Photography. That’s Luhan’s passion. He loves taking photo and hoping to publish his own name photo book one day. But first, he needs an experience. That’s why he works as a freelancer photojournalist in Star News Company for both newspaper and magazines.

His photos received a lot of compliment from the editor for both departments. Sometimes, he will work with in newspaper department or magazine department depends on the task given.

“Luhan-shi, Mr. Kim would like to see you.”

Luhan heard a young lady called him to meet Mr. Kim Joonmyeon, the editor of X.O Magazine who wants to meet him.  He went to his office and knocked the door. He entered after he heard the editor told him to come in.

“Luhan-shi, I have a task for you.”

Luhan nodded at him. “What is it?”

“I want you to go to this place.” Mr. Kim handed newspaper cuttings to Luhan.

Luhan took a look at the cuttings and it looks like it’s coming from an old newspaper judging from the color of the picture that getting faded. He read it and it’s about an old school that was on fire. From the date, this was happened 29 years ago!

“They called it as the ‘Hope School’. There was an orphanage home called ‘Hope Orphanage Home’ and that school was belong to them fully. After the fire, no one used it and was abandoned just like that. They are a lot of mystery about that school. People said that they heard a girl crying, screaming and you know haunted stuff. They said that this school is haunted but there’s no one died from the fire. It might be because it was abandoned too long. You need to do research about this since you’ve never heard about this. This story was popular back then. What do you think? Do you want to accept this?” Mr. Kim explained to Luhan.

Luhan is from China and coming to South Korea for studies but decided to find a job here although it’s going to be tough for him since he’s a foreigner. However, after hearing Mr. Kim’s explanation about this school, it made him curious. He loves mystery stuff because he likes to find the truth and unravel all the secrets about them. This offer is definitely what he wants. He decided to accept it.

“I accept this. Since this is new for me, I think this is going to be a great experience. I like something mystery. I will do some research about this school first before I go there.” Luhan told Mr. Kim with a smile.

“I know that you won’t disappoint me, Luhan-shi. Well, you have to submit this in next two weeks and it will be in the magazine. I hope you will do well.”

Luhan bowed to Mr. Kim before he went out from his office bringing along with the newspaper cuttings about the school.

Luhan set his eyes on his computer searching about the ‘Hope School’. There is a lot of news about that school mostly, it’s about the fire. Most of the news stated that the cause of fire is unknown until now. That made him curious the most.

The number of students attended and stayed at the orphanage was 150 students. That’s a lot! But he wondered what happened to them after that. Where did they go to school?

His shoulder was tapped by someone. He turned to see who tapped him just now.

“Boo!”

Luhan scoffed at his friend, Oh Sehun who worked at newspaper department (now Luhan is working in magazine department) and the one who introduced him to Star News Company. Oh Sehun is a journalist had been working here same as Luhan except that he works here as a full-time journalist.

Both of them became friend when they were in university when some of the students thought that they were twins. Both Luhan and Sehun took journalism course in university. Sehun wondered why Luhan took journalism when he’s enthusiastic in photography more. He’s the one who quietly sent Luhan’s resume without him knowing to Star News Company when they need a photojournalist.

Sehun sighed in defeated when his surprise failed. Luhan is not easy to surprise. It depends on the situation.

Luhan pretended to surprise or more like mocking him while laughing.

“So, you have a task now?” Sehun asked him while pulling an empty chair beside Luhan’s table and sits on it.

“Yup! Have you heard about ‘Hope School’?” Since Sehun is Korean, he might know about it. Like Mr. Kim said, this story was really popular in Korea.

“What is that?” Sehun tilted his head and furrowed his brows.

“You don’t know about this even though you’re Korean? This story was popular back then.” Luhan gave a newspaper cutting to Sehun.

Sehun took a look at it. “How am I supposed to know when this happened when both of us weren’t born yet?” Sehun hit the paper on Luhan’s head.

“I don’t know. Mr. Kim said it was popular.” Luhan defended himself.

“If it’s for Mr. Kim, then yes. If it’s us, then no. We’re not even born yet.” Sehun took a look at the paper once again before he said, “I remember that my friend passed by this school once.”

“So you knew about it!” Luhan can’t believe that Sehun said he never heard about ‘Hope School’ before but he actually heard it.

“Well, I don’t know much but my friend said she passed by this school once and she felt scared.”

“What happened?” Luhan became curious.

“Well, when she was climbed down the stairs, there was a pinwheel on the ground. She picked it and all of sudden, the pinwheel spun but she said that she can’t feel the wind at all.” Sehun told him.

Luhan rolled his eyes. “I don’t think that’s something to be scared.”

Sehun raised his hands as he trying to defend himself. “Hey, it’s not me! It’s my friend. So, you want to go for lunch?” Sehun asked Luhan since that was his intention why he came here in the first place.

“Sure.”

Luhan went to the school today. He was given two weeks to complete his task and his works will be in the magazine. He didn’t want to postpone his work. If it’s something that he likes, he will do it right away.

