five;

There is a house at the edge of the park that everyone knows of. It resembles a gothic mansion--stately and imposing. Tendrils of ivy blanket the stone walls, curling to a stop at the windows. They are always dark, it seems to be.

It is acknowledged that the mansion belongs to Mr. Ahn, an elderly widower whose daughter died the year following his wife. Nobody has ever been seen exiting or entering the mansion, not even housekeepers. Some people say that it is abandoned, but the lawn is always trimmed and the foliage manicured to perfection.

Some say it is haunted, some say the residents merely keep to themselves, but nobody knows for sure.

In the summer of her eighth year, Cha Min Jun tries to persuade her older sister Min Gi and two of their friends to break into the Ahn Mansion.

“You’re crazy, Min Jun,” says Min Gi, who is two years her senior.

The four of them: Min Jun, Min Gi, Baekhyun, and Chanyeol are sitting cross-legged on the wooden floor of Min Jun’s room. Spread before them is a diagram in which Min Jun had meticulously planned two nights before. It is a rough sketch of the Ahn Mansion accompanied by numerous arrows indicating the path they would take.

Chanyeol points at a stick figure with an elongated neck and limbs.

“Is that supposed to be me?”

Min Jun swats his hand away.

“I don’t want your grimy fingertips on my work of art.”

Too late. Baekhyun, who had been previously digging for worms in his garden despite being nine years old, picks up the poster and examines it.

“Is this tiny guy supposed to me?” He exclaims.

Although older than her, Baekhyun is a full head shorter than Min Jun.

“Y