“They say someone appears and grabs you into the darkness when you find yourself all alone in the room.”

 

I brush off Jimin, who’s become very concerned after hearing I’m moving into the co-ed dorms of our university. “What are we, 8? Do you seriously still believe in that kind of stuff?” I say as I carry the last of my boxes outside of what used to be my room and Jimin’s and into the hall.

She shook her head. “Many people have either gone missing or have gone insane after staying in the co-ed dorms.” I closed the door and fished the room keys in my pocket before giving it to Jimin, and facing her, I ruffled her hair. “Oh please, Jae’s been there for like, over a year, and he seems fine. He even invited me there, since there was a vacancy.”

“Speaking of which…” Jimin suddenly looks over my shoulder, and I turn around to come face-to-face with the very person I was talking about.

“Hey, Jae.” I casually addressed him, and he beams at me and Jimin. He then crouches down to take my boxes, and nods his head at me, signaling to go.

“Wanna come with us? Y’know, so you wouldn’t lose sleep over worrying about me.” I jokingly elbowed Jimin, but she stared at me with an unreadable expression. “I was going to, anyway.”

Jae led us to his car and loaded the boxes in, while Jimin and I sat inside the car and talked a little bit more.

“It’s cheap there, too. All I’m paying for is the water and electricity bills, and because there are a lot of people in a room, we could easily split the bill and all of us would have to pay a smaller amount.” I beamed at her, my smile growing wider by the second as I thought of how much money I can save. She looks at me, and then hurriedly fishes for something in her purse. I looked at her curiously, wondering what she needed so badly.

She then manages to get her wallet, and opens it up, revealing a thick wad of bills. She grabs half of it, and places it on my hand. “If financing the dorm room is your problem, here. I’ll even give you allowances, and even pay for your food, electricity, water; everything. Just, PLEASE, don’t go.”

Suddenly, the driver’s door opens, and Jae plops himself down and adjusts the mirror before looking back at Jimin. “Jaeyeon’s classes are nearer when staying in the co-ed dorms. Besides, you get to sleep a bit more compared to her, since your classes are here and closer to your dorms.” I hit my forehead with my palms. “Right, that as well. I forgot about that.”

“So,” He turns the car engine on, and starts driving, “aside from being cheaper, it’s also more convenient for Jaeyeon. So, y’know, you could stop trying to pull her back into your arms.” Jae chuckles, and Jimin glares at him for a few seconds before looking down at whatever I placed back into her hands, and she looks at me questioningly while looking down at the money I returned.

“It’s fine, Jimin. I can work with whatever I have.” I gave her a reassuring smile and squeezed her hand a little. She sighed, and the view of the dorms slowly came into view. On the way there, as we got nearer, no one spoke anything, just silently looking at the surroundings.

“So, you’ve been staying here for over a year? No wonder.” I mumble, but Jae must’ve heard me since he peeled his eyes away from the road and gave me a one second smile before returning his gaze to the road. “Yeah, it’s pretty neat, isn’t it? And for a cheap price at that, as well. And if you’re ever worried about having to walk alone to your classes, I’ll gladly walk you to your rooms.”

Jimin snorts after hearing Jae. “Oh please. As if you can compete with her. She wakes up at 5am, does all the chores before 6:30, and heads to her classes as soon as it’s 6:30, and arrives in class precisely 6:55am, 5 minutes before her classes start. You?” She points to Jae, which he rolls his eyes in response, “You let the younger kids do your chores, and even arrive late. You really think you can walk her to class with you being forever late?”

 

I sighed. Their bickering starts.

 

I unconsciously managed to shut both of them up when I exclaimed and pointed at the window. “Whoa! Look!” Jae carefully parks the car before looking at the window, and another silence settles in.

The three of us were staring at a building with vast murals, and some people on the grass playing instruments. “The murals are so pretty…” I trailed off, and Jae ruffles my hair, humming in response.

I craned my neck over, trying to look at the guy playing the cajon, before I felt someone tapping my shoulder. I turned to see Jae pointing to the cajon guy as well. “Are you trying to look at him?” I nodded. “He’s Dowoon, the maknae in our band we’ve made. And yes, we have a band. I told them I’ll be skipping the first half of practice to come pick up a new dorm mate.”

