It was a cold summer night when Seunghoon and Jinwoo finished unloading the boxes of their belongings in their new home. Their new house was located at the countryside near the sea, which was just the perfect place because both of them grew up near the ocean.

For a two-story house that had a garden, veranda, and even a balcony in the master’s bedroom that was overlooking the ocean, the price of the house was surprisingly less expensive than Seunghoon anticipated, and it was worth every penny. Seunghoon had expected that it would take two or more years of their savings to buy the place, but it only amounted to one year’s worth.

Everything was worth it. Seunghoon can already see himself in his seventies drinking coffee at the veranda with Jinwoo and watching their children's children playing in the garden.

The town was just a few kilometers drive away, so supplies were not a problem. Their house was also the only house on the street, meaning, Seunghoon didn't have to deal with neighbors – getting friendly with neighbors wasn’t his forte; it was Jinwoo’s. Plus, he and Jinwoo can make all the noise they want. Better than suppressing their moans and screams, like what they did in their old apartment that had thin walls – where their neighbors were an elderly couple that filed a complaint the first time Jinwoo and Seunghoon did it there. This house was definitely a huge improvement from their old home, and Seunghoon was happy to have made this deal when he saw the real estate ad online.

Seunghoon flops on the couch after dinner and stares at the boxes scattered in the living room. He sighs at the thought that they still have to unpack their belongings. He is too tired, because they spent most of the day on the road, taking turns driving. They arrived at their new home just before sunset, and finished unloading the boxes by dinner time.

The house was surprisingly clean. Seunghoon takes note that he will write a five-star review on the real estate agency’s app for the service later. They eat cold Chinese take-out on the veranda overlooking the garden, Seunghoon thought the garden was kind of creepy because it looked empty, except for an old tree surrounded by withered plants and some wild weeds. Jinwoo assured to him that they will make this place beautiful for their future kids. They were already two years into their marriage, and both of them were ready for the commitment of child rearing. The sole reason for moving out from their city apartment and moving to a more refreshing rural life near the ocean was because they wanted their future child to experience growing up near the sea like how they were both brought up.

Seunghoon inhales the scent of coffee coming from the kitchen – Jinwoo was always on time whenever Seunghoon was exhausted from the day's work. Jinwoo walks into the living room and straddles Seunghoon's lap.  He didn’t bring any coffee and Jinwoo buries his face in his husband’s neck and whispers into his ear, "I'm exhausted.”

"So no coffee?" Seunghoon asks stupidly.

"You don't want me?" Jinwoo murmurs in his neck, tickling him.

"I thought you were exhausted," Seunghoon says, sliding his hand up and down on Jinwoo's back.

"I'm never too exhausted for this." Jinwoo smirks and kisses him sloppily.

Like he mentioned earlier, Jinwoo was always on time whenever he felt the day’s exhaustion. They slowly make their way to the bedroom (ditching the coffee) and they make love until morning.

Everything is perfect.

Or at least, that is what Seunghoon thinks.

He wakes up around noon and finds Jinwoo still sleeping soundly beside him. Seunghoon's morning never felt so peaceful before. There were no car noises, no polluted city air; just the faint smell of the sea mixed with the scent of trees and the sound of the leaves whenever the summer breeze blew.

Seunghoon kisses Jinwoo on his temple before walking down to the living room to get his electronic cigarette, Seunghoon rummages through the boxes when he spots something moving from the corner of his eye in the kitchen. He checks the empty kitchen, and chalks it up to his imagination. He rubs the sleep from his eyes and starts searching through one of the boxes that contained small items like table photo frames and letter openers. He finds his electric cigarette, places it between his lips after wiping it with a wet tissue, and starts to decorate the living room with the photo frames.

He goes back to the kitchen later, inhaling and exhaling once from his electric cigarette before opening the fridge to check if there was anything he can make for breakfast.

"Smoking is bad for your health."

Jinwoo's voice sounded off today – he told Jinwoo that he would get him water last night, but then Jinwoo was already asleep when he got back in the bedroom with his water.

"Didn't I already tell you that I'm slowly quitting, that's why I have this?" Seunghoon says, wiggling the electronic cigarette between his fingers. He looks at the kitchen's entrance where he heard Jinwoo's voice but found no one there.

