***

Jiyong covered his irregular heart-beats with one soft hand. He glanced at the beautiful one-storey building and sighed deeply. Its beautiful black curled fence made it somehow look more impetuous than he remembered it. It wasn’t the first time he came to Seungri’s house, but for an unknown reason he had an uneasy feeling today. For first, he couldn’t believe he actually drove an hour and a half just to come here. He took a deep breath again and pushed the small grey button.

“Kid, are you home?” he asked more for himself. He placed his face in between the bars and he almost tripped when the gate creaked open. “Huh?...” he pushed it entering the inner garden.  It was so quiet. He walked around, circled the big house a couple of times, but it really loked empty. 

Suddenly a motorbike-like sound pierced through the sinister silence. 

“Kid?...”Ji turned to look for it when he was about to push the door’s handle. He quickly ran towards the iron gate but he couldn’t catch the black motorcycle. He could only follow the black trails it left on the street, and for some reason he actually did. Sooner than he realized he found himself wondering around on a narrow alley. He stopped to scratch the top of his head when he reached its end – a small kid’s playground surrounded by thick bushes. Darkness almost swallowed everything around, luckily that there were  a couple of light poles on every edge. He turned around to follow the road back when the lights began flickering.

“What the…” Ji looked at them with small confidence.

It was cold indeed, but there was no trace of wind today. Even so the swings began waving back and forth. He took a step back, but suddenly froze when the carousel also started rolling. A short lisp threw cold shivers down his spine. He couldn’t restrain a scream and he fell on the noisy, cold puddle when a poor kitty-cat jumped out from the bushes. He felt like simple curing words won’t do the trick so  he grabbed a fist full of mud and fiercely threw it after it.

“I’m not even that ugly!!” he yelled when the poor animal ruffled at him.

He got up shaking  the dirt off of his pants while he kept on bad-mouthing about the little cat. When he was about to be done, a sudden pair of black boots appearing out of nowhere sent him back in the wet puddle.

“Are you ok, Jiyong-Ah?” Daesung’s soft voice calmed down his friend’s heart.

“Daesung-ah…” Ji barely mumbled being too busy to carefully manage his breath. “What are you doing here?...”

Dae’s answer came through by a quiet “Ssst!” when he stretched out his hand to help Ji up. The bush started swishing again. Dae quickly grabbed Ji’s neck collar and pushed him to make him walk. He would’ve also add a verbal impulse such as “Go!” or “Run!” but there was no time for it: a black silhouette almost stabbed its three sharp knifes in Dae’s back. A second attack came, this time towards Ji. He rolled over a few times otherwise he could’ve end in a sushi plate. Just Dae’s heartsick scream managed to make him stop defending himself and look for his friend, but he was nowhere to be found. When the blades flew above his head, he fell back on the ground, getting ready to duck the next hits. All of a sudden some strange howling noises were heard. They both looked for them and Ji could only place his hands above his head so the running, hairy creature won’t bite his head off. Instead it stopped  on top of the silhouette, revealing its enormous sharp teeth.

Ji discreetly backed out, without even standing up; he just shuffled until his back reached the swings’ poles. He was about to use it to lean on and help himself up, when a pair of black boots stopped in front of him.

“Dae!” he shouted in joy and almost instantly swallowed it back. There was no Daesung smiling down at him but a strange looking guy, with his waxy skin and big, red lips outlined by really white, sharp fangs.