"so... how did recruiting go?"

"down the toilet."

"i see one of your teenagers already tried writing about you in her diary."

"yeah, well, we'll see how this works out in the morning."

 

it was five am in hoyang, the sun still tucked behind the earth so that in the next hour, the slightest sliver of light could illuminate the land. a thin fog covered the small town, leaving windows and windshields dripping with morning dew and reaffirming the cold weather forecast from the morning news.

jiyul slowly opened her eyes to the sound of birds chirping outside her window— something she didn't feel very fond of at the moment. things surely have changed, considering those same birds used to wake her up with traces of a smile in the past. instead of sitting up to stretch all the sleepiness out of her system, jiyul laid in that position for as long as she could without shifting into another one, trying to force herself to go back to sleep.

come to the docks. i'll wake you up if you're not up by six.

her eyes were open again. someone, the only person she knew actually could, had invaded her consciousness and left her with a chill that not even her comforter could warm. jiyul sat straight up in bed (unwillingly, of course) with a wide yawn and a heavy shudder. her comforter was still wrapped around her like a shawl, slowly falling to her waist while her head turned to find the person she was thinking of. she rolled her eyes when she heard his airy laughter in the back of her mind.

whatever, she rubbed her watery eyes, filled with tears from a previous yawn. i had to get up early today anyway.

 

her room was dark and messy, which was something that one could say about the state of her hair at the moment. the level of disorganization in her bedroom might be at the level of a pre-pubescent boy, but in the dark, a girl still knows her way around her own room. she tiptoed around her clothes to the bathroom, where she completed her usual morning routine.

 

six o'clock. chaejoon was the last to arrive, hands tucked snugly into the pockets of his windbreaker. hoyang's autumn mornings felt as if they were becoming slightly more insufferable each year. all of them sat at a short distance from each other, some sitting on boxes, some on the floor, and some standing. no one in the group was talking; the regular fisherman stared them down and wondered what kind of school kids would be out at six in the morning. and what were they even out here to do, exactly? be lectured by a specter? no, how silly.

 

"they look like penguins," one of the older men remarked, gesturing toward them with his chin. "the ones from antartica, the north pole."

 

"i thought penguins were in the south pole?" another questioned.

 

"no, i'm pretty sure it's the north—"

 

"dad, we can hear you," kiyeon faced her father, who was shocked that she'd discovered his hiding spot. it was apparent that he was following her and jihyuk out of curiousity. "we'll be fine, don't worry!"

 

"t-t... today's fishing day!" he insisted, hoping she'd take the bait.

 

"no, it's not. please go home." kiyeon's father behaved much like a child, sulking as he walked away from his two kids. some of the kids sitting near kiyeon could see the resemblance between her and her father. the eight turned away and continued to rub their hands together while they blew their breath in front of them and watched it disappear into the air.

 

"where is that guy, anyway?" that 'guy' bitna referred to was most definitely vimaru, as everyone shared a collective shiver of agreement.

 

"you called?" he rose out of the ocean in front of them with a yawn that managed to surprise the majority of the teenagers, leading to a strange chain reaction of disconcerted shouts among the team, ghost, and fishermen. the fishermen were the odds ones out; they couldn't even see what the kids were screaming at.

 

"okay, stop that!" he barked, quieting everyone. before continuing, he took a glance at the onlookers, who tried to appear unbothered while fixing small things on their boats. the eight followed his gaze, causing the men to quickly turn around and frivolously continue their busywork. vimaru turned his hands over so his palms faced upwards, inhaled sharply, and clenched his hands into fists. the men suddenly relaxed, beginning talking to each other about the day's catch and preparing to set sail, making the teens further intrigued with this ghost who calls himself vimaru.

 

"now that they're not paying attention to us—" he drifted toward them and sat on a nearby crate. "—i can talk about your first task."

 

two raised their hands, confused. "wait—"

 

"please save all questions until the end of the presentation—" vimaru opened his mouth to continue but shut it briefly to give two particular girls a look that said as much as he needed it to. "—and... don't interrupt me, yeah?" he monotonously directed. they nodded, staring at him.

 

"okay, uh... so i need you guys to go to city hall tonight to find some dumb old records," he pursed his lips. "you know those reality crime tv shows?"

 

"yeah—"

 

"don't interrupt me. we have to find out some background information on janyu in order to figure out what he's doing and why he's doing it. so, uh, these are your first steps!" he gestured to them.

 

"are we toddlers? what does that mean?" jiyul vocalized for the first time since the haunted house incident.

 

"stop!! interrupting me," vimaru snapped his head in her direction and slowly reverted it back to its original position. "these are your first steps toward becoming mystery solvers!" he faked enthusiasm, eyes strangely wide. he leaned back on his arm to recline on the crates behind him. "alright, presentation over, ask your questions."

 

"that's so cheesy," the youngest laughed, lifting a hand to while the other raised above her head. "also, i had a vision that i died last night? what does that mean?"

 

the other seven looked at her with worry and horror in their eyes; she said it so casually that they almost brushed it off. a few moved their gazes back on vimaru out of fear— a first for the group. meahri took a look at the others before turning to them and explaining.

"okay, well, i was about to write in my diary and then this really bright white light flashed and i saw myself sitting on a cliff. then this white thing came out of the sky and carried me, the other me, off the cliff by my—her—neck and dropped me! the other me!" ahri quickly clarified for the others, who froze on the spot. "then i closed my diary and threw it out the window because i thought there were, like, bad ghosts in it, or something."

 

everyone turned back to vimaru, still looking relaxed as ever.

