist.
"Why did you cut your hair? You look like a boy."
He frowned and crouched down, gently touching her shortened hair.
Then suddenly, his hand moved toward her chest.
"What's this?"
Beverly flinched—
The postcard had been pulled out.
"That's—!" She tried to grab it back, but it was too late.
Her father read it.
Silence filled the bathroom.
"Why are you mixing with those boys?" his voice turned cold.
"Do you know what they want from you?"
"They… they're just my friends."
"Friends?" His voice rose sharply. "You can only be my baby!"
Beverly squeezed her eyes shut, trembling—
Then she felt a hand tighten around her throat.
"Look at me! You belong to me!"
"Your body, your feelings—everything belongs to me!"
She shook her head weakly.
The next moment, his hand grabbed her clothes.
"No!"
She lashed out, punching him in the face—
But instantly, her eyes widened in horror.
His face—
Turned pale white.
Bright red lips stretched across it.
"This… what is this?!"
Her father's face had changed—
Into something else.
A clown.
"Beverly… come to Daddy's arms! Hehehe… hehe…"
The man's face fully transformed, letting out a grotesque giggle.
Then the laughter stopped.
His expression turned cold.
Drool dripped from his mouth.
In Beverly's despairing gaze, the monster opened its jaws—
Wide.
Unnaturally wide.
Rows of sharp teeth lined the mouth—
And deep within its throat, three floating lights flickered.
The jaws slowly descended toward her head.
Bang!
A bottle smashed against the clown's head.
It turned—
Only to be struck by more bottles.
Glass shattered across the bathroom as the clown was forced back against the wall.
Beverly turned toward the door.
Several figures stood in the hallway.
At the front—a man in a black robe.
Beside him—a girl around her age.
Behind them—five boys she recognized from school.
"It's you again," the clown hissed, its gaze filled with venom.
"Why didn't I sense you approaching?"
"Who knows," Gideon replied flatly, placing a sacred statue by the door.
Through his eyes, the "clown" was clearly no human—
Its body was filled with bizarre energy, barely contained within a layer of human skin.
Feeling the holy power radiating from the statue, Pennywise bared its teeth.
But suddenly, it froze.
Several iron nails had somehow been driven into its chest, dissolving its power.
"Intruder! This is my territory!" it roared, drool dripping as it struggled.
Its body swelled, then shrank.
Its form shifted rapidly—
A twisted-faced woman.
A diseased corpse covered in sores.
A zombie.
Beverly's father…
Like a grotesque magic trick.
The children stared in shock.
Moments later, it returned to its clown form—red hair, pale face, ridiculous outfit.
Fear flickered in its eyes as it tried to pull out the nails—
But the moment it touched them, a burning sound filled the air.
Seeing this, Beverly scrambled to her feet and hid behind Judy.
"Where are the missing children?" Gideon asked calmly.
The clown pointed at the sink.
"I tore them apart… and fused them together. Hehehe… hehe…"
It laughed.
"George…"
Bill clenched his fists and charged forward—
But Gideon pressed a hand against his head.
"Easy. I'm not done asking questions."
The clown pretended fear, but its eyes still burned with greed as it looked at Bill.
"You say this is your territory… hehe…" Gideon smiled faintly.
"Haven't you heard of the name Revenge Wing?"
Judy's expression turned strange—but she held it in.
"Revenge Wing… I'll devour you all!" the clown snarled.
But restrained by the nails, it could only thrash weakly.
Gideon narrowed his eyes.
No evil aura… no trace of that organization… no signs of ritual or summoning…
So… they really aren't in Derry.
"What… is that thing?" Beverly asked softly.
Judy turned back toward the group.
"An evil monster."
"All those strange things you've seen before… it was all done by this thing."
The children exchanged uneasy glances.
Earlier, when they overheard Gideon and Judy discussing these things, they had already felt something was off.
"Monsters… really exist?"
Judy nodded seriously.
"Not just this kind. There are evil spirits, demons… all sorts of things. And they're dangerous—if you run into them, you could die."
Hearing the truth directly from Judy, the children found it hard to accept.
---
On the other side, Gideon took out another bottle of holy water.
After pulling out the stopper, he poured some onto the clown's leg.
"Ahhh—!"
A piercing scream echoed through the room.
But Gideon remained indifferent.
He raised his hand, hovering it above the clown, sensing the flow of energy within its body.
What a pity… this energy doesn't seem to be origin power. It can't be used for cultivating holy arts, he thought.
Judging by its activity, this clown is just a collection of energy. All its power comes from underground.
Following the flow of that energy, he glanced toward the sink—and quickly understood what had happened in the room earlier.
"Why did you come into the human world?" Gideon asked.
"Human world… purpose… hehe… hehe…"
The clown burst into laughter as if hearing something absurd, clutching its stomach as it rolled on the floor.
The children felt chills crawl down their spines and instinctively huddled together.
But unlike them, Gideon noticed something unusual.
"Oh?" he narrowed his eyes.
"Right before it spoke, the energy inside its body became unstable."
