Chapter Text
March 4th, 2019, would become known as one of the most tragic days of the year. Multiple innocent lives were lost, hundreds of hearts broken, and thousands of tears shed all because of a misunderstanding and a stupid accident.
Let’s start from the beginning.
Choi Soobin was a loaf of rising bread about to burn. He leaned over the counter at Crown Cafe, exhaling slowly as he looked around the empty store. There was plenty of foot traffic outside, but for some reason no one even glanced in Soobin’s direction. He sighed, walking around the counter to sit down at one of the little white tables that they had set up. His giant frame splayed awkwardly across the delicate chair. Maybe it was him, maybe he was so much of a turnoff that no one wanted to even get close. Soobin looked pleadingly at the people walking by, using pity as a last resort. Maybe if people saw him sitting in here all alone, they’d feel bad enough that they’d come in and buy a biscuit just to save their conscience.
Soobin usually would never stoop this low, but he really needed this job. He had gotten the offer through a friend of his, and the owner had been so desperate for workers that they’d hired him without needing an official interview or anything like that. But the operation was small, and with no customers they were dangerously close to having to shut down. Soobin was just a broke college student, and the idea of having to go door to door searching for another job terrified him. He was shy, soft spoken, and he hadn’t made a new friend since his first years of high school. He was content with his small circle of companions and his quiet introverted nature, but it had become a problem when it was time to deal with the real world. He did what he was told, no matter how ridiculous or unhelpful or embarrassing it was. And he never had the motivation to speak up for himself. Whenever he worked up the courage to say something, a last minute fear of his words being totally wrong would make him choke, and then he’d go silent again.
So he let the rude stranger cut in front of him in line even though it made him late for class. He never took someone’s seat on the train even when he had a sprained ankle. He chose the nearby college that his parents wanted him to go to even though he had been dreaming about studying abroad. And as he fell more and more behind in his classes, Soobin let his family believe that he was still doing great and let the professors and students think that he was just the shy kid in the back of the class who didn’t have the courage to ask for help.
Soobin eventually gave up on wooing people into the cafe, slumping back against the chair and gazing mindlessly out the window. At that moment, there was a sound of tires screeching and a few alarmed yells. Soobin automatically stood up, seeing a black van go whizzing down the street. Through the window Soobin saw a flash of blond hair and a pair of wide, frightened eyes. He startled, immediately recognizing who was in the car. He threw open the door and hurried onto the sidewalk just to make sure his eyes weren’t deceiving him. It was international idol Choi Yeonjun. But he barely had time to process this realization before he caught sight of another car, this one driven by a young looking boy, his frightened expression matching Soobin’s own as the latter stood frozen, unable to move as the car came closer and closer. It was the last thing he saw before everything went back
Choi Yeonjun was a shining star about to combust. He had gone into the music industry knowing that it was going to be hard, but nothing could’ve prepared him for the fire that he was under right now. He had always been a flirtatious person, charming his way into people’s hearts. It was what had caught the attention of dozens of fans before he had even debuted. However, his overly friendly nature eventually came back to hurt him. There were always dating rumors coming and going, but for some reason one of them stuck. It followed him everywhere, fans flooding his comments when he went on vlive, tabloids publishing new declarations about his relationship status every day, and dispatch photographers never letting him have any privacy. He should’ve just hidden away for a few months and let the rumors die, but Yeonjun was never one to stand down. Plus, it was affecting the female idol on the other end as well. It would be selfish to force her to face all the heat by herself.
He decided that he wanted to talk with her, and so they set up a private meeting for them to work out a solution. They had been so careful, but someone had managed to capture a blurry, low quality photo of them as they were hurrying out of the building and back into their cars. They had been in disguise and everything, but nothing escaped the scathing hand of the press. To make it even worse, the photo was taken at the absolute worst time. Being the gentleman that he was, Yeonjun had been shielding the other idol as best as he could, but the out of context photo made it look like he was just grabbing her. Now half of the population thought that they were dating, and the other half thought that he was harassing her.
