None of the characters (except the original) belong to the author. This work is also heavily inspired off other shows as well.

The clock struck one in the afternoon. Employees hurried to cross the lobby of the building, getting immediately back to work after the hour-long lunch break. None of them paid any mind to the duo sitting patiently on the couches waiting for the receptionists to return. On first glance, they would’ve been unremarkable, but if anyone had stopped and given a long stare at the two, they would’ve noticed how the man and the woman were anything but ordinary.

The woman was lithe, and drop dead gorgeous, with luscious black hair that came down to just below her shoulder blades; she had rather light brown eyes which were currently scanning the building doors for anyone that remotely resembled the receptionist they were waiting for. From the tense set of her shoulders framed by a plaid shirt and a leather jacket down to her skinny jeans, to the tapping of her flat, calf length boots, the woman could be described as a tightly coiled spring ready to launch.

On the other hand, the man with her was the exact opposite. He had shaggy black hair that just about reached his eyes, which were obscured with his thick-framed glasses. The rest of his face was partially hidden (one of those shy types, you know) He wore a nondescript sweater and jeans as well as a pair of sneakers. While perfectly comfortable in his own skin, he casually browsed through a few articles through his phone.

Both perked up to watch as a woman occupied the front desk, and where the black-haired woman jumped up from her seat on the couch, the man rose slowly, approaching the desk.

“Hello, I’m Kwon Jae in and this is Seo Jae sun. We have an appointment with the managing supervisor?” The woman called Jae in trailed confidently. The receptionist lifted her eyes from the screen of her computer, scanning both visitors from head to toe in a rather rude manner.

“Just a minute then, ma’am; I’ll have to call his secretary to confirm the appointment.” The lady didn’t bat an eyelash while Jaein tapped her fingers on the marble counter impudently, eyeing the former up and down in return. To Jaein, this woman lacked the manners that should have accompanied the job. Just because she wasn’t dressed up didn’t mean she didn’t deserve any less respect.

“Ma’am, I’ve confirmed your appointment with the supervisor, please proceed to the third floor. His secretary will be with you as soon as you arrive.”

“We were under the impression that you were in rather…dire circumstances.” Jae in opened the conversation gently, sensing their client’s uncertainty to broach the topic.

“Yes, yes. We have been having a bit of trouble for a while now—first it was disappearing items, then the feeling of being watched the next. I could have understood if it was just one or two of them reporting it, but this incident has happened to over seven of them now.” The man, initially hesitant, had begun wringing his hands nervously while spoke, as if this could rid him of the heavy feeling that surrounded him ever since the incidents began.

“We understand this has happened to only men, so far. This was the only reason we agreed to take the case… and not in the way you might be thinking, I’m not here for the men, I’m here for whatever’s been bothering them.” Jae in grinned, finishing her sentence with a bit of a mischievous grin.

“Well then, since we’ve reached this point, now would be the perfect time to show us the area. We’d like to conduct an inspection.” Jae sun smoothly cut in, knowing that they’d have difficulty staying on topic once Jae in had begun to dawdle.

The supervisor stood, nervously. “Well then, if you please. We’ll have to take the lift to get there.”

“Where exactly are we going?” Curiosity getting the best of her, Jaein asked.

“The basement.”

From the hallway, the sounds of loud, upbeat and Latin-sounding music could be heard, as well as the synchronized sounds of feet hitting the floor at the same time. “I’ll have to apologize to you, miss, sir. One of our groups is in use of the room right now. It’s a very important time for them now; which was actually why we decided to bring you in.” He explained to them, walking a little slowly before the three of them stopped just short of the door.

He continued. “An important collaboration is coming up with another celebrity, and we have to make sure everything is under control. They’ll be filming in this room a few weeks from now, so we have to take care of this quickly.” 

“We understand. Please show us the room, sir.”

Knocking three times, he opened the door. The music sounded louder for a moment before being cut-off abruptly. “All right boys, take a break.” A man who had previously been watching the group in the mirror spoke, before walking in the direction of the supervisor. “Hello sir. Is this them?” After briefly exchanging greetings, he introduced himself to the duo. “My name is Shim Jae won. I’m the company’s performance director.”

