And then it happened.
“You figured it out, didn’t you?”
“Huh? Figured what out?”
Jinwoong’s eyes changed in an instant. The warmth drained from his face as he fixed Siyun with a cold, piercing stare. The air turned frigid. The back of Siyun’s neck went rigid, and his breath caught in his throat.
“Why are you pretending not to know?”
This time, a distinctly different voice layered over his.
Siyun froze entirely. Because what hadn’t been visible just moments ago was now there. At least ten spirits were plastered all over Jinwoong’s body, glaring at Siyun as though they wanted to tear him apart.
After that, there was no room to think about anything else.
With a mind gone completely blank, Siyun rapidly calculated the distance to the door. He burned with frustration at how wide the cramped little workshop seemed to look today of all days.
Keeping a careful eye on Jinwoong the whole time, Siyun slowly, incrementally widened the gap between them — then spun on his heel and bolted for the door. But he didn’t even make it a few steps.
Whoosh!
Jinwoong was on his feet in an instant, blocking the door before Siyun could get there. The speed was not human.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
What came out of Jinwoong’s mouth was the same voice Siyun had heard just before losing consciousness. The spirit occupying Jinwoong’s body stretched the corners of his lips into a long, splitting grin.
“Play with me.”
It muttered that it had been so bored, waiting all this time. Most ghosts simply existed quietly without doing harm, but every so often, there were ones like this — ones that latched onto a person and tormented them.
More than likely, it hitched a ride from that haunted house. That’s exactly why I told him not to go!
Some people came out of spirit summoning completely fine, and others didn’t. This time, it was the latter. The day Jinwoong had gone to that haunted house must have simply been a bad day for him. Days like that existed. Days when misfortune piled on misfortune for no particular reason. On days like that, you weren’t even supposed to go near a house of mourning. And yet he had gone to a haunted house and performed spirit summoning on top of it — of course something had gone wrong.
But the bigger problem was Siyun himself. Jinwoong sniffed at the air.
“You smell good.”
Lick — it dragged its tongue along the back of Siyun’s neck.
Siyun’s skin crawled.
“K-Kim Jinwoong.”
His voice trembled beyond his control. Since opening the workshop, ordinary stray spirits hadn’t been able to get close, and he had let his guard down because of it.
I should have been more careful. Come to think of it, the shaman had given him this warning too.
“Child, your spirit is clear, so you must be careful — careful, always careful. Most stray spirits fear the spiritual energy imbued in your things and won’t come near. But a ghost with real power is different. One like that will try to drain your energy dry.”
“Then what do I do?”
“What do you do? I already told you.”
Young Siyun had tilted his head in puzzlement.
“Run!”
After that, it seemed he had briefly lost consciousness. When Siyun came to, he ran without stopping to think twice. But whatever had taken over Jinwoong’s body wasn’t about to let him go.
Its eyes flashed in an unsettling way as it cheerfully prattled on at Siyun. Things from trade school came spilling out, things from the military too. And then it babbled on as though recalling the day Siyun had come to visit.
“That day was nice. I was pretending to be fine, but I was really struggling. So lonely.”
Around the same time, both Jinwoong and Siyun had received their draft notices — but Siyun had been exempted from military service due to his psychiatric history. The process hadn’t been easy, as there was a great deal to prove, but it had been made possible because his father, an executive, knew someone high up in the government. At the time, his nerves had been completely worn down, so he had accepted his father’s decision without protest. Because of that, Siyun only knew about military life through what he’d heard — he had no real understanding of it.
“Siyun, there’s something I never told you all this time.”
The voice was Jinwoong’s, but it was clearly not fully him.
“You know — when you said it seemed like you might like men, I was happy.”
Because the things it was saying made no sense at all.
“I kept wondering why. But I realized not long ago. I think I like you. No — I do like you.”
“What?”
Even knowing it wasn’t in its right mind, Siyun stared at Jinwoong in stunned disbelief. A chill ran over him for an entirely different reason. He had dated a man before, but that relationship had ended in the worst possible way. After that, Siyun had been uncertain whether he genuinely liked men at all. And now, out of nowhere, his closest friend was confessing to him — it wasn’t shock that hit him, it was terror. Even knowing it was the ghost’s doing, his entire body recoiled. But without any regard for Siyun’s state, Jinwoong suddenly lunged at him and shouted.
“Go out with me!”
And then he tried to press his lips to Siyun’s. Snapping back to his senses, Siyun shoved Jinwoong away with everything he had. But he was impossibly strong, and it wasn’t easy.
“K-Kim Jinwoong. J-ugh!”
“I said go out with me. Go out with me!!”
Jinwoong screamed. Siyun shook his head. At that, Jinwoong’s eyes rolled wildly, then snapped into a vicious glare.
“No? You’re saying no?”
And then he closed his hands around Siyun’s throat. The whites of Jinwoong’s eyes had turned a deep, bloody red — as though blood had seeped into them.
“You dare to refuse me?”
Siyun clawed desperately at the back of Jinwoong’s hand and his arms, raking his nails across the skin in every direction.
“Hehehe.”
The grip tightened further.
“Kkk!”
He couldn’t breathe. This time, the fear that he might truly die wrapped itself around every inch of him. His pupils began to roll back, and the color drained from his face. The strength was slowly leaving his body — and just then.
Knock knock.
A knock at the door. At the sound, it reacted with sudden alarm.
Standing in the doorway was that man — Lee Gyohyun. He leaned against the door frame, looking into the workshop with an expression of cool interest.
In that moment, the grip on Siyun’s throat went slack.
Siyun didn’t miss the opening. Pouring out the last of his strength, he shoved Jinwoong’s wrist away and stumbled backward.
“Kkk, kkgh!”
Siyun collapsed to the floor, clutching at his own throat as he dragged in ragged, desperate breaths. His throat burned raw, and even the act of air entering his lungs was agony. Through reddened eyes, he barely managed to look up at the man.
“I mentioned I’d be coming with a formal request.”
Thud.
The sound of dress shoes on the floor as the man stepped into the workshop.
“It seems you already have a guest.”
The heterochromatic eyes shimmered, deepening with something richer as they took in the scene.
* * *
“Cough. Cough.”
His throat felt scraped raw. Every cough sent a blazing burn searing through it, and hot tears welled up on their own.
Even the simple act of pushing air into his lungs came back as sharp, stabbing pain.
Siyun had come back from the edge of death, and his mind was completely unraveled. The terror had been so immense that his grip on reality had slipped, and it took quite a long stretch of time before he could fully process what was even happening.
For a long while, Siyun lay face-down on the floor, pulling in rough, ragged breaths.
“Cha Siyun.”
Clutching at his aching throat, he barely managed to lift his head — and what he saw was a man with both hands tucked into his coat pockets. Siyun’s eyes went wide.
“It looks like you need some help.”
Gyohyun looked down at Siyun and spoke. His voice was calm, but the slight curve at the corner of his lips held a look of unmistakable interest.
