A suspenseful horror story set in a modern city, featuring the traditional craft of paper effigies, rule-based hauntings, and a woman's growth. Designed to avoid putting off readers with pure horror, it delivers Chinese-style thrills, clever ways to beat the odds, and a satisfying comeback, appealing to readers of all ages.
Core Worldbuilding
• Paper effigies aren't made to be burned for the dead. They're stand-ins for obsessions. If an obsession lingers, it becomes a “haunting spirit” that traps the living according to its own rules.
• The mission of the Paper Effigy Atelier is to make paper figures that follow the rules, send the haunting spirits away, and break their curses.
• Every haunting spirit has its own “survival rules.” Break them and you die. To escape, you must find a loophole in the rules.
