The Fourth Ghost Story - Mom (2)
Thump thump.
Yoon Seon-ah's apartment was right next to the school. I felt embarrassed wearing slippers, but I hurried my steps anyway, avoiding people's stares.
Me? Going over to a girl's house from my class? Really?
When I reached a spot where I could see the school, I spotted Seon-ah waiting for me from afar. A cute girl had come out to greet me, inviting me to her place. It was a first in my life. You learn something new every day.
Whew, calm down, Joon. You got this!
Even after that terrifying ordeal at home, social life was social life. Right now, I had no bag, just my uniform and slippers—a total mess. At least my behavior had to be on point. We weren't that close yet, after all.
"Oh, Joon-ah? You got here fast!"
Seon-ah, standing by the school gate, spotted me and smiled.
"Yeah, nowhere else to go, and I was walking this way anyway, so..."
She laughed, then hesitated, fidgeting.
"Um, you know..."
"Yeah?"
"Our house... it's really messy..."
"Ah, no worries! Seriously!"
I waved my hands frantically.
"We don't even have to go inside! I was thinking it'd be a hassle anyway. Haha."
Truth be told, I was a bit disappointed! Boo-hoo.
"Just you coming out like this is more than enough. We can chat and kill time that way."
Instead of answering, Seon-ah hesitated some more, then steeled herself with a determined look.
"No! Let's go to my house and sit down. It's still cold out..."
"R-Really? I'm fine, though."
"C'mon..."
"You don't have to go that far, seriously."
She started walking ahead, clenching her fist tightly as she replied.
"When I got to high school... I wanted to fix my personality, so..."
"Ahaha, gotcha~ Nah, your personality's fine as is~"
"This way..."
I ended up following her without thinking.
Hmm, I see.
In this situation, I was the only one getting all excited for no reason. Seon-ah was purely worried about her friend with nowhere to go and wanted to overcome her shyness by bringing a new friend home.
Me and my impure thoughts.
I felt like an idiot for fidgeting alone. Shaking my head, I followed behind her.
When Seon-ah's apartment came into view, I couldn't help but marvel again.
People actually live here?
Of course, someone must, but I'd always seen places like this as distant from my world. Just background scenery in life, nothing I'd ever given a second thought to.
A tiny booth that used to be a guard post had shattered windows and lay in ruins. The sidewalk blocks were flipped over, weeds growing knee-high. The building was only about five or six stories—a villa height—but stretched out long sideways, marking it as an "apartment" back in the day. Compared to modern high-rises pushing 20 or 30 floors, it looked pathetic. Ivy climbed the outer walls so thickly that you couldn't even make out the unit numbers.
...Impressive.
Suspicious, unidentifiable stains everywhere. A quick photo right now with a title like "Haunted Special: Korea's Abandoned Apartments" would go viral for sure.
My friend lived here? I was speechless.
I wasn't exactly rich myself—just middle-class—but I'd never had ties to original haunted dumps like this.
"This way..."
"Yeah."
Following Seon-ah, who clutched her bag strap tightly, I spotted a few dazed elderly folks sitting blankly on a moss-covered bench in the distance.
No wonder she hesitated about inviting a friend over.
Still, I was grateful she'd invited me anyway.
No elevator in the building, naturally. As I followed her up the stairs, I said as gently as possible,
"Thanks so much for inviting me, Seon-ah. I'll pay you back someday."
"Mhm..."
She trailed off. Probably nervous I'd be disappointed. Alright. Mission for today: Show no hint of disappointment, have a chill time exactly as she wants, and leave her happy!
Right then, the apartment hallway came into view—blocked by kimchi jars, rice sacks, an empty cart, a deflated soccer ball, and more.
"Watch your step..."
"G-Got it."
Seon-ah's place was at the very end. The front door was plastered with delivery flyers, locksmith stickers, real estate stamps, promo fridge magnets, you name it. Next to it, a broken intercom as expected.
Watching her pull out a key to unlock the door, it hit me.
No wonder that 'lost my key, can't get in' excuse worked. Everyone uses door locks these days...
I stepped inside and called out loudly on purpose.
"Hello~!"
"No one's home..."
"Haha, right~"
I laughed awkwardly.
"Where's your grandma? You said you live with her?"
"Mhm. How'd you know?"
"You said yesterday you were late 'cause your grandma didn't wake you up."
"Did I? Hmm..."
Oh crap. My memories got tangled. After that convo, I died to the smiling woman, time rewound, and I never brought up grandma again after. Easy to mix up.
Luckily, Seon-ah just tilted her head and let it slide.
"Grandma's at the hospital—she won't be back till evening..."
"Gotcha~ Haha, oh! Is that your room?"
I quickly changed the subject to avoid the gloomy hospital talk.
"Yeah, this is my room..."
"Whoa~ Can I check it out?"
She giggled and nodded.
