“Oh how awful”, a shadow whispered. Or at least, Jihoon thought it was a shadow. A black cloud shrouded the woman’s figure, but if Jihoon squinted his eyes just a little bit, the silhouette almost looked like Lady Yeongsa from the flea market. Next to her, another woman nodded grimly.

 

“Just horrible. At such a young age”, the woman beside Lady Yeongsa-look-alike tsked. Jihoon shifted in his place, why was everything so dark?

 

“He died so suddenly too… Poor boy”, a voice resonated from the abyss. The surrounding area was barely visible; just comprised of black, black and more black. Jihoon couldn’t tell where the voices were coming from anymore…

 

“The car swerved into him and ran away like a coward”, one light accusing tone. Jihoon could pick up resentment and sorrow from the dark and wondered. What was happening? Why are people angry? Why are people sad?

 

“Isn’t he Old Man Woojae’s son? My God, the only boy of the family!”, pitiful pity. At this Jihoon gasped. Something was wrong. Something was absolutely wrong.

 

“Just Horrible”. Horrible indeed.

 

“I’m scared”

 

6 year old Jihoon didn’t know if that was him or the shadows speaking. He couldn’t see anyone in the darkness, not even the person who’s hand he’s clutching. Not even the shoes he’s wearing. No, Jihoon couldn’t see anyone but him. ‘Him’ being another boy, not much older than his six years but young enough to still be as pure as light, and the boy was glowing! Actually glowing! Jihoon was awed.

 

The boy had brown shaggy hair and glinting glasses. Tattered bloody clothes…?

 

Little Jihoon tilted his head.

 

His young mind could not comprehend. Why the shadows were whispering so grimly? Why the atmosphere was so depressing? Why that boy in front of him was screaming? The other boy screeched at the darkness, something desperate and raw, and almost animalistic. Panic surged within Jihoon at the sheer force of the cry, but the dark shadows ignored the child to merely stare at the lump on the ground. Wait, lump on the ground?

 

Jihoon blinked, and all of a sudden, the whole scene changed. What was previously a bleak, black and grey toned world, was suddenly splashed with colors: Yellows and Blues and Reds. Yellow (police tapes) and blue (sirens) and red (reD RED RED EVERYWHERE). The colors gave Jihoon a headache, and the sudden amplitude of noises rattled his ears. The combination of both made him cry.

 

But everything muted into pin-drop silence, when the boy with shaggy brown hair and glinting glasses, sobbing and weeping and crying out for someone- anyone at all, suddenly turned towards him- towards Jihoon.

 

The boy saw Jihoon.

 

And Jihoon saw the boy.

 

They made eye-contact.

 

Jihoon barely blinked but the next second he found the boy right in front of him. It happened so fast! The other boy shouldn’t have been able to appear so fast! An unsettling fear crawled up Jihoon’s spine, and the feeling paralyzed his body. He couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe, could barely think. They were so close- so very close, with their noses merely inches apart, and Jihoon could see past the glint of the glasses straight into cold grey eyes.

 

‘Like fish eyes when mother takes me to the market’, Little Jihoon had thought.

 

‘Like death’, his aged mind will forever remember.

 

The other boy pleaded for something, though Jihoon could only hear garbled groans and muffled moans. Senseless talk and Harrowing sounds, like the calls of death.

 

He didn’t know how, didn’t even understand why, but… For some reason, Jihoon knew exactly what to do. He knew exactly what the boy wanted, needed, couldn’t continue without. Call it intuition, call it instinct, but Jihoon just knew what to do. But he couldn’t do it. Not unless he has what he needed. Not unless he has-

 

“Poor Yunyoung, he had such a bright life ahead of him”, the person who’s hand Jihoon held tightly, whispered in his ears. “Come on Jihoon, we can’t stay here anymore. You shouldn’t see this…”

 

But Jihoon couldn’t look away, couldn’t leave, not when the pieces had fallen so perfectly together and he couldn’t do anything BUT act. Yes he was scared and yes he was frozen; but sometimes being scared means there is a darkness to overcome and he was stuck only in place, but not in motion. So, guided by his open heart, Little Jihoon touched the cold boy’s head and whispered softly.

 

“Rest. Yunyoung, rest. The other world awaits you”

 

The other boy stilled. The World stopped moving, and suddenly, a flash of bright light.

 

Suddenly, a wave of pitch black.

 

Suddenly, and surely, a 19-year old Lee Jihoon wakes up.

 

.

 

“Hyung, are you okay?”, Dino asks when the waking vocal leader suddenly sits upright, barely missing Dino’s chin as the maknae had been hovering over his hyung with his hands suspended in midair (poised to wake the elder up). Dino moves back a bit to give Jihoon some space. It is a known fact that their smallest hyung likes to laze around in bed, only waking up truly to the commands of their general leader or the managers. So this behavior warranties a trickling of curiosity within Dino, as well as concern of course. Well, there was also the possibility that Jihoon may have just felt awake?

 

Heh, Jihoon feels nothing but complete exhaustion.

 

The images from the dream (‘Because of course it’s a dream- Yet not a dream’, his mind whispers, a caressing hand over Jihoon’s eyes. ‘Not fantasy, but memories in the form of sleeping thoughts’) blinks away slowly, and when Jihoon sets his eyes on the maknae, he has to take a few seconds to remember.

