The Locked Room
1186 Words
Chapter 13: 🔥💥The Locked Room💥🔥*
**{Joseon Palace, Inner Court, Locked Room}**
The door slammed behind Seo-yeon.
The blue candle went out.
Darkness hit like a wet blanket. Her shadow was on the other side, clawing at the wood, whispering her name in a voice that cracked.
“Seo-yeon… come back… now…”
Lady Yoon stood in the doorway, hands clasped, head bowed. She looked scared.
“Lady Min?” Yoon said. Her voice shook. “Are you alright? The queen sent me to bring you back.”
Seo-yeon didn’t move. The air was too cold. Her shadow was panicking.
“Why is this door locked?” Seo-yeon asked.
“I don’t know,” Yoon said. She reached for the handle. It wouldn’t turn. “I swear, I was told to bring you here. Nothing else.”
The salt circle on the floor flared red for half a second.
From the darkness came a voice. Not Yoon’s. Older. Colder. It didn’t come from a mouth.
_“Min Seo-yeon. Daughter of the last keeper. Your blood will break the fourth seal.”_
Seo-yeon stepped back. “Show yourself.”
The candle relit.
Lady Yoon gasped and clutched her head. She staggered, eyes rolling back.
“Lady Yoon?” Seo-yeon said.
Yoon’s body jerked once, like a puppet with a pulled string. When she looked up, her eyes were empty.
“Get away from her,” Yoon said. But it wasn’t her voice. It was deeper. Wrong.
Seo-yeon reached for her knife.
Yoon moved faster than a person should. She slammed Seo-yeon against the wall before Seo-yeon’s hand cleared the hilt.
The impact knocked the air out of her.
“Lady Yoon, stop!” Seo-yeon choked out.
Yoon didn’t stop. She lifted Seo-yeon off the floor by the throat.
_“Blood,”_ the voice said through Yoon’s mouth. _“Now.”_
Seo-yeon kicked out, caught Yoon’s knee, and felt it buckle. Yoon dropped her, but not because she was hurt. Her body twitched, spasmed, like two people were fighting for control.
“Master… no…” Yoon whispered. Her real voice, small and broken.
The door exploded inward.
***{Joseon Palace, Inner Court Corridor}***
Tae-wook hit the door shoulder-first.
He was inside in a second, sword out.
He saw Seo-yeon on the floor, gasping. He saw Lady Yoon standing over her, hands shaking, eyes unfocused.
“Get away from her!” Tae-wook shouted.
Yoon turned to him. Her head lolled to the side, like her neck couldn’t hold it.
“Captain,” she said. Two voices at once. Yoon’s, and the other one. “You’re too late.”
Tae-wook didn’t give her a chance to explain. He moved.
Yoon didn’t fight like a trained fighter. She fought like something wearing a person’s body. Jerky. Wrong. She caught his wrist, twisted, and he felt bone grind.
Tae-wook gritted his teeth and drove his shoulder into her gut.
She flew back into the wall. The impact cracked plaster.
“Seo-yeon, move!” Tae-wook barked.
Seo-yeon was already moving. She grabbed her knife and cut the hem of her sleeve, not her skin. She smeared the fabric with blood from her bitten lip and threw it into the salt circle.
The circle flared red.
Lady Yoon screamed.
It wasn’t human.
Her back arched at an angle that would break a spine. Her shadow peeled off the floor and climbed the wall, screaming without sound.
“Get out!” Tae-wook grabbed Seo-yeon’s arm and dragged her toward the door.
Yoon collapsed.
Her eyes cleared.
For one second she looked like herself. Confused. Terrified.
“Captain… what did I…” she started.
Then her eyes rolled back and she went limp.
***{Joseon Palace, Corridor Outside}***
Tae-wook carried Yoon out. She was light. Too light.
He laid her on the floor. Her breathing was shallow, but steady.
Seo-yeon knelt beside her, checking her pulse. “She’s alive. But something was using her.”
Tae-wook stood guard at the door, sword out. “Possession. Like the Bone Temple.”
“No,” Seo-yeon said. “Worse. That wasn’t a spirit. It was him. The Shadow Man.”
Tae-wook glanced at her. “You know who he is?”
“No,” Seo-yeon said. “I know what he sounds like. I know what he wants. I don’t know his name. I don’t know his face.”
Tae-wook cursed under his breath. “Neither do I.”
Yoon stirred. Her eyes opened. She looked up at Tae-wook and flinched.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I don’t know what happened. The queen said to bring Lady Min to the inner archive. Then… I don’t remember.”
Seo-yeon put a hand on Yoon’s shoulder. “It wasn’t you.”
Yoon started crying. Quiet, ashamed tears. “I would never hurt you, Lady Min. Never.”
Tae-wook didn’t look convinced. But he didn’t accuse her either. Possession wasn’t new to him. He’d seen it in the north.
“Rest,” he said. “We’ll sort this out later.”
Yoon nodded and closed her eyes.
Seo-yeon’s shadow, which had been silent, now pressed against her leg like it was holding her up.
****{Joseon Palace, City Records Office, Same Time}****
Yoo was in the basement, comparing ledgers.
The names matched. The dates matched. The only difference was the initials.
Spymaster: S.M.
Royal Keeper: R.K.
Yoo stared at the R.K.
Royal Keeper was a title erased after the purge. No records. No lineage.
Except one.
The last Royal Keeper had been Min Jae-hyun.
Seo-yeon’s father.
Yoo’s blood went cold.
He closed the ledger. He needed to find Seo-yeon. Now.
“Inspector Yoo?”
He turned.
A young clerk stood in the doorway, holding a scroll.
“Lady Yoon sent me,” the clerk said. “She said you asked for the northern gate logs.”
Yoo’s eyes narrowed. “I didn’t.”
The clerk blinked. “Oh. My mistake.”
The clerk turned to leave.
Yoo caught his arm. “Who told you to come here?”
“Nobody, Inspector. Lady Yoon just said—”
“Lady Yoon said what?”
The clerk’s eyes were glassy. Wrong.
“She said you would be here,” the clerk said. “She said to give you this.”
He handed over the scroll.
Yoo took it.
Inside was a single line, written in ink that was still wet.
_Stop digging. The girl is next._
Yoo looked up.
The clerk was gone.
The door was still closed.
***{Joseon Palace, Inner Court Corridor}***
Tae-wook and Seo-yeon helped Yoon to her feet.
Yoon kept apologizing, over and over.
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I don’t know what happened to me.”
Seo-yeon squeezed her hand. “It’s not your fault. You’re safe now.”
Tae-wook watched them both. He didn’t see malice in Yoon. He saw fear. Real fear.
“We need to find Yoo,” Tae-wook said. “Now.”
As they turned to leave, the door to the locked room swung closed on its own.
The blue candle inside relit.
No one was there to light it.
- Writer
