Minseok firmly sets up the tripod on the wide empty street before he takes up the hand carry and with a nod to his two friends he starts rolling.

‘We’re back!’

‘Aye we’re back!’

‘It’s so good to be back!’ Baekhyun half screams.

Minseok swivels the camera to Jongdae who nods emphatically, ‘Seriously, I’m so glad, and I’m also so grateful. I think, if you look at it, in like a large scale, we’re really lucky here.’

‘You’re right,’ Baekhyun nods, clapping his hands together a few times, ‘But that doesn’t mean we’re idiots!’

Jongdae aggressively does a half squat, pointing violently at his masked face, ‘Masks!’

Baekhyun does the same squat, violently pulling out anti-bacterial hand gel and squirts out a massive amount before aggressively rubbing his hands together, ‘Hand sanitizers!’

Jongdae gets even lower with his squat, pulling out a temperature reader, ‘Fever checker!’

Baekhyun equals him, pulling out a can from his back pocket that Minseok knows is already going to look wrong in so many levels, ‘Anti-bacterial sprays!’

‘AND!’ they both yell as Minseok zooms out, ‘SOCIAL DISTANCING!’

‘But we’re not yelling because we have mics on us, and you don’t have to rely on your lip-reading skills.’ Baekhyun winks at the camera, fingers gun shooting drops of gel.

‘Which, is, in every way, an art form.’ Jongdae nods.

‘Yeah, especially when you’re wearing masks,’ Baekhyun deadpans.

‘But we’re not here to talk about logic are we, no we’re back with another season guys!’ Jongdae cheers, hands in fists above his head, doing a funny cheer.

‘Are you saying this show is illogical.’ Baekhyun places his hands on his hips, cocking an eyebrow at Jongdae.

‘One half of it is-‘

‘-I resent that-!’

There’s suppressed giggles and snorts behind him.

‘But that aside,’ Baekhyun turns around to face the camera again, ‘We’re back, we’re outside, we’re moving about! Welcome back everyone, I’m Baekhyun!’

‘And I’m Jongdae!’ Jongdae yells even though there’s no need which is why Minseok only ever wears one side of his headphones properly.

‘And Minseok-hyung is behind the camera, and we are-!’ Baekhyun points aggressively at the camera Minseok is holding.

‘-Unsolved Vlogs!’ they cheer together with a small jump.

‘Season 3! Let’s go!’

‘And how do we start the first episode of Season 3?’

‘Oh it’s a good one you guys,’ Baekhyun actually vibrates. ‘Footsteps, voices, strange reflections, things being moved, and most scary of all-‘

‘I don’t know, I think it’s kinda cute.’ Jongdae shrugs.

Baekhyun sends him a quick glare, ‘Listen, I don’t think it’s cute in any capacity when your dog is playing fetch with a ghost okay.’

‘Isn’t that a thing? In like movies, if your dog barks at something, then it’s bad. But if it’s playing with something, isn’t that good?’

‘IT’S STILL SCARY!’ Baekhyun yelps.

There’s more suppressed laughter behind Minseok and honestly it’s hard not to laugh too.

‘You guys need to move on this intro is already too long,’ Minseok decides to call over instead.

‘Oh, right,’ Jongdae smiles sheepishly.

‘By the way Jongdae, how good is your Japanese’ Baekhyun asks after clearing his throat loudly.

‘…that’s the segue you decided to go with?’

Minseok is trying not to shake the camera from his laughter.

‘Please just answer the question.’

‘I would say, it’s quite bad!’ Jongdae replies back with excessive enthusiasm. ‘Not good desu!’

There are some amused groans from behind Minseok this time and a look of pure judgment from Baekhyun before he pushes on.

‘Well, if that’s the case, why don’t we get some expert professionals-‘

‘-aren’t professionals experts?’ Jongdae cuts in.

Minseok takes that moment to zoom into Baekhyun’s face of annoyance and embarrassment.

‘Everyone let’s all say hello to our good friends!’ Baekhyun waves his hands energetically, ‘The wonderful, kind, and amazing MiMoSa!’

Minseok pans the camera around behind him where three girls all laughing at the chaotic introduction.

‘Please don’t cut any of this out!’ one of them gasps.

‘I won’t!’ Minseok gives her a thumb’s up.

‘Please introduce yourselves!’

They all bow deeply and when they stand back up straight, Minseok can already imagine the editing with the soft filter, slow-mo, and cherry petals that will be put over it.

‘Hi! We’re MiMoSa!’ they cheer.

‘Hi, I’m Myoi Mina, I teach Japanese grammar here at JPY Language School, nice to meet you!’

‘Hello everyone, my name is Minatozaki Sana, I teach conversation in Japanese at JPY Language School!’

‘Hi! My name is Hirai Momo, I also teach conversation in Japanese, it’s nice to meet you all!’

Baekhyun and Jongdae cheer.

‘Some of you may have seen them on their YouTube Channel MiMoSa! Please tell us what it’s about!’ Baekhyun gestures grandly.

‘Oh yes!’ Mina brings her hands together, ‘Together we have a channel called MiMoSa where we teach you all things Japanese!’

‘Conversation, writing, reading!’ Sana adds.

‘As well as culture, tradition, and interesting historical facts and information!’ Momo concludes.

‘You also had a Halloween special last year am I right?’

‘Yes we did!’ Sana jumps a little in her spot, ‘We had a special on Japanese ghosts and legends and their origins!’

‘It was so cool!’ Baekhyun also jumps a little in his spot, ‘I hope you do another this year!’

‘We absolutely will!’ Sana nods excitedly.

Baekhyun does a cheer, sending over a socially distanced high five that Sana jumps up to send back.

Minseok knows their subscribers are going to lose it.

‘Okay so before we start and head into your very inviting looking school,’ Baekhyun gestures to the building the girls were standing in front of.

It’s a perfectly normal building. Clearly built in the 90s (it had that typical peak of the 90’s “modern” architecture look), it’s a little worn and aged but it’s a solid building.

Solidly haunted.

Minseok can sense the spirits within, not just in this building, but the area around it, including the small local restaurant to the left, and the 7-Eleven to the right, and probably a bit more in the back. The whole section of land was wildly haunted.

However, it’s not evil.

There’s a lot of activity- probably the most he’s sensed in a long while, and certainly the most while filming for Unsolved, but there’s nothing evil or harmful about the place.

When they had pulled into this street, Minseok hadn’t noticed anything out of the ordinary. It was just another regular street, in an albeit boring area. This part of town would most certainly not make any tourism advertisement that was for sure.

It didn’t take them long to drive here- what with the streets being less crowded and with less vehicles, Minseok got them here from Jongdae and Baekhyun’s apartment in a little over 2 hours. They arrived at a small self-service hostel that is entirely empty, show the receptionist through the Plexiglas their negative test result from the previous day, and supply the needed information for their stay.

They had basically dumped their stuff, brought out all of their required equipment and multiple chargers, and drove straight to the JPY Language School, getting there just a little past 3 in the afternoon.

The 3 girls were waiting for them outside, waving brightly to greet them. They had even made DIY posters with too much glitter that made Minseok feel like they were somehow re-entering elementary school arts and craft classes. Minseok is not sure who drew them as stick figures but somehow, even in stick figure form, they’re all distinguishable. Minseok guesses he’ll take that as a compliment.

‘I am saving that poster.’ Jongdae declares at once.

