The Daily Life of the Demon King-Chapter 569 - 568: Bobo the Clown Who Can’t Eat."

After Alex and Wednesday stopped Pennywise from feasting on yet another child, they returned to the RV.
Almost immediately after they got back, a perfectly reasonable question arose: what exactly had they managed to do? Alex chose not to dodge it and told everything in detail—how, while in the form of a ten-year-old boy, he attacked Pennywise, beating him with an iron collapsible baton, and how Wednesday shoved a flashbang grenade straight into his mouth.
However, everyone around them took only one thing from the story: Alex and Wednesday, without meaning to, had inflicted serious psychological trauma on the poor girl by attacking the clown right in front of her.
And here, Alex had no real arguments. He understood perfectly well that it was possible. The girl had already been lonely, without friends, and now she had also witnessed a scene she would hardly ever forget.
In his defense, Alex could say only one thing—that it was better for the child to be traumatized by a strange boy jumping out from around the corner and beating up a clown than to become Pennywise's food.
No one argued with that. Especially since, in the form of a ten-year-old boy, when Alex grumbled and frowned, he looked more like a cute, upset adult than a dangerous psychopath. Dean, of course, did not miss the chance to laugh at Alex.
To which Sam immediately reminded him how they themselves used to break into ordinary people's houses while hunting a monster disguised as a clown who kidnapped children's parents. Dean stopped laughing instantly and fell silent.
Alex, on the other hand, burst out laughing loudly, pointing a finger at Dean. Even the girls couldn't hold back and chuckled quietly. Soon, everyone began getting ready for bed. The RV allowed everyone to settle in without much trouble—there was enough space for all.
Dean and Sam took the side couches in the middle of the vehicle. Alex and the girls settled on the bed at the back of the RV. Castiel didn't need sleep. As they lay down, Alex found himself trapped in Lucina's embrace—she clearly had no intention of letting him go. Closing his eyes, he knew that tomorrow would be a long day.
They needed to stabilize the space throughout all of Derry. They needed to fend off an overly persistent Pennywise, who would surely try to interfere with anyone planning to destroy his "feeding ground."
And, in the end, Alex had to decide what to do with Pennywise himself. For now, he had no final decision—whether to simply kill the clown or use him for his future purposes.
Alex buried his face in Lucina's chest and began to fall asleep, already anticipating how many "fun" things awaited him tomorrow. When he let out another villainous giggle, Lucina opened her eyes and looked down. Alex, with his face pressed into her chest, was quietly giggling in his sleep.
Lucina only sighed heavily and stroked his hair, soothing him like a child so he would finally fall asleep instead of laughing like a villain from a low-budget movie. A few minutes later, Alex was already sound asleep, his face still buried against her chest.
Suddenly, in the middle of the night, Alex opened his eyes and frowned.
Carefully slipping out of Samantha's arms—how he had ended up there, he had no idea—Alex hopped off the couch. Stretching lightly, he silently passed through the wall of the RV and found himself outside.
Returning to his usual form, Alex lit a cigarette and frowned even more. Something was wrong. Deciding to check his instincts, he took a step—and found himself in a completely different part of Derry.
It was a residential neighborhood. Holding the cigarette between his fingers, Alex calmly walked along the sidewalk, passing rows of identical houses. Stopping in front of one particular building, he lifted his gaze to a second-floor window.
Taking a step, Alex found himself right by the window of a child's bedroom. He crouched down and looked inside. On the bed slept the very girl with the birthmark on her face—the one he had saved earlier that day. Alex had no doubt: Pennywise had no intention of giving up his meal.
Without drawing attention, he reached out—his hand passed straight through the glass. The rest of his body followed, slipping inside. Once in the room, Alex quietly looked around. He checked under the bed, inside the closet, and in the toy chest.
He needed to make sure Pennywise wouldn't come back to finish what he'd started. The last place was the bathroom. Carefully stepping inside, Alex gave it a quick once-over and nodded. Returning to the nursery, he was about to leave.
