Morning came quietly, almost too quietly, as if Seoul itself knew something important was about to happen. It wasn't cold, but the air felt heavy — the kind of heaviness that made you breathe a little slower without knowing why.
Agani stood at the doorway tying her shoelaces, her bag slung over her shoulder, hair falling freely over her jacket. She still felt the echo of last night's conversations.
4114.
The letter.
The dizziness Nira experienced.
The strange slip of numbers at Lila's café.
Her own assignment to House 4112.
It was all too much to ignore.
"Ready?" a familiar teasing voice asked.
IJ appeared behind her, leaning casually against the wall as if he'd been waiting there forever. His hair was slightly messy, and he held two cups of hot tea.
"For you," he said, handing one to her.
"I didn't ask," she replied, but her lips softened into a smile.
"I know," IJ said. "That's why I brought it. You look like you didn't sleep."
"I slept."
A lie.
He raised an eyebrow. "Sure. And I'm the CEO of the company."
She shook her head and stepped outside. "Let's just go."
IJ followed with an amused smile. "Boss said it's an abandoned travel site. Nothing dangerous. So don't worry."
"I'm not worried."
"You should be. It's me you're going with."
She sighed dramatically. "That's the part I'm most worried about."
They walked together toward the bus stop, the morning sun filtering through the buildings. The city felt ordinary — too ordinary — compared to the quiet storm inside her chest.
---
Meanwhile, at Home
Re-ha sat at the kitchen counter, staring at her phone. Jin had messaged her twice already.
Don't overthink the letter. I'll come tonight.
Let me know if anything strange happens.
She typed back slowly:
We're okay. Just… unsettled.
She set her phone aside as Lila entered, hair tied in a messy bun, still half-asleep.
"Morning," Lila mumbled.
"You burned the coffee machine again."
"It survived."
Pause.
"Probably."
Re-ha snorted. "You and that café… I'm scared for the customers."
Lila grinned — then her expression softened a little.
"I keep thinking about yesterday. About writing 4114 without realizing… Do you think something's wrong with me?"
"No," Re-ha said firmly. "Numbers don't come out of nowhere. Maybe it's connected to that letter."
They both glanced toward the living room table where the folded letter lay like a silent witness.
From the hallway, Nira appeared, her expression calm but her eyes shadowed with something deeper.
"I had a dream," she said quietly.
Both women turned.
Nira walked closer, voice even. "I saw a door. Wooden. Old. With numbers carved into it — 4114. Someone was knocking… from inside."
Lila's smile faded.
Re-ha swallowed. "Inside?"
Nira nodded once.
"I could hear the knocking clearly. Then I woke up."
None of them spoke.
The quiet inside the house felt alive.
---
Agani & IJ Arrive
The bus dropped them off near an older part of Seoul, far from the busy neon streets. The road here was narrow and lined with old stone walls, vines creeping over them as if nature was slowly swallowing the past.
"House 4112 should be down there," IJ said, pointing toward a sloping path.
"Should?" Agani repeated. "Please tell me you actually looked at the map."
"I did," IJ said confidently, then paused. "Kind of."
She groaned. "We're going to get lost."
"Nah. If we're lost, then at least it's with me. That's a blessing."
Agani gave him a withering look. "A curse. A terrible one."
He laughed.
They walked down the quiet path, their footsteps echoing lightly. Small abandoned buildings stood on either side — old guest houses, empty shops, forgotten homes. A breeze passed, carrying the faint scent of dust and old wood.
Finally, after a long curve in the road, they saw it.
House 4112.
An abandoned property surrounded by a rusted metal fence. The gate creaked even without being touched, swaying slightly as if greeting them.
"That's… creepy," IJ admitted.
"It's just old," Agani said, though her voice wavered.
He glanced at her. "You okay?"
She nodded slowly. But inside, something strange rippled through her — a feeling of déjà vu. As if she had walked here many times. As if she knew the sound of that creaking gate, the way the vines curled around the wooden beams, the way the dust gathered on the broken windows.
It felt familiar.
Too familiar.
"Let's go," she said quietly.
They pushed the gate open. It groaned loudly, echoing across the empty street.
Inside, the yard was overgrown — leaves, branches, forgotten stone paths buried under moss. The house towered above them, wooden and slightly tilted, but still holding its shape.
"Why is it abandoned?" Agani asked.
"Boss said the area used to be part of a heritage travel route," IJ replied. "But people slowly left. Some said the houses were cursed."
