“Did you even hear what I just said?” Minwoo asked in disbelief. He blinked his eyes twice, and huffed in annoyance. God, it wasn’t everyday he was finally being serious enough to give someone a life talk literally, and this man in front of him just confirmed that whatever he said was rubbish?

“Yes, I did.” Dongwan glared at the annoyed man, “but like I said, that’s you, Minwoo. That’s not me.”

Minwoo crossed his arms and looked away. Pausing for a moment, he took a breath and tried to get his idea into Dongwan’s thick head, “Haven’t you thought of your family then? How they would feel if you were gone? You don’t know what you are missing out really. When I died, I saw my mom out there crying. I couldn’t even comfort her, and she was all alone. You don’t want to experience that.”

“It doesn’t matter.” Minwoo couldn’t believe his ears when he heard that. Rubbing his ears subconsciously, he felt his blood boil at the nonchalance of that statement. True that they had not started out on a good note, and it doesn’t matter whether Dongwan listened to him in the end. He had no position to be in control of Dongwan’s life. But to say that his family didn’t matter? Was Kim Dongwan really that cold-blooded?

“What do you mean it doesn’t matter?! How can family not matter? You-” Minwoo pointed at him in fury, his finger shaking from the all the anger being unleashed.

“It doesn’t matter, because I have no family!” Dongwan suddenly grabbed Minwoo’s collar with so much force the both of them clashed. Biting out those words bitterly, he cut off Minwoo’s sentence.

A deafening silence hung in the air, so much so that all could be heard was Dongwan’s panting and his erratic heartbeat from the outburst, and Minwoo’s non-existent hearbeat. Minwoo had flinched at Dongwan’s outburst, yet he could not hide the shock that was evident in his eyes. He felt his heart sank upon looking at Dongwan’s bloodshot eyes.

“It doesn’t matter, Minwoo, because there is no one here who will cry for me. It doesn’t matter, because there is nothing else in this world worth waiting and fighting for.” Dongwan gripped his collar with so much force his knuckles turned white, and Minwoo could not do anything much than just stare into Dongwan’s eyes.

“You-”

“And it certainly doesn’t matter, because I’m going to hell anyway for not being able to save my own brother. Why not go and report earlier, right?” Dongwan whispered, giving Minwoo a ghostly smile before slowly letting go of Minwoo’s collar. Taking a few steps back, he allowed some space between them, before finally turning away and going into his room.

Moments later, he appeared after changing, and Minwoo was still at that spot, stunned at the interaction that they had. Dongwan glanced at Minwoo while straightening his shirt, his face stiff as he spoke without any hint of emotion, “I apologise for that outburst earlier. I appreciate your efforts for wanting to help me, but it isn’t necessary. I’ll be off for a breather.”

Not waiting for Minwoo to reply or even react, Dongwan opened the front door and left. Minwoo sat down with his mind whirling, sighing that Dongwan had not even bothered to switch off his laptop before going out. Reaching out, he shut the laptop to hibernate mode before going deep in thought.

“You were right about that.” A soft voice spoke in the silent room, and Minwoo instantly whipped his head towards the source of the voice.

“What?” Minwoo asked, still stunned from the drama that had happened earlier.

“You were right about the part about regretting after committing suicide. That was nice of you to knock some sense into his head.” It was Junjin, who was standing at the top of the stairs. He spoke meekly, and was the same as how Minwoo had seen him the last time.

“Oh.” Minwoo made a sound with his mouth opened. This boy was really mysterious, from where he came from, why he was here even after he committed suicide and every action of his was really a mystery. Minwoo shook his head, and smiled somewhat sadly, “I didn’t do much, and it sounded like I was nagging for no reason, isn’t it? If you had seen the entire show from the start.”

“He listens to you, you know. He understands what message you were trying to bring across, but I plead you to forgive him for this. He is too broken inside, shattered to a million pieces and there was no one to mend him. He must have had a difficult life.” Junjin sat down beside Minwoo, his eyes distant as he spoke, always with that small and soft voice. It was as if he was in a faraway place.

“There is nothing to forgive. I understood him as well.” Minwoo sighed.

“Is it true though?” Junjin questioned again.

“Is it true that the souls of people who commit suicide shatter into dust and disappear into nothing?” Junjin asked, looking at the confused look etched on Minwoo’s face. Thinking hard, Minwoo’s head cocked to one side as he tried to give the best answer he could.

“Almost instantly, I think. They can’t see me. I tried to prevent them from dying, but there was nothing I can do unless they saw me like Dongwan did. I didn’t even have the time to talk to them when their souls left their bodies. The grim reaper arrived and once they were registered, they shattered.”

“Did the grim reaper not see you then?”

“No, no he didn’t. I don’t even know why. I was even standing in front of him, yet he seemed to have not noticed me. It took me at least a few months to know that I was stuck in the purgatory, with no one here to talk to since they would just go straight to heaven or hell most of the time.”

“Then why didn’t I disappear then?” Junjin mumbled, “I should’ve disappeared since I committed suicide, yet I’ve never met the grim reaper even once.”

“What is keeping you here then?” Minwoo threw out the most important question.