THE HAUNTING IN BAE MANSION: PART I
A/N: I highly recommend listening [HERE] and [HERE] simultaneously to get the mood going.

“God, when is this freak storm letting up?” Kim Sunggyu complained for the nth time that night.

The weather condition suddenly shifting from a bright and sunny day to a dark, gloomy evening was already off-setting, but the howling wind and harsh rain banging against the house completely killed the mood for him. To think he was used to the loud concert scene. The fact that he had to wait here in the living room with six other housemates he barely knew despite their six months of co-existence only added fuel to the fire. He had wanted to retreat into the solace of his own bedroom, but the landlady's niece would be moving in today. It would be rather rude to not be there to welcome her and help her move in, considering she was their one-way ticket to solving their extravagant rental crisis.

The only good thing about this was that those people he called housemates weren't being all up in his face and were pretty much minding their own businesses for the time being.

"The wiring's been fried," Lee Sungjong sighed as he popped out behind the huge flat screen, impatiently tapping on it. "A moment of silence for the dead electronic. Telly was a trusty television set..."

A few heads turned at his unfortunate announcement. The tallest member of the household, Lee Sungyeol bolted up from the couch and was the only one who reacted very strongly to their current situation, immediately adding sums up with the help of his fingers. "Stupid lightning surge! Of all the electronics here, it had to be the 70-inch LED TV that gets creamed!"

"You're too loud, doofus. I can't concentrate when you keep on screeching like caged monkey!"

"You're the doofus! Think about how much more money is this going to cost us? Unless Auntie Bae still has warranty for this..."

Nam Woohyun, who had spoken up earlier, continued to be oblivious about both the TV and the rent. His attention was focused on the bouquet of red roses on the center table; carefully, he pruned them while Lee Howon looked on with judging eyes, criticizing his technique every now and then. "I'd be worrying less about that. Our lovely, cute princess will be coming over anytime soon," Woohyun continued. "If you're still so concerned about the rent, why don't you throw on something decent for once?" 

"Like you dress any better!"

"Unlike you, I actually get the girls even if I'm dressed in something as lame as a potato sack. That's how charming I am!"

"Yeah, and if I were you, I'd watch where I'm pointing that clipper, lover boy. Pay attention," Hoya interrupted him snarkily, just right before he could behead one of the flowers.

"If you're so good at it, you do it then!"

"Move over," Hoya ushered. "Don't think I can't. My mother was into landscaping and arranged flowers as her pasttime."

"Princess Bae, come sooner!" Woohyun wailed, having had it with these guys nitpicking on him every breathing moment of his life, allowing Howon to take over the job of t the roses. "I'm tired of living in this kind of world-- it's a daily sausage fest here!"

"Now, now. No need to get into a fight, all of you, the weather's already angry as it is. It's also best if we'd turn off the circuit breaker lest the lightning fries anything else. I'll go get it," a guy by the name of Jang Dongwoo volunteered, getting up from the window sill where he had spent the past half hour playing games on his smartphone.

"Good idea!" Sungjong called out, still from behind the TV screen as he was clearing out the wires. "Thanks hyung!"

Dongwoo had not even taken one step towards the circuit breaker when the electricity suddenly died out, bathing the whole mansion in complete darkness. The wind and the rain from outside was more intense now that everything in the house was silent. In his surprise, Sungjong managed to tip the screen over but caught it in the nick of time before they could incur more damage, if not for Sungyeol nearly getting smushed by it. Hoya ended up snipping off one rose's head himself, much to Woohyun's great distress.

"Is everyone alright? No one hurt?" Hoya called out before he heard screaming over at the far end. "Okay, I guess that's a no..."

"Mother of eff!" Sunggyu roared as his vision dimmed as well. Blindly, he clawed into the air for the nearest person he could latch onto, bumping and bruising his knees over low pieces of furniture in the process, and when he couldn't find anyone, he immediately called out for his responsible dongsaeng. "Lee Sungjong! YAH, LEE SUNGJONG! Where are you?" he hissed.

"Never!" Sungjong whispered. "I shall no longer succumb to your tyranny--"

"Oh, just get your out there help him. He'd be breaking all the expensive decors in this house at this rate," Sungyeol muttered, nudging where he hoped Sungjong would be with his elbow. Fortunately, it connected with the guy's stomach. "This grandpa is practically useless in the dark."

"HEY, I HEARD THAT!"

