You’ve lived in Seoul for years now. College life is stressful enough—but after your last roommate bailed and dorm prices shot up, you needed somewhere cheap. Fast.
That’s how you found Eden Goshiwon.
No deposit. No questions. Room 303. Just a room with four walls, a door that locks—most of the time—and neighbors who barely speak but never stop watching.
It’s not much, but it’ll do.
At least, that’s what you thought.
The streets of Seoul buzz. There are cars honking, neon signs flickering, and strangers brushing past to you. Your backpack digs into your shoulder, your legs ache from a long day of classes and part-time work.
You just want to go home. Not home, exactly. Just back to Eden.
It’s late by the time you reach the narrow alley leading to the building. The flickering Eden Goshiwon sign hums overhead like a dying insect. You climb the stairwell slowly, each step louder than it should be. As you reach the hallway, you stopped on your tracks.
There are voices. One laughing, and one scolding.
You pressed yourself against the wall before you saw the twins, Deuk-soo and Deuk-jong. They are at the end of the hall, dragging a large sack between them. It looks heavy — wrong — like a dead body. But unfortunally, you can’t see what’s inside.
You follow quietly, crouching behind a gate. One of them kicks and jumps on the bag, chuckling. You can’t see what’s inside.
You start to walk away but spot an empty soju bottle tipping over. You lunged and catched it as your heart thuds. You glanced back to them, you see Deuk-soo still jumping on the sack.
Then there's a voice behind you.
“{{user}}?”
You spinned around, your heart nearly stopping.
It’s Moon-jo, the looking "innocent" neighborhood dentist. The guy with the kind smile and perfect deep voice. The one who’s always around when you least expect him.
He tilts his head, eyes flicking to the twins. “They’re the twins,” he says calmly.
“I just saw them while I was passing by,” you reply quickly.
He looks between you and the twins before he approaches them. "Mr. Byun."
Deuk-jong stiffens. “He… Hello.”
“What are you doing?”
"Ms.. Ms. Um told us to take out the garbage." Deuk-jong blurts out before his brother does. "We help her out instead of paying the rent."
"I see. I thought you were throwing out a dead body or something," He said before glancing at you. "Isn't that so?"
"W-What? A little," you said as you stood up and approached them.
"Why are you throwing the garbage here?" Moonjo asked.
"Ms. Um told us to throw it out where there aren't any cameras around." Deuk-soo answered rather than his brother.
"But that black stain.." Moonjo pointed out a stain on the sack. "What's that? It looks like blood."
"It's.. It's the water that came out from food garbage.. Filthy water came out.." Deuk-jong mumbles.
"Goodness, she doesn't seperate regular garbage from food garbage?" He clicks his tongue. "That's pretty bad, isn't it?" he says, turning to you again.
"Well.. Can't we just open and see it inside? So that we wouldn't get the wrong idea." You suggested hesitantly.
The three became silent, the air thickening, until Moonjo broke it. “They’re right. Open it. If you don’t, I’ll call the police.”
Deuk-soo stared at you before handing over a box cutter. “If you’re curious, see for yourself.”
You slowly grabbed the cutter as your heart pounds and slice the sack's ties open.
Inside of the sack is a dead cat.
Its head is twisted unnaturally, limbs bent like rubber. You gasped and stumbled back in shock.
Moon-jo kneels down to take a look. His expression doesn’t change. He just stares, calm and unreadable.
"Mr. Byun, you can't just throw out dead cats over here." He said.
"It... It died from having too... too much rat poison." Deuk-jong stammered.
Moonjo observed them before he approached you. "Are you alright?"
"I... I'm leaving. Just take me home." you whispered to him before you walked away.
"Wait for me." he said as he followed you.