Free Web NovelIt was a line I had practiced alone dozens—no, tens of dozens of times. I could recite it from beginning to end without a single hesitation even without a prompter.
“Just think of it as the ghost of a child. The child dies, the soul flies away, and its resentments all cling together and attach to a person.” ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm
Where I had to put force into the line, where I needed to mix in breath, where I needed to emphasize trembling.
“It is a spiritual... ghost that divines fortune and misfortune and delivers news from a hundred li away. A ghost.”
I had studied for a long time.
In an empty practice room, on deserted streets at night, even while quietly tipping back alcohol alone.
“First, you lock the child in a storage room where not a single speck of light enters. No matter how much the child cries and screams and begs, until the child scratches at the walls over and over, until their fingernails rot and ooze blood. You never let them out. After days pass like that, their strength finally wears out. It is obvious, of course—being locked in without even a grain of rice, without even a sip of water. But what the child feels more intensely than anything else is fear. Worse than hunger, worse than thirst. That there is no one in the world who will protect them... that they have fallen into a bottomless abyss. Fear.”
So there was no way I could ever stumble on the line. I finished the long, long monologue in one take.
Even after a monologue lasting over five minutes ended, the studio remained silent.
“...Director?”
But the director did not give the okay sign. I hesitated for a moment before calling to him.
“Huh? Huh? Me?”
“Yes. The line... is over.”
“Ah. Right. It’s over. Uh....”
The camera director, who had been staring at me as if his soul had left him, finally scrambled to check the script.
“Yeoreum, you said everything up to the marked part, right?”
“Yes. Up to the part ‘—because they are human.’”
“I mean, I’m not normally like this, but suddenly, it’s just... No, but seriously, isn’t this incredible?”
The sound engineer next to him, who had quietly been listening to the repeatedly amazed camera director, opened his mouth.
“...I don’t think we’ll need a re-recording.”
Only then did voices begin to rise one by one. The frozen air melted in an instant and the studio heated up.
“Wow! You memorized all that, Yeoreum?”
“This is insane. Look at the goosebumps on my arm.”
“If this ever becomes a real drama, Yeoreum has to be the protagonist. I can’t even imagine anyone else doing it.”
Compliments poured down like an airstrike. The reaction was far more explosive than I expected. I looked toward Team Leader Seong. He quietly raised his thumb at me.
* * *
“Hey, rookie—.”
In the JC ENM publicity department, Chief Hong called the new recruit. The recruit, who had been preparing to get off work, approached with wary eyes.
“Uh. Do I still have work left...?”
After <ParCheHi> ended, the JC ENM publicity team returned to a moderate temperature.
Of course, there was still an endless amount of work. A music festival directly hosted by the broadcast channel, a newly launching entertainment program, nonstop movie investment and distribution, musicals, concerts, digital tracks and albums.
But the thrill of having led the trend of a new genre—that high—was nowhere to be found.
“Heh heh. You little punk. If you want to last long in this field, you need to throw away that ‘leave work on time’ mentality.”
“Sir, we even come in on weekends, please go easy on us~!”
Chief Hong opened the cloud drive and clicked on a video. Even before hitting the play button, the corners of his lips were already raised.
“A video just arrived for me. Guess what it is.”
“...I’ve been working overtime for a week straight. Do I really have to know?”
Chief Hong dragged the rookie—who kept glancing at the clock wanting to go home—closer to the monitor.
“Wait, ASMR!!! The rough cut is already out???”
The moment Han Yeoreum’s face appeared, the rookie’s expression brightened.
“Heh heh. Yeah. It’s out. If you don’t want to watch it, clock out. You brat.”
“Come on, sir. I have to watch this.”
The rookie marveled that the rough cut was already finished. And then was surprised again by the video length.
“This isn’t a clip...?”
Unless it was a project backed by capital like <ParCheHi>, it was rare for a rough cut to be sent to the promo team before completion. Intube content didn’t require advance press releases before upload.
Normally, after upload, they would mix in subscriber comments and release materials appropriately.
Everyone here was an office worker. Office workers who routinely worked overtime and weekends had no desire to handle tasks outside of their assigned workload.
“Yeah, kid. Team Leader Seong was bragging so damn much.... He sent the whole thing. Told us to take a look.”
Before the chief even finished granting permission, the rookie clicked. Yeoreum opened her mouth before the microphone.
“...Wow....”
Pronunciation pierced through the speakers as if stabbing into the ears. With a blank expression, she spit out frightening lines as if nothing. Every line had a cold voice layered with thin ice.
The script reading footage from <ParCheHi> had been impressive, but this was on a completely different level.
“She can... do this kind of thing too.”
With the sticky sound of slime came a scary ghost story. Uneasy breaths mixed in. The two men watched the rough cut quietly, deeply focused.
Even after the short video ended, it felt as if the damp, squelching sound lingered faintly in the ears.
