Don't answer messages from your own phone number.
The first message arrived at 11:48 p.m.
Sender: You
Ha frowned.
That was her phone number.
She opened the message.
There was only one sentence:
“Don’t go home tonight.”
Ha laughed.
Someone was probably using caller ID spoofing software.
She was about to delete the message when her phone vibrated again.
Sender: You
“I know what you’re thinking.”
Ha sat up straight.
This time, she didn’t laugh.
She called her own phone number.
The other end answered immediately.
There was no voice.
Only breathing.
Ha stared at the screen.
The call was connecting to...
herself.
She quickly hung up.
A third message appeared.
“Don’t call again.”
Right after that:
“I’m at your house.”
Ha looked around the room.
The front door was still locked.
The window was closed.
There was no one there.
She texted back:
“Who are you?”
The reply came almost immediately.
“I’m the one who will replace you.”
Ha shot to her feet.
At that exact moment, a photo appeared on her phone.
A room.
A bed.
Someone sleeping.
Ha froze.
It was her bedroom.
But the photo had been taken from an angle...
right beside the bed.
Ha didn’t dare turn around.
Her phone vibrated again.
“Don’t look back.”
“If you see me before midnight...”
The message stopped.
A minute later, the final message appeared:
“...I won’t be able to return to your place.”
Ha looked at the clock.
11:59.
She ran to the door.
The lock wouldn’t open.
She yanked hard on the doorknob.
Nothing.
Her phone vibrated again.
12:00.
An incoming call.
The caller’s name appeared on the screen:
Ha.
She didn’t answer.
The phone rang exactly three times, then stopped.
Right after that, the bedroom door behind her...
opened.
Ha slowly looked down at the floor.
A pair of feet stood behind her.
The strange thing was...
they were wearing the exact same slippers she had on.
Her phone lit up one last time.
A new message:
“Thank you. Now I can go outside.”
The next morning, the neighbors saw Ha walk out of her apartment as usual.
She still went to work.
Still talked.
Still smiled.
No one noticed anything unusual.
There was only one thing.
From that day on, Ha never used a phone again.
She also never looked in a mirror.
And whenever someone asked:
“Where’s your phone?”
Ha always replied:
“At home.”
But Ha’s apartment...
had been empty for three months.
A Note in the 99 Forbidden Rules
If one day you receive a message from your own phone number...
Don’t answer.
Because the person texting you...
may have been living your life longer than you think.