While Baekhyun and Jongdae chatted with them, breaking the ice and explaining the set up in detail, Minseok took a moment to pace around the street, pretending to scout a good place to set up the stationary camera. It’s partially true though, Minseok was looking for a good spot. But he’s also taking a moment to study the area.

Jongdae had, as usual, done his best to research the area.

There was no history of violence, tragedy, or crime in the area. There were no historical sites or cultural sites in the area either. Those normally had some level of activity, Minseok has noted.

Nothing they could find that was recorded of course.

The furthest they could date this area was that it was known to be a sort of marshy flatland, meaning it could have been used for travelling or maybe even a road must have existed through here at one point. And who knew what could have happened then.

But to have this many spirits was certainly reason to investigate and see what exactly was happening here.

‘And of course, Minseok-hyung will be setting up all of the cameras once we go through the place,’ Jongdae says, waving Minseok over. Minseok smiles again, walking over though maintaining a safe distance nonetheless.

‘We can start with our interview section of the video first,’ Baekhyun continues, ‘Mina-shii, you said you have an area where we can sit and talk?’

Mina nods at once, ‘Yes, it’s actually just the waiting lobby at the reception,’ she explains, ‘But it’s nicely lit, and it’s also where we have filmed promotional videos for the school.’

‘Oh that’s great,’ Baekhyun squints, looking at the large glass windows covered in acrylic ads, ‘Is it just right here?’

Mina laughs with a nod.

‘Oh so I guess the rest of the school is most definitely going to be in the dark for us until after the interview,’ Baekhyun gulps nervously.

‘It’s a nice place and it’s daytime why are you panicking,’ Jongdae frowns at Baekhyun before pointing at the box-hedges, ‘Look! There’s nice plants and everything.’

‘Let’s get mics before we start getting comfortable,’ Minseok calls.

With an excess of antibacterial wipes, Minseok hands the three girls mics and clips. They luckily know how to attach the mics and complete the sound check for Minseok. For their BTS shots, Baekhyun and Jongdae continue to run their GoPros, filming the moment they enter the place. They talk some more before they start the set-up for the intro outside in the sunny early afternoon.

Then the three girls lead them inside and well.

Minseok tries not to balk at the sheer amount of spirits.

First of all, they’re definitely not hostile. They’re just- they’re just attached. Okay, great, there was something here, something very powerful that was tying them all in here, in this area. And Minseok internally grimaces because for something to host this many spirits would not be easy to remove or exorcise or bless.

The whole place, from the entrance and up the stairs, past the hallway, is lined with a wide variety of spirits all facing the wall, their backs to Minseok and the others.

And most notably, they’re all covered in layers of dripping mud.

It wasn’t hostile but it’s unsettling as .

Great.

Well okay they’re really starting off their first episode like this.

Minseok swallows thickly.

There were so many of them.

Baekhyun laughs nervously and Minseok would join if he could.

‘This is the reception area,’ Mina gestures.

Without the multitude of spirits lining up the walls, Minseok would find the place quite a nice establishment for a language school. It’s well lit, wall are neatly covered in framed posters and photographs, the furniture is somehow more reminiscent of a café rather than an educational institute and there was even a vending machine inside that served drinks, both hot and cold.

‘We thought this would be a nice place to film?’ Mina gestures again to the far end. The sun isn’t fully covering the area but it’s lighting the place up nicely. There’s a long modern couch one side side, and comfortable chairs the other side, with a low coffee table between them. They clearly set it up a little differently, judging by the dents under the rug of the coffee table.

‘It’s perfect,’ Minseok nods with a smile, ‘Thank you so much!’

They all take their seats, readying to start the interview part of the video when Minseok notices the spirits moving, away from the walls, walking backwards, as though to join in on whatever was going on.

They seem a little wary of the three of them, hovering closer to the three language teachers. Minseok notices how Mina shivers a little, obviously unaware but maybe sensing just a little without knowing what it was she was sensing.

Minseok sets up the cameras quickly and Baekhyun claps twice as a marker and they start filming.

‘All right, so Mina-shii contacted us about a month ago.’ Jongdae begins.

Mina nods, ‘That’s right.’

‘I do love a good unnerving story with bonus video footage.’ Baekhyun nods solemnly before saying, ‘Would you like to start with why you reached out to Unsolved Vlogs?’

Mina nods, leaning in a little, straightening her back as she begins.’

‘I’ve been teaching here for about 3 years now, and prior to, well, this year, I hadn’t noticed anything unusual.’ She tells them. ‘Neither Sana nor Momo also noticed or experienced anything we would classify as unusual or strange.’

‘This was of course when everything was still normal and people were still able to host face-to-face classes,’ Jongdae adds.

‘Yes, so now due to the pandemic, of course, we’ve been teaching online, normally from our own apartments,’ Mina explains, ‘But recently, as restrictions have been lifted a little, we come here instead to teach. It’s all still online of course, but it’s a change in pace and it feels almost like things are back to normal.’

‘We’re so happy you’ve been able to do this!’ Baekhyun nods with a smile.

‘And then- well, that’s when we started noticing some things?’ Mina ends her statement as though it were a question.

‘Yes,’ Sana continues on for Mina, ‘Well, normally we have a full class of students, there’s staff all around, this building is rarely empty.’

‘Of course,’ Jongdae nods.

‘But even after we got back and things were somewhat headed towards a slightly more normal route, well, there’s still very little people around,’ Sana explains, ‘At first we found it quite interesting, it had that feeling, of being somewhere when you weren’t supposed to.’

‘Ah yes, like liminal spaces.’

‘Exactly!’ Sana cheers, holding her hand up for a socially distanced high-five that Jongdae gives back enthusiastically. ‘So we thought that, well, the sounds we heard were just normal. Like they were always there before, but we never noticed, or actually, never really heard because it was always somehow noisy.’

Both Baekhyun and Jongdae nod as the latter adds, ‘Like how you don’t notice the sound of your air-con until you switch it off or something.’

Momo nods vigorously to that, pointing emphatically.

‘So it was just- small things, like uh, footsteps, or like someone was in the staff room, or even in here, just moving,’ Sana explains. ‘Sounds of someone breathing next to you-‘

‘-haha, what?’ Baekhyun blinks rapidly.

‘Yeah, this one happens to Mina-unnie more though.’

Mina gives an apologetic shrug, as though apologizing for the story. ‘I thought I had tinnitus, I even went to get my ears checked.’

‘Okay but that’s a valid conclusion,’ Jongdae nods in agreement. ‘Are your ears okay?’

‘Very!’ Mina raises her hands in a double thumb’s up.

‘In your emails, you sent us some videos too.’

‘Yes,’ Sana answers, ‘After we experienced some strange things, first alone, and then together- we realized this wasn’t just a one off thing- that all of us were feeling, seeing, hearing the same things. We decided to keep an eye out- or more like, be more aware I guess.’

‘Honestly we thought it could have been plumbing, air-conditioning, I mean, we do have a 7-Eleven next door,’ Momo says hesitantly, ‘They have massive storage fridges and stuff like that so…’

‘Of course,’ Baekhyun nods.

Minseok appreciates the lengths at which the girls tried to find a rational explanation to what they were hearing and feeling. Most people immediately jumped to a supernatural conclusion when there was none to be had.

‘So this was when it was only me and Momo in the office,’ Sana continues to explain, ‘We’ve previously heard footsteps before- most of the time it’s when we’re alone. The first time I heard it, I thought it was because the building was empty.’

‘That’s a very fair conclusion to come to,’ Jongdae nods in agreement, ‘The hallway in our apartment echoes like crazy.’

