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Welcome to This Week In KPOP, a collection of everything you may have missed during the past week on kpop.

May 11, 2024 - May 17, 2024

TOP 10 STORIES

#	Votes	Thread	Comments
1	(+3146)	CL shares new 2NE1 pictures in honor of their 15th anniversary	125 comments
2	(+2423)	tripleS have earned their first ever music show win for "Girls Never Die" on SBS M The Show (240514)	129 comments
3	(+1941)	fromis_9 Receives Love Calls + Comeback After Calling Out Neglect from Agency	99 comments
4	(+1849)	Ailee to marry Single's Inferno's Choi Sihun	109 comments
5	(+1795)	29 year old sentenced to prison for posing as BTS members to obtain unreleased tracks	89 comments
6	(+1666)	7 Members' Agencies For Kep1er Reportedly Agree To Extend Contract — Yeseo And Mashiro To Join LIMELIGHT Instead	299 comments
7	(+1587)	TWICE Nayeon to have her comeback on June 14	55 comments
8	(+1552)	TWICE's Dahyun Reportedly Cast As Female Lead In Korean Remake Of Taiwanese Film "You Are the Apple of My Eye"	83 comments
9	(+1404)	KISS OF LIFE Confirmed To Make Summer Comeback	54 comments
10	(+1193)	Fire At M! Countdown Filming Studio Results In aespa's Comeback Recording Cancellation	81 comments

HYBE vs. ADOR

Votes	Thread	Comments
(+361)	Megathread 5: HYBE vs. ADOR - Ongoing Dispute, Meetings Ahead, and More	6276 comments
(+437)	Megathread 6: HYBE vs. ADOR - Insider Trading allegations, MHJ Injunction Hearing, and More	6338 comments

TOP ANNIVERSARIES

#	Votes	Thread	Comments
1	(+3141)	CL shares new 2NE1 pictures in honor of their 15th anniversary	125 comments
2	(+370)	Happy 9th Anniversary to MONSTA X!	14 comments
3	(+209)	Happy 6th anniversary to UNI.T!	18 comments

TOP 10 PERFORMANCES

#	Votes	Thread	Comments
1	(+1031)	[Live] Comeback Stage: aespa - Supernova @ Mnet M Countdown (240516)	63 comments
2	(+557)	[Song Cover] XG Chisa, Hinata, Juria - Losing You (orig. FLO) (XG Vox #6)	39 comments
3	(+336)	[Performance] IVE - Accendio (1theKILLPO)	18 comments
4	(+295)	[Live] Follow-up Stage: IVE - Accendio @ Mnet M! Countdown (240516)	16 comments
5	(+279)	[Performance] tripleS - Girls Never Die (M2 Relay Dance)	16 comments
6	(+238)	[Live] Follow-Up Stage: tripleS - Non Scale @ SBS M The Show (240514)	7 comments
7	(+214)	[Live] NMIXX - Love Me Like This, Roller Coaster, DICE, Run For Roses, DASH @ 2024 Sungkyunkwan University Natural Science Campus Festival (240516)	19 comments
8	(+110)	[Song Cover] NMIXX Bae - Flower (orig. Johnny Stimson) (MIXXTAPE: Track 06)	2 comments
9	(+109)	[Performance] BADVILLAIN - Hurricane (Live Clip)	1 comments
10	(+105)	[Song Cover] Ailee and NMIXX Haewon - Wild Flower (orig. Park Hyo Shin) @ KBS Synchro U Episode 2 (240517)	2 comments

TOP 5 DANCE CHALLENGES

#	Votes	Thread	Comments
1	(+167)	tripleS Xinyu (with SEVENTEEN JUN) - Girls Never Die (Dance Challenge) (240511)	2 comments
2	(+148)	TripleS Xinyu (with ZB1 Zhang Hao) - 'Girls Never Die' (Dance Challenge) (240517)	7 comments
3	(+93)	SEVENTEEN Jun (with tripleS Xinyu) - MAESTRO (Dance Challenge) (240511)	1 comments
4	(+89)	aespa WINTER & CHUNGHA - Supernova (Dance Challenge) (240514)	0 comments
5	(+82)	tripleS Nien & Xinyu (with NMIXX Sullyoon) - Girls Never Die (Dance Challenge) (240512)	0 comments

TOP DISCUSSIONS / FEATURES

#	Votes	Thread	Comments
1	(+42)	Throwback: JUN HYO SEONG made her solo debut with "Good-night Kiss" this week in 2014	1 comments
2	(+24)	/kpop Top Ten Tuesdays Results: P1Harmony (2024)	4 comments
3	(+21)	JTBC Girls On Fire - Episode 5 (Post-Episode Discussion + Preliminary Ranking + 72-Hour Survival Game Performances Part 3 + Second Elimination + Rival Death Match Performances Part 1) (240514)	7 comments
4	(+24)	What Are You Listening To? - May 15, 2024	30 comments

MUSIC SHOWS

Date	Performances	Discussion Thread	Winner
20240511	Music Core	Thread	SEVENTEEN
20240512	Inkigayo	Thread	ZICO / JENNIE
20240514	The Show	Thread	tripleS
20240515	Show Champion	No Broadcast.	No Winner.
20240516	M!Countdown	Thread	SEVENTEEN
20240517	Music Bank	Thread	SEVENTEEN

