The Next Nightmare
I laid everything bare to Minhae and Seyeon.
The contents of the scenarios I had written. The horrific disaster I had experienced in my dream. The desperate struggle at the broadcasting station, all the way to the final moments on Pungwol Bridge.
As my words spilled out in a relentless torrent, their faces grew pale with fear and shock.
They clutched each other's hands, trembling at the surreal terror conjured by my story.
When the story finally came to an end.
"That's everything. I don't know why this is happening either, but it's the absolute truth."
I let out a long, heavy sigh.
A brief silence settled over us.
I hoped, desperately, that they would believe me.
But what followed was...
"...Pfft."
"Pff... haha."
A quiet burst of laughter.
They had turned their heads away, covering their mouths, but their shoulders were shaking so violently it was obvious they were trying to hold it in.
Minhae, who was always quick to laugh, finally lost the battle and burst out.
"Pfft! Bwahahaha! Sunbae!"
"Ahahaha! You're so funny!"
The two of them clutched their stomachs and began to laugh hysterically.
Their laughter was loud enough to ring through the building.
"Does that—does that even make sense? A scenario becoming reality? And we helped you lift the curse?"
"There's absolutely zero plausibility... Did you really think we'd believe that? Ah, my stomach hurts from laughing."
"No, Sunbae, the plot holes in this are huge. Think about it. It would've made sense if you said you went through it alone, but dragging us into it just makes it weird."
"Exactly. Nothing happened to us."
I stared at them blankly.
"But... it's real."
Seeing my deadpan, completely serious face, they lost it completely, laughing until tears welled in their eyes.
Ha, right. Of course. I shouldn't have said anything. I just got worked up.
It was, in fact, the most natural reaction.
Even I found it hard to believe.
Who in their right mind would believe such an absurd story?
A story with zero plausibility.
Their continuous laughter began to sound like the voices of the judges who had mocked me during my graduation project pitching.
Sigh...
I stood up from my seat.
The leave of absence consultation with my professor, everything—it all felt utterly pointless now.
"Where are you going, Sunbae?"
"Home."
"Okay. Make sure to fix the plot holes and tell us the rest next time!"
"Sure, whatever."
I gave a brief reply and walked out of the club room.
Behind me, the faint sound of their giggles still echoed down the hall.
My mind was a tangled mess all the way back home.
What on earth had happened to me?
The moment I stepped into my cramped studio apartment, I collapsed onto the bed.
Staring up at the familiar stain on the ceiling, I began to piece together everything that had transpired since last night.
It all started the night I failed the pitching session.
After deciding to take a leave of absence, I fell asleep and met the mysterious 'Judge' in my dream.
"Live in the world you created. Prove your story."
When I woke up after hearing those words, the world had become the stage of my scenario. It was exactly as I had written it—an adaptation of the Pungwol Bridge urban legend, built around the concept of 'auditory contagion.'
I had acted according to the very rules I had established.
To stop the spread of the bizarre screams, blocking out the sound was step number one.
I had broadcasted the pure sounds of life from the campus radio station, temporarily halting the city-wide disaster. Then, I had headed to Pungwol Bridge, the source of the anomaly.
The core of the legend was 'the grudges of those who died unjust deaths.'
I had searched for their names and called them out, appeasing their grudges. Then, as if it had all been a lie, everything ended, and I woke up.
But in the reality I woke up to, nothing had happened. Not a single thing had occurred.
Yet, one thing was certain.
There are traces left behind...
Seyeon's sense of déjà vu, the search history on the station's computer, the news articles about Pungwol Bridge.
There is only one conclusion.
When I fall asleep, the scenarios I wrote become reality.
And if I resolve the incident there, I can prevent the disaster in reality.
Was it regression, or was it precognition?
What an insane ability.
What should I do now, then?
Should I just not sleep?
That was impossible. How could a human being survive without sleep?
Paradoxically, that led me to a different thought.
I need to fall asleep first. To test this.
I had to verify it one more time.
To see if my hypothesis was truly correct.
I lay back down and closed my eyes.
But...
Sleep eluded me. It was broad daylight, and my mind was a chaotic storm of thoughts.
Sigh...
In the end, I got up and turned on my laptop.
The next disaster I would face in my dreams.
It would undoubtedly be one of my scenarios.
Time to study ahead.
I opened the scenario folder on my desktop.
Around fifty files filled the screen. They were all horror scenarios I had written over the years. They ranged from adaptations of classic Korean urban legends like the 'Jangsan Tiger' or the 'Red Mask,' to thrillers based on real-life events like the 'K-Motel Murder Case,' and even adaptations of foreign creepypastas.
In a way, my hard drive was a catalog of impending doomsdays for this world.
I had no way of knowing which file would manifest next. I could only scroll down, staring helplessly at the countless hells I had created.
Then...
No, I can't just sit here staring blankly until I get sleepy.
As I racked my brain, something clicked.
Sleeping pills!
Back when I did part-time gigs on film sets, my sleep schedule was constantly flipped. I remembered the over-the-counter sleeping aids I had bought to reset my circadian rhythm.
Those things always knocked me right out.
I quickly opened my drawer, pulled out the sleeping pills, and swallowed two of them in one gulp without even waiting for water.
