How to Survive the Horror Novel I Wrote
Chapter 24
The reaction of people seeing Ugeum for the first time was always the same. Wonder. Admiration. Wide eyes, slacked jaws, blushing faces, dazed double-takes, or spellbound stares.
On-dam was the first person ever to glare at him as if looking at a mortal enemy.
It felt embarrassing to say it myself, but Ugeum was an unrealistically handsome man. Even I, knowing full well what kind of bastard he was, felt my reason cloud whenever I looked at that face, so how could she…?
No, why was she looking at Ugeum with those eyes in the first place?
Meanwhile, the one on the receiving end of that prickly gaze smiled inscrutably and displayed relentless sociability.
“What’s your name?”
“……”
On-dam showed no sign of answering. Even so, Ugeum patiently waited for a response. The tense silence gnawed at my nerves.
Unable to bear the discomfort any longer, I finally answered for her.
“She’s Ahn Ondam.”
“Pretty name. How old are you?”
“……”
“She’s seventeen. A high school freshman.”
“Are you close with Teacher Ji-an?”
“……”
“What does being close or not have to do with a teacher and student?”
I felt like I had suddenly become On-dam’s spokesperson, but I had no choice. I was terrified she might provoke Ugeum’s anger. It wasn’t as if Ugeum would hurt On-dam, but still.
“On-dam-ah. Would you mind giving us a moment so I can talk with my boyfriend?”
In the end, I decided to separate On-dam and Ugeum.
However.
On-dam shook her head in firm refusal.
It was utterly absurd. Refusing to leave the room while not saying a single word to Ugeum. What was with this kid?
A sudden chill rushed through my veins. Had she noticed something? About Ugeum…? It made no sense, but could it be?
“I guess she wants to stay with you.”
Ugeum’s voice was gentle, but his Cheshire cat smile had vanished.
“Then let’s go outside.”
The moment I stood up to soothe Ugeum’s mood, On-dam spoke up.
“No. I’ll leave the room. Please, talk among yourselves.”
And with that, she ducked straight into the bedroom. I couldn’t be sure, but it looked as though she was trying to avoid letting me be left alone with Ugeum.
“Seems she doesn’t like me.”
Ugeum muttered, looking at the closed bedroom door. I shook my head.
“She’s just shy around strangers.”
It was an empty excuse. Even to my eyes, On-dam’s hostility was glaringly obvious.
“I guess I’ll have to try harder.”
Ugeum spoke in a soft voice. It was a truly generous pledge, but I couldn’t bring myself to be pleased. If possible, I wanted to keep the two of them from ever crossing paths.
I was anxious that On-dam might uncover Ugeum’s true identity, and worried that Ugeum might have a bad influence on her.
Even if he only killed evil people, a serial killer was still a serial killer. No teacher would want their student mingling with a serial killer.
But I couldn’t forbid Ugeum from coming over, nor could I kick out the kid I had just brought home…
As I stood there rendered speechless, Ugeum bid a crisp farewell.
“I’ll head out for today. Since the baby hedgehog has all her quills raised… make sure to soothe her well.”
Then, a sudden wave of masculine scent washed over me. Lips brushing close to my ear, he murmured softly.
“Still, I hope we won’t be interrupted next time.”
The whispering voice was sweet yet chilling. Goosebumps broke out across both my arms.
Even after Ugeum left, I remained frozen in place for quite some time. I couldn’t tell whether his parting words were merely wishful thinking, or a warning that he wouldn’t let it slide if On-dam interfered again.
Eventually, from the room where the typing sounds had ceased, On-dam poked her head out. After she asked if my boyfriend had left, I called her over, sat her down, and asked for the reason.
“Why did you act like that earlier?”
“What did I do?”
“You didn’t say a single word. I thought maybe you didn’t want to talk.”
“……I’m sorry.”
“No, it’s fine, it happens… But why? Is there something weird about my boyfriend?”
“……”
On-dam kept her mouth shut tight. The firm line of her lips conveyed a clear resolve not to answer. Then again, On-dam and I had never been particularly close in the first place.
I sighed and changed the subject.
“Are you all ready for school tomorrow? Don’t you need to wash your blouse? I have a dryer at home.”
“Then just the collar……”
On-dam obediently took her blouse and went into the bathroom.
Meanwhile, I entered my room and sat before the computer. It was to check the Cursed Manuscript.
Peeking into someone else’s inner thoughts weighed on my conscience, but what choice did I have? If On-dam continued to show hostility toward Ugeum, there was no telling what disaster might strike.