"Jinwoo?" Seunghoon looks around the living room, but there were no signs of Jinwoo.

"Jinwoo, if you are trying to scare me, it’s working." Seunghoon goes back upstairs, thinking that Jinwoo was playing a prank on him, but his husband is still fast asleep. He knows because whenever Jinwoo tries to prank him, Jinwoo can’t keep his composure for too long and starts laughing.

"You can hear me?"

Seunghoon hears it clearly now, and it wasn't Jinwoo's voice he heard earlier. Seunghoon looks at where the voice is coming from and sees a translucent person hovering behind him.

What the it’s a ghost. Seunghoon thinks before he faints.

 

 

 

 

 

Jinwoo wakes up to a loud thud and sees Seunghoon lying weirdly on the floor, "Seunghoonie, what are you doing there?"

"Oh no, I think I scared him."

Jinwoo sees a flying person in front of Seunghoon, who is apparently knocked out cold. What in the world, is that a ghost?

"Get away from him!" Jinwoo is worried, thinking how terrified Seunghoon must have been since he knows how Seunghoon really dislikes ghosts or anything related to the undead. He learned that the hard way when he insisted that they should go inside a horror house in an amusement park. Seunghoon clung to him like a huge koala throughout the whole walk inside the horror house, resulting in both of them falling down on the floor, and their amusement park date ended with both of them going to the hospital – his nose bled, and Seunghoon's ankle got sprained.

"Wait, you can see me too? I mean no harm," the ghost says, as he started crying. "You are the first two people who have been able to see me in years.”

Jinwoo is speechless. This is the weirdest thing he has ever experienced in his whole life.

"Can you just listen to what I have to say, please?" The ghost is on his knees, bowing in front of him, still floating.

Jinwoo doesn't even know what comes over him, but he says yes to the ghost. Jinwoo knows that this is going to be a long day for him and Seunghoon.

Jinwoo carries Seunghoon onto the bed, and starts listening to what the ghost is saying. Apparently, the ghost’s name is Seungyoon, and he is already dead (obviously), but his spirit remained in this world. He says that there's something in this world that still has a hold on him, that's why his spirit won't rest. Seungyoon feels that his old lover has a big part in all of this, and Seungyoon needs to find him. But the problem is he couldn't leave the house, no matter how hard he tried.  Jinwoo and Seunghoon are the only ones that are able to talk to and see him in years.

Seungyoon tells Jinwoo that this old house was built and owned by Seungyoon's grandfather, and was given to him when his grandfather died. Seungyoon lived here until unforeseen circumstances happened. His lover was sent to war, and after a few months, Seungyoon was diagnosed with leukemia. Seungyoon never got to be reunited with his lover in the end, and now Seungyoon is asking for their help – he wants to see his lover again in hopes that his lover holds the key to why his soul hasn't ascended to the afterlife.

"Fine. I'll talk to Seunghoon when he wakes up," Jinwoo says to Seungyoon after hearing his story. The ghost sheds some tears again, trying to reach out to Jinwoo for a hug, but he just passes through Jinwoo, who feels chills all over his body.

 

 

 

 

 

Seunghoon wakes up with a terrible headache – he just had the weirdest dream. "Jinwoo..." Seunghoon calls out hoarsely, looking around the bedroom for his husband.

"He's preparing your lunch. By the way, sorry about earlier. I mean no harm."

"Shut up. This is a dream. This is a dream," Seunghoon chants, covering himself with the blanket. At that moment, he thinks this is why the house was so cheap. The house is haunted. Seunghoon is definitely not giving five stars on the real estate agency's app.

"Seungyoon! I told you to not show yourself until I talk to him." Seunghoon hears Jinwoo, who just entered the bedroom.

"You named him?" Seunghoon feels betrayed – his own husband, conspiring with a ghost.

"No, that's his name," Jinwoo explains to him.

"How long was I passed out that I wake up to my husband being friends with a ghost?”

"It’s a long story. Will you just listen Seunghoonie." Jinwoo sits on the bed beside him trying to explain everything properly to his hard-headed husband.

"I'm not listening." Seunghoon grabs a cross that was hanging on the wall and points it at Seungyoon. "Demon be gone!” Seunghoon, terrified, moves closer to Jinwoo and hides behind his back, hugging him and burying his face on Jinwoo’s neck. Jinwoo is secretly enjoying this.

