Chapter 1

Midnight Ramyun.

“Please, can we go now?!” Su Hyeon whined, resting her chin on the counter with a pout. Hee Na sighed, wiping the counter with a rag. She lifted Su Hyeon’s head to wipe under it.

“We’re still open. Let the rest of the customer leave, then we can go and eat whatever you want.” Hee Na said nodding towards the couple in the far end of the café, cuddling against each other and cooing disgustingly.

They watched for a moment before turning away, noses wrinkling in disgust.

“You know you can throw them out, right? Just do it! I want to have ramyun!” she wailed, dragging out the last word.

“No, no, no~! We can’t do that! They’re one of our finest patrons. Besides, customers are to be treated higher than God.” Sa Ra chimed from the kitchen stove and gave a firm nod at the end. “Apparently, they met here for the first time, she confessed to the guy here, their first date was here, their first fight-”

“Let me guess, here?” Su Hyeon mumbled with disinterest. Hee Na chuckled and glanced at Sa Ra who began petting and cooing at Su Hyeon as if she were a pet.

After a little over half an hour, the couple decided to take their leave. Hee Na looked up from the latte cup she was wiping clean and joined Sa Ra in a polite bow and a “Thank you for your patronage!”

Hee Na turned to Su Hyeon and ‘boop-ed” her slightly on the nose. “Now we can go eat your ramyun.”

Su Hyeon who looked like she was desperately resisting the sweet lullaby of death sprang from her chair and threw her hands in the air and said, “Finally! I thought I was going to die!”

Somewhere in the small bistro, there came a sound of persistent clicking noise coupled with mumbling which died out just as it reached the ears of the three friends at the bar counter.

Sa Ra sighed, looking wistful, “They are such an adorable couple. Aren’t they an adorable couple?” She turned the other two with an expectant smile.

“Yeah… Adorable enough to get away with making a baby on of our booths.” Hee Na drawled sarcastically as she placed the clean glasses and latte cups on the shelves.

It came again. The sound of relentless clicking mixed with mumbling to produce an eerie melody, only this time it was loud. Loud enough for Hee Na to perk up before she was distracted by her best friend and co-worker.

Sa Ra pouted and spoke in defiance, “Well, I think it’s cute that they can’t keep their hands off each other!”

“Then how about you tell them to behave the next time one of them has their hands down the other’s pants.” Su Hyeon interjected.

Sa Ra scrunched her face and made a gagging noise and said, “I can’t do that! It would be so awkward…”

“Of course, you can’t.” Hee Na stated matter-of-factly. Su Hyeon joined Hee Na and they sang in unison, “Our Cheon Sa (angel) Ra can never think badly of anyone~!”

Sa Ra giggled and spoke in a babyish tone, “That’s why I have the two of you to do it for me.” Then she proceeded to pinch Hee Na’s cheeks and petting Su Hyeon once more, exclaiming, “Cute!” Hee Na just rolled her eyes and shared an exasperated look with Su Hyeon.

Suddenly, a loud bang and a distorted wail resounded through the closed bistro making the two women jump. Hee Na whimpered pathetically and grabbed the nearest object; a tea spoon. Quickly, she replaced it with something larger, a wooden spatula, and held it closer to her quivering form.

The three friends stood in silence, trying to discern the direction from which the noise emanated.   

“Where did it come from?” Su Hyeon whispered, squinting her eyes in an attempt at hearing better.

“Why would you need to know that?! You do know what happens to those people in horror movies who get a little too curious?!” Hee Na whispered-screamed at the still squinting Su Hyeon. She ignored the look of pure disgust and contempt.

Another wail tore through the bistro and Hee Na let out an involuntary whimper. So this is where I die… she gulped and convinced she wouldn’t live beyond tonight, silently began spelling out her last words. In the short life that I have lived, I have come to experience a lot. Some bad and fewer good but I’m thankful for all that they’ve taught me. Omma, Appa, I hope you’re proud of me. Also, appa, I was the one who threw your phone into the bath tub. It starting vibrating and freaked the hell out me. I’m sorry I lied and blamed unni. Forgive me and know that I will always-

“…ill me. Now…”

Sa Ra frowned and mumbling, “Why do I recognize that voice?”