 

"yeah, that's what happens when you try to tell someone what you're doing with me, or, in your case, when you write about it in your diary," he lazily explained. "other instances in which you would find yourself in this situation are: memorizing and verbally repeating any experiences we've had together to anyone other than our little group, using sign language or hand signals to communicate any experiences to another person, writing or illustrating a vivid novel about anything we've done together, and trying to take pictures of me."

 

"you'll show up on camera?" chaejoon asked, a look in his eyes that the second-years already knew entailed.

 

"no. that's a cute question, i'm gonna write that down." a twinkle of light and a puff of transparent smoke appeared around his eyes and his hands, materializing a pair of fake glasses perched on his nose and a pen and paper in his hands.

 

"so, we're kind of... trapped, in a sense?" woo observed. "what happens when we're in a situation where we have to tell someone the truth?"

 

it was quiet.

 

that last word stirred something in the ghost, as his usual lazy expression twitched into something unreadable and, at the same time, very clear. his playful attire disappeared into thin air, his brow noticeably pinched together with his eyes slowly glossing over.

 

 

 

"—ru—!"

 

"—imaru?"

 

" ghost!"

 

"uh, are you okay?"

 

the back-and-forth conversation he heard faded away and was replaced with the kids asking him to come back to the real world. he stared at them and they stared back.

 

"yeah, uh, i'll take care of those kinds of situations, just keep your mouth shut until i come around."

 

it was still quiet, possibly quieter than before.

 

"what are you gawking at? just ask me the rest of your questions, let's get this over with." he avoided their eyes this time, watching the fisherman.

 

"are you sure you're okay? do you need to, uh... take... a breath...?" meahri asked slowly, obviously very unsure if this was the right term to use in this situation.

 

"i'm fine, just... do you guys have any more questions or are you going to keep staring at me?" he appeared to be his usual self again, as he began to lay his translucent body across the crates behind him. woo decided not to ask another question. it was quiet for a third time.

 

"what time do you need us to go there?" bitna spoke up, seeing as no one else was going to ask. "right after the carnival closes, around seven-thirty? town hall closes at around ten, so we have to be quick if we want to get there—"

 

"uhh, no..." vimaru thought it over for a few seconds. "wake up at, like, twelve, and we'll meet in front of kiyeon's restaurant." her family's restaurant was only a few yards away from where they were at the moment.

 

"twelve? as in, twelve in the morning?!" the vice president looked exeptionally confounded at his response.

 

"when else? twelve in the afternoon?"

 

"but we have to get up early to run our attractions for the carnival???" she leaned forward in her seat, hands still stuffed in her sweater pockets, expression filled with detestation. her reasons for not wanting to get up in the middle of the night were not as one would think; she just wanted to have one week of peace before schoolwork started piling up again. most teachers never think to assign homework when students spend so much time preparing for the biggest event of their school year.

 

"well, with all the adrenaline pumping through your excitable little human bodies, you won't need to get up anymore because you probably won't be able to sleep after our little escapade." vimaru stated, thinking this was good reasoning for getting up at such a late hour.

 

"we'll be tired while we're working!" bitna didn't plan to give up so easily.

 

"i'm always up late and i never get tired." he responded simply, raising an eyebrow. the group exchanged perplexed glances.

 

"i can tell that you've been dead for a while." jiyul monotonously remarked.

 

"yeah, trust me, it's not as great as you think it is." he propped himself up on one arm and laughed bitterly into the cold air, but jiyul's expression became as somber as the cloudless sky. she fiddled with the ends of her jacket sleeves.

 

"why can't we just go the day after tomorrow? some of the second-year attractions have that day off." bitna insisted in hopes of an affirmative answer.

 

"kid, you don't understand the gravity of this situation," vimaru looked bitna straight in the eye. she felt herself freeze on the spot. "there's a bad ghost out there who wants to do something that could potentially mean the end of your world and mine. death, uh... chose me and you eight to find out what that is and stop him as quickly as possible, even if that means waking up at twelve in the morning to get some background info on this guy."

 

"oh." she retracted her argument despite still being opposed to losing five hours of sleep.

 

"uh," vimaru stared at them for a small while. "yeah, be at the meeting spot by twelve-thirty or else i'll find a way to jab you in the ribs or something."

 

"roger that, vimaru!" meahri was the only one to respond since no one else seemed to want to promise him that they'd make it. perhaps it was because of the story she told from the night before.

 

the group began to stand up when the ghost released the charm he cast to keep others from disturbing them. this, bitna assumed, signaled the end of the conversation. she tried to run over and ask him some other questions she was curious about before they all left, but his gossamer figure had already disappeared in a white-gray cloud of smoke.

 

he reappeared momentarily.

 

"oh yeah, and also, stop calling me vimaru. it's a mouthful. i prefer maru, anyway."

 

janyu found himself wandering the forest on the outskirts of hoyang, eyes glossed over, all limbs fallen limp. he had been mindlessly floating around that place since the guards from death's castle threw him out of the spirit world and was just recently awoken by the bizzare sounds of a fox. his grip on the cassette tightened and almost slipped through his fingers (quite literally), but before it could fall out of him, he dropped flat on his back onto the grass.

 

by the way the sun beamed through gaps in the tree leaves, it seemed like it was almost half past noon. he sighed when a squirrel or two passed through him unknowingly. he knew he was wasting daylight but he never feels like doing anything when he wakes up from blacking out. his free hand made an attempt to block the sun from his eyes, but he remembered: "right, that doesn't work because my hand is transparent. what the ."

