Much to her own surprise, Serin is reading the Dead Man’s Manual when her phone starts ringing right beside her on her bed. It’s deafeningly loud, especially since she’s emerged in the paragraph about how animals react to ghosts, which causes her to jump up in a sitting position. 

She picks her phone up, admiring the caller ID before responding. ”Jongdae?” 

The reply is quite not what she expects. ”We’re outside your house.” 

”What?”

”Me, Seulgi and Jongin are outside your house, now come out because we want to take you somewhere.” 

She frowns. ”What the hell? You guys are acting weird, you never do this. Why do I feel like you’ve planned my murder or something?” 

”I’m pretty sure God has already done that for you, but ok. Just come down!” Jongdae’s whine echoes so loudly Serin has to distance the phone from her ear, wincing. This man is loud loud. 

”Okay then, I guess,” she mutters, closing the book and turning the fan that was positioned right by her bed off. ”I’m coming down in three,” with that, Serin hangs up and opens her drawer and reaches for her hairbrush. 

There is a sudden surge of breeze that passes through her room, and suddenly she can feel the second presence there with her. 

”Took you long enough to show up, it’s been an entire morning,” she says. 

”Figured I’d give you some space after what happened with your friends yesterday,” Baekhyun answers. 

A soft smile plays on her lips as she grabs a hair clip and adjusts it in her hair. ”It’s okay, I think the last thing I need right now is space. I’ll have lots of that once I’m dead, no?” 

”Fair enough,” he laughs. ”You going somewhere?”

”Yeah, I’m pretty sure my friends are going to kidnap me or something, but whatever. Want to come?” 

Baekhyun raises an eyebrow. ”I literally have no other choice. Inter—”

”Intermortial link, yeah, yeah I know, I just kind of forgot in the spur of the moment. Well, it’s going to be a bit more fun for you now that more people know of your existence, right?”

Serin opens the door to her room and steps down the stairs as Baekhyun follows behind her. ”I-I don’t know, Serin. I’m not used to that much human interaction anymore.”

She turns around briefly to face him, before she spins around and walks towards the entrance. ”Well, you’re doing just great with me, aren’t you? I even forget you’re dead most of the time.” 

As expected, she is met with her friends’ forced smiles once she steps outside. A wince stretches on her own lips before Seulgi brings her in a tight hug. ”We’ll find some way to prevent all this, okay? We haven’t given up.” 

Serin smiles in gratitude, feeling the familiar weight nestle tightly in her heart, weighing it down greatly. ”Thank you, Seulgi.” 

After that, they depart off to wherever her friends had decided—they are still insisting on not telling her, for some reason—and for a part of the walk, they’re all strangely quiet. 

That is until Jongdae perks up curiously, gazing around her. 

”Is he- uh, is he here?”

Serin halts, completely taken aback. ”Who, you mean Baekhyun?” 

When the male nods, her gaze shifts to said person, who looks slightly terrified. 

”Yeah, why?”

”Well, since you said he’s linked to you, it’d be kind of rude to pretend he doesn’t exist, wouldn’t it?” 

”Yeah, you’re right,” Seulgi nods, as if she has just come to that realisation. 

”Serin, what the hell are your friends up to?” Baekhyun whispers, and she doesn’t miss the way his voice shakes slightly. 

”Where is he standing?” Seulgi asks, looking around. 

She is completely baffled by their behavior, which she shouldn’t be, to be honest. Seulgi and Jongdae were literally villagers. In a town with a limited number of citizens and very slow internet, social anxiety or non confrontation did not exist in their vocabulary. Mind you, these two can literally talk to anyone like they’re an old friend. Baekhyun is not an exception, though Serin has honestly not expected it at all. 

”Right beside her,” Jongin fills in, and she practically feels Baekhyun stiffen beside her. 

They both watch as the pair walks up to her, staring where they supposedly think her ghost friend is standing. 

”Hi, Baekhyun,” Jongdae smiles. ”I’m Jongdae, and this is Seulgi. Jongin you must’ve already met because he, well, can see you, and Serin you already know. Let’s spend the rest of this summer the best we can, alright?” He stretches his hand out to shake his hand, and Baekhyun merely stares ahead at her friend, completely dumbfounded. 

”Jongdae,” Serin half-whispers. ”He can’t shake your hand. It’d go right through you.” 

”Oh! Right, right,” he retracts his hand. ”My bad, sorry.” 

”Is there any way for us to communicate with him, without, you know, doing some kind of satanic ritual?” Seulgi asks. 

”You know what?” Serin stops to think for a moment, and claps her hands together at her sudden amazing idea. ”I’m a damn genius.” 

She pulls up her phone from her pocket, opens the notes app and hands it to Baekhyun, who takes it confusedly. The other pair gasps, and she loosely points towards it. 

”Make a note and type something.” 

”You want me to- are you serious?” He stammers. 

