Residual Households

Building 3 of Seongwon Apartments, slated for redevelopment. Most residents have left, but lights begin flickering on in the empty units, one by one. They look like the people who used to live there. But the arrangement of their facial features is slightly off. Seo Ha-eun, a staff member at the district office's Urban Maintenance Division, encounters a deceased resident during a residual household survey. The things filling the empty homes have one purpose: to 'complete' the last remaining person. [Characters] Seo Ha-eun (32, F): Seven-year veteran of the district office's Urban Maintenance Division. Outwardly processes her work without emotion, but drowns her guilt over displaced residents in alcohol. The type who'd rather walk straight into danger than show weakness to anyone. Park Jong-gu (74, M): The last remaining household in Unit 501, Building 3. Stubborn and a man of few words, but every word cuts to the bone. He's known something for a long time. Kim Se-jin (28, F): Ha-eun's junior colleague. Bright and chatty, but relentless when it comes to research. Residual Households, Full 20-Episode Outline Episode 1: Residual Household Survey, Seo Ha-eun begins surveying the remaining households in Building 3 of Seongwon Apartments, scheduled for demolition. According to the paperwork, only one household remains (Park Jong-gu in Unit 501), but a second front door stands open. Episode 2: The Light in 302, Ha-eun enters Unit 302, which should be vacant, to investigate the fluorescent light that turns on every evening. She finds signs of someone living there (a still-warm rice cooker, a damp towel), but no one is home. Park Jong-gu says only, "If you're coming back here, come during the day." Episode 3: The People Who Moved Away, Junior colleague Kim Se-jin, while organizing the list of relocated households, discovers that the former resident of Unit 302, Yoon Jeong-mi, died in a car accident three months ago. When Ha-eun revisits Unit 302, a pair of indoor slippers with Yoon Jeong-mi's name on them sits in the shoe cabinet. Episode 4: Eyes, Nose, Mouth, Ha-eun sees the back of a woman entering Unit 302 from the hallway. The build and hair length match Yoon Jeong-mi's photo. But when the woman turns around, her eyes are below her nose. The door shuts after a split-second glimpse. Ha-eun tells herself she's just drunk. Episode 5: 706, Too, Another light appears at night in Building 3. Unit 706. The former resident: also deceased. Se-jin says, "Unnie, I don't think this is a coincidence," but Ha-eun writes only 'possible illegal occupancy' in her report. A scene of Park Jong-gu sprinkling salt at his front door at night. Episode 6: Salt, Ha-eun visits Unit 501 to persuade Park Jong-gu to relocate. Jong-gu refuses, letting slip, "If I leave, they'll be complete." When she asks what 'complete' means, he clams up. On her way out, she catches a shape standing behind her in the elevator mirror. When the doors open, no one is there. Episode 7: Resident Registry, Se-jin traces the list of past deaths in Building 3 of Seongwon Apartments. Fourteen deaths in thirty years since initial occupancy. In the past three weeks, the number of vacant units with lights turning on has begun to match the death count exactly. When Ha-eun looks at Building 3 from a distance at night, nearly every floor is lit. Episode 8: Daytime Faces, Ha-eun visits the lit units one by one during the day. Every unit is completely empty. Only traces of daily life remain, no people. But in the last unit she checks, 1204, an elderly woman sits watching TV. Her speech patterns and habits are identical to the former resident's, but when she smiles, the corners of her mouth stretch up to her ears. Ha-eun flees. Episode 9: What They Are by Day, Ha-eun reports to the district office, but her supervisor responds, "If they're squatters, just call the police." Police visit Building 3 but find no one. After they leave, a brief clip from the hallway CCTV: human-shaped figures standing flattened against the walls inside each unit. Episode 10: Family Photo, Se-jin tracks down the bereaved families of the deceased. One family member says, "I saw her too. My mother." She saw her dead mother walking the hallways of Seongwon Apartments. But: "It wasn't my mother's face. It was my mother's body with a different arrangement of face." Ha-eun's hands begin to tremble. Alcohol doesn't stop it anymore. Episode 11: Night in 501, Ha-eun visits Park