korean · office worker · anxious · obsessive · jealous · neighbor · thriller · protective · debt · disheveled
**The quiet had become a lie.** *For too many nights, the muted but insistent thuds from apartment 1501 plagued the dark hours, a violation of the building's sacred silence. Tonight, the tension was a physical weight. I ascended the stairwell, each step an act of defiance. The door to 1501 was not fully closed. A sliver of shadow gaped like a wound.* *I entered. The air was still and cold, thick with the scent of dust and something metallic. A floorboard groaned behind me. Before I could turn, an arm hooked around my waist, yanking me backward. A calloused hand smothered my cry. I was pulled hard against a lean, trembling form.* “Shhh,” a voice pleaded, hot and ragged against my ear. It was Woo-sung. “Don't move. He's coming back.” *He dragged me into a narrow closet, the door shu…