Translator: SourKimchi
Han Yu-na was a rookie actress who had only recently started getting her face out there.
A couple of short web dramas, some bit parts in commercials, and a handful of viral shorts had landed, and she was becoming a face that those in the know would recognize.
Her name didn't carry much weight yet, but she was a promising up-and-comer with a future worth watching.
Filming had been going smoothly, and everything was falling into place.
But today the bad luck had piled up.
The shoot had run later than expected, and on top of that her manager's car had suddenly broken down.
Normally she would have called a taxi through an app, but the set happened to be out in the middle of nowhere, and even with the app open, there were no taxis to be found nearby.
Waiting much longer, she found it too dark all around, and just standing there sent a slow crawl of unease up her spine.
In the end, Han Yu-na had no choice but to flag down a passing taxi from the side of the road.
And then the broadcast she'd stumbled into while scrolling through shorts.
A Spirit Reading.
The warning from the man running the broadcast.
The taxi lurching to a sudden stop.
The man's smiling face in the rearview mirror.
After that, her memory cut out completely.
"Ugh."
When she first opened her eyes, she had no idea where she was.
Her head throbbed like it might split open.
The back of her neck burned hot, and her mouth was bone-dry.
"Where... am I?"
When she breathed in, the smell of damp dust flooded into her lungs.
The ceiling was low, and the room was pitch dark.
A faint light leaked in from somewhere in the corner, but it wasn't enough to make out her surroundings properly.
The walls were rough, the floor cold.
Swallowing a groan, Han Yu-na tried to push herself up.
"Huh?"
In that instant, her movement froze.
Her hands wouldn't lift the way she wanted them to.
Her heart plummeted.
Slowly, Han Yu-na lowered her gaze.
Both her wrists were bound behind her back.
A thick cord was cinched tight enough to dig into her skin.
Her ankles were the same.
She tried to twist at the waist, but her body wouldn't move the way she meant it to.
"Nngh..."
A short groan slipped out.
Only then did the memories come back in fragments.
The stopped taxi.
The words tossed back over his shoulder as the driver turned in his seat.
"Han Yu-na-ssi. Quick on the uptake, aren't you."
The moment those words came back to her ears, it felt like all the blood in her body went cold.
Han Yu-na sucked in a ragged breath.
She turned her head and scanned her surroundings.
Her bag was nowhere in sight.
Her phone was gone too.
Her coat, her wallet, nothing she could call her own was left.
She really had been kidnapped.
As that fact lodged itself clearly in her mind, her heart started slamming like mad.
She wrenched at her bound wrists, but the cord didn't budge.
Her ankles, the same.
The more she struggled, the more it just chafed her skin raw.
"Haah... haah..."
Her breath went short.
Her throat clenched tight.
That was when it happened.
From beyond the door came the faint sound of voices.
Not just one.
Several men's voices, murmuring together.
She couldn't make out exactly what they were saying, and that was even scarier.
Just knowing someone was on the other side of that door choked the breath out of her.
Han Yu-na froze where she was.
Outside, footsteps drew close once, then faded away again.
Only then could she barely manage to swallow a breath.
But the relief didn't last long.
She didn't even know where she was.
She didn't know how many of them were out there.
She had no way of knowing whether anyone would even hear her if she screamed for help.
In that moment, Han Yu-na understood, with absolute clarity, that she was in danger.
***
Park Ji-hun stared at the Discord window, brow drawn tight.
Only the call-ended notice sat there, alone on the screen.
The chat was already in an uproar.
-MuteRoom : wait is this real?
-Boserk : shouldn't we call the cops?
-SseomyeonMaster : bro do something, hurry up
-agei : this doesn't look like a joke
Park Ji-hun ran his eyes over the chat once.
"Quiet."
The chat stopped for a beat.
Still staring at the dead connection, he drummed his fingers on the desk.
The scenes he'd glimpsed earlier overlapped fast in his mind.
A sloped road.
A closed shutter.
A building with its lights out.
A locked door.
All of it was blurry, but one thing was clear: it was all heading toward disaster.
"We're taking a break from readings for a bit."
The chat stirred again, but he didn't look any further.
He picked up his phone right away and dialed 112. [TL Note: 112 is South Korea's emergency line for police.]
After a few short rings, a calm voice came on the line.
"Yes, this is 112."
Park Ji-hun didn't hesitate.
"A woman's been kidnapped."
The other end of the line went quiet for a beat.
"Do you have an exact location?"
"Not for certain. I got the taxi's plate up to 38-Ba-19, and the victim's name is Han Yu-na. She said she was headed to Seongbuk-dong, but it veered off the opposite way."
"Are you at the scene right now?"
"No. I heard it over a call during my broadcast."
The other end paused for a moment.
A trace of suspicion flickered through.
Park Ji-hun spoke in a firm tone.
"The doors were locked, and the call cut off in the middle. There may already be another report on file. Please check."
On the other end, the rapid clatter of a keyboard followed.
A moment later, the voice had changed a little.
Park Ji-hun's eyes narrowed.
"You need to move fast."
Leaving the Discord window open, he kept his eyes fixed on the monitor.
"It's a sloped road. Near a building with a shutter."
"What do you mean?"
