Chapter 63
The next morning, Jang Hyun-woo opened his eyes and realized it was morning thanks to the bright sunlight.
When he sat up, the ghost he had seen the previous night was nowhere to be found. Park Chung-man was standing silently by the window, staring out, as if he had been awake for a while.
Hyun-woo hesitated before speaking.
“Um, Grandpa… Did you maybe hear me screaming last night?”
“……”
“There was this weird nurse… I guess you could call her that? A ghost! She was here! Blood was dripping from her head!”
“……”
“Grandpa? Grandpa!”
Park Chung-man didn’t respond at all.
Growing frustrated, Hyun-woo got up, intending to climb out of bed—
“Huh?”
—when he saw a notebook on the floor.
Had it fallen open? It was strange… It was an entirely new page—one he hadn’t read yet.
‘I didn’t even hear it fall.’
Drawn to it as if mesmerized, he picked up the notebook and read.
[Ward 303 Medical Record.
Patient: Im Kyung-mi, 24.
Brought to ER after guardian Park Chung-man’s 119 call.
Rib fracture. Third-degree burns to chest and abdomen. Intestinal rupture.
Suspected domestic violence and abuse.]
‘W-Wait, this wasn’t here yesterday.’
He flipped back a few pages—the earlier entries were exactly the same as before. Meaning the following records had been added afterward.
But how?
A chill ran through him. Hyun-woo stuffed the notebook deep into the room’s trash bin, then hurried outside and grabbed a passing nurse.
“Where’s the nurse who came to check my temperature in Room 303 last night?”
“Last night? We’d have to check the records for that…”
“It was really late! She was super pale, blue lips, and she had blood running down her head!”
The nurse’s expression turned strange.
Maybe she thought he was just trying to get attention.
‘But it’s TRUE!’
It was so unfair. Thankfully, even though it sounded ridiculous, the nurse said she would check and went toward the desk.
As she scrolled through the computer records, she answered like she’d expected as much.
“It seems there were no nurse entries into Room 303 after midnight.”
“But she said she came to check my temperature!”
“You probably imagined it while half-asleep?”
“I didn’t imagine it…”
“If you have any other complaints, please let us know.”
She clearly wanted to move on.
Feeling the silent pressure telling him not to make trouble, Hyun-woo closed his mouth.
‘Did I imagine it?’
But the memories from the night before were far too vivid. And the notebook’s strange update…
After hesitating, Hyun-woo returned to the room.
‘I’m scared.’
Tonight, he would stay awake. If he fell asleep and it happened again, he’d be terrified.
If nothing happened—fine, maybe it really was a dream.
But if it did happen again, he would tell his mom and demand his room be changed immediately.
His mom already hated the idea of him sharing a room with Park Chung-man. If he said he was afraid of the man, the nurses might allow it.
Time passed, and night arrived.
Park Chung-man was asleep without even snoring. The only sound in the room was the ticking of the wall clock.
It was 1 a.m.
His forced-open eyes kept trying to close when—
Click.
The door opened.
‘H-Here she comes!’
Hyun-woo pulled his blanket up to just below his eyes, staring toward the door.
He had considered pretending to sleep with the blanket over his head, but remembering yesterday’s ghost crouched under his bed like some nightmare, he abandoned that idea.
If he assumed it left and sat up only to meet it face-to-face again… that was so much worse.
‘Hhk!’
But when he saw the nurse standing in the doorway, he forgot how to breathe.
She stood with the dim hallway behind her. Only the minimal night-lights were on. There were no medical items in her cart—only a single notebook placed neatly on top.
Her eyes glinted unnaturally in the dark, staring right at him.
‘S-Scary! She’s definitely a ghost!!’
Maybe he shouldn’t have kept his eyes open. Fear and regret twisted inside him. What now?
He had stayed awake hoping it had all been a dream—but the ghost appeared boldly again!
Click… click…
The nurse pushed the empty cart inside.
Hyun-woo flinched, thinking she would come to him again—but she went toward Park Chung-man’s bed.
‘Wait—she’s not some Grim Reaper, right?’
A ghost approaching an elderly patient did not inspire good thoughts.