‘But this time I was with Momo, and we both heard it. So I filmed it,’ Sana laughs nervously, ‘Honestly, I thought that might just do it.’

‘Do what?’

‘Stop it,’ Sana clarifies, ‘Somehow you always see, on like, movies and stuff, once you try to catch it or document it, it stops.’

‘Oh we have a lot of experience in that realm,’ Jongdae says loftily.

‘But well- it didn’t.’

Minseok has seen the footage before of course. When they were emailing and calling each other extensively prior to this meeting, Sana had emailed them the video.

‘And look guys, it’s not shot on a potato!’ Baekhyun grins, leaning in eagerly to watch the video as well.

Sana is clearly holding the camera in the video. Momo is standing in front of her, eyes wide and nervous even though she’s smiling.

‘Just walk over again. It’ll stop.’ Sana tells her confidently.

Momo hesitates before she nods, slowly and carefully walking down the long empty hallway lined on either side with doors leading clearly to small classrooms. She reaches the end and Sana frames the shot a bit properly, holding the composition in portrait mode.

‘Hey, you look great though, those jeans are really good!’

Baekhyun and Jongdae obviously grin through their masks.

‘That’s not making me feel better.’ Momo pouts from the end of the hallway. ‘Okay I’m walking over.’

At first it’s nothing. Momo is simply walking down the hallway towards Sana. Then she stops.

But the sound of footsteps clearly does not.

Momo covers her face with her hands as Sana lets out a suppressed squeal.

‘Okay, just 4 steps.’

Momo shakily takes 4 steps forward.

When she stops, you clearly hear 3 steps behind her.

‘Okay but-‘

‘No, I’m done-!’ Momo half-squeaks as she jogs towards Sana.

Then the steps jog after her.

Understandably, both Momo and Sana scream and run off, camera focus gone.

‘The fact that you’re still working here and walking in that hallway nearly everyday after going through that is really commendable!’ Baekhyun says eagerly, eyes sparkling, ‘I would never!’

‘He would never,’ Jongdae nods.

‘We don’t work alone now,’ Sana confesses as much.

‘I would honestly just quit,’ Baekhyun says bluntly.

The spirits shuffle a little, coming a little closer. Minseok chances a look around, and finds that there are more- squashed up against each other, leaning in to listen more. They leave a wide space around Minseok though.

‘And then Momo-shii, you also had an incident?’ Jongdae changes the topic, ‘With your dog?’

‘Yes,’ Momo nods, bangs swaying vigorously. ‘I was in the staff room, on my laptop, just waiting for Mina and Sana to finish. I sometimes bring my dog, Boo, over, especially if I’m not recording or I have an online session.’

‘Is Boo here?’ Baekhyun looks around wildly like he completely missed out a whole dog.

‘He is! He’s sleeping upstairs in the staff room,’ Momo beams through her mask.

‘I can’t wait to meet him,’ Jongdae says earnestly. ‘Though Minseok-hyung might smell like cat.’

All 3 girls swivel their heads to look at him.

‘I’m a cat-uncle.’ Minseok explains.

If they’re confused, they don’t show it. The spirits move like one body, a wave, along with the girls movements. It’s terrifying to witness.

‘It should be fine!’ Momo reassures them.

‘Please tell us what happened! You also have a video?’

Momo nods, pulling out her phone.

‘The staff room, I guess you’ll see it later, is a nice place for the teachers and other staff to eat lunch or just rest and talk. It’s very sunny in there,’ Momo gestures upwards, all the spirits tilt their head up as well. ‘Boo is a bit older now, so he doesn’t have as much energy as he used to, and he prefers to walk to play fetch rather than run. Sometimes he’ll just have a nap midway.’

‘That’s so cute I’m about to cry,’ Jongdae breathes out deeply.

‘So I threw a ball for him to fetch and it bounced out into the hallway,’ Momo explains, fiddling with her sleeves, ‘I didn’t think much of it, I just thought, he’ll go get it, come back.’

‘Oh god,’ Baekhyun whispers.

‘I’m writing my email when I realize Boo hasn’t come back?’ Momo explains. ‘Then I look up and I see him, with the ball in his mouth, walking past the doorway. At first I don’t think much of it again. Then I see the ball roll past the doorway. And then Boo walks by, and then walks by again,’ Momo laughs nervously, gesturing with her hands, ‘And back down the hallway. I think it might be Sana or Mina playing with him so I call out for them to stop if he seems tired. I don’t get back a response.’

The spirits start to slowly mimic Momo’s hand gestures.

‘At the sound of my voice, Boo walks back in and I think he’s lost interest. But he walks back out again and now I’m confused. Then the ball rolls again and so I step out of the room. I see Boo getting the ball but there’s no one in the hallway. The doors of the classrooms aren’t particularly loud, but it was a quiet afternoon and the staff room door is open. I would have heard if either Sana or Mina opened the doors. But I didn’t, it was very strange.’

‘When did you take the video?’

‘Right after. I let Boo just continue playing and I took out my phone, took a video of the hallway, and then backed out. Like Sana said, I was hoping that by filming the whole thing, it would just prove to be, well, just a fluke or something.’

‘But now we have this video!’ Baekhyun cheers nervously.

Momo plays it.

It’s another video that they had attached with the email. Admittedly this could be easily faked. But Minseok now knows it’s not. It starts off exactly how Momo describes it, she films the hallway for a while, up and down, before focusing on Boo and the tiny soft ball in his mouth. Then she walks backwards into the staff room, and sits down. She waits for a while. Momo scrolls through the video a little before coming to a point where a few seconds later, the ball rolls past the hallway.

Then Momo dashes, the camera is surprisingly stable for someone hopping across the floor.

The hallway is empty save for a cheerful Boo who trots down slowly.

‘Again, this is cute, but terrifying.’

‘I think it’s adorable,’ Jongdae grins at the video, cooing under his breath, ‘I can’t wait to meet Boo.’

‘And the last video is from Mina-shii?’

Mina nods, rubbing her hands uncomfortably, ‘I was in one of the classrooms, this took place before the videos Sana and Momo took.’

‘Okay so we’ve seen this before,’ Jongdae looks over at the camera, ‘I guess we should say right now if you have any form of light-sensory um, triggers, please look away!’

Minseok makes a mental note of adding light-sensitivity warning before the video starts with markers on the YouTube upload.

Mina shows them the video. She didn’t take it herself, rather it’s from a recording for a class. The video starts midway of her speaking. She’s enunciating words carefully, to the side split screen, she’s writing on a tablet with a stylus. The lights flicker a little, but she doesn’t stray from topic. She only stops when the lights go off completely.

During this entire filming, Mina is sitting at a desk, a whiteboard behind her. The lighting has been set up pretty decently, but as a white board is reflective regardless of how you’ve set up the lights or cameras, the scene behind the camera is somehow blurrily reflected on the board.

So when the lights come back, with Mina halfway getting up from her seat, you can catch sight of rows of human-shaped figures reflected on the board, their backs turned to face the viewer. It only lasts a fraction of a second, but it’s clear.

‘I’m assuming nothing shaped like that exists in the classroom?’ Jongdae asks.

‘Nothing at all,’ Mina tells them uneasily, ‘I wasn’t actually the one who noticed this, our production and design team were actually the ones who noticed.’

‘We’re close friends,’ Momo explains, ‘And so she sent this over. We thought she was playing a trick on us. Then we all went over the raw footage and well…’

‘Has anyone else noticed anything?’

