Before I knew it, the hour hand on the clock was pointing to 1.
As the man’s story ended, everyone fell silent like a dead mouse.
“…This is the note I received from that girl.”
Saying that, the man took a piece of paper out of his pocket.
It was a red piece of paper, smaller than the palm of his hand.
—The name. Have you decided on it?
That was exactly what was written on the paper.
I swallowed my breath. It felt like ice had brushed against my spine.
Everyone had a different reaction.
Some had a terrified expression like me, and some remained expressionless.
The girl sitting to my right was even smiling slightly.
The man brought the paper he was holding over the candle.
The moment the flame touched the surface, it began to burn. The red paper turned to ash in an instant.
The man’s hand was trembling slightly.
“As I mentioned, ever since I met 15, I became deeply immersed in supernatural phenomena.”
I’ve heard countless stories from people who, like me, faced bizarre situations.
The man continued speaking. Not just his hands, but even his voice was trembling.
“Some of you here may already know. Every story that appears in ‘Ten Tales at Midnight’, they are all true.”
What?
I furrowed my brows. What is this man talking about?
All the stories from Ten Tales at Midnight are true?
“Now you understand why I’m here.”
When the man said that, a few people nodded.
Of course, I was just confused.
“The best way to sublimate a ghost story is…”
“Binding the phenomenon down with words.”
Someone interrupted the man. It was the girl sitting to my right.
She was smiling brightly.
“15 and the red note. You’re trying to confine your past within the pages, aren’t you, Teacher?”
“…That’s right.”
The man nodded as he spoke.
This girl seemed to be some kind of expert in supernatural elements.
It didn’t match her beautiful appearance at all.
“Turning it into text. It’s a good way to escape situations entangled with grudges or murderous intent. The moment it’s recorded, the phenomenon is overturned into a mere story.”
“You know quite a lot.”
“But Teacher, you made a mistake.”
“Yes…?”
The man blinked at the girl’s words.
“A mistake… What do you mean?”
“You shouldn’t leave out the important parts. If you do, it might come back to haunt you instead.”
The man’s eyes wavered.
He appeared flustered.
But regardless, the girl continued speaking.
“The car parked outside. I saw you get out of it, Teacher.”
“…Ah…”
“There was something stuck to the wheel.”
The girl’s composed smile.
All nine gazes turned toward her.
“The night road was dark. A small object, like a cat, would have been hard to see. Especially if it was black.”
“……”
The man lowered his head. He admitted his mistake without hesitation.
“That’s right. I killed the cat. It was so dark that I couldn’t avoid it in time.”
“And then?”
“……”
“There must be an ending to this ghost story.”
“…And then…”
The man’s lips trembled. Cold sweat was clearly visible, dripping down his forehead.
“And this time… that cat wasn’t alone.”
The man spoke as if letting out a groan.
The candle in front of him flickered, and the air in the basement shifted.
“Now, this is turning into a great story!”
The girl clapped her hands and laughed. The man placed his left hand on his forehead.
His face was twisted in apparent anguish.
The will left by 15.
1. Play with the cat
2. Don’t mention the notes
3. Give a name to the dead baby
The cat was dead. This time, it was the man who killed it.
The story of the note was shared with the nine people gathered here.
The baby who left with 15 still hasn’t been given a name.
Fifteen years have passed since 15’s suicide.
Once again, the man failed to keep the will. No, ‘broke’ might be the more fitting word.
Whether it was coincidence or fate.
A strange event repeating like a turning wheel.
It was, without a doubt, a ghost story.
A breeze blew from somewhere, making the candles flicker.
Thud.
As if it had been preordained, only the man’s candle toppled over.
The flickering candle went out with a sharp whoosh.
“…Huh?”
The man’s eyes widened. He was staring at the fallen candle.
No. To be precise, he was staring at the spot where the candle had fallen.
Something that had been underneath the candle had now revealed itself.
A red piece of paper.
“I’m sure… I burned it…”
The man spoke in disbelief.
We were just as shocked. We had all seen him burning the note he took out from his pocket.
How was this possible?
Even the girl, who had been smiling so confidently, had now lost her smile.
The red note had been under the candle from the very beginning.
It had been waiting for him there.
Even before the man began his story.
The man reached out. His hand was trembling.
Not a subtle tremble, but as if he were gripping a hammer drill.
Swallowing his breath, he unfolded the note. The other nine people couldn’t tell what was written on it.
The man who read the note didn’t twist his face in fear or scream.
However, something seemed to drain from his eyes. Something essential, something irretrievably vital.
As if possessed, the man opened his mouth.
“…Honey…”
He mumbled, and with staggering steps, stood up from his chair and began to walk.
And then he walked out of the basement.
I stared blankly at his retreating figure.
What on earth had been written on that note?
＊ ＊ ＊
About a minute had passed since the man left.
“Ahem.”
The silence was broken by a polite cough from the woman who had been sitting next to the man.
She wore glasses and had her hair neatly parted.
“That was quite an interesting story. So then… shall we meet again next week? There’s a story I absolutely must share with you.”
The woman spoke in a slightly awkward tone. Most people nodded in agreement.
I was taken aback. Meet again next week?
They seemed to be too into ghost stories.
“Then let’s gather here next Saturday at 10 p.m…..”
“How exciting. I can’t wait for my turn.”
No one seemed worried about the man who had left the basement.
His candle, now lying on its side atop the desk, looked somehow ominous.
“When the candle goes out, someone dies…..”
I muttered to myself. Of course, that’s just something from the book.
