Minseok’s earliest memory is a hazy stretch of road, just recently smooth out with dark gravelly tar, the heat of summer damp and humid around him, the sun shining through the leaves of a great tree high above him. He’s holding his mum’s hand, walking back home with her from the market.

Or at least that’s the answer he gives when asked about his earliest memory.

His earliest memory is in fact from when he was much younger than that particular example.

Minseok’s actual earliest memory from his childhood is from when he’s 4 years old.

He had learnt how to sleep on his own bed, and had been a very good boy, not throwing a fuss or making demands for snuggles. He enjoyed being able to sprawl his limbs out, having a whole soft pillow to mush his face on. He felt very grown up. He would soon start school too – his pretty and fun aunt told him how proud and excited she was for him. Minseok could already identify his alphabets and numbers, he was very eager to start school and become just as smart and fun like his aunt!

But one night, he woke up because he felt hungry. It didn’t happen often, and normally Minseok slept it right off. But his stomach was growling- just as loud as the thunder and rain outside. Minseok’s not sure if it was his stomach, the storm, or something else that woke him up that night- but he awoke, and he knew he couldn’t go back to sleep.

Minseok likes to think it could be because up until a week ago, his aunt who had been staying over with her sister and brother in law, used to sneak midnight snacks with him every other night. Maybe it was a cool grown up habit. So Minseok slips out of his bed, bare feet barely making a sound as he pads across his own big boy room and opens the door. The small hallway doesn’t have a light, but the dining room does.

His childhood home wasn’t very large. It was a flat with two bedrooms, 2 washrooms, a kitchen with dining connected, and a living room with a balcony where Minseok’s mum hung out the laundry. Minseok makes his way to the living room, watching the curtained covered windows with sleepy awe as lightning flashed across in bright bursts of light.

He doesn’t know why there are people standing outside of the windows, pressed up so close to the glass. He’s a little worried, mostly sleepy, maybe they were seeking shelter from the storm? It must be terrible outside- and scary. Minseok would hate to be outside right now. He hopes that these people will find some form of shelter soon. Maybe if his parents were here, they would allow them to come inside.

He walks to the kitchen and goes to the fridge. Maybe he can find some leftovers! It would be cold, but Minseok didn’t mind too much. He would eat just a little, so that he wouldn’t get an upset tummy. The fridge is humming quietly and when he opens it, Minseok shivers a little because it’s chilly. He finds the Tupperware of fried rice his mother had made for dinner and carefully, quietly, takes it out. He does his best to be quiet so that he doesn’t wake up his parents as he retrieves a spoon. He manages to get a fork instead, but it was okay, because he was also good at using those! He climbs up on his special chair, careful so that he doesn’t slip, and places the Tupperware on the table before him.

He watches the figures outside of the window, shifting every once in a while every time lightning struck. Minseok is confused, but they were not knocking, so maybe they didn’t want to come inside.

Minseok has a couple of forkful of the fried rice before closing the Tupperware again. If he purposefully picked at the bits of sausages then no one had to know. He puts back the Tupperware into the fridge and wipes his fork with the kitchen towel before placing it back in the spoon drawer. That way no one would know! He gulps down some water first, even though he’s tempted to drink the juice. But he won’t because he knows his mum would notice.

Walking back to his room, Minseok looks back at the windows and to his surprise no one is there anymore. Instead, there’s a figure sitting on one of the chairs- a chair his dad normally sat on. Feeling immediately guilty that maybe his dad caught him, Minseok ducks his head down, hands coming to fold in front of him, expecting a scolding.

Instead he walks up to Minseok, a hand pressing down on the top of his head in a gentle manner. His hands are cold, so maybe his dad had been watching him for a long while and Minseok just didn’t notice. Minseok feels the hand guiding him around back to his bedroom so he simply walks ahead back to his bedroom. His parents door is still locked though.

Minseok walks back and climbs up into his bed. The faint light of the dining room glows through his doorway, so he can’t quite see his dad. He’s just an outline, a kinda shadowy form in the dimness of his bedroom.

His dad also looks incredibly tall- hunched over a lot as he tucks Minseok back into bed.

‘I’m sorry,’ Minseok says, ‘I was hungry.’

Minseok doesn’t know why, but he can tell his dad is smiling at him. Maybe he wasn’t mad then. So with his pale and strangely large hands, his dad brushes back his hair gently. Minseok shivers; his hands were colder than before.

‘Goodnight,’ he mumbles, the warmth of his blankets making him drowsy.

He feels a weight settle down as though his dad sat down on his bed. The cold fingers don’t stop his hair until he falls asleep.

‘MINSEOK!’

He jolts awake as a car door shuts.

‘Hyung,’ Jongdae’s worried face looms up close to him, ‘Hey, sorry to wake you. The nurse said you left, so we assumed you came back to the car.’

Minseok is disoriented and though the immediate fatigue is somewhat quelled, he’s still feeling weak and jittery, like he just recovered from an intense bout of fever.

There’s a warm soft hand on his forehead, contrasting strongly from the cold pale hands that had been his hair-

He bolts up straight, breath caught in his throat in a high gasp.

‘Woah!’ Jongdae exclaims, leaning back. ‘Hyung, it’s okay-‘

Everything floods back into his mind.

He had tried to get back, to find the girl, but he had- it had been there, waiting for him. And then there was light- something warm, something powerful- and his name-…his name was Lu Han? His aunt had sent him, or had that been his imagination?

‘Hyung, hey, you’re okay,’ Jongdae is close again. That’s when Minseok realizes he’d been asleep in the passenger side of his car, the seat pushed back to let him recline. How did he get in here?

‘Should we take you to the hospital?’

‘Oh my god, hyung your phone was in the trunk no wonder we couldn’t reach you-‘ he hears Baekhyun’s voice coming from the back outside.

‘Baek, I think we should detour to the hospital first,’ Jongdae says. He’s using his worried serious tone of voice and Baekhyun’s immediate response is to rush up to Minseok.

‘,’ he curses under his breath as he looks at Minseok. ‘Hyung- did you pass out?’

‘Stay with hyung, I’ll pack up the things,’ Jongdae is saying.

Baekhyun leans in, balancing himself over Minseok as he quickly undoes the first buttons of his shirt.

‘This is not how I thought I would ever undress you hyung,’ he grins.

Minseok can’t even respond. He’s heavily disoriented and his body feels like lead. Baekhyun’s attempt at a joking smile slips from his face at his lack of response.

‘Jongdae you done?’ he calls instead.

‘Yeah! Secure hyung,’ Jongdae replies.

But Minseok feels like the whole car is turning over, the dark sky outside twisting and whirling around him to settle into the dim of his bedroom.

He’s woken up by that same hand again. Brushing through his hair. Minseok’s back is to the door, so the hand creeps down back of his head, scratching at his scalp with cold finger tips. But Minseok is tired, he wants to sleep. And every time he’s about to sleep again, the hands come back to brush through his hair.

Irritated, Minseok sleepily flips around on his bed, curling up his knees in hopes of maybe kneeing his dad and hinting at him to stop these random nightly visits. He always makes a mental note to tell his dad in the morning but he never remembers to.

The touches stop.

Relieved, Minseok is about to fall asleep when a hand shoves down with deadly force onto his pillow right behind his head and a chilling rush of cold breath washes over his ear, cold lips just barely touching his lobes. A wet sound, a tongue at the side of a mouth, preparing to speak, preparing to say-

‘Yeah, of course, it’s no problem. Yes, he’s doing well. The doctors said he just needs rest.’