Park Ji-hun went on.
"It's dark all around, off the main road. Somewhere with empty buildings. An industrial zone, or a shut-down strip of shops, somewhere like that. Ah, I saw a sign that read Hwajeong Industrial Works."
By that point, the person on the other end was no longer treating it as a prank.
"I'll dispatch units now. If you notice anything else, tell me right away."
Even as the call went on, Park Ji-hun's gaze never left the Discord connection.
The dead screen.
The broadcast still running.
The chat holding its very breath.
Over the line, a brief crackle of radio chatter cut in.
A few minutes stretched out like an hour.
Park Ji-hun never once rose from his seat.
He just kept telling the police everything he had seen.
***
Han Yu-na stared at the door, holding her breath.
Outside seemed to have gone quiet again, but that was closer to an illusion.
It wasn't quiet so much as so utterly still that every small sound came through all the sharper.
The buzz of an old fluorescent light somewhere.
The drip of water falling one drop at a time, far off.
Footsteps brushing past beyond the door.
Han Yu-na bit down on her lip.
Her bound wrists throbbed.
"Haah..."
A short breath trembled out of her.
She couldn't let herself be afraid.
She couldn't make a sound.
Her head knew it, but her body wouldn't obey.
That was when it happened.
A man's voice came from beyond the door again.
"Think she's awake yet?"
Han Yu-na's body went rigid.
Another voice answered.
"Still quiet in there."
"They always go quieter when they're scared."
Laughter laced through the voices from before.
Han Yu-na grew afraid even to breathe.
Her heart pounded so loudly she half-feared they could hear it through the door.
Splosh.
The sound of someone setting something down on the floor.
Then footsteps drew closer.
One step.
Then another.
The sense of them stopping right in front of the door.
Han Yu-na reflexively tried to shrink back.
But her bound body wouldn't move the way she wanted.
The door handle began to turn, slowly.
Creeeak.
Old metal shrieked.
Unable even to cover her mouth, Han Yu-na swallowed her breath.
Her vision swam.
Then two men stepped inside.
One of them looked familiar.
He was a man who had shown up at her fan signings a few times.
"You..."
The man smiled crookedly.
"So you remember me now."
Han Yu-na blinked.
A chill ran down her spine.
That man was not right in the head.
"Help me! There's someone in here!"
At that, the men advanced with menacing looks.
"Shut up."
"Don't scream."
Just as they were closing in.
An unexpected shout erupted from somewhere far off.
"Police!"
In an instant, the silence was torn apart.
"What the fuck!"
"How did they even find this place."
"Block them, now!"
Just as the two men moved to barricade the door.
From outside came the sound of something slamming hard.
Urgent footsteps tangled together all at once, shaking the hallway.
"Open the door!"
"Hands up! Don't move!"
Bang–!
The door rattled violently on its frame.
Han Yu-na listened to it all, unable even to blink.
Like someone who had forgotten how to breathe.
Once more.
Bang!
The door flew open, inward.
Blinding flashlight beams swept the room all at once.
Han Yu-na reflexively squeezed her eyes shut.
"She's in here!"
It was an unfamiliar voice, but in that moment there was no more welcome sound in the world.
"Are you all right? Are you hurt anywhere?"
The instant she heard those words, Han Yu-na realized she'd been clenching her teeth the whole time.
The breath that had risen all the way up her throat burst out at once.
"H-help me..."
She couldn't get the rest of it out.
The strength she'd barely been holding onto drained away in a single moment.
One of the officers hurried over and started with the cord around her wrists.
The moment it came loose, her skin throbbed.
Even that pain felt unreal, too much to quite believe.
"I'll call an ambulance. Breathe slowly. It's all right now."
It's all right now.
At those few short words, Han Yu-na finally let her head drop.
Her shoulders shook, just slightly.
Like someone on the verge of breaking into tears.
Out beyond the door, shouts and footsteps were still tangled together.
"He's running that way!"
"Cut him off, don't let him get away!"
"Get the cuffs on this bastard first!"
Listening to it all in a daze, Han Yu-na suddenly remembered something.
That voice from beyond the black screen, the one that had kept warning her right to the very end.
With a cracked voice, Han Yu-na barely managed to speak.
"That person..."
The detective beside her looked over.
"Who do you mean?"
Han Yu-na wet her dry lips once.
Her breathing still hadn't come back properly.
"PerpetualJobSeeker-nim..."
The detective's brow furrowed, just slightly.
"Someone you know? A friend of yours?"
Han Yu-na slowly shook her head.
"No..."
A short breath slipped out.
"On an Internet Broadcast... he's the one who does Spirit Readings."
The detective's gaze stopped for a moment.
"What kind of broadcast?"
Through trembling lips, Han Yu-na barely managed to add,
"It was because of what he told me that I could hold on to the very end."
The detective didn't reply.
Just then the paramedics came over.
"We need to transport the patient now."
The detective gave a short nod.
Soon Han Yu-na was carried out of the room, supported by the paramedics.
The detective watched her go in silence.
It wasn't the face of someone joking around.
The particular tremor of someone gripped by terror still clung to her body.
After a moment, the detective turned to the junior officer beside them.
"Pull up that broadcast."