My friend's girlfriend saw a dead girl in a dream. Three days later she actually died.

This is a horror story (괴담) that happened when I was 20.

Back then I was living that fresh adult energy, just vibing and partying constantly. I had this best friend Sung-jin (fake name) since middle school. Super tight. At that time both of us had girlfriends so the four of us would hang out all the time, drinking and going places together.

Sung-jin's girlfriend Jeong-ah (fake name) went to the same high school as me and lived in the same neighborhood, so we were already friends before they even started dating. She had a bright personality and was pretty, so I was genuinely happy when they got together. But there was one weird thing about Jeong-ah. She'd have sleep paralysis a lot. And she'd see ghosts just walking around. Like actually see them.

One night Sung-jin and I were at my place drinking and staying up late when he got a call in the middle of the night. I looked over and he had this panicked expression, trying to calm someone down.

"It's okay... it was just a dream... don't be scared, okay?"

I knew it was Jeong-ah.

After the call Sung-jin explained what happened. His expression was all tense.

"So Jeong-ah was sleeping and dreamed about a middle school friend. She was happy to see them and went to say hi. But then the friend started crying, saying 'I don't want to go alone, come with me.' Jeong-ah looked at the friend's face and it was SO pale, something felt wrong. She said she didn't want to go, asked where they were going. And then the friend just... got FURIOUS. Like 'You think I can't take you with me?!' and grabbed her arm and dragged her. Jeong-ah was screaming and crying to let go and then she woke up. But when she woke up her arm HURT. And there were red handprints on it."

Sung-jin sighed heavy. I felt cold but told myself it was just a dream, told him it was nothing.

But a few days later I found out that friend from the dream had been in a car accident while traveling. She was dead.

I freaked out. Started actively avoiding Jeong-ah after that. People can call me a coward but I'd only ever heard stories about this stuff. Never experienced it myself. She just felt... wrong somehow.

Naturally I stopped hanging with Sung-jin as much. But then I felt guilty. Like, her having weird spiritual stuff doesn't mean anything bad happens to ME, right? Stop being such a baby.

So I hit up Sung-jin.

"Yo what are you doing? Let's hit up Shinchon, my treat. Bring Jeong-ah. We haven't all hung out in forever LMAO"

Sung-jin was so RELIEVED. He'd noticed I was avoiding them and was bummed about it. He was hyped.

"YESSS let's gooo! Four of us getting wasted like old times KEKEKE"

So the four of us met up again. Since it'd been a minute we drank harder than usual and partied until sunrise.

Around 2am we left the bar. I sent my girlfriend home in a taxi first since she lived in a different area. Sung-jin and I decided to walk Jeong-ah home first, then go back to my place to crash.

I was living in a villa at the time. Jeong-ah lived in an apartment about 200m away.

Her apartment building was on the back side of the complex, so we naturally took this quiet back alley. We walked this way all the time so nothing felt weird. The path ran between the playground and the apartment complex wall. It had street lamps lined up but it was pretty empty.

It was early morning so there weren't many people around. Actually it felt kinda eerie so we were deliberately talking loud as we walked.

As I glanced ahead I noticed one of the street lamps was OFF. The lamps were spaced like 10 meters apart (honestly my memory's fuzzy) but it was like one tooth was missing. That dark spot felt extra unsettling.

I didn't think much of it and kept walking with the guys, talking about stuff from the bar.

And then we reached that dark section under the broken lamp.

The second my foot stepped into that darkness everything changed.

I'd never experienced sleep paralysis before, so whenever friends talked about it I was always curious what it felt like. But the moment I stepped into that darkness... I think I understood.

Except I wasn't frozen. I was walking. But I could ONLY walk. Nothing else. I couldn't speak. Couldn't turn my head. Couldn't run. Couldn't stop walking.

And suddenly I felt this PULLING sensation in the back of my skull. Like something behind me was staring at me.

You know that feeling when you're focused on your computer and you sense someone staring at the back of your head? That cold prickling? This was NOTHING like that. My entire back of my neck had goosebumps. My scalp was standing on end.

Yeah. Something was definitely behind me.

But I couldn't turn around. I couldn't do ANYTHING except keep walking. That was the only rule. Just keep walking forward out of this.

I kept my eyes ahead, kept my stride steady. Somehow I just KNEW that if I could reach the next lit lamp ahead, everything would be okay. But it was only like 10 meters away and it felt like MILES.

I managed to glance at Sung-jin next to me without turning my head. His face was absolutely PALE. He was in the same situation.

(The post cuts off here but the feeling is clear: something unseen was following them through that dark stretch, and they both experienced the same paralysis/dread until they reached the light.)

문화적 맥락: "가위눌림" (sleep paralysis) is a common Korean folklore/experience discussed openly in everyday conversation. When someone says they felt a gaze on them in Korean scary stories, it's tied to spiritual sensing rather than just intuition.