How to Survive the Horror Novel I Wrote
Chapter 2
[Ugeum never kills his lover.]
It was a sentence that should never have been erased. Yet it was gone.
Did this mean Ugeum could kill me at any time?
My heart hammered wildly, and cold sweat drenched my back.
Terror seized me at the thought that that wretched keyboard might erase the remaining sentences as well.
[Ji-an was Ugeum’s lover.]
Now, that single sentence was the only thing I had left to rely on.
“You’re distracted.”
Breaking the kiss, Ugeum whispered and turned his head toward the computer, following my gaze.
He can’t see it!
Startled, I grabbed his face and pulled it back toward me.
“Hm?”
Ugeum arched a single brow, a suspicious look crossing his face.
I rose on tiptoe and kissed him. My life hung on this kiss.
I can’t let him find out.
I had used that keyboard to transform myself into his lover. If he ever discovered the truth, he would kill me without hesitation.
Ugeum was no puppet. He was the kind of monster who would sever the strings tied to his limbs and slaughter the puppeteer.
Fortunately, Ugeum yielded to the kiss, losing himself in it.
Even while we kissed, the keyboard never stopped typing. The frantic clacking grated on my nerves, but Ugeum didn’t seem to hear it at all.
He doesn’t hear it and just pretend not to… right?
Ugeum cupped the back of my head, deepening the kiss.
Pushed back by his weight, my head tilted back, my spine arching like a bow against our height difference.
Even with his large hand cradling the back of my head and his solid arm wrapped around my waist, dread gnawed at me.
I wrapped both arms around his neck, clinging to him desperately.
A low chuckle vibrated in his throat before he swept me up into his arms. Startled, I hunched my shoulders, terrified my head might strike the ceiling.
In just two strides, he laid me down on the bed and loomed over me as if to devour me.
His limbs blocking me on all sides felt like iron bars.
A strange glint flashed in his eyes as he looked down at me. Licking his lips, he murmured:
“How should I cook you up…?”
As if a bucket of ice water had been dumped over my head, a horrific chill engulfed my entire body.
Cook? Did he say cook?
No way. The Ugeum I created wasn’t a cannibal.
Yet I couldn’t be certain. Novels had blank spaces between the lines. Even during the moments an author never wrote down, the characters were alive and lived their lives.
Besides, Ju Ugeum was conceived as a killer shrouded entirely in mystery. Whether this monster engaged in cannibalism or not, I had no idea.
My breath choked in my throat.
“No…!”
I struggled, shoving against his chest, but I couldn’t break free. His thick arms bound me like shackles. Panic choked the air from my lungs.
Before long, my vision faded into black.
The sound of an alarm woke me.
I shuddered awake. I was completely alone in the room.
Was it a dream?
I felt possessed—haunted by whatever ghost possessed that thing over there.
I glared at the new keyboard on my desk. But no matter how hard I stared, it didn’t budge an inch, as if feigning innocence about ever typing on its own.
The tension drained from my eyes. There was no such thing as a keyboard that typed by itself in this world. Having written horror novels for years, I must have simply had a nightmare.
Of course. How could a novel character appear in reality? That was impossible.
Yet it had felt so vivid. Could it be…?
My eyes suddenly caught the desk clock beside the monitor. 8:40 AM.
Damn it. I’m late. The dream wasn’t what mattered right now.
I scrambled to get ready for work and rushed out the door.
Arriving at school, the hectic grind of daily life greeted me.
Swamped with work, harassed by kids, and badgered by the Principal, the nightmare began to feel utterly trivial. I regained my peace of mind.
Come to think of it, it wasn’t even that much of a nightmare.
It wasn’t a dream where Ju Ugeum killed me, nor one where he murdered someone else—it was just me kissing him, that was all.
It wasn’t a nightmare; it was an erotic dream. Was I sexually frustrated?
I thought those cells had died off ages ago.
During a free period, as I was prepping for class in the Teachers’ Room, Teacher Ye-yeon walked over to my desk.
“Teacher Ji-an, I have a favor to ask.”
“What is it?”
“Could you go on a blind date for me this weekend?”
“I’m sorry, but—”
Before I could properly decline, Teacher Ye-yeon cut me right off.
“Come on, don’t be like that. I helped you with your workload last time, remember?”
“I was grateful for that.”
“Just with words?”
“I offered to buy you a meal…”
“I’ll consider it settled if you go on this blind date for me. Hm? Please, I’m begging you.”
