Chapter Text
It's dark outside when little Chaeryeong wakes up with the urge to go to the bathroom. She slips on her pink slippers with a yawn and leaves the room to head for the bathroom.
Out of the corner of her eye, she sees something—someone—down the hall. It appears to have long hair. Chaeryeong freezes and thinks it's a thief, but her mind tells her it's not. It looked… transparent. Chaeryeong would swear she could see the wall through that someone.
Without thinking, Chaeryeong runs after it, taking care not to fall and not to make noise. She catches up to the silhouette in the kitchen. With the moonlight streaming through the window, Chaeryeong sees her first ghost.
She lets out a choked noise, her heart pounding loudly in her chest. Astonishment makes her jaw hang as the ghost turns around. It's a tall girl with indecipherable colored hair. Her eyes widen wide at the sight of Chaeryeong.
“Are you—? Are you—?” Chaeryeong stammers.
The ghost looks around nervously. Finally, she looks at Chaeryeong. She puts her index finger to her lips: silence.
Chaeryeong doesn't believe she can speak. She blinks and then the entity is gone. Chaeryeong looks all over the kitchen and even peeks into the courtyard, but there is no sign. Her urge to go to the bathroom returns, pressing. Chaeryeong listens to them and then goes to sleep. She feels equal parts nervous and terrified.
The next morning, she tells her parents about the event, but they just laugh and pat her head. “They don't believe me,” Chaeryeong thinks sadly. She tells her little friends at school, but they laugh. Ghosts! How could it be!
But Chaery knows what she saw. “I'm not crazy!” she thinks to herself.
Chaeryeong saw a ghost and no one can make her believe otherwise.
~~~
Chaeryeong opens her dormitory door with a sigh. Classes have her seriously tired, and she can't wait to have even two weeks off. She doesn't ask for crazy things: just two weeks.
Her gaze falls on her roommate. Jisu has her face sunk into the pillow, still in the jeans and sweater she wears to class. “Is she asleep or passed out?” wonders Chaeryeong with an arched eyebrow. Both options are equally likely.
Jisu lets out a jaded groan.
“You're awake,” Chaeryeong says. She throws her bag on top of the chair and sits on the bed. Her body thanks her.
“But almost not,” Jisu replies. She looks at Chaeryeong with one eye. “I just want to sleep like a dead man today, so please—"
“Don't worry,” Chaeryeong interrupts her with a wave of her hand. “I'm also tired. No going out today.”
Jisu lets out a hum of agreement and buries her face in the pillow again.
Chaeryeong lies down. A pleasant shiver runs through her body. “I'll change later,” she thinks lazily. Her gaze wanders to her side of the room. A Girls' Generation poster takes up a good portion of the wall next to her. There's another poster, which has nothing to do with k-pop: it's of Ghostbusters. Their logo, to be precise.
Jisu always arches an eyebrow when she sees said poster. “Do you believe in ghosts?” she asked her that day when Chaeryeong hung up the poster. “I can't believe you believe in such things,” she says presently. It always earns an eye roll or a tongue wag from Chaeryeong.
Chaeryeong closes her eyes and hums quietly. She has the day off tomorrow, and seeing the Ghostbusters logo has given her an exciting idea.
~~~
Chaeryeong's target tonight is a building complex that has been abandoned for several years. There are signs of wear and tear in its architecture—the paint is falling off in strips; the doors, if any, are hanging on one of their hinges; there is dust from the cement eroded by the passage of time—and to Chaeryeong it looks…
“Perfect,” she says with a click of her tongue.
She enters the abandoned building with resolution. Abandoned places are not exactly plentiful in Seoul, and yet Chaeryeong has not visited most of them. Lack of time is the reason: the university consumes her time—and her soul.
Chaeryeong's flashlight draws a dusty beam of light in the darkness. Moonlight does little to illuminate the innermost part of the building. Cement dust crunches under her black shoes.
