Not breaking away from her gaze, the boy nudged his friends. "Hey, guys."

Everyone was too absorbed in Sungyeol’s trick, too busy choosing sides between the prankster and the scolding hyung.

"Guys!" he shouted.

They all stopped and turned to him, waiting for his explanation.

Not caring that the gesture was rude, he pointed straight at the girl he had been staring at for the past few minutes. "She can see us."

Some frowned while the others gave a questioning look. But when they turned to look at her, they almost jumped back for two reasons. First, he was right; she could see them. But the second reason was based more on appearance; she looked kind of…scary.

The youngest involuntarily took a step back. "Is she... a reaper? Has she come to finally take our souls?"

The others stayed silent, afraid that their maknae might be right. Only the boy who had first noticed her laughed.

"Oh come on! Be realistic here! She's just a girl! Let's go talk to her!"

Before anyone could stop him, he had already walked up to her.

"Annyeong! Nam Woohyun imnida. Are you one of my girlfriends?" he winked and gave her a friendly smile, hoping that it would encourage her to introduce herself as well.

She did not reply.

After awhile, he shrugged and walked back towards his friends.

“Let's go."

Sungyeol dropped the fish and they hesitantly followed Woohyun, careful not to look back in case she might curse them.

They left the marketplace and came upon a quiet, middle class neighborhood. Many trees lined the streets so it was easy to find a nice shady spot that could accommodate all of them. Not that they felt the sun's heat or the shade's coolness anyways.

A minute after they sat down, Sungyeol screamed. He pointed a shaking hand to behind the tree that they were sitting under.

There was Soo Min. She was hiding behind the thick trunk; only the left side of her face was peeking out, peering at the resting boys.

"Hello, there." the oldest said.

She moved away from the tree and approached them, stopping a foot away.

"Can you see and hear us?" another boy asked.

There was a long pause. They were beginning to suspect that she could not, in fact, hear them when she slowly lifted her head up and then lowered it, forming a gradual nod.

She took a small step towards them. They noticed that the left corner of was hitched up. It appeared to be a smile, though of what kind they did not know. It was hard to tell without seeing her eyes, which were hidden under her dense bangs.

“Are you all… ghosts?”

“Well, yeah. Duh!” Woohyun replied.

The hitch on the left corner was now mirrored on the right as well. She stood there quietly, just staring at them. They wanted to say something, anything to break this disturbing silence, but found that their mouths were incapable of creating any sounds. It was unnerving.

Finally, she said something. It was not audible at first but then, they heard it. “Hehe… hehehe… hehehehehehe.”

They all scooted back a little, except for Woohyun, who was getting a bit irritated by her excited noises.

“This girl! Do you want our autographs or something?”

She stopped her weird giggles and tilted her head in confusion. “Autographs?”

The oldest scolded Woohyun for being so rude. “Sorry, he’s not usually this grumpy towards fans. It’s just the whole” he gestured towards their bodies “dead thing. We’re not really used to it yet.”

He stood up. “I’m Sunggyu, the leader of Infinite.”

She titled her head to the other side now. “Infinite?”

The youngest jumped up and gave an expression of faked horror. The rest were also in shock. They no longer felt scared by her, only surprised. Here was a teenage girl who possibly did not know about idols?

“Do you recognize any of us?”

She shook her head.

They each began to introduce themselves.

“Like I said, I’m Sunggyu.”

“Hello, my stage name is L but you can call me Myungsoo.”

“Hi, I’m Sungyeol.”

“I’m Dongwoo.”

Sungyeol suddenly grabbed Dongwoo’s face and started to squeeze his cheeks. “Doesn’t Dongwoo look like a dinosaur?”

The “dinosaur” swiped his hand away and then punched his teaser. “And I get the role of physical discipliner.”

Sungyeol had fallen down with a bruise on his face but as he stood up, the bruise disappeared.

The leader shook his head and motioned for the rest to continue.

“I’m Sungjong, the maknae!”

“I’m Hoya.”

There was a pause. Everyone turned to Woohyun. “What? I already introduced myself!”

Sunggyu sighed. “Dongwoo…”

Dongwoo punched him.

“Fine, fine.” He said, getting up. “Woohyun.” He mumbled.

“Dongwoo.”

Woohyun held up his hands. “Okay! No need to be all naggy!” (He got a kick for that.) “I’m Woohyun.” He said clearly.

Sungjong , however, didn’t want the girl’s feelings to be hurt by his hyung’s rudeness. “He’s normally really kind. What’s your name?”

“Soo Min. Kim Soo Min.” she replied.

They decided to perform “Come Back Again”. And when she remained unfazed, they also performed “BTD” and “Be Mine” but still no reaction.

Woohyun, however, had an idea. “Wait, there is something that all girls know about us.”

He lifted his shirt up.

Soo Min did not react.

“Aish! Just put your shirt down already. Stop embarrassing yourself!” Dongwoo yelled in annoyance.

Woohyun frowned. He felt a bit insulted.

Admitting defeat, they started to list other idol groups to see if she knew them and when her expression remained the same, they felt a bit better. At least they weren’t the only ones.

“So, Soo Min, are you still in high school?”

She didn’t say anything.

“What do you like to do?”

She sat down with the rest of them this time but she didn’t respond.

Not wanting to wait for her weird sounds from earlier to appear again, the seven boys quickly started to talk about themselves. They were an idol group under Woollim Entertainment. From looking at the date, they knew it had been less than a week since they finished promoting their single, “Be Mine” and today was only their third day as ghosts.

They weren’t sure what had happened to cause them to be in this state or what even to do. They got hungry frequently and strangely enough, whatever they ate stayed in their stomach; it did not just pass through and land on the ground beneath them.

They found that they were invisible to everyone, except for her. And fortunately, they could choose whether or not to remain physically transparent or to solidify and be able to touch or grasp objects.

They grew tired like normal people and liked to sleep in vacant rooms in luxurious hotels that they couldn’t stay at previously. Although they had each other, it was hard to ignore the feeling of loneliness. They missed their family, their friends, their nagging managers, and their fans.

Soo Min finally spoke up. “Would you like to stay with me?”

They briefly thought over her offer before accepting. From their interactions so far, she seemed harmless, though a bit creepy.

“Why are you being so nice?” Hoya asked. He hoped that question didn’t sound offensive.

She stared at them. Her deformed smile was back.

“I like ghosts.”