I opened the document and scrolled down to find the conversation with On-dam.
[“Why did you act like that earlier?”
The moment Ji-an asked gently, On-dam recalled the view of her back blocking her from view.
When Ugeum had looked at her and asked who she was, the action Ji-an took was the exact same thing her mother did whenever her father raised his hand high: hiding On-dam behind her back.
‘Because you hid me, Teacher. As if trying to protect me.’
Yet Ji-an seemed entirely unaware of it. So instead of answering honestly, On-dam stubbornly put up her guard.
“What did I do?”
Ji-an asked again why she had acted that way. On-dam merely apologized. There was not an ounce of sincerity in it.
In truth, On-dam was the one who wanted to ask. Why was Ji-an walking on eggshells around her sweet boyfriend? Why was she terrified of him, just like her poor mother was whenever looking at her trash of a father? She wanted to spit out the suspicion rising all the way to the tip of her throat:
‘Teacher, does your boyfriend hit you by any chance?’]
I was startled. It was an absurd assumption. Ugeum was a gentleman. There was no way he would hit a woman. He killed people, sure. Only evil ones, of course.
In any case, her intuition was extraordinarily sharp.
Had it really been so obvious that I feared Ugeum? If a kid could pick up on it, what about the person in question? Had Ugeum noticed too? Cold sweat trickled down my back.
I didn’t know if bringing On-dam home had been the right call. It felt like I had picked up a small hand grenade while already holding a nuclear bomb named Ju Ugeum.
If I had known On-dam would be so openly guarded against Ugeum… I probably still would have wrestled with it and brought her anyway. Was there any other hopeless fool quite like me?
The next day, I headed to school together with On-dam. Though she got off three hundred meters beforehand, saying she didn’t want to draw attention.
After morning homeroom, the Class 2 Homeroom Teacher came over to my desk and tipped me off that On-dam had arrived at school.
“I know. Actually, I brought her with me.”
I gave a faint smile and explained the situation.
The Class 2 Homeroom Teacher was thoroughly surprised, but at the same time seemed displeased with my overstepping meddlesomeness.
“Why go that far? You’re quite the exhausting type yourself, Ji-an-ssam.”
“Pardon?”
“I mean, you must be exhausting yourself.”
“That might be true, but I was just too worried about the kid. I’m planning to look after her for the time being while trying to find an alternative.”
“You’re kind, Ji-an-ssam. Passionate, too. But things done with good intentions don’t always come back with good results.”
What on earth was she trying to say? When I stared at her dumbly with my mouth half open, the Class 2 Homeroom Teacher gave a bitter smile and spoke.
“Just saying, be careful.”
After the Class 2 Homeroom Teacher left, I buried the lingering unease she had left behind and threw myself into work. Until the Cursed Keyboard appeared in the classroom during my lesson.
The clacking of typewriter keys echoed through the quiet classroom. The students, unable to hear the sound, paid it no mind, but I was going crazy trying to concentrate while teaching.
What was it this time? What was Ju Ugeum doing? Surely he wouldn’t come looking for me at school again, right? Lunchtime had already passed.
Barely managing to finish the lesson, I casually collected the keyboard that had materialized inside the lectern as if I had brought it with me from the start.
Returning to the Teachers’ Room, I unplugged my usual keyboard, connected the cursed keyboard to my computer, and opened the Cursed Manuscript.
Ugeum was searching for ‘Sa Makhee’ on the internet.
“Gasp.”
A gasp escaped my throat before I could stop it. The Head of Academic Affairs seated nearby shot me a reproving glance. I clamped my mouth shut, but inwardly I was screaming.
Sa Makhee was the name of the protagonist of the first installment in the Night Series, ‘Endless Night’. A female serial killer who murdered three husbands.
[What Ugeum was searching for was news related to Sa Makhee. News of Sa Makhee’s husbands being found as dismembered corpses, news of the police identifying Sa Makhee as a prime suspect, or at the very least a wanted poster for Sa Makhee.
Yet all that appeared in the news feed were the plot of the bestseller ‘Endless Night’, the secrets to its popularity, sales figures, its impact on genre literature, and the like.
Any trace of the real-life Sa Makhee was nowhere to be found; only Sa Makhee, the character from the Night Series, remained.
How could this be? Ugeum felt as if he were possessed by a ghost.]
……He never gave me a moment to let my guard down.
It would have been better if Mun Seongwon were the one being tracked. At least I actually existed.
But the characters were not. The day he realized that Sa Makhee, Woo Yiseon, and ultimately all the characters in the Night Series were fictional, Ugeum would realize his own identity as well.