Chaeryeong is not afraid. Or well, not much: enough to jump at a noise like the moaning of the wind, but not so much as to leave her paralyzed like a fawn. Still, she clutches tightly to the bag in which she carries her ghost-hunting gear.
Chaeryeong climbs to the fourth floor. In her experience, the second floors shouldn't have paranormal activity. They are too close to the street. Although this building is in a relatively secluded location, Chaeryeong takes no chances. Her burning desire to prove that ghosts exist compels her to be a perfectionist.
The girl wanders around the fourth floor until she finds a perfect place. It is a small apartment, where there is nothing but bare walls. No chairs or tables or shelves; both the main room and a smaller room are empty.
Chaeryeong sits cross-legged on the dusty floor. She ruffles the settled dust and coughs at it; she almost sneezes, but the impulse goes away, leaving her with a bad feeling.
Chaeryeong puts the flashlight between her teeth and rummages through the bag. She manipulates the hand-held camera until it lights up with a pib. She sets it aside and turns on the recorder, which she sets down. With anticipation, Chaeryeong turns on the EMF meter, disappointed to see that it remains green, inert.
She shakes her head. She's not going to give up.
Finally, Chaeryeong pulls out a large glass bottle and a new candle. Why she is targeting it for troublesome spirits is something even Chaeryeong doesn't know. She wants to catch one and show it to Jisu, to Chaeyeon. Shake it in their faces and say “Ha! See they do exist!”
Still holding the flashlight between her teeth and humming, Chaeryeong lights the candle and opens the glass jar. She fastens the candle inside the jar with the candle's own melted wax. Chaeryeong removes the flashlight from between her teeth and sighs, steeling herself. She reduces the power of the flashlight, just enough to be able to capture something with the camera.
Camera in one hand, jar lid in the other, Chaeryeong speaks, “If there are spirits here, I want you to know that I will not harm you” As if I could. “I just want you to show yourselves to me.”
She is half lying: attracted by her words, the spirits may approach, be drawn to the energy of the candle and wham! Trapped.
The silence is heavy.
“Uhm… Show yourselves to me, please?” Chaeryeong adds uncertainly. More firmly, she repeats, “Show yourselves to me.”
Nothing. She almost gasps as the wind whines in through the only visible window in the apartment. She doesn't want to admit that she always gets on her nerves in this kind of situation, but she does.
“I know you exist,” Chaeryeong mutters, her gaze darting to any gloomy spot.
The EMF meter is still obnoxiously green. Chaeryeong turns it off with a rabid slap.
The candle is a little over halfway up when Chaeryeong gives up. Disappointment wraps its sad blanket around her. She's been waiting all day for this and nothing happened.
“Why do they always dodge me?” Chaeryeong thinks, picking up the flashlight with defeated movements.
As a last resort, she taps the candle trap a couple of times.
“You'll like this energy, I assure you,” she says in a cheerful tone. “I promise on my mom's behalf.”
Even the wind doesn't answer her this time.
With a snort, Chaeryeong lights up the whole room.
“Come out, you devils! I mean!” she adds quickly with nervousness. “I mean ghosts come out, not devils. Not those.”
The fear is gone, replaced by incipient frustration. Muttering to herself, Chaeryeong turns off the camera. Remembering that there is another place in the apartment, she points the flashlight there with little interest and—
“What are you do—?”
“God!” Chaeryeong squeaks.
The next thing Chaeryeong knows, she's hurtling down the stairs. She doesn't even realize where she left the camera. Her body urges her to run, to run like hell. Was it a girl? Maybe, but absolute terror gripped Chaeryeong as soon as she saw it. Praying between shrieks, Chaeryeong reaches the second floor, puffing, and runs with the biggest strides she is capable of to the exit. Anyone who saw her would only see a reddish blur down the sidewalk.
Her lungs demand, burning, a rest, but her legs want nothing to do with it. It is not until she reaches a lighted area that she stops abruptly, wheezing.