His fanbase slowly diminished. He deleted all of the social media apps off of his phone, knowing that when he opened them he would just see more and more hate directed towards him. But it was too late. The comments were already burned into the back of his brain, whizzing around his brain as he tried to sleep or making him feel sick the minute he got up to do any work. All Yeonjun ever wanted to do was sing, dance, and rap and just have someone listen. When he had stood on stage for his first concert, hearing his fans sing his songs back at him, he had thought that it was all worth it. The hard work, the meltdowns, the constant criticism. As long as he had fans who would stay by his side. Watching an old video of a previous concert, Yeonjun felt a wave of motivation to work harder, get through this rough patch so he could experience that ethereal moment again. But when he saw the tidal wave of cameras and press reporters waiting outside of his studio, Yeonjun reconsidered if he had made the right choice after all. No matter where he went, there was no way that he was going to be left alone. Even worse, some of them had cars and got in to follow him as he sped away from the studio. Yeonjun just needed a moment to think, to breathe.
He hid his head in his hands, trying to hold off the inevitable mental breakdown. And so when he yelled at the driver to go as fast as they could, he didn’t notice that a few pedestrians had started crossing the street. At the sound of a scream, he looked up to see the frightened face of a red haired boy, frozen in front of their windshield. And then everything was gone.
Kang Taehyun was a crackling firework about to explode into the sky. His mind was filled with twenty different tasks that he needed to finish by the end of the day, and he was constantly running through them to make sure that he didn’t forget a single one. A cold pit of dread weighed him down. Entering college as a business major hadn’t been his first choice, nor his second or third. But he had learned a long time ago that doing everything you wanted never worked out.
And so Taehyun dragged himself out of bed and to class each morning telling himself that he was making the right decision. He concluded that if he was going to choose a boring path like business, then he might as well be the best at it. He threw himself into his work, spending all his nights studying, taking as many classes as he possibly could, not bothering with making friends or joining a club or even sleeping at times. He felt fine. He was doing fine. In terms of academics, he was doing great. A solid 4.0 GPA, and he could explain every interworking of the current business market in a heartbeat. His professors had begun pulling him aside or emailing him about internship opportunities, always telling him about how much potential he had.
It made Taehyun want to scream. School was one thing. He could always take a wild left turn and try something new, quit all his classes, leave behind the path he had previously chosen. But once he started working, started to consider becoming a functioning adult who had to spend the rest of their life working in business- Taehyun shut his eyes to block out the rest of the thought. Whenever he began to think too much about his future his head began to spin and he developed a sudden need to get some fresh air.
So he took his life day by day, minute by minute. When he got dressed he didn’t think about anything other than what button down he was going to wear that day. When he walked to class he didn’t think about anything other than arriving on time. When he sat in class he didn’t think about anything other than taking notes, absorbing what the professor was saying, and making sure that he was prepared for their next assessment. With that kind of mindset, weeks could go by without Taehyun ever stopping to acknowledge the sheer patheticness of his life.
There was always that one thought tugging at his brain, reminding him of his true dream, the thing he had considered to be his future throughout most of high school. Until one day he was met- rather slapped- with a strong dose of reality. That day had pierced his fantasy like an airplane piercing a cloud, leaving nothing but lingering puffs of air floating around him. From then on he was focused on success and success alone. Like right now, as he began to dial the number of one of the professors who had suggested an internship for him. He needed the experience, he needed the statement on his resume, otherwise he’d never be able to work his way up to a job that really mattered. And then all of this pain would have been for nothing.
Taehyun was completely wrapped up in figuring out what he was going to tell the professor as he mindlessly crossed the street, and so he didn’t even notice the boy behind him until he was knocking Taehyun down into the asphalt. Taehyun let out an angry string of curse words, fumbling for his phone, but he was cut off by a high pitched car screech and two blinding headlights heading straight for his face.
