ep 09: shadow

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Seonghwa stood at the end of a long, narrow road that seemed to stretch on for eternity. Darkness encompassed him, so much so that he couldn't even see his feet as they'd been sunk into the shadows.

He'd never been here before, and the hairs at the back of his neck stood on end. The air was still and eerie, betraying no sound except for his steadily increasing heartbeat.

Where am I?

Seonghwa's inner voice was like an echo, loud enough to shatter the silence that covered him. He took a step forward, the ground feeling like rough granite beneath the exposed soles of his feet.

Something out there suddenly called out to him, the sound as feathery as the spring's breeze. But it unsettled him, because that voice sounded apprehensively familiar...

As if he was tugged around by invisible ropes, Seonghwa inched forward, his breaths growing more and more unstable.

Laughter cut through the darkness, bright and sprinkled with mischief. Seonghwa felt his heart swell with terror.

Come a little closer...

Seonghwa didn't want to come closer, but his body wasn't listening to him. With each step he took, the road got narrower and narrower, making him feel extreme claustrophobia.

Abruptly, an unknown force slammed itself into him, pushing him further and further down the road, and Seonghwa couldn't stop it. His heart raced, trepidation pounding through his core.

He wanted to scream -- to shout -- because maybe then someone could come and save him. But no sound came.

A beam of light sliced through the dark, the force behind him rushing him along until Seonghwa was only mere centimeters away from the foreign light.

In a second, Seonghwa was staring into what appeared to be a mirror. Slowly but surely, a figure began to materialize on the other side, striking even more fear into Seonghwa's heart.

The shadow in front of him continued to twist and turn like a pillar of dense smoke, until something that resembled him remained.

Seonghwa wanted to run, but it was like his limbs had melted into place. The thing in front of him slipped out of the mirror, all crooked smiles, terrifying scarlet eyes and long, gnarly fangs.

Then it grabbed Seonghwa.

In an instant, the dark haired male sat up like he'd been resurrected, inhaling huge breaths that did next to nothing to shatter the sheer horror he was feeling.

Seonghwa knew he'd just had a nightmare, but that didn't mean it didn't feel as real and as vivid as ever.

The strangest part was how he'd never had a nightmare this surreal before, and that made everything more fear-inducing.

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