Hongbin explained what had happened. Taekwoon listened carefully. “So wait. He hears them? The spirits I mean.” Hongbin shrugged his shoulders. “I guess so. But it doesn't seem like he can see them.”  He replied, fixing Hakyeon’s bangs a bit as the other man slept. His rest looked anything but peaceful. “So what now? I mean we can say to the doctor that he passed out from the pain, but he needs to be awake to get discharged. If he wakes up here he might go through all of that pain again.” Hongbin sighed. “I know.” Hongbin looked to the spirits that seemed to have mellowed out for the time being. “I just wish I understood how he’s connected to all of these spirits.” They sat in silence until the doctor came in. They told the story about him having a low pain tolerance, which led to him passing out from the pain he was in. The doctor looked at the injury before diagnosing him with a sprained ankle and wrapping it up. The doctor suggested he rest and keep ice on the ankle before prescribing some medication to help with the pain. “Once Mr. Cha is conscious please notify me immediately so I can get his discharge papers.” The doctor said with a smile before leaving the room, closing the door on the way out.

Hongbin had not said a word the entire time the doctor was in the room. The second he was gone Hongbin turned to Taekwoon. “I think I know how I can help Hakyeon.” Taekwoon looked surprised. “And how do you plan on doing that?” Hongbin bit his lip. “I need you to wait outside and make sure no one comes in. I’m gonna go right to the source to figure out what the problem is.” Taekwoon’s eyes widened. “Are you sure about this? What if those spirits are evil? Or what if Hakyeon really is using them for a bad reason?” Hongbin shrugs off his jacket. “ Well then that’s more of a reason to deal with it. If they are evil Hakyeon will feel better without them. And if he’s the bad guy they can be set free before he does any harm to them.” Hongbin turns to Taekwoon. “If it gets too dangerous I’ll leave, but please let me try.” Taekwoon sighed after seeing the determination in his boyfriend’s eyes. “Fine. I’ll wait outside. But if this takes longer than an hour I’m dragging you out of here.” Hongbin hugged Taekwoon before the other man left the room. Hongbin stood up and took a deep breath. “Here goes nothing.” He said as he closed his eyes, tuning in to what the spirits were saying.

The noise that greeted him first was many confused voices yelling at each other. He opened his eyes from the shock of going from a noiseless room to a loud one. He saw that a lot of the spirits from the hospital were still in the room and not connected to Hakyeon. “Excuse me?” Hongbin said, but he was too quiet to be heard over the noise. “Excuse me!” He repeated getting the spirits’ attention. Most of them looked shocked. “Sorry for interrupting, but could the spirits not attached to the man in the bed please leave the room?” The spirits listened to Hongbin, more out of shock from being seen than any other reason. Hongbin turned to the spirits that were left in the room. The spirit of a little girl holding a teddy bear stepped forward. “Can you see us Mister?” She asked, looking up at him with big brown eyes. Hongbin nodded his head. “Yes. I see you, and I hear you.” An older man in the crowd of spirits spoke up. “Finally, someone who can see us instead of this idiot who can only hear us.” The older man was delivered a swift smack behind the head from a woman who looked about the same age of the male spirit. “You hush now. Hakyeon has been taking good care of us.” Hongbin looked confused. “Taking care of you? How has he been doing that?” He asked. The answer came from an elderly woman. “The poor dear has been helping us for so many years now. You see none of us have anyone to remember us, but we still have some business that needs to be taken care of. That’s where he comes in.” A teenage soul nods their head. “Yeah. He does research on all of us to try and give us some closure.” A spirit next to them interrupts. “He checks on how our surviving relatives are doing. Or if there aren’t any he visits the graves of our deceased loved ones for us.” Hongbin’s eyebrows furrow. “So if he helps you guys out then why doesn’t he cross you over? Why are there so many of you?”

Everyone in the crowd looked guilty. The little girl from before speaks up. “Because we like him!” She smiled brightly.  Hongbin was confused. “But you guys keep hurting him. Just now he passed out from how loud all of you were.” A young boy spoke up. “We weren’t being loud to hurt him. We did it to get those other spirits out of the room.” Hongbin’s head tilted a bit to the side. “Why would you do that?” The same boy spoke. “He hasn’t been sleeping well the past few days, we didn’t want those spirits taking up his time.” Hongbin let out a breath before rubbing the bridge of his nose. “But he has done all of the work to cross you over. Why don’t you leave? Some of you feel like you’ve been dead for ages, surely you must have family waiting for you?”  A woman with a pregnant belly spoke next. “We don’t leave so we can take care of him.” “Why would you need to take care of him?” The elderly woman from before spoke once again. “Because he doesn’t realize just how vulnerable he is.” She lets out a deep sigh. “He’s dealt with a lot in his life, and the wounds of the past haven’t healed.” Hongbin let out a little noise of confusion. The elderly lady shook her head. “That’s not a story for us to tell dear. All we can tell you is we help him as much as we can.” Hongbin nods in understanding. “I see. Well I think he would feel a lot better if you all crossed over. I mean he spent countless hours researching about all of your families. And he thinks you all crossed over already. Plus think about it. All of your energy attached to him may be having effects on him.” The crowd looked a bit frazzled. The little girl answered again. “But, but Hakyeon needs us!” The pregnant woman put her hand on the little girl’s shoulder. “Minju. I think he might be right. I mean you noticed how sick Hakyeon has been these past few days right? How he couldn’t sleep or eat much? That might be our fault.” Minju looked to the man in the bed. “Our fault?” She whipped her head back to Hongbin. “It’s our fault Hakyeon is sick?” Hongbin nodded. “You just take a lot of work to keep. And look at how many of you there are.” Minju looked around the room and tears filled her eyes. She looked back at Hongbin. “So how do we help him?” Hongbin kneeled to Minju’s level. “Do you see a bright light?” Minju looked around until her eyes locked on the corner of the room. “Mommy?” She said as more tears filled her eyes. “Go to her.” Minju ran to the light, hugging her mother tightly around the waist. Soon the rest of the spirits followed her lead. Meeting with friends, families, and lovers from their past. There wasn’t a dry eye among the spirits that finally found the peace they had been rejecting for so long. Soon all that was left was the pregnant woman, who stood by Hakyeon’s side. “Ma’am? Are you crossing over?” She turned to him, a kind smile on her face. “I plan to. I just wanted to say goodbye.” She turned back to Hakyeon and smoothed her delicate fingers through his hair. “I’ve been with him the longest. I feel like he’s the son I never got to bear. I’ve given him advice and guidance through his dreams for years.” A tear slipped from her eye. “He really has grown up so well. My precious boy.” She turned back to Hongbin. “Please. Please take care of him young man. I don’t think he can handle being alone.” Hongbin nodded. “I promise to take care of him.” The pregnant woman smiles again before turning to the light, a smile gracing her beautiful features. Her steps started out slow and steady, but she then saw her husband on the other side. After seeing his face her steps turned from a slow walk to a full sprint. She jumped into the arms of her husband, crying tears of joy as they embraced. The light grew dim after that.  Hongbin smiled.

There wasn’t even one soul connected to Hakyeon.