“…”
I didn’t answer. A blind date? I had no desire to waste my precious weekend meeting a total stranger. I’d rather write another line of my novel in that time.
Novels made me money, but people only drained my money, time, and stamina.
I couldn’t hide my displeasure.
Seeing my expression, Teacher Ye-yeon openly showed her annoyance.
“Am I really asking for the impossible here, Teacher Ji-an? Is it that hard to eat a single meal with someone else instead of me?”
It was hard. But answering honestly would only make her think I was picking a fight.
Teaching wasn’t a job where you could easily switch careers, and even with transfers every five years, teachers never knew when or where they might cross paths again. I didn’t want to stir up trouble.
Besides, Teacher Ye-yeon was the type who formed cliques and ruled over them.
Get on the bad side of someone like her, and you were bound to get stung hard.
“No, it’s fine. I’ll go on the blind date.”
“Really? Thank you, Teacher Ji-an! I’ll never forget this favor as long as I live.”
Teacher Ye-yeon switched expressions in an instant and beamed.
After she walked away, I tried my best to think positively.
It’s just one meal. I’ll just treat it like eating out on the weekend and having to share a table because there weren’t enough seats. Maybe my tablemate will turn out to be a decent guy.
“Haa…”
A sigh slipped out on its own.
Anyway, if I meet a real man, then…
At least I won’t be having dreams about kissing my own novel character.
When I returned home after work, the apartment was completely normal, as if nothing had ever happened.
After eating dinner, I sat down at my computer to work on my new novel. Because of yesterday’s dream, the new keyboard felt unnerving for no good reason.
Get a grip. It was just a meaningless dream.
Chiding myself, I went to turn on the PC, only to see the power light was already on. It was in sleep mode.
Only then did I realize I had no memory of turning off the computer. In fact, I couldn’t even remember when I had fallen asleep.
Reflexively pressing a key, the monitor flickered to life, revealing a document filled with black text.
A chill ran down my spine.
“What is this…?”
It was a novel. A novel I hadn’t written. A novel starring me.
This creepy document detailed yesterday’s dream down to the exact detail—even the parts I had been unconscious for.
I read down the page like a madwoman.
[Ugeum laid the unconscious Ji-an down properly and pulled the blanket over her. He was a gentleman. A gentleman did not take liberties with an unconscious woman.
Suppressing his regret, Ugeum turned away. Yet deep inside him, an unquenchable desire smoldered white-hot like glowing embers.]
A creeping chill crawled up from my fingertips, licking at the nape of my neck.
It wasn’t a dream.
I couldn’t understand. How could it not be a dream? How could this be reality? I felt as though I were trapped in a living nightmare.
My gaze naturally shifted to the keyboard. This keyboard. It had to be because of this. It was undoubtedly a Cursed Keyboard.
Clenching my teeth, I yanked the keyboard’s cable. Anxiety gnawed at me—what if it wouldn’t unplug, or what if Ugeum appeared like yesterday?—but fortunately, the cable pulled free in one tug, and Ugeum didn’t appear.
As soon as the keyboard was disconnected, the document on the monitor vanished like a TV switching off.
If things went well, maybe—just maybe—if I threw this keyboard away, everything would return to normal as if none of this had ever happened.
I grabbed the offending keyboard at once and headed out of the house.
My destination was the trash disposal area in the outdoor parking lot on the ground floor.
Even on my way down, doubt lingered over whether I could truly dispose of it.
A rule of cursed items that anyone in the know understood:
They can never be thrown away.
Please let it be thrown away. Please.
Repeating the desperate plea in my mind, I tossed the keyboard into the large dumpster.
I prayed that everything would simply be undone.
The entire ride back up in the elevator, my heart hammered violently against my eardrums.
Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.
The suffocating anxiety was unbearable.
For some reason—though I hated to even think it for fear of speaking it into existence—still, for some reason…
I had the dreadful feeling the keyboard would already be back inside.
Like those cursed dolls that returned no matter how many times they were discarded.
Unable to shake the ominous dread, I opened my bedroom door with trembling hands.
The keyboard sat on the desk, completely undisturbed.
“…!”
I learned then that when a person is terrified beyond measure, they cannot even scream. The unvoiced shriek turned into a jagged blade, tearing through my insides.
It was at that moment.
Suddenly, just like yesterday, the keys began pressing down on their own, clattering away to type out words.
[Ugeum headed to Ji-an’s house.]
A single sentence.
Yet out of every sentence I had ever read in my life, it was the most terrifying and horrific.
What do I do? How can I stop this?