"And you brought me here why?"
"Because I love danger."
"And I hate you."
IJ grinned. "Perfect match."
She shoved him lightly, hiding a smile.
---
Inside the House
The door of House 4112 opened surprisingly easily — too easily.
"Did someone come here recently?" Agani whispered.
"Probably inspectors," IJ said, though he didn't sound convinced.
They stepped inside.
Dust floated in the air like tiny ghosts. Wooden floors groaned beneath their weight. Cobwebs draped across the ceiling edges. The house smelled of old paper and forgotten stories.
"This place feels ancient," IJ said.
"It feels sad," Agani whispered.
As they walked further, the silence deepened. The rooms were empty except for occasional scraps — old notes, broken chairs, a lone picture frame.
"There's a study room at the end," IJ said, reading from the inspection file. "Let's check there."
They entered the study.
Most of the shelves were empty. Except one.
A single book sat there — dusty, torn, but untouched.
Agani walked toward it slowly, heart hammering for no reason she could understand.
She reached out.
Her fingers brushed the cover.
Something pulsed under her skin — a faint shock, like touching static electricity.
IJ took one step forward. "Agani?"
She opened the book.
A piece of folded paper slipped out and fluttered to the floor.
Agani knelt to pick it up.
The moment she saw the writing on the paper, her breath caught.
It was a number.
Written in faded ink.
4114.
Her fingers trembled slightly.
"Not again," IJ muttered, kneeling beside her.
But it wasn't just the number.
Under it, faintly sketched… was a pattern. Lines and curves. A shape.
A map.
A map leading to a larger building. A place marked with a circle.
"Could this be House 4114?" IJ asked.
"But… that house isn't on record," Agani whispered. "My boss said the area lost some properties when districts got reorganized years ago."
"Meaning?"
"Meaning 4114 might not exist in the official maps now. But—"
She stared at the sketched map.
Her heartbeat thudded loudly in her ears.
"But maybe it did once."
She looked around the dusty study room.
And suddenly, she felt watched. Not by someone harmful — but by the house itself, as if it remembered something she didn't.
"We need to tell the others," she said.
IJ nodded. "Yeah. Let's get out of here."
But as they turned, something made both of them freeze.
The old clock on the study wall — a clock that was covered in dust, unmoving for years — suddenly gave a single, sharp tick.
Just one.
Then silence.
Agani felt the world stop for a moment.
IJ swallowed hard. "Old clocks sometimes—"
"No," Agani said softly. "This one didn't."
She stared at the clock, at its still hands, at the dust unmoved on its surface.
The sound had been real.
And it had felt like a warning.
---
Back at Home
Lila kept pacing the living room.
Nira sat on the couch, hands wrapped around a warm mug.
Re-ha stood by the window, phone in hand.
"They should've called by now," Lila said for the tenth time.
"They'll be fine," Re-ha said, though worry edged her voice.
Nira didn't speak. She just stared at the floor. Something about today made her feel… heavy. As if an invisible thread was pulling tight around her ribs.
Then suddenly —
knock knock knock.
All three women jumped.
Re-ha hurried to the door and opened it.
Agani and IJ stood outside, breathless and wide-eyed, dust clinging to their clothes.
"You look like you fell into a ghost," Lila said.
"We found something," IJ said seriously.
They entered.
Agani unfolded the paper.
The room went silent.
4114.
Again.
And below it —
the faint map.
"This was inside House 4112," Agani said. "Hidden in a book."
Lila shivered. "This is not normal anymore."
Re-ha touched the paper gently. "The map… looks like an estate. Something large."
Nira leaned forward slowly, eyes narrowing at the faint markings. "I know this place."
Everyone turned.
"You do?" Agani asked.
Nira nodded, voice steady and eerily calm.
"I've seen it. Last night. In my dream."
The room froze.
Agani's breath caught.
Lila's eyes widened.
Re-ha's hand trembled slightly.
Even IJ felt the chill.
Nira traced the drawn circle on the page.
"This isn't just a house," she whispered.
"It's the mansion."
They stared at her.
"The abandoned mansion," she continued. "The one people say doesn't exist anymore."
Ij exhaled slowly. "But if this is the map to it…"
"Then this isn't a coincidence," Agani finished.
Silence settled over them — heavy, undeniable, and filled with the weight of a truth just beginning to reveal itself.
Outside, far across the hills, in the forgotten district, something old stirred awake — as if it had been waiting for their footsteps.
---