 

Inhale…

 

‘That is not the boy’

 

Exhale…

 

‘That is your group member’

 

Inhale…

 

‘That is not the boy’

 

Exhale…

 

‘That is your brother’

 

I n h a l e…

 

‘That is not the boy’

 

E x h a l e…

 

That is…

 

“Dino”, Jihoon acknowledges curtly after five seconds has passed, and he swings his feet off the bed with a sigh. He smiles lightly at the youngest and pulls Dino down to ruffle his hair until it’s just as bad as his was. “I’m fine. Thanks for waking me up”, Jihoon smiles freely, and the younger beams. “Now shoo, I’ll get ready in a bit, alright”

 

Dino stares around hesitantly before he laughs and beams. And promptly leaves the room running as if he was a chicken with his head chopped off. (‘Huh’, Jihoon thinks distantly, ‘New running time. Impressive). Dino, like everyone else, never likes staying more than necessary in Jihoon’s room. So, after seeing his hyung wide awake and well, he’s out of there within seconds, followed by the slam of the door.

 

Since their dorm is made of 4 bedrooms and one master bedroom, Jihoon called dibs on the latter for some unknown reason. At first everyone was super against Jihoon keeping the large room, even more so because he wasn’t the eldest. Though, after a week of Seungcheol and Jeonghan trying to sleep in that room, there were a series of unexplained instances that had scared the living out of them, and by extension, the rest of the Seventeen family. Objects would randomly fall from the tables or walls, the fan would start turning in the absence of wind, and loud knocks on the door when everyone was sleeping. For some reason, anyone who enters the room will always feel a sudden drop of temperature. There’s also the nerve-wrecking feeling of being watched by eyes where eyes should not be. It didn’t feel… dangerous, but hair-raising and bone-chilling nonetheless.

 

Ultimately, Jihoon was the only one ‘who could sleep through the weird sounds no problem’ (Although, everyone had just settled on the fact that Jihoon is a ing man and had nerves of steel. Also that he’s scarier than all those things combined so he’s probably very in his element in that room).

 

Sometimes… Sometimes Dino and the rest wonder how Jihoon could stand being in the room, much less sleeping in that chiller during the night. Maybe that’s why Jihoon always stay late in the studio, Dino muses.

 

(He’s not wrong, but he’s not exactly right either)

 

Jihoon smiles fondly at the door, thinking about how much their maknae had grown. He pointedly ignores the gaze of the corpse hanging above on his ceiling fan and instead, makes his way to the dresser to get his clothes. He can never truly get rid of the overbearing pressure around him but he’s used to it. Although he hates the prickly feeling with a passion, there’s nothing he could do, not when ghosts can pass through walls and appear at will. They’re constantly around him, as discomforting as that seems.

 

So instead of panicking and running away at the new addition in the room, Jihoon walks briskly to the bathroom connected to the bedroom and waits a few seconds before facing the mirror.

 

Light brown eyes meets cold, grey ones of the bloodied girl behind him. Jihoon doesn’t even need to look to know there wasn’t anyone physically there, though his eyes twitches at the ethereal glow the girl effuses. It’s way too early for this .

 

One heartattack- sorry, heartbeat later.

 

“You guys should stop ing doing that”, Jihoon curses while he gestures his hand vaguely at the girl through the mirror. The girl behind him stays silent, which only fuels Jihoon’s anger. He sighs in frustration.

 

“Seriously all you ghosts just loooveee to scare the living crap out of people, it’s stupid”, he places toothpaste onto his toothbrush and points at her accusingly. The girl merely stares on, apathetic and empty, and Jihoon continues his rant as he brushes his teeth.

 

“At least have the common decency to knock. on. the. goddamn . door. You guys can’t just appear and disappear at will you know! My heart can’t ing take it, okay? I swear if you guys keep jumpscaring me, I will find a way to exorcise you all!” he glares, and the girl. had the audacity. to s h r u g.

 

Jihoon feels like strangling something to death.

But sadly, you can’t really kill what’s already dead. (They never really cared much for anything, Jihoo knew that, and especially these ones that emits white aura, but still, it’s so ing annoying that they don’t ing listen!)

 

“Just… Just wait until I get back from my schedules today”, Jihoon sighs exasperatedly. He rinses his mouth and spits out the water. When he looks up, the girl is still there, staring at him. “No seriously, I can’t do it now. It’ll zap all the energy out of me and we’re performing today”

 

“I promise I’ll deal with you then”, Jihoon looks at her seriously. Promises are a big deal for this world. When you can’t leave anything physical behind, a verbal contract in the form of promises are something sacred.

 

“No distractions, no delays. Only peace and rest”

 

It took a while, but the girl must’ve been convinced, for after a facial wash later, Jihoon finds himself alone in the bathroom.

 

He promptly smacks himself.

 

“Damn it, I knew I should’ve just ignored her when she passed by, I ing knew it. When will I ever learn that these things will bring me trouble and that if I keep doing this, I won’t even live to see Seventeen’s 10 year anniversary or the day I adopt a dog with Seungcheol or when I receive best producer award? Do you know how sad it is if I can’t adopt a dog with Seungcheol? What else are we gonna raise when we’re old and wrinkly together? A KID? I can’t even trust Seungcheol with the other 11 members, how the hell am I going to trust him with an actual child?!”, Jihoon gasps before blinking. "Ah I went of topic- ANYWAYS, look at the I’m in now! Some dead corpse is hanging on my ceiling fan and a bloodied girl is walking freely through the walls within the dorm!”-

 

A thud resonates from the bedroom, and Jihoon knows that no one is in there because no one else WANTS to be in there and Jihoon makes a sound that’s a cross between a curse and a cry.

 

“Why meeee”, he screams quietly into his hands, the familiar surge of regret rising within his body.

 

Such is the difficult life of one Lee Jihoon.

 

 

---

 

Minmi's Notes:

Yaaaaa ahahahah. 

Hope you enjoyed that little start~ More will be revealed. Like, what was that noise? What will happen to Jihoon? What will the members react? oohhh~ Hope this gets you curious haha

Much love for all those who comment, like, upvote, subscribe! Next chapter coming soon- But I think it will take a while because it's a long one :D