Choi Beomgyu was a teetering tower about to crumble. He was known better as his YouTube persona, Waeng. It had started off as a joke, as something to pass the time. Beomgyu had always been charismatic, daring, and one day he decided to capture it on camera. It grew faster than he could have ever expected, when one video of him playing a high stakes game of manhunt with his friends went viral. His channel went from a messy, unorganized hobby to a sensation across the internet that he eventually fine tuned to ensure maximum views. He did everything from day to day vlogs to cliff diving and pulling pranks on strangers. It consumed his entire life. Everything else became background noise.
As soon as he (barely) graduated high school, Beomgyu dedicated his whole life to becoming the biggest influencer he could. He made merch, a music video, guest starred in a movie, went to teen award shows and interviews. He created his silly stage name, Waeng. It made him feel like a new person, one who didn’t have to worry about his disapproving parents or his impending future or his drifting friends. Waeng lived in the moment, concerned only with posting his next video. And there were still consequences, just as there were with any influencer. There would always be people who clicked the dislike button and left hateful comments. Parents thought that he was a bad influence on his generation. Young adults warned him that he was making a mistake, being so careless. And kids his age called him cringy, a tryhard, a bad person. But for every hater there were three fans ready to defend him. That’s all that Beomgyu had to remember when he scrolled too far into the comments or read to many tabloids. There were more people supporting him than people trying to bring him down, he told himself again and again. And he couldn’t let them have the satisfaction of hurting him, when they were just a profile on a page and he was a living, breathing, strong, stubborn person.
But there were times when he would lay awake, staring at his ceiling, wondering if the only reason he kept going was because he didn’t want to have to deal with the guilt of letting so many people down. He knew he didn’t exactly enjoy this life all the time. But it had brought him practically everything he had, so he should be happy, right? Still, sometimes he wanted to go back and time and see who he would have become if he had put the camera down, been a normal teenager. But at the end of the day Beomgyu didn’t want to bother with hypotheticals that could never be true. He was Waeng now, and he couldn’t change that. What happened because of it was just the way it had to be. So Beomgyu threw caution and reason and worrying to the wind and leaped forward into his life.
Just like now, as he whizzed down the sidewalk on his skateboard. It was thrilling, watching as the other pedestrians became nothing but blurs and his thoughts became consumed with nothing but fun, fun, fun. He realized that he needed to cross the street to get to his apartment, so he put his foot down to make a sharp turn into the street. He heard some cry his name- his stage name- behind him and he automatically whipped his head around to grin at them, joy filling him up as it always did whenever he encountered a fan. And so he didn’t see the red haired boy in front of him until he was practically on top of him. Beomgyu was caught between apologizing to the other individual and checking himself for injuries when his vision was filled with a speeding black van and a flash of white light.
Hueningkai was a shadow about to be disintegrated by the sun. He pressed his foot on the brake, feeling the slight jerk of the car coming to a stop. He had no idea where he was going, or why he had even gotten into the car in the first place. Well. That was sort of untrue. He knew why. He remembered sitting at dinner with his parents, feeling the heavy silence almost suffocating him. He remembered the sound of a door opening, seeing the way his parents’ faces suddenly lit up. Without even turning around he knew that it was his brother who had walked in the door. Hueningkai wished that it had been an intruder instead. With his face slightly illuminated by the red hue of the traffic light, Hueningkai sighed. Did it make him a bad person to think that way? Probably. He had suppressed those thoughts for his whole life.
Like the time he had been dragged to his brother’s soccer game, both of his parents set on going despite the way they had given a thousand excuses to Hueningkai when he had asked why they never stayed for his games. He then had to endure over an hour of watching his brother practically dance his way around the field, going from one end of the field to the other but always passing to a teammate and letting them score the goal. He had to sit quietly and listen to his parents make conversation with the other families there, wincing every time he heard his name. His mother always ended up saying something like ‘Kai is doing well. He works really hard,’ and then quickly steering the subject matter away from her younger son.