Jongdae is talking quietly, clearly on the phone. Minseok can immediately tell they’re in a hospital. And it’s because Minseok hates hospitals. There’s too many voices, too many shadows, too many restless panicked eyes, too much pain, too much sorrow.

And he was too weak to really push it all out. His ears feel raw, sound piercing too sharp and yet too dull. His eyes burn even in the soft light. It’s chillingly cold before he realizes he’s on a bed, a drip connected to his arm –one source of the cold, and a few faded figures asleep in a haze of pain above him- the primary source of the cold.

He breathes in purposefully, and exhales out slowly. The huddled figures are no longer there, and Minseok can breathe a little more easy. This causes Jongdae, who was sitting quite close, looking down at his phone with a thoughtful worried expression on his face that even his mask couldn’t cover, to look up. The curtains are drawn all around them, only a soft light from the square of ceiling light to his left illuminating the place.

‘Hyung?’

He quietly leans over him, relief in his eyes.

Minseok finds that he’s feeling much better than before. The more he wakes up, the better he feels. Now the cold is centered is only on his hand where the drip was feeding him a clear liquid.

Jongdae exhales an obvious sigh of relief.

It’s late, Minseok can tell.

‘Dae-‘ he manages to croak out.

‘Yeah, hey, I’m here,’ Jongdae says quietly. They’re probably still in the emergency ward, where Jongdae and Baekhyun must have brought him.

‘Baekhyun’s gone to get us some snacks,’ he explains. His hand is warm on Minseok’s skin and it’s grounding. ‘Are you awake?’

‘Hm?’ Minseok frowns, trying to move his head a little. ‘Yeah? Why?’

‘You woke up a few times earlier, but you weren’t responding,’ Jongdae says quietly, shifting forward closer, ‘Freaked Baekhyun out.’

‘What happened?’ he asks, managing to turn his head around a little to a better angle.

‘The doctor said it was dehydration, fatigue, and possibly a stomach bug,’ Jongdae tells him before pointing to his face, ‘They said we should wear this just in case, but they don’t think it’s that Covid thing.’

‘Oh.’

‘Hyung,’ Jongdae frowns as he leans in a little closer again, ‘Is everything all right?’

Minseok’s not sure how long he pauses before he replies, ‘I’ve had some things going on- family stuff. It’s been stressful I guess.’

Jongdae makes a small expression- one that Minseok can’t quite translate.

‘Your aunt called, I answered and she said she’s on her way here, but she’ll probably only get here in the morning. She said she’ll be waiting for you at your place.’ Jongdae relays.

‘Oh,’ relief floods Minseok. ‘That’s…-yeah, that’s good. We can talk things out.’

He notices how terrible his mouth taste. ‘Can I have some water or something?’

Jongdae nods quickly and reaches for the side table where there’s a bottle of water and some straws.

‘The doctor said you can leave later in the morning,’ Jongdae tells him, ‘Your blood pressure was super low. So they’re keeping you on this drip- it’s your second one by the way.’

‘Ugh,’ Minseok manages to groan after he swallows some gulps of water. He already feels better.

‘The nurse will come check in on you-,’ Jongdae looks at his phone quickly, ‘-in about an hour or so. To ask you some questions and stuff. Hyung, did you hit your head anywhere or anything?’

‘No,’ Minseok replies with a slight wince as he tries to sit up. Jongdae is there to help him sit up. ‘I’m sorry for you worrying you and Baekhyun like this.’

‘Hyung, you know we’re here for you right?’ Jongdae tells him with a serious voice, ‘If you need to…need to let loose, rant or complain, we’re here. No judgment, no nothing- we’re here for you.’

‘Yeah,’ Minseok manages a smile as he sits up. Jongdae activates the bed to tilt up, folding the slightly limp pillow in half to better support him. There’s a small heater by the side of the bed, Minseok notices. ‘If my aunt is going to be there, I’ll talk to her about what’s been happening. I think we need to discuss some things.’

Jongdae doesn’t push it, only nodding, worry etched on his face. There’s some slight shuffling sounds and Baekhyun appears, pushing aside the curtains quietly. His expression brightens a little as he sees Minseok sitting up.

‘Hyung, oh my god,’ Baekhyun looks like he might actually cry.

‘Hey- sorry for worrying you-‘ Minseok begins but the younger man just drops the convenience bag of snacks on the foot of his bed and engulfs him in a gentle but tight hug.

‘It’s so good to see you up,’ Baekhyun’s voice is a little weak, ‘Nearly lost my .’

‘You lost your ,’ Jongdae snorts, sitting back on his chair with the bag of snacks.

‘Do you need to pee?’ Baekhyun asks seriously, ‘We need to note that, the nurses told us that!’

‘I don’t think so- not yet.’ Minseok huffs out a tired laugh. He’s tired again, but not in the way he was earlier. This time it’s more familiar, more natural. ‘Maybe later.’

Minseok falls asleep again, but it’s a light dreamless sleep and Minseok feels rested even though it’s only for 4-5 hours. He wakes up when the nurse comes in to check on his blood pressure and take the needle off of his arm. She asks him a few questions and Minseok replies quietly, not wanting to wake up Jongdae or Baekhyun who were snoozing against each other on the chairs they had acquired some time ago.

It’s silent just before the morning schedule, and Minseok feels almost entirely like himself.

That other man. Lu Han. He was…he was extraordinarily powerful. Minseok could tell. Where was he now? He had put Minseok inside the car- and then? Minseok frowns at the thought of the little girl. He wishes he could go back but maybe he’ll talk to his aunt about it when he sees her later today.

Minseok is discharged around 8 in the morning. He’s given medication for nausea, a list of foods to avoid, a list of foods to eat, and a firm warning against alcohol. It makes Jongdae and Baekhyun laugh.

They’re very careful and overly gentle with Minseok which makes him laugh in turn. Jongdae drives again and the drive back is quiet but in a comfortable way. It’s a nice sunny morning, and when the light hits the glass of the window, Minseok recognizes faint outlines of wards.

Minseok had messaged his aunt when they had pulled out of the hospital, and he messages her again as they pull into his apartment complex. They have to pause a while as a moving van pulls out of the driveway.

She’s waiting for them at the lounge area of the entryway into the complex. There’s some staff about the place as well, taking in moving boxes and pushing them onto trolleys. Her hair is longer than Minseok last saw her. Her bangs have grown out, parted to the side and pulled away neatly tied into a simple and clean bun on the base of her neck. She’s dressed in a flowy cream skirt that looks much too thin for this weather, and a large knitted sweater that was probably nowhere near thick enough for the weather.

‘Oh my god,’ is what Baekhyun and Jongdae say together when they see her.

There was no mistaking the family resemblance. Ahn Sohee was often mistaken for Minseok’s older sister. Sohee was only 9 years older than Minseok, so sometimes people often mistook them for siblings- or worse, a couple.

‘The family resemblance is striking, I know,’ Minseok snorts as he waves at his aunt from the distance.

She waves brightly, cheeks pushing up and eyes turning into thin crescents.

‘You guys have the same smile this is creepy,’ Jongdae sounds uncomfortable.

Snorting, Minseok leads them forward.

‘Hi aunt,’ he smiles as she walks up to them.