“When does the editing finish?”
“This Wednesday. And it’ll be uploaded Friday night.”
If the rough cut was like this, he couldn’t even imagine the quality of the completed version. The rookie was seized by the impulse to watch it again from the beginning.
“Sir. Is it true that Director-General Jegal Rok is going to bring in Han Yeoreum? Seriously, how is he not moving after seeing this?”
“I don’t know, man. Who knows what’s going on in that guy’s head.”
It was frustrating how Han Yeoreum still wasn’t formally signed to JC ENM. The rookie wanted to brag about Yeoreum without any particular reason. The blood of the publicity team boiled.
“When this video gets uploaded, I’ll handle the distribution of materials! I can do that, right?”
Leaving work on time didn’t matter anymore. Right in this moment, the rookie was filled with the excitement that, just like <ParCheHi>, a whole new Intube market might open.
* * *
Intube
@JC ENM Subscribers 670,000
[Come... li...sten... to... the... sticky summer ghost story... Han Yeoreum <Strange Tales> ASMR] 05:37
“It’s here!!!”
The moment the notification popped up, Aetami clicked immediately. The day before, a 30-second preview had been posted on the official SNS account, letting her see Yeoreum for the first time in a while.
‘After the Ruel Style Awards, now the Intube channel too... why is my girl such a filial daughter....’
It had been only a few days since she saved about a hundred photos of Yeoreum flaunting that insane hair-makeup-coordination next to Joo Junseo. ƒreewebɳovel.com
With an endless stream of teasers, Aetami’s heart swelled. Soon the screen filled with Yeoreum. Standing before the mic, Yeoreum opened her mouth without even the sound of breathing, very quietly....
“...Ah....”
She created fear.
The calm, gentle lines gradually turned as cold as frost. Although it was only an explanation, it felt as if a kind of disillusionment toward mankind seeped through.
—That fear slowly eats away at the child. The torment of being trapped in an infinite hell where even screaming won’t make the parents look in steals away the child’s hope. When the fear finally subsides, the only thing that comes next is the desperate wish to live.
Even without background music, hearing only voice, a chilling sensation spread. Each gloomy line struck sharply.
—To live. When that thought becomes the only urgent desire, only then do they give the child something to eat....
It was definitely a whisper. ASMR was supposed to be about calming the mind before sleep.
But with just that small voice, Yeoreum sent hearts racing. As if she knew nothing of comfort, goosebumps crawled up Aetami’s neck.
—If you’re going to make a child-ghost talisman anyway, wouldn’t you want it to be even a little more... more potent than the ones others have?
As Yeoreum slowly exhaled, Aetami finally realized.
‘She hasn’t made a single breathing sound so far!’
That was why immersion into the monologue had been seamless.
As she breathed as if taking one beat’s pause, the next line became something to wait for. The tension did not ease. Slowly gripping a transparent container, Yeoreum opened the lid.
Click.
The small sound pierced the quiet like a brief static pop. Soon came the squelching noise. Kneading black slime with violet shimmer, Yeoreum continued the lines.
—After starving the child for a few days, you don’t kill them in one go. Every three days, you give just enough food so the child won’t die. The child who survives on that begins to forget the physiological urges of hunger and thirst, sinks again into fear, and just when they start wishing to live again... you give food again....
Even the slime mixed in between the lines heightened the damp, sinister atmosphere.
—When the child endures truly up to the limit, the only thing left in the child’s body is malice. Who is it. Who torments me like this. The desire to tear the tormentor apart and curse them for generations settles into the child.
Even without seeing the scene, it was clearly drawn. The child locked in the old storage # Nоvеlight # room. The dark interior marked with dried, dark-red fingernail scratches. Blood trickling down the wood grain. A child begging to be let out.
—When that happens, then the door of the storage opens. Eyes, weakened from not seeing the outside for so long, fill with overwhelming light....
The child collapsed alone inside vast darkness slowly became clear. From the dirtied bare feet to the ankle that had withered to bone, then up to the worn clothing, the small hands with all the nails ripped out. The eyelids so exhausted that keeping their eyes open seemed impossible. The cheeks hollowed out....
—Drawn by the sweet scent from outside, the child stretches out a hand. A little more, a little more... when all of the child’s nerves gather at the fingertips. Then with a sharply honed blade....
Everything came across overwhelmingly eerie—though Yeoreum was merely explaining the method of creating a child-ghost talisman.
“How could....”
It was revolting just to listen. With a child. How could anyone. Aetami muttered faintly. As if answering her, Yeoreum spoke.
—You ask how someone wearing the mask of a human could do such a thing.
The sticky sound thickened slightly.
—It is precisely because they are human.
Sluuuk— the stretching slime sound grew softer. Darkness filled the screen. The end screen appeared with replay icons and recommended videos.
Yeoreum had disappeared. Even though Aetami knew the video had ended, she sat there for a moment, dazed.