Watching nervously, Hyun-woo saw the nurse take a pen from her pocket.
Then she lifted the notebook and began writing.
He hadn’t heard this sound yesterday—
Scritch, scritch.
What was she writing? Honestly, he didn’t care as long as she didn’t come near him.
Click.
The sound of the pen being capped.
Hyun-woo tensed up again as the nurse slowly turned.
Click… click…
She pushed the cart and came to a stop directly in front of Hyun-woo’s bed.
“Blood pressure check.”
Yesterday it was temperature, today it was blood pressure.
Hyun-woo, trembling, watched her carefully. She held out the notebook.
What… did she want? For him to take it?
He took a deep breath and looked.
‘Huh? Isn’t this the same notebook I threw in the trash earlier?’
No way. It couldn’t be the exact same one.
But the nurse clearly wasn’t leaving until he took it.
So he slowly reached out—
Grab.
She seized his hand the instant he touched it.
“UAAAAGH!! AAH! AAAAH!!!”
His scream sounded like a panicked deer. He shouted desperately, hoping anyone—Park Chung-man, a night nurse, anyone—would hear and save him.
But outside, everything was silent.
Even Park Chung-man didn’t stir.
‘No one heard that?’
Damn it. He should’ve asked to change rooms earlier!
His eyes welled up with regret as the nurse raised her pen toward the back of his hand.
Was she going to stab him? Carve something into him?!
He squeezed his eyes shut, bracing for the pain—
…Nothing.
He opened his eyes.
The room was empty, just him and Park Chung-man.
“What the…?”
On his bed was the notebook.
And on the back of his hand, written vertically:
Help me.
It was the same phrase from the notebook.
His stomach dropped. Hyun-woo snatched the notebook and flipped to the newest page.
More entries had been added.
[Ward 303 Medical Record.
Patient: Im Kyung-mi, 24.
Boyfriend visited after learning of the late hospitalization; reported guardian Park Chung-man for abuse.
Police investigation called attending nurse and doctor.
Doctor testified signs of water torture.
Attending nurse testified patient Im Kyung-mi cursed the guardian.
Patient refused to speak.
Boyfriend testified as witness.
Nurse attempted to clean the patient with no female guardian present; patient refused. During curtain setup, nurse witnessed patient removing hospital gown.
Page filled with dense writing. Illegible.
…Material used to write unknown.]
He felt like he couldn’t breathe.
Hyun-woo looked again at the writing on his hand.
‘“Help me”?’
Was the ghost nurse… asking for help?
None of this made sense.
‘Why are so many weird things happening lately?’
He let out a long sigh.
The next day.
He showed the writing on his hand to a nurse—but she said she couldn’t see anything.
The night shift nurse also confirmed that there had been no sounds from Room 303 the previous night.
After thinking it over, Hyun-woo grabbed his phone.
He suddenly remembered how his keychain charm had vanished after Ma Cho-yeon’s last visit.
‘I thought things would get better after that disappeared…’
But strange things kept happening.
‘I don’t fully remember, but Cho-yeon asked me a bunch of weird questions that day. Like she already knew something.’
Maybe, if Ma Cho-yeon visited again, things would settle down.
People with strong spiritual energy can chase ghosts away—maybe she was one of them?
Just in case, he took a picture of the writing on his left hand.
Click.
Even that sound didn’t make Park Chung-man look.
Hyun-woo messaged Cho-yeon.
‘Come to think of it… The ghost I saw had writing all over her face too…’
Im Kyung-mi’s record made him think of that ghost again.
No way… right?
He shook his head.
A reply came—Cho-yeon said she’d visit after school. Since tomorrow was the weekend, she also offered to stay as his guardian and keep him company, if he wanted.
Normally they would need to ask the other roommate for permission.
‘But he never responds anyway. He ignored everything I said.’
He didn’t even hear Hyun-woo’s screams last night.
‘And if Dan Seo-hyuk comes too, then ghosts definitely won’t come near us. Tonight I’ll sleep GREAT!’
Thinking of Dan Seo-hyuk’s terrifying glare, all his fear melted away and he felt strangely reassured.
Humming happily, Hyun-woo sent his agreement to Cho-yeon.
