Suspicious Apartment

Episode 1

Room 802

The moment I opened the front door, my imagination was shattered.

The front door was a mess with an unidentifiable musty smell and shoes scattered haphazardly.

I slowly scanned the living room, the kitchen to the right, and the room with the door wide open.

Dust was piling up, footprints were clearly visible, and laundry was strewn about in every corner.

김다현

It's awesome.

Is this really where my aunt sleeps? She's the kind of person who'd tape off even the slightest speck of dust from her clothes and always exudes the sweet scent of perfume.

It's so different from what it looks like.

I took off my sneakers and stepped inside, tiptoeing. I felt something sticky on the tips of my toes.

I put my bag down in the living room and went to the kitchen to drink some water.

On the table, which appeared to be for one person, there were bread and a jar of jam lined up side by side.

The moment I saw the bread, I felt hungry. But the bread and jam were covered in black mold.

And besides, it was as hard as a rock, I don't know when I ate it. If you don't want to eat it, put it in the fridge or throw it away.

And the kitchen knife on the table! There was a white layer of dust on the knife too.

This wasn't a horror experience, and I couldn't believe it was a house where people lived. Come to think of it, there were even spiderwebs on the kitchen walls.

Brrrrrr.

Just then, the phone in my pocket rang. It was my aunt.

고모

Did you find it? First, let's start with something. Open the sink and there'll be a restaurant sticker inside. Do you have money?

My aunt said what she wanted to say and then hung up the phone.

People are so cold-hearted. If you say things like, "Wasn't it hard to find me?" or "Are you surprised by how messy the house is?", who would say anything?

I glanced at my phone and put it in my pocket.

It's a well-known fact that my aunt is the kind of person who makes a cold wind blow just by being near her. She doesn't speak much.

Even when all the relatives gathered for the holidays, she would only reluctantly and briefly answer questions. I never once saw her rambling at length. Actually, that's what I liked about my aunt.

So, I don't know if that's why I said without a moment's hesitation, 'I want to stay at my aunt's house.'

엄마

Since when have you been close with your aunt?

When I told my aunt I wanted to stay with her, my mother said this. She's not wrong. I'm not close with my aunt, and we've barely ever talked.

But just because we've talked a lot doesn't mean we've truly connected. I can't quite put my finger on it, but I felt like I had some kind of connection with my aunt.

엄마

I live alone and I hate it when you go. Don't do that and go to your grandmother's house.

My mother was against it. She said that people who live alone don't like being meddled with, so they'd probably end up being the ones getting looked at.

김다현

No, I want to go to my aunt's.

I was stubborn to the end. I hated my grandmother's house.

My grandmother was a talkative person. Once she started talking, she would talk endlessly, like a thread unraveling from a spool. It was fine if she just talked to herself.

After every conversation, I ask a question. Most of the questions are about why Mom and Dad don't get along, and my thoughts on it.

Mom and Dad fought relentlessly over nothing.

We even fought over the fact that we didn't eat the rice first, but rather the soup first. We even fought over that for three days.

Last spring, we fought for a week over toothpaste. Mom said she squeezed the toothpaste from the middle of the tube. Dad said she should squeeze it from the bottom. Instead of just saying, "Okay," Mom demanded, "What's the difference between pressing from the middle or from the bottom?"

If I were her father, I would have just told her to figure it out. But every morning and evening, my father would follow her around and interfere with her brushing.

Mom pressed the center of the toothpaste harder as if she was trying to get it out. Then Dad got really angry.

In my opinion, it was absolutely nothing to fight about, but Mom and Dad fought fiercely.

I didn't want to go into such detail with my grandmother. Even as an elementary school student, I thought my parents' behavior was childish.

But no matter what, it's embarrassing for a daughter to go around saying that her mom and dad are childish.

'If I lived alone, I wouldn't have to fight over things like that.'

That's what I thought. I was tired of my mom and dad fighting.

So I was jealous of my aunt.

엄마

Okay, since it'll be for a while, I'll ask Dad to talk to your aunt. I'll take you there as soon as Mom settles down.

My mother couldn't break my stubbornness.

But now, I'm starting to slightly regret whether coming to my aunt's house was really the right thing to do.