She’s a little shorter than him but somehow Minseok makes himself smaller than as he allows himself to be enveloped into a warm hug.

‘You look pale,’ she notes, holding his face in her hands, ‘What did the doctors say?’

Sohee was also an incredibly talented actress and is completely convincing as a worried relative coming to check on her nephew as he was apparently so bad at taking care of his health.

‘Good morning!’ Jongdae greets her, bowing low, followed shortly by Baekhyun, ‘Minseok-hyung collapsed from fatigue, dehydration, and possibly a stomach flu. But the hospital says he’s clear to come home. They have said he should rest and not exert himself for a week or so and prioritize his recovery.’

‘You’re Minseok’s friends!’ she bows back to them, ‘I watch all of your episodes on YouTube! It’s so nice to meet you both finally!’

Neither Jongdae nor Baekhyun, with their tired and sleep deprived minds, seem to be able to quite know how to answer, unable to get over the striking similarities between the aunt and nephew.

‘Come in come in! I made breakfast for all of us!’

‘Oh but uh-‘ Jongdae snaps out of it.

‘Absolutely not,’ Sohee takes Minseok’s arm into her own, pulling him against herself. Her hands are cool on his skin and Minseok feels so much better. ‘You stayed with Minseok at the hospital, and I’m betting no breakfast right? Right, come along!’

There were 4 elevators in Minseok’s complex, and 2 were actively being used by the moving crew. They pile in inside the first free elevator they get as Sohee fusses over him. Minseok just makes note of how fast his aunt has worked. The wards in the elevator are renewed and strengthened. And when they step out into his floor, Minseok realizes the stark contrast between the last time he walked down here and how it was now. The wards have been replaced entirely, and Minseok sees the ashy remains of the corrupted ones- cleansed and fading. A warning to anything trying to step through.

‘Oh, you’re getting a new neighbour,’ Baekhyun remarks as he looks down the opposite hallway. ‘I hope they’re not noisy while you try to recover.’

His door is similarly treated. Inside is the same, if not doubled. Minseok catches glimpses of powerful wards set up all around. Wards he doesn’t recognize, wards he hasn’t learnt or studied; a few were definitely foreign. It hums of peace and safety and Minseok could crumple onto his blessedly clean floors.

Sohee talks merrily as she ushers them to sit at Minseok’s table, remarking how perfect it was that Minseok had 4 chairs in total. She serves them fresh hot rice, eggs, and a wide assortment of side dishes Minseok is 100% sure his mum made.

‘You’re not allowed to have anything spicy,’ Sohee warns him, ‘Just the green stuff.’

‘Yes aunt,’ Minseok grumbles, retracting his chopsticks from the bowl of kimchi.

Baekhyun snickers under his breath.

Sohee keeps a light conversation going, asking Jongdae and Baekhyun about what they studied, did they enjoy it, were they eating well, warning them not to drink just because they were young, if they had partners, to always have gingko extracts as a supplement, and avoid ginger to prevent overheating.

They leave after insisting on washing up the dishes and promises to come tomorrow to take care of the equipment and stuff.

It’s quiet after they leave.

‘You want to shower first?’ Sohee asks as she looks around at him from the doorway.

Minseok nods.

He takes an extremely long hot shower (keeping the vent on yes, he has no intentions of passing out in the shower), and feeling clean and refreshed, Minseok is ready to nap. But Sohee is there, sitting on his desk chair, clearly waiting for him.

‘So.’ She begins, ‘I redid all of your wards; I can’t believe you didn’t notice they were corrupted.’

‘Thank you-‘

‘-also can’t believe you didn’t realize you were being possessed,’ she says flatly. ‘Lu Han said he had to perform an exorcism on you.’

That would explain why he felt like .

‘It wasn’t complete- the possession wasn’t a normal one,’ Sohee continues to explain. ‘This wasn’t just some force trying to use you, this was personal. Wasn’t it?’

Minseok sits heavily on his bed with a quiet sigh.

‘Is Lu Han around? I wanted to ask him about the spirit that was there,’ Minseok says instead as he rubs his ears with the towel.

‘No,’ Sohee replies after a while.

‘Who is he?’

‘Lu Han is a friend,’ she explains, ‘I met him when I was travelling in China. He’s here to study.’

‘Ah,’ Minseok sighs, fiddling with the towel for a while before Sohee takes it from him. She steps out for a while to hang it up and returns with a tray. There’s two cups and Minseok’s electric kettle. She connects it up next to his bed and fiddles about with some teabags.

Minseok sits back on his bed, making himself comfortable. She hands him a cup of hot tea before dragging a chair over to his side of the bed.

‘Have you seen yourself?’ Sohee asks.

‘No?’ Minseok hadn’t bothered with a mirror in the slightest. She takes out her phone from her pocket. The back is chrome and almost exactly like a mirror. Minseok takes it nervously and when he looks at himself is startled to see the fading prints of large hands coming to wrap around the sides of his head to his face. Dropping the phone, Minseok reigns himself in.

‘What happened?’ Sohee asks quietly.

‘Something attached itself to me,’ Minseok begins, ‘When I was young. Really young. This was…this was after your visit, you stayed with us for a while I think.’

Sohee nods, remembering.

‘I used to think it was dad, coming in to check on me as I slept it was-‘ he brushes the side of his hair, over his ear, down the back of his head, ‘-at first I thought it was…it was nice? I can’t remember all that much, if I’m being honest. I just thought it was dad and then one day it-‘

Minseok can almost feel the breath of it on his ear.

‘-it spoke to me, I think, and I don’t remember after that,’ Minseok explains. ‘I don’t remember after that, and then I was able to see more. See more, hear more- feel more.’

Sohee curses under her breath, her expression turning bitter and angry. But it’s not directed at Minseok.

‘I think this is my fault,’ she says quietly, ‘I was…when your mother told me about what you could see, that it was just like me, I just somehow wondered if it was my fault. That I caused it.’

Minseok doesn’t know what to say. They don’t know enough of anything to really say if Minseok’s ability to see had anything to do with Sohee. They couldn’t say it wasn’t either.

‘Didn’t mum joke that it ran in the family?’ Minseok tries, ‘Your dad said he could right?’

Sohee snorts, ‘Your grandfather had a lot stories that’s for sure. But we…I don’t know. What more do you remember about it? It’s a single entity?’

‘I…I don’t know,’ Minseok frowns, ‘I know that I remember that night, I saw…so many figures outside the window- outlines though the curtains. And then, when it was inside, they were gone.’

Sohee frowns, clearly thinking hard. She glances around the room, studying the wards, thinking hard.

‘When I came in here last night- I knew something was wrong,’ Sohee explains, ‘I knew I had to hurry. The heaviness of it, it was centered in here. That much I knew for certain. We had to work fast.’

‘We? You mean Lu Han was in here?’ Minseok shifts uncomfortably. He genuinely didn’t like strangers inside his apartment.

‘I needed the help,’ Sohee explains, ‘He’s also incredibly powerful at casting wards. He set up most of the ones inside.’

‘I see,’ Minseok studies the closest one to him.

‘So, we can say that all of this started after my visit when you were a kid. I think my presence attracted something to you- and it hasn’t forgotten you.’ Sohee says slowly.

‘I forgot about it though.’

‘And it came back to you again didn’t it. In that hostel.’ Sohee points out.

