Soo Min was a little irritated that they had barged in so suddenly but Infinite was relieved to find that she was not that angry. Good, they could sleep peacefully later on that night.

1 hour ago

As the leader, Sunggyu felt like he should be the one to negotiate for their safety first.

“Soo Min-sshi, what are those?” he pointed to the three skeletons that sat around her.

“Skeletons.”

He nodded his head, as though that answer made perfect sense.

“Why do you have them?” Woohyun spoke up.

By now, they were all hunched together in a circle, hoping that would be good enough to fend off whatever evil spirit resided in her room.

“Friends.”

They had been staring at all of the darker places and the suspicious corners when they suddenly whipped their heads around.

“What?!”

“They’re my friends.” she repeated.

Of course.

When she was met with unsmiling expressions, she turned to her “friends”.

“Sorry for their rudeness. They’re just jealous because you guys have been dead longer.”

She then turned back to the boys. “Infinite, meet my friends. This is Jae Young ,” she raised up the arm of a skeleton who was wearing a sombrero,

“Da Eun”, she pointed to a second one with a floral dress,

“And Freddy.” The last skeleton was holding a knife and wearing a fedora.

“Why ‘Freddy’?” Sungyeol asked.

The left corner of twitched. “Freddy Krueger… hehehehehe.”

In the light, they could distinguish most of the things that were in her room. She had a huge flat screen TV on the left side of the room. Next to it was a shelf filled with books and movies and a filing cabinet. On the other side of the room, there was a long wooden box and her closet with a mirror by the side. In the middle of the room was a small square table surrounded by four chairs and her piano. Sheet music covered the top of the piano. The floor was littered with DVD boxes, all for horror movies.

The furniture seemed normal enough. It was the decorations, however, that created a creepy atmosphere. Long black curtains draped over the window. Knives, swords, and other not-family-safe weapons hung on the walls. There were a few shrunken heads dangling from the sides of her closet, which was black. The frame of her mirror—also black—had a gargoyle head on top, exactly the same as the one on her door. It was hard to tell the colors of her walls with such the small amount of light but they could all guess it: black.

And of course, who could forget the skeletons.

Surprisingly, though, they were no longer creeped out by the skeletons. Really, what’s the worse that could happen? Ghosts haunting other ghosts? Besides, her purpose in keeping them were friendly enough. Some people kept dolls; she just happened to keep the preserved calcium phosphate remains of dead people.

Sungyeol noticed that something was missing. “Where’s your bed?”

She pointed to the long wooden box. They all stared at it in wonder for a bit before they realized what it was: a coffin. They then turned their attention to the only instrument in the room.

“So, Soo Min-sshi, do you like to play the piano?” Myungsoo asked.

She nodded quickly.

“Sing for us.” Woohyun commanded.

It was a few minutes before she turned around in her seat to face the keys. Her hands slowly moved up and positioned themselves lightly above the keyboard. She took a deep breath and started to play.

For the next few minutes, they forgot.

They forgot about their worries for their parents and siblings, their exhaustion from their worries, their anger towards the unfairness in the world. They stopped thinking, “why us?” They disregarded the empty feeling in their stomach, the kind that a person gets when he regrets not apologizing to a brother for being petty, for not letting his mother kiss him on the cheek the last time he saw her because he was embarrassed, for not getting to say “I love you” one final time.

But when she stopped, they remembered. The pain was back but it wasn’t as intense. It hurt—it would always hurt—but it was as though they were wrapped in big fluffy pillows, cushioned and safe.

“Whoa! You should be an idol!” Dongwoo shouted with glee.

At the thought of being seen by the public, Soo Min panicked. She went completely stiff and then fell to the ground unconscious. Right when they were about to poke her, she jumped to her feet. Then, she pushed Infinite, who had not stood up yet, on their butts and out the door.

The problem was her looks.

“Let’s start with giving her a haircut.” Sungjong suggested.

“Good idea.” Sunggyu said.

“And let’s do her makeup!”

Everyone frowned. “Where are we going to get any?”

Sungyeol smiled. “From our old stylist noonas!”

“Do you even know where to find them?” The leader nagged.

The choding, who had just been praising himself on his cleverness, stayed silent.

“How about we just do her makeup some other day? Let’s just focus on getting her hair cut first.” Hoya said.

Myungsoo took out his phone and started to look up hair styles on the internet.

The maknae pointed to one of the pictures. “Ooh! I like that one!”

“That one would look good.”

“We could try this.”

Everyone was getting excited about the makeover mission. Woohyun, however, was just trying to go back to sleep. He was lying flat on his back, one arm slung over his eyes. The noise level was slowly growing as the other boys just voiced their opinions without restraint.

He couldn’t take it anymore. With a growl, he impulsively grabbed a pair of scissors from the table and marched down the stairs. The other members did not notice his departure and kept discussing.

Woohyun found Soo Min sweeping the floor in the living room.

They stared at each other for awhile before Soo Min broke the gaze and eyed the item in his hands instead.

“What is that for?”

He smirked. “Your hair.”

fell open and she dropped the broom, screaming and dashing out the room.

Damn, she’s fast, Woohyun thought as he sprinted after her. “Stop!”

The commotion got the members’ attention. They peered down from the top of the stairs to see what was going on. They heard fast footsteps coming closer and within a few seconds, they saw Soo Min run into the office with Woohyun after her.

They thought Woohyun had won until they heard a crash and saw the girl quickly leaving the room to hide somewhere else.

He ran out and stopped when he spotted the rest of Infinite just standing there. “Help me catch her!”

They snapped out of their gaze and quickly ran to try and trap her.

It was quite difficult. She was just too fast, always somehow dodging anyone that tried to grab her.

