It was May of 2008. We were in 10th grade. Our first midterm was around the corner. We were quite tired. To wake up from the drowsiness, I went out with my friend, Seol Gu, who was dozing off next to me.
We had our own go-to place whenever we felt sleepy and tired. It was a hill near our school. As it was close and there were many rocks we could sit on to relax, my friends and I visited the hill often.
Seol Gu was an energetic guy by nature. But when we left the library, he seemed more energentic than usual. However....
He suddenly stopped walking and stared at something.
"Hey, Seol Gu. Why did you stop? You are not going to climb up?"
"Wait, I just had a fun idea. Hurry."
He told me that and began walking in the other direction. Right under the peak, there was a small shrine. It was a hanok house (a hanok is a traditional Korean house) with a door made of traditional papers.
Seol Gu got close to the door of the shrine.
"Hey, what are you doing?"
He made a hole with his index finger on the door which was made of papers. (In traditional Korean houses doors and windows were made by traditional papers glued on the door and windows with the wooden frames.)
"Hey!"
"What?"
"Aren't you curious about what is inside?"
"No, I am not."
"Of course, you are."
"I am not curious."
"Just this once."
"No."
"Just this once."
"I don't want to."
"Just take a look inside once."
"Gosh..."
I got close to the holes he made and looked inside the shrine.
"Wait."
I saw something over the small holes.
'AHHHH'
"What is it?"
"I just met some woman's eyes."
"Hey, that's nonsense. The door is locked. How could there be anyone inside?"
"I am serious. Take a look inside."
"Step aside."
'NO ONE IS IN THERE!!'
"Gosh, you startled me!"
"Sorry. Did you think there was a woman inside because of the drawing inside?"
"No, I swear. It was a real person."
"It's a drawing. Look again."
"No."
"Look at it again. It's a drawing."
"Are you sure?"
"I am sure of it. It's a drawing. Look."
"Gosh.'
"You are such a scaredy-cat."
"Gosh."
"It can't be a drawing. I definitely saw a real person."
Muttering along those lines, I looked into the holes again. The shrine was empty. There was a huge portrait of a woman on the wall. What he said was true.
He made fun of me for some time, and then his eyes suddenly glinted. We had another close friend named Jae Jin. And the smallest things scared him.
"Hey, should we make Jae Jin look at it too?"
"Jae Jin?"
"Yes."
"He's going to come here, right?"
Then....
"Gosh. I was so ready to study my head off. Why did you ask me to meet you here?"
"Hey, you never study."
"We wouldn't have asked you to come here unless it was worth it."
"There's something really cool inside."
"What is it?"
"Look inside."
"What is it?"
"This better be good."
"Just look."
The moment Jae Jin put his eyes on the holes, Seol Gu kicked the door of the shrine.
"Come on!"
Originally he was going to kick slightly, just to startle Jae Jin. He couldn't control his kick.
The portrait fell onto the floor from the kick. Jae Jin immediately turned around and left the place.
"Hey! wait up!"
"Wait up for me!"
Seol Gu and I followed Jae Jin who ran away out of fear and ran down the mountain.
'HAWHAWHAW'
"Hey, if you prank me like that again, I am going to beat you up!"
"Sorry, I am sorry."
"Hey."
"What?'
"Did Seol Gu ran away before us?"
"He is the biggest scaredy-cat among us. He pranks me to scare me but he gets scared by his own pranks."
"That's true."
We were going to talk about what we should do once Seol Gu caught up. Even after 5 minutes and 10 minutes, Seol Gu didn't come down.
"What is taking him so long?"
When he hadn't shown up for a long time, we were starting to think if something happened to him. At that moment...
'RINGG' [ SOS, Emergency message.]
The message was from Seol Gu. It was pitch dark in the mountain.
"Seol Gu! Where are you?"
We thought he might have fallen when he was hurriedly running down.
"Seol Gu!"
"Seol Gu!"
"Where are you?"
Suddenly, we heard someone speaking in a small voice.
'I am sorry.'
'I am sorry.'
We followed the sound. When we reached the source, it was Seol Gu. He was pounding his on the ground.
"I am sorry!"
"Hey! Seol Gu! Are you crazy?'
He must have pounded his head multiple times. His face was covered in blood. The white shirt he was wearing had completely turned red.
"Put him on your back."
"Let's go."
We were scared that Seol Gu might die.
"What's wrong with you?"
We took him to the nearest ER right away. He got stitches.
When I went to school the next day, I looked for Seol Gu right away. But Seol Gu didn't come to school. He had never been absent to school. But he didn't come to school for four days.
And then he came to school. But something was off about him.
"Hey, are you alright?"
"We were worried about you."
"You know..."
"What? What is it?"
"It might be because I broke down the door that night."
"The door?"
Seol Gu told us everything he experienced at the shrine that night. We couldn't believe the story he told us. It was very shocking.
(You can check out my original story. The title is 'THE REDDEST RED')