 

NEW RELEASES

Day	Artist	Album Title	Type	Music Video	Streaming
11th	You Dayeon (ex-LIPBUBBLE)	keep it low	digital single	keep it low
12th	JO1	Love seeker	Japanese pre-release single	Love seeker
13th	Stray Kids	Lose My Breath (Remixes)	remix single	Lose My Breath (Stray Kids Ver.)
	aespa	Supernova	pre-release single	Supernova
	ALICE	MILKY WAY	digital single	MILKY WAY
	ZEROBASEONE	You had me at HELLO	mini album	Feel the POP
14th	Chaewon (CLASS:y)	Americano on a rainy day	digital single	Americano on a rainy day
	DXMON	HYPERSPACE 911	single album	Girls, Love boys, Love girls
	WHIB	ETERNAL YOUTH : KICK IT	single album	KICK IT
15th	ITZY	Algorhythm	Japanese single album	Algorhythm
	We;Na	Step like We;Na	mini album	Baby Step / Valhalla
	The Wind	Sirius Part. 2	anniversary single	Sirius Part. 2
16th	UmYull	Love Innocence	digital single	Love Innocence
	Mark (NCT)	200	digital single	200
	Ryu Sujeong (Lovelyz)	Orange Juice	digital single	Orange Juice (feat. Yein (Lovelyz))
17th	Sorn (CLC)	crazy stupid lovers	digital single	crazy stupid lovers (feat. Hongseok (PENTAGON), WILD)
	257	BLACK OUT	debut single album	BLACK OUT
	MEANSHOCK	The Promised Flower	digital single	the Promised Flower (feat. Byeol Eun (ex-Melody Pink Eunbee))

"This Week in KPOP" Archive

Looking around, I see that there is one thing that is common to prosperous and advanced societies worldwide: they avidly pursue a high degree of excellence in science, technology, and commerce that have their origins in the West. The scientific and rational worldview is a core part of their cultures. There are some exceptions to this, such as some middle-eastern nations that coast on oil wealth. But the trend largely holds.
As a rank amateur, I have often thought about what it is about the West that made them the epicenter of the modern scientific and industrial revolution. I don't have any definitive answers yet, but my current thesis is that it's the heritage of philosophical inquiry of ancient Greece that sets them apart. The Islamic world itself flourished intellectually for a while when it freely pursued the kind of philosophical inquiry that was typical of the ancient Greeks.
When you look at the "munitraya" of Greece - Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle - you find some interesting features.

• They all took reason very seriously; in fact, Aristotle laid the foundations of Western logic. There was a recognition that it was not enough to know the truth, but also, that it's important to justify why things are true. To do this, they didn't take recourse to religious doctrines, but argued from naturalistic first principles.
• They are marked by a profound sense of straightforwardness and intellectual humility. They dared to inquire while fully admitting their ignorance. Socrates was said to be the wisest man in the Hellenic world because he knew that he knew nothing; he didn't experience any "loss of face" in doing so. There was no compulsion to be "profound"; in fact, he scoffed at faux profundity, and was pretty much killed for being a nuisance. When you read their works, you never get a sense of being talked down to by a "wise", "all-knowing" seer; instead, it's more like having a conversation with an advanced peer.
• They took a deep interest in nature and the real problems that people faced. Socrates asked questions about how to live a good life in practical terms. Aristotle was probably the first great empirical scientist, avidly examining specimens for his studies in Biology. Nature and mundane human affairs were not something to be overcome, but to be studied and explored. I feel that it could almost be said that the pursuit of truth for the Greeks meant the study of nature. You see this sentiment in Newton - a prototypical natural philosopher - who spoke of himself as a child gazing at a vast ocean of truth.
• They had a keen interest in Mathematics and an appreciation for its beauty. We see this trend begin as early as Pythagoras who had a mystical faith in the ability of Mathematics to reveal Truth. Plato considered training in Mathematics as an integral component of the education of rulers. Mathematics was useful, true, but they pursued it also for the sake of its beauty. Here too, they were not merely interested in collecting Mathematics facts, but in proving them from first principles accepted by everyone. We see an insistence on justification come up again and again throughout Western culture.

Above all, there is a tendency to self-analyze. The modern West is the most self-critical of cultures in today's world. They are constantly critically examining their methods, their assumptions, their values, and their social systems. There is no seeming compulsion to slavishly uphold their tradition, even though they study their traditions avidly. Instead, there is a frantic search for new and better traditions whose value again has to be argued for rigorously. They think nothing of incorporating ideas from outside into their own if they see them worthwhile. There is a culture of free and open dialog in which all of this happens.
I am sure that I am over-simplifying matters. For instance, neo-Platonists and neo-Pythagoreans were religious and mystical cults. Aristotle was wrong about many fundamental notions that he took for granted. Newton was as much a "sorcerer" indulging in alchemy as he was a rigorous natural philosopher. The West had its dark ages where certain aspects were not allowed to be questioned.
But that notwithstanding, it's clear to me that if our people are to have a shot at true greatness and glory, we must out-West the West at their own game. I further believe that this must be a citizen-led, peer-to-peer affair. We must all be thinking about how deeply and authentically we can naturalize the Western intellectual and scientific traditions in our society.
The sooner we can do this, the better we will be able to face the challenges that we are up against today.

