🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter 4
“Don’t do anything pointless and stay quiet. If you respond to it, you’ll attract ghosts.”
“H-huh.”
How can he say something so terrifying without even blinking…?
After checking every room and confirming there were no people inside, the male student sat down on the sofa. He crossed his arms, deep in thought.
I glanced at Red’s expression before quietly moving closer to the male student.
“Should we block the door with something?”
“Do you really think that would work on ghosts?”
His tone was sarcastic, as if I didn’t even have basic common sense.
Hey, how am I supposed to know anything about ghosts? He’s been rude this whole time.
“But they haven’t been able to come inside, right?”
Of course, I only shouted that internally because I knew I was in the wrong here.
“This is my first time dealing with something like this too.”
The male student paused briefly, then stood up again.
“Just in case, let’s hide inside the apartment too.”
“Huh?”
“So they can’t find us even if they come inside.”
He looked around the room and listed possible hiding places he had already considered.
“Pick one. Closet, washing machine, or shoe cabinet.”
Why is the washing machine even an option…
“Just so you know, I don’t recommend the shoe cabinet. It’s near the entrance, so we could be found quickly.”
Then there was only one option left.
“Then the closet… Where are you going to hide?”
“I’ll handle it myself. There’s a walk-in dressing room in the master bedroom, I’ll use that.”
“Wait…! I-I’m scared of being alone. Can’t we hide together?”
The male student looked at me like I’d said something absurd.
“Don’t talk like a child.”
Then he turned away without hesitation.
‘You’re the weird one for being this calm in this situation!’
This was my first time seeing ghosts—of course I’d be scared! And if we got caught, we could die!
I was slumping my shoulders and heading toward the master bedroom when the male student suddenly came up behind me.
“What’s your name?”
“Gah! I-I’m Machoyeon… why?”
“No reason. Just curious.”
How random.
As he turned away again after finishing his sentence, I grabbed his wrist.
“Why don’t you tell me your name too?”
His expression clearly said why do you need to know that, but—
He was the one who asked first out of curiosity!
“…Dan Seohyeok.”
He looked a little reluctant, but still answered.
For a brief moment, I felt oddly satisfied.
‘Dan Seohyeok?’
My mouth slowly fell open.
‘That Dan Seohyeok?!’
He was the protagonist of <Introduction to Survival in Urban Ghost Stories>!
‘Of all people, I got tangled up with the protagonist!!’
Unlike other novel protagonists, this guy got killed by ghosts at the drop of a hat!
Of course, as a protagonist, Dan Seohyeok had a “regression” ability—meaning he could come back even after dying.
‘The problem is everyone around him.’
Those who die with Dan Seohyeok don’t have any special abilities like regression. If they die, they’re just dead.
“Hey, what’s wrong with you?”
Dan Seohyeok asked, looking puzzled.
My face was probably pale, so I couldn’t bring myself to say it was because of him and just opened my mouth awkwardly—
At that moment.
[Noona.]
Red had already come up and tapped my leg.
[They’re coming in soon.]
I quickly looked toward the entrance.
[Not there.]
But Red pointed in the opposite direction of the front door.
The balcony.
[That way.]
Dan Seohyeok and I slowly turned our heads.
And there—
Dozens of pale arms, only up to the elbows, were crawling all over the balcony window, clinging to it like insects.
“W-what the hell is that…?!”
The rough, jagged cut surfaces of the arms looked like they had been hacked off repeatedly with a dull blade—bone and veins clearly visible inside. And yet blood still dripped continuously, as if they were alive.
From a distance, they looked like a giant cluster of caterpillars. Sticky blood trailed across the window like insect slime.
“Th-those things are—”
[We have to hide.]
Red said.
At those words, Dan Seohyeok quickly grabbed my hand and pulled me toward the master bedroom—but then stopped.
Because the master bedroom also had a balcony.
And the same arms were already crawling over its window too.
“…So hiding inside the house is pointless.”
At that moment, one of the arms curled its fingers.
Knock.
Then it tapped the window with its knuckles.
Knock.
The rest of the arms followed, slowly curling their fingers as if responding.
Knock. Knock…
Knock knock… knock knock…
Chapter 4 (continued)
A sound like someone demanding the door be opened echoed from every direction—glass windows being slammed and struck violently.
“Damn it!”
I quickly scanned my surroundings, but Dan Seohyeok had likely already noticed too. Those things had already taken positions at every windowed area.
The bathroom, the laundry room—everywhere! Why does this place have so many windows?!
‘We need to get outside.’
I looked at Red, who had been the one to warn us. Those unnaturally large eyes stared up at me silently.