“Come back here!” Woohyun yelled at her.

“You can’t cut my hair!” she screamed back.

Dongwoo suddenly blocked her path.

“AH! Dinosaur!” She kicked him in the shin and then ran off again.

After another few minutes, Hoya finally managed to seize her, but she freed herself by twisting his arm and flipping him over.

In the scuffle, Sungjong had grabbed the corner of the rug that she was standing on. He waited until she was about to run away and pulled.

“Asa!” He gave a little fist pump.

With her vulnerable on the ground, they all tackled her, locking her down by holding onto her arms and legs. She didn’t stop struggling though.

Woohyun sat on her and pulled the scissors from his back pocket. He gently grabbed her front bangs and snipped off two inches. Her eyes were still mostly covered.

Sungyeol handed him a comb and he carefully brushed her hair to create a side part. He then cut off the rest of her bangs at a slight angle, which now revealed her eyes.

Woohyun yelped and everyone else slightly jumped, screaming a little.

Her expression was murderous.

Dongwoon tried to calm her down. "We're just trying to help you." he smiled sheepishly at her.

“Get off of me.” she whispered dangerously.

Everyone obeyed except for Woohyun. “No. We have to fix your hair!”

She tried to push him over but he was too heavy. He grabbed the comb again and made tiny snips with the scissors until he was satisfied.

With her scary bangs gone, they could see most of her face. She wasn’t stunningly beautiful nor was she horrifyingly ugly. She was just… plain. Normal-looking, like a typical friendly high-school girl. Well, minus the friendly part since she still needed to work on that smile of hers.

Woohyun got off and handed her a mirror. “It looks all better now. See for yourself!”

“We should’ve waited until after dinner to cut her hair.” Myungsoo whined, clutching his stomach.

They all nodded and glared at Woohyun.

“But someone just couldn’t wait.”

“Dongwoo.” Sunggyu called.

Dongwoo walked over to Woohyun and punched him. “That’s for making us starve.”

“Aish! Why don’t we just go to the kitchen and look for food?” He said, after recovering from the punch.

Not waiting for a response, he walked downstairs, the rest of Infinite uncertainly following behind him.

He boiled water in a big pot and grabbed a couple packs of ramen, ripping them open. Opening the refrigerator, he picked a few eggs and looked for green onions.

Within a few minutes, they could smell the enticing scent of spicy ramen, penetrating their noses. Their dry mouths started to water.

Woohyun set the pot down on the table and handed them each a pair of chopsticks.

They were in the middle of taking their first bite when they sensed another presence.

Although it was late at night, they had not bothered to turn on any of the other lights, except for the kitchen.

They paused, mid-slurping, noodles still hanging out of their mouths as they stared at the darkness.

“AHH!” They all cried.

Soo Min was slowly coming closer to them; they could’ve sworn that she glided towards them.

“We were really hungry so we decided to make some food. Sorry for not checking with you first.” Sunggyu explained.

After a pause, she nodded, “It’s okay.”

Relieved, they went back to eating and she got a glass of water. She was about to leave when Woohyun grabbed her arm, handing her a bowl and a pair of chopsticks. “Here, you probably haven’t eaten all day.”

He pulled her down to the seat next to him and she tentatively took the items. After awhile, Infinite noticed that she hadn’t set her bowl down nor had she made a move towards the pot.

“Why aren’t you eating?” Sungjong asked.

She shook her head.

“You don’t like ramen?”

She shook her head really fast.

Woohyun looked at her and finally understood. “You’ve never shared ramen with anyone before, have you?”

Soo Min looked back at him and nodded.

They all gasped and quickly put down their chopsticks.

Woohyun placed some noodles in her bowl. “You grab around this much noodles and then eat. When you’re done, just get some more but try not to bump chopsticks with someone. That’s it.” He shrugged.

They all silently watched as she slowly lifted the noodles to and chewed. Then, she placed her chopsticks in the pot, putting some noodles in her bowl and ate again.

Everyone cheered while Woohyun rolled his eyes. So dramatic.

The boys all ate loudly in joy, applauding whenever Soo Min ate, sometimes placing more in her bowl for her.

“I’m full.” Sungjong said as he kept chewing.

“Why don’t you stop eating?” Myungsoo replied.

“I said I’m full, not done.” he answered as he refilled his bowl.

An hour later, they were all in a food coma and dragged themselves to the living room. Sungyeol and Sunggyu fell onto the couch, their arms dangling over the sides. Everyone else just lied down on the floor, arms and legs spread out.

“My stomach hurts.” Sunggyu moaned.

“I don’t think I can move right now.” Hoya said.

“If there was a fire, I’d just lay here and burn to death.” Dongwoo added.

Woohyun reached over and slapped his foot, the closest body part he could reach. “You idiot, you’re already dead.”

“Good. Then I wouldn’t have to move.”

Woohyun turned to answer back sarcastically when he noticed that the boy had already fallen asleep. He looked around the room and saw that everyone else had their eyes closed. Only Soo Min was awake, staring at the ceiling.

He walked over to her and lied down next to her, gazing at the same area. After awhile, he broke the silence.

“What are you looking at?”

She pointed to a spot above and made a weird yet happy noise. “It reminds me of Freddy. The texture looks like his face.”

“Why do you like Freddy so much?”

“Because he’s my friend.”

“Why is he your friend?”

At this question, she turned to meet Woohyun’s eyes. “Because I don’t have anyone else.”

She closed her eyes and went to sleep, ending the conversation.

He waited until he heard the steady rhythm of her breathing. Woohyun waved his hands over her face and when he saw no reaction, he lied back down.

“Silly girl, you have us.”

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