Then the bedroom door opened.
Alex instantly sprang up and stuck to the ceiling. From above, he saw a woman—presumably the girl's mother. But what made him raise an eyebrow was her face.
The smile stretched across it unnaturally, as if someone had pulled a mask over her skin. Alex had no trouble guessing who it was. The stench of sewers, decay, and rot filled the room, overpowering even the faint smell of popcorn. Pennywise.
And before he, in the guise of a caring mother, could wake the girl to frighten her… and then eat her, Alex gave a quiet whistle, drawing attention to himself. Pennywise looked up—and met the gaze of a grinning Alex, lazily sprawled across the ceiling, cheerfully waving.
"Beep-beep, Bobo the Clown," Alex said with a wide smile.
Without waiting for Pennywise to respond, Alex pushed off the ceiling and crashed down, landing knee-first straight into the face of the creature hiding behind the girl's mother's appearance. The blow was so powerful that Pennywise's face caved back into his skull, and he slammed to the floor.
Alex immediately straddled him, grabbed him by the collar, and began methodically smashing his face—blow after blow, giving him no time to breathe. He tried not to wake the girl, but it was already too late.
She stirred, sleepily rubbed her eyes, and, lifting her head, saw Alex's face lit by moonlight streaming through the window. Their eyes met for only a brief moment.
So the girl wouldn't see Pennywise, Alex slammed the clown's face into the floor, literally pressing it into the wooden boards. Under his hand, the clown's features warped even further, as if made of soft clay.
The girl froze in confusion. There was a stranger in her room, and she didn't understand what was happening. One more second—and she would have screamed.
But Alex turned his head, smiled gently, and brought a finger to his lips, signaling her to be quiet. Then he snapped his fingers. A pink plush unicorn softly landed in the girl's lap.
Her attention instantly shifted to the toy. Alex knew—this was his chance. He grabbed Pennywise by the throat and dragged him straight through the wall. In the next moment, they were outside.
Alex hurled Pennywise onto the road and jumped after him. Pennywise skidded face-first along the asphalt, leaving a bloody trail behind, until he slammed headlong into the curb with a dull crack.
"We've already talked about this, Bobo. You left only because I allowed you to. Not because you're some kind of clown," Alex said calmly, landing lightly a few steps away and lighting a cigarette.
Pennywise's body trembled. His shape began to change.
The house clothes wrinkled and melted, turning into a carnival costume. His head jerked as if in convulsions, brown hair shifting to red. White makeup spread across his face.
A moment later, Pennywise stood before Alex once again. He rose without touching the ground and stared darkly at him. Bright yellow eyes burned with a sinister light. Alex, meanwhile, lazily leaned against a road sign, studying him with boredom.
Everything about Alex disgusted Pennywise. Not only because Alex kept stopping him from feeding, but because there was no fear coming from him—no panic at all. Only the scent of distant worlds and the deeply ingrained smell of the blood of countless beings.
Alex understood—if Pennywise could sense that, then the disguise would need to be reinforced.
"You…" Pennywise rasped, pointing a finger at him.
"Me?" Alex raised an eyebrow in mock surprise.
"What are you?" Pennywise said, still staring darkly at Alex, his finger still pointed at him.
"I'm you, Bobo. Just more fun. Beep-beep, Bobo. Time to fly. Want a balloon? Everyone floats, Bobo. And you'll float too," Alex said in a cheerful clownish tone, running his hand over his face as white makeup spread across his own skin.
As he said it, Alex ran his hand over his face. White greasepaint settled in a thick layer. His fingers slid beneath his eyes, leaving red circles. Then he touched his nose, marking it with a crimson spot, and drew a line from the corners of his mouth, stretching a long red smile across his cheeks.
When he was finished, Alex grinned wide, baring sharp, shark-like teeth, and looked at Pennywise with open amusement. With every passing second, the clown's face grew darker. His body twitched—not only from hunger, but from fear.
Alex was frightening him. Truly. Pennywise was still holding on only because of the fear carried by the members of the Losers' Club. But even that was no longer enough.