Hesitantly, they walked over to the right side of the counter and leaned over. On a two seater table in the corner of the bistro, right by the door, a figure sat hunched over the table. Dark locks of hair cascaded down both sides of her face, making her look like the ghost from The Grudge.

“How long has she been sitting there?” Hee Na whispered, disbelief etching her face. The three stood there for a moment’s time, unanimously opting to ignore the dark, thundering cloud hovering just above Shin Mi’s head.

Su Hyeon’s back jerked as realization hit her, “Oh! She came in with me. I completely forgot about her…” she trailed off and scratched her face sheepishly. “Apparently, she was dumped a new manuscript to edit. Turns out, the author’s grammar and language skills is only superior to an amoeba’s.”

Hee Na grimaced and Sa Ra asked, “So what do we do? We need to get out of it if we want to leave this place. I think the storm brewing above her head is getting more ominous.” She cast an apprehensive glance at Shin Mi and shivered.

Su Hyeon chuckled like the Cheshire cat and whipped out her phone. “Tell me, my little babies, what brought us together and tighter in the bonds of friendship?” she smirked smugly and started going through her gallery. Hee Na tried not to gag at the choice of words.

Babies?

“Because no one else would be our friend?” Hee Na offered.

“The two of us took pity on you.” Sa Ra added. “Still don’t know if we regret it or not…”

Su Hyeon shot them both an irate glare and said, “No! It’s that we managed to have similar tastes. And what is our current interest?” she prompted with an expectant expression.

“Gummy Bears!” Hee Na and Sa Ra exclaimed in unison and bumped fists together.

“No!” Su Hyeon snapped. She turned her phone towards the two displaying a picture of six men posing in front of a white background. Their skin was torn in certain places revealing metal works and gears. “VIXX!” she declared triumphantly.

“VIXX is your answer to turn The Grudge back to how she was?” Hee Na asked dubiously.

“VIXX is the answer to everything.” Su Hyeon declared squinting her eyes threateningly. “Well, Neo in her case. Just show her a few pictures of Neo sweating it out on stage and sunshine shall return once again.” she winked.  

“Hey, I ain’t complaining.” Hee Na stated thrown her hands up in surrender.

“Of course, you wouldn’t. How can you when you dream of a certain big nosed main vocal every night?” Su Hyeon teased making Hee Na roll her eyes. She desperately wished no one would notice the pink colouring her cheeks.

“Can we stop wetting our and decide who is going to do this because the prospect of ramyun in the near future in getting awfully tempting right now?” Sa Ra whined stomping her foot like a child.

“Rock, paper, scissors?” Su Hyeon suggested, holding up her fist.

x--------x

“This isn’t fair!” Su Hyeon complained pouting.

“No, it’s not. You lost two rounds out of three which makes you the loser and the loser-”

“But it’s still not fair! Why can’t Sa Ra go?! No one has the heart to be mean to her anyway…”

“It’s actually her time of the month and I don’t wanna die,” Sa Ra stated simply. “You know how she gets when it’s her time of the month.”

Watching Su Hyeon pale visibly, Hee Na thanked her lucky star and tried to contain the fit of laughter that was threatening to pour out of .

“You know you’re not as angelic as people make you out to be,” Su Hyeon spat out bitterly and glared at the two of them. Sa Ra merely smiled before mentioning for the other to go with an insolent flick of her wrist.

Su Hyeon sighed and made her way to what could be her impending death. Hee Na called softly to her, “Kang! Su! Hyeon! Fighting!” she encouraged, pumping her fist. Su Hyeon replied with the dirtiest glare she could conjure up. “Kim! Hee! Na! Screw you!”

Hee Na chuckled and turned to Sa Ra who was idly munching on a piece of carrot. “She won’t die, will she?”

“Death? No! Critically injured? Possibly.”