"Someone put him out of his misery and give him some light, please?" Sungjong murmured. Three phones shone in the darkness and even if Sunggyu squinted and squinted, he still had difficulty making out outlines.

"Guh, this rich of a place should have a generator or emergency lighting somewhere, right?" the elder huffed, squinting once again until his already small eyes practically resembled slits. 

Dongwoo scratched his head. In their whole duration of stay here so far, this was the first time they've experienced a complete black out and it wasn't like they even bothered to search for it. "The generator should be in--"

A loud hair-raising thud cut Dongwoo off. The noise came from upstairs. They would have dismissed it as something falling over due to the wind or thunder, but the sound was followed by a shuffle of footsteps.

“L?” Woohyun dared to call out to the only member of the household that had yet to say anything, just because he wasn't with them in the living room. Uneasiness was already settling in his stomach, afraid of the outcome. “L, ’sthat you?!?”

"Over here,” a groggy voice responded, with a yawn that followed after. The owner, Kim Myungsoo, had just woken up from his short nap in the dining room and had his phone as well, shining it to where he could see the outline of the bigger group. "Why is it dark?"

Everyone's blood ran cold. If he was downstairs here with them, and everyone was present for the head count...

... then who was upstairs?



The thudding noise continued, growing louder and louder each passing second and everyone grew tense as they waited in silence for the noise to end. For all they know, it could have been an intruder or criminal who had taken advantage of the storm to hide out or steal from this mansion. Myungsoo's hand automatically reached for something at the kitchen counter to use defend himself, grabbing the first thing he could find.

"What's going on?" Sunggyu asked loudly, his voice echoing through the empty hallways as he remained oblivious to the situation. "Why's everyone suddenly silent?"

"Shh, hyung, shhh! If you fear for your life, be quiet!" Sungjong hushed, putting a hand over the elder's mouth, dragging him closer to the group.

Sungyeol, in an attempt to show some bravery, slowly made his way towards the staircase just to check on what was going on. It was at that moment lightning flashed, allowing them sight of the situation.

Dongwoo let out a bloodcurdling scream and pointed towards the staircase. In that brief moment of light, they saw how his eyes were wide in fear, with his mouth agape and his bottom lip trembling. They turned their attention to where he was pointing, and all the hair on their arms and nape of their neck stood sharply on edge. It was only for a split second, but it was enough for them to see a sinister silhouette crouched down on the staircase landing. Bloodshot eyes glinted before the darkness completely took over, melting it back into the shadows.

Even if every cell screamed 'Danger!' as a warning cry to them, and even if their instincts told them to run, the seven boys stood frozen on the spot.

Lightning cracked once again, illuminating the whole living room, followed by an earthshaking clap of thunder. The figure, clad in a full black hooded cloak was making its disgruntled descent down the wooden staircase on all fours, inching slowly towards the seven boys. Her stringy, disheveled hair brushed against the staircase, the jet black color a striking contrast against the light mahogany flooring. Pale bony hands reached out from underneath the cloak to propel itself, fingernails sometimes scratching against the wood. Her joints were bent at difficult angles and the strangling, croaking noise that escaped and lips were eerie and haunting.

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"

Everything became pitch black again. Sungjong made sure to drag the helpless Sunggyu, who was once again cursing and unable to see anything clearly, together with him. By now, the rest had backed up, pressed against the gigantic window. Sungyeol made a mad dash downstairs, tripping backwards on a rug and landing on his bottom. Pain immediately shot up his tailbone. He tried to get up, but his long legs had lost all its function, forcing him to drag his bottom backwards as quickly as possible to huddle together with the big group.

Hearts were hammering harshly against their chests as it made its final steps down. The sinister being was now down in the living room together with the seven of them.

"If this is just one bad nightmare, I'd like to wake up now, thank you!" Woohyun pleaded, constantly pinching himself, to no avail. The figure inched nearer and nearer. Dongwoo's screams had died out from his throat as his vision blurred; any minute now and he would pass out. For once in his life, Sunggyu found himself wishing that he was completely blind.

"G-G-GHOST! Don't just stand there! Save me!" Sungyeol, who was still on the floor screeched, yelped whilst clawing behind him for help.

"Back, Back, Back!" Hoya ordered the figure. "Back-- I said, Back! I know Taekwondo--YAH! DON'T PUSH ME TO THE FRONT LINE!"

Myungsoo's grip tightened as held his makeshift weapon high in the air, ready to swing down on the being once it got too near. "You," he threatened. "State your purpose here."

