“Can’t you slow down?” Sora yells, as she has been doing for the past thirty minutes. “It’s raining! You can barely see the road!”

Three days has passed since the carnival. Thank goodness for the first time in forever Sora gets the message that I don't want to talk about the gypsy. The following days it was as if the carnival never happened. We went back to our daily lives, which is hunting ghosts. Most of the time we got tons of Jokesters—since majority of ghosts are Jokesters—and Damneds. It seems like the Damneds keep increasing in number and that fact uneases me a lot. 

“I said, slow down!” she yells again.

It's almost midnight. The sky is dark, dark blue—about to turn pitch black—and it's raining hard. We just finished our last job of the day—a Jokester who won't stop stealing Park Goonho's toys. We drove all the way to Ulsan for this job. I don't even know what made me take the job. It's far and we're exhausted from the many Damneds we've fought today. I feel like crap. Every inches of my body aches. I haven't the slightest idea how Sora keeps the high spirit.

“Shut up! Shush!” I shush her. I know I'm driving pass the limit and the road is slippery. It's impossible to get a clear view of the road because of the rain. Nevermind the lack of street lights. Oh, and the fact that I can't quite remember our way home. That last bit, I'm not going to tell Sora 'cause she'll freak; and when she freaks, I freak. “First, you’re splitting my attention, which is very annoying. Second, we are not going to crash because frankly, I’m a great driver—WHOA!”

A pair of blinding lights come through the windshield. I slam the wheel to the right.

There's an excessive amount of screaming inside my old Camaro—one being high, and ear piercing. We stop spinning inside the car before we crash into anything, thankfully. Still, Sora screams and hits my shoulder repeatedly.

“Great driver? That’s definitely not the way a freaking great driver drives!” She breathes heavily.

I'm just as stunned as she is. My heart beats twice faster. We almost got into serious accident, which will cost not only my life but a my partner's as well. See, the thing about having a partner, now I have to worry about two lives. I take a look at her. She's still in shock. I decide it's not the time to yell back.

"Are you okay?” I ask.

“Okay? Why wouldn’t I be okay?” She gives a lunatic chuckle, “Just about to die seconds ago—fine, totally fine.”

“Don’t do sarcasm. That’s my job,” I say, “You are not okay.”

“Well, I’m sorry that I’m pretty petrified right now!”

“Good, it’s normal to be petrified after a near-death experience,” I state, which is true. It's actually a relief that she's petrified. Sora has this thing where she only see the positive side of everything. A real ball of sunshine, she is. I'm glad she's scared because she should be. “We’re going to find a place to stay overnight.” I start to drive again, a lot slower than before.

“Excuse me?”

“What?”

“Us. Staying. Overnight?”

What’s wrong with that? I ponder. Then he smirked. Sometimes, I love it when she's being ridiculous. It keeps me entertained. “Oh, I wouldn’t think of that if I were you, Oh Sora.”

“I did not think about anything!”

“I believe you.”

That's when her hands start flailing around. I have to suppress a laugh. I can't believe how someone can be so frustrated just because of a tiny matter—and become normal the next second.

“No, you don’t believe me,” she says. “Get rid of that stupid smile on your face because I did not think of anything!” She crosses her arms across her chest and leans back to the leather seat with a huff.

"Sure," I say as I fake-zip my lips.

The wiper continues to work hard for me to get a better view. There really is nothing along this road. But a bit far from our position, I spot a house. I head toward it. It looks small, two-story house with no lights whatsoever outside. No gate or bushes; just a house. Under the dark of the night, it seems like a mansion on top of a hill in horror movies that no one should ever get into. Except that it isn't a mansion and we're not on a hill. It's the only house I've seen so far. I guess that's where we'll be staying. Nevermind the horror-ish vibe. I basically live in an endless horror movie; this house is nothing.

“Here? We’re staying here? I get that you love playing with ghosts but I don’t think we can handle another pair of Jokesters. Let alone Damneds!”

I roll my eyes. I park just before the front door. “Oh, stop yelling, would you. We need a place to stay. This is a place to stay. I didn't say anything about five-star hotels, did I?” I get out of the car and head toward the house. Sora catches up shortly. “You’re not scared, are you?”

“Scared? I’m not scared of anything.”

“Oh, I know you don’t. A week meeting those uglies? I’m surprised you’re not in backing out yet.”

