"Ah!!!!" Hani screamed when the door suddenly opened.

Yong's eomma and appa came in running, wondering for the life of them why Hani was screaming at the top of her lungs. When they came in, they saw Hani paler than she already was, and sweating like someone just threw her a bucket of water.

"Hani-ya, wae geurae?" Eomma asked.

"I... The door suddenly opened by itself!" she shuddered.

Eomma and Appa knew that the wind outside was not too hard, nor was there bad weather. So, Appa checked the door and saw that the knob was broken.

"Hmm... it seems that the door is old and worn out," Appa said calmly.

Eomma heaved a sigh and comforted Hani. She told her that tomorrow, Appa is going to fix the door.

"Auntie, Uncle, gomawoyo," she told her relatives.

Appa informed Hani to just use the chair by the bedside table as a lock for the meantime, and when they went out, it was what Hani used to seal her room. As she was about to get back to the bed, she saw Yong Hwa and Shin Hye sitting there, side by side.

"Kya--!!!" she was about to shout in fright when Yong Hwa hushed her.

"Hani-ya, shhhh!!!!" Yong Hwa informed her desperately. "It's me, your Yong-oppa."

"Yong-oppa?" Hani asked. "Eh????"

And she was about to shout again, but Yong Hwa pleaded her not to shout anymore.

"Where did you come from?" Hani asked them. "What do you want from me?"

"Why are you in my room?" Yong Hwa demanded.

"Eh? But this is MY room!" Hani explained.

"Mwo?" Yong Hwa asked, raising his voice. How come somebody claimed his room as hers?

And Shin Hye had to intervene. She even introduced herself to Hani.

"Jjamkanmanyo. I am not dead, geureochyo?" she asked Shin Hye, who shook her head. "So what are the two of you? Ghosts?"

Shin Hye explained who she was, and why Yong Hwa became non-existent. Just then, she received another call from Junhwan-hyungnim, who informed her that Hani temporarily forgot about Yong Hwa because, when he was doing his job, Haneunim called him, and he became distracted. That's why he was not able to finish with Hani and forgot about Dasom. And after the call, Shin Hye explained to them.

"Ya! Oppa! So that's why you are here all of a sudden!" Hani said after Shin Hye explained. And Yong Hwa nodded sadly. "But why are you here in my room?"

"This is my room, Hani-ya," Yong Hwa explained tiredly.

Hani bit her lips and tried hard to concentrate. The first thing she knew, she woke up earlier that day, in THIS room, and she forgot about her alarm. When she went to eat breakfast, she forgot to turn off her alarm.

Yong Hwa was startled.

"So that's why the beddings looked like they were arranged as if after waking up," he told her. "And the alarm went off, so I woke up."

Hani got paler again, paler than she already was. "Eh?"

"You should have been in Jin Woon's room," Yong Hwa let her remember. "There are only three rooms in this house: Appa and Eomma's room, my room, and Jin Woon's room. And after Jin Woon left for Australia, you came here to stay for university and stayed in his room. Why did you say this is your room?"

Shin Hye sighed, as if Yong Hwa forgot to put pieces together.

"I said, Junhwan-hyungnim wiped out everybody else's memory. Hani thought this is her room, and the other room as Jin Woon's. Did you get it already?"

And Yong Hwa was finally able to understand. And so did Hani.

"So... why was Oppa non-existent to everyone else? What did I miss?" Hani asked the grim reaper.

Shin Hye sighed and explained that the world had a gradual imbalance, with evil preternaturals overcoming the world. These creatures have to be wiped out, and for Heaven's will to take place, young people are called to be spirit warriors who will use mystical powers. But Shin Hye said that wiping everyone's memory is not always the case.

"My guardian wiped out memories related to Yong Hwa-ssi so that he can fight off the bad elements without everyone worrying about him," Shin Hye explained.

"But that does not make any sense, does it?" Hani interrogated further. "The other people, don't they have others worrying about them?"

"Ara," Shin Hye said. "But this is Heaven's will. Besides, Junhwan-hyungnim told me that the spiritual energy here in South Korea is so great that it is attracting creatures from your folklore. But not only that, the force of energy is attracting preternaturals from surrounding countries as well. It happened in Luxembourg too, but the energy in that country had been restored. Here in Korea, we need one who would not have to be a source of worry for everybody."

Hani sighed. "Arasseoyo... Is there anything that I can do to help?"

"Kim Dasom," Shin Hye said, making Hani cringe. Hani really didn't like Dasom. "Dasom-ssi's soul cannot rest because she keeps on thinking about Yong Hwa. Here is what I need you to do."

Hani listened intently, but hoping she would not have anything to do with Dasom.