‘Our friend, the one in the design team, Chaeyoung-‘

‘-she’s actually a massive fan! She told us to contact you!’

‘Hi Chaeyoung!’ Baekhyun beams, waving brightly.

‘-she told us about the footsteps too. It’s apparently louder and clearer in the third floor where the Production and Design team used to stay.’

‘Everyone works from home?’

Sana nods, ‘We just upload our videos directly into our server and the production team download it.’

‘Sounds efficient! Is the server a-‘

‘-can we get on with the actual purpose of why we’re here,’ Baekhyun cuts in quickly. 

‘So it’s not just you three?’

They all shake their heads.

‘But we’re the ones who well, I guess we’re uncomfortable more? Because we work here the most.’

Baekhyun nods in understanding.

‘All right,’ Jongdae nods towards Minseok who gives him a thumb’s up. ‘I guess the initial interview part is done. We will need to set up real quick and make sure we have everything ready for the night.’

‘We’re sorry you can’t stay over night,’ Mina says at once as she stands, ‘We really tried our best but-‘

‘Not at all!’ Baekhyun says hurriedly, ‘Honestly, I’m relieved we don’t have to.’

They all burst out laughing.

Mina had managed to get permission from their boss, saying it was actually a new and relevant method of promotion and advertising. And Mina isn’t lying because based on what Taehyung and Jimin had told Kyungsoo in conversation some weeks ago, the greenhouse was actually getting a lot of visitors as well as other paranormal enthusiasts who wanted to go egg hunting.

But the permission only extended until 11 PM, which was until the official closing hours of the school in the first place. Minseok doesn’t think it’s an issue though, seeing as all of the video evidence and occurrences noted and detailed took place during broad daylight.

‘I’ve also taken notes of where Minseok-shii can set up the cameras,’ Mina continues turning to him.

‘Thank you so much, again we’re sorry you had to go out of your way to do so much.’ Minseok tells her sincerely.

‘Not at all!’ Mina waves her hands in front of her. ‘We do know this place, and it’s safer for all of us too.’

Months into the pandemic and everyone started feeling crowded in a room with more than 4 people so Minseok absolutely understands. Except at this moment there were probably 20 other people in the room.

‘Oh! I can show Minseok-shii where to set up!’ Sana volunteers, ‘This is so exciting, I never thought much about what happens beyond the actual video in shows like this!’

Minseok thinks its very sweet and very kind of Sana to consider their YouTube channel content as a “show” but he merrily nods at the bright girl.

‘Oh! Should we order some food in first? Have you girls eaten?’

‘Yeah, lets have some pre-hunt snacks?’ Baekhyun immediately reaches for his phone. ‘Please allow us to buy some snacks! A token of our appreciation for inviting us here!’

The three girls initially protest but then accept, eyes bright and smiling. Minseok notes how the spirits seem to gather even closer to them.

‘Oh don’t you just love food delivery services?’ Jongdae asks with a laugh as he opens up an app.

‘Yes!’ Sana exclaims emphatically.

‘I say something easy and not messy,’ Baekhyun offers up, ‘Kimbap?’

Minseok immediately raises his hand and he hears Sana exclaim out at the same time, ‘Cheese kimbap!’

Minseok feels his face turning red at the stares he’s getting. He glances at Sana who is also turning red, confusion on her face that’s visible.

Momo starts giggling at them.

‘Okay, two cheese kimbaps,’ Jongdae is clearly grinning widely under his mask. ‘Any allergies anyone?’

Minseok follows after Sana, who gives him a quick tour of the place as well. Minseok approves of Mina’s suggestions of where to place their cameras and equipment and he places bright sticky-pads around the area.

‘Is this the motion capture camera?’ Sana asks, intrigued as Minseok sets it up in the classroom Mina had been filming in when her footage captured the rows of spirits on the whiteboard. They’re all in here too, following in after them. After Sana.

‘Yeah,’ Minseok nods.

‘It’s so cool!’ Sana looks at it with obvious awe. ‘How does it work?’

‘It projects little rays of light,’ Minseok explains, ‘Wait, I’ll plug it up first and I can show you.’

Sana claps with enthusiasm at that, showing Minseok an outlet he can plug up the camera to. Minseok switches it on and though most of these supernatural based equipment were a load of garbage and nonsense, motion capture lights were kinda interesting, especially depending on the type of spirit.

So when the lights come on, dotting all along the wall, it immediately ripples in the form of the figures now lined up on the wall. Sana gasps, taking a step back before the lights even out. She stares at the wall, and then at Minseok who is kinda frozen where he’s leaning over the device.

‘…was that…is that normal?’ Sana asks, clearing nervously.

‘Um, no,’ Minseok replies slowly. Oh, Baekhyun was going to be so upset that Minseok didn’t have a GoPro on him. He switches off the camera.

In the room at the end of the hallway Minseok meets Boo who sleepily raises his head from his little bed to look at him. Around him, forming a strange ring, are little children, covered heavily in mud. They’re not hostile or angry, they just seemed to be adoring the old little dog.

Minseok honestly doesn’t know how to feel.

It takes about 30 minutes to go around, looking at the locations Mina has suggested and placing markers, as well as making notes on where electric outlets were placed. Sana asks if she can take some pictures with Minseok in it, for her Instagram, apparently. Minseok easily obliges.

She speaks in Japanese for a while before directing questions at Minseok in Korean. They’re mainly simple and basic sentences and structures, clearly using this moment to educate.

The third floor, strangely enough, is worse. They’re covered in more mud, sticking to the walls, heavy and muffled. It makes the already narrow hallway feel more claustrophobic. The third floor, where their servers were hosted and all of their records as well as offices were located, was strictly off limits. However, Mina managed to get permission to film in this hallway, and the open staff library, kitchenette, and locker room with the condition that the 3 girls would be there for every second of the filming.

Baekhyun is very upset that Minseok didn’t have a camera on him when Sana excitedly tells them about what happened with the motion lights. Jongdae immediately and easily states that it could be a technical issue but not in a patronizing or mean way. And Minseok would agree most of the time but.

They merrily eat their lunch: the girls at one end of the lobby, and the Unsolved crew outside. It’s the perfect time to test out their short radio devices and Baekhyun takes the initiative to tell the girls every single bad pun he knows while Jongdae turns his back to him.

It starts out pretty normal at first- with Baekhyun easily leading into the topic of jackets by asking the girls ‘Did you hear about the new reversible jackets?’

‘Oh, I’ve been needing a new jacket!’ Sana exclaims.

‘Yeah, I can’t wait to see how they turn out.’

Jongdae instantly realizes what’s about to happen and he closes his eyes.

The girls politely nod, clearly wondering why Baekhyun was so keenly delighted on the topic of reversible jackets, the pun flying over their heads.

‘So I bought drugs from this new dealer-‘

Mina’s eyes widen comically and Sana chokes on her cheese kimbap while Jongdae covers his face with his palm.

‘I don’t know what he laced them with, but I’ve been tripping whole day.’

‘I’d like to take this moment to apologize,’ Jongdae snatches the radio from Baekhyun. ‘He does not take drugs. That’s just his natural personality.’

This actually makes the girls laugh.

‘Oh, were you trying to make jokes?’ Sana asks earnestly.

Baekhyun looks like he’s died a little bit as Jongdae guffaws at him.

One their stomachs are filled, masks back one, hands sanitized, and the sun quite low, Minseok, Jongdae, and Mina set up the cameras. Momo brings Boo down and Baekhyun is very preoccupied by the time they come down.