Meeting Kyungsoo had somehow triggered that memory for him. Reverting back to a young age, his mind back to being a child- Minseok’s carefully locked away memories slowly shifted back into light again. And then it completely spilled over.

‘Yeah,’ Minseok nods with a sigh.

‘We’ll work together so that we can get rid of it,’ Sohee promises him. ‘But for now, you need to get better. I told your mum I would call her when you got back in, I think she’s been blowing up my phone.’

Minseok smiles, sliding down a little more on the bed.

‘I’ll call her,’ he says, ‘You should rest too.’

She reaches over to gently touch his face, tracing the fading marks of hand prints on his face.

‘We’ll take care of this,’ she promises, ‘Don’t worry Minnie, I’ll protect you.’

*

Jongdae and Baekhyun come to visit the next day and they’re evidently rested and evidently bursting with energy and cheer.

‘Good afternoon!’ they cheer as Sohee opens the door for them. They both bow with exceeding politeness as Sohee welcomes them inside. The next day finds Minseok feeling immensely better and well rested. He slept for a solid 9 hours, no interruptions, no dreams; just a peaceful slumber. Minseok’s hair is still wet from his morning shower and both Jongdae and Baekhyun are yelling at him to get it dried.

Hair dried and fluffed up, Minseok joins his friends and aunt back in the dining area. They had brought an entire boxes of oranges and some very large apples.

‘Minseok-ah, come eat the fruits your friends brought for you!’ Sohee waves at him.

‘Hyung, you look better,’ Baekhyun says with relief while Jongdae squeals at his fluffy hair, reaching over to smooth it over.

‘I feel better,’ Minseok smiles, pulling up a seat and accepting an orange from his aunt. ‘You guys didn’t have to.’

‘We did,’ Jongdae says firmly. ‘Besides! We had a great breakfast here yesterday!’

‘How long will you be here?’ Baekhyun asks his aunt.

‘Just until tomorrow,’ Sohee replies, carefully peeling off the white stringy bits from her oranges before popping them into . ‘I don’t think I’ll feel good leaving this one here by himself.’

Minseok sends his aunt a comically offended look.

‘And we will make sure to look after him too!’ Baekhyun declares, ‘We also came here to pick up some of the other equipment hyung.’

‘You’re not thinking of going out while unwell are you?’ Sohee asks pointedly.

‘No-‘

‘We would never allow it!’ Jongdae states at once, ‘We will literally tie hyung up if it means keeping him put here and resting as he should!’

Sohee laughs, nodding in approval. ‘That’s good to hear. Thank you for taking such good care of my nephew.’

Baekhyun retrieves Minseok’s laptop and external drives before extracting the SD card from the main camera Minseok carried.

‘Oh this is so exciting!’ Sohee exclaims, ‘It must be very difficult putting all of these videos together! You’re all so talented!’

‘Oh, it’s honestly mostly Minseok-hyung,’ Jongdae says quickly, ‘The difference between our editing and overall cohesiveness from the first season and after Minseok-hyung joined us is extremely embarrassing.’

Sohee laughs again, ‘But I don’t think I really noticed any difference? Just wider angles and shots.’

‘You watch our channel?!’ Baekhyun’s eyes are wide.

‘Of course I do!’ Sohee replies with enthusiasm, holding up her fists. ‘It’s scary! But I enjoy it!’

Minseok nearly chokes on nothing.

Sohee was not someone who could scare easily. If Minseok was half as good as his aunt, he would not be having this problem right now.

‘I’m eagerly anticipating this new season!’ Sohee continues. ‘The season finale was so-‘ she shudders, ‘-so spooky! I’m so pleased to hear that old place will be razed and replaced!’

Baekhyun is practically vibrating.

‘Noona, do you believe in ghosts?’ Baekhyun asks eagerly.

Minseok has no idea how or when this familiarity was suddenly budding between his friends and his aunt.

‘Oh,’ Sohee winces, ‘I don’t like to think of it! I can’t watch horror movies! I jump easily!’

Minseok does choke this time, causing Sohee to give him a quick reprimanding look.

‘Same!’ Baekhyun says hurriedly as he whacks Minseok on the back, ‘But Jongdae, he’s a complete psychopath. You know once, we all went to a horror house during freshman year. That was when I knew Jongdae was probably a sociopath.’

‘It was obviously fake,’ Jongdae argues with a frown, ‘There was nothing scary about any of it. Also, it was the dead of winter, I felt bad for the actors.’

‘They were being paid to scare customers!’ Baekhyun rolls his eyes at Jongdae, ‘The least you could do as a paying customer is go along with it.’

‘I’ve been to one of those,’ Sohee tells them seriously, ‘I nearly couldn’t walk!’

That much was true, but it was because Sohee was laughing nearly hysterically while Minseok sighed, bowing apologetically to the actors as they walked past. He had been 17 at the time, and his face had been a permanent red the whole day just thinking about it.

‘Would you like to hear about our next case?’ Baekhyun asks eagerly, legs bouncing.

‘Yes please tell me!’ Sohee says at once before very plausibly gasping and adding, ‘Oh, is it very scary, I don’t know if I can handle it!’

‘It’s most likely not true!’ Baekhyun says at once, ‘I mean, some parts of the story, I definitely think could be believable, but the other details are just-…well, a bit too farfetched?’

‘I can’t believe Byun Baekhyun is saying a story is too farfetched,’ Jongdae snorts from next to him. ‘But yeah, this one is a bit of a…well, quite a tale.’

‘Oh! Do tell me now!’ Sohee claps excitedly.

‘I don’t know if you use social media sites much, but this went viral on twitter and other places,’ Baekhyun quickly begins, subtly pushing Jongdae to the side as though to shut him up. ‘It’s the one about a junior graphic designer coming across what he describes as an alternative dimension? It went viral as the “Not-White-House Dimension”?’

Sohee just blinks a few times before shaking her head. Minseok notes the spark of interest in her eyes.

‘I’ve never heard of this. Also, why is it called that?’

Jongdae laughs, throwing his head back, ‘The whole area has a kinda heavily old American architecture exterior, and as this studio had their exterior painted white, it was called the White House, but to clarify the story and not frame the actual White House as a haunted place, they named it the Not-White-House.’

Minseok has heard about this. In fact, he had actively followed the story and progress early last year when the person in question was updating a captivated audience. He was both pleased that he had reached out to them.

Sohee laughs heartily at that, slapping her knee a few times. ‘That’s more comedy than horror!’

‘Oh but this whole story is just so good!’ Baekhyun is nearly vibrating again.

It was an extremely good story yes, Minseok agrees. He had been scrolling through his twitter feed when the whole story thread had popped up. A mutual had retweeted it saying it scared the out of her and so Minseok was naturally interested. Well, that had been one reason- the main reason stemmed from the two pictures the person had uploaded to start his thread.

They looked innocent enough, just some stairs leading up, walls on either side, before stopping at a landing, and turning to the left and heading up again. The second picture is taken from the landing, and at the top is a door. Perfectly normal looking photos albeit the whole architecture being a little odd considering the door just stood there at the top step.

But one look was enough to send a shiver down Minseok’s back.

This whole place was clearly overwhelmed. Not in a regular haunted kind of way, with some spirits here and there. No this whole place was steeped in a strange heavy weight of strange darkness so powerful Minseok could feel it through a grainy low-lit photo on twitter’s amazing photo resolution display.