 

janyu rolled to his feet, cassette still in hand. "anyway," he started, "i have some more errands to run before i get to go back to the neighborhood."

 

the night wind rustled the trees and all was calm for a few moments before a group of teenagers rose from the dead. in the ahn household, a tall boy with droopy eyes and a messy bedhead awoke to the sound of his default alarm ringing obnoxiously loud. once he realized what was happening, he rushed to turn it off so he wouldn't wake his parents or his sister, his heart beating out of his chest.

 

"why did maru have to make us do this at twelve in the morning?" he asked himself groggily as he threw on a more presentable t-shirt and a pair of dark jeans. "why couldn't it be, i don't know, while office hours are open?"

 

he stared at himself in the mirror and splashed some cold water on his face. he figured he didn't have to fix his hair if he wore a hat, so he grabbed a snapback and a face mask from his dresser on his way out of his room. a dim light clicked on.

 

"where do you think you're going?"

 

hyogyu almost jumped out of his pants at the sight of his twin sister sitting at the base of the front door, shining a flashlight below her face so the shadows were inverted. she turned it off and stood up to block the door, but anyone could see the huge height difference between the two wouldn't do her any good. ahn hyoeun is a petite girl with round cheeks and a soft personality, but isn't one to be trifled with if one happens to be her twin brother sneaking out to do something illegal.

 

"you scared me, i thought you were a burglar or something." he had his hand over his heart, which was still beating at an elevated rate. he grabbed a windbreaker from the coatrack next to her and slipped it on without answering her question.

 

"it's twelve midnight, shouldn't you be asleep?" hyoeun crossed her arms.

 

"shouldn't you?" he shoved his hands in his pockets and leaned down to reach eye level, which was what he did when he was trying to provoke her.

 

"but you have a booth to run tomorrow," she scrunched up her nose and pushed him back with her index finger. "and i'm used to staying up past midnight."

 

"i have to do something important and it involves doing things at twelve," he knelt down and began to put his shoes on. "so, please move out of the way, big sister."

 

hyoeun stared him down with furrowed brows and knelt down to meet his eyes. "do you have a secret lover?"

 

hyogyu was so astonished at the question that he almost fell on his backside. he chuckled awkwardly as he finished putting on his second shoe, grabbing his sister from under her arms and placing her out of the way of the front door.

 

"i don't. i'll see you when you wake up." he gave her an affectionate pat on the head and headed out the door with the face mask over his mouth.

 

hyoeun was left standing there, dumbfounded.

 

"did he just treat me like a pet cat? and wait, does his answer mean that he does have a secret lover?" she wondered aloud while she made her way to her room.

 

hyogyu watched her bedroom light click off as an indication that she was going to sleep, finally, and started to respond to the texts in the group chat. the air outside was slightly more bearable than it was in the morning, he noticed, but it was almost twice as foggy. walking around in the chill caused his eyes to water. in addition, his sleepiness caused him to let out a long yawn that made his eyes to tear up even more, resulting in a tear-stained face and slightly blurry vision.

 

more texts came in and he read them.

 

he heard heavy footsteps behind him and quickened his pace as he walked down the slope, hoping the person wasn't following him. he felt someone's gaze boring into the back of his head. his pace became faster again, but the footsteps continued to be at the same distance as they were before. hyogyu almost decided to break into a sprint before a familliar voice called out to him from behind.

 

"hey, if you start running, i'm going to kick you in the !" the tall boy turned around to see another tall boy trying to catch up with him.

 

"kick me in the...?" chaejoon appeared on hyogyu's right side with something of a half smile. "oh, it's just you. you almost gave me my second heart attack tonight."

 

"second...?" the former turned his head back and wondered this aloud, not sure whether he wanted the answer to his question or not.

 

the walk to kiyeon's restaurant was silent except for the sounds of shoes tapping the ground and the chirping of crickets around them. neither really had much to say, but what could they say to start a conversation without it sounding unnatural?

 

the silence was broken every so often by the jarring ping!s of group chat notifications and the subsequent clicking of touch-screen keyboards in response to the aforementioned notifications. they only talked to suggest the use of flashlights, since the fog was so dense that neither could see past their hands if they were outstretched.

 

meanwhile, the ones who had already arrived were either awkwardly talking about how foggy it was, desperately trying to keep their eyes open, or unsuccessfully playing rock-paper-scissors in the dark. one could argue the group had mixed emotions about this situation.

 

"what's that?" woo spotted a light in the distance that was getting bigger, or, in the context of these circumstances, closer. he yawned, not putting two and two together yet.

 

"i-is that...?" bitna's eyes widened and her words got caught in .

 

"it's the fuzz!" meahri whisper-screamed, grabbing the older girl's wrist and scanning for a close-range hiding spot.

 

before anyone could say anything, they were all running for a hiding spot out of fear of being caught participating in suspicious activity (such as the ones mentioned before).

 

the cousins ran—or rather, jihyuk froze up on the spot and kiyeon pulled him away—off to the side of the building to the upstairs storage room: a hiding spot they knew too well after years of playing hide and seek outside. luckily, the window was open, so both could squeeze inside in time.

 

woo began running back the way he came, which was the hill adjacent to the go family's restaurant and also the hill another figure was walking down. he had no time to look at who it was and, frankly, didn't care as much until he heard their voice calling out to him from behind. 

 

bitna and meahri dived behind the small space between the dumpster and the wall. jihyuk and kiyeon caught a glimpse of the two and where they were hiding and felt a tinge of guilt for not telling them how bad of a spot they chose in time. the girls somehow blocked out the general smell of stale garbage and rotting fish in their hurry to hide, but the stink became a thousand times more distinct when they were actually behind it.