Just then, there was a squeal of excitement and the two simultaneously breathed sighs of relief.

x---------x

Su Hyeon sighed in content and rubbed her belly, smiling, “Ah, I’m so full! I guess it is true that food begins to taste better after you’ve just been in a near death experience.”

“I think I’m going to puke…” Shin Mi mumbled, sounding nauseated.

“That’s what you get for overestimated your appetite every single time!” Sa Ra reprimanded and smacked Shin Mi up the head Shin Mi slapped a hand over , gagged and mumbled something about not doing that again.

Hee Na made a disgusted face and sighed, “It’s getting late. We should get home as fast as we can so you can puke it all out.”

“But the food was so good! Puking it out would be such a waste...” Shin Mi whined weakly.

“Then hold it in.”

“I can’t! It’s too much for my stomach to handle!”

“Then-”

“Bickering around little children isn’t going to help!” Sa Ra broke in, glaring at Hee Na. She then turned to Shin Mi and rubbed her back soothingly. “I’ll make you some nice, hot tea when we get home, okay?”

Pangs of guilt tugged at Hee Na’s heart, leaving her disgruntled. Pouting, she crossed her arms and was just about to retort when something hit her right in the temple, making her yelp in surprise and pain.

“What in the- What was that?!” Hee Na looked down, rubbing the side of her head.

“Punishment.” Shin Mi mumbled under her breath but it didn’t go unheard as Hee Na shot her a vicious glare.

“It’s a… blue paper plane?” Su Hyeon cocked her head back in confusion, her eyebrows furrowing. She bent down to pick it up only to have her hands harshly swatted away.

“DON’T TOUCH IT!!” Sa Ra and Shin Mi screeched in unison before Shin Mi gagged once again fighting another wave of nausea.

“Why? It’s just a paper plane…” Hee Na asked, hastily stepping outside of Shin Mi’s general puke zone.

“Well, it’s a ‘blue paper plane’,” Sa Ra air quoted and stared at the two of them, apparently satisfied by her explanation (or rather the lack there of).

“Okay, I know you’re trying to tell us something, but it’s all just…” Su Hyeon trailed away and swept a hand over her head and shook her head.

Hee Na eyed the plane dubiously. It looked like any other normal plane, neatly folded and made of baby blue paper. Although, it remained on the ground, inanimate, Hee Na’s paranoia nagged over the possibility that the plane might just use the element of surprise and gouge her eyes out.

Then, something dawned on her; how was the plane able to fly when there was no wind? Residential apartments were still a few blocks away…

“Yeah, what’s so special about it anyway?” Hee Na inquired, walking over to stand on the other of Su Hyeon and away from the blue plane of throes and doom.

Shin Mi’s jaw dropped, (making Hee Na duck instinctively, afraid of the half-digested food that might hit her square in the face) and blinked at them in shock. “Are you telling me that you don’t know the story of the blue plane?”

“No, we’re saying that we turn into men every full moon.” Hee Na spat sarcastically at the still-gawking Shin Mi.

Sa Ra clapped her hands, demanding attention and announced, “Okay, Time for a lesson on Seoul Myths 101! Gather ‘round kids cause you don’t want to miss out on this!” She pushed a pair of non-existent glasses up her nose. “Tonight’s lesson: The Blue Paper Plane.

“Legend says that if you write your most ardent wish in a baby blue paper, fold it into a plane and let it fly at sunset, your wish will be heard. If it’s within reason, of course.”

“And, and, and! Your wish will be fulfilled by six extremely hot guys!” Shin Mi added and sighed dreamily looked away into the night sky.

“Why six? Isn’t one guy enough, if he’s so magical?” Hee Na tilting her head to the side confusedly.

“Because six guys are always better than one. Duh!” Su Hyeon remarked, jerking her head obnoxiously.

“No wonder, you’re still single…” Shin Mi sighed and shook her head in pity. Hee Na advanced in an attempt to assault Shin Mi who squealed and hid behind Sa Ra. She poked her head from behind Sa Ra and stuck her tongue out which Hee Na chose to ignore.

“It depends on what you wish for. Remember the couple from earlier-”

“I don’t think we can forget even if we wanted to…” Su Hyeon cut in, resembling a traumatised soldier returning from ‘Nam.  

