Chapter Text
“Um—hello? Is this Choi Beomgyu…?”
“It sure is! Your one and only campus ghost hunter!”
“Right…so you can really get rid of ghosts…?” The voice that sounds a little too pretty asks Beomgyu tentatively.
“Mhmm—and for a hell of a lot cheaper too.” Beomgyu chirps into the phone, using his best customer service voice rather than being smug like usual.
“So you can get rid of whatever’s been haunting me…?”
“Well that’s my job isn’t it?” He scoffs, rolling his eyes at the dumb question. “What’s your name and dorm number—assuming that you live in the dorms?” He adds quickly, not wanting to lose out on a job just because of his attitude (that’s happened too many times before).
“Um…my name’s Soobin and my dorm room number is 404.” Soobin says with obvious hesitance. Beomgyu quickly writes it down, grinning to himself in excitement.
Another dumb college student who he can scam.
“Cool! Can I come over around 5pm?” Beomgyu continues, licking his lips at the prospect of another job and more money. Maybe he’ll take Kai and himself out for some food afterwards.
“You’re making this sound like a date…but yeah that works.”
“We can go on a date after I get rid of your ghost, babe.”
“Nope I’m good…but see you later I guess.” The call ends then and Beomgyu is left in silence and a bit of amusement.
He flops back onto his bed, still grinning ear to ear as he stares up at the roof. He loves getting free money like this.
He’s been doing this gig for a few months now, posing as a ghost hunter of sorts for mostly college students. And for some reason, a lot of students seem to have ghost and or demon issues. Though it’s probably just the sleep deprivation getting them or all the homework. But either way, Beomgyu gladly helps whoever out…well, somewhat.
So yes, he does scam everyone somewhat—but he’s not entirely a fake. He can actually see ghosts and has been able to ever since he was 6 years old and nearly died (but that’s a story for another time).
Though, most times when these people call him, there’s never actually a ghost. He would be able to see if there was and it only happens very rarely. Most people are just deluded into believing there is, scared for whatever reason or tricked into believing something. Spirits aren’t that common after all, they never just haunt people for no real reason.
Sometimes it does happen, but unfortunately, Beomgyu doesn’t actually know how to get rid of real ghosts. He just pretends to get rid of them and nothing more…he hasn’t yet figured out how to properly deal with actual ghosts yet. But it happens so rarely that he doesn’t really need to learn…and he doesn’t really want to learn either.
He’s a brilliant con-artist who is also a broke college student in dire need of money, so this is the perfect job for him. And he can see ghosts, so really, it’s fitting.
Fuck working a convenience store or fastfood restaurant when he can do absolutely nothing and get paid relatively the same.
Perhaps one day he’ll actually become more than just a fraud, he’s got the ability to see ghosts after all. But then again, he would actually have to put in some effort and work, and that in itself seems like a burden.
For now though, Beomgyu is perfectly content with scamming college students, especially when a lot of them are privileged kids here on daddy's money. If they’re willing to pay someone because they somehow actually believe they are being haunted, they definitely have a few dollars to spare.
He jumps up after a minute of thinking, smirking as he throws on his leather jacket and runs his hands through his hair.
He glances into the mirror, frowning at how long his hair has gotten. It’s basically down to his shoulders now, the wolf-cut nicely framing his face.
Despite how annoying it can be at times, he likes it long like this, it looks quite good on him. Except right now it’s a little flat looking, probably from laying on it all day.
Beomgyu shakes his head, effectively trying to fluff it up a bit, always wanting to look his best no matter what. Who knows, this Soobin guy could be cute and possibly his next date.
Because yes, Beomgyu has absolutely gone on dates with people after supposedly getting rid of ghosts for him. Being a ghost hunter is surprisingly hot to some people.
After fixing his hair to the best of his abilities, Beomgyu throws his leather jacket and backpack on before finally leaving his dorm. It’s almost time for his little appointment with Soobin and he definitely doesn’t want to be late, not when it comes to a paying customer.
He runs through the dorms, easily tracking down room 404, a peculiar number to say the least.
One he’ll definitely remember.
After fixing his hair (again), Beomgyu knocks on the door and puts on his best face.
Sure enough, the door opens seconds later with a very tall and nervous guy standing there. A very attractive guy actually, like, very.