 

the light was slowly getting closer and became much brighter as it approached the four teenagers. in fact, it became so bright that it flooded the entire area in front of the restaurant in blinding white light. meahri looked at her senior and mouthed, 'are you sure that's a regular flashlight?'

 

bitna took a peek out of the side of the dumpster and instantly wished she hadn't. the vision she saw gave her a headache and caused a ringing in her ears, resulting in the heavily breathing vice president falling on her knees and covering her face with her hands. meahri was horrified and tried to tend to the fallen girl, taking her as far back away from the light as she could.

 

jihyuk and kiyeon backed as far as they could into their hiding spot after realizing they weren't under the gaze of a policeman. they looked at each other briefly before ducking behind a few boxes, closing their eyes, and hoping whatever was out there would leave them alone.

 

chaejoon and hyogyu arrived at the time their ghost boss told them to, but didn't dare approach kiyeon's restaurant when they saw the light. both ducked behind a concrete fence after coming too close and briefly experiencing what happened to bitna.

 

woo luckily recognized the voice calling out to him as jiyul's and didn't run too far away from the restaurant, but as soon as they bumped into each other, it was too late. the light drew them in and didn't cause them to look away in pain, perhaps because the light was locking eyes with them.

 

"i thought we established that you were to never contact me here again."

 

"aw, come on, zonko... you know i used to be your number one client—"

 

"first of all, you know my name is zojang, so stop calling me that, and second— i cut off service to you because instead of actually getting me tonic ingredients, you found my stash and gave me the things i already had. you were lucky i made other clients get me things i needed to stock up on."

 

a few hours before the gang encountered their first attack was when janyu woke up from his trance and had his little episode. one of the "errands" he had to run was going to the graveyard to convince zojang that he needed his business again.

 

zojang is a ghost who spends his time in the farthest back corner of hoyang's north graveyard and deals favors out to other ghosts who may need help accelerating their ghost time along. he has a fairly young face, having died at the age of fifteen and remained a ghost for almost thirty years now. he and janyu have something of a complicated business relationship.

 

"that was in the past, i've changed!" janyu laid himself across the area in front of zojang, stomach-down, chin propped up by his hands. "i brought you something to prove it."

 

"whatever it is, i don't want it—" there was a snap and an airy poof-ing sound. in a semitransparent, glimmering cloud of smoke, a spool of blue thread appeared and hovered just inches away from zojang's nose. his eyes glistened with desire; he was hypnotized. "where did you get this?"

 

"it was in some abandoned house. look at how much it glows," janyu snapped his fingers again and the blue thread was in his hands. zojang's eyes followed the thread as janyu tossed it back and forth between his hands. his pupils became elliptical, his breathing became heavy. "do we have a deal?"

 

the younger ghost's stare was drilling into janyu, still laying on the floor in front of him. from janyu's actions, it looked as if he didn't feel it. zojang must have been thinking very hard about this decision; if he thought any more, he looked like he would explode.

 

"fine," zojang hissed shrilly. "give me the thread and we'll talk like civillized people."

 

"no need," janyu tossed him his bone and appeared behind him with a toothy smile. somehow, this kind of smile did not appear to be the correct kind of smile. "just leave the portal open and i'll come to you with new things for new favors."

 

"i know how my own business works," zojang's pupils were normal again. "now leave me alone, go do whatever you're supposed to do."

 

and with that, janyu disappeared. the young-looking apothecary placed the glowing thread at his side. he felt like his brain was pulsing against his skull. what the hell was all that?

 

 

to the two third years, there were no other people that existed in the presence of this light, nor were there any second thoughts about being absorbed into the light's foreign embrace. the two reached out while a penetrating, gritty cackle echoed around them. all the others were frozen in their spots, shutting their eyes, sweat dripping down their backs.

 

chaejoon and hyogyu had just barely arrived at the meeting spot and were almost blinded by the piercing ray of white standing at the base of the hill where woo and jiyul were coming down. chaejoon, who had ducked behind a concrete wall, pulled hyogyu back before he could get any closer. they looked at each other, breathing heavily.

 

"what is that?" chaejoon's voice was barely audible.

 

"you ask me like i know what it is!" hyogyu's eyes were wide, his voice also kept to a low whisper.

 

"like you know what what is?" maru arrived in a cloud of translucent smoke, as one does. he laid atop of the wall, facing the side both boys were hiding behind. the two flinched instinctively at his sudden appearance but did not make a sound.

 

maru peeled himself off the wall and, as if he was underwater, floated in front of them to an angle at which they were staring at each other upside-down. he could see terror in their eyes.

 

"what, did i scare you, or someth—" the ghost playfully prodded before realizing what was happening on the other side of the wall. "—ing? oh, ..."

 

maru swam through the wall and made his way to into a house next to where jiyul and woo were standing. there was a group of unconscious teenagers strewn around the room. their television was still on, but the screen displayed words instructing the owners to restart the cable box.

 

he scanned the room for something, but his expression indicated no hint of what it was.

 

"oh!" he picked up a can of beer off the ground and tossed it back and forth between his hands. traces of a smile appeared on his face. "kids these days..."

 

after opening a small window near the ceiling for the beer to come through, he exited the house and angled himself slightly above the third years. with whatever energy he could muster, he hurled the can of beer at the light, which flew back with a high-pitched screech. all of them covered their ears as it flew like a helium balloon and landed on the cement with a clinking noise.

