How to Survive the Horror Novel I Wrote
Chapter 4
“I-I’m at a friend’s place.”
- Your voice sounds raspy.
“I just woke up.”
- You slept over at a friend’s?
“Yeah.”
- You should’ve told me.
“I’m sorry.”
- When are you coming?
“Where?”
- Home.
“I don’t know.”
- Hurry back. I miss you.
A chill ran down my spine. Hurry back? Did that mean he was at my place? No matter that we were dating, was it normal to just let yourself into someone’s home when they weren’t even there?
My heart thudded violently. The last thing I wanted was to return to an apartment where Ugeum was waiting. As I frantically searched for an excuse in my head, he said something terrifying.
- Where are you? I’ll come pick you up.
Reflexively, I looked down at the back of Jung-an’s head.
I had no family left now, but even when I had, she was a friend who felt more like family than blood ever did.
I couldn’t put her in danger because of me.
“No. No need for that. I’ll be right there.”
Ugeum let out a satisfied chuckle and hung up.
“Who was that? His voice is killer.”
Woken by the phone call, Jung-an blearily looked back at me with half-lidded eyes.
“Ju Ugeum.”
“Stop talking nonsense.”
“Why ask if you won’t believe me anyway? I’m leaving.”
“To that guy? Who is he? Did you get a boyfriend?”
Leaving behind my hopelessly stubborn best friend of twelve years, I walked out of the studio apartment.
The first thing that greeted me upon returning home was a pair of black men’s dress shoes neatly placed in the entryway.
It seemed Ugeum was washing up. The sound of running water came from the bathroom.
Meanwhile, the sound of typing drifted from my room. The Cursed Keyboard was still moving.
That keyboard had started moving at 4:44. It was so ominous that I remembered it vividly.
It was now 10:38. Had it been typing nonstop for six hours? Then what on earth had Ju Ugeum been doing all that time?
Glancing warily at the bathroom door, I crept toward my room. Fear and tension gnawed at my heart, but I had no choice.
Ugeum might have been preparing to kill me. I had to check the cursed document.
Once inside, I hastily turned on the computer and opened the cursed document.
The final sentence, where the cursor was blinking, caught my eye.
[Creeping into the room, Ji-an hastily turned on the computer and checked the manuscript.]
It felt as if an invisible writer were monitoring me in real time. It was terrifying, chilling. Clenching my teeth, I dragged the scroll bar up.
Not only did the manuscript describe me returning home and sneaking into the room while Ugeum was in the shower, but it also detailed every word of the conversation I had had with Jung-an at her place.
He couldn’t have seen this, right?
My heart pounded as if it were about to burst.
Calm down. The manuscript probably wasn’t visible to Ugeum. After all, he couldn’t see or hear the keyboard moving either.
I scrolled further up to trace Ugeum’s whereabouts from earlier this morning.
[Ugeum stepped into the club. The place where his current prey operated.]
No way… He wasn’t coming for me.
Until now, whenever the Cursed Keyboard typed, Ugeum appeared, and when Ugeum wasn’t around, the keyboard stayed still. That was why I assumed this keyboard was summoning him.
But that wasn’t it. Ugeum could materialize and roam around in completely different places. Just like this club.
Only one thing was certain: this keyboard activated whenever Ugeum was in action.
[Under the flashing lights, a man high on drugs brushed past Ugeum’s shoulder. Ugeum walked right past him with an indifferent expression. The man wouldn’t even realize he had bumped into someone anyway.
Meanwhile, the prey was making a deal with another junkie. As Ugeum approached, the prey showed a hint of wariness.
“Who the hell are you?”
“How much?”
Ugeum asked back with a faint smile. Unaware that he was asking for the price of his own life, the prey’s expression relaxed.]
After buying the drugs, Ugeum tailed his prey.
Yet Ugeum didn’t do drugs. He had bought them for only one reason: proof of punishment.
Serial killers in media often had a hobby of collecting trophies—belongings or photos of their victims—but Ugeum had a tendency to adorn his prey with proof of their punishment.
For this prey, he would probably pin the baggie of drugs to the man’s chest using a knife as a thumbtack. Because that was how I would have written it.
Scrolling down revealed information about the prey.
[Noh Bong-pil was a drug dealer. He dealt in cheap drugs, and accordingly, his clientele consisted of the poor.
Every single one of Noh Bong-pil’s customers walked a path to ruin. One female college student turned to prostitution to buy drugs, a married couple starved their baby to death while high, and several died from overdoses.
Noh Bong-pil was aware of most of these circumstances, yet he couldn’t care less.]
Ugeum was the type to take great care in selecting his prey. I had created him that way—a perfectionist who tolerated zero mistakes from himself.