So you finally decided to leave your home and migrate to a better place, but let me tell you that it will not be easy, Campasak is a "peculiar" region, this god-forsaken region is full of abominations and errors of nature, but it is the only one. path you can take to get out of that damn mountain, Campasak is a region full of endless natural environments, the region has an area of ​​about 400,000 square km so it is very large and it will take you a long time to get out of here. It is extremely dangerous and I don't want to discourage you but very few people have managed to get out of here and only one person came out sane, we call him "the explorer" he is responsible for this list existing, he spent many years documenting and studying the region, but a few years ago he suffered an ambush by some entities and his body turned into a pulp appeared in a sack at the entrance to Campasak. If you want to continue your journey, follow the rules and value his sacrifice.
South Campasak: when you come down from the mountain you will arrive here, it is a large steppe where you can spend days without even seeing a tree, this is the main reason why most travelers do not even last a week in Campasak, as it is a flat steppe you have nowhere to hide, fortunately we have a list of rules so that you do not get destroyed by some creature in a couple of hours:
Rule 1: This should be obvious but bring plenty of water and food, you will go days without even seeing a stream let alone some berries
Rule 2: this is related to rule one but do not bring anything to eat that contains or is derived from meat or you will attract the kogen, they have an incredibly developed sense of smell, believe me you do not want them to notice you
Rule 3: wear perfume, most creatures in South Campasak are guided by smell, the smell of sweat or blood is very attractive to them, so wear some perfume that camouflages you with the environment so that they do not know your position
Rule 4: bring some jewelry, yes, I am clear that the situation in the mountains is not very good to get jewelry but if you want to have a chance to get out of here you must have some for 2 reasons
4a: the kazai, the kazai are blind moles about 5 meters high, they are the ONLY beings that do not want to eat you alive here, when you look for shelter you have to look for holes in the floor, those are their burrows, to stay and sleep there and be safe from other creatures, give them some jewelry, they love to feel the cold of metal and they will let you sleep in their burrow and offer you food (I don't recommend eating because their food is basically animal guts with clotted blood).
Rule 5: If you see a kind of campfire in the distance, run in the opposite direction, the mogler is hunting and there is no telling what the hell he will do to you if he catches you.
Rule 6: do not eat any berries or fruits that you find on the road, almost all the food here is poisonous and you will possibly die of dysentery
Rule 7: there is a slightly marked path in the steppe, do not follow it, it is a trap of the creatures here, instead follow the line of grass that is longer than the rest, you will know what it is like when you see it, you could complement it with a compass
Rule 8: If you hear a galloping sound mixed with the sound of boiling water, lie on your back on the long grass path and pray that thing doesn't see you.
Rule 9: DO NOT TRAVEL ALONE, this is one of the most important rules, a companion can get you out of many troubles, such as using them as a human shield against entities.
Rule 10: If on your journey you find a very large oak tree with sharp branches, you are in luck. It will protect you from some entities and can give you shelter in its trunk. You will see that even though you walk and walk, the tree seems to follow the same path at distance, he was once a human and therefore has the intelligence of one, he will protect you until you leave the steppe
Rule 11: if at any time you come across a forest and the grass path does not end RUN, run in the opposite direction to it, run until your legs can no longer move from exhaustion, until you faint, only when you wake up will you know if you escape was effective
11a: what is in the center of that forest transformed the tree of rule 10
Rule 12: If you blink and out of nowhere a terrifying amalgamation of what appear to be fused human faces appears, you have about 4 days to leave the steppe (if you are not that far from the next campasak area) or return to the mountain (if You are just beginning your journey), the steppe has marked you and wants you to leave, if after that time you are still in the steppe, what happens to you will not be pretty.
12a: We do not know for sure why the creature from rule 10 appears but there are certain factors such as destroying the nature of the steppe (including the creatures that inhabit it)
13: After about 3 weeks on average, following the long grass path walking towards the north you will find a large river with a forest on the other bank, this is the Qiza River and marks the border between Campasak South and Campasak Central-South, yes You have not deviated much from the grass path, you will see a small village of huts and there you must take a boat and cross the river, although your actions depend on whether it is day or night.
13a: it is daylight, there you should take the canoe quickly cross the river, upon entering the village it is true that it is full of half-eaten human remains, this should not matter to you, so cross the river
13b: it is night, in this scenario YOU ​​SHOULD NOT GO TO THE VILLAGE FOR ANYTHING IN THE WORLD, during the day the things that live there are gathered, you do not want to join the human remains of that village, instead look for a Kazai burrow (there are many of them along the river bank) and spend the night there, it doesn't matter if you don't have jewelry, the Kazai will take pity on you and let you spend the night in their lair
13:c after following the scenario in 13b you should go as soon as the sun rises to the village and leave in the boat, it is almost certain that the inhabitants of the village will notice your presence and that is why they will return earlier than normal
Rule 14: FOR NOTHING IN THE WORLD YOU CROSS SWIMMING THE RIVER, you know, there are also aquatic entities and the only thing that prevents them from attacking you is that they do not detect you on top of the canoe
If you manage to overcome all this you will reach Campasak central-south and for that there are new rules
GOOD LUCK TRAVELER :)
(Central-south campasak rules in construction🏗)
This is my first story I hope you like it
English is not my native language so any spelling mistakes blame the translator XD