 

"wooh," maru sighed, then floated in the direction of the remains of the white light and picked up the emerald green gems that remained. the eldest boy jerked his head in the ghost's direction upon thinking he called his name. "how did that guy get here?"

 

"whu— what?!" meahri, leaving bitna behind the dumpster, ran to the ghost (or, at least, tried to, her legs had turned to jelly in her state of unease), her eyes wild. "what do you mean, 'how did that guy get here'?! you mean, you didn't know where he— uh, it came from?!"

 

"woah, hey wait a minute," maru noticed the third years had snapped out of their trance and were walking toward them with a mild daze. the others—excluding bitna—were making their way to their meeting site, having noticed the lack of blinding white light. "i know exactly where he— it came from, i just didn't expect it to be gallivanting around hoyang like a customer at your carnival! i had nothing to do with thi— oh, um..."

 

now, they had all taken notice of the vice president crawling toward them like a crippled swamp monster emerging from its swamp cave. her eyes were closed, but she felt arms wrap around her shoulders and waist to help her get to where they were all convened. maru told them to let her lay down on the floor for a few minutes, maybe let her sleep for a bit before directing the conversation toward what had just happened.

 

"that was a seven-foot light demon, rated eight out of ten on the official danger scale of the netherworld."

 

"there's an... official... danger scale? are you joking?" woo rubbed his eyes under his glasses.

 

"i am not joking, and yes, the official danger scale was completely patented by death himself, so if he ever comes by again, you can ask him yourself," the third-year boy furrowed his eyebrows. "anyway, light demons, in case you ever come across another one, have only one weak spot and it's their eyes. did you two get a glimpse of what they looked like or were you too greatly seduced by its inexplicably radiant charms?" maru turned his head toward the two third-years again.

 

"hey, we almost died—"

 

"they were shiny and green." jiyul voiced, rubbing her eyes as well.

 

"correct! you get a prize—" at this point, maru handed her the gems he held in his hand. "—the eyes. now, i'm going to need you to step on them, or else it has a small chance of coming back to, uh, life? even if it wasn't exactly alive..."

 

jiyul gave maru a look and he immediately took the gems out of her hands and placed them in woo's. he looked around and was met with expectant eyes. after tossing them on the floor and raising his foot over them, he stomped. they crumbled like they were made out of sand.

 

"cool, now that that's over and done with..." maru peered at bitna, who was waking up. there was a melancholy air about her. maru dragged his gaze off her to look at the rest of the kids. "after she's done readjusting we'll get this plan of ours settled and then we'll try to get it done in a timely manner."

 

"timely manner... weren't you the one who was late in the first place?" meahri blurted. despite having not planned to say anything before, the expression on her face could have fooled anyone.

maru laughed dryly in response and turned around. "anyway, let's get this plan laid out. talk amongst yourselves while i collect my thoughts."

 

"by collect his thoughts i think he means come up with the plan." chaejoon muttered.

 

kiyeon ran back to the alley she and jihyuk had just used to hide, but instead of going back upstairs to the storage room, she grabbed a plastic water bottle from the box of twenty-four and came back to give it to bitna. the latter took it and offered a smile as thanks. it really wasn't long until maru had 'collected his thoughts' and started talking agai—

 

maru cleared his throat.

 

"okay, now that you've all calmed down..." he paused for a short while. "i think..." he paused again, seeing that they were still engaged in conversation, but continued with his statement. "i can tell you the plan," maru saw all of them face him with looks that suggested resentment. he ignored them. "we're going to break in."

 

there was silence.

 

jihyuk broke into a cold sweat.

 

"we're going to do what?!" bitna, though still a bit groggy, was obviously against this. woo seemed to agree with her, seeing that they had the exact same expression on their faces.

 

"first of all— that's very illegal."

 

"no ..." jiyul muttered under her breath.

 

"there are no consequences for you because you're a ghost—" ("obviously,") "—but what are the guards going to say when they see eight WACK teenagers snooping around in the city files??" he stressed, thinking about his college admissions counselor crying on the floor of her office while kiyeon silently thanked maru for bringing them into this situation because without him, she would have never heard woo say those two words together.

 

"well—"

 

"and what about our parents? how will they react when they see our faces on the news with headline, 'TEEN DELINQUENTS BRUTALLY MURDER ELEVEN SECURITY GUARDS WHILE COMMITTING ROBBERY OF CITY HALL'???" meahri pictured her mother cradling a photo of her while crying in front of the television with her brother.

 

"i don't think eleven is a very realistic number for us..." chaejoon also muttered.

 

"listen—"

 

"and even if we do manage to get out without being caught, there would still be security footage of us breaking in! i would know, i watched 'madame antoine: the love therapist' in the span of eight hours." kiyeon pointed out, slowly losing her grip on jihyuk's sweaty hand.

 

"aren't there, like sixteen one-hour long episodes?" hyogyu asked, but in a muttering way. his volume changed when he realized something. his faced turned white and his eyes were wide. "my basketball scholarship..."

 

"HEY," maru's voice was suddenly loud enough to overpower them. the eight became silent but their faces still had expressions of objection to his plan. "do you know what our team motto is?"

 

"we... don't even have a team name..." hyogyu said pointedly, his color restoring a bit now.

 

"we'll figure one out later, but our motto is..." maru outstretched his hands as if trying to get the rest of them to join in unison. "...our motto is, 'in maru we trust,' so! in conclusion, you should all trust me, i have everything figured out."

