One Two One Two

“One Two One Two” is a scary story from Korea about a high school girl who is studying late at night in her school library. In South Korea, it is very important for young people to do well in school. Parents put a lot of pressure on their children to study hard and get good grades. Students often have to hire tutors after school and some even return to the school at night to do extra work. This has actually become a big problem in Korea because many students stay up so late at night studying that they fall asleep the next day in class. In recent years, students have actually been banned from studying after 10pm in some areas. One night, a Korean girl named Sun-Hi was at school. It was quite late and she was studying in the library with a group of other students from her class. The lights in the library were on, but the rest of the school was in darkness. After a while, Sun-Hi needed to go toilet, so she took a break from her studies. Telling her friends she would be back in a moment, the girl walked out of the library and down the darkened hallway to the school bathroom. In the library, when a few minutes had passed, the other boys and girls began to notice a faint tapping noise. It seemed to be coming from the direction of the window. Looking around, they saw a pale, gaunt woman standing outside. Her face was pressed up against the window and her eyes were tightly shut. One long, crooked finger was tapping on the window. They wondered what the woman was doing outside at this time of night. A moment later, the woman opened her eyes and the students gasped in horror. She didn’t have any eyes. There were just deep, dark holes where her eyes should have been. The woman raised her fist and brought it crashing down against the window. The glass shattered. Suddenly, all the lights went out. In the school bathroom, Sun-Hi was just about to wash her hands when she was plunged into darkness. Everything was silent. She never heard the screams of terror coming from the library. There was no way she could have known about the pandemonium and slaughter that had broken out just a few rooms away. She continued washing her hands in the dark, blissfully unaware of the horrific cries that echoed down the hallway. Just as abruptly as they had begun, the yells and screams stopped and the school was deathly silent once again. Sun-Hi opened the bathroom door and strolled back down the hallway. When she went into the library, she stopped in her tracks. The dead bodies of the other students were strewn around the library. Some of the corpses were sprawled on the floor, while others were draped across desks and filing cabinets. She started shaking with fear. Her mind raced as she tried to understand what had happened. It was a massacre. Just then, she heard footsteps echoing down the hallway. Sun-Hi was a clever girl and, thinking fast, she threw herself on the floor, next to the dead bodies of her friends, and lay motionless. She listened as something quietly crept into the library. Sun-Hi kept her eyes closed and pretended to be dead. She heard a rustling sound as something moved around the room. Fearing the worst, Sun-Hi lay as still as she could and tried not to make a sound. She heard a voice whispering, “One, two… One, two… One,two…” Curiosity got the better of her and she cautiously opened her eyes, ever so slightly, and took a peek. There, in the middle of the room, stood a pale, ghostly woman, dressed in white. Sun-Hi closed her eyes again and fought the urge to scream. She could hear the ghost creeping around the room, going from body to body, muttering under its breath. “One, two… One, two… One, two…” The girl held her eyes tightly shut. She hoped and prayed that the ghost would leave soon. “One, two… One, two… One, two…” The ghostly woman was shuffling from one corpse to the next, getting closer and closer. “One, two… One, two… One, two…” As Sun-Hi listened to the chilling voice of the ghost, she tried not to do anything that would attract attention. “One, two… One, two… One, two…” The ghost was drawing ever nearer. Sun-Hi dared not move. “One, two… One, two… One, two…” The ghost was almost beside her. The girl tried not to breathe. Suddenly, the counting stopped. Sun-Hi remained motionless. She strained to hear even the slightest noise. She was afraid to move a muscle. There was no sound. The library was suspiciously quiet. After several minutes of complete silence, Sun-Hi was sure that the ghost was gone. Sun-Hi slowly opened her eyes. The ghost was crouched directly over her, staring into her eyes. One pale, bony finger was pointing straight at Sun- Hi’s terrified face. “One, two!” said the ghost as it plucked out her eyeballs.