Summer Horror: The Mirror That Wouldn't Let Go

I wasn't going to post this but it's been keeping me up so here we go.

Jihoon is a high school kid living in a Seoul apartment complex. Quiet afternoon, just cleaning his room. Normal. And then way in the back of his closet he finds this old mirror. Cracked frame, caked in dust. Should've left it there. Obviously should've left it there.

He cleaned it off and hung it on his wall.

First night, something felt off about his reflection. Like. Not wrong enough to freak out over, just. slightly not right. He chalked it up to being tired and went to sleep.

Second night, the reflection was STARING AT HIM. Same face, different expression. He told himself it was a coincidence. He told himself that!! Bro talked himself down from what was clearly a haunting.

Third night he woke up at some ungodly hour and looked at the mirror.

The reflection was smiling.

He was not smiling.

He screamed. Parents came running. And when they looked at the mirror? Nothing. Totally normal. They tried to calm him down but Jihoon knew what he saw.

Next day at school he told his friends. They laughed it off, obviously. But his friend Minsu went quiet and said "wait. where did you find that mirror?"

Turns out Minsu's family had a similar mirror at his grandma's place. Weird stuff kept happening around it. They eventually threw it away.

Jihoon went home and decided that mirror was coming DOWN.

Except it wouldn't move. He pulled. He pulled harder. The mirror just sat there like it was bolted into the wall with concrete.

And then.

AND THEN.

The reflection spoke.

"You need to stay here."

The reflection. Smiled. And said that.

Jihoon ran out of the room so fast. Told his parents everything. They still didn't believe him (spoiler: it gets worse). He slept in a different room that night.

The mirror found him in his dreams. Reflection reached out a hand and said "come with me."

Okay so the next day Jihoon just decided to do it himself. Mustered everything he had and ripped the mirror off the wall, carried it out of the apartment complex, and threw it in a nearby dumpster.

Few days passed. Nothing happened. He actually started to relax.

Then one night the dream came back. Reflection grinning at him. "You can't get rid of me."

He woke up drenched in sweat and went to check the dumpster.

The mirror was still there. Exactly where he left it. Like nobody had touched it.

He brought it back home (I know I know) and tried to smash it with a hammer.

It didn't break.

He hit it again. Nothing. Not a single crack.

That's when it clicked for him. Whatever was in that mirror wasn't just a reflection. It was trying to take over.

So he hung it back up and finally, FINALLY got his parents to actually listen. They dug through some old drawers and found records about the mirror. Turns out his grandfather had brought it home when he was young. And ever since then, weird things kept happening to the family.

They called in a specialist. The specialist said the mirror had been collecting souls for years. Like a little soul jar. And those souls were bleeding through into reality.

Eventually with the specialist's help they got it sealed. Safe. Done.

But Jihoon still sees it sometimes. In dreams. The reflection watching him from the other side.

"You can't get rid of me..."

Still echoing.