"Crosses and holy water does not work on me. If it did, I'd be long gone by now. I'm a spirit, not a demon,"  Seungyoon says flying through the walls and terrifying Seunghoon more.

“Stop that Seungyoon,” Jinwoo scolds him then he faces towards Seunghoon, “and Lee Seunghoon, will you just listen to me." Jinwoo looks serious now.

"Okay, fine," Seunghoon says in defeat. He can never go against Jinwoo.

And Jinwoo retells Seungyoon’s story.

"Okay, fine. I'll help,” Seunghoon sighs. “Thank Jinwoo for this, Casper."

"Who's Casper?"  Seungyoon asks, confused.

"Don't mind him," Jinwoo says, rolling his eyes at how childish Seunghoon sounds calling Seungyoon Casper.

"So what can we do to help you?" Seunghoon asks.

"I need to get inside of you."  Seungyoon blurts out.

"What the ?! No."

"That came out wrong. I need to possess either one of you so I can get out of the house."  Seungyoon explains to them.

"Hell ing no, ghost boy. I won't let you get inside me or my husband." Seunghoon says.

"But..."

"No buts. I'll think of another way without Casper possessing either of us."

"Who's Casper?"

 

 

 

 

 

Jinwoo thinks having a ghost in your home is just like having a pet dog that can talk. Seungyoon follows them around, asking a lot of questions while he and Seunghoon were unpacking their belongings and cleaning the rest of the house.

 

"How long have you guys been in a relationship?"

"Where did you meet?"

"Did your parents oppose the marriage?"

"Are you going to adopt a kid?"

 

The cutest thing was Seunghoon kept on answering Seungyoon's questions as if Seungyoon is his new found pet.

 

"13 years."

"In middle school."

"No. They were supportive."

"Yes we are."

 

Seungyoon whines and tells them how jealous he is. "The whole town opposed of my relationship with Mino, that's why they sent him to the army to keep the twp of us apart."

"That's the first time you said your lover's name," Seunghoon comments as he walks to the kitchen to cook dinner.

"Yeah, his name is Song Mino. I met him in middle school too."  Seungyoon flies around Seunghoon, like a cute puppy with his owner.

"Stop that!" Seunghoon snaps at him, but Seungyoon isn't listening.

Seunghoon sighs. "Have you tried possessing an item? Like a toy maybe?"

Seungyoon says that he did try to possess a doll, but the doll was too fragile and couldn't contain a soul like how a living thing can. He was able to speak, but he wasn't able to move. Seungyoon tried to talk to the doll's owner – the child of the old couple who bought this place a few years back. Seungyoon also tried to possess the child, but her body was still weak, that if Seungyoon succeeded, the child's soul might not be able to regain its control over the body. So Seungyoon tried talking to the parents using the doll, but they freaked out, and the next day they left the house. After the incident the rumors began spreading that the house was haunted.

"That sounds exactly like something that happens in a horror movie." Seunghoon feels the hairs on his skin standing from the chills. And there are no happy endings in every horror movie he have watched with Jinwoo.

"How old are you?"  Seungyoon asks him.

"I'm 29. Jinwoo is older than me by four months."

"That means I'm younger. Seunghoon-hyung. Seunghoon-hyung."  Seungyoon excitedly flies around the kitchen, knocking down a few pots and plates with his spirit’s force in the process.

"Hey. You're already dead for a long time. You're way older. And clean those up."

Jinwoo enters the kitchen before Seungyoon could protest that he can’t actually pick items up because it would just pass through him. Jinwoo says that he could try asking details about Mino from some of his patient’s moms when he starts work as the pediatrician for the town's clinic the day after tomorrow. Seunghoon will start work as the town's veterinarian on the same day as well.

They indeed really had a long day, so Seunghoon decides to call it a night after dinner." Since we are the new owners of this house, I have some house rules, boy."

"What?"

"Since you don't sleep and probably don't take a bath, the bathroom and the master’s bedroom are off limits."

"I still can hear you guys, for your information. And I do sleep," Seungyoon says, and Seunghoon interrogatively raises his eyebrows, because - what? A spirit can sleep?

"Well, not sleep, something like spiritua