Beomgyu blinks up at him, momentarily stunned as he meets the soft eyes of quite literally the prettiest person he’s ever seen.
“Are you Beomgyu…?” The guy asks, his voice the same as the one on the phone.
“Yep—and you’re Soobin?” Beomgyu smiles, regaining his composure from the prior heart palpitation he had from Soobin’s beautiful face.
Soobin welcomes him inside a little hesitantly, but is kind to him nonetheless. He has a warm sort of energy about him, his mannerisms a little shy but with a definite confidence behind them. Beomgyu is very much interested to say the least.
He’ll flirt later though—or maybe a little bit now…but the job and money comes first so he really should wait until afterwards.
“So, you said you have a ghost?” Beomgyu questions as he peaks around Soobin’s dorm.
Soobin nods, his eyes a little weary as he stands in the room with Beomgyu. It’s clear he’s scared out of his mind by said ghost, Beomgyu definitely didn’t miss the dark circles under his eyes either.
Except as Beomgyu pokes around, he doesn’t sense any sort of ghost activity, no signs or anything. If there was a ghost, he would immediately be able to see it, or at least sense a presence…but there’s just nothing.
It’s completely void of any spiritual activity.
Then again, if there was a ghost, Beomgyu wouldn’t be able to actually do anything about it anyways. So that’s good he decides, at least Soobin isn’t actually being haunted.
Beomgyu wouldn’t want his future date to die, now would he.
“Well?” Soobin asks, waiting for Beomgyu to do or say something after too many stifling seconds pass.
“I don’t really sense anything right now.” Beomgyu answers honestly, unable to fully lie to Soobin’s dimpled face. “But what makes you think there even is a ghost?”
“Um…things moving or falling, weird sounds, lights flickering. It always feels like someone is watching me too…” Soobin explains, his plush lips jutting out in the cutest way as he thinks.
“I see. Well, I can try and cleanse the room of any spirits.” Beomgyu says, crouching down to pull some sage and a lighter from his backpack.
He can do a few things to ward off ghosts, like smudging and what not. But this only keeps them away temporarily, it doesn’t actually get rid of them. Real demons and ghosts need to be exorcised.
Nonetheless, this will help so Soobin won’t actually get any real ghosts in the future. Or, it should.
Soobin watches with curious eyes, his cheeks slightly puffed out as Beomgyu burns a bundle of sage around the room. He hopes no one else in the dorms can smell the burning or they might have some problems.
“Do you have a roommate?” Beomgyu asks, trying to make light conversation as he does a few more things.
Soobin shakes his head, a sad expression flickering on his face. “Not anymore.”
Beomgyu doesn’t press for anything more, Soobin going strangely quiet afterwards.
“Alright. That should get rid of your ghost.” Beomgyu says with a grin as he starts to pack up his stuff.
“That’s all…?”
“Yep—that’ll be 50 dollars now.” He says with a wink.
Soobin blanches, his mouth slightly agape as he blinks at Beomgyu. “You just burned sage! Shouldn’t this be like—free?”
“Unfortunately I can’t work for free, babe.” Beomgyu says smugly, licking over his lips as he waits for his money.
Soobin frowns, shooting a glare at Beomgyu. “What if the ghost isn’t gone?”
“It will be.”
“But what if it’s not.”
“Just. Trust me.” Beomgyu groans, he hates when customers act like they know better then him. He’s the one who can see ghosts after all, they should just believe him.
“Fine…but if you scammed me…” Soobin mutters, pulling out some cash and begrudgingly handing it to Beomgyu.
“You’ll be fine, sweetheart.” Beomgyu huffs, quickly taking the money from Soobin before he takes it back out or something.
Soobin narrows his eyes but says nothing more, he looks a little displeased though, his features scrunched up in annoyance.
Beomgyu takes that as his sign to leave. Looks like he won’t be taking Soobin on a date any time soon by the way he’s practically glaring him down as he leaves.
The door shuts almost immediately after Beomgyu slips out, no goodbye or even a thank you.
Rude.
Handsome as hell but an asshole. Good to know. Dumb as well, he doesn’t even have a ghost or anything haunting him, just his clearly deluded mind.
