-  eyewitness account -

"Okay, so let's say you knew anything about a summoner called..." Jongin began and then looked at Tao who stood next to him and leaned in with a frown.
"Zhang Yixing," Tao said loud enough that Kyungsoo at the other end of the line could probaby hear him. Just to make sure, Jongin repeated the name into the receiver.
"He works in the north," Tao added. Jongin blinked at him in irritation because he knew that much or else he wouldn't have contacted Kim Minseok, but then he continued, "He works for the Northern branch. So, let's say you knew that he's being followed by someone. Who would you contact about it?"

It frankly was a long shot but he wanted to show that he was still a good summoner, even if he had not seen any clues that could help.
About an hour after Jongin had called him, Minseok had called back, this time a lot more urgent. At first Jongin had been a little proud that the great Kim Minseok would need his help, but then it had quickly become awkward because Minseok had demanded things Jongin couldn't deliver. The fact that he had been able to recognize Zhang Yixing's face frankly already was good enough in his opinion, given that he had barely had any time to look into the ghost and had not known that there was anything he should have looked out for to begin with.
"There were trees and a room but... I don't know. I can't remember anything else," Jongin had said vaguely.
"No other summoner?" Minseok had then asked in a strange tone and Jongin had been taken aback a little.
"Why would there be anyone else?" he had asked because he had wondered what kind connection Minseok would have found with the little information he had given him. Something must have happened after that initial call.
There had been a pause after that. Minseok had probably wondered whether it would make sense to involve someone who clearly had nothing more to offer. But then he had said, "They probably sent someone to watch him. To create a special file."
And then it had all suddenly made sense.
It had only been a little over a year since Jongin's security level had changed, so he had not really been through many of the more problematic files but he knew the principle. Summoners were not always supposed to act right away. In fact, almost every potential summoner was first watched for a while before they were finally approached. In his case it had been less than a year, just to see how he would be able to deal with the fact that he was sent to an orphanage after his complete family had died. His luck was that he had probably been boring to watch and that he had a useful ability. If not, they would have dragged it out much longer. Most summoners were watched for a minimum of at least twelve months.
It was one of those things he had never wanted to find out because it made him uncomfortable. So far he had never been asked to watch anyone and he constantly hoped that they had not only upgraded him so that they could give him more duties like that. Despite everything, he still believed that the Office's main duty was to help and not to do human experiments.
So he knew that he probably overstepped a line. He knew that he probably should have ended the call like that, without getting involved in something he knew would probably cause him trouble. But well, it technically already was too late. He had made the first call, so he had said, "I haven't seen anything but  I can try to find out who's watching him. I know someone in the archives."

But even then he had not really expected to find out anything useful.
The people in the archives were a special kind of breed. They were largely comprised of retired summoners and those whose abilities were not great enough to ever become more. Archivists were largely secretive and borderline rude and obsessed with following the rules. But luck wanted it that Do Kyungsoo, one of the archivists, had worked with Jongin for about a year before he had asked to be transferred because summoning had not suited him. Kyungsoo was in theory quite like the other archivists. But he also was a friend, which always made it much easier to spot a lie.
"That's confidential," Kyungsoo said evenly. The answer lay in the phrasing.
"So you do know that he's being followed," Jongin noted. There was a small disapproving sound, but Kyungsoo didn't reply any further. Jongin knew that he was responsible for filing all the reports from Seoul. Which meant that there already was a file.
"Who's following him?" he asked and apparently was so frank that Kyungsoo initially only let out a strangled noise.
"I'm not sure you should get involved," Kyungsoo then said in a way that made his words sound very odd. As if he knew more than what he normally would.
"What's he saying?" Tao whispered next to him and Jongin turned a little to shake him off.
"Look, this is important. We have reason to believe that he needs help and right now his whereabouts seem to be unknown. Just give me a hint and I'll leave you alone," Jongin said quickly. When there only was a sigh at the other end, he added, "It's not me who's looking for him by the way. Kim Minseok is."
His words had the effect he had hoped for because Kyungsoo clearly sharply in the air through his teeth. As an archivist he would obviously have read more of Minseok's reports than Jongin had. Minseok could sound terrifying on paper.
