“I can’t believe I let you three talk me into this!” Hyejoo grumbles, glancing warily in both directions as Yerim fumbles with the padlock on the door, using a paperclip to pick the aforementioned padlock.

“Hey, where’s your sense of adventure?” Chaewon grins, keeping a look over her shoulder for the housekeeper of the mansion they were trying to sneak into, earning an eye roll from Yeojin, who had her eyes in the opposite direction, keeping an eye out.

“Breaking and entering is definitely NOT my idea of adventure.”

-

It all started when Yerim wanted to scout out locations for an update on that urban exploring blog that herself and Chaewon were running. Two hours on Google, plus rifling through records at their college’s library had led them to this one old mansion at the edge of town.

Located in one of the more upscale areas of the city, this particular mansion had belonged to some archaeologist with an interest in the occult, whose name was lost to time amongst the various physical records Yerim and Yeojin had dug through.

The owner had passed on after an unspecified illness that left him mentally and physically weak. With no descendants, the mansion was left to one of the man’s housekeepers who stayed on, rarely making an appearance outside.

Rumours abounded that the housekeeper was secretly a witch of some sort. Some rumors even went as far to say that the archaeologist’s mysterious illness was caused by a hex, or that the aforementioned housekeeper murdered him.  But that didn’t deter Yeojin and Chaewon one bit. As no one had seen the housekeeper in years, people then assumed that said housekeeper either quietly passed on or moved out, even as the mansion slowly deteriorated.

Hyejoo initially had some misigivings, insisting that they find another place for their urban exploration mission. But Chaewon and Yerim were like puppies with bones in their mouths whenever their interest in a particular location and subject were piqued, therefore by default Hyejoo, and their junior, Yeojin, were roped into it.

There apparently were no security guards or guard dogs so the urbexer quartet only really had the housekeeper (assuming they were still around) to deal with. Given how large the mansion compound was, evading the housekeeper would be easy enough, or so they thought.

Finding the mansion was easy enough, given that it wasn’t particularly isolated. Getting in was less easy. To avoid prying eyes and with the fact that nearly every gate was chained shut, the quartet had to slip into the woods surrounding it, then find a section of the outer wall that didn’t have barbed wire on the very top of it.

Despite the scenic surroundings, Hyejoo had this feeling that something was off when they arrived at the mansion, telling herself it was just her nerves acting up, after they had scaled the vine-covered outer walls surrounding the compound. Initially brushing it off as her nerves because, well, they were breaking and entering, that feeling that something was off only grew stronger. Hyejoo decides to keep it to herself. The other girls would tell her the same thing she was telling herself anyways.

The mansion was laid out like a horseshoe, according to a copy of the blueprints that Yerim managed to get her hands on. The left side of the ‘horseshoe’ was both a garage and a stable while the right side consisted of a greenhouse and the living quarters for the mansion staff. In the centre of the ‘horseshoe’ was a garden. An overgrown hedge maze surrounding a long dried out fountain.

Hyejoo had been expecting something with a more ‘gothic’ aesthetic, but the mansion itself was pretty modern-looking for its time, when it was built sometime in the 1930’s, reminiscent of the French villas in the postcards that Yeojin’s older sister, Haseul, would send from her trips to Europe.

Yerim had her DSLR at the ready while Yeojin had a small GoPro camera in her hand. The quartet, deciding that going through the left side would make evading the housekeeper easier, if they were still around. Yerim had a collection of paper clips with her, quickly picking the locks on a cluster of chains keeping a side door shut.

As Yerim and Yeojin snap and film away with their cameras, Chaewon notes that while the mansion’s exterior gave it the impression that it was well kept, the garage itself wasn’t, with a thin layer of dust covering everything, not to mention the various gaps in the roofing. As they moved, little motes of dust swirled around, caught in the shafts of sunlight. Hyejoo finds it odd that there were no cars or vehicles of any sort in the garage.

“Probably sold off after the guy died.” Yeojin shrugs.

Stepping back out into the sunlight, the quartet stops at another side door, Yerim wondering aloud why one would need so many chains when even simple police tape would have sufficed.