The groaning noise from her already disappeared, replaced by harsh mumbling. Sungjong strained his ears to listen. "Shh. Shh! Be quiet all of you, I think she's trying to say something!"

"It h-h-hurts. It hurts so much..." it croaked as it continued to crawl to them in such a distorted manner. "H-Help..."

That last plea for help did not go unnoticed by the youngest member of the household. "Help? She's asking for help. We should help her!"

"Sungjong, don't!" Sunggyu ordered. "This is how psychopaths are; this is simply their modus to trick you into their clutches! Believe me, I've experienced mild degrees of that first hand!" 

"I'm not entirely sure about crazy, hyung, but she really sounds like she's in a lot of pain." With that, he took a brave step forward. "Alright, we'll help you."

"ARE YOU AN IDIOT, LEE SUNGJONG?!?" Woohyun yelled at him. "DON'T BE GULLIBLE! THAT IS EXACTLY WHY PEOPLE DIE TERRIBLE TERRIBLE DEATHS IN HORROR MOVIES!"

Sungjong would have none of it. His desire to help out a person in need was stronger, winning over some irrational fear. Besides, an idea suddenly clicked in his head that could help uncover their ghost's (or whatever this creature was) identity. Despite whimpers and protests from his hyungs to stay back, he took another brave step forward, taking a bigger stride compared to last time and approached the figure.  He cleared his throat, trying to inject some courage in his voice. It still came out as a stammer though.

"Are you, by any chance... S-S-Suji-ssi? Bae Suji-ssi?"

The cloaked figure nodded once as she attempted to lift herself off from the ground, but failed. The seven boys froze yet again as her identity was revealed to them. The twist of events and rollercoaster of emotions left them extremely dumbfounded.

On the bright side, at least she wasn't a scary malevolent spirit out for fresh beating hearts. Tomorrow, there wasn't going to be a headline on the newspaper that read: "GRUESOME TRAGEDY AT THE MANSION: 7 YOUNG MALES FOUND DEAD, PARANORMAL CAUSE."

Still, they couldn't see her face becase her extremely long bangs were in the way, but in that split second, Sungjong managed to notice a huge rip down the front of her cloak. "Did you accidentally take a tumble down the stairs?" he asked softly.

Another confirmatory nod, this time accompanied with a small grunt. That was a rather long flight of mahogany stairs she tumbled down on. Given how long they heard the thumping sounds, he could practically confirm that she might have indeed been telling the truth.

"OH MY GOD! SUJI-SSI, ARE YOU ALRIGHT?!? Hoya-hyung, I think we need to get her to a hospital, stat!" Sungjong screeched in panic, breaking into a run towards her. Panicked, the girl flailed, trying to retreat back because Sungjong's approach seemed to terrify her. Before he could even reach her, the girl fell into a crumpled heap, unconscious.

"Ah. She passed out," Sunggyu pointed out nonchalantly.

"Hyung, that is NOT nice! Help me lift her to the couch," Sungjong requested. Hesitantly, Sungyeol got up and agreed to do it. Hoya and Dongwoo remained cowering by the window, still too shaken to approach the girl. Pissed, Myungsoo lowered his kitchen weapon. It was only then when he realized he had been holding on to an egg beater all this time. He tossed it aside, kicking it under the couch before anyone could even notice-- he would have been a laughing stock for weeks on end if he got caught holding something as uncool as that.

Once they managed to get the unconscious Suji on the couch and get the place lit well enough with candles for Sunggyu, the seven composed themselves and ended up staring at their prospect salvation from such a big debt. Even in her state of unconsciousness, she managed to cross her arms over her chest, pretty much like a vampire would. It still creeped them out to the point that there were still goosebumps that persisted from earlier's scare-of-their-lives.

THIS IS THE GIRL WE BET OUR SIX MONTH'S-WORTH OF RENT ON?!?

"We're dead..." Woohyun mumbled, speaking for the group, knowing that their uphill battle was a lost cause. "We are so, so dead."

A/N: Bobbie here, here's my belated Christmas gift to all of you readers. MERRY CHRISTMAS! Isn't it weird that you're getting something spooky for Christmas? And so, our (not-so-)haunting tale begins! Hopefully, this will get the ball rolling and set things into perspective. All characters will be properly introduced in the chapters to come, don't worry. Don't be afraid to drop in a few comments and questions-- let me know what you're thinking! :)

PS: I hope you spotted the Infinite song references I made there. There were three. Yeap, I'm going to fly away now.