Disappearance
The evening was spent enjoying a barbecue party with friends. They grilled the pork belly and boiled ramen they had brought. The old lady who owned the place shared some side dishes with them. Yongha had secretly brought two bottles of soju, which they passed around and drank. Slightly buzzed, they turned on music and enjoyed themselves. They played simple games, and Yeonji and Sumin filmed Instagram Reels together. Before they knew it, night had fallen.
Once it was dark, they set off the fireworks they had brought and played around. As they laughed and chattered, it was already past ten o'clock. As if he had been waiting for this exact moment, Jinsu began looking at everyone with a sly glint in his eyes. The time had finally come. Everyone knew what that look meant—what he wanted. Of course, everyone except Jinsu wore indifferent expressions. They had grown tired of the idea.
"Are we really going? Now that it's time, it's starting to feel like too much of a hassle..."
"Yeah..."
Yeonji let out a huge yawn as she spoke, and Yongha chimed in. Above all, the most annoying part seemed to be the hour-long walk to that abandoned building.
At his friends' lukewarm reactions, Jinsu frowned. "What? After all this? Don't tell me... you're chickening out?"
"Who's chickening out... It's just annoying to go now. Ugh... who wants to walk all the way there again? Just thinking about it is exhausting. Yawn..."
Yeonji yawned widely once more, clearly fed up.
Jinsu turned to Yongha with a pitiful, pleading look.
Seeing Jinsu's pathetic face, Yongha clicked his tongue, took a sip of the zero cola he had brought, and said, "Come on! That's right! Since we've come all this way, let's just go! It didn't look like much when we saw it this morning, did it?"
At Yongha's support, Jinsu's face brightened. Yeonji shook her head, still yawning nonstop, then glanced at Sumin. Sumin, who had momentarily forgotten about the haunted house, once again had fear wash over her face at the mention of it. She looked like she truly did not want to go.
"Are we really going? I... honestly don't want to. It's scary, and I hate how dirty it is."
Knowing Sumin was the most fearful of them all, Jinsu said, "Then do you want to stay here? We'll be back soon."
But Sumin hated that idea even more. Being left alone was scarier, so she did not want to be separated from Yeonji.
"Then what do you want us to do? Are you saying we should just give up?"
Jinsu sighed, clearly growing irritated himself.
Meanwhile, Sumin looked at Yeonji with an anxious expression. Yeonji was the one she could trust most in this situation, so she clutched her sleeve tightly, hoping she would decide not to go.
At that, Yeonji pulled Sumin into a tight hug and said playfully, "Aigoo! What are we going to do with our cute little Sumin... You're about to be a college student soon. Can someone this adorable even handle it? Aww! Can I bite you just a little?"
"Ahaha! W-what are you doing! If you actually bite me! Kyaa! What do I do! Ahaha!"
Thanks to Yeonji's antics, Sumin burst into laughter and the mood lightened considerably.
Yeonji continued, "Don't worry, Sumin! Big sis will protect you! Hehe! We'll all be together anyway. What's there to worry about? And where are the ghosts?"
"People are scarier than ghosts," Yongha added.
"Exactly! People are scarier! Anyway, it'll be fine if we're all together. I'll hold your hand this tight the whole time! Let's just go quickly. Otherwise Jinsu will grumble about it forever. Sigh... Sumin, can you really handle listening to him complain nonstop?"
"Hehe... Yeah, I guess not."
Jinsu cleared his throat, his cheeks turning slightly red.
Yeonji, Sumin, and Yongha all laughed playfully at the sight.
In the end, they decided to head to the haunted house together.
In preparation, Jinsu handed out the flashlights he had prepared in advance. He even pulled out two walkie-talkies.
Looking at them, Yongha asked, "What are these? When did you get all this stuff?"
"I bought them last time, actually. Remember that day we planned to go to the haunted house but ended up not going? I picked up flashlights and walkie-talkies on sale just in case."