It all started when the then junior graphic designer of an undisclosed design studio decided he needed to go for a smoking break. The studio was part of a series of closely built and connected houses, designed to be used as “home-offices” where the architecture resembled a house rather than a mundane office space. You could take down some walls to connect two separate houses and form a larger space if you wanted. This studio occupied the space a little close to the edge of the series. The studio had been there for almost 4 years but had recently gone through some interior changes. The graphic designer had explained that because the kitchen and eating area had been under renovation, they had set up a temporary food station on the third floor that was initially used as a meeting room. The meeting room area opened out to a nice terrace, and that was where they used to take smoking breaks. But as the food station had been set up there, they agreed not to smoke out there anymore out of consideration.

The graphic designer had been itching for a smoke and had naturally made his way upwards before realizing he couldn’t smoke out in the terrace anymore. So rather than go down, he decides to go to the rarely used washroom upstairs and pop open a window and smoke for a while with the vent on.

The stairs in the picture were around the corner of the short hallway that housed the washroom and so he had never noticed it before. He assumed there was a closet or even a dead-end. But still feeling a little guilty and self-conscious but still pushing ahead with his plan, the designer pokes his head around the corner and finds the stairs.

Not expecting it, he was very shocked. It wasn’t dirty or very dusty. It was quite dim as well and well, he was not here to investigate weird strangely steep staircases. He went to the washroom and had his smoke for a while and left it at that. When he went back to his seat, he asked his fellow junior if she had seen the stairs past the upstairs washroom. She had no idea what he was talking about and they both dismissed it for the day.

A few days later, when he was eating a late lunch with another fellow junior, he asked if she had seen the stairs past the washroom. She had not, and wanted to see it for herself. After eating they head to the stairs and it’s there again. That was when he took the photos. They were both puzzled because they didn’t know there was a 4^th floor. Maybe it lead to the rooftop. His fellow junior had suggested maybe it was rooftop access for maintenance. They both agreed it was extremely weird to have the door just stand there at the top step. Neither of them seemed to want to climb further up but he sort of laughed it off and climbed up the remaining steps. At the door he hesitated, not sure why. It was very quiet up here he realized. He also said he wasn’t sure why but he felt like he was about to become hysterical for no reason. His fellow junior had called his name, but her voice sounded really far away. He looked around just to make sure he wasn’t suddenly at the top of some insanely high place. It felt like it for a moment. He tried the door handle, realizing to his immense disquiet that it opened by pulling, rather than pushing. But it’s locked. The handle doesn’t even budge.

Kinda spooked, he turns back around and goes back down, telling the other junior it was locked. She looks slightly unsettled, saying that it was strangely dark up there, and she couldn’t quite see him when he stood up there even though it had only been 9 steps up.

They don’t talk about it until after a few days when they’re at the meeting room again. They had a small team of maintenance staff who came in to clean the studio. One of the older ladies is chatty, asking them about their work and mock scolding them for smoking. He then makes the executive decision to ask her about the staircases and if she had the keys up there.

She makes a funny face before asking them if they were able to open the door or not. They both shake their heads, confused. She sits down on one of the stools before telling them to not open the door. The other junior designer asks if it’s because it will trigger an alarm but the older lady shakes her head in reply.

She warns them not to go up there, and then asks if they’re religious. Weirded out, they both shake their heads. She doubly tells them not to go up the stairs, especially alone. The door probably didn’t open because they were together.

He asks her what would happen if the door opens and you walk in.

She seemed resigned, like she didn’t want to tell them, but also thinking that if she told them, maybe they wouldn’t try to do it themselves. So something like an attempt at a cautionary tale.

She tells them that it depends on the person who opens the door. For her, when she opened the door, she was in a sort of attic space filled with dusty boxes. She thought it was a storage area and was going to head back down when she heard movement. She went to check, wondering if it was a rat or some other pest. But instead she came across a shrine. It wasn’t an ordinary shrine though. Everything was a dirty white: the incense pot, the incense stick, the empty frames, the draping fabrics, the kneeling pillows, the table, the floor area bleeding into the carpet. It smelt like ash, and everything seemed wrong. Out of the corner of her eye she saw something move, a figure, dressed like a temple monk, in the same raggedy dirty white. She instantly closed her eyes and grabbed her amulet around her neck, praying desperately. She took a step backwards and nearly fell down the stairs. She opened her eyes and realized she was at the top of the stairs and the door was closed. Then she heard the lock click, the handle twisting as though to open and she quickly stopped it, locking it shut.

At this point both the junior designers are spooked, but they also find it kinda exaggerated because the older lady had a lot of excessive detail, showing them her amulet and many more she kept on herself. She asked them if they wanted one, that she could get one for them. But they both thank her and say no. She makes them promise her to not check the stairs again, and not try and open the door. They both promise her, with many reassurances.

But obviously, our junior graphic designer doesn’t heed her words.

He stays back late, not because he wanted to but he had to. He tells the whole junior team about what they heard from the maintenance lady and they all agree it’s a spooky story and they all immediately clamber to check the stairs. At night it’s somehow more terrifying. But there were 5 of them. It would be fine right?

At first it seemed fine. They used the light from all of their phones to light up the hallway as there was no light fixture in that area. They dare each other to go check the handle and with squeals they all do it. That night nothing out of the ordinary happens. Nothing happens until almost a week later.

The kitchen has been fixed but due to issues with the air conditioning, they’ve had to resort back to eating at the meeting room again. He’s eating by himself when he hears his fellow junior scream his name in horror before the sound of a slamming door reverberates throughout the place.

Startled, he rushes towards the stairs because that’s where the sound had come from. He rushes up the stairs and pushes up to the door. He calls her name several times but there’s no answer. He’s starting to panic and he wonders if he should call for the others when the door clicks and it slowly swings open.

Then he hears her calling his name again and he moves before he can even think.

Once he steps inside, the door slams and he finds himself in a weird hallway. It’s quite long, but there are only 3 doorways, right at the very end, one on each side. It’s also quite narrow, and the ceiling high up. The light is coming from above, but he can’t see if it’s natural or not. He tries to open the door behind him but it’s jammed. When he tries again, the door just seems to vanish into the wall.

He hears his fellow junior designer scream his name again and though terrified, he runs down the hallway as fast as he can, randomly opening the door to the left, only to find himself looking down the exact same identical hallway. The door slams shut behind him again and he’s back at the start. Panic building in him, he takes the door at the end facing him. The same thing happens.

He takes the door to the right, and he moves so fast, he sees a blur of movement at the end- a strange thin limping figure rushing through the doorway. He’s both angry and scared now, so he yells. He runs as fast as he can but ends up tripping. He picks himself up, pain shooting up his ankle. He limp runs towards the door that person had vanished through, but just as he’s about to step through, the door behind him opens and a voice yells at him. But momentum carries him forward and he falls through into the same hallway again. This happens 4 more times, during which he sees the figure again, limping through the doorway when he realizes he’s seen himself.

He writes that he had played enough videogames and read enough books and comics to understand he was in a loop, and he was seeing himself through the time loops. So midway run, he forces himself to stop, runs back towards the hallway and just as the door opens, presumably by another him, he grabs it and yanks it open and falls through.

When he opens his eyes, he’s on the floor, his fellow junior designers and a few other seniors looking down at him with worry.

He had apparently slipped on the toilet floor and got knocked out and his fellow junior, the very same who had screamed his name, had found him and quickly alerted the others. An ambulance was on its way there. He had a mild concussion, and when he tried to speak to his fellow junior about what happened, she just shook her head and told him to never talk about it again.