‘Okay, all cameras are set up and ready,’ Minseok calls as he finishes setting up the laptop and monitor screen, showing a wide split screen of all their live cameras.

As there are 3 floors, they decide to split into teams of 3. Minseok and Sana, Baekhyun and Momo, and Jongdae and Mina. While each team investigated each floor, the remaining two would stay at the lobby, watching the monitor feed.

Minseok and Sana go first to explore the first floor past the lobby.

Sana is given her own GoPro, excessively sanitized by Jongdae.

‘Hyung, do remember to talk!’ Baekhyun cheers, ‘Hyung is our main cameraman so he rarely speaks, this time he’ll have to do some talking.’

‘Don’t worry! Sana is great at talking!’ Momo says brightly.

‘Don’t say that!’ Sana whines, waddling on her spot, ‘You make me seem like a blabber mouth!’

‘I will need it,’ Minseok tells her seriously.

‘No seriously, otherwise hyung’s part is just gonna be loud white noise,’ Jongdae supplies. And Minseok can’t even be mad about it because it’s true.

‘Okay I’ll try my best?’ Sana says slowly.

The four cheer them before they leave the main lobby.

After dark, and with the lights all switched off, the muddy rows of spirits is visually horrifying and Minseok is utterly grateful that they’re not aggressive or hostile. But then now that also meant he needed to understand the truth behind why they were here at all. Should he try to cleanse the place? But this was a lot of spirits. He’s not sure he can do something of this scale.

‘Do I just hold this up?’ Sana asks, holding the EVP device up.

‘Yeah,’ Minseok nods, feeling awkward not holding up the larger camera with both hands, and instead just holding up the small GoPro. ‘You can switch it on and if the light is at green it means there’s no activity but if it-‘

Sana switches it on and the lights on the EVP glare up to red.

Minseok and Sana jump at Baekhyun squeaking loudly through the partition door.

‘That’s normal,’ Minseok tells her firmly, ‘It means it’s working.’

Sana makes a sound of understanding, holding the GoPro and EVP device before her dutifully.

Minseok has already been through here and it’s actually not bad down here. They sit for a while in one of the meeting rooms in the dark. The EVP device flares up but it’s only because this meeting room shared a wall with the storage room behind the 7-Eleven next door. And true enough, as Sana stands by the wall, the spirits parting to make way for her, the EVP flares up.

‘Just powerful refrigerators and air-conditioners,’ Minseok explains. ‘However everything inside the building has been switched off, including the servers! For which we are grateful!’

Actually it was because despite reassurances that none of their equipment would harm the servers, Mina’s boss seems to think otherwise.

But that meant less chances of electronic waves clashing, according an excited Baekhyun.

Honestly not much happens during their look around. The EVP flares up a few times but it’s just the 7-Eleven next door. Baekhyun suggests they do different things like ask questions but there’s nothing. However as they’re walking back, Sana clearly feeling a lot less nervous, happily chatting to Minseok about her favourite kind of yogurt, when a figure, clear as day, walks past the frosted glass partition. Minseok is normally great at reacting like he’s not seeing things. For example, the multitude of spirits covered in mud facing every singular wall. However, Sana clearly sees it too, gasping mid-yogurt talk.

‘Um-…’ she glances at Minseok who glances at her also. ‘Was that…’

‘Hey did one of you guys just walk pass the door?’

‘…no?’ is Baekhyun’s immediately nervous response. ‘We’ve been sitting in here in front of the monitors?’

‘Should I go first?’ Minseok offers Sana who immediately nods.

The spirits push themselves up the walls, shifting positions and walking across the hallway multiple times. Sana doesn’t notice these, walking nervously behind Minseok. They push open the door and 4 LED lit faces look up at them, eyes wide in a questioning manner. Sana giggles nervously, rushing into the room as Minseok turns and closes the door on the jam-packed backs lining up the hallway.

‘You might have caught that in your GoPro?’ Baekhyun says eagerly as he and Momo get ready to go up to the second floor.

‘We might have,’ Minseok smiles, handing his GoPro over to him while Sana hands hers to Momo. ‘Have fun!’

‘Okay, I’m the expert here, I should be strong and cool about this,’ Baekhyun mutters under his breath while Momo carries Boo under one arm and holds the GoPro in another.

They climb up the stairs and the only sound is of dripping mud and the electronic hum of the laptop before them.

‘Okay so I’m betting Baekhyun is going to lose his mind in 2 minutes,’ Jongdae says suddenly.

Mina laughs while Sana looks somewhat concerned.

‘A minute and a half,’ Minseok replies solemnly before turning to Sana, ‘What do you think?’

‘Oh-‘ she pauses, ‘2 minutes and 15 seconds.’

‘Very specific, Mina-shii?’ Jongdae turns to his partner.

‘1 minute 28 seconds.’

‘Again, loving the specificity of these.’ Jongdae gleefully rubs his hands together, wafts of hand sanitizer rolling off of his every move. They watch as Momo explains to Baekhyun the layout and the rooms. Momo leads the way easily, Baekhyun walks behind her, shoulders a little shrugged, head darting about. Momo places Boo down who merrily trots his way down slowly towards the lounge room. Momo opens one of the doors, showing it to Baekhyun who holds the EVP device in his hand like it’s some talisman before him. Other than the flashlights they were using, Baekhyun had also taken up the flashlights used for detecting spiritual presence. Jongdae always thought they were dumb and Minseok agrees too. But in one of the larger classrooms that’s jam-packed with spirits, Baekhyun places the flashlights before the teacher’s podium like desk.

He asks Momo to sit and act as she would during a class. Momo obliges, sitting on the high seat as Baekhyun sits down on one of the desks.

‘You know what I like about whiteboards,’ Baekhyun points at the whiteboard to the side.

‘Hm?’ Momo looks curious.

‘They’re quite re-markable.’

Momo’s blank expression is so good Minseok makes note to zoom in just so that people can gif it and make it a reaction meme for the channel.

‘Oh my god,’ Jongdae whispers under his breath, staring up at the ceiling as Sana snorts under her mask.

Momo starts up a faux class, setting the stage, so to speak. Then Baekhyun, yawning spectacularly, eyes darting all over the place, says, ‘Teacher! I don’t think the class understood what you meant, if you didn’t under the teacher, please light up the flashlight!’

Nothing happens.

‘Maybe he is on drugs,’ Jongdae sighs out, causing Sana to giggle hysterically.

‘Baekhyun-ah, maybe let Momo ask the questions? If there are spirits here, they’re more familiar to her,’ Minseok finds himself suggesting.

‘Okay students,’ Momo starts, ‘Today we will play a small game, if you want to say yes, please turn on both of these flashlights! If you want to say no, switch on only one!’

‘Okay!’ Baekhyun chirps before adding, ‘Hai sensei!’

‘Today we will learn about fruits!’ Momo gestures to the dark empty classroom. If she’s nervous or a little unsettled by this environment, she doesn’t show it. But then again, teachers of all capacity have been known to be unfazed by most things.

‘Do you like fruits everyone?’ she asks, pausing.

Nothing happens.

‘My favourite fruit is apple! Ringo! Repeat after me, Ringo!’

‘Ringo!’ Baekhyun repeats cheerily, momentarily forgetting his fear.

‘Good!’ Momo claps, ‘What is your favourite fruit?’

‘I love watermelon!’ Baekhyun replies.

‘Suika!’

‘Suika!’

‘Very good!’ Momo cheers, ‘The rest of the class, don’t be shy! I will name some fruits, if you like them, please make the flashlights light up!’

