Chapter 22: The Neighbors' Gaze

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In Sukamerta Village, poverty and hardship have coiled around Karto's life, dragging him to rock bottom. Desperate to change his luck, Karto seeks out Mbah Jambrong, a reclusive black-magic shaman living at the edge of Penjalin Forest. Following the shaman's advice, Karto is told to carry out an evil ritual to transform his fortunes overnight: dig up a fresh grave and take the Pocong Cord from the corpse of a woman who died on the night of Selasa Kliwon. Mbah Jambrong stresses one strange detail: if the burial shroud is tied with a blood-red Pocong Cord, that is the sign. That cord will lead him to forbidden riches. Without a second thought, Karto breaks the laws of nature. Under the cover of a pitch-black night, he rips open the grave. As his shaking fingers slice through the red Pocong Cord wound around the corpse's neck, an icy chill stabs into his bones and the stench of rot fills the air. Karto escapes with the forbidden talisman. His life changes drastically—money and luck seem to pour in endlessly. But that wealth carries a horrifying price. Since the night he desecrated the grave, Karto has never slept in peace again. A pocong wrapped in a tattered burial shroud starts hunting him, its most terrifying feature the red Pocong Cord coiled around its neck. The apparition does more than show itself; it torments Karto's body and soul: heavy breathing outside his bedroom window, wet grave-dirt footprints across his floor, and a mysterious red cord that tightens around Karto's neck again and again whenever he wakes in the grip of sleep paralysis. As the terror turns more brutal and endangers his life, Karto realizes something is horribly wrong. The Red Pocong is not just demanding its Pocong Cord back—it is also hiding the dark mystery of its death. Through bloody clues and agonizing supernatural visions, Karto gradually uncovers the truth behind the restless spirit's death—a sinister secret tied to Mbah Jambrong's own past, a deceptive ritual meant to trap him, and the reason the Pocong Cord was deliberately dyed red before the body was buried. Karto is now caught between the rage of a supernatural being bent on revenge and the shaman's deception, which has used him from the very start.

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