“You can definitely play the guitar and sing, I’ll give you that.” Jimin remarked as she got off the car., leaving Jae and I craning our necks while looking through the passenger seat’s window.

“At least she acknowledges talent.” Jae mumbles, before looking at me again, beaming. “Come on, let’s go, they’re probably waiting.” He got out of the car and opened the door for me, then proceeded to grab my stuff out of the trunk of his car. Jimin leaned on the car, observing Jae quietly.

“I have to admit, he is pretty responsible and nice despite his free spirit.” She says quietly, almost inaudibly, but I turned to look at her. “Let’s be honest, he’s only mean to you because you started it.” She huffs in annoyance and walks over to Jae, bending and picking up one of my boxes. Jae grabs and stacks the others, carrying it with him, and I carried the bags that were left.

As we made our way towards the entrance of the dorm, we heard the band Jae was in practicing, but then they suddenly stopped seeing Jae. “Hey, Jae, who’s the new dorm mate?” The guy with the bowl cut asked, and then the guy with fox eyes suddenly cut Jae off, who was about to respond. “If Jimin is the new dorm mate…”

Jimin shot them a look before putting down the box, and crossed her arms. “Why? You guys don’t like it?” Jae walks in front of Jimin, and faces her, his head slightly tilted so that the boxes aren’t in the way. “Hey. Stop. It’s fine. It’s okay.” He then faces the bunch of guys. “It’s not Jimin. It’s her,” he points at me, and I bow before looking at them. “Her name’s Jaeyeon.”

“Hi, I’m Im Jaeyeon, it’s nice to meet you.” I said timidly, but the fox guy looks at me before suddenly getting up and opened his palm.

I looked at him questioningly, and he stared back with his brows furrowed, until his facial expression softens, realizing I don’t understand him. He chuckles in embarrassment. “Your bags. Let me carry them for you.”

“Oh. Um, okay.” I gave him the bags and he walked up front, before turning back to Jimin and grabbing the box without a word.

Jae leans near my ear and whispered. “That’s Brian. He’s a bit unpredictable. Kinda nice, kinda not, depends, really. But Jimin often has a way with him, so he kinda has hard feelings for her. Anyway, let me explain later.” He straightens his back and looks at me before turning to his band mates. “I’ll introduce you formally later. For now, she needs to be settled in.” They nod, and Jae leads the way to our room.

As we walked, I asked him. “Are we, like, in the same room?” He nods. “Yup, it’s because I found this huge room with a huge vacancy as well, and has a super cheap price, and gets discounted if you get to fill all beds. I don’t know why, but I guess it’s super cheap because the seniors from a few years ago who owned this entire building said paranormal stuff happened, and so they sold this building to an old lady, who then sold it to the school, who then resold it to the old lady since the stuff surrounding it might tarnish the school’s name, but some of us here still refer to it as the school’s dorm out of habit.”

I nod in understanding. “That’s why it’s the only building with so much freedom.” He hums in agreement, and Jimin chimes in. “But still, the people who used to stay in this dorm said that some of the murals were made with ancient charms and symbols in order to ward off the spirits lurking in here, but—“

“It’s here, Jaeyeon.” Brian pops up from a door behind us, and I didn’t notice he was already inside the room. The three of us were ahead a few doors, so we backtracked towards where Brian is. “Sorry, I must’ve been too carried away to notice.” Jae responds and looks at me. “Come one, I’ll show you.”

As we stepped inside, Jimin hums almost inaudibly before clicking her tongue. “Huh. I guess Jae was right. It looks fine.” Jae nudges her. “See? It’s fine. Don’t worry about your friend. We’ll take care of her.”

It was a long room with two rows of double decks, one row on each side of the wall, and two windows with a light blue curtain, big enough to cover the room and prevent most sunlight from entering the room, and the bottom bunk beds had a huge space for plastic boxes and the like under it. It felt so homey and large and nice, I’m starting to wonder why Jimin didn’t want me here initially.