To Minseok’s alarm, the spirits actually start to move.

‘Pineapple!’

They stop before the podium, surrounding Momo so much she’s barely visible.

‘Strawberry!’

Mina fidgets a little, making Minseok look away from the monitor only to find they’re surrounded by the spirits. That’s when Minseok realizes Baekhyun had placed more of those flashlights on the table behind them.

‘Banana!’

‘Is banana also banana in Japanese?’ Jongdae asks curiously.

‘Yes-‘

‘Orange!’

The spirits move as one and the flashlights on Momo’s podium lights up and the flashlights behind them lights up too, dozens of hands attempting to touch the prop.

‘What the -?’ Jongdae looks around surprised as Sana gasps, clutching onto Mina.

‘What the -?!’ Baekhyun squeaks out, trying to make himself small.

‘It could be a one off thing,’ Minseok begins.

‘Um- Momo-shii, can you uh, ask if they can switch it off?’

‘Um,’ Momo begins hesitantly, ‘Can you please switch it off?’

The spirits switch the lights off. Behind them, and on the podium in front of Momo.

Baekhyun immediately power walks out of the room, leaning up against the hallway wall, unaware of the muddy spirits he’s surrounded by as he takes a breather. Momo makes a funny squeaking sound before she collects the flashlights and runs after Baekhyun.

That’s when Mina points out to another section of their split screen.

Boo, who had previously been sleeping on his little bed, suddenly follows after a small ball that had been inside his bed. It rolls out into the hallway but Baekhyun and Momo don’t notice.

‘…he kicked it out?’ Sana says slowly.

‘I honestly don’t know, I didn’t see that part, just saw Boo waking up,’ Mina confesses.

But it was not Boo. The children gather around the senior dog, crouched, trying to move the ball around for him. Boo’s tail wags a little, hobbling ahead with the children. Baekhyun lets out a small shout at the sudden appearance of Boo, making Momo gasp as well before they both breakdown into nervous laughter.

‘Uh, let’s not tell them anything just yet?’ Jongdae floats the idea out, ‘Baekhyun will start crying.’

They watch as Momo goes to her dog, crouching down to pet him a little before she notices the ball. The spirits follow her movement, pausing as she stops.

Baekhyun clearly hears something they don’t and he’s frozen in the spot.

‘Um. Momo-shii.’

‘Yes?’ Momo looks around, turning her flashlight over. The light casts a weird relief over the spirits gathered and it’s barely visible for half a frame but everyone notices it. And clearly so does Baekhyun who is very frozen.

‘Guys…’ he starts slowly, holding the radio very close to himself, ‘Did you guys catch that.’

Mina and Sana turn to look at him and Jongdae.

‘Yes,’ Minseok replies, ‘But uh, it’s fine?’

‘You’re not reassuring me.’ Baekhyun all but squeaks.

‘All the rooms are clear,’ Jongdae tells Baekhyun in a level manner, ‘You just have the lounge and one more classroom left.’

‘Yeah- yeah okay,’ Baekhyun breathes out, slowly moving his body, ‘Um- Momo-shii, how are you doing?’

‘Uhh,’ Momo begins before she gasps, ’Ah, I forgot my GoPro!’

It’s entertaining, watching Momo and Baekhyun try to boost each other as they reenter the classroom they had run out of to retrieve the GoPro Momo had forgotten.

They retrieve it without incident and that seems to give Baekhyun a little courage to proceed on.

‘I think we save the lounge for the end,’ Baekhyun suggests nervously, eyeing the open doorway where Boo now sat, watching them sleepily. ‘But can we close the door, I don’t…feel comfortable knowing it’s open.’

Momo nods in agreement. They step forward, walking down the rest of the hallway when Momo suddenly stops.

Mina and Sana both lean in immediately making Jongdae look at them with curiousity.

‘I think-,’ Mina begins slowly as Baekhyun asks nervously, ‘Momo-shii?’

‘I heard footsteps behind us.’

Well, considering hordes of spirits were now following after Momo from the classrooms, it made sense. Minseok can’t believe how “vocal” these spirits were.

Baekhyun lets out a nervous laugh, frozen in his spot.

‘Guys, could you continue walking ahead?’ Jongdae suggests, his voice causing Baekhyun to jump a foot in the air.

Momo takes the first step followed shakily by Baekhyun. The spirits follow after Momo.

‘Okay stop.’

They stop.

Momo immediately covers her ears, shoulders curling in.

‘You heard that?’

‘Guys please don’t with me, did you hear that?’

But they don’t hear.

Jongdae and Mina have the headphones on that filters in audio from 2 of the cameras, one of them in the lounge and the other out in the hallway.

In the classroom, Baekhyun takes a moment to sit down and not breakdown. Momo stands completely still, watching Baekhyun lose his mind as he paces back and forth, talking to himself. It’s a very amusing contrast and maybe Mina was on to something when she suggested the pairing.

They place the EVP device on the podium and ask the spirits to touch it. But nothing happens. Baekhyun seems to gain a little more strength and together with Momo, they proceed towards the lounge where just a minute ago, Minseok, Jongdae, Mina, and Sana all witness it open by itself.

It’s the children. They’re the most mischievous and active of the entirety of spirits gathered here.

Baekhyun stares at the door as Momo calmly places herself in the corner of the hallway.

‘Can…can this door be opened…can Boo open this door?’ he asks quietly before glancing at the cameras. ‘Guys. Did Boo open that.’

‘Um, sorry, no,’ Mina replies apologetically.

Baekhyun starts giggling hysterically.

They start by shoving the EVP reader into the room first, rather than stepping foot inside. Momo is holding Boo in her arms, his soft ball in one hand, as Baekhyun shakily asks if there are any spirits who want to communicate. But most of the spirits are simply gathering around Momo and Boo.

It’s unsettling and would have Minseok on edge if it weren’t for the fact that Minseok still cannot detect a single negative vibe from the spirits. They all seem to be more peaceful and at rest with the girls around.

Minseok has no idea what to do.

Baekhyun and Momo are supposed to play the ball fetching game but the duo are clearly too nervous to try.

They fairly jog out of the second floor.

Momo accidently drops Boo’s soft ball but she’s too eager to get downstairs and so leaves it at the edge of the top of the stairs where it stops rolling.

Baekhyun is spectacularly pale and sweaty and Momo’s eyes are slightly glazed, as though trying her best to disassociate her consciousness away from this place. The two girls immediately hug and bring Momo close, sitting her down and petting Boo.

Baekhyun barrels into Minseok with a whiney ‘hyung’ before doing a funny jittery dance, shaking himself all over as though trying to physically rid himself of his fear.

‘Well, that was fun, but we’re gonna get going,’ Jongdae announces, taking Baekhyun’s GoPro and EVP reader.

‘Don’t forget the spirit box!’ Baekhyun calls.

‘I hate that,’ Jongdae whines but still takes it. Mina “gears” up as well, following Jongdae.

‘Ah, I should have brought Boo’s ball down,’ Momo says to no one in particular before calling after Mina, ‘Can you please throw Boo’s ball down later?’

Mina replies back an affirmative. And they’re halfway up the stairs when Boo’s soft ball rolls down the steps.

Baekhyun and Momo haven’t noticed, as they were busy hydrating themselves in the opposite end of the room. However, Sana points hurriedly at the monitor, eyes wide as she looks at Minseok, checking to see if he saw.

And yes, Minseok can see the spirits, eagerly pushing into each other as Mina ascends the stairs. They were excited to see her.