”Why not? Pardon me, but you have literally nothing to lose by making a few more friends. Soon enough I’ll be gone anyway and you’ll be in peace and quiet again, so you don’t have to bear me for much longer anymore. Just do it for me, please?”

”Don’t say that,” he warns. ”I’ll type something, then.” 

Once he’s done, Baekhyun turns the phone around for her friends to read, and both Jongdae and Seulgi jump back slightly, though not in fear—like she assumes—rather in amusement. 

Nice to meet you too, Jongdae and Seulgi, the note says. 

”Oh my God, you actually- he actually answered! this is the coolest thing I’ve ever done in my life, I can’t believe I’m talking to a ghost,” Jongdae grabs his beanie clothed head and laughs in aghast. 

”Yeah, same,” Baekhyun laughs quietly. ”Never would I have ever imagined I’d find myself in this situation.” 

Serin smacks his arm playfully. ”Well, you’re here now, so better enjoy it while it lasts, no?” 

***********

Turns out—to no one’s surprise at all—that walking in the scalding sun for more than one hour is absolutely unbearable, and by the time they have reached a small forest that offered a thin layer of protection, though it was enough for her skin to not go from tanned to horrifyingly sunburned. 

Jongdae and Seulgi are fully emerged in a conversation with Baekhyun through her phone. They admire the keyboard as it types every word by itself - well, in their eyes of course, like children on christmas morning. Baekhyun himself, seems to have relaxed considerably in comparison to forty minutes prior, where the thought of human interaction that didn’t include her made him pale in the face. Well, paler. His eyes are glistening as he waits for her friends to read his reply. 

Serin herself is walking beside Jongin, whining slightly at the faint smell of bark and heavy density of humidity in the air. ”Seriously, where are you bringing me?” 

”You’ll see,” he smiles, and she notices how this has got to be the first genuine smile she has seen him wear for days. The thought makes her own fade into a tiny pout. 

”Please be happy, Jongin. Even after I’m gone, smile a lot, okay? Maybe not too much though, or I’ll be afraid that you’ve forgotten me,” a laugh escapes her lips and her friend blinks a couple of times before he ruffles her hair affectionately. 

”I could never forget someone like you, you don’t have to worry about that,” he mutters. ”I don’t even want to think about my life without you.” 

Wow. Even for Jongin, that is oddly…sweet. It makes her blush a bit, and he seems to notice the sudden outburst of kindness, and the tip of his ears redden slightly as he playfully pushes her away. 

”Look at the embarrassing things you’re making me say, good lord. You’re really the worst, Serin.”

She laughs. ”Shut up, you love me.” 

Jongin is about to retort, but they’re cut off by Jongdae, who waves a hand in their direction and yells, ”We’ve arrived, let’s go, come on!”

Serin still feels extremely puzzled, because they’re literally standing in front of a small mountain veiled by the conifer forest they find themselves in. ”Arrived where, exactly?” she asks. 

”You’ll see,” Seulgi says, and as they walk closer to where her two friends are standing, she notices with great amazement that it isn’t just a mountain. There’s a wide naturally engraved hole that could pass as a small cave, and right under it there is a rocky path that leads even further underground. 

A small gasp escapes her lips as she admires the place with awe. They’re close to the sea, so the insides of the rock are wet, and the quiet, dripping sound of water droplets hitting the hard and cold surface brings her in a calm she hasn’t felt in days. 

Baekhyun seems to have had the same reaction as her, because his eyes too are glistening in wonder. ”I never knew we had caves. It kind of makes sense though, since we’re by the sea,” he says quietly and hands her the phone back again. 

”You guys have to see what it’s like underground, come on,” Seulgi incites and steps down the wet path as Jongdae follows. 

”Are you guys sure this is safe?” Serin asks, but heads down with them nevertheless. 

”Yeah, we’ve gone here a gazillion times.” 

”And why haven’t I ever been here?” 

”May I remind you that it’s been like ten years since you were last here?” 

”Fair enough.”

Everything seems to be going smoothly which causes Serin to relax a bit. Turns out it’s a very bad idea, because the second she does her foot slips on the wet ground and she tumbles down the path, crashing on her friends like bowling pins in the process. 

A few seconds of utter chaos pass, where the only thing she can make out is muffled pained grunts and the scraping against rock before she lands on something rather soft. 

That soft thing happens to be poor Jongin, and the rest of her friends that she’s crushing under her weight. 

Serin immediately flies off, brushing dust off her clothing. ”Oh God, my foot slipped. I'm so sorry!”

”Yeah, that’s going to bruise,” she hears Jongdae complain which causes her to wince slightly. As she does so, her gaze travels around wherever the hell they are, but it’s not until she reaches for her phone and switches the flashlight on that the true sight begins. 

It’s another cave, though it’s significantly more spacious than the one by the surface. 

And its walls are glittering against the reflection of light she has casted. 

Jongdae and Seulgi light the flashlights on their phones too, and now the entire cave is glistening in all kinds of colors. 

