“Kim Jongin! Quit being so bone-idle and give me a hand with this!” Kai’s father bellowed, loud enough to shake the Earth. Kai scowled in annoyance, yet he helped his father to carry the large cardboard box through the doorway and into the colossal house they were moving into all the same. Together, they heaved the box into the hallway. While his father went back outside to bring in more boxes, Kai examined the one in front of him. Discovering it was labelled ‘kitchens’, he pushed the box along the polished in the direction of the kitchen area, before retreating upstairs to inspect his new bedroom and unpack his belongings into it (instead of helping his parents, like he was supposed to be doing).

His room was on the third floor of the house, directly below the attic. Upon ascending the spiral staircase and entering the room, Kai noticed that a lot of the items in it were unnecessary: the large flat-screen TV on the mantelpiece above the fireplace, the book case against the wall opposite the door full of both classic and modern literature (as if he was likely to read Shakespeare anyway), the black chaise longue to his left and the pair of white armchairs to his right – it wasn’t like he’d be having friends over very often, if ever. If he wanted to watch TV he’d go to their private cinema room; if he wanted to read or study he’d go to their library. There simply wasn’t any need to have a TV and a bookcase in his room.

On the other hand, he liked the idea of having a minibar in his room. He’d have to pour the drinks himself, though, and he wouldn’t be drinking alcohol except for on special occasions.

Kai noted that there were four different doors in his new bedroom: the main one he’d entered through, the one located approximately three meters to the right of the fireplace – which turned out to be a built-in wardrobe – the one on the opposite wall behind the chaise longue – this one led to the en suite bathroom – and the one on the ceiling that barely registered as a door; that one led to the attic.

   He stepped into the room and immediately heard the clacking of his shoes as he crossed floor. Figuring that the coldness of the marble floor would not be comfortable for his bare feet, he made a mental note to buy a couple of rugs. The bed was quite literally the centrepiece of the room – it was smack in the middle of the floor – and circular in shape. How unusual, he thought to himself.

His two suitcases were already on the bed, for his mother had brought them up earlier. He opened the first case and began unfolding all of his clothes and hanging them up in the wardrobe. Once he had finished with that he started taking out all his personal belongings and placing them neatly in various places around the room.

His notebook was the last item in the second suitcase. It was mainly light blue and depicted a yellow giraffe looking up at white clouds that hung around its head; written on the inside cover was his name - 김 종인. Kai took out his yellow giraffe pen – yes, he had a thing for giraffes – and began writing a new diary entry which briefly described the house and said that he was waiting for the butler and the other servants to arrive.

The servants didn’t arrive until 6 o’clock that evening, only an hour before the family were to dine on their evening meal. Of course, Mr and Mrs Kim were furious at their tardiness, whereas Kai merely ignored them and politely excused himself. He headed to his room immediately and lay down on the chaise longue he thought he’d never use. He closed his eyes, intending to take a nap before dinner – not that he actually felt like eating. Silence enveloped him.

Just as he was drifting off to sleep, a short audible tap interrupted his peace. His eyes snapped open. Had he accidentally kicked something? No, that wasn’t it. Tap. There it was again. Turning his head to the side, he saw that there was nothing there. Tap. Tap. Tap. A wave of coldness washed over his body; the window wasn’t open – not even slightly. He decided to move over to his bed – then at least he’d have a duvet to protect himself against the harsh chill with. Tap. It was closer that time. Tap. The sound got closer still.

It was just his imagination… right? He pulled the duvet over his head, hoping to drown out the ominous sound. That didn’t work. Still inexplicably cold, Kai eventually managed to get to sleep, left hand beneath the pillow and right hand across his chest.