Jong-gu at night. For the first time, he talks. Thirty years ago, during the initial foundation work, they dug something out of the ground. After that, whenever someone died in the building, they "came back." Jong-gu lost his wife the same way. She came back, but he didn't open the door. "You can't let them in. They need the last one." Episode 12: Completion, Se-jin digs through construction records and geological surveys and finds the report from the original foundation work. What they unearthed was a 'stone structure of unknown purpose,' demolished and buried within the foundation concrete. A note on the last page of the report: "There were several doll-like objects with blank faces." The moment Ha-eun reads this, every light in Seongwon Apartments, visible from her office window, goes out simultaneously. Episode 13: Se-jin Goes, Se-jin visits Building 3 alone at night. She told Ha-eun only, "Just popping over to check some documents." The episode follows Se-jin's perspective. The hallways are longer than during the day, and there's one extra staircase. Se-jin's signal cuts out in front of Unit 1204. Ha-eun calls dozens of times. No answer. Episode 14: Se-jin's Voice, Ha-eun rushes to Building 3 at dawn. Se-jin's phone lies on the eighth-floor hallway. Se-jin is gone. Ha-eun pounds on door after door. From every unit, simultaneously: "Yes?" All in Se-jin's voice. Ha-eun opens one door. Something identical to Se-jin sits in a chair, but its eyes are above the forehead. As if not yet finished. Episode 15: Learning the Arrangement, Ha-eun arrives at work the next day to find Se-jin sitting at her desk as usual. Same speech, same smile. Only Ha-eun notices. When Se-jin drinks her coffee, she brings the cup to her chin instead of her lips. She corrects herself 0.5 seconds later, but Ha-eun sees it. This 'Se-jin' is gradually learning the real Se-jin's behaviors. Episode 16: Mirror, Ha-eun avoids Se-jin (or what used to be Se-jin) and goes to Park Jong-gu. He tells her, "They can't use mirrors. Stand her in front of one." Ha-eun positions 'Se-jin' in front of the bathroom mirror. Se-jin has no reflection. It's empty. 'Se-jin' smiles and asks, "Unnie, what's wrong?" In the mirror, Ha-eun stands alone. Episode 17: The One Who Remains, Ha-eun files an emergency report at the district office, but no one believes her. 'Se-jin' has begun behaving perfectly like Se-jin, and their colleagues can't tell the difference. Ha-eun alone is treated like she's lost her mind. That night, passing Seongwon Apartments, people stare down at Ha-eun from every window of Building 3. All with slightly different arrangements of face. Jong-gu calls. "I'm the only one left now. You need to come." Episode 18: The Buried Thing, Ha-eun and Jong-gu break through the foundation concrete beneath Building 3's underground parking garage and reach the buried stone structure. Dozens of stone figures in human form. All with smooth, featureless faces. But one, seemingly carved recently, bears Se-jin's face in perfect detail. One blank figure remains beside it. Jong-gu says, "That one's me. When I die, it's complete. They all get filled." The lights go out underground. Dozens of footsteps approach. Episode 19: The Night Before Completion, They come for Jong-gu. Ha-eun drags him back to Unit 501, but the hallways are packed with figures. All wear the faces of former residents, and those faces are nearing completion. Growing more refined. Jong-gu hands Ha-eun salt and a hammer. "Destroy the statues and it ends." He opens the door and walks out to draw their attention. Ha-eun descends back underground. She begins smashing the statues one by one. The building shakes. From the floors above, a sound like screaming pours down. Episode 20: Residual, Ha-eun destroys most of the statues, but when she raises the hammer over the last one, Jong-gu's, her hand freezes. Jong-gu's face is already carved into it. Already complete. Upstairs, Jong-gu's screams have already stopped. Ha-eun brings the hammer down. The building falls silent. At dawn, Ha-eun walks out of Building 3. The apartment is hollow. Every light is out. One month later, the Seongwon Apartments demolition site. Ha-eun comes to inspect the site one last time. When the excavator breaks through the foundation, statue fragments spill out. Among them, a new statue emerges. Its face is blank. Ha-eun's phone rings. Se-jin's number. She answers. Her own voice speaks back: "Unnie, I'm on my way up now."