He picked and chose meticulously, killing only scumbags who undoubtedly deserved death. This current prey was also a man who deserved to die.
If this were just a novel, I wouldn’t hesitate to kill him off.
But it wasn’t. Neither the people nor the events appearing in this text were fiction. Just as Ugeum was no longer a piece of fiction.
Even if he deserved to die, having a hand in that death was an entirely different matter.
This was no joke. A character I created could kill an actual human being. As the realization hit me, my blood ran cold in an instant.
If that happened, I would never be able to sleep peacefully for the rest of my life.
Fortunately, amidst the misfortune, I had written Ugeum as a cautious hunter. He was the type to spend months laying the groundwork for a perfect crime. This man was safe. For the time being.
Of all the things to feel relieved about.
I laughed bitterly at myself.
To think I had to worry about someone else’s life when I was barely managing to survive myself.
Click.
The sound of the bathroom door opening came from outside. Hastily, I shut off the computer.
Awkwardly stepping out into the living room, I saw Ugeum emerge from the bathroom. His face lit up in a welcoming smile upon seeing me.
“You’re back?”
“……!”
I quickly averted my gaze. Ugeum was half-naked, with only a towel wrapped around his waist.
Even though I had caught only a fleeting glimpse of his body, that brief snapshot seized my mind.
Damp hair. Moist, glistening skin. Broad shoulders. A sculpted chest. A stomach defined with distinct abs.
The genre inside that bastard’s head was horror, but his body was pure pornography.
“Put some clothes on.”
Because I was so tense, my voice came out blunt and prickly. Belatedly, I bit my lower lip.
“Why are you being so shy? Between the two of us.”
The half-naked Ugeum stepped closer with a sly smirk.
A red warning light flared in my head. My life wasn’t the only thing I needed to worry about right now.
Wasn’t he the guy who kissed me the very moment he first appeared?
What other intention could he possibly have had, taking a shower while waiting for me at my place?
“Do you want to dress me?”
Stepping right in front of me, Ugeum asked seductively.
Ugeum’s bare body—something I had never once described, something that never appeared in the novel, something I had only vaguely imagined—stood before my eyes, possessing a perfection that far surpassed my imagination.
Though the room was open on all sides, I felt backed into a corner. My mouth ran dry. I couldn’t bring myself to look directly at him.
“What are you talking about?”
With trembling hands, I pushed against Ugeum’s chest. Standing firm, Ugeum caught my wrist. His firm, smooth chest pressed right against my palm.
Startled, I looked up, only for Ugeum to tilt his head and whisper in my ear.
“Then you can take yours off too.”
Hot breath scattered against my ear. A chilling thrill swept down the nape of my neck and slid down my spine.
I couldn’t tell if the pulse hammering violently against my palm was mine or Ugeum’s.
Watching me with probing eyes, Ugeum slowly brought his face closer. His deep, dark gaze ensnared me like a noose. I was pinned in place, unable to move, like a trapped animal.
Was I about to be hunted just like this? Fear and anxiety welled all the way up to my chin.
A soft brush. His lips touched mine lightly, pulled away, and then descended with fierce aggression. At least in this moment, Ugeum was no cautious hunter. He was a starved beast.
Ugeum hungrily devoured my lips. His hot tongue swept through the tender flesh within.
It felt as if my very mind were being churned. I couldn’t think straight at all.
My heart beat furiously in the wrist Ugeum held. It felt as though what he had seized wasn’t just my wrist, but my heart itself.
Saliva mingled and breaths tangled together. I was suffocating. I gasped for air and tried to pull away from the kiss, but his pursuing lips instantly swallowed me whole again.
When I unconsciously took a step back, Ugeum, still gripping my wrist, pulled my waist tight against him with his other hand.
At the same time, he moved my hand from his chest and draped it over his shoulder.
That left me in a posture with my arm wrapped around the nape of his neck.
As if that still weren’t enough, Ugeum grabbed my other hand and wrapped it around his waist. All the while, the kiss never stopped.
No. I’m going to be eaten alive.
A whimper slipped from my throat. Hearing my soft moan, the corners of Ugeum’s lips curled against mine as he tilted his head, invading deeper into my mouth.
Was this what it felt like to be bitten by venomous fangs? The strength drained from my body, and my consciousness grew faint.
Just then.
The sudden ringing of a cell phone pierced through my paralyzed mind.
“……!”
Startled, I scrambled backward the moment Ugeum paused. With a look of lingering regret, Ugeum let me go.
Mentally sweeping a hand over my racing chest in relief, I checked the caller ID.
Teacher Ye-yeon
I had completely forgotten. The blind date.
