-Prologue: Sleep Paralysis-
In the alley, where pitch-black darkness had settled deep, even the one streetlight that had remained—flickering and wavering for the past few days—seemed to have finally gone out completely today. Hyesu stood before the alleyway, where she could barely see ahead, and grumbled with a sigh.
‘That damn streetlight. They never bothered fixing it, and now it’s gone out for good!’
Her face was filled with unease.
Her instincts were shouting at her. Give up on going this way. But it was already quite late. If she did not cut through the alley, she would have to take the long way around along the main road. And that was annoying in its own right. She took her phone out of her pocket. It was already well past midnight. In early October, with the long summer finally over and autumn slowly beginning to arrive, the wind blowing through was certainly cold. No, it was so biting that it seemed to have skipped autumn entirely and become a winter wind.
Hyesu hunched her shoulders. She was twenty-four now, on the verge of graduating from university. As she poured all her effort into her graduation project, her return home inevitably grew late every time. Moreover, this place was fairly far from school, so even leaving school a little late meant she would only arrive at night. Recently, because of her graduation project, she had been forced to pass through this gloomy alley every time.
By now, she ought to have gotten used to it. And yet, as expected, it was hard to shake off the unpleasant feeling.
If she had her way, she would like to move to a place near the university. But that was not as easy as simply wishing for it.
When she had first come up to Seoul to enter university, the monthly rent had been absurdly expensive, enough to leave her mouth hanging open. Since she could not simply ask her parents for help with rent that was on an entirely different level from the provinces, she had looked for an area that was at least somewhat cheaper, even if it was farther away. That place was here.
Well… in truth, even this place could not really be called cheap. It was just more reasonable than the others, perhaps… In any case, for that reason, she had been forced to work part-time throughout her entire school life. Thinking back on it now, she felt somewhat proud of herself for having kept up both her studies and part-time jobs without rest.
How had she endured it…
At any rate, four years had passed. She had endured, juggling school and part-time work, and already four years had gone by. At last, graduation was before her. She only needed to hold on a little longer. Then she would finally be able to escape this bleak place…
“You’ve made it through just fine for four years, haven’t you?”
To begin with, this area itself was a district of studio apartments. You could say it was known as a place where most students stayed briefly while attending school, then left. That was why, if she went just a little farther out from here, the bustling district would appear in no time. As always, it would be crowded with students. So there was no need to be afraid. Once she got out of this place, even the area near her home could not exactly be called quiet.
Yes, she just had to get out of this alley.
In truth, there had been several chances to move somewhere a little more lively instead of this dark, gloomy area. Of course, she would have had to pay that much more rent, but she had worked part-time every day without rest all this time, and during vacations she had even added another part-time job, so it was not as though she felt desperately strapped for money. If she had set her mind to it, she could have moved at any time…
But every time the opportunity came, she would think, Is there really any need to move? and hesitate.
After all, she had endured well until now, and there had never been any particular problems. Besides, she had also been greedy, wondering if perhaps she could find an even better place if she waited just a little longer. And so, even when good opportunities came, she let them pass in a vague, half-hearted way, until things had ended up like this.
Perhaps she had simply missed the timing to move.
Well… it was fine. The place she lived now was only a little eerie on the way there; the apartment itself was not bad. It was a studio, but it was newly built, clean, and well maintained. Above all, there were no troubles with the neighbors, and more than anything else, the cheap rent was its greatest advantage.
Because of that, there was no particular reason to move to an expensive busy district or near school.
If not for this road, there would be no need to change homes. If she just gritted her teeth and endured this eerie place, she would arrive at her cheap and cozy home…
Though she had been passing through here for four whole years, the tension that surged up in her made her gulp down dry saliva before she carefully took a step forward.
Click, clack… The sound of her shoes seemed especially loud today. And why was her heart beating like this…? Today, the atmosphere was even more sinister than usual. For no reason, she kept glancing back the way she had come. She remembered a horror variety show she had watched on an OTT platform not long ago.
