Hayi was nowhere in sight for Jongup and Yongguk. Junhong was left looking like a fool in front of his friends. Jongup simply wrote it off, saying that Junhong was trying to make him jealous with this idea of a perfect girlfriend. However, Yongguk stuck around to talk to the young male some more.

“So she’s real. As real as your hand,” Yongguk started, sounding skeptical. Junhong hated such a tone. He refused to look at the older male, who was clearly undermining him. “Is it weird to say that, even if I’ve never seen her, I know she’s real?”

Yongguk’s voice still remained edgy, as if he was treading dangerous, uncharted water. But, the words were enough to make Junhong jump up and brighten up with hope. “So you believe me? You believe me?”

“I believe you... to an extent,” Yongguk continued, looking around as if something were to jump-scare him, “Have you ever heard of the cursed dolls?”

“Pft, Yongguk. It’s one thing to make us all rub a Buddha’s stomach but cursed dolls? I don’t think there’s such a thing,” Junhong said with a playful tease lingering in his voice. Yongguk, though, was undeterred.

“There’s a lot of crazy in the world and most of it, it’s there to teach us a lesson.”

Junhong straightened his back and kept his chin held up high. He didn’t know where Yongguk was coming from, or even where he was going with this. Cursed dolls? Please.

“How did you meet Hayi?” Yongguk asked, his tone changing from cautious to a little more cheerily curious. Junhong was unwilling to answer, looking away from his friend. He managed to sink into the chair where he was sitting, becoming a lot smaller than he was.

“Well, if you won’t answer, then just listen to this. I mean, it’s a cool story. And if Hayi’s not here then why not kill time?” Yongguk suggested, “There’s been whispers of a curse that no one knows where it started or how it came to be. The only thing that people know about how it starts is that it waits. It waits patiently, as if it was a black panther hidden in the dangers of the shadows. It preys on the people who find love in the strangest of objects, instead of placing it in a person. When dreams and aspirations can be found in a toy, rather than a friend. Many claim that the curse comes in a form of a doll. Some say it looks just like the person, or the person they admire the most. But this doll consumes this person’s life and it’s all the person talks about. They love the doll so much and even forget the people they have in their life. Eventually, the person disappears, consumed by the curse of the doll. There are different endings. Sometimes they die, sometimes they become a doll or sometimes they just disappear. Either way, the doll moves on, continuing the dreaded curse.”

Junhong snorted softly, his demeanour having changed throughout the story. His grin was crooked and wry. He jutted a thumb towards his chest, looking the part of the haughty soccer player that he played so well. “There’s no way that can happen to me. I mean, I only take in toys I know I can fix and donate, you know that, Yongguk. Besides, it’s not like Hayi is a doll. She was out in the streets with nowhere to go, in need of a home. I remember now. I met her on the way to my mom’s work.”

Yongguk was never one to indulge someone, so he simply clicked his tongue. He excused himself, saying that he had to help the coach with paperwork before he went out with his fellow college friends. He was superstitious, yes, but that didn’t mean he was demented. It was only a story, right? An urban legend that scattered upon city, each one having its own version.

And Junhong was right, he’d never let a doll get to his head.

###

"No, no, no," Hayi cried as she covered her ears. "No, you can't make me."

Dark whispers crawled against her skin, giving her goose bumps. They didn't only bother her from the outside like slithering snakes, they pestered her inside, as well. The words echoed into the deepest parts of her mind, giving her no place to find peace. There was no escaping these cruel, malevolent attacks. No one else could see them, hear them, or even remotely imagine them. She was left on her own, vulnerable and afraid, against the black tendrils of evil that haunt her every day. 

The young girl had begun to cry, silently weeping as she sprawled onto the bathroom floor. Her eyes were squeezed shut, though it was no use. She couldn't escape the reality she found herself in. The whispers grew to vicious growls the longer she didn't answer to them. 

"I won't do it! Please, no!" she sobbed. 

Overwhelmed with fear, Hayi curled into a ball. She felt like an insignificant teardrop amidst thousands of others in the huge, terrible ocean. Surrounded by danger and darkness and horror. She was so tense with fright that her body quivered underneath the shaking pressure. There was nothing she could do. She had to withstand this onslaught that the darkness had decided to plague her with. 

Then, suddenly, it stopped.

Her breathing came in erratic bursts as she struggled to compose herself. She was disoriented as her hand grasped the porcelain sink. Her hold was frail and weak, and it took a lot of effort for her to bring herself to her feet. She had broken into a cold sweat. Her skin was moist and sticky, her fear clinging to her with disgust. Hayi splashed her face with tap water before taking a breath and standing straight. 

A scream pierced the air and shook the silence. Hayi had broken down once more as her whole body tremored from her sobbing. 

Her reflection was absolutely revolting.

A dark, empty black hole occupied the space where her right eye would be. Cracks, like in broken porcelain, framed the hole. Parts of her cheek were black and charred, drooping like melted plastic. Her nose was utterly disfigured, twisted to the point of being unrecognizable. Patches of her hair were gone. Where they'd be a shining scalp, small holes that were placed row on row were seen. Other parts of her hair were singed. Hayi brought her hands to her face, to see if her face had become so grotesque. However, it only made Hayi wail some more. 

Her left hand was crumbling like small bits of broken china. Her pinkie finger was completely gone as the rest of her fingers ended in sharp edges. Her right hand was completely malformed, her four fingers fused together and flattened. Hayi screamed once more, hating this ugly sight.

Shutting her eyes quickly, she tried getting the awful image out of her head. However, it was branded onto her eyelids. Tears fell from her left eye, cascading down her face in a wicked torrent. She hiccupped once before she opened her eyes once more.

Her reflection was completely normal. 

Her eyes couldn't mask the terror she felt. Her reflection looked absolutely distraught, with glossy, red eyes and puffy cheeks. Her hair was disheveled and her lips trembled vigorously. She had to leave. She had to try and recompose herself.

Junhong couldn't know the malicious beings that plagued her every time she was alone.