Maybe that should have offended Kai, but he didn’t mind. It was better for him to be forgotten then have his accomplishments over analyzed. He didn’t need other people asking why he could easily reach second in his class but not first, why he was part of ten different clubs but couldn’t seem to become the head of one, why he was able to play any position in soccer but he couldn’t make his way onto the starting lineup. To be honest, Kai didn’t know. He put in plenty of time and effort, as his mother had said. It was just the way he was built, able to function well but never enough to stand out. And so as Hueningkai watched his brother shake hands with the other team, going out of his way to compliment them with his charming smile, he couldn’t help but feel a little bit bitter. In any other family, Hueningkai’s accomplishments would have surely been celebrated, or at least acknowledged. But instead Hueningkai fell subject to simply being the second child, the side character, existing just so to compliment his brother.
And that night, as he watched his parents abandon him at the dinner table to go see his brother, Hueningkai felt the weight of always being second place hit him harder than it had ever before. Because it was supposed to just be Kai and his parents. Because his brother was supposed to be at college. Because Kai was planning on telling his parents something that might finally get them to see him, really see him for the first time. But his brother decided to come home for the weekend, ruining Kai’s intricate plan with something that was too kind and thoughtful to hate. Unbelievable.
Hueningkai couldn’t take it. So he threw down his silverware and napkin, pushed past his family who barely even gave him a glance as he grabbed the keys and stormed out the door. His vision was clouded with anger that he had no one to direct at. But he could still see enough to notice the speeding black van that he was about to crash head on with. Hueningkai reacted immediately, swerving out of the way. He had the right idea, but it wasn’t good enough. He ended up driving into the sidewalk, seeing the face of a terrified, purple haired pedestrian and the looming mass of a telephone pole. As he faded in unconsciousness, pain racking his head, Kai couldn’t help but wonder how long it would take for his family to realize that something was wrong.
At first, Soobin felt fine. He walked out from behind the crashed car and glanced around at the other pedestrians who were still staring at the scene, horror painted on their faces.
“What happened?” Soobin asked the nearest person. But they didn’t even look away for a second. Soobin felt disappointment hang over him. His amazing social skills at their finest. He turned to at least see what they were staring at, and did a double take at what he saw.
That was- him. His body, broken and bleeding, lying under the car. Soobin immediately glanced down at himself. He looked normal. He didn’t have the injuries that- other Soobin did. But when he raised his hand up to the light, he realized that it looked slightly translucent, like it was made of air instead of flesh. In an act of sudden rashness, he turned and tried to hit the nearby telephone pole. His hand glided right through. Soobin felt his stomach drop in shock and his eyes went back to his- dead?- body, his mouth falling open in panic. This couldn’t be right. Not even five minutes ago he was perfectly fine. He had just gone out to see what the commotion was about. And then- Soobin’s brain hurt- why couldn’t he remember? There was- a flash of headlights, screams around him, and a panicked boy’s face-
Oh my gosh. Soobin really had died. This wasn’t some weird fever dream. He had been the victim of a car crash and died. He wouldn’t get up early tomorrow to go work at the coffee shop. He wouldn’t be able to make it to the movie that he was going to go see with his older brother, Jin, later that week. He wouldn’t be home for winter break. He would never see his family or friends again. Soobin felt himself getting choked up against his will. Why couldn’t the universe at least have given him a chance to say goodbye? Closing his eyes, Soobin took a deep breath and pictured all of the people that he cared about. May I someday get to see you again.
“Holy sh- why can’t I- what’s going on?” Soobin whipped around at the voice. He could hear the sound of the other (alive) people talking, but their voices sounded faded, like he was underwater. But this one was clear as day. He saw a boy around his age, the same one that was driving the car, looking around, evidently just as confused as Soobin had been a second ago. He had the same translucent consistency and blueish tint that Soobin did.
