The Man in the Second Floor Window (Korean Horror Story)

Okay I wasn't going to post this but it's been living in my head rent free so here we go.

Every day after work, this guy walks the same route home. Nothing special. Just a normal commute. One evening he gets this feeling, like someone's watching him, and he looks up at the second floor of some house.

There's an older man standing at the window. Smiling. Waving.

Not a little wave either. Full on, enthusiastic wave. Big smile. The whole thing.

The guy feels uncomfortable so he just. Ignores it and goes home.

Next day. Same walk. Same window. Same old man, same huge smile, same wave.

He ignores it again.

So he asks the building security guard about it later and the guard tells him: the man's name is Mr. I. Something happened to him, mentally. Dementia, maybe some kind of psychiatric condition, nobody really knows. But his own family stopped engaging with him. So every day this man stands at his second floor window and waves at strangers passing by, because there's literally nobody else.

And the guy just. Stops for a second.

He feels bad. Like genuinely bad. So the next day on his walk home he looks up and waves back.

The old man LOSES IT. Waving so hard. So excited.

[he's happy. he's actually happy.]

From that day on, the guy waves every single time he passes. It becomes a thing. Their little routine. And honestly? It makes both of them feel good.

Then one day the guy is walking home, looks up, waves like usual. The old man lights up. Big grin. Waving hard.

The guy gets into it. Shouts "HEY!" and throws both arms up.

The old man opens the window. Still smiling that huge smile. And he yells back:

"I'M COMING DOWN! YEAH!"

And then.

He dives.

Straight out the second floor window. Smiling the whole way down.

He lands behind the wall with a heavy THUD.

The family comes running out immediately. The guy is so scared he just. Runs. He literally bolts from the scene and doesn't stop.

He can't sleep that night. Keeps thinking about whether the old man is okay. Keeps replaying that smile.

Next day after work he almost takes a different route. Almost. But he can't stop thinking about him so he goes the usual way.

He gets to the house and sees it immediately. Funeral arrangements. The old man didn't make it.

The guy stops right there on the street, puts his hands together, and silently apologizes. [I'm sorry I ran. I'm so sorry.]

He's tearing up. He looks up one last time at the window where the old man used to wave.

wait.

Someone's there.

He wipes his eyes. Looks again.

His entire spine goes cold.

The old man is at the window.

Waving.

Smiling.