Chapter 13
“…You knew from the start, didn’t you?”
“……”
Of course.
No wonder Dan Seo-hyuk kept ignoring me and staring somewhere else the whole time.
Now that I was aware of it, I suddenly felt a chilly draft below my waist.
Damn it, I need to pee. But if I go to the bathroom, what if that thing follows me when I’m alone?!
Even if it meant getting a bladder infection, I’d rather hold it in.
I glared desperately up at Dan Seo-hyuk, who only frowned back at me.
“Stop looking at me.”
What the hell was I supposed to do, then?
“You’re making me uncomfortable.”
Would it be rude to curse at a ghost in front of him? Then again, that ghost’s been around longer than me—surely it won’t curse me for being “disrespectful,” right?
“Ah…”
Jang Hyun-woo grabbed his head. Both Seo-hyuk and I turned toward him.
“Sorry. Weird words keep slipping out without me realizing.”
That must be the ghost’s influence.
Trying not to think about the thing below, I kept the conversation going.
“It’s fine. But in that case, shouldn’t you stop keeping that keyring with you?”
“I tried to throw it away already.”
Hyun-woo rolled up the sleeve of his hospital gown.
“Gasp!”
His arm was covered with deep, bluish handprints—as if someone had gripped him hard enough to bruise.
Seeing my shocked face, Hyun-woo said weakly, “It wouldn’t let me.”
“But didn’t someone give that keyring to you? Wouldn’t they have done that because it didn’t bother them?”
“That’s because they passed it on.”
Seo-hyuk suddenly cut in. He paused, as if thinking through a solution, then said,
“It might be better to just return it to the original owner.”
Return it?
“That’s not possible.”
“Why not?”
“Because…”
I couldn’t answer him.
If I said, ‘A soldier ghost showed up when you weren’t around and told me not to,’ he’d definitely look at me like I’d lost my mind.
He’d glare at me with those judgmental eyes again and say, “You still believe what ghosts say?”
But that ghost told me clearly—not to return it, not to burn it.
Sure, it was just a ghost’s warning, but something about it was impossible to ignore.
That ghost was… different.
There was no sense of fear or hostility—and most importantly…
He was handsome. For a ghost.
Okay, yeah, saying that out loud would definitely earn me a scolding.
When I didn’t answer, Seo-hyuk frowned.
“We can’t give it back to the original owner.”
Hyun-woo replied gloomily.
“I tried contacting them to ask what was going on, but they blocked me.”
So there was no way to reach them anymore.
“You said you bought it secondhand online, right?”
“Yeah. But the person I met was weird from the start.”
He rolled his eyes, remembering.
“She was so thin it looked like her skin was stretched over her bones… and when she handed me the doll, both her thumbs were missing.”
“Her thumbs?”
“Yeah. Isn’t that strange? Even if it were an accident, how do you lose both thumbs?”
He wiggled his own thumbs meaningfully, eyes unfocused.
“And she said something really weird.”
I already didn’t want to know.
“What did she say?”
“She said, ‘I’m lucky it ended with my fingers. At least I didn’t go missing.’”
Then why would you take that thing?!
I bit my tongue.
Hyun-woo’s anxious face stopped me. He’d probably been compelled by the ghost too—yelling at him wouldn’t help.
Wait—missing?
I wasn’t the only one who reacted sharply to that word.
“Missing?” Seo-hyuk finally looked straight at Hyun-woo for the first time since we’d entered the lounge.
“Explain that in detail.”
If it involved a ghost, of course he’d be tense.
No way this keyring ghost was into human trafficking, right?
Still, that terrifying face… totally final-boss material.
The bridge where the ghost had appeared earlier flashed through my mind again.
“I don’t know much. I didn’t want to ask.”
“……”
Unsettling.
Apparently, after handing over the keyring, the woman had fled. Then she’d blocked Hyun-woo immediately afterward.
“Am I going to disappear too? Or maybe… if I pass the keyring on to someone else… Yeah, Yu Chae-song! When is she coming?”
“What? You’re not thinking of giving it to her, are you?”
“If I pass it on like the original owner did, maybe I can survive!”
Hyun-woo grabbed my arm, his grip so tight I winced.
“Someone who needs it should have it, right?!”
“Ow—let go! Calm down!”
“I don’t want to go missing! My wish wasn’t even dangerous! Or maybe… you take it! If you don’t make a wish, maybe nothing will happen!”
“Jang Hyun-woo—!”
“Stop.”
Seo-hyuk covered my mouth.
“Ah… please…”
When had it started?
In Hyun-woo’s black pupils, I saw my own reflection.
And beside me—smiling grotesquely—stood a woman.
That horrifying face… Hyun-woo was seeing it too.
“Cho-yeon… save me…”
“……”
“……”
A black hand reached out from beside my face.
