The town of Seongjin had always been ordinary. Rows of small shops lined the streets, families gathered in parks on weekends, and the biggest excitement was the annual summer festival. But beneath the surface, something had begun to change—something that only a few people seemed to notice.
It started with the disappearances.
First, it was a stray dog near the outskirts of town. Then, a reclusive old man no one really knew. But when Yoon Seojin, a high school senior, vanished without a trace, the entire town took notice.
For Jisoo, Minho, and Hana, Seojin wasn't just another missing person—he was someone they had known. Not well, but well enough. He had once been a top student at their school before he suddenly became distant, skipping classes and avoiding people. The night before he disappeared, he had left a cryptic post on the school's online forum:
"The shadows move when no one is looking. Don't trust what you see."
Most dismissed it as nonsense, but Jisoo couldn't shake the feeling that it meant something.
The Investigation Begins
Jisoo sat on his bicycle, parked just outside Seojin's house. The once well-maintained property now looked abandoned—windows shut tight, the mailbox overflowing with unopened letters. Minho stood beside him, hands shoved into his hoodie pocket, while Hana leaned against her own bike, scrolling through her phone.
"I checked the news archives," Hana said without looking up. "This isn't the first disappearance in Seongjin. There have been at least five cases in the last three years. All of them unsolved."
Minho raised an eyebrow. "And no one thinks that's weird?"
"They just… forget," she replied. "No one talks about it. No protests, no pressure on the police. It's like the town just moves on."
Jisoo tightened his grip on the handlebars. Something about this felt wrong. He had always been the type to question things—his parents called it a bad habit, but he called it curiosity.
"We need to get inside," he said, nodding toward Seojin's house.
Minho frowned. "Breaking into a missing guy's house? Sounds like a great way to get arrested."
"We're not breaking in. Just looking around," Jisoo argued. "Besides, if we don't, who will?"
Hana sighed. "Fine. But if we get caught, I'm blaming you."
Inside the House
Getting inside had been easier than expected. The back door was unlocked, as if someone had left in a hurry. The air inside was thick with dust, the kind that settled when a place had been untouched for too long.
The living room was a mess—papers scattered across the coffee table, a half-eaten meal still on the kitchen counter. Seojin had been here. Recently.
Jisoo bent down, picking up a notebook that lay open on the floor. The pages were filled with frantic scribbles, words underlined multiple times. One sentence stood out:
"It sees me. Even when I close my eyes."
A chill ran down Jisoo's spine.
"Guys," Minho called from the hallway. His voice was unusually tense.
Jisoo and Hana hurried over, finding Minho standing in front of Seojin's bedroom door. It was covered in deep scratches, as if something had clawed at the wood.
"This isn't normal," Hana whispered.
Jisoo reached for the doorknob, his heartbeat quickening. The moment his fingers brushed against the metal, a sharp noise echoed through the house—like static from an old television.
Then, the lights flickered.
And from behind the door, something moved.
The Shadow
The three of them froze. The air inside the house had changed, thick with something unnatural.
Jisoo swallowed hard and slowly turned the knob. The door creaked open, revealing a darkened room. The curtains were drawn, the only source of light coming from the dim glow of a computer screen.
Hana pulled out her phone, turning on the flashlight. The beam swept across the room, revealing overturned furniture and more pages filled with Seojin's handwriting.
Then, the light landed on the closet.
The door was slightly ajar. And something was inside.
A shadow, darker than the rest of the room, shifted.
Jisoo took a step back. The shadow had no form—no solid shape—yet it felt alive. It stretched unnaturally along the floor, moving even though nothing cast it.
The static sound grew louder.
And then, the shadow lunged.
The room exploded into chaos—Hana screamed, Minho grabbed Jisoo's arm, yanking him back. The closet door slammed shut on its own, and the lights flickered violently before everything went silent.
For several heart-pounding moments, none of them moved.
Then, without a word, Jisoo grabbed the nearest paper from the floor and shoved it into his jacket pocket.
"We need to go," he said, his voice barely above a whisper.
The Beginning of the Truth
Back outside, the three of them gasped for air, their hands trembling. Seojin's house stood eerily quiet behind them, as if nothing had happened.
Hana's voice was shaky. "What the hell was that?"
Jisoo unfolded the crumpled paper he had taken from Seojin's room. The writing was rushed, desperate.
"It comes at night. It watches. And soon, it will take me too."
Jisoo looked at Minho and Hana. "Seojin didn't just disappear." He swallowed hard. "Something took him."
And for the first time, he realized—they weren't dealing with a normal mystery.
This was just the beginning.