SCREECH...
SCREECH...
The sheer nearness of the sound made the noise he already loathed twist deeper into his nerves, scraping at the edges of his sanity. He tried to endure it, jaw clenched, until the thing began darting around the room—skittering wildly across the floor, scuffling up the walls. Its nails—too long, too sharp—dragged against every surface it touched, producing a shrill, grating screech that made his skin crawl. Lim Soohyun couldn't tell when it would stop; the minutes stretched endlessly. He shifted his legs slightly, searching for a more comfortable position.
That single movement was enough.
The creature halted mid-run, as if it had sensed the faintest tremor of his motion.
"Guk...Grrr...."
He could vividly feel it getting too close to him. The thrill of the unknown entity was enjoyable, but this time it was as if it was going to attack him. Lim Soohyun felt a breath falling on his face and instantly opened his eyes, his hands fully on guard at his chest.
The moment he opened his eyes, he was met with another pair—unnaturally large, gleaming orbs staring straight into his. They were too close, too human to belong to anything that should've been in the room. Lim Soohyun's breath caught in his throat as the eyes inched nearer, unblinking, their pupils dilating in the dim light. They were so close he could almost feel their lashes brush against his own. Panic surged through him. He scrambled backward in a blind rush, his head slamming against the foot of the bed with a dull thud. Pain flared, forcing his eyes shut for a heartbeat—just one. When he opened them again, the room was swallowed by darkness. The eyes were gone.
Frozen and terrified, it took him a few minutes before he walked to the switchboard and turned on all the lights in the bedroom.
"....."
His body was slightly trembling as he glanced around at the variable scratch marks on the walls and wooden floor. He had no explanation for what it could be. It was something unexplainable. Patting his chest with his fisted hand, he grabbed his phone. The charger was flung out of the socket, the cord stretched and frayed—flung out as though ripped away by invisible hands.
"3:09 am...."
He couldn't believe it had all happened in less than ten minutes—it had felt like at least half an hour. Too shaken to care about pride anymore, Lim Soohyun searched on the internet and played a cheerful children's vegetable song at full volume to unwind and calm his heart. He sat on the floor listening to the song as the absurdly bright melody filled the room.
"That was awesome."
After the song finished, those were the words that came out of his mouth. As if he had never seen anything like it, he was obviously scared, and that was the awesome part. When and how else would he be able to get such a rare experience?
He wasn't sure if it was because of the house being haunted or part of the quest. No, it was probably both. The first quest had him buy a haunted house for a reason. It definitely needed to be a haunted house for these quests to conjure up whatever 'it' was. Lim Soohyun still didn't believe that thing was a ghost. Maybe it was more like an illusion? The effects happened in real time. That part was what he didn't understand, but he hadn't proven that this thing was real and able to harm him or even touch him.
It would be a bummer if it was just like a hologram unable to do any real damage. If he thought of it that way, it wasn't all that scary. Suddenly over it, Lim Soohyun ruffled his hair and began to clean the bedroom.
"You know, I should be receiving more money. These scratches just decreased the value of this house in the market."
He got a 100 won coin for buying a house. He was wondering how much he would get now. It would be so much better to just give him a toy like those that came with meals. He had a whole collection of those toys at his apartment in Gangnam. As it was still nighttime, Lim Soohyun went to bed again, lying on his stomach and one hand under his pillow. That was his usual position. One that guaranteed he'd have back problems for all his remaining life, but then again, he didn't know how long he'd live, so he chose comfort for the present.
Lim Soohyun slammed his head in the pillow multiple times since it felt a bit too hard, but he couldn't soften it. With the hand that was under the pillow, he checked if there was anything underneath it when he felt a plastic-alike round shape.
"Oh, that was fast. Express delivery..."
Holding onto the capsule ball, he mumbled out and closed his eyes. The quest notes could disappear at any time after being opened, so he did what anyone would have done. He went to sleep since he wouldn't be able to remember or think about the quest in his sleepy state. After a good night's sleep, he woke up feeling fresh and, of course, with back pain.
The capsule ball, as if attached to his hand, stayed in his hand as he scratched his neck and walked downstairs to have breakfast. He did everything with one hand since the other was already occupied. Eating the cereal with his left hand despite being right-handed, he noticed the color of the capsule ball was a bit, just a tiny bit, darker?
Switching the capsule ball to his other hand, he picked up his pace and finished the bowl of cereal in a few minutes. As soon as he was done, without even putting the dishes in the sink, he cracked open the capsule ball. The note fell out, suddenly falling to the floor. Lim Soohyun glanced down at the floor, reading the note.
"Contact the spirits of the haunted house?"