Almost 8 months later, he had then approached them after finding out the house was empty and was actually going to be taken down as none of the businesses could take off and the developers were losing money.

Sohee looks impressed, scrolling through the pictures and screenshots of the whole thread.

‘That’s so exciting,’ she says. ‘So fascinating!’

‘Isn’t it?’ Baekhyun trills, ‘It’s so terrifying!’

‘A bit too much like PT Silent Hills to me,’ Jongdae yawns.

They argue between each other while Sohee looks up from the tablet Baekhyun had handed her. Minseok meets her eyes. She looks serious, eyes flitting from the tablet to Minseok, back to Jongdae and Baekhyun, and back at the tablet, clearly thinking hard.

‘Hey I was just thinking, you guys want to paint your nails?’ Sohee asks randomly.

Both Jongdae and Baekhyun are a little taken aback but to their credit (?????) readily agree.

Baekhyun ends up sporting a soft pastel blue, and Jongdae has black with accent fluorescent ring-finger nails. Sohee smiles with satisfaction, having imprinted powerful wards into their nail art.

‘Minseok-hyung, what about you?’

‘I think orange,’ Sohee shakes the bottle in his direction.

‘Orange it is.’

*

‘Hey hyung,’ Baekhyun’s face fills up the screen.

Snorting, Minseok turns on the video for the call and waves back at Baekhyun’s all too close up face.

‘Hey, all set up?’

‘Yeah! We’re just prepping where we’re gonna keep the cameras. I didn’t think this place would be this big but I guess, here we are,’ Baekhyun laughs in that way where Minseok knows he’s scared. ‘You want a tour?’

‘Absolutely,’ Minseok is kinda eager to know about the place. He also trusts that the two of them won’t do anything stupid, and with the powerful wards painted into their nail art, they should be at the very least, protected from anything dangerous happening to them.

‘Ta-da!’ Baekhyun swivels the camera at a nauseating speed. They’re clearly inside, but just as the doorway area for now. ‘We’ve finished the interview with Mr. Son, he was super uncomfortable the entire time and made us promise not to separate at any cost.’

‘Has Jongdae said he insists on doing an individual walk all by himself?’

‘Of course he has, that psychopath.’

‘I can hear you!’ Jongdae’s face appears, waving brightly, headphones around his neck. ‘Hi hyung! Are you resting? Is Sohee-noona already gone?’

‘Yes, to both questions,’ Minseok settles back into his chair comfortably, propping his feet up. His aunt had told him to meditate to recover, but honestly Minseok feels all right. The wards around the apartment were gleaming at him occasionally and it makes him feel better.

‘Good! Are you giving hyung a tour?’

‘Yeap! Now move, I’ll do a quick scan before we start losing light,’ Baekhyun walks around, pointing out the rooms and commenting on how terrible the whole aesthetic was with the abandoned heavy office desks pushed to the center of the rooms, loads of wires and cables sticking out of ceilings and walls where sockets and plugs and fixtures were once attached. ‘This is the stairs up- as you can see, nice and wide, unlike the cursed ones upstairs.’

Baekhyun is panting a little as he climbs up towards the second floor. The lighting isn’t the brightest, but Minseok occasionally catches glimpses of evening blue skies through the wide windows.

‘So you’ve seen the infamous stairs?’

‘Yes- and hyung, I’m not making up, it’s creepy. Mr. Son refused to go up and so Jongdae and I went up and tried the door. It was locked.’

They had gotten the permission to shoot in there for the night, but were not given any additional keys to access locked areas as some of the rooms were being used to still store office equipment the studio would be taking with them later, as well as the developers of the units weren’t too keen on having some YouTube Supernatural Channel™ make a whole video on the property. But again, Jongdae is convincing, turning the whole narrative into that of gaining internet clout and reputation of intrigue and interest. Somehow that worked, so here they were. Well, here were Baekhyun and Jongdae.

‘It’s so creepy- I don’t want to go by myself to be honest, so I will just show you a video of it from like, the distance-‘ Baekhyun wheezes, ‘-I am so unfit, all of that holiday binge eating is getting on me and my hips. I need to work out.’

‘We can do something for the weekends, get you back to some shape before midterm grind comes along,’ Minseok laughs, eyeing the place as Baekhyun points out the areas they were placing the cameras.

‘That sounds like fun hyung! But nothing intense please, I don’t think I could do weight,’ Baekhyun grins, ‘Oh! We’re putting motion sensors here, facing the stairs and into the meeting room area. We’re also keeping the camera angled here so we have a shot of the washroom too.’

Minseok leans into his phone in anticipation.

‘Here we go! The stairs. Or like, from this angle I am not stepping a single step closer.’

The camera quality isn’t that great and Baekhyun’s constant shifting of the phone wasn’t helping either. But Minseok can tell straight away it wasn’t a normal stretch of corridor by any means.

‘As we did promise Mr. Son we wouldn’t do anything alone,’ Baekhyun is saying, ‘We’re just gonna use the spirit box here, at the landing. And ask some questions.’

‘Yeah, besides it’s just the two of you, stick together,’ Minseok says lightly, feeling uncomfortable looking at the stairs for too long. His stomach feels like its rolling, like he just missed a step, just looking at the heavy weight of the stairs.

‘Of course hyung, do not underestimate my cowardice!’ Baekhyun turns away from the stairs, ‘I have no intention of being here any longer than we need to! And also not to mention, you’re not here. When you’re here, we’re three, and that’s like, a solid holy number isn’t it? I feel protected. Triangle of protection.’

Minseok laughs, studying the view as best as he could, not being there himself. Honestly, he wishes he could go, but despite feeling better, Minseok knows he’ll end up endangering his friends instead by being there. Sohee had said Lu Han would come to visit him tomorrow, and they would discuss what to do about this entity. Sohee didn’t want to take any chances and Minseok is all for it. If they were going to try for a deeper exorcism or maybe even a complete purification, Minseok would need all of the strength and energy he could muster to participate. Lu Han was obviously not from here, so his methods would be different and Minseok doesn’t know what to expect. Being overly prepared was always better than not being prepared enough.

‘Baekhyun! We need to do sound check!’ Jongdae yells.

‘I’m coming!’ Baekhyun yells, nearly deafening Minseok in the process.

Minseok is privy to some truly unflattering angles and worlds shakiest footage before Baekhyun is downstairs again.

‘Also I think I saw some cars pulling up, I think the developers are here to make sure we do what we said we would.’ Jongdae is saying.

‘Okay, we will be on our best behavior of course,’ Baekhyun huffs out, ‘Don’t worry about us hyung. We’re big boys.’

‘That we are- wait, I wanna say hi to hyung.’

‘You already did.’

‘But like this-‘ the phone twists and turns around before Jongdae’s face fills up the screen. ‘-hyung! We miss you!’

Minseok laughs, ‘I miss you guys too. Feels strange not carrying 15 kilos of equipment up and down weird places-‘

Minseok’s stomach drops when he sees It standing just a little ways behind Jongdae. It’s looking straight into the camera, straight at Minseok.

Jongdae is saying something, whining and then abruptly stopping as he puts on his “business” voice.

It waves.

‘Oh we have to go now, see you hyung get some rest-!’ Jongdae is saying and then the call cuts abruptly and Minseok is filled with dread.

