Hear, Hear

Midnight Madness

Chanyeol and Jongdae were engaged in a deep conversation with each other when Tao sprinted right past where they stood at the bottom of the stairs. They promptly furrowed their brows as Tao's loud yelling resounded throughout the room.

"Run! Run for your life!" The latter panted while flailing around wildly.

They were hardly surprised as Joonmyeon appeared after him, struggling to balance the plates in his hands while running after Tao.

"You only say that in case of emergency and food does not fall under that category, Huang Zitao!"

"Mental that one." Chanyeol commented.

Jongdae shruggged. "No surprise."

"Go outside." Joonmyeon said stiffly when he noticed them. "Siwon is doing a BBQ party to welcome us."

Chanyeol stared at Jongdae and Jongdae stared at him. Out of nowhere, they burst out laughing at the sight of Joonmyeon scurrying away to get away as far as possible from them. Their laugh only faded at last when they arrived at the front yard, where almost everyone was gathered around the bonfire. They found Tao already seated there with twinkling eyes as he eyed the plate of chickens oh-so-conveniently placed before him while Joonmyeon and Baekhyun were helping Siwon with the grilling. Chanyeol sniggered when he realised Baekhyun was flirting with the young attorney instead of actually doing any cooking.

"Let's eat!" Jongin announced impatiently, already reaching out for a piece of drummet. But, he was stopped by Kyungsoo, who swatted his hand away with a glare.

"It's not cooked yet, you dumb ."

"Rubbish!" Jongin accused. "I saw it being cooked with my very own eyes just now!"

Kyungsoo quirked his brow and simply pointed at Tao. "You meant, you saw that one being cooked."

Jongin widened his eyes in horror as he caught sight of Tao his fingers, a huge empty plate with the unmistakable trace of grilled chicken in his lap. A loud, ear-splitting scream of anguish escaped Jongin's lips no seconds later.

"My chicken! My beloved chicken! Damn you, chicken thief! I curse you on the name of the Lord of Chicken and may the chicken in your stomach wakes up tonight and choke you to death!" Jongin wept dramatically, actual tears staining his cheeks as he pointed an accusing finger at Tao from where he fell on his knees on the ground. It didn't took long before he unceremoniously toppled backwards and began thrashing around while kicking his feets in the air. When he grew tired of doing so, he sprung up and blindly ran in Tao's direction, hands stretched out in preparation to choke him to death. 

"People can mistook this place as a mental instuition and I won't even be surprised." Minseok said, unbothered by Tao desperately gasping for air in the background. "Kyungsoo?"

Kyungsoo was easily distinguished as not paying attention. He was staring at a distance instead and one could almost mistook him to be lost in thought if it's not because of his deeply furrowed brows.

"I'll be back." He simply said before rosing up from his seat and trudged to the direction of the back yard.

"What--"

"SOMEONE GET THIS WILD BABOON THE OFF ME!"

Minseok rolled his eyes as he turned to see Tao wrestling his way out of Jongin's arm bar. The rest did nothing to help, too busy on cheering them on instead.

"Wushu his , Tao!"

"You go, girl! Go go, power puff girl!"

"Bitey bitey, punchy punchy, kicky kicky!"

"What the ?" Minseok muttered at Sehun's what could only be confirmed as baby talk. Only Joonmyeon and Yixing remained sane, quietly finishing their meal with the former occasionally sighing. Well, or so they thought until Yixing suddenly spoke up.

"Ghost stories!"

~~X~~

Kyungsoo bit his bottom lip in concentration as he tried his best to quiten down his footsteps. It was steadily growing harder to do so when the faint outline of a skinny man before him quickened his steps and he was forced to follow suit in order to keep track of him. He had absolutely no idea about his identity, simply trailing after him out of curiosity. But, he was determined to figure it out because the man had been watching them for quite a while. 

He had first noticed when he felt shiver running down his spine, realizing that he was being watched. He had instantly looked up and searched for any sign of being watched by the others first, but they were too immersed in watching Tao and that stupid chicken maniac. He came to the horrifying realisation that there was someone else around the house, finally catching sight of the stranger half-hidden behind a shady tree. It was nearly impossible to recognize any of his features except the obvious average height. The stranger continued watching them for quite a while before he finally turned around and began walking away, in which Kyungsoo immediately followed suit.

"Where is he going?" Kyungsoo muttered quietly to himself as they slowly inched farther from the house. It was getting hard to see in the dark surrounding and Kyungsoo sincerely hoped the stranger was going to stop any sooner.

To his relief, the other finally halted his steps. Kyungsoo noticed a little bit later that he was standing before a small house, situated behind a couple of trees as if purposely hidden from view in case someone ever looked out from the large mansion. Kyungsoo waited with anticipating breath, expecting him to enter the dimly lit house. But, he suddenly turned around instead and Kyungsoo swore his gaze was directed to where he was hiding behind one of the trees. He gulped when the stranger began moving forward, heading to his direction. He contemplated on making his way out of there, but his feets somehow remained glued to the ground.

"I can see you." He had the strangest voice ever. It was low and croaky, almost as if he had been keeping silence for years.

