July 20–26, 2026
Five stories that will keep you awake. From a cursed apartment complex in Tokyo to shape-shifting creatures in Seoul — this week we explore the darkest corners of East Asian horror fiction.
by Kim Young-ha
An elderly serial killer recognizes a predator in his daughter's boyfriend and emerges from retirement — Kim Young-ha mines psychological horror from the collision of domestic banality and ancient evil.
by Junji Ito
A boy who chews iron nails and mutters curses — Ito's most comedic creation is also his most unsettling, where the real horror isn't supernatural but the relentless, infectious chaos of pure human awfulness.
by Naoshi Arakawa, Mizuki Tsujimura
When the frozen school's clock finally ticks forward again, the truth it reveals is far darker than any supernatural trap — a meditation on guilt and teenage despair that earns its horror through intimate human damage rather than spectacle.
by Kim Hyesoon
A body becomes a battleground — Kim Hyesoon's poems transform political terror into visceral, surreal imagery that makes authoritarianism's grip feel like a physical assault. Beauty and violence collide on every page.
by Yan Ge
A cryptozoologist chases mysterious beasts through a city where humans and creatures coexist in barely suppressed dread — Yan Ge's bestiary unfolds like a fever dream, each beast more unsettling than the last.