Jimin then checks her wrist watch before an unreadable expression was painted on her face. “. I need to go back. Dorm heads have a meeting, and I’ve gotten only an hour left before it starts. Jae, can you drive me back to the campus lobby?” He nods, and turns around to throw keys into Brian’s direction. “Take our dorm keys. Introduce her around, Bri. She’s too quiet for her own good.” He nods, and Jae and Jimin take their leave, leaving only me and Brian.

The room suddenly grew quiet, and I started to silently unpack my things on the bed Jae pointed out. Brian approaches me and takes my things, and places it onto another bed. I turned around to look at him, and he simply shrugs. “What was that for?” I asked. He continues to move my stuff as he replied. “It’s another noona’s bed who’s in the shower right now. She only switched beds earlier this morning when Jae was out helping you, so he’d still think this bed was vacant.”

I let out a sigh of understanding. “Ah, so that’s why it looked weird how the bed was already prepared.” He shook his head. “Not really. When Dowoon found out we had a new dorm mate, he fixes the vacant bed and prepares it for its new owner. It’s like his habit or something.” I looked at him, and he suddenly realizes. “Ah, right, right, you don’t know Dowoon and the others. Just leave your things here, I’ll help you with it later. I’ll introduce you around first.” I placed my remaining stuff on my bed and headed out with Brian.

As he finished securing the room, he held out his hand to me. “I forgot. You probably already know me thanks to Jae, but I’m Young K.” I took his hand and shook it, but not before saying the name Jae told me. “Brian?” He suddenly sighs. “Well, Young K is like a stage name for our band, but Jae always insists it’s Brian, and because he says it so often everyone else follows him now.”

“By the way, what made you come here?” The bowl guy, whose name was Sungjin, asked as he gently placed his guitar safely on the grass. “Well, Jae…” I started, but a voice from behind me continued my train of thought, successfully cutting me off.

“…Jae is the greatest, he’s the reason why I moved here, because he’s just so great and I love him.” Jae appeared, and sat down beside me, beaming, with his guitar in hand.

“Gross.” Brian says, but Jae ignores that comment.

“But seriously though, she came because first, it was because of ME.” He points to himself, and everyone rolls their eyes. “Second, rent is cheap. Third, her classes are near this dorm in comparison to her previous dorm.”

“What’s she majoring in, though?” Wonpil, the guy with huge, pretty eyes, asked, and then turned to me. “What do you major in?”

“I’m an architecture student…” I trailed off before Jae continued for me. “She’s into art and engineering and the like, but she used to be a Biology student.”

“Well that explains why she’s with Jimin then, since Jimin’s a Bio student as well.” Sungjin notes, and everyone nods.

Everyone gathered around for what Jae told me was a “dinner gathering”, since Wonpil was cooking and had wanted everyone to eat his cooking as he kept insisting it was a ‘special day’.

“So, everyone,” Jae suddenly claps twice to get everyone’s attention. The dining room was huge, and I remember Jae telling me the entire first floor eats together, since the entire first floor used to be occupied by seniors of almost the same classes. Everyone focused on Jae, who was now standing. As soon as he looked at me, I realized, and covered my face with my hands while sighing.

“This,” he gestures kindly to me, “is Im Jaeyeon. She’s a close friend of mine. Jaeyeon, introduce yourself.” I stand and look down on my feet, while having my hands clasped behind me. “Hi, I’m Jae’s friend, Im Jaeyeon. But you can call me Jae or Yeon, since there might be some confusion with Jae and I. Please take care of me.” Everyone claps as I sit down, and Jae started to point people.

“Jaeyeon, you know Sungjin, Wonpil who’s in the kitchen, Brian and Dowoon already,” the mentioned waved at me and I waved back, “and that’s Jackson, Mark, Bambam. They’re the foreign trio, since they’re exchange students from different countries,” they wave as well, and I smiled, “and lastly, the noonas. That’s Suzy noona, Hani noona, and Hyuna noona.” The unnies smiled at me, and I bowed my head shyly.