Kyungsoo froze, eyes widened in horror while shivering slightly. "H-How?" He knew it was no use to hide anymore and slowly stepped forward. The faint light from the house helped him to get a better view of the stranger, finally able to get a glimpse of his youthful face. Despite the youthful look, there was no trace of smile in his face and he could only be described as a rather cold-looking person.

"Your footsteps." He replied curtly. "Why are you following me?"

"Oh, I was just wondering who are you because I've never seen you--"

"I'm the gardener of this house."

Kyungsoo furrowed his brows. He wondered why Siwon had never informed them about this.

As if reading his mind, the other quickly added. "I'm just a part-time worker. I'm not always here."

"Is that so?" Kyungsoo finally smiled, extending his hand out. "Well, nice to meet you then."

Instead of accepting his hand right away, the stranger mustered a tiny smile. Kyungsoo missed the mysterious and strange gleam flashing in his eyes when the gardener eventually did shook his hand.

"Welcome to the house."

~~X~~

Somehow, they found themselves ending up of listening to Yixing's random suggestion. After pulling Tao away from Jongin, they settled around the bonfire all over again. They were currently looking up at Yixing, waiting as the latter looked into the sky with a dazed look.

"So?" Minseok finally voiced out, nudging the dazed male slightly.

Yixing was snapped into reality before he stared back at them, blinking profusely. "What?"

"Your so-called ghost stories!" Baekhyun exclaimed in annoyance. "You suggested it so shouldn't you be the one telling the stories?"

"When?"

"What do you mean when?" Baekhyun said impatiently, rolling his eyes.

"What stories?" Yixing asked, blinking again.

Jongdae and Chanyeol instantly did a major facepalm.

"You know what, never mind." Jongdae began, straightening up with a sly smile. "I'll start first. It just so happens that I just recently heard a very interesting story about this very house. Rumors or facts, whatever you choose to believe." His smile deepened as his eyes caught the sight of a terrified Tao already cowering behind Joonmyeon, trying his best to cover his ears as much as possible.

"Go ahead." Minseok snickered, completely indifferent.

Jongdae scoffed at his nonchalant behavior. "Just promise you won't bother my sleep tonight. I'm not responsible if you start seeing things around the house."

"In your dream." Jongdae raised a brow but said nothing further. He cleared his throat and closed his eyes. When he began his story, his voice dropped an octave lower for special effects.

"Long times ago, there was a small family living in this house. They have a pair of children, a son and a daughter. The son loves to fix things, alway being seen in the garage where he spent most of his time fixing broken things for hours. Meanwhile, the daughter was barely five and she has a hobby of collecting dolls. One day, the father came home and brought a new doll for the little girl's collection. It was a majestic-looking doll, specifically bought by the father's friend abroad. She loves it so much that she never allow anybody to touch it." Jongdae's eyes snapped open and the reflection from the bonfire made him appeared slightly hysterical.

"This is such a crappy story." Minseok muttered under his breath.

"What happened next?" Tao squeaked, peering from behind Joonmyeon's shoulder curiously.

"The older brother found the doll one day, lying abandoned across the couch at the living room. He hated the doll from the very beginning because he always had the strange, tingling feeling that it was watching him and he knew something was just wrong with it. He made up his mind right away and grabbed the doll, sprinting to his garage at top speed. There, he took his tools and began mutilating the doll until it was unrecognizable. But, the little girl appeared before he was able to hide the evidence of his doing and rumors had it that when they found the body later, it was mutilated beyond recognizable."

Tao gasped loudly and scrambled to hide behind Joonmyeon again, chanting words of assurance to himself. Meanwhile, Minseok still had a skeptical look on his face.

"Then, what happened to the rest of the family and the girl?" He inquired, obviously trying to humor the storyteller.

Jongdae shrugged. "Rumors had it that they send the little girl to a mental instuition and the parents sold this house because they were too heartbroken with their son's cruel death. People said that the little girl ended up of running away from the mental instuition to return to this house, looking for the doll because it was said that nobody ever saw it again after the older brother's death. It just disappeared, poof!"

Minseok rolled his eyes and stood up, dusting his clothes. "It's just a made-up story." He commented nonchalantly. "I can't believe anyone would even buy that."

"B-But.." Tao whined in protest.

"Careful there, Mister I'm-Not-Scared-Of-Ghosts." Jongdae warned. "There's more to the story. When she returned to the house, she never found the doll so she stayed here until the last moment of her life. People said that she never even left. They said that her soul still remained here, still searching for her missing doll."

Minseok sneered in response. "Thanks for your concern but I'll be just fine, Mister Making-Up-Stories-Is-My-Favorite-Pastime."

"I've warned you!" Jongdae shouted after Minseok though he just waved dismissively as he made his way into the house. Jongdae huffed loudly, watching with an annoyed glare as everyone else also made their way inside without so much as a glance toward him. It was obvious they were not buying the story either, save for a certain clumsily stumbling around panda boy. They were so going to pay for this.