“We- I think we died.” Soobin said quietly, his social awkwardness still in check. He couldn’t escape it, even in death. Luckily the other boy still heard him, looking over, his eyes wide with shock.
“You- oh my gosh, did I hit you?” Soobin saw the fear and guilt in the other boy’s face, and he realized how terrible it must be to see someone that you hurt, even if it was unintentional. Even though Soobin would very much rather be alive, there was no reason to blame it on this innocent boy. It had been an accident, plain and simple, and so Soobin saw no reason to be angry. Soobin walked closer, waving his hands, putting on his best comforting look.
“No, no, it wasn’t your fault. I was distracted too.” Soobin would’ve thought that he would be more distressed if he died and became a ghost, but for some reason he was quite calm. The atmosphere felt so thin and quiet, like a lake so still it resembled glass. Despite his reassurances, the other boy still looked upset. Soobin opened his mouth, not sure what else he should say but still desperate to try, when all of a sudden they heard yelling. And the voices, once again, were too distinct to be the chatter from the living people around them. Exchanging a glance, Soobin and the other boy both went to see what was going on.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Soobin winced at the language. Looks like the calm atmosphere hadn’t carried over to everyone. He caught sight of the two other ghosts in time to see the red haired one push the other to the ground, still yelling at him. “You and your stupid skateboard- are you so self centered that you don’t look at the people in front of you?”
“There was a lot on my mind! And everyone else moved out of the way except for you, so you really shouldn’t be talking.” The black haired boy spit back, equally as heated. The red haired boy glowered back at him, ready to say something else- but then he stopped recognition on his face.
“Wait- are you that YouTuber Waeng?” As soon as he said it, Soobin realized that he recognized the black haired boy as well. His channel wasn’t really Soobin’s style, but he still knew who he was. The black haired boy- Waeng or Beomgyu, his given name- immediately changed his demeanor.
“I am. Why, are you a big fan?” His tone was teasing, almost flirty, and it only seemed to piss off the red haired boy even more.
“Absolutely not. I don’t understand why you’re so famous, you just do dumb shit and get views from your clickbait.” That seemed to hit Beomgyu hard. His gaze went steely and he stepped closer to the other boy.
“Should we stop them?” Soobin jumped at the voice from behind him. He had almost forgotten about the boy from the car.
“I- probably. What’s your name, by the way? I’m Soobin.” The other boy smiled at him, some of the fear from earlier falling away. Soobin felt his body relax a little bit at the sight. If he was going to have this weird out of body experience, at least he wasn’t alone.
“I’m Hueningkai.” Soobin mouthed the unfamiliar syllables, planting it in his brain. He returned Hueningkai’s smile before turning to say something to the other two boys, but someone else beat him to it.
“Can you guys please shut up? It’s not like fighting about it is gonna fix anything.” A fifth voice, thick with emotion and sagging with tiredness. Soobin glanced around, startled, until he finally caught sight of a head of neon colored hair. It was Choi Yeonjun. Behind him, Hueningkai seemed to have the same realization.
“Yeonjun? You’re here too! That’s amaz- well, actually, I guess not.” The joy and surprise on Hueningkai’s face immediately disappeared as he remembered their current situation. Yeonjun just looked back at him, clearly physically and emotionally exhausted by the events of the day. Beomgyu and the red haired boy looked over at the sound of two new voices. There was a long moment of silence as they all just looked around at each other, processing what was happening.
“So this is it? We’re all just dead and forced to live like this? With each other? Are there other ghosts here too? But considering the amount of people who die every day, then there would certainly be other ghosts around here with us as well. So why are we the only ones?” The red haired boy kept mumbling to himself, and Soobin realized that he had a point. They should’ve encountered someone else by now that had been in the same situation as them. Suddenly, as if Soobin had summoned it with his mind, there was a heavy gust of wind and a dark figure appeared in front of them. He was clothed head to toe in a midnight black cloak, his face hidden beneath the overhanging hood. He extended his arm, gesturing for them to come closer.