If he found out that the people who had once lived and breathed before his eyes—whom he had ultimately killed with his own hands—never existed in this world to begin with…
He would question his very existence, having met, talked to, and fought against them.
How would Ugeum react? If it were me, I felt like I would lose my mind.
Wouldn’t Ugeum be the same? Wouldn’t he go completely berserk? Casting aside his iron rule of only killing those who deserved death, slaughtering anyone and everyone at random…
And what would he do to me?
In the midst of running through all sorts of worst-case scenarios in a half-dazed state, the buzzing vibration of my phone jolted me back to reality.
「You haven’t been keeping in touch with your unnie much lately, have you? Must be busy dating, huh.」
It was Jung-an.
It had been a full ten days since we last drank together. While I wasn’t the type to stay in frequent contact, she was still my only friend, and I felt guilty for having forgotten all about her this whole time.
「Not dating, surviving. I’m busy just staying alive.」
When I sent my reply, an emoticon of a character making an incredulous face popped up.
「Oh, I’m sure. Let’s hear this sweet little survival story of yours. Meet me in the food alley after work.」
「Sure.」
After agreeing without hesitation, I belatedly remembered On-dam. I quickly sent a message to Jung-an, explaining that I had taken in a student who had run away from home due to abuse, and asking her to wait a bit since I needed to drop the girl off at my place first.
Jung-an replied with a single phrase:
「ARE YOU INSANE?????」
It meant she understood.
“Are you insane?”
Jung-an repeated it right to my face. She seemed thoroughly displeased that I had brought On-dam into my home.
Pretending not to hear, I flipped the pork belly sizzling away on the grill.
Whether it was due to the heat rising from the grill, her frustration at my stubbornness, or the straight shots of soju she had been knocking back one after another while listening to my story, Jung-an’s face and neck were flushed entirely red.
“Right? You’ve lost your mind, haven’t you? She’s not a stray dog or cat, how could you just pick up a student and bring her home? It’s not like you’re going to take responsibility for her whole life.”
“You picked me up too.”
“Hey, that was……!”
Jung-an was rendered speechless. She had no comeback for that. Smirking, I took a sip of my cola.
The day I first met Jung-an was still vivid in my memory.
Twelve years ago, on a day when Stepfather’s violence was even more excessive than usual.
Before he could repair the doorknob he had smashed with a hammer, there was no option to hide in my room. Convinced I would die if the beating continued, I fled the house.
I remember being in such a rush to escape that I couldn’t even put on my shoes properly.
As I scrambled to put them on, Stepfather let out a monstrous roar and charged toward the entryway, and I burst out of the house screaming. A sneaker on my right foot, and a three-striped slipper shoved onto my left.
But because Stepfather chased after me like a rabid dog, in my desperate flight I ended up losing the slipper.
There was no leeway to turn back and retrieve the slipped-off sandal. Oblivious to the skin peeling off my bare sole, I sprinted through the alleyways.
That was when I met Jung-an.
“Hey!”
At the shouting voice, I looked over instinctively to see a girl around my age opening her front gate, gesturing for me to come over. That was Jung-an.
Without hesitation, I rushed through that gate. No sooner had Jung-an shut it than the sound of Stepfather’s pounding footsteps closed in.
Jung-an hurriedly crouched down and whispered.
“Get down.”
The wall around Jung-an’s house was low—only reaching up to Stepfather’s chest.
Following Jung-an’s lead, I pressed my back against the wall and squatted low. The cold seeping from the brick wall made my spine feel as though it were freezing over.
“Ha Jian, where the fuck did this little bitch go?!”
Terrified by Stepfather’s raging, panting roar, I nearly screamed out loud.
Clamping a hand over my mouth and holding my breath, I looked at Jung-an crouching beside me.
A pale face. Trembling, anxious eyes. Flaring nostrils. A dimpled, puckered chin from clenching her mouth so tight.
Jung-an was terrified too. Just like me.
Strangely, that face brought me comfort. I’m not the only one scared of that monster. I’m not the weird one.
Once Stepfather’s footsteps faded away, Jung-an asked in a low voice.
“Who is that?”
“My stepfather.”
I lowered my voice as well.
“You didn’t report him?”
“I tried in the past, but it was useless.”
“What about your mom?”
“She’s on his side.”
“Any siblings?”
“None.”
Jung-an let out a deep, heavy sigh, and then suddenly wore an expression full of determination.
“Hey.”
“Yeah?”
“From today on, I’ll be your sister.”
That day, we became friends.