Well, Beomgyu thinks, at least he got his money in the end.
He should treat Kai to some food like he originally wanted to, yeah, he’ll do that.
—
“So you scammed another idiot?” Kai laughs as shoves food into his mouth (that Beomgyu had bought).
Beomgyu rolls his eyes. “It’s not a scam if there’s no ghost in the first place—I can see them, remember.”
“If there’s no ghost you shouldn’t be charging them.” Kai points out with full cheeks, shaking his head at Beomgyu.
“Yes, but you wouldn’t be eating this food otherwise.”
“Fair—but for real, when will you do some actual ghost hunting.”
“I’m not like those idiots who run around haunted places with their cameras and die—I like being alive thank you very much.”
“That’s boring.”
“Not when you’ve see hundreds of ghosts in the most mundane of places.” Beomgyu sighs. He shivers at the memories and his past experiences that almost lead to his death one too many times.
“Still boring.”
And maybe he is a little boring for someone who can see ghosts. But Beomgyu likes things being simple, he likes being safe and comfortable and that’s how things are right now.
Being a ghost hunter for college students rarely leads to actual ghosts or demons. He’d really rather not get involved in the company of those things, not after everything he’s been through.
He’s content with how everything is now and that’s all that matters.
Beomgyu wouldn’t change a thing.
(Too bad he’ll be forced to.)
—
“You actually called a fucking ghost hunter—“
“—come on! My room was literally possesed.”
“Definitely not, but okay.” Yeonjun says, an incredulous expression on his face as he looks at Soobin.
Soobin let’s out an annoyed exhale. “Just because your ass doesn’t believe in ghosts doesn’t mean they’re not real.”
“Just because you’re an idiot who just got scammed by another college kid.”
“Shut up.”
And maybe Yeonjun is right about him getting scammed because whatever that Beomgyu guy did, did not seem like enough to actually get rid of a ghost. He even mentioned not sensing a ghost at first, so yeah, Soobin definitely got fucked over and lost 50 dollars.
Just his luck.
Now he has a ghost haunting him and is also short 50 dollars. Great.
Sure, Beomgyu was somewhat cute, but he had a sharp tongue that pissed Soobin off just a little bit. Oh—and how he scammed him.
“You know you can stay at my place, I’m sure my parents wouldn’t mind.” Yeonjun offers, noticing how tense Soobin is now. “Or I can stay with you.”
Soobin shakes his head. “I have to see if I got scammed—and also I just…I can’t…not yet…”
“Fine, but my offer still stands for whenever.” Yeonjun says, giving Soobin a comforting smile.
“Thanks. Maybe one day I’ll take you up on it.”
In the recent weeks, Soobin has slowly felt like he is going mad, something shifting in his life in a short span of time.
At first, it just felt like there was someone watching him most of the time. Which was weird, but nothing too weird to actually pay much attention to.
But then things started falling off his shelves and counters, and he swore he saw things fly across his room a few times. That was definitely weird, especially since he had no roommate and was always alone when it happened.
Then after that came the eery, terrifying noises that Soobin knew were definitely not human. Absolutely not. It sounded like stuff out of nightmares.
But it was all so strange, so random. Things had been relatively normal up until they suddenly weren’t.
He barely gets sleep anymore, terrified out of his mind, especially with the weird noises at night.
Even when he’s not in his dorm room…it feels like there’s someone constantly following him around. But maybe he’s just being paranoid.
In any case, a part of him hopes that he didn’t get scammed by Beomgy. He hopes he’ll be able to sleep a comfortable night for once in his dorm.
He’ll figure that out tonight for sure.
And god—if he did get scammed, he won’t let Beomgyu get away with it.
—
Hesitantly, Soobin steps back into his dorm room after a few hours of doting around in despair.
He’s all alone now too, having dropped Yeonjun off at his house before making his way here. The last place he honestly wants to be, but he just has to know if Beomgyu scammed him or not.
He sighs, a shiver running down his spine when he closes the door behind himself. He can’t tell if he’s just scared or if it’s actually cold in here, either way, he’s already uncomfortable.
Soobin busies himself getting ready for bed afterwards, ignoring the nausea that buries itself in the pit of his stomach. If he distracts himself for long enough, he won’t notice the weird feelings that are building in his mind.
