The Ghost Hunt Office

 

Choa walked down the street, submerged into gloomy thoughts. Her article about the disappearance of a famous rapper hadn’t been accepted by the boss.

How could he treat my work like that?! He even didn’t give me a chance. It would have been such a nice article! she thought, knocking with the heels of her blue shoes.

Park Choa was a rookie journalist working for a small magazine publisher. Her job was to write a column about paranormal cases in the city of Seoul and around the world. Unfortunately, the magazine wasn’t popular. Their first issue had been sold with a little expenditure, smaller than the CEO had expected and Choa’s column was one of the most ignored parts of it. The only remedy was to write an article that was to get the readers interested. If she wouldn’t find some interesting subject, she may lose her job.

I agree, the article about the talking dog wasn’t my best one. But the dog itself was pretty cute; so what I didn’t get the proof that it can talk? Maybe it was too shy to speak in front of me? I should’ve been given a chance! 

In that moment she tripped over the curb and fell, tearing the tights on her knee. She cursed. A blush crawled onto her cheeks; she was very upset. What else was going to happen to her today?

 

Then, a few centimeters from her, Choa noticed a business card. The inscription said “D&H , The Ghost Hunt Office”. The girl picked it up and had a second look. The address wasn’t too far from the place she currently was at.

Nah, it’s so dumb. It’s probably some advertisement or a children’s joke. 

She stood up, brushed off the dirt and continued walking home.

But she only took a few steps before she realized that she was still holding the business card.

Is it…? Should I really…?

She stood there for a while and then turned right and headed where the ghost hunt office was supposed to be.

 

 

“I knew it.” – Choa sighed when the searched building happened to be an untidily looking tenement, soon-to-be-a-hovel. The address said it was on the second floor. She decided to give it one more go.

When the young journalist entered the building, she discovered that the stair case looked much more inviting. The paint on the walls was pale but the floor and stairs were clean and firm.

The office’s door looked normal, like a usual door to an apartment. Only there was hanging the sign D&H. Choa knocked three times and unsurely entered the office.

 

A narrow corridor with a grey floor-covering.

“Excuse me?” – after she had said that, a young, slim girl appeared and welcomed her in a very good manner. Her dark hair was tied into a pony tail; her grey skirt and white blouse made her look like a student. She offered Choa a sit and something to drink. Then, she sat herself by the desk in front of her guest.

“ My name is Seohyun. How can I help you?” Choa told her about her job and what she was looking for. Seohyun seemed to be pumped up when she heard Choa was a journalist.

“ You’ve come to the right place then, Choa-sshi. Our company is not only concerned about ghost cases but also any other paranormal occurrences. We are people who are experienced in this field and had many content clients.”

Seohyun sounded a bit like a robot, saying all this stuff like she had studied it a whole night. However, she seemed like a trustworthy person and Choa felt a bit more assured.

They heard the office doors being open and a boy entered the room. A bit older than Seohyun, he had white hair and clothes reminding of a rookie rock star; black skinny jeans and a leather jacket.

“Oppa!” Seohyun quickly stood up. “This is Choa-sshi. She’s a journalist. She wants to make an article about our work.”

 The boy raised his eyebrows but his surprised look quickly changed into joy. He bowed and then shook Choa’s hand. He said he couldn’t believe that the press was interested in such a topic. His name was Lee Hyukjae.

“ I would like to ask a few questions. Is it ok?”

“Yes, of course. My partner should be here soon. Seohyun, is there anything to do today? Some jobs?”

“There is. One, but it’s still better than nothing.” Seohyun arranged some documents on the desk and Hyukjae invited Choa to the second room. It was so small that it could be seen more as a cubby-hole. On the wall hung a corkboard with a map and a few photos of rooms and houses. On the cabinet on the other side there were some books, binders and a carton box.

Choa sat on the stool. Hyukjae did the same at the other side of the desk.

“I’m sorry for the lack of comfort. We’re still developing.”

“For how long now?”

“Three years.” He said after a little pause. The business obviously wasn’t going well. The paranormal activity cases weren’t that regular, she guessed.

“ We knew that all along. It’s more like a…hmm… scientific research. The three of us actually experienced unnatural things. We wanted to find out what they were, collect some information and index them.”

“So…your “job” is to…?”