Pacing the room in a frenzy of panic, I made up my mind.
I’ll smash it.
A hammer. A hammer… where was the hammer?
I dug out a hammer from the toolbox shoved into the veranda closet.
Returning to the room, I yanked the keyboard and grabbed it.
Even so, the keyboard never stopped typing, and fresh sentences continued to appear on the monitor.
Shuddering in revulsion, I bolted into the living room.
I slammed the keyboard onto the dining table and raised the hammer. Right then—
Beep, beep, beep, beep.
The electronic chime of the door lock pressed drew my gaze. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the front door.
The lock clicked open.
The door swung inward, and a familiar man stepped inside brazenly, as if walking into his own home.
A man I had met for the first time yesterday, yet knew better than anyone else in this world.
The serial killer I had created.
It was Ju Ugeum.
I wanted to cry.
Just how on earth did he know?
The passcode to my apartment, which no one else in the world knew.
“Why are you holding a hammer?”
Ugeum asked nonchalantly as he slipped off his shoes and walked in.
“Huh?”
Reflexively, I looked down at the hammer.
Could I protect myself with this?
Could I actually kill this bastard with it?
Even at this very second, the keyboard was clattering away. Yet Ugeum seemed completely unable to see the keys moving or hear the sound of typing.
He merely glanced at the keyboard and asked:
“Is it broken?”
Hardly the reaction of someone looking at a haunted keyboard typing on its own.
“Huh?”
“Going to smash it?”
“Uh… yeah…”
While I could only utter foolish noises, Ugeum closed the distance between us and held out his open palm.
“Give it here. I’ll smash it for you.”
A vivid image flashed in my mind of Ugeum bringing that hammer down on my skull like cracking a walnut.
I shook my head violently.
“No, it’s fine.”
Ugeum spoke in a low voice.
“You’ll get hurt.”
Was this a warning or a threat? Did he mean I might accidentally hurt myself, or was he threatening to harm me if I didn’t obey?
“Give it.”
Ugeum repeated, his tone commanding.
If I give it to you… will you swing it at me?
My grip on the hammer tightened.
With a short sigh, Ugeum lunged forward in an instant. Before I could even think of dodging, his hand clamped down over the hand holding the hammer.
Helplessly, I was dragged flush against his chest. His broad, rock-solid chest pressed against my back.
I was completely trapped in his embrace. It felt as though I were coiled in the crushing grip of a serpent. My breath seized. His chest and arms encircled me like impenetrable iron walls.
His large hand engulfing mine looked like the gaping maw of a beast clamping down on its prey.
Hot breath brushed against my ear. The fine hairs on the nape of my neck stood on end as an icy shiver cascaded down my spine.
“So stubborn.”
Scolding me softly, Ugeum raised his hand, along with my hand trapped in his grip, and the hammer locked inside it.
Crash! Crash! Crash!
Keycaps shattered, splintered, and buckled, flying in every direction.
Ugeum drove the hammer down repeatedly. The hand trapped in his grip ached intensely. For a moment, I couldn’t tell whether it was the keyboard being battered by the hammer or myself.
“Stop…”
The feeble plea was so faint even I could barely hear it.
Ugeum didn’t stop.
“Stop it!”
Screaming, I shoved Ugeum away and threw the hammer aside.
The heavy hammer gouged into the vinyl flooring as it crashed down, but that didn’t matter in the slightest.
Gasping raggedly, I turned my face away from him. What kind of expression was he making? I was too terrified to look.
“Did that hurt?”
Ugeum asked, his voice laced with concern.
Who was worrying about whom? This bastard was mocking me.
“I’m sorry.”
Fingertips brushed against my right hand. I flinched violently.
The touch lifting my hand was surprisingly warm and gentle. Unconsciously, my eyes followed my right hand.
Beyond my hand, I saw Ugeum studying me with tender care, looking for all the world like a man genuinely worried.
That terrified me even more—the thought that he was lulling me into a false sense of security before killing me.
Suddenly, our eyes met. Smirking, Ugeum caught me off guard with a quick kiss to my palm.
Smooch.
“Ah!”
Startled, I shrank back, pulling my shoulders in.
Seeing my reaction, Ugeum stroked my hair and whispered affectionately:
“My little coward.”
Meanwhile, over on the dining table, the mangled, shattered keyboard continued to clatter with an eerie rhythm.
Even with the keyboard smashed to pieces, Ugeum didn’t vanish.
A chilling realization slashed cleanly down my spine.
I could never escape this man.
