The story itself lacked much sense, lacked fact and science and all those things any rational and narrow minded person would say. They’d call it silly, simply because there was no solid explanation behind it. It would be labelled as a little scary myth to terrify children.

But Yoseob knew it was true because he could see it in his grandmother’s eyes. He could see the fear, the pure and utter terror that shone through in them and he could tell that yes, yes this story was true. Yes and yes and yes and he would have to try it for himself.

“Yoseob, you must understand…” His grandmother’s weary voice would start and trail off, her eyes looking around the dimly lit room, listening briefly to the howling wind of the winter’s night, watching the snow storm outside for a few seconds. Yoseob would sit on the floor in front of her, although he was an adult, he was a child around his grandmother. His eyes would be wide with slight excitement and curiosity.

“Yes, grandmother? I must understand what?” He’d ask gently, and the old woman would snap her eyes back to him and give him a small, weak smile.

“You must understand that this… this is real.” She’d say it every time Yoseob would ask, and Yoseob knew it was real. “The mirror… in the attic…” This is where her voice would drop to a whisper, her eyes trial to the living room door that was closed and hiding the path to the attic where the mirror was. “You… you know the one, don’t you?”

“Yes, grandmother.” He’d quickly reply and she’d nod, leaning back in her chair slightly. “The one covered in those white sheets behind hundreds of boxes filled with junk… the one that Mother and Father told me to never go near, no?” But she stayed silent. And with shaky hands, she’d pick up one of her cigarettes and light it up, inhaling in the poisonous smoke.  

Yoseob simply watched.

“It’s cursed, Yoseob. And it curses anyone who looks into it.” She’d start once again in a low tone, her eyes settling on the crackling fire. “When you look into it, you find your true self… or so, that’s what they say. That’s what I say.” She mumbled, trailing off and stopping that little story there even when Yoseob begged to hear more because he wanted to know.

“You have… you have to find out for yourself.” She’d explain with eyes full of fear. “But don’t do it! Don’t curse yourself!”

That was the problem… Yoseob never listened. Yoseob was a curious soul, a messed up curious soul and he wanted to see it. He wanted to see the truth behind the mirror, his true self, he wanted to know.

So that’s what he did that snow falling Sunday. His grandmother had gone to church, and he had just finished his breakfast in silence as he read his book. He was having his cigarette when he heard it. When he heard that strange crashing noise from upstairs. That was when he let his eyes peel away from the pages of text and look up at the ceiling in curiosity. That was when he stood up, leaving his book behind as well as his cigarette and slowly walked out of the kitchen. His eyes trailed around the hallway, settling on the stairs before slowly walking towards them. Slowly, he let his foot rest on the first step, the creaking ringing loudly around the empty house. Frowning a little, he shook his head and stepped back from the steps, making his way back to the kitchen.

But there’s another bang… another one, louder, more terrifying. And following it was silence. And following it was Yoseob running up the steps quickly before stopping at the top. He looked around the first floor before looking up at the ceiling and seeing the attic door slightly opened.

And there was pure silence. Yoseob even held his breath to hear it. With a frown etched onto his face, he shook his head and turned to walk back the steps when a whimper was heard from the attic following by smashing glass? By smashing something… something being ruined and destroyed. Like it needed to be, like there was no other choice but to destroy it to keep it hidden.

And Yoseob’s eyes widened when the attic door slammed closed. He didn’t see it… but he heard it. And he turned around quickly and looked up to see that it was closed. And he could hear nails raking over the wood like a cat would at a door, trying to get in, and the quiet whimper, and loud banging.

With a deep breath, Yoseob grabbed string hanging from the ceiling and pulled down the ladder to the ground, locking it down before making his way up, frowning as the whimpering and scratching stopped and silence followed after. With a shake of his head, he pushed the attic door open and slowly climbed inside, looking around the brightly lit room. A shiver ran up his spine, making him shake slightly—it was cold. He let his eyes analyse everything, and he frowned more as he noticed that everything was still in place, exactly as it was left months ago when he had to move a few things into the attic for his grandmother.