"They..." Kyungsoo began and then clearly hesitated. He knew that confidential information were not supposed to be shared and that there was not much the coud hide from the armada of ghosts around them. But then he continued, "When they order summoners to be watched, they never send other summoners. They always send someone neutral. All the missing details can later be compiled by the summoners themselves."
Jongin frowned because he wasn't sure how that answer was supposed to help him in any way. Whether it was a summoner or someone else, they had submitted a report and had the information he needed. But then he wondered. Who else could they have sent if not a summoner? There were not that many other groups employed by the Office left. It could have been an administrator from the head office but he doubted that because they usually were busy enough already. Or it could have been an archivist. An archivist who had worked as a summoner and had access to confidential files.
"Okay," he said and Kyungsoo let out another sigh. He would never admit that he was the one watching Zhang Yixing, even if Jongin was going to ask directly. But now that he focussed on the sounds in the background, he heard street noises. Cars and a faint melody and people talking. The archives were usually filled with deafening silence.
"Okay, so... So where would you be looking for him? Zhang Yixing I mean?" he asked. At the mention of the name, Tao raised his eyebrows.
Again, there was a long pause and Jongin wondered whether they could maybe simply track Kyungsoo's phone. Wherever he was, maybe they were lucky and he was currently on a stakeout.
But then Kyungsoo said, "Did you know? Some ghosts look for human contact when they borrow a body."
"Yeah," Jongin said because he knew that much. He had spent days tracking and following ghosts who were smart enough to stay in a crowd. But Kyungsoo obviously wouldn't tell him that to lecture him.
"And if they're old ghosts, they like old places," Kyungsoo said in a weirdly distant tone, as if in trance. "Bukchon for example. Many old buildings. I heard there's a good samgyetang restaurant, too. Ghosts like to eat."
He didn't sound as though he wanted to elaborate any further, so Jongin quicky thanked him and said goodbye.
"So..." Tao said and looked at him questioningly. "What now?"
Jongin stared at him for a moment while he tried to clear his head. His next step was the truly important one and that realization only slowly sunk in. It was one thing to know a secret and another to share it. "I'll call Kim Minseok and tell him what I found out. And then I hope that I won't get fired."
Tao nodded at him apprehensively. "Okay." Then, when Jongin already was in the middle of calling Minseok, Tao's eyes widened and he asked, "Wait, is that something I should be worried about? I mean, I'm not involved because I identified Yixing, am I?"
Minseok had alread picked up, when Tao muttered something in Chinese that sounded like swears.

- stakeout -

"So, we're just going to wait?" Chanyeol asked as he flipped through a car magazine. He was twenty-six and did have a driver's license but oddly felt like a child looking at something made for grown-ups. It was not just the fact that he was a bike person instead of a car person, but the knowledge that he was out of place in the small convenience store. The cashier had thrown them more than one suspicious glance because Minseok didn't even pretend to read anything. The fashion magazine he had randomly grabbed was still in its plastic cover.
"I mean, we can't just stand here for hours," he hissed and leaned in a little further to Minseok. "Who knows how long they're going to stay in there? Some people stay hours in one single restaurant, especially when they're on a date. And if what Baekhyun says he saw is right, that's a date situation in there."
Minseok clenched his jaw but still fixated the small building on the other side of the street rather than to reply.
"Are you hungry and want to eat there or what are you trying to hint at?" Baekhyun snorted from the shelf with snacks behind them. Chanyeol was good at ignoring him but it still took him more effort than usual to not turn around furiously.
"We can't react as quicky if we're in there and the place is so small that they would definitely notice us," Minseok said in a dispassionate voice. "Yixing knows who we are and what we look like. Staying here is currently the best option we have."
"Right," Chanyeol said and stared down at the magazine in his hands. He had only half expected an answer because it was obvious that he was not really any help. Minseok had whispered something to Baekhyun in the bus towards Bukchon and whatever it was, in this moment Baekhyun, the ghost, was more useful than he was. Unlike them Baekhyun had at least been able to throw a quick glance inside the restaurant.
But he didn't just want to spend his time in suffocating silence, so he asked, "But if he's possessed, then he's not in control, right? And the ghost doesn't know us, so he wouldn't recognize us."
