In the winter of 1991, a college student named Ji-hoon moved into an apartment building in Pohang, South Korea. He was staying with an elderly couple while attending a nearby university. The arrangement seemed perfect. The couple treated him well, and he had a comfortable place to live.
But the building had a disturbing reputation. More than a dozen healthy young residents had reportedly died from sudden heart attacks. Before their deaths, they had all claimed to meet the same mysterious woman.
She said she lived in apartment 1301, a unit that had never been occupied.
When Ji-hoon encountered the woman himself, he had no idea that the meeting would change everything. His death would become another unexplained tragedy connected to apartment 1301.
A College Student Moves Into a Strange Apartment Building
Ji-hoon had recently moved to Pohang to attend university. Instead of living in a traditional dormitory, he rented a spare bedroom in the apartment of an elderly couple.
He had been living there for about a month. So far, everything was going well. His studies were going smoothly, the city was pleasant, and the couple made him feel welcome.
They prepared meals for him, understood his college schedule, and treated him with kindness.
However, there was something he disliked about the building.
From the outside, it looked modern and well-maintained. But inside, it had developed a frightening reputation because of a series of unexplained deaths.
A Building With a History of Sudden Deaths
Over the previous year and a half, more than a dozen young and apparently healthy people had reportedly died inside the building.
The deaths had one disturbing similarity. The victims had suffered sudden heart attacks.
Nobody could explain why so many people were dying in the same place.
Some residents suspected that the building had an unknown environmental hazard. Others believed that someone living there might be responsible.
Rumors spread, and fear took over the community.
People became suspicious of one another. Neighbors avoided conversations and tried not to make eye contact in the hallways.
For Ji-hoon, this behavior was unusual. He came from a small town where neighbors generally knew one another and were friendly.
The elderly couple had also warned him to avoid interacting with other residents.
They advised him to keep to himself and simply come and go without getting involved in anyone else’s business.
Ji-hoon accepted the situation because he considered the arrangement temporary. He only needed a place to stay while completing his education.
But one evening, an unexpected encounter would make the building’s reputation much more frightening.
The Strange Woman From Apartment 1301
One winter evening, Ji-hoon returned home after spending most of the day studying.
He reached the seventh floor and walked along the long hallway toward apartment 705, where the elderly couple lived.
As he approached his door, he noticed a young woman walking toward him.
He did not recognize her, but assumed she was another resident.
Normally, people in the building avoided interacting with one another. Ji-hoon expected the woman to look away as they passed.
But she did something unexpected.
An Unusual Friendly Encounter
Instead of avoiding eye contact, the woman looked directly at Ji-hoon, smiled, and greeted him.
He was surprised but quickly responded.
The two introduced themselves and started talking in the hallway.
It was the first time Ji-hoon had experienced such a friendly interaction with another resident.
The woman explained that she had recently moved into the building. This seemed to explain why she was more comfortable talking to strangers than the other residents.
She appeared genuine and friendly.
Before leaving, she told Ji-hoon that she would like to get to know him better. She also invited him to visit her apartment whenever he wanted to talk.
Then she gave him her apartment number.
It was 1301.
Why Apartment 1301 Was So Frightening
The moment Ji-hoon heard the apartment number, his feelings changed.
He had already heard stories about apartment 1301.
According to the rumors, a mysterious woman lived there. People who encountered her reportedly experienced terrible things afterward.
The strange part was that apartment 1301 had never been occupied.
It was an empty unit on the thirteenth floor.
Yet several people had claimed to meet a woman who said she lived there.
Ji-hoon suddenly remembered the stories and realized that he had just experienced the same encounter described by the people who had died.
He became frightened and rushed toward apartment 705.
He entered, closed the door, and locked it behind him.
The Elderly Couple Reveals the Story of Apartment 1301
When Ji-hoon entered the apartment, the elderly couple immediately noticed that something was wrong.
They were preparing dinner when they saw his frightened expression.
They asked whether he was okay, but he struggled to explain what had happened.
The elderly woman guided him to the couch and sat beside him. Her husband brought him some water.
After a few moments, Ji-hoon finally explained.
He had met the woman from apartment 1301.
He wanted to know whether the stories about her were true.
The Couple’s Disturbing Reaction
Ji-hoon expected the couple to dismiss the rumors.
Instead, they exchanged a worried look and remained silent.
Their reaction frightened him even more.
He realized that they also believed the story.
Over the previous eighteen months, more than a dozen residents had reportedly died from sudden heart attacks. Before their deaths, these people had told friends and family members about meeting a mysterious woman who claimed to live in apartment 1301.
The pattern was difficult to ignore.
The victims had apparently experienced the same strange encounter before dying.
And now Ji-hoon had met her too.
He began wondering whether he would suffer the same fate.
The Elderly Woman Tries to Calm Him
The elderly woman eventually told Ji-hoon not to worry.