To confirm, Gideon deliberately mentioned keywords like sewers, fear, and even Deadlights.
The result was clear—
The clown seemed unable to speak about those things at all.
Unnoticed by Gideon, deep within Pennywise's throat, the three floating lights began to spin together.
A stronger, more chaotic energy seeped out and vanished back into its body.
"Looks like we won't get anything out of it," Gideon concluded after several attempts.
Next, he only needed to purify the creature, then find the missing children…
—or what remained of them.
He sighed inwardly.
After that, he could report back to Archbishop Matthew.
But before that—
There were still a few things to take care of.
---
Gideon stood up and beckoned the children at the door.
They looked at one another before slowly approaching.
"Judy already told you what this thing is," Gideon said.
"The zombies, the twisted woman… all those things you've seen—they were all created by this monster."
He picked up a broom from the bathroom and handed it to Bill.
"This creature feeds on human fear. That's why it keeps targeting the children of Derry."
"Before I purify it… I'll give you a chance."
"A chance to defeat your fear."
"As for the children it took…" Gideon narrowed his eyes,
"I roughly know where they are. Whether dead or alive—I'll bring them back."
---
He had two reasons for doing this.
One was simple kindness.
Teenagers' minds were still developing—and this world was full of danger.
Extreme fear could leave lasting scars, and if they were later influenced by evil, it could create future threats.
He was eliminating that risk in advance.
The second reason was practical.
The clown's power hadn't been fully cleared.
If these kids panicked mid-process, they could become liabilities.
Gideon wouldn't allow that.
---
Silence fell.
Everyone looked at Bill.
After all, only he had lost someone—his younger brother.
Bill gripped the broom tightly, veins bulging on the back of his hand.
No one said it out loud—
But deep down, everyone believed George was already dead.
Only Bill himself refused to accept it.
Gideon understood this.
Even so, he wouldn't force the truth on him.
Instead—
"By the way," Gideon said casually,
"when I first arrived in town, I saw a girl searching for her cat near a drain."
"She said someone inside found it—and told her she could get it back if she came closer…"
"That 'someone' looked just like this clown."
"Ahhh!"
Before he finished speaking, Bill charged forward, swinging the broom again and again at the clown's head.
At first, Pennywise snarled viciously—
But then it realized something.
There was no fear coming from the boy.
For the first time—
It panicked.
Thud! Thud!
Each strike dented its head inward.
No matter how it tried, it couldn't recover.
It could only glare at Gideon.
Finally, drenched in sweat, Bill stopped, breathing heavily.
---
"From the beginning, I've never thought you were wrong to search for your brother," Gideon said, placing a hand on his shoulder.
"If someone is alive, you find them."
"And even if they're dead… their soul deserves peace."
Hearing this, something inside Bill loosened.
"But… the police… they've already given up."
"Don't worry," Gideon said calmly.
"I'll make them believe."
---
"Next."
He pointed at Stanley.
"M-me?" Stanley waved his hands nervously. "Maybe I'll pass…"
"If you want to become a member of the clergy," Gideon said,
"courage is the most basic requirement."
He handed him the broom and pulled him forward.
"But… it…" Stanley pointed at the deformed clown.
"Hmph. Don't worry—it's tough."
Gideon injected holy power into the creature, stabilizing its distorted form.
Moments later—
The twisted-faced woman reappeared on the ground.
---
Not long after, all the boys had taken turns.
They sat against the wall, drenched in sweat.
Beverly had been watching the whole time, wiping the blood from her body with a towel.
This was the first time she had ever seen such a… strange priest.
Encouraging kids to beat up a monster?
Only he could come up with that.
And yet—
She felt something she had never experienced before.
Respect.
---
"Your turn."
Gideon suddenly called out.
Everyone turned to Beverly.
"I… I…"
She hesitated.
The memory of what had just happened in the bathroom made her shrink back.
She didn't want her friends to see that side of her.
Just as she was thinking of refusing—
Gideon walked over.
"Boys, come with me. You wait here."
He gestured.
"Judy, keep an eye on the clown."
"Got it! It won't escape!"
---
Beverly leaned toward Judy, whispering,
"What is he doing?"
"No idea," Judy replied honestly, shaking her head.
"But whatever Gideon does—there's always a reason."
Seeing the trust between them, Beverly felt a faint sting of envy.
---
A moment later, Gideon returned alone.
Judy and Beverly looked over—
And froze.
He had brought back a man in worker's clothes.
Bound tightly with rope.
"Dad?!"
Beverly was stunned.
No wonder her father hadn't reacted earlier—
He had already been tied up.
---
"I've asked the boys to wait outside," Gideon said, rolling up his sleeves.
"Now… it's time to have a proper talk about parenting."
He grabbed the man by the collar and raised his hand.
Then he paused, glancing at Beverly.
"You don't mind if I wake him up like this, right?"
"Uh… I… don't mind," Beverly quickly shook her head.
For some reason, the situation suddenly felt a little absurd.
"Good."
Gideon smiled—
And then slapped the man hard across the face.
---