Alex hooked his legs around a road sign and hung there, watching the clown with undisguised delight, as if Pennywise were a brand-new toy. That look alone made Pennywise feel so sick he almost wanted to vomit.
"What's wrong, Bobo? Are you afraid of me? Maybe you want a balloon so you won't be scared? Look how pretty this balloon is, Bobo," Alex said, swinging slightly on the sign and holding a bright balloon in his hands.
Alex hung from the road sign, legs tucked in, gripping the metal pole. His body was perfectly horizontal, completely ignoring gravity, as if he were being held up by a single red balloon clenched in his outstretched hand.
The sight made Pennywise writhe even more. It was as if he were being torn apart from the inside—he couldn't get what he wanted, couldn't satisfy his hunger for fear, pain, and screams. The creature before him wasn't afraid. On the contrary—it was fear itself.
Pennywise had never encountered anything like this before. Not in any era since his arrival in this universe.
His face began to warp and twitch, cycling through different forms, as if he himself couldn't decide what he was supposed to be. Masks replaced one another, cracked, slid off—but none of them lasted long.
Alex, meanwhile, continued to watch him with cheerful interest, still holding the floating red balloon.
At that moment, Alex's wives, watching the live feed, came to a unanimous conclusion: their husband was far more terrifying than any clown. They loved him—sincerely and unconditionally—but even that didn't stop them from admitting the obvious.
In clown makeup, Alex looked frightening. Especially now—hanging upside down from a road sign, with a wide, toothy grin and a single red balloon in his hand.
Everyone in his family knew perfectly well who Pennywise was and where he came from, what kind of creature hid beneath the mask of the dancing clown, and what he fed on. And yet, looking at him now, they felt only boredom. Pennywise simply wasn't ready for beings like Alex—those who could themselves become a living nightmare for creatures like him.
"Bobo, take the balloon and we'll fly together. You'll float, just like everyone else," Alex said cheerfully, repeating the very words Pennywise used to lure children.
"I am not BOBO!" Pennywise roared, baring sharp teeth.
"Then who are you, Bobo?" Alex continued in the same playful tone. "What are you? Who are you? Where did you come from? Maybe… you're nobody?"
He began to slowly and eerily rotate around the road sign, like the needle of a broken compass.
"Don't you dare speak to me like that!" Pennywise snarled. "I am a god! A devourer of worlds!"
At those words, Alex suddenly stopped. The balloon in his hand burst with a dry pop.
The smile didn't disappear. Alex slowly lowered his feet to the ground and looked at Pennywise with open amusement in his eyes. Pennywise took a step forward—and immediately froze, as if he had run into an invisible wall.
"No, no, no," Alex said calmly. "You're Pennywise. Or did you forget? You ate Bob Gray, and now he is you. You are Pennywise the Dancing Clown."
He tightened his grip on the road sign.
"Stop telling yourself you're a god or a devourer of worlds. You're just Bobo. A clown no one is afraid of. Beep-beep, Bobo. Time to play."
"No!" Pennywise shouted, backing away. "You're lying! I'm a god! Everyone in this place is my food!"
"Looks like you hit your head pretty hard, Bobo," Alex sighed. "We'll fix that now. One doctor said that if your memory gets fuzzy after a blow, you just need to hit it a couple more times."
With those words, he yanked the road sign out of the ground along with a chunk of concrete. Smiling, Alex stepped forward—and in the next instant, he was right in front of Pennywise. The clown didn't even have time to blink.
Swinging the sign, Alex struck the clown directly in the chin with the concrete end. The concrete shattered instantly, and Pennywise flew into the air. Alex leapt after him. Their eyes met midair. Alex grinned widely—and hurled the road sign.
It pierced Pennywise's chest, dragging him down and embedding itself into the asphalt. The clown hung limply, impaled on metal. To top it off, Alex landed on his head. There was a dry crunch of a broken spine.