Asian Champs: (See pinned post for streams) Possible scoring here
NHK Cup: Streams & Times Live Scoring

FIA F2

Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix - Feature Race

F1FS Wiki: FIA F2 Guide 2024 Drivers & Teams 2024 Calendar

Session Times

Friday-Sunday times are in CEST (UTC+2:00)

• Practice: Fri 17 May 2024, 11:05 (UTC+2)
• Qualifying: Fri 17 May 2024, 16:00 (UTC+2)
• Sprint Race: Sat 18 May 2024, 14:15 (UTC+2)
• Feature Race: Sun 19 May 2024, 10:00 (UTC+2)

You can convert the session times to your local time via Timeanddate.com.
A full time table of the weekend's events can be found here: Link

Imola Circuit

Imola, Emilia-Romagna, Italy
Circuit Diagram
Length: 4.909 km (3.050 miles)
Turns: 19
Distance:

• Sprint Race: 25 laps - 122.725 km
• Feature Race: 35 laps - 171.815 km (Mandatory pit-stop)

2022

2022 Pole Time: 1:40.221 ( Juri Vips, Hitech Grand Prix)
2022 Fastest Lap:

• Sprint Race: 1:28.841 ( Juri Vips, Hitech Grand Prix)
• Feature Race: 1:28.353 ( Jehan Daruvala, Prema Racing)

2022 Winner:

• Sprint Race: Marcus Armstrong, Hitech Grand Prix
• Feature Race: Theo Pourchaire, ART Grand Prix

2024

2024 Pole Time:
2024 Fastest Lap:

• Sprint Race:
• Feature Race:

2024 Winner:

• Sprint Race:
• Feature Race:

Provisional Starting Grid

The Formula 2 page on FIA.com
—-

Live Timing & Streaming

The FIA F2 championship has its own official Live Timing services.

• Live Timing: Here.
• List of Broadcasting Channels: Here

F1FS Guide

New to FIA Formula 2? You can read our dedicated guide HERE, or watch our video guide from 2019 HERE!

Twitter & Discord

For up to date information regarding this series, follow these Twitter accounts:

