The Guest

Chapter 1

A woman hands out restaurant flyers by the beach as a voice tells us that “the thing” comes from the East Sea, possessing people by using their weaknesses and encouraging their dark sides. All the holiday-goers ignore the exhausted woman and belittle her, tossing the flyers on the ground.

But a strange look comes into her eyes as the voice tells us that anyone possessed by “it” is no longer human, but a creature that enjoys death and deception, laughing at people’s despair. The woman grabs a knife and brutally stabs one of the pretty holiday-goers that had sneered at her.

Jumping back twenty years ago to a small seaside village, a group of shamans prepare for a harvest festival. YOON HWA-PYUNG, the youngest of the shaman family, watches TV with the sound turned up loud. When his father yells at him to turn it down, the boy says that the scary woman is looking at him.

No one else can see the woman he’s pointing at, so it unnerves the other shamans. But Hwa-pyung’s grandfather realizes that the boy is a psychic and can see ghosts.

The other shamans are suspicious of his abilities, and Hwa-pyung worries that there’s something wrong with him because of his visions. But his mother gently tells him to pretend he doesn’t see the ghosts and tell only her about it.

The shamans begin their festival to honor the spirits of the wind and rain so that the fishermen will have a safe and fruitful year. One of the shamans, Woong-jin, tells Hwa-pyung that they also perform these rites to protect the village from a vengeful spirit named Park Il-do. This spirit possessed one of the villagers a long time ago, and the possessed man killed a lot of people.

They attempted to exorcise the spirit, but failed, and the man ran into the sea and stabbed out his eye. But the man didn’t die until days later — he just stayed floating on the water, staring at everyone.

It’s a classic bogeyman story, as Woong-jin adds that people would say “Park Il-do is coming” or “Sohn is coming.” Hwa-pyung wonders why they would say “a hand is coming,” but the Woong-jin corrects him — “sohn” can mean guest or… But Mom cuts him off, chiding him for telling her son spooky stories when they’re supposed to be headed to the ritual.

Evening falls, and the shamans perform the ritual, asking for blessings and a bountiful harvest for the fishing village. They send off a raft of their offerings to the sea, and laugh when Woong-jin accidentally stumbles into the water.

But something else is in the water, something that can’t be seen, and Woong-jin is suddenly dragged down. As the other shamans worry if they should go in to save him, Woong-jin suddenly surfaces, gasping for air. One of the shamans suddenly starts to shake and declare, “Sohn is coming!”

As everyone cleans up after the ritual, Woong-jin starts to deeply scratch at his neck, enough to draw blood. He also has difficulty seeing out of his left eye.

Woong-jin suddenly grabs a knife and stabs Hwa-pyung’s grandfather. As all the other shamans run to intervene, Woong-jin’s bad eye grows black, and he pushes them off with supernatural strength.

They quickly realize that he’s possessed, and the head shaman screams at Woong-jin to drop his knife. Instead, Woong-jin stabs his possessed eye. Hwa-pyung peeks out from behind his mother and stares in horror as Woong-jin gives an unearthly scream and collapses.

Hwa-pyung now feels sick, and can’t see out of his left eye. His parents worriedly tend to him, and Hwa-pyung stares at a dark corner of his room as though he can see someone there. He fearfully says that “it” is warning him that if he says anything, it will kill everyone.

Later that night, Mom sees Hwa-pyung walking alone to the rocky cliffs by the seaside. Worried, she follows after him, frantically screaming out his name. In the morning, Mom’s body is found floating in the sea.