There had been a scene where a ghost appeared in an eerie alley like this and secretly followed someone from behind…
Ah! Of all things, the ghost makeup in that show had been so convincing that it had terrified her. And why did that ghastly, made-up ghost have to come to mind now? A chill crawled up her spine for no reason, and goosebumps rose over her skin.
As if out of habit, she kept looking back. As expected, no one was there. The empty alleyway, as always, was utterly silent. Only the occasional stray cat flashed its eerie eyes, showing curiosity toward the frightened Hyesu before soon vanishing with a leap.
Come to think of it, this place felt especially quiet. Did no one live here? She looked around for no reason. There were large villas and fairly old-looking detached houses, but only a few had lights on. It felt strangely deserted.
Shrugging her shoulders, she quickened her busy steps. Hyesu took her wireless earbuds out of her pocket, put them on, and started playing music. Usually, she listened to podcasts more often than songs, but right now, she thought music would be better than a calm, steady podcast.
Soon, an upbeat song flowed from the wireless earbuds, and fortunately, her mind seemed to ease a little. With a sigh of relief, she started walking again. Click, clack… The sound of her shoes grew a little faster. Before she knew it, she had reached about the middle of the alley. In her earbuds, a popular idol song was playing. Even so, this strange sense of ill omen—or nervousness—was oddly hard to shake off.
Ah! She desperately wanted to get out of this place as quickly as possible.
At that moment, Hyesu suddenly looked back. Then she gasped, sucking in a sharp breath in shock. There was someone there. Her eyes flew wide. It was a person who looked fairly large. The surroundings were too dark for her to tell clearly whether it was a man or a woman, but judging by the broad build, it seemed likely to be a man.
A man she did not know seemed to be standing still, watching her.
Thump, thump, thump… Her heart began to pound noisily again. In her anxiety, she wet her lips with her tongue for no reason. Forcing herself to pretend nothing was wrong, she turned her head and walked forward. Click… clack… click… The sound of her shoes pierced through the music.
She still had to go a little farther to get out of the alley. Ah! She had no idea why this alley felt so long today.
She could no longer pay any attention to the music at all. All her senses began to follow the presence that seemed to be drawing closer, little by little.
Cold sweat slid down her forehead, and Hyesu’s steps grew even faster.
Click, clack… Following the sound of her own shoes, a heavy presence could clearly be heard from a short distance behind her. It seemed to be getting closer and closer.
Ah! For no reason, news she had recently seen through Reels flashed through her mind. A young woman had been randomly assaulted, another had been sexually assaulted, and even the bizarre scenes she had seen in that horror variety show began to prod at Hyesu’s fear one by one. Ah! Her heart was beating so fast that it felt as if it might burst with a bang at any moment.
Her mouth was so dry there was not even any saliva left to swallow. When she tried to swallow, all she felt was the rough dryness of her throat. Still, thankfully, the end of the alley was beginning to come into view. Yes, soon. If she just went a little farther… That was when it happened. The presence that had felt so distant only moments ago suddenly seemed to have come far too close. Amid the music ringing in her ears, she could feel that presence with dreadful clarity.
Ah! Her body stopped dead, as if frozen in place. Then she began trembling like an aspen leaf. Her breathing had grown terribly ragged as well. The end of the alley was right before her eyes, and the light of the streetlamp there looked almost like a hand of salvation. But was it because she was too frightened? Her body seemed to have frozen solid. She could hardly move.
And then…
Just then, the song playing through her earbuds ended. In the brief silence before the next song began…
Tap, tap, tap… She heard the sound of someone running. “Oh my!” Hyesu screamed despite herself and hurriedly turned around. But… no one was there. What was going on? The alleyway was empty.
Ah… Cold sweat ran down her forehead. Her pounding heartbeat would not calm down. What on earth had happened? Then a new song began to play through her earbuds again. Hyesu took out one earbud and stared at the alleyway, still empty.
There had definitely been one large person there. She had definitely heard the sound of someone running…
“Wh-what? How… what happened…”
Had she heard wrong? Had she seen wrong? No. That could not be.
Definitely…