Chapter 7: The Shadow Tenants
777 Words
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The days passed slowly, as if the city had forgotten how to move. Jisoo began to lose her sense of time, knowing only one thing: Jungkook had disappeared again.
No sound. No trace. No Polaroid. No tea by the door.
Only silence, too deep, like a hallway with no end.
But that hallway didn’t stay empty for long.
One morning, as Jisoo went down to the lobby to pick up a package, she saw new faces.
Three people stood at the front desk. A girl with bright blonde hair and a black cropped hoodie. Her gaze was sharp, but her face looked too young—too calm for her age. Beside her, a tall man with silver hair and a cloth mask stared at the elevator as if he could see through the steel. Behind them, a girl in an oversized jacket and earphones stood alone, chewing gum while glancing around.
Jisoo just wanted to pass, but something about them… made her stop.
They all turned to look at her at the same time, as if… they could sense her presence.
And the masked man was the first to speak.
“You live on the fifth floor, right?”
His voice was deep, soft, but carried a cold, intentional undertone.
Jisoo nodded slightly. “Yes. Why?”
The blonde girl smiled. “So do we. Just moved in. They said… a lot of rooms were empty.”
Jisoo didn’t know what to say. Before she could ask anything more, the elevator dinged. The doors opened, and the three of them stepped in, still watching her as the doors slowly closed.
She didn’t get the chance to ask who they were.
But her heart knew—this wasn’t a coincidence.
That night, the sounds returned.
But this time, not footsteps. Not knocking.
Laughter.
Soft laughter. A woman’s.
From the end of the hallway.
Jisoo stepped into the corridor in her hoodie, eyes tired. She turned left—the sound was coming from the room where the blonde girl had moved in that morning.
Unit 312.
The light in that room glowed faintly from under the door. And just as Jisoo turned to walk away, the door opened slightly.
The girl appeared. Her hair was tied up, and her sharp eyes locked onto Jisoo’s.
“Can’t sleep?”
Her tone was light, but her expression was too calm to be casual.
“Been hard to sleep lately,” Jisoo answered honestly.
The girl stepped closer. “Same. But not because of strange sounds, right?”
Jisoo said nothing.
The girl chuckled briefly. “I’m Lisa, by the way. If you hear laughter at midnight, it’s probably me. Or Jennie. Depends on who goes crazy first that night.”
As if on cue, another door opened.
The girl from that morning—the one with the oversized jacket and earphones—appeared. She raised an eyebrow. “Did I hear my name?”
“Jisoo, this is Jennie. Jennie, meet our cute new neighbor,” Lisa said, nudging Jennie’s arm.
Jennie didn’t smile, but her eyes lingered on Jisoo—as if evaluating her.
“You the quiet type… or talkative?”
“Quiet,” Jisoo replied briefly.
Jennie nodded. “Good. I prefer that.”
Then, without another word, she went back inside and closed her door.
Lisa chuckled softly. “Don’t take it personally. She’s always like that.”
Jisoo simply nodded. There was something unusual about the two of them. Not rude. But like... they were used to living with danger.
That night, Jisoo couldn't sleep again.
Because at exactly 2:34 a.m., she saw another figure on the balcony of unit 311.
Not Jungkook. A man.
Dark hair, tall, broad shoulders.
He stood still, facing the sky—just like Jungkook used to. But different.
There was tension in his body. Like a predator poised before a strike.
Then he turned. And their eyes met.
Taehyung.
That was the name she heard the next morning when the building manager was listing the new tenants.
Taehyung from unit 311.
And he wasn't the only one.
That day, the manager mentioned another name—one that made Jisoo freeze for a moment.
Namjoon.
Unit 308. Right next to Jungkook’s room.
Four names. Four unfamiliar faces.
Yet somehow, all of them felt strangely familiar. Like fragments of a nightmare that never ended.
And one thing Jisoo realized on the seventh night:
She was no longer alone.
But that didn’t mean she was safe.
Because the more tenants that arrived…
The more it felt like this apartment was hiding something far darker than she ever imagined.
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To be continued...
- Writer