Jongdae stops mid-step and Mina actually takes a step back.

They don’t say anything for a full minute during which Baekhyun and Momo come back.

‘What’s up? Why haven’t they gone up yet?’ Baekhyun asks, making sure his new mask was firmly placed around his mouth and nose.

‘Um,’ Sana fidgets a little.

‘The ball rolled down the stairs.’

Baekhyun’s eyes nearly pop out of his head.

‘Jongdae-‘

‘It could be our own steps-‘

‘Those are not wooden steps,’ Baekhyun frowns, shivering a little, ‘Those are carpeted cement stairs man.’

‘Okay you know what,’ Jongdae picks up the ball again and quickly climbs up the stairs. Mina is still rooted in her spot, clearly sensing the massive gathering at the top of the stairs. Jongdae first does a sweep of the hallway, checking for drafts or anything before placing the ball on the edge of the steps after being directed by Momo on where it had dropped.

‘Right.’ Jongdae nods.

Then he proceeds to jump and stomp on the stairs for a solid minute. But nothing happens. He runs up past the ball, and down past the ball. It doesn’t move.

‘Wait,’ Baekhyun whispers before looking at Momo. ‘Can you ask Mina to throw the ball back down?’

‘Um-‘ Momo hesitates. ‘Unnie! Could you throw Boo’s ball back down?’

Mina doesn’t move, and Jongdae waits at the top of the stairs, creating a barrier before the ball. The spirits get a little restless.

Minseok glances at the clock.

‘Hey guys, maybe we should hurry up? We’ll keep an eye on the ball.’ He suggests.

Jongdae waits politely for Mina who shivers as she enters the hallway, the spirits parting for her. They’re going up to the third floor when Boo lets out a small raspy bark, causing Baekhyun to jump in his seat.

They’re about to laugh at Baekhyun’s jumpiness when the ball rolls down.

‘It rolled down?!’ Jongdae demands, quickly rushing back to the staircase landing. He sounds eager, ‘I felt a draft earlier, is there a vent somewhere here Mina-shii?’

‘I’m not sure,’ Mina replies unsure.

Jongdae stands at the top of the stairs, looking down at the ball that’s stopped rolling halfway through. It was a soft ball, didn’t have much bounce.

‘You know what will really convince me, if it rolled back up.’

‘I hate him,’ Baekhyun mutters under his breath, shivering at the suggestion of the ball rolling back up.

‘Please throw the ball back at me,’ Jongdae requests, crossing his arms over his chest.

There are no spirits in the staircase. They’re all hovering around Mina.

Minseok realizes, in a strange way, from the way they’re standing, facing away from her, from Sana and Momo, there’s almost something protective with how they assembled themselves.

‘Hey, come on, work with me here,’ Jongdae whines as Momo walks over slowly. ‘Please throw the ball up!’

Not sure why, maybe nervousness or just walking around in the dark, Mina trips a little and Jongdae who displays uncharacteristic reflexes, helps her back to steadiness.

To Minseok’s absolute horror, the spirits that were also facing away from Jongdae, slowly turn around, just a little, not entirely.

Oh. Oh.

Okay he was going to have to prove something and Minseok is already regretting this because this was so not his style but-

‘Oh look-!’ he gasps uncharacteristically loudly, pointing at the monitor at nothing.

Momo and Sana jump in their seats. Baekhyun actually screams.

The spirits in the room slowly start to face him.

And seeing it directly around him, Minseok decides he does not want to see their faces.

‘I’m so sorry,’ he apologizes quickly, ‘I thought I saw something- it was just a dust orb I think.’

Baekhyun is recovering while Sana and Momo just giggle, waving his apology off.

Jongdae gets the ball back.

‘Okay, lets place this on the hallway here,’ he suggests, ‘A different spot.’

‘You’d think he was trying to prove ghosts are real,’ Baekhyun manages to comment.

They leave the ball there and proceed to go upstairs.

Not much happens during the tour as Mina shows Jongdae the recording rooms and studios, as well as the library. They settle in the room Mina had been filming her pre-recorded class in and Jongdae starts up the spirit box.

With a warning for everyone, Jongdae starts it up.

He’s evidently wincing, eyebrows furrowed.

‘Oh that’s so loud,’ Sana winces, removing her headphones.

‘Okay, so um, hi.’ Jongdae starts before huffing out a laugh, ‘Baekhyun’s the one who does this more, so I’m kinda awkward.’

Mina just laughs.

‘My name is Jongdae.’

‘My name is Mina.’

‘We would like to ask if, uh, some questions, to any spirits? That might be here?’ Jongdae rolls his eyes but he pushes on. ‘First of all, well…-why are you here?’

The channels shift, throwing out random sounds and words that makes Baekhyun jump all over the place.

‘How many of you are here?’

Nothing happens. The spirits are all around them in the classroom, leaning in over Mina protectively.

‘Um,’ Mina starts as Jongdae nods at her, ‘Are you- uh, are you enjoying the classes?’

Jongdae evidently grins.

‘yEs.’

Baekhyun blinks a few times.

‘Unnie, you should ask the questions I think,’ Momo suggests unexpectedly.

‘Oh- okay, um. We found that you liked oranges. Can you tell me something more? Why are you here?’

It’s silent.

Minseok is a little surprised. The last time they used a spirit box and a spirits voice had managed to catch onto the frequencies to relay a message had been back with Yongsun from SoLaShiDo. And that had been terrifying and desperate. These spirits were far from desperate.

They were not angry either.

‘aSLeeP.’

What?

Minseok hears them whispering it, their voices lingering and falling just past his hearing ability. He’s sensing the words rather than actually hearing it- it brushes past his hair, a faint far whisper.

‘-eEpINg-.’

Sana shivers as Baekhyun tries not to have a total breakdown.

‘Um, do you-…do you want to hurt anyone?’ Mina asks in a quiet hesitant voice.

Everyone leans in to watch the monitor closer.

‘-afe- sAfE-‘

Okay so maybe spirit boxes were somewhat useful.

‘Well um. Why-…what do you want?’

Minseok leans away, glancing around at the spirits.

‘-est…-rest-to REst-.’

Baekhyun’s phone alarm goes off, causing everyone to jump again.

‘Ah ,’ he mumbles under his breath. It was 9 PM. ‘Guys, sorry to break this up but-‘ Jongdae switches off the spirit box, ‘-alarm just went off.’

‘Okay,’ Jongdae looks around for the camera and gives it a thumb’s up, ‘-we’ll wrap up.’

They’re getting up and leaving the classroom when the ball Jongdae had placed on the stair landing of the third floor rolls down. Minseok spots the children, playing around the stairs.

Boo had somehow quietly made his way up to the second floor.

‘Oh  my god,’ Baekhyun whimpers while Momo lets out a gasp, standing up and jumping a little on her spot, clearly worried for her dog.

‘Mina-shii, can you please bring Boo back down?’ Minseok asks as Jongdae notices the ball is missing.

He quickly makes his way to the landing and hands on hips, stares at the ball in the middle of the stairs, Boo at the bottom.

‘I’m guessing that was not Boo who took it down?’

Boo and the ball back down in the main lobby, power back and lights all switched on, they all take a breather.

‘Wow,’ Baekhyun can’t stop repeating himself as Jongdae goes back to the stairs to see if there was a vent or draft somewhere.

‘I hope this didn’t scare or upset you,’ Minseok tries. These spirits were, albeit unsettling, protective of the girls in the school.