Wonpil arrived with food, and dinner continued smoothly.

After dinner, I offered to help with dishes, and…

 

…well, everyone left me doing the dishes alone.

It’s fine, you shouldn’t be treated special. Why would you be?

 

As I continued to scrub the dishes, I realized I was almost done without even moving from the left sink to the right sink, not scrubbing off leftover food, and not even grabbing the soaped plates—

I saw Brian quietly rinsing and scrubbing, stacking soaped plates ready for rinsing beside me. He must’ve noticed because he turned to look at me and gave me a little smile. “Sorry if this is all I could help you with. Jae forgot about you and did his usual routine, leaving you alone.” I continued rinsing and returned the smile. “No, thank you, you helped me do the dishes. I honestly thought I was left alone—“

Another thought hits me and I quickly remove my dishwashing gloves. Brian eyed me, and I looked back at him. “I must be crazy, I started doing the dishes without—“

A smile erupts on his face.

And then laughter ensued.

“Yes, you’re right, you’re a bit crazy. You forgot about clearing the table, but you were too busy cleaning Wonpil’s mess so I decided to help.” He beams at me, and gestures towards the now clean pile of dishes and utensils.

I gape. “Whoa. How’d you do that in such a short amount of time?”

“Well, for starters, it wasn’t a short amount of time. But cleaning up after Wonpil does take a lot of time and you wouldn’t even notice.” Brian glances at the pans and pots with burnt food at the bottom, and the steel scrubber I’ve been so desperately using. “He’s, uh, a trial-and-error guy. But hey, his food tastes great.” I nod and made my way back to the kitchen sink and back to whatever I was cleaning.

“Psst. Jaeyeon.” I turn to his direction and he tosses a bag of…

…baking soda?

“I don’t know man, try it. I saw the noonas use it once.” He says and I shrug, while pouring baking soda on my hand. Brian sees this and his eyes widen.

“Stop!” He yells, and I flinch in my position. He immediately grabs an empty bowl and grabs my wrist, then pours the baking soda in the bowl.

“First, fill the pot with water.” He demonstrated it for me, and then proceeds to grab a bottle of vinegar. “Add vinegar, and then bring to a boil. While it boils,” he turns on the stove with a click, “we finish these soapy plates.”

After we finished rinsing plates, we went to check on the pot on the stove, and he turns it off. He then leans over and grabs the baking soda, and grabs the pot as well over to the sink.

“Remember volcano simulations in grade school?” I nod, and he pours the baking soda into the pot, creating a lot of fizz.

“Whoa.” I exclaim in amazement, seeing the pot overflow with fizz. Brian then pours out its contents in one swift motion, and hands the scourer. “Now, all you need to do is give it a few good scrubs.”

I beam at him, the brightest I could muster. “Thank you, thank you, and thank you so much! But you said you didn’t know how to use it?”

He scratches the back of his head. “Remember how I said I saw the noonas use it once? Well, I remembered every step, so there’s that.” He laughs awkwardly, and I continued scrubbing.

Finally finished cleaning the kitchen and the dining room, Brian and I headed back to our rooms.

“Have I told you we were in the same room?” Brian asks, and I looked up in thought before shaking my head. “All you mentioned was Jae.”

“Well, me, Jae, Dowoon, Sungjin, and Wonpil are in one room together with Suzy noona.” I suddenly raise my eyebrows. “Yo, I know it’s a co-ed dorm, but is it okay to literally have a co-ed room? Shouldn’t there be a separation in the rooms?”

He shrugs. “Suzy noona was here first, and she told us she didn’t mind as long as we needed to be up by 5:30 am so we could avoid the awkwardness when showering and the like.”

I accepted that answer and shrugged as well.

We both entered the room and was greeted by Jae and Wonpil on their respective beds, but each playing their instruments and jamming. Wonpil on his keyboard/synth and Jae on his guitar.

“Are they always like this?” I asked, and Brian nods as he led me to my bed to fix my stuff. “Yeah. They like jamming to songs, as with the other band members, me included.”

Everyone was preparing to sleep when I felt someone moving.