She suggested that the stories were probably exaggerated rumors. She even proposed that the young woman might have been playing a prank on him.
She explained that people in the building sometimes behaved strangely, so such a prank would not be surprising.
But she also offered him another place to sleep that night.
She suggested that he sleep on a mat in her and her husband’s bedroom rather than return to his own room.
Ji-hoon agreed.
He began to feel slightly embarrassed about his reaction. Perhaps he had frightened himself by believing the rumors.
After dinner, the three followed their usual evening routine and went to bed.
Ji-hoon lay down on a mat on the bedroom floor.
The elderly couple climbed into their bed.
Soon, Ji-hoon and the elderly man fell asleep.
But the elderly woman, Sun-hee, remained awake.
Sun-hee’s Terrifying Night
Although Sun-hee had tried to reassure Ji-hoon, she did not believe her own explanation.
She genuinely believed that the mysterious woman was a ghost.
She also believed that the ghost was connected to the unexplained deaths in the building.
Now Ji-hoon had met her, and Sun-hee feared that he would die just like the other victims.
She lay in bed listening to his breathing.
Her plan was simple: stay awake throughout the night and make sure he was still alive.
A Whisper in the Middle of the Night
Hours passed.
Sun-hee remained awake, listening carefully to Ji-hoon’s breathing.
Eventually, sometime around three or four in the morning, exhaustion caught up with her.
She drifted off to sleep.
But suddenly, she woke up.
She thought she heard someone whispering from the floor below her.
She immediately sat up and looked toward Ji-hoon.
He was still asleep on the mat. Her husband was sleeping too.
The room was silent.
Sun-hee wondered whether she had imagined the sound. She also remembered that the whispering had sounded feminine.
She tried to convince herself that fear was playing tricks on her mind.
Then she lay back down, determined not to fall asleep again.
The Woman’s Voice Speaks
A little later, Sun-hee heard the whispering again.
This time, there was no doubt in her mind.
The voice was coming from the floor beside her.
It was a woman’s voice.
Sun-hee froze.
She could not move or speak. She simply lay there, listening to the words coming from beside her.
The voice whispered:
“I can’t wait to get to know you.”
Sun-hee’s entire body became tense.
Then everything went black.
She passed out.
Ji-hoon’s Death in Apartment 705
A few hours later, Sun-hee woke up.
At first, she was confused. She struggled to remember where she was and what had happened during the night.
Then the memories returned.
She quickly got out of bed, hoping the terrifying experience had been nothing more than a nightmare.
But when she looked at the floor, she screamed.
Ji-hoon was lying on his back.
His eyes were wide open, and his mouth was open as though he had screamed just before dying.
He was dead.
Another Unexplained Heart Attack
Authorities were called to the apartment.
An investigation was conducted, and Ji-hoon’s death was reportedly attributed to a heart attack.
His death followed the same pattern as the other unexplained deaths in the building.
According to the people who knew the previous victims, they had also encountered the mysterious woman from apartment 1301 before dying.
Ji-hoon had now become another name in that frightening pattern.
And the elderly couple had experienced something that made the story even more disturbing.
Sun-hee had heard the woman’s voice right beside Ji-hoon before he died.
Residents Abandon the Building
After Ji-hoon’s death, the remaining residents had reached their limit.
They no longer wanted to live in a building where so many people had died under similar circumstances.
Most residents tried to sell their apartments and move somewhere else.
But selling the properties proved almost impossible.
The building’s reputation had become so terrible that potential buyers were unwilling to purchase apartments there.
The stories of unexplained deaths and the mysterious woman from apartment 1301 had made the entire property undesirable.
The Developer Agrees to Relocate Residents
The residents eventually joined together and complained to the developer who had constructed the building.
They argued that they could not sell their apartments because of the building’s reputation.
After continued complaints, the developer agreed to pay for their relocation.
In 1995, the remaining residents, including Sun-hee and her husband, finally moved out.
The apartment building was abandoned.
Eventually, it was demolished.
What Happened to the Woman in Apartment 1301?
The most disturbing part of the story is that apartment 1301 had reportedly never been occupied.
Yet multiple residents claimed to have met a woman who said she lived there.
Those who reportedly encountered her later died from heart attacks.
Ji-hoon’s experience followed the same pattern. He met the woman, learned her apartment number, and died that night.
Sun-hee also claimed to hear the mysterious woman’s voice inside her bedroom.
The building was eventually demolished, but its history remained unexplained.
According to the account, officials never provided a clear explanation for the deaths or the strange reports surrounding apartment 1301.
Was the woman a ghost? Was there something inside the building that caused the deaths? Or were the residents caught in a series of unrelated tragedies that became connected through fear and rumors?
The story offers no verified answer.
What remains is the disturbing mystery of a woman who supposedly lived in an apartment that had never been occupied.
And for the residents of that building, apartment 1301 became a number they would never forget.