Just because a candle went out doesn’t mean the man will actually die. That kind of thing doesn’t happen.
…Probably. That’s how it should be.
“It’s getting pretty late. I think I’ll head out now.”
“Ah, me too.”
“Shall we?”
One by one, people began to leave their seats. I awkwardly got up as well and made my way toward the stairs.
Suddenly, I looked back, and saw the nine remaining candles still glowing in the basement.
And someone was still in her seat.
It was the girl who had been sitting to my left.
Unlike the girl on my right, she had stayed completely silent the entire time.
Not once had she opened her mouth.
Her long, jet-black hair melted into the darkness.
Sitting still, eyes fixed on the candlelight, her face was strikingly beautiful.
Was she planning to stay behind?
It felt awkward to speak to her, so I just stepped outside.
The cool night air wrapped around my body.
＊ ＊ ＊
“Will we meet again?”
“Yes…”
I gave a small bow.
The girl smiled brightly.
Our paths to home overlapped.
“Do you live around here?”
“Yeah. About ten minutes walk from here.”
“Wow, lucky you~ But you don’t have to be so formal with me.”
“Huh?”
“You look older than me, anyway.”
She definitely did look young. She was probably a high school student.
Still, it felt a bit awkward to speak casually right off the bat.
“Ah, n-no. I think it’s a bit too soon to…”
“Aww, then how about we start with introductions?”
With a playful grin, the girl held out her hand.
“My name’s Park Sooyun, I’m eighteen. So from now on, talk casually with me, okay?”
I couldn’t help but take her hand.
“…I’m Lee Hajin. I’m twenty-three.”
“Hehe, I knew it~ You are a senior!”
[T/N: Oppa (오빠) means ‘Brother’, called by younger girls to someone older than them (men). Not necessarily blood related. It can also be interpreted as ‘Senior’.]
Sooyun shook my hand cheerfully.
Even back in the basement, I had felt it, she was a bit difficult to understand.
Sooyun and I walked side by side down the street.
Perhaps because it was late into the night, we were the only ones on the street.
The buildings, with their lights all off, looked like they had closed their eyes.
The whole world seemed to be asleep.
“Hey, Sooyun.”
“Yes?”
“Are you… coming again next week?”
“Hmm. Well~”
Sooyun looked at me as she said that,
as if to ask, ‘What about you, Senior?’
I decided to just be honest.
“Those people, they seem kind of strange. That teacher who talked about the note, too. He didn’t seem all there…. It’s like…”
“Like he was possessed by something, right?”
“Yeah. He seemed possessed by something.”
“Haha.”
Sooyun laughed. On the other hand, my expression was a bit serious.
Just thinking about the red note sent a chill down my spine.
If Sooyun hadn’t been walking beside me, I might have sprinted home full speed.
“Brother Hajin, you’re not really into supernatural stuff or ghost stories, are you?”
“Yeah. Honestly, not really. The only reason I came today was because I wanted to ask the writer something.”
The wind blew.
Sooyun’s brown bob hair swayed gently.
“You seem really into ghost stories.”
“Yeah. I love scary stories.”
That seemed like it.
“Today’s story was quite a tasty one, too.”
“When they said 15 committed suicide, it was really shocking. But the rest of the story… that must’ve been made up, right?”
“No.”
Sooyun shook her head.
“It wasn’t made up.”
“Then…”
“Brother Hajin, do you believe in psychics?”
I paused for a moment. A psychic.
It was essentially the same as being asked if I believed in ghosts.
In situations like this, it’s better to give a somewhat vague answer.
“Well, I haven’t witnessed any supernatural phenomena myself.”
“What about what happened today? You saw it too, didn’t you? The red note under that teacher’s candle.”
“About that. I feel like it was staged.”
“Staged?”
Sooyun tilted her head. I raised my right hand and clenched my fist.
“An unexpected twist for the readers, something like that.”
“Aha. So you think the teacher’s true identity is the writer?”
“The teacher was the first to bring up the ghost story among the ten people and started telling it. I can’t help but be suspicious.”
“Pfft. That sounds like something straight out of a third-rate web novel.”
Sooyun burst into laughter. Whether it was mocking or something else, I couldn’t tell.
Feeling a bit annoyed, I decided to just walk in silence.
Before I knew it, Sooyun had gotten much closer to me.
“I’ve always liked observing things since I was young.”
“Hmm.”
“Now it has become second nature to me. In any situation, I start by observing.”
Sooyun had even noticed the blood on the wheel and deduced that the cat had been killed.
An instinct most ordinary people didn’t have. She had something like that within her.
“When we left that abandoned building, do you know what I observed?”
“What?”
“That car. The one the teacher came here.”
Sooyun’s face, looking at me, had become quite serious.
There was no trace of a smile.
“What’s wrong with the car…?”
“It was just there. In the same spot it had been.”
“So what about it?”
Sooyun sighed.
“The teacher left before any of us. But the car was in the exact same spot it had been.”
“Maybe it had the engine running?”
“No. There was no one in the car.”
I stopped walking.
As the night air passed between Sooyun and me, I felt as though my body was freezing.
“Th-then… maybe the teacher went around the back of the building for something…”
“I walked around the building, but I didn’t see anyone.”
“Then… inside the building…”
“The stairs to the upper floor were locked. He wasn’t hidden between the furniture, either.”
“……”
I was at a loss for words.
Suddenly, I thought of the teacher’s candle that had fallen in the wind. The candle that had gone out lifelessly…
“…Where did the teacher go?”