Come on. Kick in. Please, let me fall asleep this time.
I muttered like a prayer.
Whether my prayers were answered,
or the pills were just incredibly potent,
I fell into a deep, hypnotic slumber.
"..."
"..."
"..."
"Ugh!"
I opened my eyes to a sharp, throbbing headache.
Was it a side effect of the sleeping pills?
My head felt groggy and heavy, as if the medication hadn't fully worn off yet.
I checked my phone. It was 10:00 PM.
I slept longer than I thought.
I scrambled out of bed.
What kind of world is it this time?
I looked around my room, every muscle in my body tense.
But nothing had changed. My cramped studio apartment was still messy and stuffy.
What about outside?
I cautiously opened the door and stepped out.
An empty hallway. A quiet building.
Everything was completely normal. There were no ambulance sirens, no screams of terror. I unlocked my phone and checked the breaking news. Politics, economy, society... only boringly mundane articles met my eyes.
In short, nothing had happened.
What? Was I wrong?
Did forcing myself to sleep with pills prevent it from triggering?
Or was it all just a coincidence?
A wave of relief washed over me at the thought that everything might have just been a terrible nightmare and a series of bizarre coincidences.
Was I just... overthinking things?
Right then.
Bzzz, bzzz.
After a moment's hesitation, I swiped to answer.
"Hello?"
— "Sunbae! Were you sleeping? I was worried because I couldn't reach you."
Minhae's energetic voice came through the receiver, accompanied by a noisy background.
— "Let's grab a drink tonight! I'm with Deokhu-oppa and Seyeon."
"Seyeon too?"
— "Yeah! Seyeon said you seem like a really fun guy and wants to hang out. She said that ghost story you told in the club room was absolutely epic. Oh, and she said you can drop the formalities with her now. She wants to get closer to you."
Minhae giggled.
A ghost story...
To them, my desperate struggle for survival was nothing more than an entertaining story to share over drinks.
Well, of course it was.
Actually, it's better this way.
It left a bitter taste in my mouth, but at the same time, I felt a wave of relief.
A normal night where nothing happened. This was how things were supposed to be.
"Where are you guys?"
I threw on some clothes and headed out.
The meeting spot was a small pub near the university.
When I pushed the door open and walked in, three people sitting at a corner table waved at me. Minhae, Seyeon, and my junior from the sound department, Kang Deokhu.
"Hyung! Over here!"
Deokhu scooted over to make room for me. I offered an awkward smile and sat down between them.
"Did something happen, Sunbae? Why do you look so pale?"
Seyeon chimed in after Minhae.
"Right? You looked dead serious when you were telling that Pungwol Bridge story in the club room yesterday, too."
Seyeon teased with a playful grin. I merely gulped down my beer in response. The conversation naturally drifted back to the 'Pungwol Bridge ghost story' I had shared.
"But seriously, that idea was gold," Kang Deokhu said, his eyes shining with interest. "A curse spreading through sound? That's straight out of a movie."
"Right? Our Minjun-hyung is a specialist in this stuff. He's not called the department's horror fanatic for nothing."
Deokhu clapped me on the shoulder with a broad grin.
And so,
they chatted excitedly about how plausible and terrifying my 'made-up' story was. I didn't join in, silently picking at a piece of fried chicken instead.
As the conversation flowed,
Deokhu suddenly spoke up as if remembering something.
"Oh, by the way... I actually experienced something really bizarre today."
The noisy table fell quiet at his words.
"What is it, Oppa?"
"I was driving down the Jayuro highway this evening to return some audio gear to a studio in Ilsan."
"Yeah, and?"
Deokhu set his beer glass down, his expression turning dead serious.
"It was my first time taking that route, so I had the GPS navigation on. But suddenly, this creepy voice started coming out of the speakers."
"A creepy voice?"
"Yeah. The screen suddenly went pitch black, and this woman's voice started whispering to me. She kept saying, 'There's nothing ahead, so just keep driving straight. Your real destination is beyond the guardrail.' I was like, 'What the hell is wrong with this thing?' but before I knew it, I was stepping on the gas as if I were possessed. I was literally a split second away from smashing right through the guardrail when an oncoming truck blasted its horn. That finally snapped me out of it. I swear, I thought I was going to die."
Deokhu shuddered at the memory.
There wasn't a trace of deceit on his face—only raw, lingering terror.
The moment he finished, Minhae scoffed.
"Oh, come on, Oppa, not you too. That's just a spin-off of the famous Jayuro highway ghost story. You're totally making this up on the spot because of what Minjun-sunbae said, aren't you? Are you that desperate for attention just because Seyeon is here?"
As Minhae giggled,
Deokhu cried out defensively.
"I'm not! I swear it's the truth!"
I stared at Deokhu's desperate expression and asked quietly.
"Hey, Deokhu... is that really true?"
"Yes! I swear it is, hyung."
"Ah... really?"
"Please believe me. I'm not lying!"
"Yeah... I believe you. But the thing is..."
The Jayuro highway. The navigation system. The whispering woman.
It was a scenario sitting in my folder—one I had written two years ago.
.
Slowly, I opened my mouth.
"Because that's the exact plot of a scenario I wrote..."