Chapter 8
It was after finishing the witness investigation at the police station.
They had investigated my alibi and found exactly one thing suspicious.
“Why didn’t you take the elevator? Was it to avoid the CCTV?”
I couldn’t very well answer, “Because of an urban legend.”
I made up another excuse.
“Exercise. I like climbing stairs.”
“Is that so?”
My alibi was solid.
The time she died was an hour ago. It was confirmed that I was at home at that time, so I left the police station after finishing the investigation.
It was late at night with the moon out.
“She’s dead?”
I couldn't believe her death.
Even after arriving at the funeral parlor and looking at her funeral portrait...
I couldn't believe it.
“She’s smiling in the photo.”
It was the first time I had seen her face with a big, wide smile. Having only seen her chilly and cold gaze, that smile felt foreign to me.
Lee Yeon-hwa. Her death was even harder to accept.
I couldn't believe the fact that someone who was perfectly fine during the day had died so pointlessly.
The funeral hall was lonely. It seemed she had lived a lonely life without contacting anyone.
“Let’s go.”
I turned back and headed toward her house.
Police “No Entry” tape was stuck to the gate, but now wasn't the time for that to matter. I entered without hesitation.
“…….”
A gloomy and desolate energy.
It was filled with a more uneasy atmosphere than when I had come during the day. The courtyard floor was soaked with blood. Was it blood she had shed?
“Here….”
I had learned information about the case while being investigated by the police. She had installed CCTV everywhere in the house. Thanks to that, I was able to see the scene during the police investigation.
“Bleeding in the courtyard.”
The scene of when she died began to appear before my eyes.
She was bleeding from her abdomen.
A stab wound. It was a wound from being stabbed with a knife. She moved her steps with difficulty as if stabbed by a sharp knife, but she couldn't walk for long.
Thud.
In front of the wooden porch of the Hanok house. Leaning against a pillar, she ended up collapsing.
Her eyes didn't close.
Her cold eyes drooped slightly, her face turned pale, and the blood flowing from her stomach hotly dyed her white hanbok in a crimson hue.
She died like that.
‘Just like a victim in an urban legend.’
Her death was a mystery.
Circumstances of homicide were clear, but the police called it an inexplicable death. The death was so strange.
“…….”
Before being stabbed by the weapon. Standing alone in the courtyard, she had been talking to herself. As if talking to something.
Then.
In a place where no one was, a knife suddenly appeared in mid-air.
Thud!
In a split second. It plunged into her chest.
Like blood staining the white hanbok, blooming like a red flower. She died like that.
‘Mysteriously.’
The medium met an inexplicable end. It was an urban legend.
She died like a riddle.
“Just who? And why?”
She was a medium specializing in urban legends, and there were certainly those who would harbor a grudge against her.
Evil spirits. Ghosts. It had to be beings like them.
She had said she fought against evil spirits that create urban legends. While they must have been connected by countless ill fates, they were formless entities.
“This time?”
Not in a dream. Not in a legend. Did they target her in reality?
“That’s impossible.”
But. If a massive malice truly existed. If an urban legend could be made into reality.
‘Dreams become reality.’
‘Nightmares are realized.’
Even the worst kind of ending could happen.
Whoosh.
A chilly wind blew. I stood there for a moment.
Why was this happening?
I was so covered in goosebumps that I couldn't move.
Perhaps. Was it because an eerie energy was settling over my body? Was it cold because the wind was blowing?
No. I felt it instinctively. I knew this cold sensation.
“…….”
It wasn’t the wind. It was closer to a chill. It was similar to the energy of that ghost I felt in the elevator. It was the same as that time when my skin crawled.
‘Someone is here.’
It was certain. I couldn't bring myself to turn my head recklessly, but suddenly, a shadow was cast before me.
Whose shadow was it? To think I hadn't noticed them at all.
No matter how quiet a person is, there is a strange energy that can be felt. Even with your eyes closed, you can tell when a person is approaching by the feeling.
Conversely, if I didn't notice at all like right now?
‘It might not be a person.’
An evil spirit? A demon? A monster?
“…….”
Something is behind me. Is it real? Is it not?
It was right as I was agonizing over it.
[….]
What? I heard words that passed like a short breath.
[You.]
It called me.
[Who are you….]
A low and serious voice brushed past my ear briefly. It felt like electricity was flowing through my whole body, and goosebumps rose like thorns.
I felt terror at the fact that someone had spoken to me from behind.
“…….”
Should I turn my head? Should I answer? Or should I stay silent?
All sorts of worries poured out like agony. I recalled the memories of what I had experienced in the elevator urban legend.
There is only one choice.
And it is a matter of life and death.
Quietly.
I made a choice.
‘Let’s pretend I didn’t hear it.’
I thought it would be better to act as if I didn't know.
I tried hard to ignore it, as if I hadn't heard, as if it weren't even visible to me.
“Hmm.”
Pretending to be relaxed.
I crossed my arms and acted as if I were lost in other thoughts.
It was by no means easy.
[Can’t you hear my voice?]
The words that followed.
They sent an even deeper chill through me.
I pretended not to know this time as well.
[Really? If you've come to the house where the medium lived, you seem like a similar sort of fellow.]
These words.
I realized many things from those words.
First, that the bastard knows the medium.
That he knows not only her identity but also what she did, and that he knows she is dead.
And.
That the bastard is the culprit.
I even realized the fact that he is the true killer who murdered her.
[Can’t you hear me?]
Staccato.