The question wasn't meant to mean much, so it was odd when Baekhyun didn't use the chance for another joke and instead floated a little closer to Minseok, as if eager to hear the answer. It also wasn't unsual for Minseok not to answer right away, but there was a certain tenseness in the way he twisted the magazine enough that there was a faint sound of crumpling plastic.
"Ghosts usually have access to memories," he then said.
"Oh," Chanyeol said and then nodded apprehensively. "So that's how he'd know us."
Minseok threw him a quick side glance that was hard to read, and Baekhyun let out a gurgling noise. It was then that it hit him. "Wait a second," he said a little too loudly and nearly dropped the magazine when he turned around to Minseok. The cashier made a disapproving sound, so he continued in a much smaller voice, "What do you mean, they have access to memories? All memories?"
Minseok flinched a little but continued to stare ahead when he shrugged, "Usually, yes."
And then it suddenly made sense. Things Baekhyun had said that he had not even questioned. Things Baekhyun couldn't have known unless he had seen more than Minseok would have ever willingly talked about. Baekhyun would have seen the things that had made Minseok the person he now was, the things Jongdae suspected no living person knew about.
"What the hell?" Chanyeol accidentally said out loud and Minseok turned his head a little to look at him. He felt Baekhyun shift away from them a little, as if he didn't want to be caught in any potential crossfire. But Chanyeol wasn't angry. Not really. It wasn't anger, but another undefined emotion that burned just as much because nothing made sense any longer. Minseok sometimes pushed and sometimes pulled and constantly seemed to contradict himself.
"I mean, if you knew that... If you knew what would happen, why did you...?" Why did he willingly get possessed for a small deal as stupid as the one he had made with Baekhyun? The more Chanyeol found out about what possessions really meant for a host, the less he understood why he would have gone through with it. Why for him? Why at all? After everything Chanyeol had heard about him, he would have never had to step that low.
The questions swirled around his head, but before he could collect his thoughts enough to properly phrase them, Minseok again focussed his attention on the world outside the store. "They're leaving," he said quickly and randomly put the magazine back on a staple without lowering his gaze while he already moved towards the exit.
Chanyeol looked outside to where the body of Zhang Yixing threw his arm around a girl in a red coat. There was a mismatching shape around him, just like how when Baekhyun had possessed Kim Minseok.
"So, yeah, the bottom line is that I probably know more about him than you ever will if you don't step up your game," Baekhyun said jokingly and it took Chanyeol all his effort to bite back his snarky response.

The ghost and the girl walked and walked and the world slowly became colder and darker as the three followed them.
"So," Chanyeol finally said after a long moment of silence as he shoved his hands deeper into the pockets of his jackets. "Is the standard protocol to wait until the ghost is alone?"
Minseok didn't answer but pressed his lips together. He probably liked this as little as Chanyeol did.
"Because I get that we shouldn't alert the person he's with and everything, and, you know, I'm obviously not an expert on ghosts picking up girls..."
Behind them Baekhyun snickered and he forgot what he had wanted to say. For a split second he wondered whether it would have gone both ways and whether Minseok would also know the things Baekhyun had seen.
He hoped that the irritation in his voice wasn't too obvious when he eventually continued, "To me it looks like we probably won't catch him alone any time soon. I bet they either end up wherever she lives or, if we're lucky, in a hotel."
Minseok didn't slow down but let out a sigh that made it clear that the thought had occurred to him, too.
"And if we spent all night waiting in front of a random apartment building, chances are that some neighbor will call the police on us," Chanyeol said.
This time Minseok stopped and threw him a tired glance. "So what do you suggest?" he asked in the manner of someone who hated to admit that he was out of his depths.
It was the first time that day that Minseok actually gave him a chance to utter his thoughts and for a short moment, Chanyeol was uncertain. He did not technically have a full-fledged plan, just a very vague idea. "You're sure that he'll recognize me because Yixing-sshi has met me before, right?" he then asked.
Minseok frowned but said, "Probably."
Chanyeol nodded. "All right. Probably will do." He bit his lower lip, took a deep breath and then forced a smile on his face. "Just follow my lead."
He was about to dash off when Minseok suddenly held onto his wrist. Chanyeol blinked at him when Minseok searched his gaze for a few seconds with furrowed brows. Then, Minseok moved his free hand below his collar and pulled a leather string that was attached to an occult-looking metal ornament over his head. He looked at it and then turned Chanyeol's hand to put it on his palm. "Wear this or else you might end up getting possessed," he said.