Seon-ah's room was utterly ordinary. No girly stuff, no bed, no computer. An old bookshelf held dusty old humor books from over a decade ago and worn middle-school textbooks. But barging in and saying "nothing here" wouldn't be polite friend-visit manners!
I scanned quickly and spotted something chat-worthy.
"Oh! Yearbook! Can I look?"
"Hehe, sure."
Seon-ah's middle school yearbook! I flipped through, finding her photo. Baby-faced, round eyes, a hesitant smile. Same as now.
"You're identical. Well, duh—it's from last year."
"Yeah, hehe..."
"How was middle school?"
Suddenly, silence. I caught on and closed the yearbook, grabbing a weird humor book instead.
Bullied, maybe? Move on quick.
"Puhahaha! What even is this book? How old is it?"
"It's fun."
She giggled at the dusty tome.
I opened it.
"Lemme see. 'Grandpa's favorite...'"
"Grandma."
"Then what's the high school name where Dooly goes?"
"Glacier High."
"Hahaha! You know it well? Read it a ton~?"
"Hehe..."
Image of lonely Seon-ah killing time alone with old humor books hit me hard.
Damn, mood's tanking! Gotta switch topics. Can't touch anything carelessly.
I headed to the narrow kitchen and living room. Electric blanket probably for grandma, plus a beat-up old fan. Thankfully, a TV—but an ancient CRT tube model you hardly see anymore.
"Let's watch TV, Seon-ah! Wonder what's on~"
Remote was dead, so I fiddled with channels manually before realizing: No movie channels at Seon-ah's. Static everywhere except a few broadcast ones.
That's why she went quiet on the movie talk.
"Ah, haha. KBS... KBS..."
6 PM Hometown Memories was on. Other channels? Infomercials selling vacuums.
Fuck, nothing goes right here.
Everything's a landmine. No choice—we sat watching 6 PM Hometown Memories. Interview with a Vietnam vet grandpa complaining about hemorrhoids. I sighed and turned it off.
Quiet house, just the fridge humming. Seon-ah and I sat silently on the electric blanket. Late afternoon sun filtering into the poor home.
We sat like that for a while before Seon-ah spoke first.
"Our house sucks, right? Nothing fun..."
What to say? I cleared my throat, then went honest with my burning question.
"Hey, Seon-ah. What do you usually do after school to pass time?"
"I'm genuinely curious. Let's be real."
"I wanna know what you do, your hobbies..."
She turned from the dead TV to look at me.
"What you do till bedtime, what you think about, who you wanna be. I just... wanna know."
Silence hung. Blank-faced Seon-ah finally lifted her head slightly, groaning thoughtfully.
"Yesterday... came home, changed clothes... wandered the neighborhood? Ate dinner and crashed early..."
"Woke up at dawn, couldn't sleep again... only slept in the morning..."
Explains today's lateness. Maybe the day before too.
"Day before... what'd I do..."
She frowned, then sighed.
"Sorry. Can't remember..."
I nodded silently. Always listless Seon-ah, drifting through days thoughtlessly.
[Yoon Seon-ah's Understanding has increased by 10.]
"Seon-ah."
"Yeah?"
"Even if the Ghost Story Club falls through, let's join the same club no matter what."
She looked startled but nodded with a smile.
"Yeah! That'd be great...!"
"We will! Haha."
"Ahaha."
Goal was to avoid touching her sore spots as the poor girl from the slums, stay chill, and leave her comfy. Guess unavoidable. But opening up made things more natural.
After that, I goofed around like at a country grandma's—rummaging drawers, burying in closets, reminiscing over Pokémon stickers on the fridge.
* * *
"Ahahaha, be safe! Today was so fun!"
"Me too, really fun! Thanks, Seon-ah!"
"Nah, ahaha."
I waved big at Seon-ah, who'd walked me to the entrance.
"I'll buy you something tasty next time—see ya tomorrow!"
"Yeah. Get home safe~ Bye~"
Heading home in high spirits, I thought,
Mom or Dad should be getting home around now.
That thing pretending to be Mom. With parents there, it'll be fine, right? In movies, ghosts scare you alone, then vanish when family returns.
So entering with parents, it'd just be normal home waiting.
...Will it?
This wasn't a movie—it was reality. My weird experiences lately didn't fit classic ghost tropes. Think Nakseong High's 300-head explosion or the manual ghost story's smiling woman.
This ghost story phenomenon didn't hide with crowds—it struck regardless.
Then maybe...
I'd assumed parents would make it safe, but that could be wrong. It might act normal as Mom in front of us and pull shit anyway.
...Parents are in danger.
I whipped out my phone and called Mom.
"Hello? Joon-ah?"
Mom, thankfully, was still on the village bus home. Next, Dad.
Duuuu— Duuuu— Just ringing.
Duuuu— Duuuu— No answer.
I bolted home.
Ghost Story Club