Youngjae took a sip of his thick, bitter coffee, relished as it woke his entire nerves and cells, as per his usual morning routine. After a tiny sip, he placed it down neatly on the plain white wooden coffee table next to his plain uncoated toast, the way he likes it. Well, to say that he likes it would be unfair because he has yet to try it with peanut butter or simply an ordinary strawberry jam.

Youngjae spent his days in the dark corner of his room, writing down children stories for the daily column on The Seoul Times. It doesn’t pay much but it was enough for him to pay the rent and live off of it. The irony that someone as dull as him consumes his energy in writing exciting and bubbly children stories was ridiculous, even he himself thinks it’s laughable. So when someone asks what he does for a living, a columnist, he says, leaving the important details behind.

A bite of his toast was enough before he tossed them out into the trashcan and after another sip of the coffee, the fate of the rest of that dark liquid was down his kitchen sink drain just like that of his previous morning coffees. The follow ups were; a quick shower, a short conversation with his own reflection in the mirror, a trip down to the ground floor of his apartment building to get his daily newspaper from his mailbox locker, then as he reaches his apartment, he’ll flips the pages, and if he finds his entry, he’ll crop it out and add it tidily in his album, album of successful children stories he calls it. He submits three stories a week, so for the remaining days where his entry wasn’t in the paper; the paper ends up in the trashcan along with the toast and then later, his lunch as well.

Youngjae doesn’t have a good appetite, he concluded that it’s because eating alone makes him feel lonely. When he sits in the dining table made for two, he stares at the other chair wishing that it could magically talks to him.

So that night when Youngjae decided to take a night drive away from the bustling city, it was almost the best worst thing that could ever to him.

Youngjae stretched his arms above his head and decided to call it a day. He took off his earphones before shutting down his computer. He eyed the simple clock hung at the center of his wide empty walls, the two fingers indicating that it was almost twelve. It was dark and gloomy in his apartment, he heaved out a sigh. This particular night, he felt a strong need for the fresh night air of late autumn. He grabbed his jacket and keys and headed towards the door. He hesitated for a moment before assuring himself that it was what he really needed.

He drove away from the busy city, with his windows fully lowered, enjoying the cool night breeze against his palm. He took a left turn to enter the highway, it was deserted and the street lights aligning the road side were dim.

Far ahead of him, he could make out a still figure lying on the side of the road. Curiously, Youngjae slowed down his vehicle as it approached closer to the abandoned body. Youngjae instinctively prayed for it to be a body of an animal or anything else as long as it’s not human. There weren’t any odor of rotting carcasses so it’s fine, he thought.

His eyes widened when it was finally in sight. That’s definitely human. He could feel his heart raced and his breathing became unstable. He parked his car in front of it with the headlight still on. He grabbed his phone and bravely went out of the car, he knew it was the right thing to do. He took nervous steps towards the lying figure, and looked around to see if there were any signs of car crash that probably occurred earlier that day. Drivers rarely took that highway so there was a big possibility that no one knew about the accident.

After a long debate with his cowardice self, he bent down and with shaky hands, tried to move the body. He gasped a few times. The boy lying beneath him was bleeding from the head and didn’t seem to be breathing. Although his face was covered in blood, Youngjae could clearly see his handsome face and that he seems to be somewhere around his age.

Youngjae pulled out his phone and dialed up the emergency number. After giving them the location, he went back into his car and locked the doors and windows, just in case. His hands were trembling and his breathing was shaky. He was on the verge of crying because he was so scared and he was sure that he’ll have nightmares for days, or maybe as far as forever. He mentally cursed himself for going out that night. Why that night out of all nights.

He closed his eyes as he patiently waited in silence for the ambulance and police to arrive. He wanted to turn on the music but he was afraid that it might be disrespectful towards the dead so he suffered in silence, it was torturing. After a lengthy 20 minutes that felt like forever, the help finally arrived at the site and after interrogating Youngjae and his car, he was free to go. They thanked him and offered to give him a free consultation in case he got traumatized by the incident but it was very Youngjae to politely decline such offer.

The ride home was unbearably chilly and quiet. He stepped on the gas hoping to get home as fast as he could. For a moment, he thought he heard a noise as if someone tapped on the window from the backseat but he convinced himself that it was just his hallucination. He tried to avoid looking at the rear view mirror because he feels that something scary might appear, that happens a lot in those horror movies he watched as a kid.

The face of the victim from earlier wouldn’t leave his head. He bit his lower lips in hopes that it’ll help erasing the scary images.

When he finally reached his apartment, he quickly switched on all the lights and decided that it’ll be best if he sleeps with that many lights. He got onto his bed and inhaled a deep breath. He was going to get through this. He comforted himself under the blanket as he closed his eyes.

Click clack.

There were noises coming from the kitchen. He almost screams in shock, goosebumps all over his body. He pulled the blanket over his head. He told himself that it’s okay, it was just the rats.

Beep beep beep beep

His refrigerator’s alarm went off indicating that it was open for more than 5 minutes. He couldn’t ignore this, because it’ll go on the whole night and that would be the last thing he needed tonight. He got up from his bed and with timid steps, a thick book in one of his hand and the other pressed tightly on his beating chest, he walked out of his room. He approached the kitchen with trembling hands, while lips muttering uneasy words of prayer.

When he got to the kitchen, he gasped and his eyes widened. Next thing he knew was nothing but a blackout. He collapsed.

Before he collapsed, he could hear the person from where he recognized a few minutes or hours earlier as a dead body, standing by his refrigerator with a bottle of milk on his right hand and bread on the other, mumbling something quietly.

“Oops” He mumbled.

A/N : Ghost Daehyun must be hungry. Heh.