July 2004.
I experienced something terrible that I could never forget my whole life. It's been a month and I can't get over the fear.
'Click-clack! click-clack! click-clack!'
Yes, that sound. The clacking high heels. That is how it all began.
'Click-clack! click-clack!'
' Tat-tat-ta-ta-tat!!'
Suddenly in the midst of all that click-clack I could hear someone knocking on my door. It startled me a lot then I heard.
" Ga Eun! It's me. Are you home?" Soo Ryeon my friend was visiting me.
" I went a long way to buy this. Try a scoop, at least." Soo Ryeon said giving me a bowl of porridge but I refused.
"Come on. What's your plan?" said my friend getting irritated.
"I feel like I keep hearing that sound. It's coming to see me everyday." I said to her.
"This won't do. You might hurt yourself. Hey, get up, now!" said my friend getting worried.
My friend dragged me to the place of a shaman ( a specific type of healer who uses an alternate state of consciousness to enter the invisible world) who foreshaw all this.
"Ma'am, please take a look at my friend. She's really sick." Soo Ryeon said to the Shaman. "That's why I told you never to set foot in that house. It's not a place where a human can live. You should have listened to me." said the shaman sighing.
Four months ago, everything began...when I came to this place.
(4 months ago)
Soo Ryeon- "Hey."
Ga Eun- "Yes?"
Soo Ryeon- "We came all the way here. Don't you have any questions? Ask her if your boyfriend will make a lot of money. And if you can marry him."
Ga Eun- "I can't ask her that."
Soo Ryeon- "Listen to me. I just want what's best for you. I guess I'm the only snob here."
Ga Eun - "Can I ask you one thing? I'm moving soon. Will things get better than now when I move?"
Shaman- "Give it to me".
Ga Eun- "Sorry?"
Shaman- "The address."
Ga Eun- "Right. It's *****."
The shaman started doing her thing with the bells and everything closing her eyes. Me and my friend just sat there looking at the things the shaman was doing. The shaman opened her eyes then said, "Don't!"
Ga Eun- "Excuse me? Don't do what?"
Shaman- "Don't move."
Ga Eun- "But I'm moving next week. I already put down a 2,000-dollar deposit."
When I said that the shaman suddenly started rolling her eyes in the back and shouted," I said, don't! That is not a site you can live on! The dark shadows looking for a soul gather at night and when that shadow is cast on that house, it's too late to stop it. This house is where people die."
(After a week)
Though it felt uncomfortable, I've already put down a deposit. I couldn't cancel my move easily. But I didn't know at that time I shouldn't have stepped into that house.
At last, I moved to the studio apartment I contracted. It was an ordinary building where there was karaoke on the basement floor and a restaurant on the first floor. But then, on the day of the move.....
( Ga Eun's studio apartment)
Ga Eun-"Honey."
Her boyfriend- "Yes."
Ga Eun- "Don't you smell something weird?"
Her boyfriend- "Smell? 'sniff sniff' I don't smell anything. Maybe it's because my nose is stuffy."
Ga Eun- "Really."
Her boyfriend- "What's wrong? Step aside, honey."
He continued climbing the stairs saying that.
Ga Eun- "Okay. What is this? Is the garbage reeking?"
The unpleasant and peculiar smell that I hadn't smelled before. It wasn't the only thing that was weird. On the day I moved in, an uninvited guest came to my house.
"Miss, open the door."
Ga Eun- "Who is this?"
Shaman- "I'm here because I'm worried about you. I'll just burn incense. It won't take long. I think I should do something at least."
Saying that she entered the house and I wondered what could possibly be wrong with this house to make a shaman whom I've only met once come to my house?
After the shaman burned some incense and prayed I led her outside saying goodbye when I was just about to close the door the shaman held the door not letting me close it.
Shaman- " Listen carefully to what I say. No matter what you hear or what you see in this house, never open the door. Do you understand?"
Ga Eun- " okay" awkwardly.
That night, I couldn't fall asleep easily because of what the shaman said.
Around two o'clock in the morning, when I was about to fall asleep, I heard a strange sound. It was a banging noise.
Ga Eun- "Gosh, what is it? Is it coming from karaoke?"
(Later in the afternoon after few days)
I visited a small shop in the next building to buy some salt.
Ga Eun- "Hello!"
Shopkeeper 1- "I don't think I have seen you around here. Did you move in recently?"
Ga Eun- "Yes."
Shopkeeper 1- "Where did you move into?"
Ga Eun- "The studio apartment over there. The building with karaoke."
Shopkeeper 1- "I see."
Shopkeeper 2- "I guess she moved into the same building as that guy."
Shopkeeper 1- "Don't be nosy."
Shopkeeper 2- "Just wait." "Didn't you see anything weird there?"
Shopkeeper 1-"Don't start." "Don't worry miss. There's nothing to worry about."
Shopkeeper 2- "There's a karaoke in the basement floor, isn't it?"
Ga Eun- "Yes."
Shopkeeper 2- "I heard people see weird things there."
Ga Eun- "At karaoke?"
Shopkeeper 2- "Right. There's even a strange noise coming from the building at night. I thought that was real."
Shopkeeper 1- "My goodness, no way. Don't spread a wild rumor." "Here. It's five dollars."
Ga Eun- "Okay. I'll get going. Goodbye."
The banging noise I heard every night. Did it come from karaoke? 'A house where people die.' I couldn't dismiss what the shaman said.
There was another sound that disturbed me after I moved in. It was the sound of high heels wandering around the corridor. I felt a sudden urge to find out what the sound was.
There was no one in the corridor when I opened the door. The sensor lights were turned on. And at that moment I felt a chill brushing against me as if the cold wind came into my house.
Something felt wrong after that moment.