“Hello, I’m Jae in and this is Jae sun. If you please...” She trailed off, allowing him to sort out his thoughts.

Before continuing, he waved to the small group of men who left the room to take a breather. The rest of their group remained in the room, some immersed in dancing while others simply sat on the floor to relax.

“Well, this started with Suju, really.” At Jae in and Jae sun’s blank gazes, he expounded. “Super Junior. They were practicing around a few months ago. They started losing a few of their belongings. It was small things at first, a towel on the bench, or a water jug. They turned up after a while so we didn’t really mind it, but when a few members took to practicing alone they reported they’d felt like they were being watched. Like eyes boring holes on the back of their heads.” He paused for a breath. While he’d been recounting the experience, the few members on the other side of the room had begun to take interest in their conversation, stopping what they were doing and sitting on the floor.

“They hadn’t thought much of it, said it must’ve been from exhaustion that they’d started imagining things. But then when these guys,” he gestured to the members, all of whom were paying attention now, ”Started using the room, things got a little bit worse… Baekhyun told us just the other day that he saw someone from the corner of his eye. Jongin’s also almost gotten into an accident because of another incident.”

He gestured to a puppy-looking boy whom Jae in studied first, then next to another boy with a remarkably charismatic face. Both looked back, a mix of emotions on their faces. Glancing at all the members in the room, she could read a lot from all their faces. Most of them were serious, but she could also detect hints of cynicism and doubt. From one of the members, a man with large eyes, she thought she saw a flash of… something. Fear, maybe?

“Kyungsoo’s was… the worst case we’ve had since.” At the mention of that, Jae in and Jae sun both turned their heads sharply to the director. He had been referring to the man Jae in had just looked to. “He fell asleep while waiting for the members to come in a few weeks ago. He wouldn’t wake up when the members arrived no matter what how loud they called him. They woke him after a few minutes, and found some bruises on his arms. They were shaped like fingers; almost like something had grabbed him really tightly and didn’t want to let go.”

Haunted. That had been the look in Kyungsoo’s face that she’d seen just a moment ago. She frowned pensively, mulling over the accounts. Jae sun waited patiently for her to finish. The silence was punctured with her order.

“Jae sun, get the meter running.”

No sooner had she said that when Jae sun had immediately reached down to open the carry-on they’d dragged with them into the basement. Turning to the men huddled in a circle who were now joined by the supervisor and the director, she proceeded with a no-nonsense tone.

“I’m not going to sugarcoat this. Your building, specifically (I’d like to think) the basement, is haunted.” Speaking those words had seemed to solidify the thought that had filled their heads, one they hadn’t wanted to ever seriously consider.

“Kyungsoo, was it? I’d just like to correct your director; what you experienced wasn’t just a nightmare: it was sleep paralysis. Lucid dreaming happens to people who’ve more experience and more training, enabling them to separate their soul from their body while asleep.” She paused, gauging their reaction. Kyungsoo’s eyes were ever so wide, as were the others around him.

“Sleep paralysis, on the other hand, is much more dangerous,” she gestured to Kyungsoo.”He was susceptible to it, probably because he was in a state of exhaustion. The body loses its grip on the soul, and thus, for the most part, the soul wanders away from the body. The body is left vulnerable to others that might use it as its vessel.”

A chill had settled in the room, permeating the listeners’ bones. The silence was punctuated by the consistent beeps from the device Jae sun was waving around the room.

“What matters though, is that you were able to find your way back, Kyungsoo-ssi. You should be very proud of yourself. You’re a spirit walker now.” She grinned to him comfortingly. While the others had looked at her in disbelief, Kyungsoo looked at her and grinned back. Jae in sighed in relief in spite of herself, thinking on how lucky it was that she comforted the optimistic guy out of all the others in the group.

“Now, you might be wondering what he’s doing here, mind you, it isn’t just for show”, she continued when she noticed their attention had been captured by Jae sun’s device; he on the other hand, rolled his eyes at her quip. “The entity, although invisible right now, can be tracked down using traces of its energy it left behind in this room. It can be detected using an EMF meter, the one he has in his hands right now.” she gestured to her assistant’s sweeping motions.

