Nightmare | San

5

I slowly open my eyes and find myself in my own bed. Seonghwa sits beside me, dabbing my forehead with a cold cloth. 

"You're awake! What happened? Why do you have such a high fever?" he questions. My head feels like it's caving in and my whole body hurts, probably from overworking it. The memories from before come flooding back. My eyes frantically flick to the window and I relax when I see some sunlight peeking through the drawn curtains. No more red glow.

I look up at my boyfriend's worried face. Has he been looking after me all night? "I did something really stupid," I groan, throat still burning. When he looks puzzled, I push myself up into a sitting position.

"Don't get mad," I plead. Seonghwa looks even more concerned now but he nods. "Alright. You can tell me now," he reassures.

I pick at my fingernails nervously. "I didn't think it'd actually work, so I played that elevator game. It was-" I can't even finish my sentence as my voice breaks and tears burst out of my eyes. Seonghwa's eyes are wide in shock and horror but he pulls me in for a hug while comfortingly patting my back.

"You...really did it?" he asks in disbelief. I nod into his shoulder, still sobbing. He hugs me tighter. "Wait right here," he whispers into my ear before pulling away. He walks out, leaving me shaking all alone.

A few moments later I smell that familiar scent of burning sage. He's purifying the house again. This time I can't even laugh at him for it, he was right all along. He's the only one who knows how to protect me now.

After a few more minutes, he returns. "I told you to never play around with this stuff. Did you get hurt anywhere?" he asks while examining my arms and face. "I'm fine, just shaken up," I admit, calming down a bit. He nods and sits down, holding my hand tightly.

"You didn't look at anyone or talk to anyone, right?" he asks. My blood runs ice cold. I definitely did something horribly wrong. 

"I-I had a whole conversation with the man," I stutter in a small voice. Seonghwa's hand flies to cover his mouth in shock. "Did he do anything to you?" he asks carefully. I recall the chase we had with his thirsty expression. "He just called me his and chased me but I escaped just in time," I mumble.

Seonghwa gasps loudly. I hear his breathing quicken too. "Oh no...oh no oh no oh no," he whispers quickly under his breath while thinking deeply. I gulp and nervously watch him stress. I really hope I didn't put our lives in danger.

"I recorded it using a small camera though?" I offer. Seonghwa's head whips up. "You did? I doubt there will be anything on it but let's see."

We both make his way to his laptop and I slide the camera off my shirt. I carefully slide the memory card out and hand it to Seonghwa. He quickly inserts it into his laptop and clicks onto the only file there.

The video shows just what had happened. I walked into the elevator. I moved through different floors. Eventually I reached the fifth floor. My heart starts to race while waiting for San to walk on. Just as his footsteps are to be heard...

"Error."

Seonghwa jumps and reads the error message out loud. "This file is corrupted."

I bite my lip. So that was all for nothing? I went and risked my life and not even one good thing came out of it. "I half expected this as electronics aren't supposed to work anyway," he sighs. He pulls me in for a hug again. "Stick with me, okay? I'll protect you," he soothingly sings into my ear. I nuzzle into his embrace until it hits me.

"I have work today!" I exclaim while hopping back. "You can't work like this! Just take the next few days off," he begs. "No, we need this money to move to a new house. We've been saving up for years and nearly have enough. I'll be fine." Seonghwa disapprovingly stares at me with a worried expression.

"Are you sure? If you stay with me you'll be safer, I have the whole house purified," he tries one last time. "I'll be fine. I'll be here tonight anyway so no need to worry," I offer him a smile.

He sighs again out of defeat. "Fine, but if anything goes wrong then you're not allowed to go to work until I have this problem sorted. I'm going to look for priests that can fully cleanse our house since we might need something more powerful than what I can do," he explains.

"Thank you," I smile before placing a quick peck onto his lips. I leave him to his own devices as I go to the bathroom and get ready. I told him I'd be fine but in reality I'm terrified. But now more than ever, I'm ready to get out of this place. I know it's too late now, this apartment will only bring bad memories because of last night.

If I work diligently, we can buy a new house faster. And that's exactly what we need as soon as possible, even if I somewhat risk my life for it.

As I'm about to leave the house, I pop my head into our bedroom again and frown when I see Seonghwa desperately searching for priests and exorcists online now. Instead of making him free from this stress, I ended up increasing his work load. I sadly shake my head and silently leave, feeling like a huge burden.

I walk towards the elevator and freeze before entering. What if San will be in there waiting for me? I get a violent shiver and approach the staircase instead. With the natural light coming from the windows, I feel a bit better.

I arrive at work and slow to a halt when I see my boss, Kim Hongjoong, waiting for me at the entrance. "Come with me to the staff room immediately," he simply states before turning away. Did I do something wrong?

I follow him into the room at the back anxiously. We finally arrive and I feel confused when I see two men staring back at me.

"These are our new employees, Yeosang and Wooyoung."