“Was it—? Was it—! God, yes it was!” she thinks frantically. She feels not realization, but fear. What if it was a devil? “Why did I have to say about the devils? Heck.”
No sooner does she recover a little when she is already walking quickly. She tries to look as serene as possible, but people still look at her funny. Her heart is pumping hard in her chest, both from the run and the fright.
Ruminating on the scene, she heads for her college campus. As she slips her keys in the door, she notices that her hands are shaking. Sweat trickles down her face and she notices that the flashlight is still on. She turns it off and enters.
Jisu looks at her in alarm.
“What happened to you?” she asks, concern tinging her voice.
Chaeryeong gesticulates tonelessly.
“I saw—in that place! A—” She swallows saliva, shudders and finally shrieks, “A ghost!”
Jisu arches a skeptical eyebrow.
“You know, the brain can suggest to you to—”
“I saw it!” Chaeryeong is aware that she sounds crazy, but she can't help it; emotions are a whirlwind inside her. “I did see it, Jisu,” she repeats, calmer. “I swear I did see it.”
“Are you sure it wasn't a vagrant? Or worse, a thief. Oh, Ryeong, you know those places—”
“Thieves!” Chaeryeong snorts, still shaking from the memory. “There was no one in that place when I entered.” In a quieter voice, to herself, she adds, “It was a ghost.”
“What about your things?”
Chaeryeong's eyes widen as the realization dawns on her.
“I left them there,” she answers with red ears. “I ran away.”
Jisu runs a hand over her mouth, and Chaeryeong knows her well enough to know she's hiding a smile.
“Don't make fun of me!”
“Did I say something?” Jisu replies. “Look, ghost or not, I won't let you go back there at this hour. I'm already uneasy about you going to abandoned places at night.”
Chaeryeong looks at her hands. “It was transparent,” she suddenly thinks. “Like the one I saw as a child.”
“I'll go take a bath,” she announces, standing up. “When I can, I'll get my things. In the daytime,” she adds as she sees Jisu's gaze.
Not that she was looking forward to going back there at night either.
~~~
Two days go by, and it's two days that Chaeryeong keeps ruminating about what happened at the apartment complex. “It was a ghost,” she thought every time she remembered.
Researching and making notes became difficult. She couldn't find the motivation knowing that she had finally seen what she wanted to see so badly. Luckily it wasn't exam season yet.
As soon as she found out she had a day clear of obligations, she prepared. Mentally, mostly—her ghost hunting team is waiting for her. “If it hasn't been stolen.”
People change their minds, and Chaeryeong is no exception. For two days she slept with a small lamp on, afraid of absolute darkness. Her younger self would have looked at her in disappointment, but Chaeryeong couldn't help herself.
She stands again in front of the abandoned building. It was once orange, but now it looks like a light lemon color. Clenching her fists, Chaeryeong walks into the building. In the daytime it is not scary, just a little sad.
By the time she reaches floor four, however, Chaeryeong's stomach is in knots. She says a prayer—nothing assures her that what she saw was not a demon—and sets foot in the corridor. With cautious steps, she reaches the apartment, which has no door. She peeks her head out; her hair falls like a reddish waterfall. Nothing. Just a thick layer of dust covering everything, being less marked where she sat before.
Her equipment is still there. The candle is nothing but a puddle of hardened wax, but everything else is still in place.
“The recorder!” Chaeryeong thinks out of the blue, opening her eyes. It surely recorded what the ghost said.
Chaeryeong grabs the recorder first. It's out of batteries, as expected. Chaeryeong curses loudly and grabs her equipment bag, where she has spare batteries. She changes them with hands trembling with anticipation and turns on the device.
She hears noises that she identifies as herself setting everything up. She hears herself ask aloud for the spirits to come forward, and is surprised. Her voice trembled.
Come out, you devils! I mean! I mean ghosts come out, not devils. Not those.
Chaeryeong sticks the recorder to her ear as she hears this sentence. From the recorder comes out some mutterings from Chaeryeong herself, and she closes her eyes for further concentration. The ghost spoke shortly after the murmurs.
