In the famous city of Seoul, South Korea, was living a boy named Park Chanyeol. He was vivid and joyful, despite being a simple pizza delivery boy and earning just enough money to pay his rent. He lived in a little apartment and he had everything he needed, with even a nice view on the city. Chanyeol was bright and smiled most of the time, causing his friends to call him Happy Virus. And he was indeed. Never did he complain, never did he want a life full of luxury, as he believed only himself could create his happiness. Family and friends were the most important to him. 

So why write a story about such a cliché boy? 

It was late at night when it first happened. Chanyeol was getting back home after work on his motorcycle—the one his workplace gave him— when he suddenly saw someone appear on the middle of the road. Not too far away from him, so he didn't have the time to stop. However, after rolling the person over and stopping on the sideway a few meters away, he didn't see anyone lying on the floor where the accident had taken place. Even though he ran to the spot where he had seen that person, even if he had checked all around it, nobody was there. The road was empty and no people were walking in the streets. Chanyeol got back to his motorcycle, confused but relieved. He didn't kill anyone. Maybe he was just tired, maybe there really wasn't anyone and his brain invented it. He got back on the road, his heart pounding, and tried not to think about it anymore.

But it happened again.

This time, he was half asleep in his bed, it was late at night again. Chanyeol's apartment was quiet as usual, since he was living alone. Except he was woken up by a noise that didn't come from the outside. The boy jerked awake, panicked. The noise was one of the floor cracking under someone's step. There was no light in the hallway, and the front door had been locked. So Chanyeol started to worry insanely, as he was quite a superstitious person. He got out of his bed slowly, paralyzed by fear. He walked to his room's door, trying not to make any sound. He sneaked a look at the hallway, and all he saw was darkness. So he went to investigate, still frightened and his heart pounding again. Maybe it was silly, but Chanyeol was positive he wasn't alone; there was a presence there with him and the boy could feel it. Ideas were flowing in his mind while he was walking slowly, as he was trying to rationalize what happened and as he was trying to not link it with the road incident. But a new noise startled him, making him jump in surprise and taking his breath away. Another stepping sound, closer, that seemed to come from the living room. The latter was just at the end of the short hallway. Chanyeol swallowed his spit and decided to go there, despite his fear. Just as he was reaching the room, he saw a silhouette in the middle of it. But before the boy could distinguish anything other than the shadow's shape, it disappeared. Just like that.

The next day, Chanyeol talked about it to his friends. Of course, he knew they would call him dumb and say he should rest more. But he was sure he wasn't having hallucinations or anything. And he believed there were things in this world one couldn't explain. So he went ahead and told them both of the times the appearances happened.

"You're going crazy," Baekhyun said immediately after his friend finished.

Chanyeol was expecting that answer. But he wasn't expecting Sehun's.

"Maybe it was real," Sehun said seriously. "I mean… You're not under a lot of stress or whatever."

"I'm not, indeed," Chanyeol confirmed. "And I know what I saw. I'm certain of it."

Baekhyun sighed at his friends' speech. He wasn't superstitious like them. But he wasn't so sceptic that he'd start a debate against them.

"Yeah, if you say so," he muttered. "Have you even seen, like, his face? What does that ghost look like?"

"A guy, I think…" Chanyeol hesitantly answered. "He was young, I'd say my age. Brown hair I reckon. But that's all I saw."

They were all sitting in the very living room where the "ghost" had appeared the night before. The apartment was often busy with Chanyeol's friends, because despite living alone, he hated loneliness and he loved people. Sehun was quiet but he seemed to be thinking deeply and Baekhyun was probably just mocking Chanyeol in his head. Chanyeol didn't doubt it. But he didn't mind at all. He had to admit, that story he told his friends was strange. However, he couldn't help reality could be strange. The silhouette he had seen kept haunting his every thoughts and he wasn't going to keep it to himself.

Ever since, every night, when Chanyeol was getting back home, he was extra careful on the road. And every night when he was about to go to sleep, he made sure the apartment was empty. 

But that didn't stop the odd events to keep happening. Almost a month later, on a Sunday afternoon, Chanyeol decided to take a walk to the park. He sometimes liked to do that, even if that meant being left alone with his thoughts. He had almost stopped thinking about the ghost, as Baekhyun always called it. He only thought about how the sun was shining and how the park was not too crowded. He was walking on a trail, surrounded by grass, trees and playgrounds. 

There was a boy sitting on a bench. Chanyeol didn't know why he'd noticed this particular boy, but he did. The stranger seemed astray, as if he'd lost his way and paused in the park. He was a few meters away from Chanyeol, looking around. The latter stopped in the middle of the trail, for some reason, and stared at the boy for a moment. He was young, maybe 20, he was brown haired and he was dressed too warmly for the sunny weather. After a few seconds, he noticed Chanyeol's gaze and stared right back at him. Luckily, there was no one around to see the two being weird. It felt as if Chanyeol knew the boy personally, and after a while he started to link him with the odd appearances from the past month. Because he could feel the same presence at that night when he saw a silhouette in his living room, and because, somehow, he just knew there was something about this guy that was peculiar. 

"You again," the stranger said out of the blue.

Chanyeol came back to reality as he heard those words ringing in his ears. The boy was still looking him in the eyes, but he didn't seem less confused than Chanyeol. The latter wasn't sure how to respond to that. He even was having a hard time trying to say something.

"Do I know you?" he asked, because that was what anyone would reply.

"No," the boy answered shyly. "But we've sort of… met."

As the distance between the two was a bit awkward, Chanyeol decided to step forward. Eventually, he joined the strange on the other end of the bench. He didn't look at him though, because he was weirdly shy. It was kind of like meeting a celebrity, but it was unexplainable. 

"Your place, I think. At least I hope it was you, otherwise this would be pretty embarrassing." the stranger added with a voice that was too casual for Chanyeol's liking.

"Who are you?"

"Um… my name is Jongin. What's your name?"

"Chanyeol."

The latter finally looked at Jongin. His face felt familiar, but he couldn't find out why. It was like trying to remember a dream. But Chanyeol's main concern was to understand what the hell had happened.

"I bet you're wondering how I got into your place," Jongin said as if he was reading his mind.

"Yeah, and how you got on the middle of the road, too!" exclaimed Chanyeol.

Jongin sighed and looked down. Chanyeol focused on staring at him, because he couldn't think about anything. 

"I don't know. I was home and then not. I don't know what happened. And I don't know how I'm here either. But you seem to always be there."

There was a silence after that. However, it didn't feel awkward, because both of them were too concentrated on understanding how this could have happened to care. Chanyeol was not sure if he should believe a stranger telling him he was teleporting to him, and Baekhyun's face kept coming in his mind, telling him "everything has a logical explanation!". Maybe that guy sitting next to him was some sort of espion watching him, and that was the reason he never saw him leave. Or maybe he was a creep stalking him and inventing an excuse not to be caught. Those could have been logical explanations, but deep down, Chanyeol knew there had to be more to it. He realized it had been a while since neither of them spoke, absorbed in his thinking, so he turned to Jongin to talk to him. But when he looked, no one was sitting on the other end of the bench anymore. 

How frustrating.