The Egg Ghost (달걀귀신)

Deep in the darkness of the wild hills, a sound drifts out from time to time. Thud. Thud. Thud. Not the snap of a breaking branch, not the footfall of some animal. It is the sound of something walking on its head.

The Egg Ghost's form is simple to the point of wrongness. Its face is a smooth oval — no eyes, no nose, no mouth. Thin limbs hang below, and it moves always in a handstand, its skull striking the earth with each step, that dull, even rhythm echoing through the mountain dark.

The danger is not the shape alone. The Egg Ghost burrows inside a person. Once it has taken root, it breeds within, and it is said that no rite of exorcism can guarantee a complete deliverance.

The worst of it comes after. Even when the ghost has gone, the face of the one it inhabited does not return to what it was. Eyes, nose, and mouth — all vanished — the person goes on living out the rest of their days wearing a face identical to the Egg Ghost's own. The spirit departs, but the mark it leaves is permanent.

The rumor still drifts through the villages near the hills. If a strange, rhythmic striking sound draws closer while you walk the mountain at night, do not stop walking. The moment you turn to look — to see just how close it has come — it is already too late.