 

"i did not agree to that motto." the youngest remarked. most of the group scowled at him. the ghost knew he wasn't making a very good argument but he decided to roll with it.

 

"alright, okay, how about this: i tell you all the rest of the plan and you decide to go along with it." maru stuck his index finger up his nose and turned his head away to avoid looking at their reactions. he couldn't help taking a sidelong glance in their direction and wondering whether they heard that last part or not.

 

it was quiet again and the two dedicated scholars of the group still insisted on going home, but the rest were undecided, as if they were somehow considering breaking into a government building in the wee hours of morning.

 

"remember, fate of the world!" maru sang, flicking something off his finger. bitna and woo looked like they were communicating through each others' eyes. there was imminent curiosity behind their worried gazes, but committing a crime could put everyone in a very bad state.

 

what do we have to lose by just listening to him? woo pulled one corner of his mouth into an awkward smile and nodded his head in maru's direction. bitna let out a small sigh and turned toward the ghost.

 

"okay, beaneru," she crossed her arms. he sat up straight and wiped his finger on his shirt. "we'll listen to your plan."

 

"great! let's walk and talk."

 

there was a feeling of dread in the pit of their stomachs when they woke up three hours after they had committed a federal crime.

 

the show must go on, a familiar voice echoed in their minds. maru thought the telepathy effect would be cool, but none of them were in the same place at the same time, so it was just creepy (or at least, it would have been to anyone else— they were all used to this kind of stuff from him by now). all of them knew he was talking about and none of them were too thrilled to go back to the carnival that morning.

 

"why can't he just tell me to wake up and get ready for school like a normal mom?" jihyuk was dead tired but that didn't stop him from getting up out of fear of losing his job at the booth. after washing up and throwing on his uniform, he walked into the kitchen to see kiyeon wandering aimlessly around, sort of like a roomba.

 

"oh, yeah... that," she mumbled after pausing for a whole ten seconds in front of the dining table. "g'morning, jihyuk. how was your nap?"

 

"it was fine... what are you doing?"

 

"i found some five-hour energy bottles in the pantry so i think i'll take some just for today. do you want one?" she handed the bottle she'd already opened to him.

 

take half (½) bottle for moderate energy take whole bottle for MAXIMUM energy do not exceed tWo bottles uhh... his eyes scanned the instructions quickly so he knew how to use it, but he didn't drink any yet. what does MAXIMUM energy even mean?

 

"i think i'll just have this for now," he placed the small bottle aside and poured himself some of the (cold) leftover coffee his aunt and uncle left in the pot earlier that morning. the two of them chatted for a bit about the night before waited for their breakfast things to finish warming up in the microwave.

 

"i mean... janyu looks like a guy who's been doing bad stuff, but are we really ones to judge? we haven't even met the g—" kiyeon paused when she saw her cousin pouring the whole five-hour energy (along with a few spoonfuls of sugar) into his coffee like nothing else mattered to him. "are you oka—"

 

suddenly, jihyuk was in the middle of exchanging a container of spicy rice cakes for some money, since he didn't really remember anything that happened after she said that. he looked over at hyogyu, who was already staring at him. he seemed a bit scared.

 

meanwhile, back at the host club, bitna was running things smoothly as per usual. she had recovered from the blinding of the light demon and was functioning just fine, so running the host club was no problem for her. she was deeply unaffected by this strange midnight heist, since everyone got out fine and nothing went wrong, but she couldn't shake the feeling that maru was hiding something. no matter! she had other things to worry about, specifically managing the line to the attraction that was yong chaejoon.

 

chaejoon had fallen asleep on the couch while waiting for guests to come to him, so bitna decided to put red velvet rope around the area and make this some kind of spectacle for patrons to take pictures of (or with, for a price). the other hosts laughed at all the attention he was getting and some even paid to take a picture with the "sleeping bad boy", as bitna so fittingly named him.

 

kiyeon, in the classroom over, was making ramyeon (again) and staring at the clock, which ticked ever so slowly. she had a half-desire to be in jihyuk's shoes, his energy levels bursting through the roof without having meant to. her eyes were blinking themselves shut as red velvet's one of these nights echoed through her mind.

 

gee, do i wish i was in my rose quartz and serenity comforter™ right now, she laughed to herself as her head nodded backward and shifted her hands. she almost continued chopping scallions if it wasn't for hyoeun, who snatched the knife out of her hands.

 

"kiyeon, you're going to cut your fingers off!" hyoeun looked at her friend with worry in her eyes. her expression changed when she remembered something. "were you with my brother last night, by any chance?"

 

"yeahhmm..." kiyeon blinked at her, her expression was actually really cryptic. hyoeun had to sit down for a while.

 

downstairs, the photobooth was still booming with business and meahri still seemed to be as energetic as ever. everything seemed normal except, upon closer inspection, one could notice that both of her eyes were closed whenever she'd take a picture. this would be a problem, but all the pictures ended up as nice as (if not, better than) the ones she'd taken when she was fully awake. her classmates were clearly amazed and told her to take a break a few times, but it seemed as if she was deaf to their calls. it might be useful to mention that she was wearing a pair of prop sunglasses with pineapples wearing shades attached to the frames the whole time.

 

as for the seniors, woo had a shift with seungcheol, who was flirting with whoever was lucky enough to stumble upon their booth. woo told jiyul to go take a nap somewhere since she didn't have to show her face to the people until the afternoon, when it usually gets busy. she wandered past all the attractions on the first floor of the third year building. students stared at her dumbfoundedly, something people do when they have nothing better to do. jiyul simply dragged herself past them and into a secluded, unused classroom. turning on the lights was unnecessary, she thought, since she was just going to sleep there anyway.

