Seoung never had many friends.

She always kept to herself, confiding in her halmeoni and her halmeoni alone. Maybe that’s why it was so easy to let the wrong ones in once she had passed. It was supposed to be a ritual to allow her to speak to her just one last time, all she wanted was to say goodbye.

But what she got was much, much worse.

A spirit, a changgwi, is what she welcomed into her dark basement. She barely had a chance to process what had happened before one thing became very clear to her: her body was no longer her own. Her vision felt blurred and it felt like she was more of a spectator than anything.

Then it began to speak to her. With her own voice.

It mocked her. Ridiculed her. Taunting her for being such a foolish girl. She knew it was true deep down, but she wanted to ignore it. She wanted to block it all out and pretend it wasn’t true. But she knew it was. She was a stupid girl. This is why her mother left her.

There was the sound of a window shifting, and Seoung’s head moved on its own. She saw him there, looking at her with puzzled green eyes and long brown hair. She wanted to tell him to run, to tell him it’s not safe… but her voice failed her.

A pizza boy.

The boy’s eyes widened, but Seoung could only scream into the void of her consciousness as two arms stretched out at him. She could see her fingernails blackening, turning into sharp claws. Was she becoming a monster? Is this what halmeoni had warned her about?

The pizza boy didn’t get a chance to scream, his body toppling into the basement as Seoung cried in horror. She wanted to say something -- to take back control. But how could she? She had gone against everything she had ever been told, and now innocent people were paying the price.

As a thick white mist began to seep into the basement, Seoung could only think of what her halmeoni had told her all those years ago.

“You're a smart girl, Seoung.”