With his teeth brushed and his pajamas on, he crawls into his bed. The sheets are icy, his body already shivering, the entire room too cold. Soobin ignores it though, deciding that the thermostat is just low. Right. That’s definitely what it is.
He reaches to turn the lamp on his side table off, except as he’s just about to turn it off…it flickers.
He doesn’t miss it. It’s brief, but he definitely sees it flicker in just the slightest way.
He glances around in panic before hiding himself beneath his covers like a child. He decides he’ll sleep with the light on tonight…if he even manages to fall asleep at all.
A minute passes and Soobin keeps himself under the covers, too scared to look out quite yet. He breathes heavily, his mind spinning as he sits in the veil of darkness.
He peeks out after a few painful seconds, still keeping the blanket tucked beneath his chin as he looks around with weary eyes.
More silence follows.
Then.
A crash.
Soobin yelps as the lamp beside him falls to the floor as if it was tugged off by someone. He flinches as it shatters upon impact with a loud bang that makes his ears ring.
The room then falls completely dark aside from the window that barely provides any real light.
Soobin’s eyes dart around as he sits up fully now, still clutching onto his blanket with trembling hands as he sits in the bed.
More silence follows, Soobin’s heart pounding in his chest, the blood pumping through his veins.
.
.
.
His heart stops when he feels something start to move beneath his sheets.
.
.
.
He doesn’t stay in bed long enough to find out what it was.
.
.
.
He runs to the door, almost crashing into it as he screams out. Except when he tries to pull it open with his shaking hands, it doesn’t budge.
Soobin lets out a panicked cry, quickly glancing behind himself as he tries to turn the knob again. It still doesn’t move though, seeming like it’s locked, but there’s no way to lock the room from the outside.
He looks back one more time and sees a dark shadow looming over in the farthest corner of his room. It stands on the opposite side of his bed, watching him with glowing eyes as he struggles to get the door open.
When he realizes the door isn’t going to open any time soon, he pulls out his phone and taps the first phone number he sees which just so happens to be Beomgyu’s. Of course. The very fucker who didn’t help get him out of this mess.
And as his phone starts to ring, the figure slowly gets closer and closer.
He prays that Beomgyu will answer…that he’ll be able to save him…
…
Beomgyu is suddenly woken by his phone ringing very loudly next to him. He groans, glancing to the screen bleary eyed as the brightness burns his eyes.
He squints at his phone, wondering who the hell is calling him at this hour. An unknown number flashes on the screen, one that has Beomgyu just a little bit curious.
“Hello…?” He mumbles after picking up the call, his voice still rough with sleep.
“Fuck—Beomgyu! You bitch—you scammed me—shit!” He knows that voice.
Oh.
It’s Soobin.
Uh oh.
“What…?” Beomgyu asks sleepily, feigning ignorance.
“HELP ME!” Soobin screams before the call abruptly ends leaving Beomgyu nearly deaf and very confused.
Well…that’s not good.
Briefly, he lays unmoving, being very much comfortable in his warm bed.
But Soobin had seemed…terrified…and definitely not okay.
Beomgyu isn’t that bad of a person.
He lets out a heavy exhale before throwing himself out of his bed despite very much just wanting to ignore Soobin.
“Fuck this.” He mutters before running out of his dorm room with nothing but his pajamas on and a whole lot of annoyance.
…
When Beomgyu gets to Soobin’s dorm, the number 404 ringing in his mind, he hears nothing but screaming from inside. Screaming and something else…something that isn’t possibly human.
Did Soobin really have a ghost…or demon…?
Beomgyu shoves his way into the room, his blood running cold. He faintly wonders why Soobin didn’t just leave the room, but quickly ignores it when he sees the mess in the room.
There's stuff thrown all around as well as a lot of glass shattered on the ground. The place looks like it was completely flipped upside down by a tornado…or in this case, a supernatural being.
But it’s weird, everything is silent now, the horrible noise he had heard from before had gone completely quiet upon his entrance. And despite being a mess, the room is completely calm now as if nothing had happened.
And once again, there’s no sign of a ghost anywhere.
“Soobin…?” Beomgyu calls out, realizing that he doesn’t actually see him anywhere in the torn apart room. “Fuck—Soobin?!”
