The Haunted Inn Experience
“You’re saying this again, Detective Oh Su-hyeok!”
Miho tilted her shoulders with a playful smile, as if shrugging off an invisible weight.
“I can’t exactly deny that, can I?”
For a while longer they bantered like this, teasing and light. One hour had passed.
Detective Oh Su-hyeok gradually pushed himself up from the chair.
“Leaving already?”
Heejin’s eyes showed clear reluctance.
Hospitals were simply too boring, it seemed.
“I’m afraid the life of a detective is just that busy. Though you probably wouldn’t guess it, I don’t have nearly enough personal time.”
“Hmm… even the job of a detective is tough, huh?”
“Exactly. It’s a truly grueling profession, no matter what…”
“Next time, come by when I’m discharged. Until then, rest well.”
“Ah, I’m already resting plenty. If I keep this up, I might just balloon up like a balloon!”
“Anyway… stay safe on your way, Detective.”
“Sure! See you next time.”
Oh Su-hyeok stepped out of the hospital room.
He passed through the crowded corridor filled with patients and nurses, descending to the first floor and heading toward the parking lot where his car waited.
He settled into the driver’s seat, then let out a deep sigh.
After a moment, he pulled a note from his pocket—the one given by his boss.
He stared at it for a long while, then finally made up his mind and dialed the number.
The ringing continued for some time.
Oh Su-hyeok felt a strange sense of tension grip him, even though he had nothing to fear.
How long had it been? Suddenly—
Click!
A voice answered, bright and clear.
“Hello?”
Oh Su-hyeok recognized the voice at once. It belonged to the man in the suit from that day.
“Um… could we meet for a little while?”
Lee Hwan climbed higher and higher up the nameless mountain.
Surrounding trees were parched and stripped bare. The ground, covered in fallen leaves, had turned a sickly brown and grown slick and treacherous.
How long had it been since he’d been forced to climb a trail this steep and ill-defined?
Memories from long ago stirred, but the situation and his resolve were utterly different now.
Hwan walked in silence.
After what felt like an eternity he reached a flat clearing.
He rummaged in his pocket and finally pulled out a compass.
The needle spun wildly.
The stronger it whirled, the surer he became.
He tucked the compass away again and continued climbing.
The sky was darkening.
The wind had grown surprisingly cold.
Probably because they were so high up.
Hwan quickened his pace.
Finally he arrived at a small mountain hermitage tucked into the remote slopes.
Of all places… a temple here?
Yet no one was around. Not a single human trace.
An odd, uneasy silence hung in the air.
Hwan circled the building once, then stepped through the open gate.
Inside, a heavy stillness pressed down like a stone.
There was a tiny doghouse beside the gate, but it was empty.
A feeding bowl sat outside, filled to the brim.
Suspicious.
He moved toward the main hall.
It looked like any ordinary, weathered temple—old, faded, with peeling paint and cracked windows.
Hwan reached the doorway.
That was when Miho appeared beside him, her ruby eyes narrowing.
“It smells… so rotten.”
She wrinkled her delicate nose and sniffed.
Her gaze sharpened, fixed on the tightly shut door—more precisely, on what lay beyond.
Then—
Clang!
The door creaked open.
Inside, a monk sat before an altar, deep in meditation.
Hwan stepped forward and offered his hand to Miho.
She lightly clasped it, and her body shimmered into the form of a blood-red exorcism sword.
Quietly, he began to recite:
“Satan himself disguises himself as an angel of light. It is no great thing, therefore, if his servants also disguise themselves as ministers of righteousness…”
(2 Corinthians 11:14-15)
Hwan gripped the sword tighter and strode into the main hall without hesitation.
“Do not pretend to be a false apostle! I can see through you!”
The moment he entered, the monk turned.
A bone-chilling scream tore from his throat as he lunged at Hwan.
The roar was nothing human—worse than any beast.
Sharp claws extended from the monk’s hands as he sprang forward.
But the blood-red blade slid through his chest without the slightest hesitation.
“Kyah…”
The monk froze.
Thick blood poured from the corners of his mouth.
Hwan stared coldly and whispered, “You thought you could escape me?”
The monk could not answer.
Every attempt to speak only brought a fresh gush of blood from his gaping mouth.
His body began to weaken.
“As long as your cruel greed and foul stench remain in this world, you will never escape me.”
Swoosh!
Hwan pulled the sword free.
“Kyaaaaah!”
The creature shrieked once more, staggered back a few steps, then collapsed like a puppet with cut strings.
Soon afterward, a pure-white nine-tailed fox appeared beside Hwan.
She licked her lips, savoring the dying horror of her prey.
“Please… spare me…”
The monster gasped desperately.
Hwan turned away without a word.
Outside the temple, a chilling howl mixed with a piercing scream.
The screams did not stop.
Crack… crunch… the sounds of bones snapping followed.
Hwan stood motionless, eyes closed, chanting quietly.
Soon the screams faded.
The grotesque noises died away.
The door creaked open once more.
Miho stepped out, her lips still glistening with blood and satisfaction shining in her eyes.
“Let’s go home! There’s a drama I really want to watch!”
“Sure.”
Hwan nodded silently.
“This time, we’re really going!”
“For real?”
“Yeah! And when everyone heads to university, we’ll all scatter like dandelion seeds. Who knows when we’ll meet again? This is the only chance we have. Besides, I was so disappointed last time when you said you’d go but then couldn’t…”
Jin-su’s words.
His friends—Yongha, Yeon-ji, and Su-min—stood around him, faces tight with unease.
Yet beneath that tension, a spark of curiosity flickered.
Yeon-ji spoke up first.
“Who cares? But Jin-su, are you sure about this? You’re gonna make another excuse and bail out, right? Remember what happened last time because of you?”
“Hey, back then I had no choice! I felt so helpless…”
She was referring to summer break.
At the time, everyone was buried in exam stress.
Desperate for a break, Jin-su suggested a haunted-house experience trip—just like the horror movies he loved.
Yongha, Yeon-ji, and Su-min were already exhausted from studying, yet they had all agreed to go along.
They just needed to release some stress.
But then Jin-su had suddenly canceled everything.
That summer they were supposed to have a college cram camp, and Jin-su had been so upset.
He had tried every excuse to get out, but his parents caught him and cut his allowance, so the plan collapsed.
Now, though, things were different.
He was free.
Even if it wasn’t his top-choice university, he could enter the one he had ranked second.
Maybe he could retake the exam and try again for his first choice?
But Jin-su decided not to worry about it anymore.
He had chosen the second university and would have his friends go wherever they wanted.
Right now, they were truly free.