The mirror in my basement apartment was NOT empty

So when I first moved to Seoul for college, I ended up in a semi-basement unit in this old villa building. Small, damp, cheap, close to campus. No real choice. One whole wall had this big old full-length mirror bolted to it. I thought, hey, convenient. I did NOT think it would destroy my life.

About a month in, I'm up late grinding through assignments, walk past the mirror, and I get this feeling. Like someone is standing behind me. Full body chills. I spin around. Nothing. I told myself I was just tired.

But after that, every single time I passed the mirror, it was there. That feeling. Like something was watching me through it.

Then it got worse.

I'd wake up in the middle of the night and hear this... whispering. Coming from the mirror's direction. I thought it was wind at first. But it got clearer. Distinct.

"get me... out..."

I started covering the mirror with a cloth before bed. And every single morning the cloth was on the floor. EVERY. MORNING. One day I noticed handprint smudges on the glass surface. Tried to wipe them off. They wouldn't come off.

A friend came over. I told her about it because I felt stupid keeping it to myself. She laughed and said I was being way too sensitive. That night she had a nightmare.

"Someone grabbed my throat and tried to drag me INTO the mirror," she said. "It felt so real."

She never came back to my place after that.

Okay so one night I'm staring into the mirror really closely and I notice it. Behind my reflection. A faint black shadow, just standing there. I rubbed my eyes. Looked again. Still there.

And then.

My reflection smiled.

I DID NOT SMILE.

I screamed and fell backwards. My reflection kept smiling. I decided right then I was throwing that mirror out but it was too heavy to move alone so I told myself I'd deal with it in the morning and just. tried to survive the night.

That night I dreamed the shadow crawled out of the mirror and got on top of me. Cold hands around my throat. I couldn't scream. It whispered in my ear.

"this is... my house..."

I woke up gasping, drenched in sweat.

With a piece of broken mirror in my hand.

I had been in bed. I don't know how that happened. I still don't know.

Next morning I asked the landlady about the mirror. She got quiet for a second.

"The previous tenant left it. They said they were having nightmares every night too. Eventually just... moved out."

I got that mirror out of my room same day. After that, nothing weird happened.

But sometimes. Late at night. I look at the spot where the mirror used to be.

And it still feels like something is watching me from there.

So if you're living alone with an old mirror in your place. maybe don't stare into it after dark. just a thought.