Without turning, Alex lit a cigarette, exhaled smoke, and looked at Pennywise's body. His arms and legs dangled lifelessly, and his head lolled like a cheap toy. Alex even smirked and pulled out his phone, preparing to take a picture.
But in the next instant, Pennywise laughed and twitched. He braced his feet against the asphalt and, with little effort, pulled the road sign from his chest, tossing it aside.
"Ha-ha-ha…" he hissed. "I smell someone on you. I think they belong to those you care about. It'll be fun to see your face when I eat them."
His body began to melt, turning into a murky, filthy sludge.
"You can try, Bobo," Alex said coldly. "But no one's afraid of you. For hundreds of years, you scared the locals—and that's all you were capable of."
He exhaled smoke, looking boredly at the spreading creature.
"A pitiful devourer of worlds, trapped in one tiny town. What a pathetic little thing you are."
"We'll see…" Pennywise's voice came, distorted. "I'll take everything from you… You'll be alone…"
The last words dissolved along with the sludge, flowing down the sewer drain.
Alex merely shook his head, considering Pennywise's actions outright foolish. Casting a final glance at the road sign lying in the middle of the street, he turned, shoved his hands into his coat pockets, and disappeared into the darkness, heading back to the RV where everyone was still asleep.
Back inside, Alex spotted Castiel. He stood next to the RV, expressionless, hands in the pockets of his beige coat. Alex smiled at his brother and raised a hand in greeting. Castiel responded with a slight smile and the same gesture.
Moving closer, Alex snapped his fingers—two chairs appeared from his inventory. He sat on one, and Castiel settled on the other. They sat in silence, not uttering a word.
They remained like that until dawn, as the sun began to rise, painting the RV and themselves with its first rays. All the while, Alex and Castiel simply watched the stars and the slowly fading moon, enjoying the quiet.
After some time, movement began inside the RV. The first thing they heard was the girls grumbling—Alex had disappeared again in the night. He coughed dryly, aware that he had left once more without warning anyone.
Enid was the first to come outside. She stepped forward… and froze. In the next instant, she skillfully pulled out her phone, quickly took a photo of Alex, and vanished back inside.
Alex tilted his head to the side, not understanding what had just happened, and shrugged. A few seconds later, Lucina, Alice, Samantha, and Wednesday appeared in the doorway, literally pulled outside by laughing Enid.
Alice immediately covered her mouth with her hand and laughed. Samantha turned away, trying to stifle her laughter. Lucina, as usual, rubbed the bridge of her nose with a tired smile. Only Wednesday looked at Alex carefully and raised an eyebrow.
"Why are you all huddled here? Let me out, I need some fresh air…" grumbled Dean, squeezing past the girls. "Oh, damn… That's just what I needed this morning."
He froze, staring at Alex.
"Dean, what are you standing there for?" came Sam's voice from inside.
"You go out and see for yourself, Sammy," Dean replied, barely suppressing a laugh. "Trust me, this is going to stick in your memory for a long time."
Sam peeked out the door—and immediately froze. His face went pale as if he'd seen a ghost. Alex still didn't understand anything. He just tilted his head again, watching the girls and Dean laugh while Sam stared at him in sheer horror.
Noticing his confusion, Lucina pulled out her phone, walked up to Alex, and turned on the front camera. Seeing his reflection, Alex finally understood. From the moment he met Pennywise until that morning, his face had remained covered in a terrifying clown's makeup.
"Please tell me you didn't run around the city with that face last night, scaring random passersby," said Dean, barely holding back laughter.
"I only scared the clown," Alex replied dryly. "Well… maybe I also snuck into a child's room, beat up a clown pretending to be her mother right in front of her, and then threw him out the window."
Lucina sighed heavily, put her phone away, and went back into the RV to get makeup remover. The others silently imagined the scene: Alex, wearing grotesque clown makeup, sneaking into a child's room at night, beating up the "mother" in front of the child, and then throwing her out the window.
Alice, Enid, and Samantha looked at Alex as if he had really gone too far this time. Sam looked away—he couldn't stand clowns. Dean folded his arms across his chest and shook his head.
