The Conundrum | Han Jisung.

03. CHAPTER THREE

《 NARRATOR SUNGMI 》

September 17th, 2017

'Tick Tock'

The clock's constant noise resonated throughout the room. The air was serene, except for this clock's noise, to the point that it was extremely frightening.

Eunsung didn't like this air at all, and it made her restless. She turned around repeatedly, trying to reason with herself that there was nothing out there.

But her reasoning didn't work. There was something that was watching her every move, every fear, every emotion. This thought alone was enough to send chills down her backbone.

Sungmi closed her eyes tightly, praying to whatever God was out there for this to be only a delusion of her. Eunsang went in deeper into her blanket and hugged herself tightly.

She was never good with this stuff. Horror movies were always the genre she would watch if only strongly forced. And right now, she felt as if she was in one.

Unable to bear this, Eunsang removed her blanket and stood up from the bed. Tears welled up in her eyes, and mustering up all the courage she had, she said the following thing.

"Whatever is out there show yourself, right now."

There was no reply to that, and Eunsang let out a sigh of relief. She smiled to herself, thinking maybe she was just being paranoid.

But that smile didn't last long on her face because there was a sound. It was a sound of someone clapping. The claps echoed several times and, then, stopped.

Eunsang fell back on her bed at that, and her heart started beating rapidly. Her eyes watered, and this time, she was assured that someone was there. Her body froze, and her breathing rate increased.

Eunsang wanted to get out of this place immediately, but her legs couldn't move. It was as if some unknown force was holding herself to her place.

•••

The night came to an end, and the morning appeared. After that slapping, nothing happened, and the air around her was pretty normal too. But sleep didn't come to her due to fear.

Eunsang walked to her mirror and looked at her appearance, which was not at all suitable for the first day of University. She let out a sigh, wondering how much longer can she bear this.

She ran a comb through her tangled hair as she thought of all the events that occurred yesterday and today night. No matter what, this was something paranormal and not a work of the intruder?

Someone was looking at her back, and she felt that strongly. She stopped moving the blue comb and turned back. But, there was nothing there.

However, when she turned back to look in the mirror, there was something written with blood red ink. Eunsang gasped at that and took a step back.

'Do you know me?'

Eunsang ran out of the room and sat at the doorstep, clenching her heart tightly.

'This is not how it goes in the horror movies. The ghost attacks but by bit, not as much as this one.'

Eunsang face-palmed herself and cursed herself mentally from thinking like this at the current moment.

Eunsang stood up from her position, knowing that she had no option other than going into that room for going to the university or else she'll be late on the first day, which is the one of the absolute worst to her- as she wanted to leave a good impression on the teachers.

Plus, it's not as if this so-called ghost is only haunting her room; it's haunting the whole house. And if it wanted to harm her, it can harm right now.

With that kind of reasoning, Eunsang headed into her room.

•••

Wearing her white sneakers, Eunsang went out of her house, and she was surprised to see her cousin, Minho, there with his blue convertible.

"Come on in quickly, or else we'll be late," Minho shouted from the distance.

Smiling at the fact that she doesn't have to take a bus to university, she ran over to his car. She opened the door of the car and took a seat in the back. Minho started the car.

"Good morning, Eunsang," a girl, sitting in the front passenger seat, greeted.

"You didn't tell me you're coming, Oppa," Eunsang said, and then, continued, "Good morning, Ahyoung!"

"Aish! This girl! Check your phone. I called you about ten times."

Astonished to hear that, Eunsang checks out her phone to see ten missed calls and five texts from Minho, and eight missed calls from Ahyoung.

"Sorry, Oppa and Ahyoung," Eunsang apologized, grinning widely.

'I can't believe that I didn't hear those calls. This house is making me go crazy!'

Right then, Eunsang's eyes went somewhere. She noticed that her Oppa and Ahyoung was holding hands with their fingers intertwined.

"Ahyoung, I am disappointed in you."

"What? What happened?" Ahyoung asked, turning back and looking worried.

"I thought I was supposed to be your best friend," Eunsang asked, pretending to be sad.

"You're my best friend. But is everything okay?"

"Then, what about this?" Eunsang asked, pointing her hand towards their hands.

"What do you- Ah! It's nothing!"

Noticing what Eunsang was talking about, Ahyoung rapidly removed her hand from Minho's and blushed red.

"Hey! Stop doing that so suddenly! We're going to crash," Minho yells to the blushing Ahyoung. "And yes, we're dating."

"I am sorry, Eunsang," Ahyoung apologized.

"I'll forgive you in one condition. That is to allow me to stay at your house for this whole week."

Eunsang thought of this as a good opportunity to escape from that creepy house of hers. That house was definitely not normal, and now, at least for one week, she'll be at peace.

"Sure! I have no problem with that. Plus, my parents are out of town."

•••

Eunsang walked through the empty corridor of the University to find her class. This silence in the corridor brought back the creepy feeling to her.

Shivers ran down her spine, as she looked at her surroundings. The same eerie feeling that she felt back in the house returned. This someone or something was following her around.

That thought alone was incredibly terrifying!

Eunsang's eyes widened, as she heard someone's footsteps heading towards her. Adrenaline rushed through her blood vessels, and the hair in the back stood up straight.

Eunsang, being strongly scared of all these, ran away from there.

What she didn't know that there was someone standing there, behind her, smirking at her reaction.