About

What comes to mind when you think of famous landmarks in England? Big Ben, Hogwarts... there are quite a few, right? The story I've prepared for today is about Westminster Bridge. It's a bustling bridge where tens of thousands of people pass by every day, but there's a bizarre rule that has been passed down since the 19th century. And that rule is: never walk across the bridge alone on a foggy day. Back then, a rumor circulated in London. They say if you cross the bridge through the thick night fog, you'll start to hear the heavy thud of military boots behind you. If you turn your head, you'll see a man in a tattered old uniform approaching with his head bowed low. But the terrifying part is that with every step the soldier takes, a pool of blood forms beneath his feet. This ghost approaches the person in front of him at a steady pace, but strangely, he walks exactly 13 steps and then vanishes into the fog. That's why Londoners called him the '13-Step Soldier.' People thought, "He disappears after 13 steps anyway, so I can just ignore him and run away," so it remained just an urban legend. But one day, a journalist writing for a London publication decided to investigate this ghost story because it seemed interesting. So, on a foggy day in November, he headed to the bridge alone with his notebook. When he reached the middle of the bridge, just like the rumors said, he heard the thudding footsteps along with a bone-chilling cold. When he looked back, a soldier with a face so mangled and crushed he was unrecognizable was walking toward him. However, his journalistic instincts kicked in, and he began to count the soldier's steps. Just like the rumor, he walked exactly 13 steps and then evaporated like air. Delighted to have found a story, the journalist returned to his office. While writing the article, he suddenly became curious about why it was 13 steps, so he spent days digging through every record until he found the answer. As soon as he read the material, the journalist couldn't help but be shocked. The soldier was a death row inmate arrested for treason after being caught trying to leak the location of allied supply routes to the enemy during wartime. And the place where he was executed was Westminster Bridge. The number of steps the executioner forced him to walk along the bridge railing with a rope around his neck was exactly 13. Also, the record contained his final words. As he took the final 14th step and jumped off the bridge, he said... "I will follow the one who meets my eyes and choke the life out of them." The fact that the soldier disappeared at the 13th step wasn't because the curse ended; he vanished to step off the execution platform and take that 14th step toward his target. But the journalist looked him right in the face, didn't he? And as the journalist finished reading the log and looked up, a voice came from behind him, reflected in the archive window: "The 14th step."