• FIA F2 Twitter: @Formula2
• F1FS Twitter: @F1FeederSeries

We have a Discord server for the subreddit, check it out here: Link

On-Demand Race Replays

You can access previous races of this series and more here: F1FS Race Replays

Championship Standings

Full championship standings here: Link

I first started noticing that something was wrong around 3 months ago. At the time, I was working from home and would usually light a scented candle while I worked, which usually helped me relax and stay focused on my work. I would usually burn through a candle a week, but over time, the candles started to take less time to fully burn up. At first, I thought that this was because of a change in ingredients the company that made the candles used, but the problem persisted after I switched candle brands, which I once again blamed on the candle manufacturers.
I kept this belief for another week until the first incident. While getting up from my computer desk, which faces away from the candle, to take a quick bathroom break, I caught a glimpse of the lit candle. A two-inch layer of molten wax rested on another three-inch layer of solid wax, the wicks rising out at first and being somewhat visible through the molten layer, finally breaking the surface and being slowly burned away. The flames flickered as I swung the door open and walked out of the room. When I returned 10 minutes later, the molten layer was gone, and the wicks had been shortened so that the flames rested right above the solid layer of the wax. At first, I thought that the glass jar that contained the candle was leaking, but after a short inspection, I was only able to find two small drops of candle wax that had solidified right next to the candle on the bedside table. I still had 2 hours of work left to do, but I was too lost in thought and was unable to do any work for the rest of the day.
Every night before I go to sleep, I like to read for at least 30 minutes, and while reading, I usually light a candle. Around 4 days later, I had mostly forgotten about the incident and went back to using candles. Due to my naivety, it returned.
I fell asleep while reading with a candle lit on my bedside table. I woke up to loud slurping noises. As I opened my eyes, the brightness of the light I had not turned off almost blinded me. As my eyes tried to readjust to the light and focus on what was in front of me, I saw a somewhat humanoid dark gray to light blue blur that contrasted with the white paint on the walls behind it. Another gray line stretched from the shape's head to the candle on my bedside table. I could feel my heart skip five consecutive beats. I opened my mouth and tried to force out a scream for help, but the pressure I applied to my throat was way beyond what it was able to handle, leading me to only produce a light wheezing sound. I tried to sit up or to at least prop myself up, but my muscles failed me. Trying to push myself up with my arms felt impossible. As I stared at the figure that had suddenly appeared in my room, my eyes finally managed to focus, making it possible for me to see the intruder who was now staring at me. The figure was a man at least 7 feet tall, fully naked; he looked bloated; his eyes were bloodshot and looked like they would pop out of their sockets; at any point, his skin was a grayish light blue.
HIS LIPS
His lips extended from his mouth like an elephant's trunk, which had been split in half. The lips extended from the man's face to the candle; the flames had been put out. He was using his lips as a makeshift straw, slowly sucking up all the molten wax from the candle, which had fully liquified while I was asleep. I laid in bed, unable to move, unable to scream for help, staring until he emptied the jar. His lips retracted back to his face, the molten wax solidifying on their tips and cracking, flakes of wax falling off the man's lips and falling to the floor. The man grinned, staring at me. The ridges and gaps between the teeth were filled in with wax, making it impossible to make out where one tooth ended and the next one began. The man opened the door he was standing next to, but instead of walking out of the room, he stepped behind it. His face peered at me from above the door, and then once again, like he had done to drink the wax, the man puckered his lips, which stretched from his mouth and floated to me. I shook and tried to roll over away from him. I wanted to get up and run, but my fear had taken over my body. Tears flowed from my eyes. He kissed me on the cheek, leaving flakes of wax and light moisture. He retracted his lips and lowered his head behind the door.
I don't remember falling asleep, but when I woke up, I saw the empty glass jar, which at one point contained the candle. Even though I had hoped that what had happened was a dream, it wasn't. I still had flakes of wax on my cheek, and on my bedroom floor, the wax in the jar had disappeared. I called the police, but they were unable to find anyone in my apartment; they also could not find any evidence of a break-in.
After the break-in, I started looking for a new apartment to move to, thinking that the man was tied to the building I was in, but even though I had thrown out all of my candles, I could not stomach spending another hour in my apartment, constantly looking over my shoulder or walking around with my back pressed up against the wall to not allow it to creep up on me. Thankfully, my friend Emma was able to let me stay over at her apartment while I looked for a new one for myself.
Me and Emma have been friends since we were 8, and we've been there to support each other when times get rough. This isn’t the first time I've had to stay over at her house for an extended amount of time; in fact, I have had to stay over at Emma’s as many times as she has had to stay over at my apartment, whether it was because of evictions after losing a job, breakups, or a candle wax drinking squatter. I didn't even know if it was human. I mean, sure, it looked like one, but human lips are not supposed to do what his did, and somehow it didn't have a reaction to molten wax being poured down its esophagus. I didn't tell Emma about what happened—the details at least—I just told her that a man had broken into my house and was watching me sleep. The only people I told the truth to were my therapist and the cops, and all of them disregarded what I told them as my mind making things up after a traumatic event.
For a while, I believed what they said—I mean, why wouldn’t I?—but then I started seeing him again. For a few days, I thought it was my mind playing tricks on me again like it had done during the night of the incident. For split seconds out of the corner of my eye, I would see the outline of a tall, bloated figure. At first, they were hours apart, but after a while, it became constant. He was standing in each room I passed, in every single dark corner I glanced past, and then he spoke.
“FeeD MeEeee”
It stood in the kitchen, peering over from a small gap between the fridge and the sink, where the trash can that had been knocked over onto its side usually stood. His voice was raspy, and every word that came out of his mouth was distorted as if he were gargling water, but still, I could somehow clearly make out each word he said from over 15 feet away.
“Please just leave me alone I… why are you following me?”
I shouted at the figure, the same fear that had taken over my body during the night I saw him for the first time paralyzing me, making it impossible for me to move anything other than my eyes, eyelids, and mouth.
“i’M sTarviNg, I nEEd You To FeEd ME”
It replied again. Now, stepping out from behind the fridge, he stepped directly onto a rotten banana. Its mushy brown content’s seeping out of the peel under the pressure of his decomposing foot, which was covered in scabs, and took up the same grayish light blue color as the rest of his body. He mostly looked the same; his bloodshot eyes bulged from their sockets, but now his tongue was swollen. It peeked out from between his bloated, cracked gray lips; it stared at me, waiting for an answer.
“Ok, I’ll.. I’ll feed you, but please just... leave me alone.”
I replied, the tone of my voice shifting into high-pitched squeals with every quick breath I took. He looked satisfied by my response. He somehow squeezed his bloated body back into the gap that was at least four times smaller than him. After peering over at me from above the fridge, he bent over backwards, his spine releasing a series of sickening cracks until he was fully obscured by the fridge, and then he vanished.
Still barely in control of my body, I limped over to the couch tucked away in the back corner of the living room, it took me at least 10 minutes to steady my breathing and 20 more to fully regain control of my body again but as soon as I did I ran out the house and to the nearest store, during the 15-minute walk he stared at me through dark windows and the backs of cars, peered out at me from gaps between leaves in the trees and bushes, he even followed me into the store staring at me from the middle of deserted isles before disappearing right before my eyes were able to fully catch him, once I finally got the candles I randomly picked four off of the shelves and rushed to the self checkout.