A moment later, Lucina returned, holding the makeup remover. Castiel silently offered her a chair. Lucina sat down and began carefully removing the makeup from Alex's face.
"Congratulations, dude," Dean smirked, patting Alex on the shoulder. "We've only been in this town for a short time, and you've already managed to give two kids psychological trauma."
"That was the same girl," Alex replied evenly.
"That still doesn't change the fact that you ruined the kid's childhood with your creepy makeup," Sam noted, holding a mug of coffee.
"I gave her a pink unicorn. Everything's fine," Alex said, giving a thumbs-up.
"Don't move," Lucina said sternly, holding his face steady. "And I very much doubt a pink unicorn can compensate for that kind of trauma."
"I'd be scared too," added Enid, helping wipe off the makeup. "If I woke up in the middle of the night and saw some guy with a creepy clown face beating my mom, no unicorn would save me."
Alex rolled his eyes and began calmly explaining what had actually happened. From the very moment he decided to simply check on the girl—in case Pennywise tried to finish what he had started—he recounted how the clown was the first to show aggression right in the child's room, how the fight broke out, and how it eventually moved outside.
Once everyone realized that Alex hadn't really scared anyone or caused the girl any additional psychological trauma, they quickly let the incident drop. Still, the image of Alex with that grotesque clown makeup kept stubbornly popping into their minds—but he deliberately ignored it.
During breakfast, Alex casually mentioned that he might have slightly angered Pennywise, and that the clown could very well try to strike again. Therefore, everyone should stay alert.
After that, everyone stared at him with heavy, serious looks—except for Wednesday, who couldn't have cared less. All she was thinking about was how to dissect Pennywise and see what was inside him. Alex just shrugged, making it clear he didn't feel guilty. He had simply saved the child—and only had a little chat with the Clown.
In response, everyone gave him skeptical and sarcastic looks—especially when he tried to justify himself for "accidentally" angering an evil cosmic clown who feeds on children's fears.
After finishing breakfast, Alex locked up the RV, and the whole group headed toward the building the Bureau of Control operatives were using as a temporary base and equipment warehouse.
The building turned out to be the Derry Community Center.
Outside, Bureau trucks were already parked, and two operatives were unloading equipment. Alex approached them and asked where the mission supervisor was. One of the operatives offered to escort them, and the group followed him inside.
The first floor of the Community Center had been completely converted into an improvised headquarters. Dozens of staff were working at computers, while others checked weapons and equipment in preparation for the operation.
Alex noted to himself that the Bureau had assigned an impressive number of people to this mission—and that was a good sign.
Sam looked around in awe, impressed by the level of preparation and amount of equipment. Samantha, Alice, and Enid looked equally surprised. Only Alex, Lucina, Wednesday, and Castiel remained completely calm, silently following the operative.
When they were brought to the mission lead, Alex saw a man in his early forties: slightly graying at the temples, a neatly trimmed beard, a standard Bureau of Control suit with a black jacket bearing the emblem worn over it.
The man was standing over a spread-out map. Hearing footsteps, he turned around.
"Sir, the agents have arrived. Voldigoad and the Winchesters," the operative ed.
"Thank you. Agent Voldigoad, Agents Winchester—I've heard quite a lot about you. A pleasure to finally meet you. Wright Graham. Just Graham will do," he said, extending his hand.
"Likewise. Just Alex," Alex replied, shaking it. "As I understand it, your people are almost ready to move out."
"That's correct. We're finishing the final check of the field-stabilization equipment. But before we begin…" Graham nodded and looked at Alex intently. "Are you certain your plan will work? I've studied all the material on this town and what happens here every twenty-seven years. I'm not going to lose people over an idea that might fail."
"I won't claim the mission is safe," Alex answered calmly, pulling out a cigarette and lighting it. "You understand that yourself. The entity we're dealing with isn't an anomalous object. It's a being from the astral realm that arrived on Earth a very long time ago. We've only been here two days, and I've already encountered it three times."