 

as uncomfortable as school desks usually are, jiyul managed to contort her body into a position that was sleepable in. her nap didn't last very long, though, since the lights kept turning on and off. she was annoyed, of course, who wouldn't be when trying to fall asleep with an inconsistent light setting and sudden chills washing over one's jacket-covered shoulders.

 

jiyul, ticked off, pinched her eyebrows togther into an annoyed expression and opened her eyes rather aggressively. she sat up and peered around the room, only to be met with the skull of a plastic skeleton inches away from her face. she, of course, being jiyul, didn't react. instead, she shifted her glance to the peculiar, highly amused face behind the skeleton. below the skeleton was a pale hand propping the neck up and another hand at the base of the spine.

 

"are you new here, or something?" jiyul shoved the skeleton out of her face to see the face of the person— er, ghost that the eight (nine, including maru) had seen in the file they took pictures of that very morning. he was much taller than she thought. then again, he was floating off the ground.

 

"you can see me?" janyu's playful smile dissolved his expression into something slightly sinister. he circled the girl, scanning her every movement. for the first time in a while, jiyul felt a pit of anxiety pooling in her stomach.

 

when she didn't respond, he continued to prod her with questions. "you seem apprehensive. do you know something about me?"

 

jiyul caught his eye and instinctively tugged on her sleeves, the fresher scars on her forearm suddenly throbbing with the increasing beat of her heart. whether or not janyu was the cause of this, she was unsure, but the ghost definitely picked up on her shift in attitude as his eyes darted to her wrists. "a tortured soul, eh?" he couldn't help the obscure smile from growing on his face as he passed through her. this sent a shiver down her spine and filled her stomach with inexplicable dread. "you're just like me, then. tell me, my tormented twin, how can you see me?"

 

despite her strong distaste in his choice of words, she forced herself to come up with a believable excuse so he wouldn't suspect her. he had no reason to believe that anyone was against him, but he also had no reason to believe there wasn't, and she had to keep it that way until they had a plan of action. or at least that's what maru said. it was hard to remember, they were up until three in the morning.

 

"i," she paused briefly to phrase a coherent sentence. "...have been able to see ghosts since i was little."

 

"oh?" janyu circled her once more, wearing the playful smile he had on at the beginning of their interaction. he glanced at her nametag. "maybe... miss... jiyul, is it? do you want to help me have some fun?"

 

"no." she deadpanned. janyu almost looked offended.

 

"but it'll be exciting!" he raised his pitch as he said this to her in a singsong voice. "haven't you ever made friends with a ghost before? i mean, you must have, if you've been able to see ghosts since you were a little girl... surely you've mistaken a ghost for a person, haven't you?" his tone raised again at the end of his sentence.

 

 

she stared at him and crossed her arms. "okay, fine, how about i think about it and get back to you later. is that okay with you?" she sounded like she was talking to a toddler, but she was still careful about what she wanted to tell him.

 

janyu clicked his tongue and appeared to be disappointed; whether he actually was disappointed or was just being tricksy, jiyul, again, could not tell.

 

"okay, fine," he imitated her as he started to head toward the window. "let's meet between the first and second year buildings tomorrow. you better be there or i'll be very sad." with that, he left through the window and faded into the crowded space outside. the last expression on his face before he left was a childish pout, bottom lip jutting out and all. she preferred not to let that be the way she remembered him.

 

jiyul, a bit shaken, relaxed her shoulders (which had slowly raised up as they talked) and began briskly walking back to the ring toss booth to kick seungcheol out. woo assumed she gained her energy back within that hour and acted like he didn't notice her fidgeting with her sleeves. she couldn't decide whether she wanted to tell woo what had happened to her in substitute for her nap. minutes passed as they watched a few people throw the plastic rings at the glass bottles for whoever they were with. jiyul ran her fingers through her mussed hair and stole a glance at her classmate? co-worker? fellow ghost hunter? she wasn't clear on what to call him and didn't know why she suddenly cared so much.

 

whatever, she thought to herself. moment's gone. just forget about it until the next group meeting.

 

 

there's no way this is going to work, woo thought as maru was explaining the plan.

 

there's no way this is going to work, hyogyu thought upon reaching the building.

 

"there's no way this is going to work," bitna whispered to herself as they all got into position.

 

"there's absolutely no way this is going to work," meahri voiced aloud when maru passed through the building. it may be worthy to note that she was extremely fidgety. jihyuk almost fainted.

 

maru flew up to the second floor. he counted at least two guards per floor on either side, almost all of them asleep at their stations.

 

poor dudes. if we get caught, they might get fired. maru yawned despite not actually being tired. perhaps this symbolized something.

 

in the room closest to him was a guard manning the cctvs, wide awake. maru watched one of the older guards (who had a mustache, he remembers) stop by to tell him it was fine to stop for thirty minutes to take a nap and that his eyesight would get worse if he was too close to the screens. the younger guard shook his head firmly. he was bent on watching those screens for anything abnormal. the older guard with the mustache sighed and began to retreat back to his post at the security panel. maru took this opportunity to follow him back, apologize briefly, and claim the man's body for himself.

 

"ugh," he shuddered, his eyelids suddenly dense with drowsiness. "humans are so heavy and sad, is this how it's always been?"

 

the mustached man's voice was a lot deeper than maru's own, so he started saying random words as he looked for the appropriate switches. after observing him and his coworkers so gracefully fumble around with the security panel the day before, maru skillfully flipped the switch labeled 'main security' into its off position. he began to wonder if it was actually this easy and if the movies just exaggerated how complicated on and off buttons were.