"Wow... you're really something. What if we had refused to go?"
Yeonji muttered under her breath as she picked up a flashlight and pressed the power button. With a click, a surprisingly strong beam burst out. It was incredibly bright. It must have been a good one.
"The batteries are fully charged, but just in case, here are some spares."
Jinsu handed out the extra batteries to everyone. For the walkie-talkies, he kept one and gave the other to Yeonji.
"Good! Are we ready? Oh wait! We need this too!"
Jinsu rummaged through his bag. Everyone watched with curious eyes as he finally pulled out a camera.
Yongha's expression grew even more interested. "A camera? Where did you get that?"
"Oh, this? It's my dad's! Hahaha! I told him I wanted to take pictures with a camera instead of my phone while hanging out with friends, so he lent me his old one. Luckily it still works perfectly! It's a bit heavy, but it feels more authentic than using a phone, right?"
"You're really going all out. Why not just use your phone?"
"Of course! If we're doing this, we should do it right! Who knows? What if the camera actually catches a ghost? We could upload the video to YouTube and maybe even make some money off it?"
At Jinsu's playful words, everyone burst into laughter again.
Preparations were complete. Jinsu, now equipped with the camera, flashlights, and walkie-talkies, stood up abruptly. Yongha and Yeonji followed, and Sumin rose as well, with no other choice.
They left the pension and set off toward the haunted house.
At night the air had grown quite chilly. The gloomy sky looked like it might start raining at any moment. The only lights came from the pension and the house where the old lady stayed. The village was pitch black, as if no one lived there at all.
The atmosphere was completely different from daytime. Even the path felt like the haunted house experience had already begun. An eerie wind blew, and the bare trees stretched their branches in every direction like ghostly hands reaching out. It seemed as though they might grab someone at any second.
Sumin was especially terrified. Her face had already gone deathly pale, and her desperate wish to turn back was written plainly across her expression. She was starting to regret following her friends here.
I should have just stayed at the lodging...
Trembling like an aspen leaf with that regret, she barely managed to keep walking. It was only because Yeonji stayed beside her, comforting her, that she could move at all. Without Yeonji it would have been impossible.
Why did the road to that abandoned building feel so endlessly long? They seemed to have walked a good distance through the spooky path, yet they still had not arrived.
"Was it this far?" Yongha muttered, his face also showing signs of tension. He swept his flashlight beam around.
"Just a little more. We'll be there soon," Jinsu called from the front.
As they continued, the wind grew stronger. The temperature had dropped sharply, so now their bodies shivered as much from the cold as from fear.
Everyone except Jinsu seemed to be feeling anxious.
Sumin glanced at Yeonji, who was linking arms with her. Yeonji, too, looked clearly tense in the current atmosphere.
Should she suggest turning back now? But Sumin could not easily say the words. Suggesting they return at this point would ruin the mood for sure. Even among close friends, she feared it would strain their relationship, so she held her tongue. And if they told her to go back alone...
Sumin's gaze turned to the path behind them. She shone her flashlight that way. Thick darkness swallowed the trail. The flashlight beam could not fully push it back. It was so eerie her heart sank. She shook her head firmly. It was impossible. She would rather die than go back alone. She did not want to wander that darkness by herself.
In the end, trapped between fear and indecision, Sumin fidgeted anxiously but had no choice but to follow her friends forward.
"How much farther? Ow, my legs are killing me."
Finally Yeonji began to complain.
Jinsu laughed playfully and assured her they would arrive soon this time.
"You've been saying 'soon' this whole time... Sigh... We didn't pass it already, did we?"
"No! Just a little more... We're really almost there now."
Jinsu did his best to soothe her.
Relying on their flashlight beams, they continued along the quiet country road. It felt like more than an hour had passed. Around the time the distant barking of dogs had finally fallen silent, Jinsu, who was leading, finally spotted their destination.
"We've arrived! Look! This is it!"