Serin realises that the walls are made out of thousands of different gems, and that the colorful reflection they cast is bouncing everywhere around the cave. 

It’s like she’s gazing into the universe, into a colorful nebula, exploding slowly and soundlessly over time, all while creating millions of stars out of its core. It’s confusing to look at, but it’s so very alluring, and it’s the most beautiful view of her life. 

If someone could glimpse into heaven - if someone could capture a fragment of the most beautiful piece of art and extend it on a rock, this would be it. The sight brings her peace as much as it brings her a deep sensation of despair. 

She’s at a loss for words, which is why Seulgi speaks up instead. ”You know who showed us this place for the first time?” 

”It was Sehun.” 

At the mention of her brother’s name, a lump forms in . 

”We wanted to bring you after that, but he insisted it was too dangerous for you since you were still little, and he promised to us that he’d take you there one day when you were older and more capable.” 

Her eyes are still glued at the glimmering surface. ”What a stupid promise,” she laughs bitterly. ”That won’t happen. I will never get to enjoy this scenery with him because I’ll probably be dead by the time he wakes up.”

”Serin, don’t say that,” Baekhyun says softly. 

”It’s okay,” she wipes away her incoming tears. ”I’ll come to terms with it. Thank you, truly, I—” 

But wiping is no use, because her eyes have transformed into the niagara falls and there is no way to stop the flow of her tears. Serin feels Baekhyun’s cold hand lean on her shoulder to comfort her, and the contrast feels nice. 

”I’m so happy to have you guys by my side, I-I’m so happy to be alive.” 

”Listen, Serin,” Jongin begins, crouching down to her level. ”The reason we brought you here is because we discussed something together. We thought that if there’s really no way to keep you alive, then we’ll try to make this summer the best, most unforgettable summer of your life, starting with this. Let’s have fun together, okay? We’re not ready to lose you yet, but we can try to make the pain a bit more bearable, so try to bear with us a bit longer, hm?”

He smiles, and she swears she can feel her heart break and latch back together all at the same time when she brings him for a hug, which Jongdae and Seulgi soon join too. 

***********

Her friends turn out to be right. This is the best summer of her life. Her last, yes, but also her best. 

And it has flown by quickly. Way too quickly. 

So quickly it almost feels painful. Almost. 

Because pain has lately only loomed in the back of her head, as her days are filled with the everlasting heat one eventually gets used to, mornings spent at the beach, lunch at auntie Eunjung’s where certain rules like never cutting your noodles because it meant cutting your life short were imprinted on stone. Afternoons filled with board games, a disney movie marathon with her old VHS that her aunt had kept from her childhood, and dinners out in the yard chatting and staring at the sunset. 

It’s for the most part her typical routine in the summer, but it all feels special. It all feels like a dream. It’s almost like she’s not going to die, and perhaps this way of living before her death is the best one. 

She is filled in occasionally about Sehun’s conditions by her mother or father, and it’s a great relief to know that he’s going to be woken up very soon. Only thing is, that it’s nearing August which means that her death is extremely near, and even if he does wake up while she is still alive, it would take a lot of time for him to fully regain consciousness, let alone physical and mental therapy after having been in a comatose state for that long. She’d never get the time to talk to him properly. 

And so Serin tries to accept it by putting her mind off of it, like studying the Dead Man’s Manual with Baekhyun, or hanging out with Jongdae, Jongin and Seulgi. 

Speaking of, her friend group has become rather peculiar over the season. Ever since her friends (besides Jongin who already knows about him) have learned about Baekhyun and the existence of the afterlife, they have decided to nominate her guide as their local ghost friend who just so happens to be dead and invisible. In order to free her phone, they decide to buy a small notepad and a pen which they give to him in order to speak and answer questions. If he isn’t using it, Serin or Jongin would fill in for them. 

And while Baekhyun seems overwhelmed at first, he grows quite fond of her friends, and she sees the way he looks content every time Jongdae makes jokes about his very obvious ghost-state, or when Seulgi curiously asks him something about the afterlife. It’s like he’s part of them by now. 

An example of this is one afternoon when they are all residing in the dining room of her aunt’s house, who is currently out for a cup of tea with a friend. She doesn’t usually go out like that, but it’s the third anniversary of that woman’s husband’s death, and it’s the least Eunjung can do to offer condolences. 

The boardgame of the day is Monopoly, and everyone including Baekhyun has their own piece to play with. It starts out peacefully, but Baekhyun—who apparently used to play monopoly a lot in his living days and is an unbeatable champion—quickly gains domain over the richest districts, which erupts a rivalry against Seulgi. 

It gets heated once she is put in jail and Baekhyun starts laughing, nudging at Serin. ”Tell her it’s karma from attempting to buy mediterannean avenue from me earlier.”

Serin sighs playfully. ”Seulgi, Baekhyun says you can have his mediterannean avenue.”

He immediately shoots out of his seat. ”Hey, you little—! I did not say that. Take that back now,”