The Door That Should Never Open
As Jun-hee placed his hand on the family door lock, it responded. To his relief, the mechanism whirred softly under his palm. He entered the old password he had set back when they still lived here. A heavy click sounded. To his shock, the door swung open. Jun-hee’s eyes widened like lanterns. How was this possible? Why was the password still exactly the same?
The front door opened with a grating creak that set his teeth on edge. An eerie atmosphere spilled outward, and the interior of the house slowly revealed itself. The space within looked submerged in a pitch-black abyss. Once again, alarm bells screamed inside his skull, a frantic warning not to step inside. Every instinct he possessed howled at him to stay out. At the same time, every muscle in his body locked tight, shrinking in on itself. Sudden terror clutched at his throat, but he had no time to hesitate. The image of his daughter in peril flashed through his mind, and the rising wave of fear vanished as quickly as it had come.
Jun-hee steeled himself and crossed the threshold.
“So-hee!” he shouted, voice raw with urgency.
The moment he reached the living room and looked toward the veranda, his breath caught.
“Gasp!”
He recoiled in horror. There was So-hee, balanced precariously on the veranda railing, half hanging over the edge with one small hand stretched out. Any second now she would tip and fall. Jun-hee sprinted forward and wrenched the veranda door open. The instant he reached for her—
She slipped.
“No—!”
A strangled cry tore from his throat. His mind went white. Jun-hee hurled himself after her. His body slammed into the railing with a deafening crash. The metal groaned and tilted violently but somehow held. At the last possible second, his fingers closed around his falling daughter’s wrist.
Gasping, chest heaving, he stared at the small girl he had barely managed to catch. Tears exploded from his eyes.
“I’ve got you! Daddy’s got you! So-hee! So-hee, are you okay?”
Grunting with effort, he hauled her up over the railing, then collapsed to the floor with her clutched tightly to his chest. Relief and terror collided inside him; he could not stop the flood of tears. He wept like a child, cradling her face in both hands. She looked exactly as she had before. Not a single scratch. The realization brought a fresh wave of sobs.
“Oh thank God… thank God! So-hee? It’s Daddy. Do you recognize me? Are you hurt anywhere? Do you know how worried I was?”
Tears and snot streamed down his face as he spoke. So-hee blinked her round eyes several times, then her small cherry lips moved.
“Daddy,” she said.
The word pierced him. It had been so long since he had heard her call him that. The old pain and grief surged up again, and the tears refused to stop. With shaking hands he smoothed her tangled hair, then pulled her close once more, holding her so tightly it seemed he might never let go. For a long time, Jun-hee simply sat on the floor and wept while embracing his daughter.
“Where have you been all this time? Do you know how hard Daddy and Mommy searched for you? Where on earth were you?”
“Mommy…? Ah… Mommy.”
“Yes! Mommy looked for you so desperately… We missed you more than you can imagine. Where have you been? Why are you here all alone? Is Mommy with you?”
He forced the tears down and asked again. So-hee repeated the word “Mommy” several times, then turned to stare beyond the veranda railing. Jun-hee’s gaze followed hers. Below the apartment, in the complex playground, a figure stood in the darkness. He could not make out any features, yet his heart plummeted. The scene felt unbearably familiar—a powerful wave of déjà vu washed over him.
So-hee pointed at the motionless silhouette with her tiny hand.
“Mommy…”
“What? Mommy? Where is she?”
“She’s right there.”
Goosebumps erupted across Jun-hee’s skin. The déjà vu sharpened into something almost painful. At that exact moment, the phone in his pocket began to ring. He flinched violently. Heart hammering with dread, he pulled it out. Another call from a restricted number.
Thump… thump… thump…
The dread only grew. This was far too familiar. Exactly like the nightmares that haunted him night after night. Was this another dream? Was he trapped inside one even now?
But no. It couldn’t be a dream. Jun-hee looked at his daughter. So-hee tilted her head curiously. He gripped her small hand tightly and, with a trembling thumb, pressed the answer button.
An unnatural silence breathed from the speaker. Jun-hee stared at the shadowy figure in the playground, lips pale and bloodless, and finally spoke.
“So-yeon… is that you?”
A long pause. Then a voice answered, faint and fragile.
“Honey…”
“Yeah, it’s me! I’m here with So-hee right now. I found her! We just need you. We can be a family again… like we used to be.”
“Family…”
“If you don’t want that, I understand… but at least tell me where you are. Please.”
“I’m… I’m here. Right here.”
Jun-hee’s breathing grew ragged. The déjà vu was becoming unbearable. Every word, every pause, every inflection felt like a scene he had already lived through in his nightmares. The terror of what always came next clawed at his throat.
“Where? I don’t see you.”
“Here…”
So-hee suddenly cried “Daddy!” again and pointed past the railing. The silhouette in the playground raised a hand and waved slowly. So-hee whispered, “Mommy’s calling me.”
But something was wrong. The figure did not feel like his wife. It did not even feel alive.
“Is it… really you?”
“It’s me… I’m here…”
“I don’t know. I can’t tell anymore.”
He repeated the question again and again, voice cracking. Then the line went dead. Jun-hee jerked the phone away from his ear. The battery had finally died. He remembered it had been running on fumes. He bit his lip hard enough to taste blood and looked back down at the playground.
The figure had vanished.
“Daddy… let’s go to Mommy…” So-hee tugged at his shirt, pointing at the empty space where the silhouette had stood. “Mommy’s calling. Let’s go.”
A tidal wave of unease crashed over him. He tried to soothe her, saying they would go, but his legs refused to move. The sense of déjà vu had become a living thing, wrapping cold fingers around his heart. No matter how much So-hee whined and begged, the dread only thickened.
“Daddy! Hurry! I want Mommy! I miss her! Let’s go, please!”
Cold sweat rolled down his temples. He felt trapped, as if invisible walls had risen around him. There was nowhere to run.
“Don’t you like Mommy anymore?”
“No, that’s not it. I don’t dislike her.”
“Then let’s go see her!”
So-hee squirmed, trying to break free of his arms. Jun-hee only gripped her hand tighter, terrified that if he let go she would disappear again.
“All right… we’ll go together. Just… don’t let go of Daddy’s hand. Never let go.”
He swallowed hard and looked down once more.
The figure was gone.
Before he could process it, the doorbell rang.
Ding-dong.
Jun-hee whipped around. The dark, empty living room stared back at him. Only the intercom light blinked in the gloom. His heart thundered so violently he could barely breathe.
Ding-dong!
“It’s Mommy!” So-hee said brightly.
From the other side of the front door, a weak, strained voice drifted through the wood. A voice that belonged to his wife.
“Honey… So-hee… It’s me…”
The voice sounded hollow, as if something were forcing the words out through a dead throat. Yet it was unmistakably So-yeon’s.