The Call from the Horror
He's coming... Just as I thought. Could someone have been impersonating Sohee all along? Was it all just a prank call? Had that prank call made Soyeon suffer even more? Not realizing it was a prank, had Soyeon clung desperately to the belief that the voice belonged to Sohee, only to find herself trapped in some terrible situation...?
All sorts of hypotheses tangled together in his mind. Each one seemed like it could possibly be true, yet in the end, the most important question remained: where had Soyeon disappeared to? She wasn't answering her phone. Even now, with the police searching everywhere, they still couldn't find her. What era was this? In a time when CCTV cameras were everywhere and dashcams filled the streets, Soyeon had vanished as if she'd ascended into the sky. There were plenty of security cameras in the apartment complex alone—so why couldn't they locate her?
These questions only bred more questions. Had she been kidnapped? Had the kidnappers imitated Sohee's voice to lure Soyeon away? Was he overthinking things because he was a novelist? The thought crossed his mind, but then again, anything was possible. Yes, anything at all. The police certainly weren't ruling out the possibility of abduction in their investigation. If it was a kidnapping, what could the motive be? Soyeon had been earning a bit of money lately, but not enough to warrant something like this. Besides, if money were the reason, the police would have known by now, and the kidnappers would likely have contacted them first.
According to his mother-in-law, the police had treated the disappearance as a possible kidnapping and checked her accounts right away, but there were no suspicious transactions. So it probably wasn't about money. Was Soyeon particularly beautiful, then? She wasn't ugly, but she wasn't the kind of striking beauty that would turn heads either. Still, kidnappers didn't only target the exceptionally pretty. He'd seen news stories about Koreans being abducted and forced into voice phishing operations. Maybe that was more likely?
But... could such kidnappings really happen so openly in Korea? Even late at night, inside an apartment complex bristling with CCTV cameras? It made no sense. The whole situation felt like it was sinking deeper into an unsolvable labyrinth.
Junhee clutched at his hair, gripping it tightly as if to tear it out. That was when it happened. His phone suddenly vibrated. Startled, his eyes snapped to the device. The screen, which had just begun charging, flickered to life. He tried to calm his racing heart as he watched it turn on. The moment the phone powered up and the familiar home screen appeared, Junhee was thrown into utter confusion.
What the... There were more than thirty missed calls. Shocked, he opened the call log to check. But what he saw only deepened his bewilderment. No—it wasn't mere bewilderment. A strange, creeping terror washed over him, draining the color from his face. Every single call had come from a restricted number.
And then—dring!—the phone vibrated again, the ringtone cutting through the silence. Once more, the screen displayed an incoming call from a restricted number.
Gasping, Junhee shot up from his seat and stared blankly at the phone. He couldn't bring himself to answer it.
"Hello...?"
The call refused to end. The persistent ringing left him no choice but to answer. He tried to maintain some semblance of composure, but it wasn't easy. His heart pounded as if it might explode. The voice that finally escaped him was thick with tension. His mother-in-law's words flashed through his mind. The nightmare memory reared its ugly head once more. They said Soyeon had answered a call from Sohee. He didn't know if it was true, but that's what they'd told him. And then she had vanished without a trace. And now this call...
A chill ran down his spine. Swallowing hard, Junhee opened and closed his mouth several times before finally managing to speak.
No answer? The voice kept calling to him through the phone. Ah! It was unmistakably Soyeon's voice. Her voice wasn't particularly distinctive—it was an ordinary one you might hear anywhere—but she was the woman he had once loved passionately, and even now he didn't dislike her. No, there was no real reason to dislike her. If anything, the regret he felt was far greater. There was no way he could have forgotten the voice of the wife he had loved so dearly. It was certain. It was definitely his wife's voice.
His lips, now turning pale, trembled as he spoke.
"S-Soyeon?"
His voice shook as he barely managed to say her name. For a moment, silence fell on the other end of the line. Every one of his senses focused on the answer that would surely come.
Then—
The voice that returned was utterly drained of strength. Junhee's heart began to race more violently than ever before.
"Is it really you? Then where the hell have you been? Why haven't you answered your phone all this time?"
Was this another nightmare? Was he still trapped in the extension of that nightmare? The thought flickered through his mind. But... this time was different. Everything felt far too vivid to be dismissed as a mere dream. It was undeniable reality. His wife had truly called him.
"Soyeon! Talk to me! What on earth happened? Do you know how worried your mother is? How worried I am? I... I was so scared!"
Once again, there was a brief silence. Through it, he could hear what sounded like Soyeon's breathing—low and faint. It sounded dangerously fragile. Then the weak voice continued.
"Sohee? Our daughter?"
"You found her? Really? You found Sohee? Where? Where is she right now?"
Junhee shouted in shock. Without realizing it, he clenched his fists tightly. His heart raced faster than ever.
"What? What do you mean you can't get out? Where are you? I'll come right now! I'll leave immediately! Can you tell me where you are?"
Junhee told her to wait just a moment and stepped into the living room. As he pulled on the padded jacket he'd thrown on the sofa, he spoke again.
"I'm coming to find you right now. Where are you? Where exactly? Please tell me where you are. Is Sohee with you right now?"
"She's asleep? Okay... I understand. Just tell me where you are! I'll run straight there."
Soyeon was trying to speak, but something seemed to interfere, making her words hard to understand. Her voice kept cutting in and out.
"Soyeon? Soyeon! I can't hear you clearly! Say it again!"
Junhee urged her, his anxiety showing. He bit his lip and shifted restlessly from foot to foot.
"I can't understand you like that! Give me more details!"
He pleaded desperately. Then, from the other end of the line, came a faint, crackling noise, and Soyeon's voice reached him in broken fragments.
It wasn't entirely clear, but that was what it sounded like. Our house playground? At that moment, the nightmare flashed through Junhee's mind again. Suspicious, he asked,
"S-Soyeon, are you talking about the playground at our old apartment? The one where we used to live together? Or do you mean the playground at your parents' apartment complex?"
"Our house? You mean the apartment where we lived together?"
"Got it! Just hold on a little longer! I'm coming right now! Don't hang up! Okay? Whatever you do, don't end the call..."
Another burst of harsh static erupted. Through the ear-splitting noise, it seemed like she said something in reply, but he couldn't make it out. Junhee couldn't afford to hesitate. He grabbed his wallet and rushed outside. The moment he stepped out, an icy wind slammed into him, cold enough to freeze his spine. His whole body shuddered violently. The wind was so bitter that he instinctively hunched his shoulders. Suppressing the chill as best he could, he hurried toward the main road where he could hail a taxi.
"Soyeon! I'm on my way, okay? Yeah! Thirty minutes—no, twenty minutes and I'll be there! So..."
That was when it happened.
"What do you mean he's coming? Who are you talking about?"
Soyeon began to panic violently on the other end of the line. Could it be that the kidnapper who had taken her and Sohee was approaching? Junhee urgently called her name, but no answer came. Instead, only that unbearable static filled the phone.
"Soyeon! Soyeon!!"
A pitiful sob echoed from within the phone, and then Soyeon spoke again.
"I know! I understand! Just wait a little longer! I'll be there soon! I swear... I'll definitely find you..."