The sound of a lone car crawling down the highway was the soundtrack to Sung-min's journey. It was a cold and lonely night. He went straight to the studio, the only place that made sense. The ghost must be there, he thought, since his voice can be heard in the dressing rooms, he must be hiding somewhere, and Ryeo-wook is with him.

Even though Sung-min had been dismissed in his role at the studio, he had not yet returned the security pass to the office, and so he used it to make his entry. A security guard was standing at the door, but he made no sound. His black eyes peered out from a cold, expressionless face and they watched Sung-min carefully. The security guard did not move. Sung-min continued.

The studio was confusing to navigate during the day, but it was even worse at night, and Sung-min was constantly fumbling with doors and switches, none too successfully. He hoped that he was getting closer to the dressing room where he had heard the voice before, but it was so dark that there was no way to tell.

Footsteps seemed to come out of nowhere and before he knew it, there was a torch shining in his face. Sung-min's heart was beating wildly as the holder of the torch revealed himself. It was Cho Kyu-hyun.

“And what do you think you’re doing here?”

Sung-min breathed deeply as he pulled himself together. “I could say the same about you,” he replied, but his reply did not come out as forceful as he had hoped.

“Yeah, but I work here,” said Kyu-hyun, and he turned the torch off, sending them back into darkness. “You don’t work here, and you never did. Just as I recently discovered.”

Kyu-hyun switched the light back on. He was now holding a newspaper. “Is this you?” he said, as he the paper forward. Sung-min could make out his own grainy picture in the black and white print. “Local police detective involved in shooting.” Kyu-hyun read the paper out loud. “I thought it was you... police shooting hey?”

Sung-min could feel his cheeks heating up. “That’s not your affair, but I won't deny that it happened.”

Kyu-hyun threw the newspaper onto the ground. “It’s not my affair and I don’t care about the shooting. It’s just the absurdity of it all! Kwon Boa sent a police officer to spy on me! She must really have the worse opinion on me...”

“I’m looking for the ghost.” Sung-min said.

“What did you tell Kwon? Did you tell her that I was the ghost?”

Sung-min narrowed his eyes. He did not like Kyu-hyun’s flippant expression. “Where is he?”

“Where is who?”

“You know what I mean. Tell me where he is.”

Kyu-hyun sighed. In the torch light his expression appeared serious, but not malicious. “You don’t want to upset him.”

“So you admit that there is a ghost?”

“Perhaps not a ghost, no I think he is a man. All I know is that if you do what he says nobody gets hurt and everyone is happy. The old managers knew this, but Kwon has to have her own way. The ghost has been good to me. If it wasn’t for him, there would be no second series of Singing Star.”

Sung-min stepped closer. “You have to tell me where he is. This isn’t about ghostly pranks anymore. He’s been talking to Ryeo-wook over the past few months and now he’s taken him somewhere.”

Kyu-hyun shrugged. “Even ghosts get lonely too sometimes.” With that he left, leaving Sung-min in the dark.

Sung-min was frozen by the time he got home. His nose was so cold he thought that it might fall off. He slowly took off his jacket and as he did so, he noticed a small red light flashing from the answering machine. A new message had been left after he had gone out. He pressed play.

At first there was silence. Through the static emerged the sound of someone breathing heavily into the receiver. And then finally a voice.

“Sung-min... it’s me.”

Ryeo-wook.

“Sung-min, I’m sorry that I snapped at you the other night. It was a bit hot headed of me, and I regret it now. I don’t mean what I said. I hope you’re not mad at me. I think I sound a bit childish saying this, but I really want to see you again.” A pause, and some more breathing. “It’s very important actually. If you get this in time, please meet me before the performance tomorrow. And if it’s possible, try not to be noticed.”

A click and message ended.