-

“Aaaaand we’re in!” Yerim slowly pushes the door open after removing the locks and the chains, holding it for the other three before she enters after, theatrically glancing left and right before shutting the door.

The interior of the mansion itself was as dusty as the garage itself. It was as if the occupants had just suddenly got up and left. Hyejoo eyes a lampshade, overgrown with spiderwebs

The curtains over the windows were fully parted but instead of lighting up the hallways, it only really served to deepen the contrast between the light and the shadows.

The whole thing reminds Chaewon and Yerim of all the old castles and manors they’ve read about in various mystery books and short stories. To Yeojin, it was as if they entered an antique store. To Hyejoo (who had spent the previous night watching both Conjuring movies and The Nun,) it felt like they were entering some occult lord’s residence.

“Don’t break anything.” Chaewon is quick to remind the group. “We cannot leave more evidence that we were here than we already have done.”

The quartet makes their way down the halls, keeping low to avoid being spotted through the windows.

Most of the inside was devoid of most furniture, except for the occasional table and bookshelf. The group’s footsteps echoed through the nearly empty passageway, Yerim being quick to remind them all to keep it down. There were two wings in the mansion. The left side where they entered contained a study on the floor above, which according to the blueprint was connected to the library through a passageway. The right wing had the dining area on the ground floor, with a gallery of sorts above it.

“You know for a place that has a caretaker, this looks surprisingly run down…” Hyejoo speaks up a while later.

“All the better for pictures.” Yerim shrugs as she runs through the photos she already took on the way in. “Ooh there’s so much good content. Our blog’s definitely gonna blow up!”

“Is that the only thing you care about? This place really gives me the creeps.” Yeojin rolls her eyes before swiping the blueprints from Yerim’s pocket. “Rest of the main mansion is going to be empty… We might find something of interest in the library upstairs.”

“Hey that’s what we’re here for, remember?” Yerim grins, to which Yeojin rolls her eyes. The group had arrived at the mansion’s main hall, with two staircases flanking an entrance to the halls behind another set of doors, also chained shut.

“Okay here’s the plan. I’ll go upstairs with Hyejoo, the rest of you see what you can find down here. Meet us at the library in 10 minutes. Oh and uhh you two, try not to let the caretaker catch you.”

“Screw you, Yerim!”

“Yeojin, Haseul isn’t here. It’s okay to say the F-word…”

-

“Hasn’t anyone noticed that almost every access point leading into this place has been chained shut?” Hyejoo says a while later, as Yerim runs through the whole rigmarole of picking yet another padlock, holding together a length of chain that secure the library’s twin doors.

“You watch too much horror movies.” Yerim chuckles, her fingers working the paper clip in the lock. “This lock’s probably starting to rust inside… This might take a while.”

“Still. With all this security, it feels less like keeping people out and more like our mysterious housekeeper wanted to keep something in.”

“Come to think of it…” One lock down. Two more to go. “You do have a point. Either way, there’s only one real way to find out, and that’s in this library.”

“Touche.”  Hyejoo’s gaze darts from the top of the stairs to both passages flanking the library, watching for anyone that wasn’t Chaewon or Yeojin.

-

“This gives me the creeps.” Chaewon mutters, earning a slight smirk from Yeojin who whips out her phone, snapping pictures of the entrance to the dining hall, catching the dust-caked table in the centre of the shot.

“You sure were talking a lot of smack about how your blog’s gonna get big before we came here. Where’s that bravado of yours now?”

“Shut up, squirt.”

Yeojin and Chaewon flank the main dining table. Only the tablecloth remained, though falling apart thanks to moths. Strangely, all the cutlery and crockery were still present, as if awaiting a dinner party that never came. The cobweb-encased candelabra in the centre of the table gave the two girls the impression of a ghostly hand reaching through the table’s wooden surface.

There was a row of windows, just like in the passage they used to enter the mansion proper, but these curtains were just as moth eaten as the tablecloth. Chaewon was hesitant to part the curtains, fearing the mouldering, moth eaten fabric would fall apart in her hands.

Yeojin opens up one of the cupboards, immediately wishing she hadn’t as a flurry of moths fly out, missing her face by an inch. Too surprised to even scream or gasp, Yeojin steps back, landing on her rear and earning a chuckle from Chaewon.