‘What am I even expecting? Why am I trusting a ghost?!’
This time, we absolutely could not let those things figure out where we were hiding. But how?
In the part I had read, Dan Seohyeok had never come to Eden Villa before.
‘But he knows this place…’
If this was later in the timeline… don’t tell me he had already regressed?
“Peanut.”
Even in this chaotic situation, his irritating nickname snapped me back as I shot him a glare.
“…I’ll buy us time. In the meantime, go down to the third floor and find an empty apartment.”
“What are you talking about?”
There was no emotion in Dan Seohyeok’s face—nothing readable at all.
“Just hold out until morning. Then you’ll survive.”
But his calm tone made him look like someone already prepared to die.
Even if he had regressed…
‘That doesn’t mean he isn’t afraid of death.’
Was that calmness? Or resignation?
‘How am I supposed to just leave someone making that face behind?’
I was scared too—really scared—but I wasn’t cowardly enough to abandon someone like that.
Deciding to postpone the “regression theory” for now, I grabbed his arm.
With my other hand, I quickly operated my phone pulled from my hoodie pocket.
“Hey, you’ve got your own phone too—!”
Dan Seohyeok started to protest, but I cut him off firmly instead of explaining I had forgotten earlier.
“Let’s go.”
“What?”
“There’s nowhere to hide here anyway. We need to find somewhere else.”
“How are we supposed to move when those things are watching us!”
“Dan Seohyeok, you said it yourself.”
At that moment, I successfully maxed out my phone volume.
I opened a music app, pressed play, and at the same time opened the front door and slid the phone hard all the way to the end of the hallway.
“We just need to survive until morning.”
Bright, upbeat idol music completely out of place in this situation echoed as the phone slid away.
“We’re not done yet.”
Still holding Dan Seohyeok’s hand, I moved down the stairs as quickly—and quietly—as possible.
The phone would stop once it hit a wall or obstacle, and I had no idea how much attention a ghost would give to a sound source that stayed still but kept playing noise. We had to move fast.
There was no time to check every door.
‘…There was only one place that was already open. A place definitely unoccupied.’
I headed toward the first-floor elevator.
The elevator.
It wasn’t a living space, so it was guaranteed to be empty.
But it was also likely those ghosts might return, making this a reckless gamble.
‘At least there don’t seem to be any left right now.’
From the stairway leading down to the first floor, I peeked at the elevator.
In the darkness and silence of the first floor, the half-open elevator doors looked like the mouth of some monster.
Tap. Tap.
As if sensing my thoughts, Dan Seohyeok—who had been silently following—nudged my shoulder.
“Are you insane?”
His pale face seemed to say exactly that.
Yeah… probably.
I nodded.
His face went even paler.
Yeah, I know.
‘We just need to go down.’
At some point, I was basically being dragged along by Dan Seohyeok, but I moved forward without hesitation.
Or rather—I tried to. If he hadn’t suddenly frozen in place.
‘Not there.’
His expression clearly said that.
I tilted my chin as if asking whether he had been there before. He hesitated.
Apparently, he hadn’t tried it.
Then it should be fine.
I started dragging the heavy “Dan Seohyeok-shaped baggage” downward.
He resisted for a moment, but perhaps deciding silence was more important, he eventually followed quietly.
Thankfully, the elevator was empty.
Even the ceiling was clean, with nothing hanging.
‘Thank god. If something had been there, I really would’ve cried.’
No—before that, an angry Dan Seohyeok might’ve killed me first…
The only disturbing things were the claw-like scratches on the floor and smeared blood marks that looked like something had been violently scraped across the doors.
‘But compared to outside, this is paradise!’
We leaned against opposite sides of the elevator doors, finally able to catch our breath in a hidden space.
Our exhausted bodies longed for rest.
We couldn’t talk because of the need for silence, but I could tell even Dan Seohyeok was catching his breath.
The faint sound of music still echoed from upstairs. With the battery I had checked earlier, it would probably last quite a while.
‘I hope nothing happens until morning.’
Maybe I had finally relaxed just a little.
Or maybe my body, overwhelmed by sudden danger, was simply giving up.
My eyelids kept drooping.
‘I want to sleep…’
Just for a moment?
I hugged my knees and rubbed my eyes, when I felt Dan Seohyeok’s gaze on me.
He stared for a moment… then turned away as if pretending not to notice.
That felt almost like permission.
So I closed my eyes.
If only this were all a dream.
Coming to Eden Villa… my brother disappearing…
‘Chohae…’
I just hoped he wasn’t going through any of this terrifying nightmare.
