Lee Hyukjae pushed the heavy Iron Gate, it screeched loudly but opened relatively easy. He had expected the gate to be locked, he saw a heavy chain wrapped around the gate as he passed by during the day, but perhaps he was imagining things.]


The Sapphire Manor, an abandoned building standing strong in the middle of the modern concrete jungle of Seoul. If abandoned buildings needed a CV to be considered haunted, this one had the longest one.


Built in the 1950’s, the mansion was built on a rumored mass grave, the original owner of the building was a government official. The family became wealthy even in the difficult years that followed after the war. Almost the whole family got killed in a strange accident in 1960’s, the only survivor was a daughter, who inherited the mansion. She sold the mansion and moved to the US, never to be heard again.


The mansion was bought and sold to different people in the next decades, a series of unfortunate events happened there. Starting from a dead servant, suicides, murders, and accidental deaths. As the mansion had became an urban legend, it remained a mystery whether the stories were real or not.


Hyukjae kicked gravel from the pathway, what was once a well-cared rose garden, was now a messy mixture of large unkempt trees and weeds, taking over the front garden. Thick vines grew on the walls of the mansion, Hyukjae noted a graffiti of a snarling fox was painted on one side of the wall, the artwork was almost hidden by the vines, giving an illusion like a real beast was lurking behind the vines.


Several signs of vandalism could be seen on the front porch, names and doodles were sprayed on the floor and the wall. The remaining of a broken garden chair and some pieces of iron rods, most likely from the gate, left abandoned on the porch along with empty bottles of beer and soju.


In 1989, the house had been abandoned for a couple of years, there were talks about demolishing the house to build a high rise apartment, however, not long after declaring the plan, the owner of the mansion committed suicide after declaring bankruptcy. The next owner decided to try his luck and moved into the house. Just like the previous families, they became extremely wealthy, but their wealth didn’t last long, years later, a strange incident killed the whole family, leaving their young son as the sole survivor. The twelve-year old refused to talk and rumored to be locked in a mental institution since then.


Now the house had been empty for at least 9 years, its presence a strange existence in the middle of the modern architecture landscape of Seoul. People living around the mansion told stories about how the mansion seemed to be alive during the spring nights, some people claimed to hear faint music from the mansion, shadows could be seen through the windows, as if a grand party was being held there.


Some claimed to hear cries or angry screams from the darkness of the abandoned building in the coldest nights of winter. Several times the police was called by the concerned people, worrying that a murder might took place inside the mansion.


The stories were enough to scare most people, but Hyukjae was not most people.


Lee Hyukjae was notorious around SM University as the most popular bad boy. He had the looks and sweet talks that got the girls swooning, in the same time having the reputation as the cool guy all boys wanted to be friends with. Vandalism, drunk driving, skipping classes and fighting were his ideas of daily routine, the only thing keeping him from being expelled was the fact that he was the university’s number one soccer player. At 22 years old, Lee Hyukjae was having the time of his life.


The reason why he was trespassing the abandoned building so late at night like this was a girl.


Lee Jieun was the prettiest girl in the campus. Hyukjae asked her to date him and she said yes, under one condition.


“Bring me the hand mirror that belongs to Madam Jang, and I’ll date you Oppa!” she said.


Madam Jang was the wife of the last owner of the abandoned Sapphire Mansion. She was rumored to be a witch or some sort, she was known to be very beautiful and her silver hand mirror had its own story.


Legend had it that Madam Jang kept the mirror as a good luck charm and there were proof that the mirror was still in her bedroom even after her death in the hands of her crazed husband 9 years a go. Whoever got the mirror would get her beauty and good luck.


Hyukjae was love struck enough to do as she asked. On top of that, his friends were encouraging him, including Choi Siwon, Hyukjae’s main rival in getting Jieun’s attention.


So that was how he ended up in the neighborhood’s most famous haunted house in the middle of the night, alone.


Hyukjae was prepared to jump through one of the French windows but he decided to give the front door a try. He pressed the old handle of the door and to his luck, it was unlocked. He stepped inside the dark mansion and let the door swung close behind him


The sound of Autumn wind could be heard from one of the broken windows, sending dried leaves spinning around for a moment almost sent Hyukjae jumping in surprise.


Although the building had been abandoned for quite some time, no signs of serious vandalism could be seen inside, stepping into the mansion was like entering a time void. Hyukjae wondered why no delinquent spraying graffiti or thief stealing the antique furniture, the house seemed to be in a good condition. Sets of sofa covered with white cloths were still on their original position in the front room.


Something moved on the opposite wall, a lesser person would have jumped in shock, but Hyukjae realized that it was only his reflection on the large mirror placed there.


Ignoring the strange feelings washing over him, Hyukjae continued his journey in finding the mirror. Jieun and her friends said that the mirror would be located on Madam Jang’s bedroom on the second floor. It would be located on her dressing table, Siwon even showed him the picture taken from Instagram. Apparently a group of people who trespassed into abandoned building to take artistic photos, went to Sapphire Mansion and took pictures of the things left behind in the mansion before publishing them.


If those guys could get in to the mansion and left unharmed, then Hyukjae could do it too.


The thoughts of Jieun’s sweet smile and pretty face was enough to encourage Hyukjae and dismissed his fears.


A hallway led Hyukjae