“Very funny eh?” Yeojin shoots Chaewon a death glare as she gets to her feet.

“Okay I’m sorry. Come on, let’s keep exploring.”

-

“Ah finally!” Yerim carefully sets down the chain, attempting to be as quiet as possible before placing the three padlocks aside. Both Yerim and Hyejoo carefully swing open the doors before walking in.

The smell is what hits Hyejoo first. Old books coupled with the musty stench of dampness and rotting wood. It seemed the library itself had been sealed for a long time. Probably long before Yerim and Hyejoo themselves were even born.

From the door, the duo could make out rows and rows of books lining the shelves from the floor too the ceiling.  Dust and mold had tainted the wood into various shades of grey and black. Hyejoo could have spent the entire day browsing through the collection but half of the books in the shelves were probably unreadable by now, the damage from moisture probably washing away the ink. That was also assuming the books wouldn’t fall to pieces if handled. The wooden flooring suffered the worst of the damage, with the planks being warped, some to the point of detaching from the flooring underneath.

Hyejoo was reminded of the Moscow Library level from Metro 2033 as she steps in following Yerim’s lead. Yerim reaches into her backpack for a pair of surgical masks, handing one to Hyejoo along with a pair of gloves. With no lights and the windows being boarded up, Hyejoo and Yerim use the lights from their phones as their only source of illumination.

Hyejoo walks up to one of the bookshelves, brushing off some of the dust to reveal a golden strip underneath it. There was some writing, or at least what Hyejoo thinks is writing.

A row of hieroglyphs, were etched on to the strip. Hyejoo struggles to identify the script but the symbols don’t match any of the ancient or occult scripts she’s studied in her Anthropology classes.