Because my bed was the upper bunk, I immediately knew who caused the movements and where it came from. I knew it was Brian who slept on the bunk below me, and Jae had warned me before sleeping that Brian tosses and turns in the middle of the night.

However, his movements didn’t seem like he was tossing or turning.

It was like…

 

 

He was fighting with someone. Almost.

 

 

I quietly sat up, hugging my blankets, and looked around at the other upper bunks, scanning for other people who were peacefully sleeping. Maybe someone who could reassure me Brian’s really just sleeping.

The lights were all off at this point, and it was hard to see.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There was no one in their beds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I looked over, trying to get a view of the other bottom bunk beds.

Strangely, no one was there too.

 

“Brian?” I croaked, my voice hoarse, but there was no reply.

 

My heart started beating faster. I could hear the eerie silence now. The movement and the rustling was all gone.

I grabbed a pair of pajamas I hung on the railing of the bed and wore it hurriedly, and took a deep breath.

Grabbing my phone, I its flashlight and used the camera to look at Brian from the bottom bunk.

 

What if… Brian isn’t here as well? The thought alone made my heart race, and my hands have become sweaty and shaky as well. I held onto the railing of the bed, and with the other arm, leaned towards the edge and pointed the camera straight down.

 

 

I took another deep breath.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There was no one there.

 

I sighed in relief, glad knowing nothing’s there and prepared myself for bed. I turned off the flashlight and placed my phone under my pillow, and laid down.

 

That’s when I remembered something Jimin told me.

 

 

 

“They say someone appears and grabs you into the darkness when you find yourself all alone in the room.”

 

 

 

 

The lights suddenly , and I quickly got up to scan the entire room.

 

No, I wasn’t dreaming.

.

I really am alone in this room.

 

I felt something behind me, and without even looking back, I jumped off my bed and dashed towards the door leading to the hallway, phone in hand, tears starting to form, breath ragged.

 

But why…?

Why did the door feel so far away?

 

I continued running until I reached the doorknob, and twisted it open, revealing Wonpil and Jae, eyes wide open, in shock.

I turned to look back, and saw a black mass, entity, whatever you call it, floating ever so slowly towards me. It appeared through the window, and it was heading towards the door.

 

“Close the door!” I yelled at the both of them. Jae, panicking, screamed back. “No! The last person… the last person…”

 

He never got to finish his line.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thud. Click.

I didn’t realize I was on the floor, sobbing, and looked up to see Brian heavily breathing, his back on the door, and the black entity disappearing, his fading away process visible in the window of the room.

He still had his back on the door, but slid into a sitting position, and looked up, trying to catch his breath.

 

I felt… frozen. Stuck there.

I can’t move.

 

I aggressively tried to wipe away my tears as Brian walked over to me and helped me up. “You okay?” I nod, and looked up at him. He held me up with one arm, and the other supported him on a table.

“Are you… okay?” I cautiously asked, and he nodded.

He led me onto a chair and patted my head before heading towards Jae and Wonpil, who were both on the floor, frozen and shivering in fear.

Brian leads them to other chairs, and sighs as he sits down too.

 

“Hyung, are you okay?” Brian asks Jae, and he shakes his head. They both sigh at the same time, and look down.

“Brian hyung, why don’t we sleep with the foreigner trio tonight?” Wonpil quietly asks, and they agree. They turn to face me, and I nod before even hearing them. “I’m fine anywhere, really. I won’t mind sleeping anywhere.”

 

“Get some sleep in the foreigner trio’s room along with us.” Jae says, and pats my head. “Never sleep alone. Okay?” I nod, and carefully, we retrieve our stuff and came face-to-face with Sungjin, Dowoon, and Suzy. Jae whispers to Suzy, and the two nod.

We then knocked at the trio’s door, where we were greeted by Jackson, who looked worried. “I heard screaming. You guys fine? Mark told me to not go out no matter what I hear.” I nod, and gave him a smile. “I hope you guys wouldn’t mind us sleeping here for tonight.”

