Missing
Meanwhile, in the matter of the missing persons, Yongha was already opening the door to the next room. He looked just as tense as the rest of them, shoulders rigid. Jinsu swallowed the unease crawling up his throat and hurried after Yongha, Yeonji, and Sumin, who had already moved ahead.
They reached the second room. It was nothing special. The floor was littered with trash, and the only furniture consisted of a single wardrobe and a desk. What stood out were the sheets of stationery scattered everywhere and a dried-up bottle of ink—one of those old-fashioned kinds no one really used anymore. It seemed the patient who had lived here must have written letters to someone with a fountain pen.
Once again they filmed the room’s interior. The moment the camera lens swung toward the window—
“Hey!”
Something was there. And that something hurled itself through the window.
“No! Stop!”
Jinsu shouted on instinct and bolted for the window. But then—
“Kyaaaah!”
A scream tore from the hallway. Sumin’s voice. Confusion slammed into Jinsu like a physical blow. The window? The hallway? He wavered for half a second before rushing out into the corridor.
“I—I can’t stay here! I’m leaving!”
Sumin suddenly shrieked. Her face had gone deathly pale, eyes wide and unhinged, as though she had truly seen a ghost. Yeonji was asking what was wrong. Yongha looked equally bewildered, but Sumin violently shook off Yeonji’s hand and bolted back the way they had come.
“S-Sumin! Sumin! What’s wrong with you?”
It must have been a mistake. At first she told herself she had seen wrong and tried to push it aside. She deliberately avoided looking in that direction. She wanted to believe she was simply hallucinating because she was so terrified. Yet even in the grip of such fear, human curiosity could be cruelly insistent. Sometimes that uncontrollable curiosity felt like a curse.
She glanced… toward the end of the hallway.
Her body froze solid.
There really was something there. Just like on the first floor, it looked as if someone was poking their head out, staring straight at them. Then it slowly melted away.
It had moved. It had definitely moved. She couldn’t make out exactly what it was—only a pitch-black silhouette that somehow resembled a human face.
Sumin’s whole body began to shake like a leaf in a storm.
“Are you okay?” Yeonji asked, voice thick with worry. “Why are you sweating so much…”
Sumin hesitated, then pointed a trembling finger down the hallway. “O-over there…”
Yeonji followed her gaze, tense now as well. But her eyes found nothing. Only the filthy, empty corridor stretching into shadow.
“What’s wrong? Is there something there?”
Frustration welled up in Sumin until she felt she might burst into tears. She clenched her fists so tightly her palms grew slick, then turned her head again. The thing was still there—peeking out once more. Closer this time.
“Huk… heuk…”
Her breathing turned ragged. An overwhelming terror crashed over her like a wave, squeezing her throat shut.
Yeonji grew more alarmed at her reaction. “Sumin?”
She looked again in the direction of Sumin’s gaze, but still saw nothing.
“What is it? Tell me.”
“You really don’t see it? Someone’s watching us!”
“What are you talking about?”
That was when the sound came.
Creak…
A door sliding open. Through the narrow gap, another face poked out.
Oh God. There wasn’t just one.
Sumin’s eyes flew wide. Her body trembled violently. Tears finally spilled from those huge, terrified eyes.
Yeonji only grew more flustered. No matter how hard she stared down the hallway, she saw nothing at all.
“G-guys, something’s wrong with Sumin,” Yeonji called out, helpless.
But neither Yongha nor Jinsu answered. Jinsu was still filming inside the room, and Yongha was busy sweeping his flashlight back and forth, inspecting the interior.
“Guys…” Yeonji’s voice rose.
Still no response. Only then did unease creep into Yeonji’s own expression.
“Yongha? Jinsu? I’m telling you, Sumin’s acting strange!”
Meanwhile Sumin watched another door slide open by itself.
Creak…
The sound rang unnaturally clear. Another face poked through, this time from an even closer room.
“Haa… haa… haa…”
She couldn’t look away. Couldn’t move. It was grotesque, horrifying, yet her body had locked up as if chained in place.
Creak. Another door. Another face. Creak. Closer. Creak. Again. The pattern repeated, each time drawing nearer.
Finally it reached the door directly in front of her.
Creak…
The door opened on its own.
All color had drained from Sumin’s face. She looked like a corpse.
A face slowly emerged through the gap. With a trembling hand she aimed her flashlight at it.
And then—
“Huk!”
Her breath seized.
An old woman stood there. Both eyes were hollowed out into black pits, and bloody tears streamed down her cheeks.
“Ah…”
The old woman’s mouth began to open. Her burst, bloodstained lips moved with difficulty. A low voice leaked out.
It’s cold…
It wasn’t only her. From the other rooms, more faces squeezed through the cracks, each one letting out the same grotesque murmurs.
The voices tangled together, hammering at Sumin’s ears. She couldn’t bear it any longer. The single thought—run, get out now—blotted out everything else.
“Kyaaaah!!”
She screamed and ran. Yeonji’s voice called after her, but she couldn’t spare it any attention. Then a hand seized her forearm.
She whipped around in terror. The arm that gripped her was so skeletal it looked like nothing but skin stretched over bone.
“Kyaaaaah!!!”
Sumin screamed again and wrenched herself free. She ran. Her foot caught on something and she pitched forward.
“Kyaaah!”
She tumbled down the stairs in a tangle of limbs.
“Sumin!”
Yeonji started to rush after her when she suddenly froze. Something behind her. She spun toward the end of the hallway.
There it was. Standing perfectly still, staring at them.
“Wh-what’s wrong? What happened?”
Yongha and Jinsu finally snapped out of their distraction and emerged from the room. At that exact moment the thing at the end of the corridor broke into a wild sprint.
“U-uaaaagh!”
Yeonji screamed and ran. Her foot snagged on something and she fell, rolling helplessly down the stairs after Sumin.
“Y-Yeonji!”
Yongha and Jinsu rushed down in a panic. By then Sumin was already crawling down the stairs on all fours. She felt no pain. From behind, those horrible voices still chased her—cold, hungry, hurting, begging for a doctor.
Tears poured down Sumin’s face. Regret swallowed her whole. She should never have come. She should never have set foot inside this place.
Her ankle throbbed sharply, but she clenched her teeth and kept limping forward. Somehow she reached the first-floor entrance, shoved the door open, and staggered outside, gasping for air.
When she looked back at the building, every window was crowded with countless black silhouettes. All of them seemed to be watching her.
“Kyaaaah!”
She screamed until her throat tore and fled into the night. She fell repeatedly, never once thinking of her friends, only running and running. She lost the flashlight somewhere along the way. She limped through the pitch darkness, sobbing, until a distant beam of light appeared.
The person running toward her was the old woman who ran the pension.
“Aigoo! What happened? I knew it! Why did you go in there? Where are the others?”
Friends… But Sumin could no longer think of them. The moment the tension broke, her mind simply gave out. She collapsed, unconscious.