Slowly standing up, he walked around, letting his fingers brush over dusty white sheets covering furniture before he gripped onto a certain one, ripping it off.

He let a pleased smile play on his lips as he looked at the mirror in front of him, slowly moving to sit down in front of it, letting fingertips run over the abstract pattern around it, the black abstract pattern that would go on for miles and miles and would blur your mind and eyes and senses. He looked then into the mirror, grabbing the sheet and slowly cleaning it of the marks, frowning when he looked at the slight scratches on the surface.

Sighing, he pulled it down on his lap, taking more of the sheet and trying to clean at it more and more, pressing the material onto the surface more roughly. Silence was all around him, peaceful silence. And he cleaned.

And cleaned.

And cleaned some more.

Before finally being satisfied and placing the mirror against the boxes it was resting before, tilting his head into it slightly.

It was strange, he couldn’t see his reflection. Arching an eyebrow, he pressed his hand against the mirror before letting out a loud gasp when he felt something wrap around his wrist. He looked down at his wrist, but there was nothing, only to look into the mirror instead and see his reflection and almost skeleton-like fingers wrapping around his wrist, covered in blood, in scratches, in dirt. His eyes widened, his heart raced and he swallowed thickly as he looked at his reflection.

Only that his reflection looked back at him, and his reflection wasn’t really him. His reflection however was a young adult, with his face and hair. But his hair was matted with blood, his cheeks covered in scars, blood on his bottom lip, dried blood on his chin. His eyes were black, not just the irises, but the actual eye. It was all black, hallow… queer. His teeth showed then, and fangs were visible, covered in blood. His clothes were black, but ripped at places, covered in dirt. His exposed neck the same.

“What… What are you?”

“I’m you, Yoseob…” The sinister look-a-like hissed from behind the mirror, the grip around Yoseob’s wrist tightening more. A dark cackle fell from its lips as he leaned forward, tilting his head. “I’m the real you… the you you’ve been hiding… the demon in your nightmares, the demon under your bed… the demon in your mind…”

Silence fell as the creature tilted its head to the side before tilting it to the other, copying Yoseob’s moves.

“Are you scared, Yoseob?” He asked in a fake gentle voice, mocking him before letting out a shrill laugh, throwing its head back, letting its nails dig into Yoseob’s wrists and pierce the skin, making blood fall down onto the dusty attic floor. “Are you scared?!”

Yoseob stayed silent for a few seconds, biting onto his bottom lip to distract himself from the pain, closing his eyes tightly. He let his head drop, the sound of the creature’s laugh growing louder and louder until it suddenly stopped and mocking words followed from its lips.

“Are you scared, little Yoseob?” He began, a smirk spreading onto the creature’s lips. “Poor little Yoseob, you should have listened to your grandmother… should have stayed away. Why didn’t you, Yoseob?” He leaned forward slightly and Yoseob quickly tried to pry his hand away from the creature’s hold. He tried and tried and finally he did, falling back onto his back only to see the creature crawl out of the mirror and hover over him. “I’m free, Yoseob… and I’m you…” He let out another loud cackle and Yoseob tried to back away only for the creature to grab his foot. “Tell me, Yoseob! Answer me! Answer me, I said! Scared! You’re so scared! I can practically feel the fear pulse off you, the terror in your eyes is so obvious to me! It pleases me, Yoseob… pleases me to know that you’re so scared!”

Another loud cackle, but this time it was cut short as Yoseob slowly sat up and looked at the creature straight in the eye. He tilted his head in thought, a small smile playing on his lips. “Scared?” He asked, scoffing a little before shaking his head. “I’m not scared…”

But he was scared, and the creature knew he was.

“Oh you silly boy, Yoseob…” The creature cooed before grabbing onto Yoseob’s arm and pushing him straight into the mirror, letting out a loud cackle as he watched Yoseob bash against it from the inside, tears gathering in his eyes. “You should have listened to your grandmother, Yoseob… silly, childish, stupid little Yoseob.”