‘Well, with the lights back on, I think actually, it’s quite um, interesting?’ Mina starts slowly. ‘Not quite scared, just…maybe surprised. I guess it’s a good feeling when what we were experiencing wasn’t just, you know, in our heads.’

Sana and Momo nod.

‘You guys are so cool,’ Baekhyun chokes out.

Minseok is relieved by the sincerity in Mina’s voice.

They finish retrieving all of the cameras and their equipment, with a final attempt at rolling the ball down the stairs but nothing happens again. Minseok still sees the spirits, but they’re barely visible in the fluorescent lights.

By the time they’re completely done, it’s 11 PM. The girls are happily chatting to Baekhyun and Jongdae when a flashy car pulls over. They meet with their boss who comes to do a final sweep. He’s an older man, clearly trying a bit too hard to be relatable and “cool”. He seems to cause some level of cringe in the girls- their behavior is reminiscent of teenage children all politely trying to disengage themselves from a very loud and cringey father.

He very quickly shoves a promotional tagline he’s clearly memorized and reels it off like a rap. Momo ducks her head and is looking elsewhere while Mina nods along, eyes glazed over. Clearly, Mina is the eldest child doing her best to be supportive of the father figure in this scenario despite her own embarrassment.

With the boss safely inside, they ready for the final words out in the street.

‘Do you have any last words for our viewers?’ Baekhyun gestures widely to the camera Minseok is holding.

‘Oh!’ Sana exclaims, ‘Please do support your local farmers! This is a bad time for farmers around the country, and around the world too. If you can, please buy from them! We’ve recently bought these excellent potatoes from the local farm here but it’s not enough- there’s surplus of supplies but nowhere to send them, and it’s a massive loss for the farmers. Please support potatoes!’ she bobs up and down a little, hands in fists that she waves and shakes for emphasis in certain words.

‘Oh yes, absolutely, we love potatoes, absolutely will buy every potato,’ Baekhyun replies, holding a firm thumb’s up towards the camera.

Sana cheers and sends Baekhyun a socially distanced high-five which he returns with gusto.

The girls help them pack up even though they tell them it’s not necessary but they insist and it’s actually really fun and Minseok doesn’t think he’s had this much fun at the end of a shoot. There’s no heaviness from a malevolent spirit, or strange oppressive weight of sorrow or grief.

He doesn’t feel bad about leaving this place without trying for a blessing or cleansing.

He would still tell his aunt everything in detail as he promised, maybe she could find out something about this place.

They wave goodbye to the girls and drive out of the street carefully.

‘Guys, man, it’s good to be back.’

‘You were terrified the whole time,’ Jongdae deadpans.

‘No, but like, ah,’ Baekhyun stretches in his seat, ‘I dunno, I feel good.’

Jongdae grins at him from the backseat having lost a spectacular rock-paper-scissor match just minutes ago. ‘Yeah, I know what you mean.’

‘Come on, seatbelts guys.’ Minseok calls over.

‘What about you hyung?’ Baekhyun asks just as Jongdae groans loudly.

‘Oh come on,’ Jongdae whines as he pulls the seat belt across himself, ‘How did I get mud on me?’

Baekhyun only cackles at him.

Minseok notices with a thrill that he has some mud on the side of his jeans as well.

He grins to himself as they drive off.

It really felt good to be back.

*

Yves Saint Awkward: Oh this is so cool they have new equipment and stuff I’m so pleased for them!

LuckyFrogSong: Jongdae aggressively trying to disprove the ball is terrifying me even more my man is JUMPING on those stairs and THERES NOTHING HAPPENING AND THEN WHEN MOMO ASKS THEM TO ROLL THE BALL IT DOES I AM OUT OF HERE CAN WE GO BACK TO ONCE UPON AN UNSOLVED VLOGS THANKS

Mareete: Omg wait I’ve actually been taking lessons with MiMoSa online I NEVER EXPECTED THIS COLLABORATION THIS IS INSANE I LOVE IT SO MUCH

Cold-Blooded AF: I don’t even live there and Im desperately trying to buy these potatoes like-

Indigo_salad:  Moments like these I hate being bi, I nearly died when Minseok and sana said cheese kimbap how do you choose

The Feels™: @Indigo_salad Minseok and Sana or the cheese kimbap

Indigo_salad: @The Feels™…that’s a good question, ah

Incorrect Baekhyun Quotes: Every time they do a socially distance high five my heart grows

ROCK WITH YOU: I am living for these slow-mo edits

GrimArtandStuff: The fact that there’s SO MUCH EVIDENCE IN THIS EPISODE IS FREAKING ME OUT FOR WHATS ABOUT TO COME IN THE SEASON

Erikyoooooooonggggg_ggg: praying for my man Baekhyun he’s not gonna be okay this season is he

SinB is My High Priestess: Okay but those jeans were seriously great on Momo, Sana was not lying

I Don’t Know You Anymore: I would die for sana

minghaoFrogagenda: Okay so we all agree this place is actually genuinely haunted and these girls should gtfo?

Why Are All The B-Sides Bops?: Momo’s complete chill and cool attitude versus Baekhyun’s unhinged behavior was the best 43 seconds of my life. Thank you to whoever decided to let that roll without any cuts or edits.

Sorry but Next: So…that ball rolled down the stairs 3 times on its own. Okay. Okay! This is fine! It’s fine!

Where there is a will, there is an iam: THE WAY NONE OF THEM REACTED TO BAEKHYUN’S JOKE I’M CRYING

Bocchann: Rolling balls, full body apparition, footsteps, and most horrifying of all, a boomer trying to be cool. Such a good episode

Baguette Au Pain: I love the excess of “THE BALLS” comments

A Lover AND a Loser? It’s more likely than you think: How are they not more popular like wtf this is some serious legit content guys, and they’re so fun too???

Flying Asparas: I’m here because I saw their video in the Not White House on Nuke’s Top Five with the motion sensor thing and yes I am subscribed and after this episode I’m gonna go through ALL of their seasons

Joshua’s Eyebrow Piercing: Honestly if I were a ghost I would like to chill with these girls too like, they look so nice and sweet, they seem to radiate such a nice happy vibe

Jungkook’s Lip Piercing: Im signing up for lessons asap mina has such a soothing calm voice she could read me the dictionary and I’d pay for it

167 is average height: OMG THEY WERE ON NUKE’S TOP FIVE AYE CONGRATULATIONS

Hula la la la hula hoop!: this is the strangest but most welcome youtube suggestion I’ve ever had the frightening pleasure of watching

Sehun_omayaaaaaa: Boo is an icon

Author’s Notes

Aye happy Halloween

I love MiMoSa line they make me very happy

I also thought jyp as the try hard boss was very on brand so there he is, at least without plastic pants!

This story was inspired by an amazing artwork I saw on facebook but IT WASN’T CREDITED AND I DON’T KNOW HOW MADE IT BUT ITS THIS MAN AND HIS TWO KIDS LOOKING AT A MIRROR AND REFLECTED ARE HIS DEAD WIFE AND KID FACES COVERED so yeah it’s cool =)

This season is gonna based on not true stories from my past because there are no more to tell

INSTEAD WE GO INTO STORIES OR MYTHS OR STRANGE THINGS IVE HEARD ABOUT OR READ ABOUT BUT WITH MY TWIST ON IT WOO LETS GO

Next episode will be fun!!

Also I couldn’t not include the legendary cheese kimbap bit like, dudes, its cheese kimbap

Also yes autopsy episodes will be back!