October 12th, 1963 ; 23:45

Det. Lee was given a very simple task. One so simple, he could do it with his eyes closed. You see, Det. Lee was a special kind of detective, someone who could solve even the weirdest mysteries. He was trained since he could talk to always look at every little detail. It has led him far, solving cases in record time, landing him his current position: Lead Detective of Seoul Gangnam Police Station. But today seemed weird to him already, because about 20 minutes ago, he was called into his boss, the chief's office because a case came in that was right up his alley. Case details are listed below:

Case Name: 'Fall Asleep In The Mirror'

Case I.D. Number: 170112-170405-170727-180510-180920-190213-190918

Case Description: On the evening of October 9th, 1963, 7 girls who were on vacation at the run-down manor in the woods went missing. The gatekeeper, Ms. Kim, arrived the next morning at 08:45 to take the keys from the girls. She waited for 15 minutes since the girls had openly announced that they would be by the gate at 9:00 am sharp. When 30 minutes had passed, Ms. Kim grew worried and began to panic. We received her phone call right away, and she told us to not come until 3 hours later. We believe she walked into the house and never returned. 2 tyros detectives went to the scene and did not find anything out of the ordinary, other than the mirrors being foggier than normal. It seems as if the gatekeeper only went into one room since only one door was opened. When they walked in, everything was in place. It was as if she disappeared into thin air.

The last sentence was written in a timorous state, barely being legible to read. At the very bottom of the report, another sentence looked to be crossed out, suggesting it was a mistake. Assuming the report's writer was in a hurry to bring this in, the detective didn't question it and read everything, including the crossed-out words. These are the sentences written there:

丂卄乇 山卂丂 丂ㄒㄩ匚Ҝ 丨几 ㄒ卄乇 爪丨尺尺ㄖ尺 山ㄖ尺ㄥᗪ 山丨ㄒ卄 ㄒ卄乇 丂乇ᐯ乇几 ㄥㄖ丂ㄒ Ꮆ丨尺ㄥ丂, 乃乇匚卂ㄩ丂乇 ㄒ卄乇ㄚ 千乇ㄥㄥ 卂丂ㄥ乇乇卩 丨几 ㄒ卄乇 爪丨尺尺ㄖ尺 卂几ᗪ 卂尺乇 ㄒ尺卂卩卩乇ᗪ 丨几 卂 几丨Ꮆ卄ㄒ爪卂尺乇. 

L̶o̶o̶k̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶r̶o̶o̶m̶ ̶8̶0̶8̶,̶ ̶i̶t̶ ̶h̶o̶l̶d̶s̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶a̶n̶s̶w̶e̶r̶s̶.̶

So now here the detective was, standing outside the ruin-like manor. It was dark, and the house seemed eerie. The woods were pitch black, with no lights in sight except for the oil-lamp the detective was holding. His boss gave him the gate keys and the house key, but he told him the house was left open (the keys were a precautionary measure).

Det. Lee dauntlessly entered through the thick, wooden doors of the manor leading into the surprisingly well-lit foyer. But as the detective looked closely at the interior, he realized that he was standing in a type of lobby. Det. Lee couldn't believe what he was seeing, because this did not look like a "manor" or a "mansion", this looked more like an abandoned hotel that had been left alone for over 80 years. He was so confused as to why the report writer lied and described this place as a "run-down manor" instead of correctly stating that this was, in fact, the supposed "inn of nightmares" that was last seen with lights on in 1901 (Det. Lee solved that case as well).

The detective decided that in order for him to fully understand the case, he should try and stay overnight. Pulling out the case file from his briefcase, he checked which room was written on the paper. After confirming he was in the right hallway, he pulled out his camera to capture video footage for later investigation. He walked towards the room, looking up at the plaque to confirm he was at the correct door: '808'. 

As he went to open the door, the lights in the hallway flickered on and off 4 times. He kept trying the door as the lights flickered, but it was locked. As he went to try again, the light flicker occurred and he spotted something or someone in the corner of his eye. He turned down the hallway and saw a girl. As the lights flickered once more, she disappeared and he began to be confused and frightened. Not wishing to stand outside the door any longer, he tried to open it again. 

This time it finally opened, and if the hallway was weird, the room was even weirder. Behind the desk was a mirror, which was so foggy you couldn't see anything. The bed was neatly arranged as if someone did it today. He placed his briefcase on the desk and took out the case file. Attached to the written report by a paper clip, a picture of the girls who went missing was there. He looked carefully at each of them one by one and realized that the person he saw in the hallway was one of them. He induced himself to believe that there was a bigger picture here, one that he didn't even think about when he first got here: Why was the case named 'Fall Asleep In The Mirror' and what is the "mirror world" the girls and gatekeeper were "stuck in"?

Acquiring a ranking headache, the detective decided to repose. As he was drifting to sleep, he felt a mystical power trying to gain control over him. He sat up quickly and saw another one of the girls sitting on the windowsill. He blinked, and just like that, the girl was gone. He couldn't take this anymore, he was imbued with tons of ways on how to solve this right now. He went with his instinct and walked up to the mirror. In the mirror, his face showed lassitude and languor, 2 emotions that were total opposites of what he was truly feeling. As he stared longer, the mirror grew darker, and his face began to look dissipated. 

He fell down and slowly moved to back away, but hit something before he could. He looked around him, and the world was growing dark. For a second his eyes closed, and when he opened them again, he was wearing shrouds. As he looked back up, 3 more of the girls were staring at him through the mirror, their eyes red and their faces darker. He went to stand up, but he felt a huge weight over him. He couldn't move, and he was trapped in front of the mirror. 

His eyes felt heavier and the darkness was becoming worse. Before he closed his eyes fully, a demonic-like creature came out of the mirror and moved behind him. This time, his eyes closed quickly, and were forced shut. The last thing he heard from the demon before he was taken to the mirror world was, "This was how their Beginnings here Ended, but now it's time for the end of the beginning. The End of man-kind's Beginning." 

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Fin.