 

despite not having run the plan at all, ever, chaejoon managed to pick the lock of a window on the first floor quickly and quietly. bitna was about to interrogate chaejoon about how he knew how to do this but was interrupted by hyogyu coming in between them to squeeze through the open window in order to apprehend the younger guard on the second floor.

 

"he doesn't have long legs for nothing," kiyeon muttered as she watched him climb the stairs four steps at a time and as she waited for jihyuk to worm his way through the window.

 

there was a sound of knuckles hitting flesh on the second floor just as the last member of the eden ghost squad tumbled into the building. luckily the two first-floor guards were still asleep when the eight heard this happen and rushed to stifle the noises of meahri gasping and jihyuk breathing heavily. once they got to the second floor, though, all they saw were hyogyu facing away from them, shoulders hiked up to his neck and maru retreating from the mustached guard's body, which rolled onto the floor. the younger guard was passed out on the floor next to him.

 

"what happened? i thought we weren't going to use vioience!" bitna whisper-screamed. kiyeon tried to look worried, but really, she couldn't hold in her excitement. she was having an adrenaline rush just looking at the two people passed out on the floor, possibly dead.

 

"i miscalculated," maru stated simply, shaking his appendages to rid himself of the feeling of living. "he was getting suspicious so i swung at him without remembering human bodies require a lot less effort to control since ghost bodies are literally less than air—"

 

he stopped when he saw the kids gawking at him in disbelief. "i punched him really hard. i think i broke his jaw. did you grab the custodian's keys?"

 

hyogyu turned around to join the others, who either snorted in efforts to hold back their laughter or gasped in great effort to hold back a scream, depending on how scary a plastic iron man mask looks in dim lighting to each member. he realized his and took it off, almost laughing himself.

 

must be the midnight madness, thought the ghost as he stared at the giggling twelve-year-olds in front of him.

 

"kiyeon, do you have the custodian's keys?" he asked again, gesturing to the storage closet door just to the left of them.

 

"yeah!" she fished the keys out of the pockets of her oversized pink hoodie and made the action to throw the ring at maru.

 

"don't throw them—!" unfortunately, she had only just realized her mistake after the keys were already in the air. hyogyu managed to catch them before they landed on the floor in front of the unconscious bodies and under maru's ghostly feet.

 

the eight broke into a fit of giggles again as hyogyu placed the keys in the smaller girl's hand. this action, though small, lifted a bit of pressure from the tension of the night and left a certain basketball team captain slightly flustered. as the others calmed down, kiyeon made her way to the storage closet door and flipped through the keys to find the right one. meanwhile, their ghost leader decided to run the rest of the plan again.

 

"so, while mr. reflexes and mr. class rep shove those guards in the closet, nose picker—" "i think you meant to say lock picker" "—and sad girl keep watch over the staircase. vice president, tall girl, and sweaty neck will come with me to the town records room to take pictures of janyu's file."

 

"what—" jihyuk glanced at his cousin. some were surprised he was calm enough to speak clearly. "what about kiyeon?"

 

"oh yeah, fish hands has the keys so she'll be locking and unlocking the doors." kiyeon heard this and frowned at her nickname. maru looked over at her. "good thinking wearing gloves. you won't leave any prints."

 

"uh, yeah..." the closet door clicked open. "it's not like i was cold or anything..."

 

the plan they had just discussed fell through smoothly; kiyeon was able to unlock the records room much faster because the key was actually labeled. the six (adding hyogyu and woo now that they were finished hiding bodies) searched through the death records for almost half an hour until they narrowed it down to four drug overdose cases, three automobile collision cases, and one drowning case— all within the year range close to when janyu died.

 

"any of them look familiar to you?" bitna eyed maru and later refocused her eyes on the files.

 

"kim minhyung..." the photo was of a kid who was said to have died at the age of seventeen. "kind of young. not him." the file was put away.

 

"oh hamin?" woo pointed the photo out. it was of a frowning man who died when he was twenty-five. one could say he wasn't the most handsome man.

 

"definitely not. kind of ugly and old as . put that away." maru's eyes drifted to the next file. "gong howon...?" maru used his ghost powers to zoom in (aka he leaned in closer) and pointed at the photo. the person depicted had a thin face and bleached blonde hair. "that's the one, gong howon—"

 

upon saying the name a second time, maru felt as if he was wrenched into the past by the back of his neck. he saw no memories, but the feeling took him back much farther than that of the memories he could recall in his time as a ghost. it was like he was submerged in a pool of cool nostalgia; again, no memories flashed through his mind, it was simply a feeling.

 

and then there were bright flashes. the kids' camera phones clicked and flashed as they took pictures in the dark.

 

"okay, maru, we're gonna get going now," woo called as he put away howon's file. "you said you'd take care of the rest, right?"

 

"um... yeah. go home. don't leave your photos open and unattended." the ghost blinked out of his trance, the feeling of nostalgia melting away from him promptly. "plan the next meeting amongst yourselves, i'll meet you all then."

 

woo realized that they had no way to contact maru and was about to ask him how, but something about his posture seemed to politely ask him to leave. as the living's footsteps faded away, maru placed everything (including the guards) the way he'd found them, making sure to check that the disabled security had prevented footage of the kids from being recorded. after all this, he floated into the misty bay of hoyang. he spent that night watching the twinkling stars beyond the fog and whispering that oddly familiar name to himself.