When I arrived home, I had 2 hours before Emma got off work. I didn't want to feed it while she was home, and I didn't want her to see it. I pulled out two of the candles from the black plastic bag and placed them on the kitchen table, the first a light blue candle named “Garden Rain” and the second a red candle named “Juicy Watermelon." I pulled out a lighter from one of the drawers Emma used after her stove stopped lighting on its own and lit each of the 6 wicks on the candles. As soon as I started seeing the wax melt under the heat of the burning wicks, I dropped the lighter onto the table next to the candles and ran out of the room. I could not stomach seeing that thing again; even just thinking about it made me shudder and hyperventilate. The paralyzing fear that seeing him caused me made me want to vomit.
At least 30 minutes later I started to hear it drink even though the living room and kitchen were separated by a wall, even though I had closed the door I could still hear what at first started as slurping sounds which were followed up by loud gulps, then it stopped, and once again 30 minutes later it started drinking, as the slurping started once again I heard the door to the apartment crack open, it was Emma, as she stepped through the door I saw her carrying two large brown paper bags of groceries in her hands, she was headed to the kitchen.
“Hey let me grab those for you”
I said running over to her, my voice shaking.
“Oh, thanks. Are you… okay, you look scared?”
My eyes shot wide open in a mixture of fear and surprise. I said the first thing that came to mind.
“Yeah just umm… I didn't expect you to come home so early and I got a bit spooked”
“shit sorry, I know I should have called you, work let me off early today,”
I started to turn away from her walking to the kitchen.
Trying to keep her away from the kitchen I told her to wait for me in the living room because I wanted to talk to her about something. I didn't know what I would talk to her about but that was a problem for future me to resolve, somehow it worked.
“What's that sound?”
She called out to me while walking towards the living room couch. It took me a few seconds to come up with an excuse.
“I think it’s the sink, or the pipes at least”
I opened the door to the kitchen with my eyes closed at first hesitant to look knowing what would be greeting me. slowly prying my eyes open I started to see its outline, my muscles started to lose strength as the details of the man came into my view, I felt the grocery bags start to slip from my arms, my knees buckled, face first I fell onto the kitchen floor scattering the groceries all over the floor, I mixture of a light scream and a yelp escaped from my mouth as my body made contact with the floor, Emma concerned for my safety ran into the kitchen, she didn't scream, using all of the strength and mobility I had left in my muscles I rolled over expecting to see her face drenched in terror, her body frozen still unable to move just like my body had done the first time that I saw him, but Emma looked concerned, the man was gone, she crouched down beside me.
“Oh my god are you ok? What happened?”
I looked around observing my surroundings.
“I um… I… I tripped on the little thing at the bottom of the doorframe”
I finally managed to blurt out another excuse, not being able to remember what the name of a door sill was. I started to sit up using a part of the energy that had returned to my body, pain pulsed through my chest and arms, Emma looked at me with a concerned face.
“You've been acting really weird since I got home, are you sure you're ok?”
“Yeah… I think I’m just having one of those days you know”
The confusion on Emma’s face said that she didn’t know and to be honest I didn't either, I guess my luck of pulling random excuses out of my ass ran out, Emma thought that she triggered some sort of PTSD response after barging into the house unannounced at first apologizing then trying to change the subject to stop my trembling which I was still unsuccessfully trying to hide from her.
“Did you buy candles?”
Emma asked picking the groceries apart from the garbage that spilled out the can that the man had knocked over, placing them on the table next to the now half-empty glass jars, the flames flickered above the inch or so of molten wax the man was unable to finish drinking.
“Yeah I’ve been struggling with work lately, they usually help me focus”
“Huh Interesting combination you’ve got going on here”
She looked at me and smiled slightly, I smiled back and chuckled to seem normal.
“Yeah even I don't know what I was trying to accomplish here, to be honest”
I tried to help Emma clean up the spilled groceries but she did not let me, she told me that I needed to recover like I had been in a car crash instead of having taken a little tumble. After a few seconds of silence, Emma spoke again.
“Anyway, what did you want to talk to me about earlier?”
A quick jolt of stress shot through my body, in a jumbled mess of lies and fear I had forgotten what I had told Emma, I sat there in silence for a few seconds unable to come up with an excuse
“I…umm… I don’t remember, it wasn't anything serious though”
“Damn did you hit your head too?”
She said once again proudly smiling at her joke.
At this point Emma picked up the last bag of potato chips from the floor and placed it on the table, then she opened the fridge and started loading the groceries into it.
“Anyway I gotta go get back to work’’
I blurted out after a few more seconds of awkward silence.
“Alright well good luck”
I walked over into the living room and sat down in front of my workstation, which now consisted of a laptop sitting on a small foldable TV tray that had just barely enough room left on it to fit a small USB mouse.
The last thing I remember, before I fell asleep, was me mindlessly scrolling through apartment listings while Emma watched a random 90’s horror movie I’m positive only had a budget of $500.
I woke up with a light stinging pain shooting through my dry throat, and a dim hissing sound caused by thousands of water drops striking the ground outside filled the room. I pressed the spacebar on my laptop, the brightness of the screen blinding me temporarily, after taking a few seconds to let my eyes readjust I managed to make out the time, 3:45 AM. A strong smell I was unable to make out the origin of assaulted my nostrils. Lavender.
The smell hitting my nose had the same effect on me that I would expect smelling salts would have on a weightlifter right before they set a world record. Before I knew it my legs were moving on their own at an almost uncontrollable pace, fighting back against my mind which was telling them to slow down after years of being used to navigating both mine and Emma’s apartment as steadily as possible to not bother the neighbors.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity I stood before Emma’s bedroom door, a faint, yellow, pulsating light radiated from a lamp and snuck out of a small gap between the door and the doorframe, reluctantly I pushed my left hand up against the door, my right hand grasping onto the door frame for a sense of stability, once the door was fully agape I scanned the inside of the room my heart skipping a beat for every humanoid shadow cast up onto the wall by the lights from the wicks which were set ablaze and were being slowly burnt away.
I walked into Emma’s room and made my way over to her bedside table to put out the candle, as I stepped closer towards her, her face became more defined, I could finally make out her features, she was awake, but no she could not have been, even though her eyes were wide open they never blinked, she didn't even move slightly, as I moved closer I finally managed to fully make out the expression of pure terror on her face, her mouth wide agape as if she was about to release a deafening screach, but she could not have, a single drop of solidified wax dribbled out of the corner of her mouth and clung to her cheek, my eyes traced the cream colored path back towards her mouth, first up her cheek then between the corner of her mouth and finally behind her teeth, there instead of her tongue or the roof of her mouth I saw a wall of wax which had filled in the entirety of her mouth.
I fell to my knees and hunched forward supporting my body weight with my arms, I was too late, I resisted the urge to vomit and got back up onto my feet, a mixture of tears and snot slid down my face and onto my lips, shaking now I slowly started limping over towards my phone which I had left on the couch next to where I had awoken just minutes before, just minutes before my life was destroyed because of my lies if I had just told Emma what I had gone through, if I had just told her what had happened on the night of the incident which now seemed trivial, even if she thought that I was crazy, I know that she would have complied just to make me feel comfortable.
It took me at least 30 seconds of repeated attempts to stabilize my hands enough to properly dial 911. “Someone broke into my apartment and hurt my friend” was the only reasonable explanation I could come up with that would not get the operator to hang up on me thinking that this was a prank call.