“Come with me.” In the back of Soobin’s mind he thought about dementors and had a brief moment of imagining getting his soul sucked out of him, but he quickly brushed that fear aside. Dementors weren’t real. Then again, he supposed, none of this was supposed to be real.
“There’s no way I’m just going to willingly go with some sketchy dude that shows up out of nowhere.” Beomgyu responded almost immediately, no trace of fear on his face. The others silently agreed, nodding their heads. The dark figure evidently sighed, and brought his hands fully into view. His skin was unbelievably pale, stretching like paper over his bones. In one hand he held a long shiny black pole, with a curving blade at the top. Was that- a scythe? The other hand reached up to take off his hood. Soobin felt his breath huff out of his lungs once he revealed his face. Purplish black eyes with dark circles underneath that somehow complimented them even more. A handsome, young, symmetrical face. Pink lips that stood out harshly against his pale skin. And floppy black hair that he brushed out of his eyes. Now, Soobin already knew that he was into guys. It had gotten too hard to deny at a certain point. His parents and his closest friends knew, but besides that he tried to hide it. And so he pretended that he was unaffected by the sheer attractiveness of this mysterious man, looking down at the ground.
“Whoa, you look like the Grim Reaper,” Beomgyu said, a grin on his face now. “That’s cool. I’m down to go with you then, I guess.” The red haired boy- Taehyun, looked over at Beomgyu with exasperation, clearly very fed up with his carelessness.
“I am the Grim Reaper.” The man said, looking defeated. There was a chorus of surprised sounds from the five boys. Even Taehyun looked taken aback. The Grim Reaper was real? Soobin would’ve never guessed that such a- deathly person would look like this. He expected him to be older, less human, more demon-like. But the man in front of them looked- almost normal. It comforted Soobin, in a way. Being dead didn’t have to be a scary thing, he supposed. After all, the stigma around the afterlife was just created because people were afraid of dying. There was no reason to assume that it was filled with terror and torture.
“Okay, so that’s it? Going with you is the only option?” This time it was Yeonjun who spoke. He seemed wary, but not too upset. His attitude confused Soobin. He would’ve thought that Yeonjun would be more distressed about the sudden end to his life. He had been the world’s golden boy for years, cherished by fans from all over. So why wasn’t he angry about being pulled out of that perfect life?
“Yep. If you absolutely insist, you can wander around Earth as a ghost for the rest of eternity, but it’s not very pleasant. Most people go insane.” Soobin shuddered at the thought. Not being able to talk or interact with anyone- for the rest of eternity? No matter where the Grim Reaper was bringing them, it had to be better than that. Glancing around at the others, Soobin saw that they had the same reaction. After Yeonjun gave a quick nod, they all stepped forward, ready to be guided by the Grim Reaper. That is, everyone except Taehyun.
“Hold on. Can you at least tell me where we’re going? This all seems really unprofessional and so I’m not sure if I can-” The Grim Reaper gave Taehyun a blank stare before rolling his eyes.
“My god. Trust me, will you? This is your best option.” Before Taehyun had the chance to give him a rebuttal, the Grim Reaper gripped his scythe with both hands and waved it in the direction of the five boys. The next thing they knew, they were floating, wind blowing around their faces. Taehyun let out an embarrassing yelp, immediately covering his mouth and trying to play it off. But Beomgyu didn’t miss it, smirking at him as Taehyun fumed back. Behind Soobin, Hueningkai also screamed, his voice surprisingly high pitched and loud. They all took a moment to get their bearings, looking in awe at how they were suspended above the ground. “Alright. Are we all set?” Soobin felt a little nauseous at first, but he brushed it off, nodding with the others. “Okay. Then let’s go. Say goodbye to the living world.”