“Yeah, whatever. So as it turns out, their relationship started out cause of the blue plane thingy. The guy made the wish and said he met this angel-like dude with dimples who smiled a bit too much, according to him.”

Hee Na blinked for a few seconds before she threw her hands up and asked incredulously, “How do you know all this?!”

Sa Ra made an elaborate show of examining her nails, then cocked out her hip and smiled, “I socialize, sweetie. I don’t spend my time imaging my whole life with a certain big nosed main vocal from VIXX.”

Hee Na gasped, heat rushing to her checks and ears. She jabbed her finger into the air in front of Sa Ra’s nose and retorted, “Excuse me but aren’t you the one who likes Leo because, to you, he looked like Sebastian from Black Butler in the Hyde MV!”

“Yes, but I’m handling my obsession much, much better than you are.”

“Oh, yeah, sure. Squealing like fog horn every time you see his face, gazing at his pictures at odd times of the night and giving me heart attacks. Let’s not mention the time where I caught you caressing the phone screen under the sheets. And the phone wasn’t even yours! It was hers!” Hee Na jabbed a finger towards Su Hyeon.

Sa Ra glared at a smug Hee Na before she puffed in anger and crossed her arms, pouting, “Ah, whatever!”

“But does it work?” Su Hyeon spoke up thoughtfully.

“Well, it worked for the guy.”

“I guess it works sometimes and sometimes it doesn’t. Maybe that’s why it’s a myth. The stories aren’t always successful ones so there’s no way of validating its truth.” Hee Na mused. “But, doesn’t that bring in the issue of morality? I mean, in the case of couple- what on earth are you doing?” she snapped at Shin Mi.

Something was constantly moving in her periphery which turned out to be Shin Mi’s embarrassing attempt to dance to the choreography of VIXX’s Rock Your Body.

“Oh. I was- Well- Don’t you guys hear it? Someone’s playing Rock Your Body,” she pointed to the sky and looked at the three of them blankly.

Hee Na frowned, concentrating. All she hear were the crickets, a few running televisions and chattering ahjummas in the nearest restaurant. “I don’t hear any-” A hand was slapped over and Su Hyeon put her finger over her own lips, mentioning her to keep quiet.

Hee Na pushed the hand away and flexed to rid of the pricking pain when she heard it. That Tetris music that plays at the beginning, she heard it.

“There! The building over there,” Su Hyeon slapped Hee Na’s arm lightly and motioned with a jerk of her chin.

“It looks like its haunted…” Shin Mi trailed off as they eyes the desolate building. Architecturally, it looked like any other multi-story building one would find in suburban Seoul. However, the perpetual gloom gave it a foreboding vibe. The Hangeul on the neon sign out front was almost unreadable through the layer of grime and dust. Most of the windows were either broken, offering a glimpse of the inky black beyond, or taped over with cardboard. The building’s paint had been washed away by rain, leaving remnants of blackened streaks resembling smudged mascara. 

The only sign of life in the building was the third floor. Arcade-y music and k-pop blared and lights and figures moved across the windows.

“Didn’t we walk past that place? I don’t think hear anything last time…” Sa Ra mumbles quizzically.

“Hey, guys? Wanna go?” Su Hyeon grinned and pointed towards the building suggestively. “Suddenly, I have the urge to play.”

The other three exchanged glances between them, before Sa Ra shrugged and spoke, “I don’t see why not?”

x-------x

“For the love of God, did they have to put it on the third floor? What’s wrong with the first floor? It’s just as good as the any floor… Why can’t they take better care of this building if they were going to use it… looks downright haunted…” Su Hyeon rolled her eyes as Hee Na complained under her breath, all the while latched onto Su Hyeon’s sleeve.

“Oh, don’t worry. I’m sure we can find a wooden spatula or something,” Sa Ra mocked with a cheeky smile and a wink. Hee Na was too busy squealing in horror when something shifted in her periphery to acknowledge the remark.