Chanyeol slowly wrapped his hand around the talisman. The metal was still warm. "That's not the only one you have though, is it?" he asked and felt stupid because he still had not thought of getting one himself and because Minseok clearly knew that.
"I'm fine," Minseok said and it was not really an answer but sounded definite.
"Okay," Chanyeol said and stared at the talisman before he finally pulled it over his head. It felt surprisingly heavy on his chest. "Okay, here we go," he said again and took another deep breath while Minseok looked at him with an oddly solemn expression. And then he ran after the ghost and the girl with the red coat.

"Hyung, noona has been looking all over the place for you," he wailed and put as much of the frustration he had accumulated during the last couple of weeks into his voice as possible. Despite the talisman, he could feel the coldness of the ghost through the fabric of Zhang Yixing's jacket. He wanted to let go of his arm, but was afraid that the ghost would run.
"Who the hell are you?" the ghost asked angrily but it was obvious that he recognized him. That was exactly what Chanyeol had counted on. Baekhyun had been clumsy in Minseok's body, and this ghost was, too.
"Hyung, how can you do this to us? Noona said that she doesn't care about the money, as long as you come back to her," he said and was amazed when he felt his eyes watering. All it took was to imagine his own sister being cheated on. When he sensed Baekhyun getting closer, he twisted his upper body and yelled, "Minseok-hyung, I told you it was him. Noona will be so happy." He pointed at the ghost squirming in his grasp and Minseok looked taken aback at him suddenly dropping all formalities.
Again, this had the wanted effect because the ghost clearly knew Minseok, too. If Chanyeol was a minor annoyance, Minseok was an actual threat and that sudden fear showed on his face. The ghost tried to push him away and muttered incoherent words, until the girl finally asked, "What's going on here?"
"I don't-," the ghost began, when Chanyeol already interrupted him, "I'm so, so sorry about this. This must all seem so strange. Hyung is engaged to our sister and we were in the middle of preparing for their wedding, when he suddenly disappeared. He said he had debts and we... We were all so scared that something could have happened to him."
The girl narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "Wedding? Debts?" she asked the ghost who violently shook his head.
"I don't know what he's talking about," the ghost muttered and threw a quick glance at Minseok.
The girl folded her arms in front of her chest and the ghost attempted to say something else, when Baekhyun suddenly slapped the side of his head. He whirled around, but then probably realized that he looked idiotic because she couldn't have seen anything.
"I should go," the girl then said angrily and started to march off with loudly clicking heels.
"," the ghost muttered under his breath. Then, when she was finally out of earshot, he angrily shook Chanyeol off himself and said, "Look, I know the rules. I have not done anything illegal here. I have this guy's explicit permission. I can only implore you to confirm that with him before you punish me for something that was not even my idea." He pointed at his chest as if that prove his point.
"We know," Minseok said and Chanyeol looked at him in surprise. Now the whole situation finally made sense. Summoners didn't get possessed unless they could help it. That was what Jongdae had said. So if there suddenly were some who got possessed willingly, they would be interesting as case studies. Which in return made him wonder if Minseok was being watched, too. Or if they both were. The mere thought made him feel paranoia tingling at the back his neck.
"But you running rogue with his body probably was not his intention," Minseok continued in an eerily calm voice. "You're in there, so I assume you know better than us that he's not well."
The ghost clicked his tongue. "So?" he shrugged. "That's hardly my concern, is it? Do you expect me to turn down this kind of opportunity because a summoner recklessly thought he could fight me?"
Minseok sighed and looked down with a troubled expression. "No," he then said. "No, you're right. It's none of your concern. But it's ours." He didn't even say it in a threatening tone, but the ghost instinctively got into a fighting stance.
"I have permission," the ghost said defiantly. "You can't make me leave if I have permission."
Minseok looked at him with an almost bored expression and then said, "I could though. You know who I am, so you probably also know that I could get away with it."
The words weren't even directed at him, but Chanyeol felt a shiver running down his spine. But there was something odd about them. It sounded like an empty threat, because he doubted that Minseok normally wasted  this much time on talking.
"I need you to get out of there," Minseok said in a way that made it sound final. "But you're right, this is not technically your fault. So I give you two choices. Either I make you leave, or you possess me instead."