He whips around, desperately searching out Soobin in the mess but comes up short.
Dread falls over him, a sick feeling bubbling inside his stomach.
Did he get someone killed…?
Except just as he thinks the worst, he hears a quiet sob from behind him. He instantly turns around and finds Soobin hidden behind a nearby chair.
There’s tears trailing down his face, a few red cuts on his cheeks…cuts that look exactly like claw marks.
“Oh god—“ Beomgyu whispers, running over and crouching down in front of Soobin.
“You fucker.” Soobin sobs out, more tears falling from his eyes as he hiccups. Well, at least he’s not possessed, Beomgyu thinks. “You scammed me!”
“Alright—maybe I did. But there wasn’t a ghost at the time!” Beomgyu explains as he carefully helps Soobin up. “Let’s just fucking get you out of here first then we’ll talk about that, how about?”
Soobin says nothing, but follows Beomgyu, grabbing onto his shirt as they walk back to Beomgyu’s room.
What the fuck just happened…?
…
“You stole my money and didn’t even get rid of the fucking ghost!” Soobin complains as Beomgyu cleans up the claw marks on his face. Thank god he doesn’t have a roommate or there would be a lot of explaining to do.
“There was seriously no ghost when I was there.” Beomgyu mutters, feeling a little guilty as Soobin sits on the end of his bed still shaking a little.
Soobin still has yet to tell him what had even happened in there, but Beomgyu guesses he doesn’t want to think about it again right now. He’ll prod him about it tomorrow instead.
“You’re just a fake.” Soobin continues, still pouting, his eyes glassy.
“I’m not. I can actually see ghosts.”
“Like hell you can.”
“How about you sleep in someone else’s dorm room you dumbass. Who the hell keeps staying somewhere that’s haunted anyways.” Beomgyu growls, Soobin getting on his nerves more and more by the second. First he wakes him up and now he whines after Beomgyu had helped him.
“It’s not just that room. It follows me to other places too.”
Great. So now Beomgyu had the possibility of having a ghost in his room too. Absolutely peachy.
Beomgyu sits back and reaches to turn off the lights, but Soobin quickly stops him.
“You are not turning the lights off, are you fucking stupid?” Soobin says, his hand clasped around Beomgyu’s wrist.
“You expect me to sleep with the lights on?” Beomgyu laughs dryly. “I’ve seen my fair share of ghosts, babe, this doesn’t affect me like it does you.”
“Yeah—but it affects me, so we’re keeping them on.”
“Who said I’m letting you sleep in my room?” Beomgyu fires back but immediately regrets it when Soobin’s face visibly falls.
“You’re kicking me out…?” Soobin asks, his eyes a little sad now and Beomgyu’s heart tugs.
“Goddamnit no—but I’m turning the lights off.”
“You can’t complain if I hug you then.”
“Definitely wouldn’t complain about that.” Beomgyu smirks, this time actually turning the lights off.
Soobin winces when he does, immediately cuddling up to Beomgyu’s side. It seems Soobin is definitely not shy about getting close to a stranger, then again, he did almost just die. Beomgyu would probably do the same.
So they cuddle up together beneath the blankets. Beomgyu is a little tense, definitely not used to having a stranger so close to him while he’s meant to sleep. At least Soobin is a cute stranger though, an annoying one, but still cute.
“You’re giving me a refund.” Soobin mumbles against his chest as they lay there.
“No. I’m not.” He already spent the money after all and definitely doesn’t have much more to spare.
“Yes you are, you brat.”
“I will honest to god kick you out of my fucking dorm in the next 5 seconds if you don’t stop talking.”
Soobin goes silent after that, his arms snaking around Beomgyu’s waist as he nuzzles against him.
A few minutes pass. Neither able to fall asleep as the silence wanes on.
A clock ticks off in the distance. Except Beomgyu doesn’t have a clock.
Then, there’s a quiet tapping sound from beneath the bed, a sound that both of them hear.
They both tense, their bodies flush together as Soobin clings onto Beomgyu even tighter than before, their hearts beating together.
Beomgyu silences his breathing, terror washing over him as a bad feeling starts to sink through him.
More silence.
Then.
.
.
.
“Beomgyu…there’s something behind you…”