“Ah, we’re here!” Shin Mi, who fearlessly led the group at the prospect of arcade gaming, announced.

The four women assembled in front a door lit by a single bulb. There was no sign board. Hee Na cocked her head and mused, “If I’m not wrong, doesn’t it look exactly like the door from the MV?”

“I was just about to say the same,” Su Hyeon slapped her in the arm. “Coincidence?”

“Probably. Or we’re just being really obsessive and paranoid,” Hee Na shrugged. “We are women…”

“Let’s go in!” Shin Mi cheered, pumping her fist in the air and pushed open the door.

Immediately, their eyes were flooded with vibrant hues of reds, yellow, blues, and greens. The blaring music emanating from speakers placed around the room added to the brilliance of the room. But something was amiss.

The room was devoid of human presence.

“Where is everyone? I was sure I saw something move across the windows… And, no, there are no ghosts here!” Hee Na exclaimed a soon as she saw Su Hyeon open .

“Look! Look! They have the… the hockey thingy! Ooh! A billiards table! Classy!” Shin Mi bounded about like an over excited puppy and whipped her head about with so much intensity, Hee Na was so sure it was going to fly off and hit the pinball machine nearby. Sa Ra flowed behind, chuckling quietly.

Su Hyeon and Hee Na made their way to the counter and Su Hyeon leaned over and announced, “Yup, no one’s here. Went on a bathroom break, maybe?”

Hee Na whipped out her wallet, fished out a few bills and placed them on the counter. “Get the tokens.” Su Hyeon smirked and walked around the counter and emerged next to Hee Na with a handful of coppery coins.

In a short matter of time, laughter filled the room mixed in with music. Sa Ra was being ruthlessly beaten by Shin Mi at air hockey and Su Hyeon and Hee Na were playing musketeers after finding a pair Styrofoam swords.

“En Garde!” Su Hyeon cried and jabbed her sword forward catching the other one right in the eye. Hee Na let out a short cry and jumped back, eyes instinctively closing shut.

She felt Su Hyeon’s hands on her shoulder, “! Hee Na, I’m so sorry. I di- Whoa!” Her cry of surprise was followed by two others somewhere in the distance.

“It’s okay. I’m fine. You guys don’t have to worry yourselves. Although, I’m really happy that you guys are so concerned- WHY IS EVERYTHING DARK?! KANG SU HYEON, DID YOU BLIND ME?!” Hee Na screeched as soon as her eyes opened and she saw nothing but black.

Suddenly, a swift hand smacked her up the head. “The power has been cut off, idiot. Besides, how can you be blind in both eyes when I poked you in only one?”

“Seriously? First, you blind me and now you want to give me a concussion?”

“Both of you shut up! I think there’s someone here with us!” Sa Ra’s voice hissed somewhere to Hee Na’s left.

“What?! Oh, God! Why is tonight filled with so much horror?!” Hee Na whimpered clutching onto her Styrofoam sword so tight, her finger tore through the material. Sure enough, when everything was silent, they could hear the hasty shuffling of feet coming from the opposite end of the room heading towards the door. They could also catch wisps of whispers but couldn’t make sense of it.

Sa Ra gasped (making Hee Na’s heart jump out of her chest for the millionth time that night). “Get your phone out and shine your flashlights that way!” she scrambled into her bag searching for her own.

The sound shuffling became more desperate. As did the whispers.

“Hurry, will you?!”

“Hyung, stop holding onto me! I’ll fall!”

“Yah! Quick!”

“My beanie, man!”

“Omma! I’m so scared!”

“Yah, Yah, Yah! Hold it! You’re going to trample me!”

Sa Ra whispered somewhat calmly, “You guys have your phone out?” The others nodded but realizing that they were draped in complete darkness opted for a verbal response.

Slowly, four beams of light torn through the blackness. They adjusted the direction to the far wall searching for something that wasn’t graffiti and torn posters.

“Nose!” Shin Mi yelped and immediately all four beams of light pooled next to each other, revealing six heads, an assortment of expressions and a very un-manly screech.

Hee Na had never sworn so hard in the twenty-three years of her life.