A broken way of speaking.
I still pretended not to hear.
Ssh.
It was then.
A sensation as if something were wrapping around my neck.
A cool, icy feeling took hold.
“……!”
I almost screamed in surprise.
In truth, I was so shocked that my heart felt as if it had stopped, and my mouth had frozen shut from the impact.
I barely managed to endure it by clenching my teeth.
The situation was at its worst.
A chill winding around my neck.
That was the arm of an evil spirit.
The icy chill was felt on my back and my face as well.
Even beside me, the evil spirit was thrusting its face forward.
‘Ah….’
I knew.
What this situation was right now.
The ghost had embraced me from behind and was nuzzling its head against my face.
Chills.
[Hmm. Is it true?]
This ghost was testing me.
[Is it true that you really can’t see me?]
“…….”
I couldn't just stay silent.
I couldn't react.
I had to feign ignorance in some way.
I endured my cringing body and barely took a step forward.
Step.
Pretending nothing was wrong.
Pretending not to know.
But strangely, my body felt heavy.
If the opponent were a ghost, it should be like a spiritual entity and have no weight.
It seemed I was consciously aware of it without realizing it because I was so tense.
[You’re sweating?]
What?
[With cold sweat flowing like this?]
Even if I could keep from speaking.
Even if I could turn my gaze away.
I could do nothing about my physical reactions.
“Maybe it’s because I ran here. It’s a bit hot.”
I glossed it over as best as I could.
The ghost hugging me from behind was silent for a moment.
[…….]
[Are you answering me?]
[You can hear my voice.]
The ghost whispered right into my ear. It was testing my reaction, deliberately trying to make my skin crawl.
“…….”
I have to hold out. That was the intent in my heart, but my facial and back muscles were stiffening.
I have to move before my body freezes up.
“The weather is a bit chilly. I should go now.”
The ghost that was behind me was still wrapping its arms around my neck.
As I walked, the ghost went limp and kept hanging on.
A killer spirit. I was walking with a killer spirit on my back.
“…….”
It should definitely be light. It shouldn't have any physical feeling.
Why is it getting heavier? Why is this ghost heavy?
The nature of fear is the unknown. It is the things one cannot know that are so terrifying.
“…….”
Pretending nothing is wrong. Even as I tried to just walk away, it became difficult due to the ghost's weight, which was getting heavier and heavier.
Pretending nothing was wrong. Pretending to be calm. No matter how much I tried, the ghost hanging on my back became as heavy as a 20kg military pack.
One by one. It felt like several packs were being loaded onto my back.
Drenched in sweat, I finally stopped walking.
“Pant. Pant.”
It was just before exiting the gate. Sensing my struggle, the ghost hanging on my back whispered softly.
[…….]
[You saw me after all.]
I felt the hair all over my body stand on end. Now that I was completely exhausted, my brain seemed to stop functioning momentarily due to fear and fatigue.
Unconsciously, I turned my head and slowly looked back.
“Ah….”
It was true. The ghost's body was stretched long.
As it turned out, the ghost's two legs were twisted around a pillar of the Hanok house, holding on. Its body had even elongated like a centipede. Only then could I understand.
‘Why my body had become so heavy.’
The ghost was holding my back with its two arms to prevent me from leaving, while its two legs were anchored to the pillar.
“Pant. Pant.”
In an instant, it felt as if all the energy had drained from my body. It was hard to move even a single finger, and the ghost clung even tighter to me.
[It’s called spiritual manifestation.]
What?
[If you really hadn't seen me, it wouldn't have turned out like this even if I held onto the pillar. But you ended up seeing me.]
The ghost chuckled.
[Since you saw me, you’ve become affected by my actions. You’re being pulled back by my strength as I hold onto the pillar.]
“Pant. Pant.”
It was a shock that felt like my heart would burst. Only then did I know why the medium died at the hands of the ghost.
“The medium too? Is that why she was stabbed?”
[That woman saw me too.]
‘Spiritual manifestation.’
— Only those who see a ghost are affected by it.
[That’s why she died.]
Only then did I realize. Why the weight of the ghost hanging on my body had grown heavy.
Why that ghost was in the elevator.
Anyone who had seen a ghost even once would fall under that ghost's influence.
“Hah.”
I’d been caught by the ghost.
It felt as if the aura of death was upon me.
But there was a reward for my desperate efforts.
The front gate. I had reached its vicinity.
If I could just walk about three more steps, I could get out.
If the ghost was going out of its way to pull me back like this, there must be a reason.
Ghosts have a domain.
‘Domain Barrier.’
— A ghost can only exert its power within a space it has designated.
Just as the elevator ghost only exerted power within the small elevator domain.
This ghost's domain radius likely included the Hanok house and the courtyard.
‘In that case.’
The ghost caught me and pulled me so I couldn't leave. It meant that if I left this house, I could live.
To live or to die.
It was the final crossroads.
[Now, you die too.]
Breaking out in a cold sweat, I lowered my posture.
Three steps to the outside.
I thought if I threw myself with my last bit of strength, I could get out.
I lunged forward.
But.
My body collapsed with a thud.
Why?
[Too late.]
The ghost wrapped its left arm even tighter around my neck and held a blood-stained knife in its right hand.
It was a red knife stained with the dead medium's blood.
[You die too.]
The ghost's knife plunged into my stomach in an instant.
There wasn't even time to scream.
My heart felt as if it were falling into a distant abyss.
Snap.
The flow of consciousness was cut off.