I sat there in the living room for an agonizing 10 minutes, crying, my sadness slowly transformed into anger towards myself, and my mind raced thinking of all the lies I’d told, I kept thinking that if I had just told her the truth she would not have been laying there in her bed, her body bloated, “every single orifice has signs of forced penetration and has been filled with what seems to be candle wax” is what was written on her autopsy report.
For a few days I was the main suspect in Emma’s murder, but due to the almost unstoppable crying and the unresponsive state that I was in when the police arrived, mixed with the lack of evidence of me having a way to produce 30 pounds of candle wax led to me being released out of police custody, but because I was the main suspect I was not told any details about what had fully happened to Emma, for days all I had to work off of was the image of her face frozen in terror, and a short glance I caught of her bloated body as she was being carted out on a stretcher.
I recounted every single word of our last conversations over and over again until they became permanently etched into my brain.
Emma’s parents originally wanted to cremate her, as that is what she had somewhat jokingly asked for whenever the topic of funerals came up, well she had joked about wanting to have had unpopped popcorn shoved down her throat before she was sent off to “scare the shit out of the guy cremating me” but due to all the wax which would have been impossible to get out of her body they were forced to bury her.
A few days before Emma’s funeral her body disappeared.
After Emma’s death, her parents took me into their home, after reading the autopsy reports and seeing her corpse they had thrown out every single candle they owned which made their home the safest choice I had, still, this did not stop me from buying a machete and keeping it under my bed, just in case.
I was laying on the bed in their guest bedroom The day that the police informed Emma’s parents about her disappearance, the bedroom is right above the front porch of the house, at first I heard them ring the doorbell which was followed up by 3 powerful knocks on the door, for about a minute I laid there on the bed listening to muffled voices exchanging distorted words I was barely able to make out which slowly transformed into distorted weeps, curious I lifted myself up from the bed, made my way over to the window and carefully lifted the bottom panel making Shure to not make too much noise, the distorted muffled sounds started forming into coherent words “We checked the security footage but the only strange thing we could see was a 5 second time jump” one of the officers spoke in a serious and almost monotone voice “which meant that the security guard who was the only person in the building had to climb down 2 flights of stairs walk through a 40 foot long hallway and then drag her body back up stairs and out of the building in 5 seconds” Emma’s mom let out yelp “ but don’t worry ma'am that’s actually good news because we know that her corpse is still somewhere within the building and was probably brought to the wrong floor by an intern, we’ve already warned all of the staff at the hospital to keep an eye out, and we also sent 5 officers to search the hospital”
I could not believe what I was hearing, my breathing quickened, but this time instead of fear I felt anger, that fucker stole her corpse and was probably in the weird separate plane of existence he always went back to after terrorizing me, cutting off chunks of her body, melting her, and drinking her.
I closed the window Emma’s mom's cries once again turned into a muffled rumble which was only possible to make out if you knew what to look for, I took a few steps back away from the window planning to lay back down, not wanting to bother Emma’s parents. I bumped into something, not something, someone, its fleshy towering form as solid as a wall sent me tumbling forward, I knew it was him, he had returned to take me too, to stretch his swollen cracked lips, push them down my esophagus, fill my lungs and stomach with wax. But despite all of that this time I was not scared, I was angry, and I was not going to stand there in terror like I had the last time I saw him.
I fell forward onto my knees my face missing the window sill just by mere inches, I put my hands onto the floor, lifted one of my knees, and rotated 180 degrees now facing the monster, to the right of him pushed up against the wall was the bed, light from the sun reflected off of the metallic button which kept my machete in it’s sheathe, the man started to stretch his lips, they were moving towards me, waving a wiggling through the air like a snake slithering towards me.
I dove towards the bed one of my feet pushing off of the floor and the other pushing against the wall which creaked under the pressure applied to it, I flew for a few moments before slamming down onto the carpet and sliding forward, the heat generated by my skin brushing against the carpet released a sharp stinging pain throughout my body, my outstretched arm landed just a few inches short of the machete, I quickly bent my arms, pushing my body up and crawled towards the machete. my fingers wrapped around the handle I spun around, my back pushed up against the bedside table, once again facing the man, he was still facing the window but his lips faced me and were just a few feet away from me, for what felt like minutes but was most likely no longer than a second, I struggled to hook my finger under the strap securing the machete into its sheath, as the lips inched towards me the man started producing gurgling noises, he was regurgitation wax.
I finally pulled the machete out of its sheath, I swung the blade at the man's lips, the blade was not met with any resistance as it sliced through the man’s lips which landed on the carpeted floor with an audible thud, the man did not have a physical reaction to my counter-attack, his lips kept creeping towards me, once again I slashed at the lips, still no reaction, I repeated this at least 3 more times.
I wanted to kill him, I wanted to take revenge for what he had done to Emma, but fighting back was pointless. I realized that no matter how much I tried to hurt it, I could not kill him, I could not get rid of him.
My rage dissipated and a mixture of fear and sadness crept in, and soon took over my body, I screamed for help, I screamed in fear, in agony, tears streamed down my face as the man's lips finally reached my face, he wasn’t met with any resistance as his lips snuck between mine, pried my jaw open and finally started to slide down my esophagus.
I heard the cops run up the stairs, they started banging on the door asking if I was okay only to have been met with muffled screams, hot wax started to pour down inside of me, the stinging pain of the heat made me want to plunge the machete which I had dropped onto the ground next to me into my stomach to create a gaping wound that the wax would hopefully funnel out of, the texture of the man's slippery, oily lips matched with the poison like flavor of the wax caused me to start gagging, I felt my insides bulging like at any moment my intestines would have been filled to the point where they would pop, I wanted to vomit, the drain myself of the filth I was filled with, but his lips had plugged my throat not allowing anything to get out.
Hearing my muffled screams the cops started kicking the door down, the man retracted his lips, the suction aided my attempts at cleansing my insides, I got onto my hands and knees streams of molten wax pouring out of me, solidifying on the the carpet, with another loud thud the door swung open slamming into the wall, the man was gone.
That’s the last thing I remember before I passed out, but according to one of the doctors who was in the ambulance that brought me to the hospital, I was still semi-responsive during the first 10 minutes of the ride to the hospital.
Approximately 13.4 pounds of wax were removed from my body, the doctors said that I was in a critical condition and some of them did not expect me to make it.
One of the officers who was there the day the man attacked me took a report of what had happened to me, due to the unmistakable evidence of what had happened to both me and Emma, and the fact that this was the 3rd instance of me reporting something like this the police finally started investigating who this man might have been.
Around a month later I was discharged from the hospital and once again have been staying in the living room of Emma’s parent's house.
I’ve been seeing the man again, candles were not allowed in the hospital I stayed at, which means that he’s probably very hungry, he’s close to attacking me again, I know it, he wants to finish what he started and I don't know if I have the power to fight back, I’m not sure if defeating him is even possible, I’m tired.
I’ve been seeing Emma too, her bloated, reanimated corpse often appears to be standing next to the man. If I let him take me will I get to join them? I’ve tried asking but they don’t answer, they just stare, I can’t keep living in constant fear, always looking over my shoulder, I miss Emma.