Mark suddenly appears with a blanket wrapped around him. “The more people, the better. Company is great. Let me make some room real quick.” He shoots us a smile and quickly makes room like he said.

 

We laid there on the floor, almost side-by-side, but I was situated in between Brian and Jae who gave me a huge amount of space with the reasoning that I’m a “girl”.

 

Soon enough, the lights were off, and I dozed off after exhaustion from paranormal entities.

 

I woke up with a difficulty in breathing.

 

It felt like someone was choking me, and I opened my eyes to see…

…absolutely nothing.

 

I can’t see.

I started panicking, breathing heavily, until my vision started clearing up, and I faintly see Brian, Jae, Wonpil…

 

I hear something.

 

 

“Breathe, breathe Jaeyeon.”

“Don’t close your eyes!”

“No….NO!!!”

 

 

 

This is nice.

There is no more pain in breathing.

I see nothing anymore.

 

 

No more.

 

 

 

 

­

“She’s…” Brian, who was kneeling on the floor with Jaeyeon in his arms, dreaded this moment, his voice filled with fear.

 

“She’s dead, yes.” Jae nonchalantly says, and kicks Brian. “Now, let go of its food. The thing is starving for not having eaten in a year.”

 

Brian stares at Jaeyeon, who looked like she was sleeping, and then turns to Jae. “If you wanted her dead, why didn’t you just let the thing get to her when she was in the room? What’s with the screaming and telling her not to close her eyes?”

Jae shrugged as the “trio” and the “noonas” appeared as the black entity chasing Jaeyeon, and stood in front of Brian.

 

“We’ve done this for how many years now. Y’know how people have their dying moments as their memory of everything. At least she died knowing people cared for her.” He stares at Brian, who was still clutching her. “So, aren’t you going to let the thing eat?” Jae points towards the entity, and Wonpil, who was observing them, got up and grabbed the girl out of Brian’s arms.

“Here.” He nudges the corpse towards the entity, and the three turned away before the entity disappeared once more into thin air.

“What a disappointment, she even washed the dishes from God knows when, including Wonpil’s mess as well.” Jae clicked his tongue, and sat down before the door swung open, revealing Dowoon and Sungjin.

They curiously look around before entering. “Is it over?” The three inside the room nod, and all five of them sat in a circle.

“Brian, why does it look like you’re… regretting this?” Sungjin asked, and everyone looked at Brian, who looked like a mess with his disheveled hair, and stared off into the distance.

“Aren’t you satisfied yet, Jae? Aren’t you guys satisfied? We basically murder people.” Brian exasperatedly sighs, and Dowoon manages to grab his drum sticks and hit Brian.

“You’re being messy.” Sungjin says, and Wonpil nods. “Stop ruining the system. It’s been working perfectly for years, so don’t get your emotions in the way.”

Jae shook his head. “The last person in that room should’ve been the food. It’s been decided, and you should be thankful we woke you up and left the room before she did. Otherwise, you’ll be food.”

 

“But, hyungs,” Dowoon lifted Jaeyeon’s phone, “how do we take care of this and her belongings?”

Wonpil rolls his eyes. “Looks like we’re spending the night cleaning.”

“How about her family and friends?” Dowoon asks again.

Jae smiles to himself. “She doesn’t have family anymore. They died in a car accident, and the only friends she has are me and Jimin. Besides, it’s easy to manipulate school files and records when you’re a teaching assistant who has all sorts of access to these files.”

Sungjin nods. “She’s too quiet; no one will remember her.”

They smirk among themselves, except for Brian, that is.

 

Brian mumbles to himself, so inaudible no one could hear him. “I guess you were really desperate this time, even using your friends as food. I wouldn’t be shocked if one day he’s gonna feed me to the thing.”

 

As they went out, they each hit Brian on the head, and he simply lowered his head not being able to talk back.

“No human has ever discovered our system.”

“Don’t ruin it.”

 

 

 

 

After everyone had gone out, a single tear rolled on Brian’s cheek, and he wiped it away before going out of the room.

 

I don’t want this life anymore.

I want everything to be over.

 

 

 

 

I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you, Im Jaeyeon.