“The louder the beeping, the stronger the traces, which means that’s probably where all the energy’s coming from. These entities, well ghosts really,” she amended, hearing their sharp intakes of breath, “Oftentimes, these ghosts can’t pass on to wherever it is they go because something’s holding them back. Unfinished business, grudges, you name it. After a designated period of time, they turn into vengeful spirits.”

“These spirits are stronger, darker masses of energy. Now these ones, they’re the ones you have to look out for. They often have enough energy to make contact with humans, and at times, inflict harm on them. Our ghost here is on the verge of that. And when it crosses that line, there’s no turning back.” She paused for breath, and then eyed Kyungsoo. “You never did tell me where you were found in that…condition.” She finished.

In a stable, deep voice, he replied quietly. “There”, pointing to the other side of the room where a bench was plastered against a wall.

“Well, I should have known.” Jae in tut-tutted once she spotted the bench. The corner of the room Kyungsoo had pointed out seemed ordinary to the untrained eye; to Jae in and Jae sun’s, though, it was different. Otherworldly different. Darker, more foreboding and very cold.

Wasting no time, she directed him efficiently. “Jae sun, sweep the area and find whatever it is that’s holding it here.” As he moved quickly to the wall, Jae in crouched to open the carry-on and pulled out a few bags of salt, which she passed on to the group crowding on the floor.

“Ghosts and vengeful spirits cause harm because of their negative energy. However, this energy can be purified; here, we use rock salt. Open those bags and use the salt to draw a protective circle around you. I guess it’s too late to let you leave now; you’re quite literally involved. The ghost has likely noticed that we’re here and that we want it gone.” Just as she’d finished saying that, they all felt a literal chill as the room temperature dropped down to several degrees, their breaths visible in the air.

“Damn it.” She cursed, pulling out a shotgun from the carry-on. Her onlookers visibly drew back. She looked at them warningly. “Under no circumstances are you to cross that circle. You step outside out of your own free will, and you become ghost chum. Take care not to break the circle either.” She said quickly, checking the gun’s chambers. It was fully loaded.

Next, she pulled on iron knuckles on her right hand, flexing her fingers. “Apart from salt, iron can also be a purifying agent. You’d do well to remember everything I say. Maybe you can use my advice next time.” She grinned at them playfully, double checking their circle before walking to Jae sun.

“Any luck?” he shook his head no. Just as she’d begun to open again, she heard the director yell. “Look out!”

Jae in didn’t need to be told twice. Sensing the cold burst of air on her right side, she leapt away from it before snarling at the entity. It was a girl, or at least it looked like it once was. Half of its face (a skull, really) had melted off into its dark aura, and where its body had been once, only a massive dark void remained. It’s stringy, long hair was the only clue Jae in had to identify its gender.

Jae in found her balance and in one quick motion planted her feet solidly on the ground, calmly took her aim, and shot at the dark mass. The recoil stung her shoulders, but the pain dissipated as quickly as the dark mass of energy had after she shot it.

“Is it gone?” the supervisor yelled out shakily.

“No, I just temporarily shooed it off. Once we find whatever it is binding it here, then we can send it away from here for good. Sorry about your wall, by the way.” She waved to the studio’s wall that the salt bullets had just damaged badly. Just in time, the meter beeped loudly once Jae sun pointed it to the floorboards.

“I didn’t think it’d be down there.” He had the grace to look sheepish, before catching onto the handle of the machete Jae in had tossed to him. She thought she heard someone gasp behind her and imagined a blood vessel pop at her antics. Snickering to herself, she faced away from Jae sun and went on the lookout for the (as of now) invisible ghost.

A few minutes of digging later, they all felt another chill in the air. Jae in braced herself. She heard a scream from the group and ran towards them. She found the ghost on the other side of the circle, baring its teeth on its occupants.

“Hey! Pick on someone your own size… I’ve always wanted to say that line.” She smirked to herself when the ghost charged into her. She easily sidestepped it, before delivering a solid blow to where she imagined its gut would be located. The ghost dissolved again, this time much quicker than before. She turned her head in time to see the ghost appear behind Jae sun.

“SUN!” she shouted at him. The group in the circle stared as well, transfixed and helpless at the sight.

