However, before Viktor could expect an answer from them, he saw the two dozing off already.
"Oh damn, I just can't help myself, poor things," Viktor shook his head in pity and decided to sleep as well.
The next morning, he woke up a bit late on purpose, but the two ladies were still fast asleep.
"Hey, you two...no plans in getting up?" Viktor asked as he nudged them both after sitting up.
"Psss...s...sleep…" Sarah incoherently mumbled while Susan was still in her dream world.
Viktor had no idea that they were this exhausted and felt that Umilia indeed had the best stamina, considering how she didn't get exhausted like these two despite battling many rounds with him.
"Alright. You two sleep. I will go and talk with gramps and see if he is up for an outing," Viktor said as he got off the bed and took a shower.
It was time for breakfast when he knocked on Brad's door as he opened the door, "Oh, and here I was thinking you were still fooling around with those two poor girls."
Brad said with an amused smile as Viktor entered and gestured to him to take a seat.
"You don't have any plans today, right? Like if you want to hang out with the ladies, it's fine," Brad said as he sat down opposite Viktor with the brochure from yesterday in his hand.
"Nah. I was already planning to visit some places with you today while letting the ladies enjoy their time on their own. I would feel bad if I leave good old Brad all alone, haha."
Brad heartily laughed, "Good, you still haven't forgotten about this old man while being surrounded by beauties. Anyways, since you seemed interested in visiting the Wailing Hills, I was wondering if you want to visit that place with me today? There is already a booking for tourists like us so that a local guide would accompany a group of tourists to that place and give us the tour. Anyways, I booked two just to be safe."
Viktor shrugged, "Sure, why not. I am quite curious why that place is so eerily popular. Anyway, I doubt those two women would wake up today. I will leave them a note about where we are going to go. Still, Brad, tell me, do you really believe that those wailing sounds by some ghosts?"
Brad chuckled and said, "Do you know what I found out about the place when I went to book those tickets?"
"What?" Viktor asked as he leaned back.
Brad narrowed his gaze and said in a low voice, "Apparently, forty years ago, a bunch of young tourists, both men, and women, slipped into the Wailing Hills just because they didn't have enough money to buy tickets but at the same time wanted to visit the place badly."
"And what? That they got scared and took some camera snaps of some ghost walking through the woods?" Viktor asked in a casual tone as if he could guess what happened.
Brad shook his head with a serious expression as he said, "No. Apparently, they never returned from that place, and not long before their friends and families began to report them missing, and the local authorities here started to search for them. But since these young people secretly sneaked into the Wailing Hills, not many knew really knew their whereabouts since even CCTV cameras were not that ubiquitous nor developed. It was only when one of their other friends who stayed back due to fear of getting caught came forward and told the truth. Then do you know what happened when they finally found them?"
"What happened?" Viktor asked as he crossed his fingers together and felt as if he was hearing some kind of horror story straight out of the usual books of the same genre.
Brad said in an intense tone, "They were found...but as corpses. But...the frightening thing was that their corpses did not look...normal. They all looked shriveled right down to their bones, their skins dull and breaking apart, and their faces were looking as if their souls were sucked out. It was truly a horrendous sight, and I found it hard to sleep yesterday night because of a nightmare, phew."
Viktor felt amused seeing Brad so serious about this and said, "Don't tell me you really saw those corpses. How?"
"Of course, I saw them on the internet. How else? But they were posted by authentic websites and not some fake conspiracy theory sites," Brad said with a tone of surety.
Viktor shook his head with a helpless smile, "Really, Brad? You are living in the digital age, and even I know not everything on the internet can be trusted. Sayana told me how these days people post a lot of fake images using something called...hmm...what did she say...yes, something called photoshop. I think you got fooled, Brad, haha. Can't believe you got a nightmare over that."
Brad pinched his lips and said in a disgruntled tone, "Hmph, we will see how right I am when we visit those hills."
"Haha, if you are that afraid and believe in this gossips, then why so excited to visit that place? Won't you just get another nightmare?" Viktor said with a loud laugh.
Brad coughed as he said, "Ahem...Of course, as we know, it's better to check things with our own eyes since blindly believing is not prudent."
Viktor shook his head with a smile, "Of course, of course, Brad. Whatever you say. Then what are we waiting for?"
Brad excitedly got up and said, "Let's go have breakfast then."
After the two ate breakfast, they went near a ferry port since they learned that the Wailing Hills were located on the other side of the island, and one can only reach there through the waters.
Viktor saw a decent amount of people crowded near the ferries and realized that the hills were more popular than he thought. It seemed as if the scary rumors only fanned the flames of curiosity and thus the reason for all these people being here.
Viktor also learned that at a time, the guide would only take twenty people, and the Wailing Hills was actually the private property of a local clan who had a long ancestral history in this place.
So no trespassing was allowed, and only people with the proper entry ticket and having the official guide them were allowed to visit the Wailing Hills.
Because of this, the demand for tickets was sky-high, including the cost for one. Of course, for Brad, it was a negligible amount.
Viktor had no idea how but Brad was somehow able to get them both into the first slot so that they wouldn't have to wait.
Viktor was sure these tourist attractions would have bookings months in advance. But of course, he didn't have to guess how Brad made his way in.
There were four boats that were of the trawler type so that they could easily carry multiple people.
All twenty people entered the boats, and Viktor noticed families other than couples and bachelors.
He was also surprised to see that there were three more guides other than the main guide and wondered why there was a need for four guides just to guide twenty people.
Every boat had one guide, and as soon as Viktor and Brad entered their boat, they were welcomed by their guide, who was a man in his fifties with grey hair and beard and was wearing a simple checked shirt and pants.
He had a friendly expression and said in an amiable tone, "Welcome, my humble travelers. My name is Mijo, and I will be your guide for all five of you. Please enter and make yourselves comfortable. We have a long ride ahead of us. But no worries, I will make sure to keep you all entertained throughout our journey."
Other than Mijo, there were only five people in the boat Viktor entered, including him and Brad. He saw that the other three were a family of three, with a boy of fifteen years old being their kid.
Viktor earlier saw a warning sign that kids below 13 years were not allowed and wondered if it was because they didn't want the kids getting scared by the wailing sounds.
The boat began to move as Mijo asked for everybody's name as a polite gesture, and Viktor learned the names of the other three as well.
The couple were in their thirties, with the man's name being Derek, his wife's name being Rita and their son's name was Dory. These three seemed to be here for a fun tour.
Mijo looked at the distant large hills and said in a spirited tone, "Well, I am going to tell you something about these infamous hills that you won't find in any brochures since such information is not allowed to be printed for public use."
Brad raised his brows in interest, and even Viktor was interested as all five of them perked their ears. Viktor wanted to know what kind of stories these people know about such an infamous character or what kind of version of story they had.
Mijo smiled and asked, "You all must have heard of the infamous General Raoul, right?"