P͖̼͔̦̘̙͕̠̘͕̹̪̟̘̯̽̇̇̓ͬ̎̀̿̓ͫ͛͟h̸̸̨̹̣̱̯̜̩̳̟͉͚̾ͤ̌̊̃̓͗͐̇̀́'̶̛̲̣̖͇͖̞̯̼͈͉̠̔̽̏̀̚͜͠ņ̥̰͔̩̪̩̹̺͚̱͇̗̗̙̹̳͂̆ͬ̾ͫ̕͡͞ͅͅͅģ̨̞͙̳̱͍̣̗̗ͫ̄̏̍͒̐̂̊ͅl͓̬̮̞̞̻̞̟̱͈̘̳̼͕̻͙̻̜ͯͯ̃͛̔ͤͨ͂̒ͭ͂̈́́̈́̾̑͆͢͟ư̡̡̬̘̻̮̯͓̟̮̳̭̈̃͂ͨ́̚͜į͈͍̙͚̠̹̟̪̫̑̄̄ͤ̊̕͜͠ ̧ͪͪͭ̆͝҉̨̼̘̺͍̖̳͚̠̩̥̝͙ͅm̃ͮ̽ͣͣ͆̍̎ͪ̇ͣ̔̈́̎̽̾̌͗͏̴̪͕̯͔̹͘g̱̥̪͎͎͕͖͙̳̪̙ͮͯ̐ͭ̄͆̃̊̂ͯͤ͗̎͝l̴̢̛̘̝̞̗̰̤̱̻͚͇̫̍͂͆ͩͧ̉̌͑̇̓̈́́͝w̡̨̜͙̹̫͙̱̲͉̗̩̥͖̺̫ͥ͑͌̿ͩ̿ͨͫͭ̿̒̑͆ͧ̑ͯͥ̚͟'̸̴̱̗̝̘̰̟̜̜̳̳̎͊͊̄̌ͪ̈̈́̿ͬͅn̴̢̩̙̞̰̹̪̻̲̂ͣ̀̾͝ͅa̡̧̫̙͖̲̙͚̺͇̻̼͗̔͋͛̍̒ͩ͒̅̂̂̚͘͜͡f̴͛͆̀͛̽ͦ͏̶̨̗͕̝͓̘͖̠̯͓͕̩͖͎͢h̵̢̿̈̃̍̃ͨ̑̈͒̚҉҉̸̣͉͓̠̼̺͕͚̦̥̯̞̖͎̪ ̴̡͚͍̹̦̊ͪ̾͊͗ͭ̓͗̂ͦ̐͂ͩͅC̶̸̯̟̤͙̱̽ͧͯ̂͌ͯ̏̈́ͪͧͤ́̚͜t͆ͮ̋ͩͣ͗̂ͫͫͤͬ̔̾́ͥ̉̀҉̙͙͙̟̟͎̗̗̯ͅh̔̾ͮ͌ͦ̓ͩ҉̪̞̟̺̱͙̣̗̱̱͕͠͠u̸̶̩̗̹̘̞̗̤̦̤̯̔ͪ͛̀ͪ͊̐̉͆̔͌̉ͨ͗̏̌̊́̚͜l̴̵̴͍͎̰̖̲̞͕̲̲͙̖͇̦̳̘ͫ̆́͂̀͡h̪̟͍̳̰̑ͤͮͭ͗͌ͦͭ͐͒̌̂̉̋͟͡͞ų̳̰͔̦̩͇͓̬̖̦̜̮͓͇͚̱̺ͩͯ́ͦ̎͑̈́̆͜͝͞͠ ̨̡͈͖̠͖̘̻̞͙͙̠̣͉͇͈͈̪̱͖ͥ̄̉͊ͭ͒̍̌ͭ̿̚ͅR̶̯͍̣̗̯̝̱̮̘̦̪̪͈̯͇̅ͧ͗̆̈̃͊ͥ̊̚̚̕̕͠'̶̸̢̫͉̖͙̜̞̰̥̄̃̒̈́͑͗ͯ̈́ͩ̒ͬ͟l̎ͩ͂ͦͦ̔ͣ̇ͪ͊̋̂͛́́̅ͤ͏̯̜̬̫̥̜̦͉́͞y͕̤̰͖̮̰͖͉̘̜̱̟̾ͨ͐̾ͬ̍͛͗ͯ͐͋̅ͪ̇̉̿͌̇͆́ę̼͔̣̺͎̦͈̣̼͎̗͔̦̬̺̪̲͈̦͛̓̓̉ͣ͑̄͑͌͋̔̔ͨ͒̊̅͆͜h̸̡̢̭̥͙̱͎̼͓̺̼̤͚̘̦̊̽ͣͯ̒̀̈͗͆͊͛̊̚͘ ̶͗ͥ̀͐̅͠͏̸̗̩͉̺͓̖̮͔͕̟w̵̲̗̥̩͔̽̈͐̅̽̇̇̄̂ͪͫͦ̔̇̈́̐ͭ͌ģ̹̻͍͎̱̺͍͖͚̙̝̮̼̖͔̝̖̔ͨ͒̒͆̈́̔̐̇͊̾ͦ̈̚̕ȧ̔͒ͣ̆ͬ̃̉̽ͮ̑͛̏̏ͥ̇͌҉̴҉̥͓̬̱̯̰̩̻͔̪̦͟h̬͎̫̲̫̪̯̠̣̫͎̟͊ͣ̅ͮ̊̿ͫ̓ͣͦ͌̉͌̔͋̔̉̎͜͢͢͞'̈́͑̾̑̂̌̉͋̍̓͗̽̇̑̋ͦͣ͏̶̗͇̲͙͍̣͉̜̫̗͍̣̕͜n̵̡͙̻͚̟͚̱̱͍̟̺̥͎͚̮͙̻̜̉ͯ͗́̂̃ͮͪͧͭ́̈́̍ͭ͆ͮ̚͟͝͞a̧̡͈̭̻̹̹̭̫͋̿̄̐̄̑ͧ̔̓ͬ̈́̉ͮ͘ḡ̶̡̢͉͖͎̯̦̙̦̠͇̣̦̹̥͓̣̬̿͊ͭ̃̓̀͘l̵̫̟̬̱̯͚̗͍̣̩̺͓̬̣̙̻̘̏ͭͣͬͥ̄̉̐̑̌͡ͅ ̸̡͙̯̜͚͎͖̜̻͕̼̭̩̞͔͔̣̠ͭ̿ͤ́ͯ͛̕͢͢f̷̮̟̦̭̗̥̻̬͕͓̙̲̻̫̽̾̆̄̀ͭ̾͆ͣ̓͂̑̍ͦ̚͢ͅhͫ͂̋ͦͤ̈ͭ̔̆̈́͊̏̒̏͑̍̈͂̿͞҉҉̨̼̯̮̺͔̖̼͈̰̰̮̟̫͔̭̪͎͞t̸̳͈̭̮̟̦̪͙̩̼̪͎̝͎̑̂ͣ̓ͅa̴̸̧̦̪̗̣̋͋́͛ͨͦ̓͂̎̈́ĝ̶̨̧̩͍̺͈̲̙̫̝̬̪̥̜̠̩͔̹̩̈́ͯͯ͑̎̎̍ͫ͐̐̿́̏ͣ͜͞ͅn̡̊̇ͯ̐̽ͮͬ͊̀̋̓̐ͭ͜͜͡҉̮̠͖̫̬̩̬̰

