“Soul number three. Here in your room.”, she said as a single tear was falling from her eye.

       “Thank you, Kim Chaewon.”, she said before standing up and hugging me.

       “You’re the demon? Why are you a pretty woman now? You’ve been a girl this entire time?”, I asked her as while she was still hugging me. She laughed and let go of the hug.

       “Is that the first question that came into your mind?”, she chuckled.

       “Well, I have a lot of questions, but yes. That was the first question.”, I said as her observed her face.

       “I’ve always been pretty though. What are you talking about?”, she cheekily said. I looked at her face with disgust.

       “No, you weren’t. You were literally hideous just yesterday.”, I teased, earning me a light punch on the arm.

       “I’m sorry for misgendering you though. What do you mean by “Soul number three. Here”? Are you the last soul that I’m supposed to help?”, I asked her. I really did have a lot of questions.

       “Don’t worry, you already did. You’ve already helped me.”, she smiled at me.

       “Can’t you explain to me what’s happening? I’m really confused here. I thought you were a demon?”, I continued to ask her more questions. I sat down on my bed and waited. She sat down on my chair again and cleared .

       “Well, my name is Kang Hyewon, even though it doesn’t seem like you were planning on asking my name. You know how ghosts appear in the form they died in as humans?”, she asked.

       “Were you burned alive?!”, I asked her and gasped.

       “No, stupid. I died on my death bed, died a normal death.”, she explained.

       “Okay, so why did you look like you were burned at a thousand degrees for hours if you did a normal death?”, I asked her, even more confused now.

       “Because I didn’t deserve a normal death. I was the reason some people suffered terrible deaths. While I walked on earth, breathing and alive, other people spent their time walking on earth with the memories of their horrible death. So the first thing that I felt after I died was the pain that felt like the hell I deserved. I had unfinished business here as a ghost, I wanted to make it up to the people I ruined, even if they were already dead, but I woke up as a demon that no living and dead human being could see, except you.”, she said with a serious expression on her face. I blinked rapidly as I looked at her. So, that’s why she ran away every time I met the ghosts, but what did she have to do with the souls she picked to save?

       “I was friends with the ghost who was stabbed. Chaeyeon— she was my friend and she trusted me a lot but I was one of the reasons she was in a place she shouldn’t have went to in the first place. I was envious of her. She had a loving mother, while I never even met mine. I was the one who influenced her into rebelling against her, but I was also the first to run away when I saw the man stab her. She called for help but I chose to save my own life and ignore her pleas. Not once in those 30 years that passed did I ever forget about the way she called for help and the way she looked at me before I cowardly ran away.”, she looked away from me as her tears started to fall while she explained herself.

       “I couldn’t sleep again after that, nor could I ever say sorry because even when we were both dead, there was no way she could see me.”, she continued. I remained quiet and waited for her to continue.

       “A few years after that, I caused another person to die again, but it was much worse. I was no longer the bystander, I was the one who took someone else’s life. While I was drunk, I hit a girl who was crossing the pedestrian lane with my car. I saw that she was still breathing but my fear stopped me from helping her, and just like the coward I was 30 years ago, I ran away from her again. She had the same look as Chaeyeon had.”, this time I was the one who looked away as she said those words, instantly remembering the girl I always see on the pedestrian lane while walking with Minjoo.

       “I was punished by being invisible, maybe to make me feel what Chaeyeon felt when I pretended I couldn’t see and hear her when she was at the brink of her death. I don’t know how I know this, but the moment I woke up from death, I knew I needed to help two souls to be seen. Because of you, I can help the person I killed now, I think it’ll be hard, but I’ll try my best even when I’m just a ghost now. Thank you, Chaewon.”, she said to me, making me look at her. I smiled at her and asked her one last question.

       “How about the girl? Why’d you help her?”, I asked, curious to know how the girl was connected to this story of hers.

       “I saw her in your school while I was following you there. And she reminded me of the people I’ve hurt. No one helped her when they could’ve. I couldn’t just run away and ignore the kind girl too when I knew you had the ability to help her.”, she said to me. I completely ignored the part where she said she was following me even though I wanted to scold her for doing so. She was punished for a reason, but it’s good to know that she changed and that she was willing to make up for her mistakes.

       “I’m sorry I forced you to help me by using your friend. A deal is a deal though, I’ll let you talk to her. I know a way.”, she assured me.

       “Can’t I at least get one last hug before I go to the last ghost and leave you forever?”, she looked at me with pleading eyes. I hugged her as tightly I could. She then let go of me and slowly faded away slowly as she smiled at me.

       In the middle of the room, the person I’ve been waiting for slowly appeared. I could feel my chest feel heavy and tears form in my eyes as I looked at her slowly process what’s happening.

       “Why…Why am I here?”, she frantically looked around, confusion and panic written all over her face. It was as if it was her first time here, but it wasn’t.

       “Why am I in your room, Chaewon-unnie? What did you do?”, she said and finally looked at me.

       “Listen, Minjoo. Listen to me first, please. Calm down”, I spoke as I tried to stop and reach out to her closer, but was cut off when she abruptly stepped back and looked at my hand like it would burn her.  She refused to look at me again.

       “Don’t. Don’t touch me. You can’t…You can’t”, she tried to sound serious, but her eyes gave it away, even if her eyes stayed glued to the floor. It was the first time I saw her like this, vulnerable and it looked as if she was about to cry.

       “Why not? Why can’t I?”, I tried very hard to ask without sounding like I was about to cry too but failed miserably. She finally looked at me again. 

       The room was filled with this heavy atmosphere as it took her quite a while to answer.

       “Because I’m dead, unnie”, she dejectedly answered me with something I already knew, I was afraid of what she had to say next and kept quiet.

       “You have to let me go.”, she said to me and sounded broken as she did so.

       “Let you go? How can you just say that when you left me without a single explanation? You promised that you’d be there that day. You told me that we’d achieve our dreams together, you told me like you were so sure, and then the next day, you were gone.”, I told her as