"A being from an astral dimension…" Graham murmured thoughtfully. "That explains a great deal. Including the scale of the spatial anomaly. Still… what exactly is your plan, Agent? We need to understand what we're getting into."
Alex stubbed out the cigarette and looked down at the map.
"We need to stabilize the space and drive the entity back into its lair. Essentially…" he gave a faint smirk. "We're standing inside its personal feeding ground."
And he began to explain his plan in detail.
Graham raised a hand, signaling for Alex to pause for the moment.
Alex nodded, immediately understanding. Graham wanted to gather all the operatives so that everyone would hear exactly what they were expected to do—without distortions or secondhand retellings.
A few minutes later, the hall filled with people.
Alex connected his phone to the projector, and a map of Derry appeared on the wall, marked with designated zones. Dean and Sam stood at the back of the room, leaning against the wall, watching as Alex confidently took command.
Enid was a little nervous—it was fair to say this was her first operation on such a scale. Lucina listened calmly and attentively, without visible tension. Samantha tried to memorize every detail. Alice stood slightly off to the side, hands clasped behind her back, gently rocking on her heels, her eyes never leaving Alex.
Alex himself, meanwhile, clearly and without unnecessary emotion, explained what they needed to beware of. What to do if any of them encountered "loved ones" or "familiar faces" who could not and should not be in this place. He spoke of fear, of guilt, of the people whose loss each of them carried within.
"Pennywise is capable of distorting reality," Alex continued. "Anything you see or hear can potentially be a hallucination. Voices. Images. Memories. All of it is bait."
He changed the slide.
"I urge particular caution from those who will be working in the sewers. That's his territory. It's from there that he moves through the city and reaches his victims."
By this point, Dean and Sam could no longer hide their astonishment. Alex spoke calmly and confidently, as if he had been doing this his entire life. The Bureau of Control operatives listened with absolute focus—there were no smiles, no skepticism on their faces.
"And finally," Alex continued, scanning the room, "once the field stabilizers are activated, the Clown will lose the ability to reach you. But until that moment, all of you are in the danger zone."
He paused briefly.
"I'd like to tell you 'don't be afraid,' but that would be a lie. Each of you fears something. Each of you has lost someone—or blames yourself. Remember: everything he shows you is an illusion."
Alex pointed to the map.
"Do not separate. Do not wander alone. Work only in groups. Your task is simple: set up the stabilizer, activate it, and leave the point immediately. After that—you return here. Any questions?"
Silence fell over the room, broken by one of the operatives sitting closest to the projector.
"Sir… why have you been calling the entity a clown this whole time?"
Alex gave a faint smirk.
"Because our enemy has taken the form of a clown that feeds on the fears of children."
He leaned forward slightly, his voice growing colder.
"And yes, thanks for the reminder. If any of you have children and suddenly see your son or daughter here— for God's sake, that's not them."
He swept his gaze over the room.
"I'll repeat it for those who didn't hear or for the particularly sentimental. Your children are at home. They will not appear here suddenly. The Clown cannot teleport them to you."
Alex straightened up.
"If any of you, seeing the Clown 'eating your child,' runs to save them—congratulations. You've just made your child an orphan. Heard a familiar voice and followed it—you're food. Saw something wrong and decided to check—you're food."
The temperature in the room seemed to drop.
"Anything not related to setting up equipment and completing your task makes you food for the astral entity. Don't want to be food—do exactly as I said. Clear?"
"Yes, sir!" the operatives chorused.
Alex nodded.
"Good. Now, get to work. Why are you sitting around?"
He smiled—too gently for the words he had just spoken.
"If the Clown is still alive by nightfall, I'll take not only your bonus but your salary as well—and I'll archive the whole team."
A shiver ran through the room. Just from Alex's tone, every operative shuddered, almost simultaneously rose from their seats, and immediately began preparing for the mission.
Wright Graham, watching from the side, allowed himself a faint smile and a nod. He was now fully convinced that the new Bureau Director, Jesse Feyden, hadn't hired Alex for nothing.
