Do-yoon stared at the woman.
The woman stared back.
Between them were hundreds of dancing people, lights moving without any pattern, and music far too loud for a normal conversation.
But Do-yoon could see her clearly.
A pale face.
Long hair.
The same clothes.
The woman from the Mapo apartment.
The woman who shouldn't be here.
Jae-hyun nudged his arm.
"Bro."
Do-yoon didn't answer.
"Bro."
"Hm?"
"You know her?"
"Unfortunately."
Jae-hyun looked again.
"Hot."
Do-yoon turned to him.
"She's a ghost."
Jae-hyun nodded.
"Still hot."
"You have a problem."
"I'm just being objective."
Do-yoon sighed.
Sometimes he wondered why he was still friends with Jae-hyun.
Then he remembered that Jae-hyun was the only person who could see supernatural situations and whose first response wasn't panic, but judging someone's looks.
The woman started walking.
She passed through the crowd.
Not a single person noticed her.
She stopped a few yards in front of Do-yoon.
"Don't trust your father."
This time, Do-yoon could hear her.
Her voice wasn't coming from the speakers.
It wasn't coming from the room.
It sounded directly inside his head.
Do-yoon stared at her.
"What do you mean?"
The woman didn't answer.
Her eyes shifted past Do-yoon.
Her expression changed.
Fear.
Do-yoon turned around immediately.
There was no one there.
When he looked forward again, the woman had disappeared.
"Shit."
Jae-hyun moved closer.
"She's gone?"
"Yeah."
"That was fast."
Do-yoon rubbed his face.
"I'm going home."
Jae-hyun laughed.
"Five minutes ago, you said you wanted to have fun."
"Five minutes ago, I hadn't seen the dead on the dance floor."
"Fair."
Do-yoon turned around.
Then someone tapped him on the shoulder.
He instinctively grabbed the person's hand and spun around.
A drunk man stared at him in confusion.
"Bro?"
Do-yoon let go of his hand.
"Sorry."
"I was just trying to get past you."
"Yeah."
The man walked away.
Jae-hyun stared at him.
"You're getting more paranoid."
"I'm a shaman."
"That's not an excuse."
"It's exactly an excuse."
They left the club.
The night air felt much colder than it should have.
Do-yoon stopped on the sidewalk.
Jae-hyun lit a cigarette.
Do-yoon looked at him.
"I thought you were quitting."
"I thought you wanted to live a normal life."
Do-yoon fell silent.
"Fair."
Jae-hyun laughed.
They stood there for a while without speaking.
Then Jae-hyun said,
"You seriously going home?"
"Yeah."
"I'll take you."
"You don't have to."
"I'm coming with you."
"Jae-hyun."
"What?"
"I can get home by myself."
Jae-hyun looked at him.
"I know."
Do-yoon frowned.
"Then?"
"You look scared."
Do-yoon wanted to deny it.
But he knew his best friend could read his face too easily.
"A little."
Jae-hyun flicked away his cigarette.
"All right."
No questions.
No jokes.
They walked toward the car.
Inside the car, Do-yoon didn't say anything.
City lights slid past the windows.
Seoul at two in the morning looked like a city refusing to acknowledge that the day had changed.
Jae-hyun drove.
"You want to talk about it?"
"No."
"Okay."
Five minutes later—
"I can listen."
"I know."
"Without judging."
"I know that too."
"If you want to talk."
Do-yoon stared out the window.
"I don't know where to start."
"Start with the part that scared you."
Do-yoon let out a short laugh.
"I'm not scared."
Jae-hyun glanced at him.
"Okay."
"Seriously."
"Sure."
"Don't use that tone."
"What tone?"
"The 'I know you're lying' tone."
"I didn't say anything."
"That's exactly the problem."
Jae-hyun smiled faintly.
Do-yoon looked back at the road.
"The woman I helped last night…"
"Hm."
"She showed up again."
"At the club?"
"Yeah."
"And?"
"She told me not to trust my father."
Jae-hyun didn't answer right away.
"Why?"
"I don't know."
"Do you believe her?"
"No."
"Do you believe your father?"
Do-yoon fell silent.
That was the problem.
Jae-hyun waited.
Finally, Do-yoon said,
"I don't know."
The car continued down the road.
A few seconds later, Jae-hyun asked,
"Do-yoon."
"Hm?"
"Have you ever told me why your father hates your work?"
Do-yoon looked at him.
"He doesn't hate it."
"He hates it."
"He just doesn't like it."
"That's the same thing."
"It's different."
"How?"
Do-yoon thought about it.
"If he hated it, he'd tell me to quit."
Jae-hyun fell silent.
"Has he ever told you to?"
"When I was little."
"And then?"
"I didn't quit."
"And then?"
"He never forced me again."
Jae-hyun nodded.
Do-yoon looked down at his own hands.
There was something he had never told anyone.
Not even Jae-hyun.
When Do-yoon was nine years old, he saw a woman standing in his mother's room for the first time.
The woman was wearing a white hanbok.
Her face was wet.
Do-yoon called for his mother.
His mother didn't answer.
Then the woman turned around.
And smiled.
That night, his mother fell ill.
Three days later, she died.
Do-yoon never told his father about that part.
Because a few years later, he learned something.
His father had seen the woman too.
So maybe—
his father really did know.
The car stopped at a red light.
Jae-hyun stared at the road.
"You okay?"
Do-yoon nodded.
"Yeah."
"Lying again."
"I'm tired."
"That makes more sense."
The light turned green.
The car started moving.
Not long afterward, Do-yoon's phone vibrated.
One message.
From an unknown number.
He opened it.
There was no text.
Only a photo.
A photo of his family's house.
Taken from across the street.
Do-yoon sat up straight.
The date the photo had been taken was displayed in the bottom corner.
Three days ago.
Jae-hyun glanced over.
"What is it?"
Do-yoon didn't answer.
Another photo came in.
The same house.
From a different angle.
Then a third photo.
His father's bedroom window.
The back of Do-yoon's neck went cold.
Then a message appeared.
You should ask your father about the night your mother died.
Do-yoon read the message twice.
Three times.
Jae-hyun started to worry.
"Who is it?"
Do-yoon handed him the phone.
Jae-hyun read it.
His expression changed.
"Bro…"
Do-yoon's phone vibrated again.
A new message.
Because the woman you saw tonight isn't the one you should be afraid of.
Do-yoon stared at the screen.
The next message came in.
She's trying to warn you.
Then another.
I'm not.
His phone died.
It hadn't run out of battery.
The screen had simply gone black.
Do-yoon stared at his own reflection in the screen.
Then, from the back seat of the car—
came the sound of a woman whispering.
"Do-yoon."
Jae-hyun froze.
Because this time—
he heard it too.
"Who's sitting in the back?"
Do-yoon didn't answer.
Jae-hyun slowly looked in the rearview mirror.
The back seat was empty.
But the rear window was beginning to fog up from the inside.
One word appeared on its surface.
GO HOME.
Jae-hyun hit the gas.
Do-yoon turned to look behind them.
And for the first time since they had become friends—
he saw Jae-hyun genuinely afraid.