Just found out I gotta repay some education loans as my dad didn't have the financial means to pay off the full loan. This gave me a lot of resentment towards him at this point and idk if it's justifiable but the fact he didn't inform me on this and that I have accumulated arrears and interest just gives me an even bigger pain in the ass to deal with.
As a 22 year old, I don't feel I have enough to survive for myself. I live in a pretty frugal fashion as currently am doing NS, so 80% of my expenses have been cut down. But with all that savings, it will be gone and I'm back to 0 once again with literally very little hope of recovery. The money saved was to go to my Uni education and it's gone just cause of irresponsible people. I'm so sick and tired of this shit happening to me.
I live in a lower middle income family due to my dad's gambling addiction in the past, while my extended are high SES asf talking semi-detached tye of SES but are selfish asf and not willing to help.
My mom has been trying really hard but I do not want to burden her further with such financial matters and it just boils my blood that my father made her suffer so much financially and that I can't possibly do anything about it. I want to pay off this loan as fast as I could but my streams of income are.....to put it nicely bleak (CAUSE NO MOONLIGHTING). The fact that I'm a grown ass man and still worrying about all this is just very concerning for myself, my mom and my future prospects.
I will be graduating Uni in 2028-2029 where I would already be 27 and just getting a first full time job (I will be working part time during my Uni to cope with this burden)and will definitely lose in this rat race which again financially stresses me out for my own personal goals in life. Could be too late for me at this point but I'm lowkey kinda just done with everything.
I'm just so sick of the lies and masking that our family is doing "fine" cause I know we are not and I would have worked my ass off but if I wasn't so gullible and immature when I was a Sec school kid. I would have done so much more for myself I had just known the truth. Who knows what the future holds they say.....God I hate this so much lol.

Like fr put down your phone and especially don’t live stream the entire show for your instagram followers (I can’t believe I saw someone actually do this)

Wanna see some live streams!

How do you LiveStream Project sekai using 2 android phones without having a laggy gameplay? •i try to screen cast my phone to the phone im going to use a camera but my gameplay is lagging -(I use Airdrop Cast for screen cast)

I got logged into their app but don't how to join the live feed.