~~X~~

Minseok was in the midst of washing his face when he realised-bedgrudgingly-that he had forgotten to bring his toothpaste. He cursed under his breath as he quickly closed the tap and stepped out of the bathroom. He raised a brow at the still empty bedroom, weirded out by the lack of presence of a certain someone. He shrugged dismissively, and set out to the nearest room he can find. It happened to be Baekhyun's room.

"Baek, can I borrow your toothpaste? I forgot to--ARGHH!" Minseok instantly landed on his as he placed his arms before him defensively and squeezed his eyes shut.

"Minseok?" Baekhyun had an apologetic grin on his face as he peeked from where he was hiding behind the door, a bat hanging loosely in his hold. He quickly rushed to his side and offered his hand to the latter, in which he responded by swatting the hand away with a glare.

"The is that?" Minseok spat furiously. He pointed at the bat and gritted his teeth. "The is this?"

Baekhyun sheepishly rubbed his nape with his free hand. "I thought you were the giant creep. I was planning on knocking him out and leaving him somewhere.." He placed the bat against the wall. "..preferably in the pool or in the middle of the road."

Minseok facepalmed. "Seriously, Baek?'

"What?" He huffed and crossed his arms in a defensive stance. "I might get molested in my sleep if I ever let him get near me!"

Minseok raised his hands in defeat and mumbled incoherently under his breath as he simply darted to the bathroom and came out no seconds later with the toothpaste in his hand. Meanwhile, Baekhyun stayed rooted in his position, merely trailing his eyes after the other as he approached. His brows flew to his hairline though when Minseok suddenly halted, his eyes widened to the point it was almost bulging out of its sockets. He raised a hand and began pointing wildly while stumbling around his words.

"What?" Baekhyun furrowed his brows in confusion, unable to catch the other's jumble of words.

"B-Behind..you.." Minseok choke out at last, growing more and more breathless by time. Baekhyun formed an 'O' with his lips and casually turned around, only to stumble backwards and almost toppled over a shaking Minseok.

"G-Gg.."

"GHOST!" Both of them shouted in unison when they finally found their voice and quickly began scrambling away in panic, only to land face first on the ground before they hastily got up and sprinted to the opposite direction of their fear. Their fading screams as they flailed around to find a place to hide was suddenly mingled with a burst of loud laughter. Two heavily white cloaked figures were bending over with their hands bracing their knees, desperately gasping for air as they continued laughing for a while.

"Did you see that?"

"The look on their face was priceless." Chanyeol slapped a hand across his stomach as he attempted to stop his fit of hysterical laughter. "I just can't--Too epic!"

Jongdae smirked as he tugged the white cloth and ripped it off his head. "That should teach them a lesson."

Chanyeol nodded in agreement while taking off the white cloth as well. He grinned in satisfaction as he peered into the empty bedroom, rubbing his hands together like a mad scientist. He turned around to face Jongdae again, placing a hand on the latter's shoulder with a dramatic sigh.

"What should I do without you?"

"Shrivel up and die."

Chanyeol scowled playfully and punched his arm. He looked up as he made a move to retreat to his bedroom when a sight suddenly caught his attention. He gulped and tightened his clutch onto Jongdae's shoulder as he blinked once, twice.

"What are you looking at--Oh, ."

And then, there was the loud thud of something heavy falling and hit the floor.

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Thank you!
QianRenXin
I'm so sorry for the super duper late update, but it's been crazy hectic in my life lately that it's almost impossible for me to come up with something to present to u guys. I hope u guys do forgive this lacking author of yours. T_T

Comments

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Missanion
#1
Chapter 9: What? So...Chanyeol sleeped the whole time since they left them with Minseok and Baek? WHAT? Did the ghosts take his form ? Or was he possessed since the beginning? ? Where are the others?
Missanion
#2
Chapter 8: I feel sorry for Yifan. He seems to be quite afraid of Tao and not as anoying as his friends. He is big and tall but helpless haha.
Kyungsoo is the bravest of them all.
Missanion
#3
Chapter 6: Chanyeol exposed Jongdae 😂😂. What a good friend he is
Missanion
#4
Chapter 5: Hahaha this chapter was really funny. Tao and Yifan's relationship will change from here. Same goes for Baek, Yeol, Dae and Minseok.
Missanion
#5
Chapter 4: Who is that supposed 'gardener'?? It is strange that Siwon didn't mention him at all. And Kyungsoo dear, it is not very smart from you to follow a stranger alone in the dark, in a placer you don't know.
Missanion
#6
Chapter 3: I love Jongdae hahaha.
Missanion
#7
Chapter 2: Why would they even agree to go there for an inheritance coming out of nowhere from someone unknown to them? ? They didn't even question the fact that the unknown person asked for them specifically? When they are not related at all? ? That should had sound a little bit fishy ,shouldn't it? ?
shennlingg
#8
Chapter 18: I really like this fic! But since it has been a long time since it's been updated... I feel the need to ask: is this already cancelled? It's not an indirect or something to make you update right now but I'm just asking so I don't wait in vain... 🥹
Missanion
#9
Chapter 1: It is interesting. I want to know who the 2 figures are.
Missanion
#10
I like The crack part, not so sure with the horror but I will give it a try.