Rising from his seat, Graham also got to work. He would oversee the teams and monitor the operation from the headquarters, ensuring everything went strictly according to the plan Alex had outlined.
Alex watched as the operatives bustled about, carrying out equipment and loading it into the trucks. He gave a slight smile and a nod, satisfied with what he saw. Approaching his group, Alex met Enid's gaze. Her eyes were shining as she looked at him. Alex smiled softly and stroked her hair.
"Good work. Maybe you should replace Jesse as Bureau Director after all," Dean said with a grin, giving Alex a pat on the shoulder.
"And why are you standing there?" Alex replied dryly, casting him an empty look. "Come on, help out. The Clown dies today. Each of you is going with the teams. While they're installing the equipment, you stay on alert."
"Can I skip the sewer?" Enid immediately spoke up, pinching her nose. "It stinks down there."
"That's where Dean and Sam are going," Alex said calmly, nodding in their direction.
"Damn, I don't want to go into the sewer either," Dean protested instantly. "Last time, I smelled like sewage for a week afterward."
Alex looked at him with that same look that clearly said: I don't care.
Sam gave a faint smile and patted his brother on the shoulder. Dean silently pointed at Sam in response, reminding him that he was going down too. Sam's hand froze mid-air, and a crooked, resigned smile appeared on his face.
Alex shook his head and turned his gaze to the girls, silently asking if they were ready. They nodded—it was nothing for them. Alex pulled a black rapier from his inventory, the same one Wednesday had used before, and handed her the weapon.
Without changing her expression, Wednesday accepted the rapier and gave a brief nod. After that, everyone split into groups, helping with the equipment setup. Alex glanced at Castiel, who nodded—and then disappeared.
Hands in his pockets, Alex left the community center. Turning into a nearby alley, he transformed again, becoming a ten-year-old boy in a black hoodie, black shorts, and a black backpack on his back.
Emerging from the alley in his child form, Alex pondered where to go first. After a moment's thought, he headed to the old pawnshop—the one where Bill was supposed to redeem his bicycle.
Alex reached the shop quickly. Despite the chaos in Derry, the townspeople were busy preparing for some fair, and the child he was pretending to be aroused no suspicion at all.
Stopping at the display window, Alex slightly shifted his hood and looked inside. There, he immediately spotted Bill's bicycle. For a moment, he considered buying it, but shook his head. There was no point in such a trophy—Bill would get rid of it eventually anyway.
Pushing the door open, Alex heard the familiar jingle of the bell above the entrance and stepped inside. Behind the counter sat an elderly man, reading a book. Hearing the bell, he looked up at Alex.
Alex studied him carefully. The man oddly reminded him of one of the writers whose books he had read in the past.
"How can I help you?" the old man asked, a slight smile on his face.
"Do you have a skateboard and a sledgehammer?" Alex asked, approaching the counter.
"Yes. But may I ask what you need them for?" the man tilted his head slightly. "I hope it's not for breaking mailboxes?"
"For hunting a clown," Alex replied calmly, placing two hundred dollars on the counter. "Cash."
"Pleasure doing business with you, kid," the elderly man smirked, taking the money. "It's about time someone dealt with that clown."
Alex squinted at the words and slipped his hands into his hoodie pockets, watching as the man went to retrieve the skateboard and sledgehammer. He felt it—this man knew far more about Derry than he should. And that made him… interesting.
To be continued…
(Well, I've been thinking and thinking, and even rewatched It Part 2 last night to clarify the timeline, and I realized that the entire event takes place over just two days. Wow. I even considered getting the book It to read again. But I quickly changed my mind after remembering what happened there. Hehehe, I'm definitely not going to reread that part of the book about what happened after the first defeat of Bobo the Clown. I'll try to finish everything in two or three chapters. For example, I don't see showing the Losers' Club, because what's the point of them. Maybe I'll show a couple of moments with the task forces, and maybe a little bit with the Losers' Club.)