It slowly cupped Hyun-woo’s head.
The skin was covered, edge to edge, in tiny letters—so densely that his skin had turned completely black.
Save me save me save me save me save me please save me soon it’s your turn save me save me save me save me…
Only one phrase repeated over and over: “Save me.”
Wait, was that all?
I thought I’d seen other words in there—right before—
“AAAHHH!”
Hyun-woo’s eyes rolled back as he collapsed backward with a thud.
Screams erupted around us.
People rushed over.
Seo-hyuk and I both stepped back.
“Sir! Can you hear me?!”
Hyun-woo didn’t respond. As the medical staff hurried him away, I stared blankly after them.
Something brushed past—a lock of black hair, maybe?—before my vision went dark.
Something warm and large covered my eyes.
Seo-hyuk.
It was his hand.
Then, right beside my ear, a voice whispered.
“Soon.”
That voice—metallic and cold—the same one I’d heard from Yu Chae-song and Hyun-woo.
I held my breath.
Was it really beside me?
My cheek tingled. Both sides.
Maybe… the ghost wasn’t whispering beside me.
Maybe it was right in front of my face.
“It’s your turn.”
Now I understood the other words written between all those “save me”s.
They were a warning—
meant for me.
* * *
It really came true.
Yu Chae-song rested her chin on her hand in her darkened room.
The image of Hyun-woo falling from the rooftop was still vivid in her mind.
A wish to the doll actually comes true…?
She had laughed it off as nonsense.
But after what happened to Hyun-woo, she couldn’t dismiss it anymore.
He’s not the type to secretly study.
And there was no way he could’ve overtaken her grades in such a short time.
So, out of curiosity, she took the keyring and made a wish.
“Punish the one who unfairly harmed my grades.”
She never imagined Hyun-woo would really fall from the roof afterward.
It had been shocking—yet, beneath the shock, there’d been something else.
Joy.
It really came true.
And Hyun-woo hadn’t even died—just a few fractures.
A punishment, literally.
Her only side effect was a minor nosebleed.
“Amazing,” she murmured.
No, what’s wrong with me? How can I call it amazing when Hyun-woo got hurt?
She scowled and looked toward the desk mirror.
Her own pale reflection stared back—
and on her shoulder, an unfamiliar hand rested.
“……”
The skin was pitch-black, covered entirely in cramped letters.
As she stared, her pupils lost focus.
…He didn’t die, though.
It’s fine. It’s not like he was seriously injured.
The dry, cracked hand slid from her shoulder to her cheek, tracing up her neck.
The skin felt like splintered wood.
Yu Chae-song’s lips slowly curled into a wide, unnatural smile.
A grotesque grin.
Yeah, it’s fine. I just have to use it smartly.
If she didn’t depend on the keyring, but merely used it to her advantage…
Hyun-woo’s wish wasn’t even that impossible.
It had just been too much for someone like him, who never studied.
The teachers and students were surprised, but they didn’t really suspect anything, did they?
She remembered all the cuts and bruises that had covered Hyun-woo’s body.
…So he must have gotten hurt because the wish affected other people’s thoughts too.
Then if she narrowed the scope of her wish—kept it realistic—
The risk would shrink.
She should test it.
She wasn’t stupid enough to ruin her life with reckless wishes when she’d been given such a useful chance.
Yu Chae-song turned to look at the corner of the room.
Something crouched there—the same thing she’d seen in the classroom.
It stared straight at her, unblinking.
At first it scared me, but… if it’s useful, who cares.
The woman ghost—tangled hair, body covered in unreadable letters—was silent, but Yu Chae-song remembered the moment it had grabbed her leg at school.
I never believed ghosts were real…
She’d be lying if she said she wasn’t scared.
It was more hideous than she could have imagined.
Her eyes shifted to what the ghost held in its arms—
Jang Hyun-woo’s school bag. The keyring still attached.
I was going to sneak in tonight to get it.
When she’d opened her closet and found that bag sitting inside instead, she’d been terrified—
but then overjoyed.
She still didn’t know the ghost’s intent.
Maybe it wanted to torment her like Hyun-woo, punish her for daring to wish.
Either way, it came to me. Saves me the trouble. No CCTV, no theft charges.
Yu Chae-song rose slowly and approached the ghost.
She plucked the keyring from the bag and returned to her desk.
Her parents had banned coffee and energy drinks, worried about her caffeine intake, so she’d been wondering how to study through the night.
So she made a wish.
“Let me stay alert all night without losing energy.”
And it worked. I’m not sleepy at all. This is perfect—no one gets hurt, and I can study better!
Even as her toenails cracked and peeled off one by one, the floor beneath her glistening with blood—
Yu Chae-song hummed a cheerful tune, her pale face illuminated by the dark glow of the keyring.