Chanyeol sharply in the air through his teeth, so Minseok added, "Not indefinitely of course."
The ghost stared at him and then snorted, "Do I look like an idiot to you?"
Rather than to reply Minseok started to rummage through the pockets of his coat until he pulled out a small sack he then threw at Chanyeol. Chanyeol only barely caught it and frowned at him in confusion. "Put that in one of Yixing's pockets once he's free," Minseok said to him and then wrinkled his nose while he held out his hand towards the ghost. "You have my permission. I promise I won't kick you out for at least a week."
"What?" Chanyeol gasped but Minseok didn't spare him a single glance.
"I'm not an idiot," the ghost muttered.
"Are you crazy? If you keep doing this-," Chanyeol began when Minseok loudly interrupted him. "Last warning!"
Then, when the ghost finally took a step in his direction, Minseok quickly looked into Chanyeol's direction and said, "If he passes out, you'll have to catch him."
And then everything happened all very fast. A translucient shape left the body of Zhang Yixing and Chanyeol could barely react quickly enough to prevent him from hitting  the concrete below him like a bag of cement. Yixing fell and he slipped and they ended up as pile on the ground. When Chanyeol finally managed to look up, Minseok nearly staggered onto the street but then stopped and breathed heavily with his hands rested on his thighs.
"Put the talisman in his pocket," Baekhyun said as he appeared in front of him and Chanyeol stared at him in confusion. It seemed  to take him an eternity to first realize what he meant and to then look at the small sack in his hand. "Come on, man. Hurry up," Baekhyun said and tried to kick through his knee but was stopped by the talisman around Chanyeol's neck.
"Oh, yeah. Right," Chanyeol then said and shoved the sack into the pocket of Yixing's coat. "Happy now?" he asked when Baekhyun already quickly moved away from them and slammed into Minseok.
"What the?" Chanyeol let out because he didn't immediately understand what he was seeing. At first it looked as if he was just attacking him from outside and tried to pull the ghost out. He put his hand inside Minseok's chest and managed to grab hold of the ghost of a second, only to then be shoved away. He cried out in frustration and floated away a little. It almost seemed as though he was about to give up when he suddenly moved high above Minseok's head and then jumped down. He, too, disappeared into his body and Chanyeol quickly scrambled to his feet.
"," he said and ran towards them but then didn't know what to do. Minseok dropped to his knees while there was a furious halo around him. There were legs and arms and heads and then, suddenly, there was nothing.
"Minseok-sshi?" Chanyeol asked carefully and kneeled down in front of him. "Minseok-sshi, are you...?" he began and lightly touched his shoulder. Minseok looked up but his face was completely expressionless. Then there was a jolt going through his body and a shape left him like a reverse lightning bolt. Minseok shook himself and then loudly said, "You know what? this. Easy for him to say that I'm supposed to fight a ing ghost. Maybe he likes to fight, but I was in the ing school choir for a reason. Remember that one time I was in the lunch line and argued with the girl behind me about the last milk carton? And then I lost because she kicked me? That was literally the worst fight I ever got into. And he knew that. He knew all of that. that guy, seriously."
Chanyeol blinked at him in confusion for a few seconds while Minseok's body stood up with a groan and dusted off his knees. "Baekhyun?" Chanyeol then asked and Minseok looked down at him as though he was daft.
"Yeah," he then said angrily and watched Chanyeol get to his feet. "There you go. That was his great plan. That's what he needed me for. ing ."
Chanyeol frowned at him and panic rose up inside him. After everthing he now knew, it suddenly was a lot harder to watch. "Get out of him," he said quietly and was surprised at the edge in his voice. It sounded foreign even to him.
"Can't," Baekhyun said with a shrug.
"Can't or won't?" Chanyeol asked more loudly than intended.
Rather than to immediately reply, Baekhyun let out a long sigh and started to inspect Minseok's hands. He flexed them and then balled them into fists and just when Chanyeol was about to just hit him, he said, "It's like he's not even here right now."
"What?" Chanyeol asked.
"Look," Baekhyun began in an unusually patient tone and a strange expression. "He's out cold and he knew that would happen. He did these things too much lately. So unless you want to carry both him and that guy over there, you'll have to let me walk him home. I can't help you unless I'm in here."