Read "Bongcheon-Dong Ghost", easily the scariest web comic right now. If you dare. 
Game for one hell of a jump-out-of-your-seat scary moment? Check out
"Bongcheon-Dong Ghost" (봉천동 귀신), an outstandingly scary web comic that have provided yours truly, the single scariest moment since the peak of J-Horror.
For those who like to have more information on the strip before seeing what can't be unseen, courtesy of
commenter SKFK at Robot 6,
Bongcheon-Dong (봉천동, AKA 奉天洞 in Hanja) was the name of poverty-stricken district in Seoul, Korea, but has been renamed now as "Euncheon-Dong". We have more information after the jump but to avoid any potential drawback to the effect of the web comic, we implore you to read it right away before coming back for more details. A final
WARNING though, this is
NOT for the weak-hearted. If possible,
grab a earphone or
have your speaker on for the best effect. Do note that the content in the strip is in Korean and Google Translate obviously cannot translate the text in the comic. But we are quite certain that horror transcends language barrier, and in fact, we tend to opine that the strip worked even better that way.
Sit back and hit the below link to enjoy a terrific horror web comic so good that we can't wait till
Undead Monday to post it.
Bongcheon-Dong Ghost 봉천동 귀신Update: Courtesy of
princess-sunjong on Tumblr, here's the complete translated text:
2011 Mystery Sketch Bong-Cheon-Dong Ghost
The story is based on true personal accounts.
It was probably around 11:20 at night. I was heading home after long, tiring night-study sessions. But I didn’t see anybody around that day, which was weird, since the apartment complex is pretty big and I usually see a lot of people even at night.
Anyways, I was a little scared so I was just walking while looking down on the ground,
when I saw a shadow stretching towards me. Even though there had been no one around just a moment ago.
When I looked up..
I saw a woman walking in front of me. But it just didn’t look right.
I could say she looked slightly indisposed.. She was limping pretty hard.
She was walking very slow, and I soon caught up with her. I was able to see her even better up close.
She was wearing dirty pink pajamas.. and it looked like every joint in her body was twisted. Her hair was a mess and sticking out in every direction.
It seemed really weird, so I stopped walking.
I felt like I shouldn’t get any closer to her, and I didn’t have the guts to pass by her.
[The ghost turns around.]
They say when you’re really surprised, you can’t even scream. I couldn’t move, and just froze there.
“Where’s my baby?”
Her question made my thoughts race..
I don’t even know why I did it then.. And it still scares me.
I pointed as far as I could and answered.. “O, over there.”
I just wanted her to get away from me.
She limped towards the direction I pointed to..
And I couldn’t see her anymore.
I didn’t want to risk running into her again, so I tried to turn around quickly and leave the apartment complex.
I couldn’t think of anything but to get to some place where there’d be people around.
Then
“She is not there!” [The ghost runs towards you.]
I don’t remember anything afterwards. I heard that my neighbor found me passed out on the ground and took me home.
In 2007, at an apartment in Boncheon-Dong, Gwna-Ak-Gu, Seoul, a 33-year-old woman jumped off the apartment and died on the spot. Jo, who was divorced due to her affair, had lost the custody of her daughter and decided to kill herself.
She was seen walking around the apartment complex many times after her suicide. She was barefoot and wore the pajamas she was wearing when she died; every join in her body was twisted, and she was an awful sight.Done? Okay, as promised. According to the very helpful
commenter SKFK at Robot 6, the creator of the web comic is "Horang" whose real name is Jong-Ho Choi, a 25-year-old comic artist. Bongcheon-Dong Ghost is Choi's second entry in a special anthology series of short web comics known as "2011 Mystery Shorts", a collaboration with numerous other creators. It was indicated that Horang’s first entry , "Oksu Subway Station Ghost", also utilizes unconventional web comic methodology, relying
"much more on the text for the storyline, and it uses Flash animation for shock effect. It also uses smartphones and mobile social networking services as a crucial story element, with real-time uploading of a photograph and other users’ comments on it providing an important plot twist." Being big fans of the horror and undead, we have tried to search for the strip... in vain. We will appreciate greatly if anyone (especially those well-versed with Korean Manhwa) can pass along the link should they happen to come across it.
From what we gathered online, the ghost in the streets of Bongcheon-Dong is a well-known urban legend in South Korea. But it is the out-of-the-box methods implemented by Choi that truly made the strip worked. With "Bongcheon-Dong Ghost", and the earlier posted
Emily Carroll’s "His Face All Red", we can see the semi-insurgence of an unique spin on the conventional horror subject being utilized with a capable web comic to deliver the deliciously disturbing aftertaste of a good horror yarn.
For those who like to check out the English translation, commenter
GlassThorne at Robot 6 has provided a
link to a translation of the strip on Tumblr. However, we have tried but the link remained dead. Fortunately, we have turned to YouTube and have found a video clip containing the entire strip, complete with English translation text, but you need to watch it in 720p to read the translated text. We would advise against watching the clip if you have not read the strip as the original effect is at its best as a web comic strip.
Here are just a couple of the highly regarded views on the strip from the comic industry.
"I can't read Japanese either. The pictures tell the story. SUPER super freaky." -
Chris Burnham, artist of Batman, Inc.
"Good God, this is a scary webcomic." -
Sean T. Collins from
Robot 6
Source: "Bongcheon-Dong Ghost" (봉천동 귀신) via Robot 6
"Space Oddity", David Bowie's classic hit single that was first released in 1969, was one of Bowie's most timeless songs with a heartbreaking story and an obvious reference to Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey."