“I think the right word is ‘impressed’, Kai.”

I ignore her and knock on the wooden door. No answer. I knock harder. “Hello? Anybody home?” Sensing no one is going to answer the door, I take the liberty to twist the doorknob. Surprise, surprise. It's not locked. That's like rule number two for basic horror movie, right after creepy setting.

"Unlocked door adds to the suspicion that this might be a serial killer's house," Sora says. “I say we sleep in your car."

“And suffer a backache in the morning? No.” I push the door open. It's way too dark to see. My hand slithers across the wall. I press a button. A faint, yellow light bulb lights up the room.

And that's rule number three: dim lights.

Just as I thought, the inside of the house looks like an exact replica of a horror movie set. The ceiling isn't high, but there's a medium-sized chandelier hanging there. It isn't lit—must be broken or something. On far end is a fireplace, which isn't lit too. On top of it is a faux deer head décor that looks very old; fifty years, give or take. There are two single couches by the sides of the fireplace. An old man sits on one of the floral couches. His hands rested on the couch arms. He's wearing red jumper; black, loose pants; and green, dotted socks.

I raise a brow. It's pretty early for Christmas.

The man turns his head to us. “Hello, youngsters,” he says in a croaky, low voice. He's eerily calm, for someone who find strangers in their house. “Is there anything I can help?”

“No, really, we just got the wrong house and about to—”

I won't give Sora the chance to disrupt his plan. We need a place to stay. My eyes are heavy. I can't risk another accident. “About to ask you if we can stay overnight. You see, me and my …” I glance at Sora, hesitating as to what to call her, “cousin has just traveled from the south and got lost. It would be really nice if you’d give us a place to stay.” Cue charming smile—it seems to work at times, mostly on old grannies.

The man gets up and walks toward them with his hands on his back. “Ah, of course, of course. Staying overnight, you say?”

“No.”

“Yes, Sir.” I grip Sora's hand to stop her. She glares at me. “If it’s okay with you, of course.”

The man smiles and gives something between a cough and a chuckle. “I’m more than happy to help a young lad like you, Mister …” he trails off.

“Kyungsoo, Do Kyungsoo,” I say the first name that comes up in my head. Damn, why that name?

“Yes, yes, Mr. and Mrs. Do. You came from south, yes?”

“Well, yes, from our grandparents house.”

“Lovely.” The man turns away, now rubbing his chin. “Actually, I have two rooms just upstairs. Maybe the two of you can use them. Or you’d like to …” He leaves his words hanging again.

"No, no, really, we are cousins,” Sora says.

The man turns back to them again. “Kids these days, you know how they’re like,” he lets out the same cough-slash-chuckle again. “I’m Lee Sugeun. You two may go upstairs and just call me if you need anything.” Then, off he goes into a door next to the kitchen.

Sora stands in front of me. “He’s weird and you know it.”

“Hey, where’s the rainbows-sunshine-and-unicorns Sora? You’ve been awfully not yourself today.”

“We’re about to crash in some old man’s house. What do you think, Kai?”

I immediately put a hand on . “Sshh!”

She slaps my hand away. “What?” she whisper-yells.

“He can’t know my name.”

Sora snorts. “Right, Mr. Do Kyungsoo. Because you’re so important, I reckon?” she asks in a failed attempt of a weird accent.

“Listen,” I say, low. “There aren’t many Hunters here, in Korea. Most Hunters resides in Europe. Well, some in Japan, too, but only a handful of them. I actually believe I’m the only one in Seoul for years. So, I can say that I’m quite famous, really.”

“Alright, Famous-guy. You sure don’t want to stay overnight in this living room, right?” Before I can answer, she already walks up the stairs. I follow after her.

There are exactly two bedrooms upstairs and a bathroom that smells a lot like rats’ corpse. We choose our respective rooms and goes in without another talk. My room is small and stinks. There's a single bed; old, really horror-movie-looking, two-doors cupboard; and no windows or ventilation. I decide to keep the door open a little. And without further checking, I hop onto the bed and close my eyes. 

Author's Note:

Ooooh, what will happen in that house? You do know something's about to happen, right?
And the owner, LOL, I don't know why I chose Lee Sugeun. He's so funny and doesn't fit the role at all!

And Kyungsoo!
Who do you think is Kyungsoo?