“Find the ghost, classify and get rid of it, if possible. Sometimes we need a priest.”

Choa asked him a couple other things, taking notes in her notebook. She noted about the price, the frequency of reported cases and teamwork.

“We can say…I’m the brain. Seohyun takes care of receiving the reports and Donghae is good in researching. Yeah, we’re making a pretty good team.” The smile of complacency bloomed on Hyukjae’s face. The door opened and another boy burst in, catching his breath.

“I’m sorry I’m late.” he said and timidly greeted Choa. That was Donghae. He wanted to sit next to Hyuk but the other boy held him off.

“No, no, don’t sit. We have a job to do. Let’s go. I’ll tell you in the car.”

“Can I go with you?” asked Choa. Hyukjae nodded and she followed his lead.

 

 

“So what’s the job?” Donghae asked when the three of them were sitting in a car, driving to the case’s location.

“An old married couple is hearing unexplainable noises in their house. The objects are moving, the light’s turning on and off by itself.”

“Poltergeist?’

“Most likely.”   

 Choa listened to their conversation with curiousness. It’s getting really interesting, she thought.

“What is it?” she asked, pulling out her notebook again.

“Poltergeist? It’s a very common ghost-like activity. But it’s not like a real ghost. It’s just an… activity. Umm… “ Donghae lost his track.

“ My partner is trying to say, that it’s kind of an energy cumulated in one place. It’s not really dangerous but bothersome.”

“ Did you bring the trap?”

“Yeah, it’s in the boot.”

A trap? Well, this is promising.

 

 

When they arrived, Hyukjae opened the boot and Choa came to know it was full with devices reminding her of some old Sci-Fi movie.

Donghae took one of the devices and they went to the door.

An older lady let them in. She was pale and seemed very tired. Hyukjae asked her few basic questions.

“It started a few weeks ago. At first it was just some things moving. Then it got worse. We can’t sleep at night, it’s so loud! It attacked my husband!”

Choa looked at the old man as he pointed at a patch on his forehead.

“It has thrown a vase at him.”

A noise pealed upstairs. The old lady whined.

“It’s here! It starts again!”

“Donghae! Set out the trap! I’ll lure it here somehow!”

Hyukjae directed himself up the stairs, calmly, Choa following him unnoticeably.

The boy peeked over the brink of the second floor and quietly placed himself near the door to the room.

“How do we lure it?” Choa whispered, making him jerk.

“You’re supposed to stay down there!” he hissed, but Choa only shrugged.

“ It seems to be in here. I’ll enter the room and arouse it. Maybe it’ll follow me to the salon. You stay here!” he said sternly, gripping the doorknob. He waited a few seconds and opened the door.

The ruckus inside immediately stopped. Hyukjae walked into the room, looked around and suddenly dumped some small box that stood on the cabinet.

In that moment a loud boom could be heard. Something like an invisible torpedo flew down the stairs and to the kitchen. It stormed through all of the kitchen lockers and shelfs in the salon, knocking down everything that stood there. The chandelier was swinging forcefully, the loud roaring turned into a whistle. The light was turning on and off.

Donghae, who was setting up the trap, now stood in the center of the salon, near the elder couple clinging onto each other.

“Hyuk! It’s here!”

“ Funnel it to the trap!”

Hyukjae leaned on the handrail and almost fell down.

“ How!?”

Choa, now in the salon, stood near the staircase covering her head with her hands. The poltergeist was flouncing now all around the room, so fast its shape could barely be visible. The old lady muffled her whining with her husband’s shirt. Donghae tried to catch up with the poltergeist’s way by following its moves with his sight. Hyukjae also was doing that. Donghae waited for a right moment and when he was sure where the phenomenon would hit, he shoved the trap right to that place.

 

The trap, looking like an old TV with two little antennas, but smaller, had been hit by a ball of energy. It produced a little voltage between the antennas and fell inside the box that shut with a click.

Suddenly it was all silent, only the chandelier was still swinging softly.

“Is it over?” whispered the old lady. 

 

 

---

 

I would like to explain a few things about my fanfiction: the main plot is tangled with other stories, that may appear unraleted but sometimes they actually contain some hints about the storyline. So read carefully and look forward to next uptade :)

How do you like it so far?

Have a good evening or morning.

Meg