Once he stepped into the school, he was amazed with how the school looks like despite it was abandoned after the fire tragedy. The building obviously looks so old now but it still stands strong. Old building; that’s perfect scenery for a photographer like him.

He started to go inside each room which he assumed could be a classroom for the students. Some classrooms have blackboard still attached on the wall. He began his job and started taking photos of the classroom. He needs to make sure that the photo will capture how beautiful the school is despite it no longer in used.

‘Click’

Luhan took another photo in one of the classrooms in this ‘Hope School’. It wasn’t that bad actually. The school is beautiful despite some parts of the building are getting old but it didn’t collapsed. The building is still stand strong. The traces of the burnt from the fire are still visible.

He walked out from the classroom and turned to his left where there’s another path into the room. It might be another classroom. He will go there for sure to see what’s inside of that room.

He walked towards the room while looking at his camera to check all the photos that he took just now. He needs to make sure that all the photos looked nice so that he can put it in his column in the magazine.

He went inside the room with his eyes still glued on his camera. He looked up and froze in his position. His eyes widened and his heart racing fast. His jaw slowly dropped with what he seen in front of his eyes.

The room is empty. But he saw a school girl with a rope was wrapped around her neck and she was hanging. That girl committed suicide.

Luhan quickly leaves the room but stopped when there’s another school girl standing in front of him with pleading eyes. He surprised to see her here as he believed that there’s no one here except him.

He looked at her closely before he turned to the hanging girl. Then, he turned to that school girl again with a swift. That girl is still looking at him with pleading gaze like she’s asking for help from him. He looked back and forth to her and the hanging girl.

It was the same girl.

“When I entered here, I found her hanging like this.”

Luhan told everything to the police what is he doing here and how he found the body. He called the police right away after he saw the body. About the girl? When Luhan was about to ask her something, she ran away. That’s weird. She looks like she needed a help.

“Are you coming here alone?” The police asked him.

Luhan nodded, “Yes, I came here alone to do my job.”

“Inspector, I found a bag. I think this belongs to the victim.” Another police came with a school bag which assumed to be the dead girl’s bag.

The inspector took it and ped the bag. He found a purse and opened it.

“Seo Joohyun. Soon Hwan High School. 3^rd grade. She’s a high school student. I wonder why she committed suicide.” The inspector questioned himself about the dead girl who named Seo Joohyun.

“Maybe stress? A high school student like her especially from 3^rd grade might be feeling stress because of exam or something.” Luhan answered him.

“Inspector, we found another bag nearby.” Other police came while bringing another school bag.

Like before, he ped the bag and found a purse as well.

“Seo Seulgi. Soon Hwan Junior High School. 3^rd grade. Do you found her?” The inspector asked Luhan. Not sure if he’s serious or mocking him.

“I saw a girl who looked like the dead girl, like exact replica. It could be her sister since her surname is Seo as well.” Luhan finally told him about the girl that he met.

“So where is she?”

“I don’t know. I wanted to ask her but she ran away. But she looks so exactly like that dead girl. Even her height too. They’re wearing the same uniform which is impossible since she’s just a junior high school student.” He explained.

“Is she looks like this?” The inspector showed her ID card to Luhan.

Luhan surprised to see the girl named Seo Seulgi is not the same girl that he saw earlier. It’s totally different. He is sure that the girl he saw just now looked alike the dead girl. However, after seeing Seulgi’s photo in her ID, he gulped because it’s not her. Who is that girl?

The dead girl who named Seo Joohyun has a pair of big eyes, similar to the girl that he met but Seulgi’s eyes are smaller. He’s confused now.

“I think we need to close down this place for investigation until we find the reason why she committed suicide.” The inspector announced.

Luhan’s eyes widened with the announcement. If this place is going to close down, how is he going to continue his work?

“But I need to do my work here!” Luhan exclaimed.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Lu. We need to close down for investigation. You have to continue your work after we finish investigating.”

“For how long?” Luhan needs to finish this in two weeks. He has not explore the other place of this school yet.

“Until we found the reason why she committed suicide. Maybe it will last for a week.”

Luhan sighed. It looks like he had no choice but to postpone his work.

Luhan sat inside of his car and dialed Mr. Kim’s number. He didn’t know how to explain to him. Mr. Kim has a high expectation on him and it looks like he’s going to disappoint him. It’s not his fault for this thing to happen but it did disturb his work.

He waited as his phone still ringing for Mr. Kim to answer. He took a deep breath and hoping that Mr. Kim didn’t get mad at him.

Mr. Kim answered after a few rings.

“Mr. Kim, this is Luhan. About the task that you gave me, can you postpone the deadline for submission?”

“Well, I’m at the ‘Hope School’ right now doing my job but something unexpected happened.”

“I found a girl committed suicide there and I called the police. The police said that they will close down this place for investigation and will open it once they done.”

“According to the police, it will take for a week.”

“Thank you for postponing it. I’m sorry that I have disappointed you.”

Luhan heaved a relief sigh. Mr. Kim postponed the deadline for his task until next month. He hung up his phone but jumped in surprise when he heard a voice.

“I didn’t commit suicide.”