“This is serious, Hara. We have to tell the police”, Mina whispered harshly at her as they tried to pretend reading in a  public library. They thought whoever was haunting them would not expect a library to be their temporary sanctuary.

“No, we can’t. The police will not take this seriously. Besides, they will just say it was an accident”, Hara replied with tremors in her voice. “ Have you try calling the voice message number?”

“Idiot. Of course I have but obviously there’s no answer”, Mina rolled her eyes.

“Can we , you know, try to find someone to track the number?”, Hara asked.

“It is not easy to do like in the crime dramas. Beside, you  need a hacker to do the job”.

“I don’t think girls like you need a hacker. You need an exorcist for this”, said an unknown guy as he casually took a seat beside them.

“Who are you and why do we need to an exorcist for?” Hara glared at the intruder who had a really big nose and a goofy smile.

“You guys had done something wrong. You almost kill someone with a joke and now the ghost was really upset with you guys”, another guy, this time more handsome than the first, pulled back a chair and sat on it like he was one of them or something. He wore a pair of blue jeans complete with a denim jacket as if he had came out straight out from a photoshoot.

“It was only a joke. Also, he’s not dead. He’s in a coma”, Mina retorted back, crossing her arms, not glad with the sudden intrusion.

“ Oh please. Everyone knows that people in a comatose state is usually  a spirit in limbo. Maybe he wants you out of the picture before he goes to the light”, scoffed the goofy guy. “ Anyway, my name is Ken and I am one of the Psychic Duo”, that earned a smack on the arm from the handsome guy.

“Hyung!  I told you to not to use that name. By the way,  my name is Hongbin and please ignore the ridiculous name”, Hongbin started as Ken hit him on the shoulder.

“How many times do I have to tell to not use your real name?!”, Ken exclaimed, earning another eye roll from Hongbin.

“Fine! Fine! If it’s true what you are saying, then how do we stop it?”, Hara snapped, earning a disbelief look from her friend.

Ken grinned at her.” It’s simple. We do a ritual to dispel the spirit but we do need to prepare some stuff and we also need a deposit”.

“A deposit. I swear, you sound like a con man”, Mina humphed.

“Oh please, the herbs needed for the ritual are rare and not cheap. However, if you are waiting to get into some accident in the near future, then we will be out of your way”, Hongbin stood up and was about to leave when Hara grabbed his hand.

“Okay, just tell us what to do”.

---

Hara and Mina shivered under the bridge, their coats did little to stop the chilly air from touching their skin. They were now under a bridge, watching the two self-claimed exorcist created runes on the pavement using white chalk. Besides them were some herbs and other green vegetation, some were red in colour.

Ken got up from his kneeling position and dusted his knees.

“Ok, girls. Now both of you stand in the middle of the circle and we will summon the spirit and get rid of it for good”, Ken flashed them another grin.

“It better works”, Mina grumbled as she rubbed her arms.

“Of course it will work. You paid us greatly and we certainly do not want to betray your trust”.

Hongbin grunted as he grabbed a thick book from the ground and flipped the the pages.

“Ok, hyung. I’m ready to start the ritual. Ok, Hara, Mina, close your eyes and do not open them until I say so. You don’t want to see terrifying stuff from beyond”.

Both of the girls kept their eyes shut as they heard Hongbin began chanting some weird language. The wind suddenly blowed, causing their perfect hair to become disarray.

Suddenly the chanting stopped and also the wind. The sudden and prolonged silence prompted Mina to open her eyes.

“Hara, open your eyes. We got tricked”.

“Huh?”, Hara opened her eyes and saw Ken and Hongbin nowhere to be seen. She swore she could faint laughter from afar.

---

Mina grumbled on her way home on foot because she could not ask her driver to drive her at night or her father would scold her. She scoffed at the idea, she was a grown up but he still treat her like a child.

Hara at least was bold enough to catch a cab, leaving her to trudge her way home through busy and crowded streets. At least there was that. She could not imagine that the person haunting them would do something in public.

“That’s it. I’m taking a cab and when I go home, I will have a nice warm shower”, she muttered to herself. She reached into her purse and a terrible realisation hit her like a truck.

Her money got stolen by those handsome conmen. She was about to shriek her displeasure so she kept on making her way to her home. She passed by a construction site, relief relaxed her features as it was a familiar landmark to her house.

She heard something snapped and she could just look up.

 

Hara yawned, the trip home too much of her energy. She had not seen Mina since last night but maybe she took the oppurtunity to play truant.

“Sneaky girl”, Hara thought to herself as she sat down alone on her, no, reserved table at the canteen. The table was empty and quiet without her friends and  a pang of loneliness struck so hard that her eyes stung.

She clenched her fist, not wanting to look weak in front of anyone. Lee Hara would not cry because she was a strong girl, the one who would always get her way.

She glanced at the television, the news reporting about an accident at a construction site.

Then she heard the name.

“Witness saw a pile of suspended bricks fell onto a girl, Na Mina, a student of the Byul School as she was walking home. She was immediately taken to L hospital. Investigators had concluded that the event was  an accident because there was no sign of foul play or anyone breaking into the site. Meanwhile, on other news....”

The students immediately looked back at the supposed diva queen but she had disappeared, her food untouched.

Hara sat alone on the staircase, her eyes were welling up with tears. She angrily wiped them away but stopped when her phone vibrated. She knew what was coming yet she opened the voice message anyway.

“Oh my, what an accident”.