Cursing, Minseok calls back at once. But the call keeps going through nonstop, no replies. He tries Jongdae’s phone and that too keeps going through, no one picks up. Pacing inside his room, Minseok waits 5 minutes before calling both of their phones again. And then again. And then again.

And then after the 6^th call, the line goes through and Baekhyun picks up. But he doesn’t speak. Doesn’t answer the call with his customary ‘hyung!’ whenever Minseok called him.

‘Baekhyun?’ Minseok speaks quietly.

There’s no sound. It’s completely void.

‘Baekhyun-‘

‘-waiting.’ Baekhyun’s voice crackles through the line. ‘-just WA I T I N G-

WAITING!!!

The voice shrieks through Minseok’s apartment, the curtains sway and Minseok feels it on the floor beneath his feet, the clock on his wall rattling. The line cuts abruptly and Minseok feels like he’s run a marathon.

Without thinking he jumps up to his feet and grabs his keys, phone gripped in his hand. He bursts out of his apartment, just barely locking it shut behind him, only the sound of the electronic lock beeping cutting through his panicked mind. It was there. It was going after Baekhyun and Jongdae- and they were already in that house, in that place. Minseok should have gone with them, or he should have stopped this whole shoot.

He paces as he waits for the elevator, cursing under his breath as it finally opens. He continues to pace as he goes down to the parking floor. The doors open and Minseok swerves to avoid the small group of people waiting for the elevator. He’s sprinting now, finding his car where Jongdae had parked it. Diving into his car, Minseok barely notices how someone is sprinting towards him from the elevator area, waving their arms. Minseok speeds out of the parking lot and out of the driveway and into the streets.

He calls Jongdae’s and Baekhyun’s phones again, cursing the whopping 25 km distance he was going to have to legally speed through during high traffic hours. Minseok takes some dangerously risky short cuts and by some miracle, is able to get to the location within the hour. He steps out of his car, barely locking it when a strange force pushes against him.

It’s easy spotting the studio unit- the Not-White-House looms wearily in the dim streetlight of the area, the heavy weight of it gnawing and nauseating. This wasn’t just an ordinary haunting- something was very wrong with this place and with the doors it kept shut. Minseok in a deep breath and pushes through until like a rubber band snapping, he goes through into the walkway. The door is partially open, and Minseok spies equipment.

‘BAEKHYUN!’ he yells as loudly as he can. ‘JONGDAE!’

There’s no response.

He looks around the place, ears perked, eyes straining in the gloom. He rushes with his phone, switching on the flashlight only to have it highlight a dark figure standing at the end of the hallway. It’s form is similar to Jongdae’s outline and Minseok’s core is shaking with fear.

‘Dae-?’

It walks away.

Quickly walking towards the hallway, Minseok calls for his friend again but there’s no reply. It’s a dead-end hallway. There’s a noise from the doorway he had just left and turning, Minseok finds someone crawling past, wearing the jacket Baekhyun had been wearing earlier.

‘Baekhyun!’ Minseok runs.

But there’s nothing there.

There’s a brief wave of light, from car headlamps outside and it illuminates It, standing at the top of the stairs leading upwards.

‘Give them back!’ Minseok yells, staring at it head on, furious.

But it simply walks back up and away.

Frustrated, angry, afraid- Minseok chases after It, after the thing that cursed his childhood nights, instilling bone chilling fear in him that caused him to struggle with sleep for a long time, experience night terrors he willfully forgot as he got older. He knows where it’s going- where it’s kept Baekhyun and Jongdae, now caught in all of this because he couldn’t-

He skids on the marble floors for a bit, pausing from the sheer overwhelming weight that was oozing out of the stairs leading up past the washroom. Minseok’s stomach heaves, but he controls himself. His hair stands on end, his entire being just wanted to collapse and give up. But he wouldn’t. He couldn’t.

Each step forward was like wading through quicksand enveloping all around him. It gets worse and worse until he reaches the stairs and he falls over with a gasp. Strange dotted lights erupt around him: the motion sensors. Their equipment was still here.

Struggling, Minseok turns his head and looks up the steep stairs.

The door is open.

He can’t see what’s inside, but there’s a cool dim light permeating the air through the door. He can hear the sound of rain, of thunder. He hears a familiar click- a fridge door opening, and a warm orange light fills the air. He hears the quiet attempts of a child trying to take out some Tupperware.

Minseok crawls up until he’s at the very top step.

He can’t see clearly through the windows, rain behind him, the glass and curtains blocking his vision. He sees himself at the dining table- he’s looking at himself looking at-

He looks at the chair his father normally sat on and there It is.

It smiles at him.

‘It’sssssssssssssssssssssssssssooooooooooooooooooogooooooooooooooooooooooodttttttttttttttttttooooooooooooooseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeyouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu.’

A hand grabs at his ankle and Minseok falls out of the window and down the stairs.

‘ing hell, what’s wrong with you, do you have a death wish?!’ a somewhat familiar voice yells at him.

Minseok half falls, half crawls down the stairs and into a heap by the washroom door.

A glowing figure surrounded in moving wisps of light stands before him. He’s familiar.

‘,’ he curses, frowning up at the stairs, ‘Why the did you go up there? Can’t you tell how ed up it is?’

Minseok is trembling.

He’s gasping for breath, exhaustion washing over him. With strength he didn’t know he possessed, Minseok looks up to find Lu Han standing before him. He looks slightly winded, and his sleeves are damp-

‘How- how did you find me?’ Minseok manages to get out, realizing he’s drenched in rain water. He stands up abruptly, the hallway and attached meeting room space spinning around me. Lu Han steps forward as though to balance him but Minseok waves a hand, finding a wall and steadying himself.

‘I followed after you,’ Lu Han frowns, ‘Your aunt told me about your schedule- and you bolted out into the parking lot so I thought-‘

A sudden thought comes to Minseok’s mind and he has to know.

‘That- that girl-‘ Minseok manages to croak out.

‘Oh, the young girl at the theater?’ Lu Han clarifies, ‘Don’t worry, she’s okay- she ran away, actually helped me find you.’

Minseok is close to tears. He finally gives in and kneels down on the floor.

‘This place is no match for us- well, maybe if we had one more person, but seeing as you’re drained, and I can’t close whatever ing gateway that is up there while still keeping an eye on you, I think we should get going.’ Lu Han takes his arm and as though to move them towards the stairs but Minseok can’t quite move.

‘They’re not here.’

‘No, I think they left quite a while ago,’ Lu Han kneels down next to him, taking one of his arms to sling over his shoulder. Despite his thin frame, Lu Han is able to help him stand quite easily. Minseok only just realizes that there were no cameras, sensors- none of their equipment is there.

‘You knew this was a trap and yet you still came,’ he sighs, ‘Why would you do something so dumb.’

‘I can’t- I can’t let anything bad happen to Jongdae and Baekhyun,’ Minseok replies, ‘I would never let that happen.’

‘You know these things don’t affect them like they do us,’ Lu Han sighs again.

‘They’re- they’re my best friends,’ Minseok retorts, ‘They mean everything to me and I would ing go back in there if it meant them being safe.’

‘Well there’s no need for the dramatics,’ Lu Han huffs, ‘So I’m guessing they don’t know.’

‘No, of course not,’ Minseok is able to stand without swaying, ‘They don’t need to know.’

‘I mean, you’d feel better if you did?’