"Should Dasom-ssi keep on insisting that Yong Hwa existed, please pretend you don't know about us," Shin Hye begged. "And please do not share this information with Lee Jong Hyun, Kang Min Hyuk, and Lee Jung Shin."

"Ah. Ne, algesseumnida," Hani said happily. It's good that she could still keep her distance from Dasom.

Yong Hwa yawned and decided that he had to change, but Shin Hye told him that this is Hani's room. Besides, spirit warriors change clothes every day at will without them making any efforts.

"Ah, jinjja?" Hani asked enviously. "Heol, if only I can do it! I can have as many clothes as any Hollywood actresses!"

Shin Hye just smiled.

"Geundae, Eonni can sleep here, and Yong-oppa can sleep in Jin Woonie-oppa's room," Hani suggested.

Yong Hwa could no longer persist. To everyone else, this is Hani's room, after all.

"Arasseo..." he replied in resignation.

"Mianhande, I will sleep around the premises at Hangang," Shin Hye told Hani.

"But, it will be too cold!" Hani replied, but realizing that Shin Hye is a grim reaper... "Oops, mianhaeyo, Eonni. I forgot."

Shin Hye and Yong Hwa disappeared in a blink, and Hani shook her head. She thought she must be crazy. But she had to keep her mind in check. Nobody can know that Yong-oppa existed.

****

"Are you sure you will be all right?" Yong Hwa asked Shin Hye in a mild and caring voice.

Shin Hye's cheeks errupted into all sorts of red. She felt her heart melting inside, her knees feeling like jelly. But she cannot let him know that she had loved him for years. And she turned away so he could not see her face.

"Gwaenchanha," she told him. "Hangang is a fine place for me. Besides, I have a schedule to attend to tonight at the hospital."

Yong Hwa got sad. He will feel lonely again, knowing that only Hani and Shin Hye could see him. Bad as it may seem, but he was also thankful that Tan and Shiro are dogs who cannot communicate to Jong Hyun in human speech.

"Arasseo..."

"So, I got to get going now. Ciao," she said before opening the windows to fly out.

Yong Hwa looked at her fly away before slowly closing the window so that his parents cannot hear. Alone in his namdongsaeng's dark room, he lay on bed. The bed was too soft for his liking, and it was uncomfortable.

"Aish... if only Junhwan-nim will erase Hani's memory about my room and make her think that this is her room instead," he grumbled. "Aish..."

****

At the premises of Han River, Shin Hye was standing there, looking at the still waters. There were less people because although there was no weather disturbances, the night was so chilly, it was impossible even for those with thick jackets. Shin Hye thanked the Heavens for making the weather very cold, for making this bed weather for humans.

But her thoughts halted when she remembered her task for that night. She grabbed her notebook from the pocket of her chima and read the content. A soul named Takaki Maki, a Japanese tourist who met an accident this morning, and is currently in the hospital in a comatose state, will be her next work. It was also in their job description to gather the souls of everyone in their jurisdiction, even if not a native of that country.

"Aish!" Shin Hye exclaimed when her notebook fell off her grip. As she bent down to grab the notebook, a dog came and grabbed her notebook.

"Andwae!!!!" she begged the dog and played tag with it. "No, not my notebook!"

"Tan-i!" a male voice called out.

The dog dropped the notebook and ran to its master. When Shin Hye looked up, she was surprised to see it was Jong Hyun who called his dog. He took notice of a milky white maiden in pink and white hanbok that he stopped his track and went to her. He smiled, bent down to retrieve the notebook on the ground, and gave it to her. Shin Hye was startled why Jong Hyun could even see her.

"Agasshi, please forgive my dog," he said. "Tan is a very playful dog, just like my Shiro."

Shin Hye also noticed the other dog Jong Hyun was tagging along. She took the notebook and nodded. "Gamsahamnida."

"Agasshi is in a hanbok. Ran away from a wedding?" he asked.

"Ah... ne..." she lied. She suddenly felt anger within her and have to ask Junhwan-hyungnim about this. But she had to keep it inside. "Uh, I need to go now. Annyeonghegaseyo."

"Annyeonghegaseyo," Jong Hyun replied as well.

He watched Shin Hye go away, his heart feeling as if he had a crush on her. He thanked Tan for misbehaving tonight.

****

"Hyungnim! Why did you let an ingan (human) see me?" she asked over the mobile phone.

But Junhwan-hyungnim only laughed heartily.

"Because uri Shin Hye-ya is so pretty! She needs to meet a lot of boys!"

"Hyungnim!" Shin Hye grumbled like a cute girl.

****

"I have to keep it a secret," Hani said while lying on her bed in her dark room. "I have to."

 

 

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