Without even so much as a backward glance, Jae sun nonchalantly grasped a fistful of salt in his hand and hurled it behind him, not even stopping to hear the slight sizzle. He continued digging.

“Should’ve seen that one coming,” Jae in sighed to herself, then looked back at the group. Whereas everyone had begun to buzz around and converse with each other about the excitement, one of them in particular stood out to her.

‘What a dreamboat’ she thought to herself, noting his hair (‘just got out of bed’ look), his eyebrows (on fleek) and most especially, that jawline (could cut diamonds, gods). She flicked her eyes back up to his, noting his smirk (wonder what he’d look like with a smile?). Rolling her eyes at him, albeit jokingly, she failed to pay attention to the wisp of smoke that began to materialize behind her.

“Look out!” A voice cried out in alarm and then she was flung to the ground rather violently, her gun spinning out of reach. Cursing out colourfully, she crawled quickly to her gun before being thrown again, further away from the firearm this time.

The ghost attacked her, pinning her down to the floor. Through sheer luck, the iron knuckles remained on her right fist so she used them to try and hold off the entity. Placing her fist on the rapidly evolving mass' throat, she looked to her side to see the carry-on just out of reach “Sun, hurry up, you should’ve found it by now!” She shrieked, a bit of panic creeping into her voice while the entity continued to snap its jaws closer to her face.

Just a hairsbreadth away from being ghost chum herself, a burst of fire caught everyone unawares. The entity screamed voicelessly, its features captured in an ugly grimace as flames swallowed it whole. It writhed its way to Jae in slowly before vanishing completely. She glanced to her side, just a ways away where Jae sun stared passively at a charred black mass of the ghost-entity's physical attachment. He met her eyes for a second before scattering the ashes with his sneakers.

“We’d really like to thank you for your help here.” The supervisor gushed to them, mopping at the sweat that had gathered at his nape. “We never thought we’d see the end of that ordeal.”

“It was no problem, I’m just glad we found and burnt that thing on time” She said then turned to Jae sun. “What was it that tied it here, anyway?”

“A tooth and some fingernails” Jae sun replied blandly.

“Ironically, ‘fighting tooth and nail’ just seems to fit this situation, overall.” Jae in said to herself, then chuckled along with the supervisor and director of the team.

“Anywaaaays” she dragged out “we’re really glad we could be of service to your company as well. If you’ve got anything else you need us to kill you can call us again and we’ll come over.” She said cheerfully, while Jae sun dutifully handed out a calling card to the supervisor. “See ya!” they both made to cross the room to the door, where Jae in was stopped by Mr. Dreamboat.

Seeing as he didn’t say anything and just continued to look at her, she began to feel a bit awkward. “Oh-kayy, I really have to go now.” When she walked past him she heard him speak quietly to her. Damn it, even his voice sounded dreamy. This wasn’t fair. How could a human be so perfect?

“I’m Sehun. Thank you for saving us.” She turned to look at him and there he was, just staring at her with those eyes of his. She lost her train of thought for a few seconds before catching herself.

“Well, Hun,” She drawled out his name like how Winnie the Pooh would have said hunny; to her satisfaction, a streak of pink appeared high  on his cheekbones. “I’ve got monsters to slay, clients to rescue, the like…so, next time?” She grinned at him playfully, watching the streak grow darker.  “See you, loverboy”. She walked away from him, wiggling her fingers a bit.

She didn’t stay long enough to see him smile, or see s about it.

Author's note:

It's been such a long time since I've written again. About six years? Wow, haha. As such I cannot promise flawless writing as my skills have become quite rusty. Feel free to comment and critique! 

I'd also like to point out that Jae in and Jae sun do not have any idea about the entertainment business (as immersed as they are in the hunting business) and as such have no idea about any of the groups that Shim Jae Won was talking about... 

Cameo # 1: Exo, and Shim Jaewon! and of course, the SM building. A special mention to Suju too! 

Any guesses what exo was practicing for? ;)

Preview for the next episode: The plot thickens. The episode will be heavily inspired from an Western movie this time, starring actors who played a very famous pirate and a Bond girl. 

Stay tuned!