‘…I don’t think I would,’ Minseok frowns looking at Lu Han with confusion.

‘Are you the type who bottles their emotions inside?’ Lu Han tilts his head, ‘You should tell them how you feel- or are you like, worried because I mean I guess poly relationships aren’t the most accepted-‘

‘What the are you talking about?!’ Minseok yelps.

‘…what are you talking about?’ Lu Han asks back instead, but there’s a twinkle in his eyes.

‘You’re such an ,’ Minseok exhales out noisily, turning to make his way out of the studio.

‘Hey!’ Lu Han laughs, following after him, ‘Come on, I was kidding, I just needed to make the atmosphere light- gotta keep things light and easy y’know? It’s all about the mental wellbeing.’

Minseok turns back around to give Lu Han a glare. He knows he’s right, but Minseok has been through a lot tonight and he just wants to go back to his place. But he pushes through and gets out of the studio, still breathless.

‘Hey woah buns, wait up-‘ Lu Han calls after him as they step out onto the small one-way street.

‘-excuse me?! Buns?!’

‘Cute as a bun- those cheeks, and I mean both-‘

‘Hey!’ Minseok yells as loudly as he dared in the middle of the night as they step out into the street, ‘Why the did Sohee send me a ert.’

‘Excuse you, I have eyes,’ Lu Han cackles, skipping forward to keep in step with Minseok as he walks back to his car.

‘Why are you following me,’ Minseok frowns at the taller man before a sinking feeling settles in his stomach.

Lu Han gives him a wildly innocent smile.

‘I’m not following you, I’m headed back to my place.’

Minseok stops by his parked car. So does Lu Han.

‘Where do you live?’ Minseok asks slowly, dread filling him.

‘Hi neighbour,’ Lu Han leans over the opposite side of his car, an all too charming smile on his face, ‘It’s nice to meet you, I hope we get a long well!’

*

Why Are All The B-Sides Bops?: Dude what a terrifying account. I mean I don’t really believe in it, but that’s just straight up terrifying, like, if that happened to me, I wouldn’t be surprised if other people didn’t believe me either I get how this guy feels

Why Are All The B-Sides Bops?: WAIT I TAKE BACK MY FIRST COMMENT WHAT THE HAPPENED TO THOSE MOTION SENSOR LIGHTS- IT CLEARLY OUTLINED A FIGURE FALLING OVER THE STAIRS RIGHT? SOME ONE TELL ME I’M RIGHT

Mareete: I cannot express how terrifying it was to see those motion sensor lights move like that. That’s some hardcore evidence isn’t it??????

It’s Time for Blue Hour: I love that they started the video with a disclaimer that Minseok was sick and it was NOT covid during the time of this shoot

Baguette Au Pain: HEY I SAW THIS THREAD GO ON VIRAL ON TWITTER I CAN’T BELIEVE WE GET TO SEE WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE ON THE INSIDE AND EVERYTHING I LOVE THIS SO MUCH

Baguette Au Pain: I have regrets.

I’m Sorry, Did I Make You Anxious?: I too would move my whole office out of the place if that happened to an employee

Bocchann: Dude, those first pictures…I shuddered. It was VERY obviously haunted, had the creeps looking at it.

Bocchann: HAHAHAH WTF ARE THOSE MOTION SENSOR LIGHTS

Lilithesue25: I mean, I know he’s well and all, but Minseok!!! I hope he’s cirrenlty killing it and he’s ripped af with all of the chloe ting exercises

167 is average height: THANK NO ING EYES IN THIS VIDEO THANK YOU GODS OF YOUTUBE CONTENT

167 is average height: THAT GIVE ME THE EYES INSTEAD

Indigo_salad: Awwww, miss seeing Minseok (though lbr he rarely showed up) in this episode but wow, that was intense! What a story!

@/Mina, plz wife me up thx: Their nail art was the cutest thing- Baekhyun has really pretty hands!!

All for Happiness Always (please read bio): Stop writing only about Minseok guys, this was shot ages ago, he’s obviously fine right now, just wailing about Minseok is gonna reflect badly on the whole channel. Remember, jongdee and beakhyun have been doing this channel for a long while even before Minseok

Erikyoooooooonggggg_ggg: @All for Happiness Always (please read bio)I get your point but I seriously doubt jongdae and Baekhyun are looking at these comments and going ‘this channel is nothing without Minseok now, we , we will never upload content again’

Gowon_for_President: Wbk that the actual white house is the real horror tho, no need for a disclaimer guys

Incorrect Baekhyun Quotes: I miss their autopsy episodes!! Wishing it will come back!

Sehun_omayaaaaaa: Maybe that ghost just wants to disco

*

(Long Author’s Note)

Jongdae!!!!!!!!!! T_T we will patiently wait for you to come back!!!

Please stay healthy, happy, and we will greet you with a long and beautiful hello.

Yeah so Minseok’s earliest memory is basically one of my earliest memories. I changed it up to fit the story a little better, but when I was around 4, nearly 5, I was hungry and I had woken up my aunt. It was raining a lot, like A LOT, so idk if I was scared of the sounds or actually hungry but I just felt restless I remember. My aunt took me to the kitchen and I remember so distinctly human figure shapes against the windows of the living room every time lightning flashed through the sky.

But that’s where the memory ends haha, no creepy shadow childhood friend here. But the dark shadowy figure sitting on the chair in the living room is something that happened to my sister. She went to the bathroom at night and thought our dad was sitting down by himself in the dark in the living room. She even spoke to him and went to the toilet. When she asked dad why he was sitting outside in the living room at night my dad obviously replied that he had no idea what she was talking about. I can tell you right now how we all took that information.

Also the story of the studio/office is based on a twitter thread from this officer worker here in Bangkok, I used autotranslate so I think some of the story is a little skewed to me, but that’s the overall gist of it!! The reason why I even looked through the thread was because of the photos this guy uploaded at the beginning of the thread. Because I was like ‘lmao does this person know the stairs/hallway he’s taking pictures of is haunted?’ and so I clicked through it and well, that’s the story Hahaha. I can’t always tell when some place is haunted based on a picture, but this one was like, I was scrolling and I saw the photo and my whole being just Tingled™. Ive been saving this story for a while now hehehehee

Also I want to rant about Aespa but hey! I’m not going to because this is ign 2020 and let’s not bring up the topics of dystopian level entertainment forms that seems no different from an episode of Black Mirror! Or the fact that this is very!!!!!!!!!!!! Creepy in so many ways I cannot even list it here!! And if you do not know what I mean, congratulations on managing to live a somewhat pure and innocent life. Let us not do that here ^_^

I feel like the past two montsh I’ve been screaming AOTY with every new album that comes out. TXT, Twice, loona, and now MonstaX. Fatal Love is such a good album I cannot even begin to describe how much I love this album. I think it’s now my favourite album from them. It narrowly beats out The Connect: Dajevu for me. Just very narrowly. God, what a perfect album. TXT too, my new favourite album from them. Loona, absolutely out sold. And TWICE TOO WHAT A GOOD ALBUM SO MUCH GOOD MUSIC GUYS I CAN’T and GFriend about to drop their album you KNOW im gonna scream AOTY as well. Sigh.

Anyways, if you managed to read all of this, just gonna say it right now, go listen to the new MonstaX album, you will NOT regret it. Nobody Else, and Night Ride are my favourites!

Absolutely stunning, life changing, ground breaking, amazing, perfect music.