The symbols were more… alien, as if they were meant to be read and understood by tongues and minds that were not human. Looking at them gave Hyejoo a sense of unease, quickly becoming lightheaded. Her head spins, and spins, and spins until Hyejoo feels like she’s about to faint

Immediately she looks away and the sensations disappear, replaced by the muffled clicking of Yerim's lockpicking efforts.

“Earth to Son Hyejoo!” Yerim calls out, standing in front of a barricade comprised of various pieces of furniture.

“So that’s where all the junk in the lobby went… Alright let’s go.” Hyejoo runs over, lifting a bunch of small side tables aside, clearing a path just wide enough for herself and Yerim to pass through.

As was the apparent norm. the doors to passage that linked the library to the owner’s study were also chained shut with even more padlocks. Yerim instinctively hands the camera over to Hyejoo, who proceeds to snap away with the camera’s flash on while Yerim goes to work picking the locks.

“You know… I’m thinking you might be right. That mysterious housekeeper seems determined to keep this place sealed...” Yerim pauses, turning to show Hyejoo one of the locks, with arcane symbols on it that looked more of Earthly origin, compared to the alien hieroglyphs on the shelves.

Hyejoo could make out seven symbols on the lock. A central orb, surrounded by six others. The symbols in the surrounding orbs looked familiar enough to Hyejoo.

“I know these. Remember Proffessor Jung’s occultism class? The one on that sorcery order… the Ordo Arcana? Supposedly these symbols represent the 7 elements of the Ordo Arcana.” The central symbol, that looked like a cross between a compass’s windrose and the chaos star, had an engraving in its centre of two moons, one in proper orientation and the other canted 90 degrees. The other symbols, denoted by hanja-esque pictograms were much easier to identify.

“Okay these are definitely the symbols for the 7 elements of the Ordo Arcana; The six outer symbols represent Earth, air, fire, water, light and darkness. The central symbol, without the moons, is the Ordo Arcana’s representation of aether, the element that binds all 6, thus making it the 7^th element.”

“And these twin moons….” The realisation hits Yerim as soon as the words come out of . 

“Are a sealing symbol. These locks were blessed by mages of the Ordo Arcana.” Hyejoo confirms, as both her and Yerim shoot each other a fearful look. “Looks like something was indeed meant to be sealed away…”

“I shouldn’t have dragged you and the girls here. You and Yeojin were right, this was a bad idea.”

“No. we’ve come too far. Might as well open this thing. Whatever it is they were attempting to seal is probably long dead by now.”

“Good point.” Yerim nods before going back to work on picking the rest of the locks. Hyejoo turns around as she hears footsteps. Squinting, she makes out the forms of Yeojin and Chaewon, catching their breaths after running all the way up to the library.

Chaewon had gone to check out the greenhouse and the servants’ living quarters, finding both uninhabited.  Or so she thought. And as soon as she stepped back out, she heard a rustling in the hedge maze, catching sight of something moving in between the hedges.

Chaewon didn’t spare a second to look back, sprinting inside while grabbing Yeojin by the hand, dragging her all the way back upstairs to the library.

“Girls, whatever you’re doing, better make it quick. Someone else besides us is here!”