Silence…
God!
Chaeryeong frowns deeply.
“And the entity's voice?” she asks aloud.
She rewinds the recording and sticks the device to her ear again. She closes her eyes and listens intently.
God!
With a groan of frustration, Chaeryeong looks at the device, frowning. “Why, that thing spoke before me!”
She repeats the same process again, getting the same result. She stands for a moment with her eyes closed, defeated. She opens them and—
“It's you again.”
Chaeryeong's scream dies before it is born. She twitches and her eyes bug out. “It's not a demon,” is the first thing she manages to think. The ghost is a girl with black hair. Said hair reaches her shoulders. Although it's difficult for Chaeryeong to detail her features because of her transparency, she is convinced that she is pretty. Very. So much that she is convinced that she is not a demon. Someone so pretty can only be—
“An angel,” Chaeryeong croaks.
The entity lets out a laugh. She stands in the doorway leading to the smaller room. She's wearing homey clothes: long, white, baggy pants that look comfortable, and a gray T-shirt with no patterns.
“An angel, huh?” The spirit gives what appears to be a smile. Chaeryeong relaxes her muscles. “Nice. No one has ever called me an angel.”
“This, uhm… Mmm, you… you—” Chaeryeong swallows and shrieks, “Don't hurt me, I beg you!”
“Let's see, let's see,” the ghost says quickly. Her voice sounds like a normal person's, but it doesn't echo. “I'm not going to do anything to you. In fact, I'm glad to see you again.”
Chaeryeong glances sideways at the door. Running again doesn't sound like a bad plan. However, she stays in the same place. She shifts her weight from one foot to the other.
“Ah… I don't—I don't know what to say,” she stammers.
“Your name, for starters,” the ghost points in a friendly voice.
Chaeryeong stifles the little voice inside her that tells her that perhaps the entity hopes to curse her with her name. The girl emanates an aura that tells Chaeryeong that she is harmless.
“Chaeryeong,” she says, her voice still taut as a wire.
“Good name.” The ghost bows her head.
She says no more, and Chaeryeong manages to ask, “And… your name… what is it?”
“Ah!” The ghost slaps her forehead. What surprises Chaeryeong is that she does carry out such a thing, though it doesn't produce any echoes. “I am Ryujin.”
Chaeryeong does not remember any evil entity with that name in her country's folklore. She lets out a relieved sigh.
“What?” the ghost, Ryujin, asks. “Relax, girl. I don't bite. Even if I wanted to, I can't.”
Chaeryeong giggles, to her own surprise.
“They are real,” she murmurs.
“Very much so, yeah.” Ryujin is still standing in the doorway. She gestures to the equipment scattered on the floor. “What's all this, Chaeryeong?”
“Ah, ghost-detecting equipment,” Chaeryeong says, now relaxed.
Ryujin raises an eyebrow, a gesture Chaeryeong clearly notices. Her transparency is not pronounced, now that Chaeryeong details. “It's fainter than a living person, but not by much,” she thinks in surprise. Was the ghost she saw as a child the same? She doesn't remember; it was a long time ago.
“What nonsense,” Ryujin says. “You can't detect us unless we want you to.”
Curiosity replaces every other emotion in Chaeryeong.
“Really?”
“Aha.” Ryujin nods her head. She crouches down in front of the EMF meter. Her hand goes through it as she tries to touch it and Chaeryeong stifles a gasp of astonishment. “Turn this thing on so you can see.”
Hesitantly, Chaeryeong approaches the meter and thus Ryujin. She stops at a safe distance. Ryujin raises her head.
“Really, I'm not going to do anything to you,” she says in annoyance.
“With that look, I believe it,” Chaeryeong thinks. Ryujin is quite pretty.
Chaeryeong bends down and picks up the meter, aware of how close she is to the entity. She turns it on. Leaf green.
“How?” she asks in surprise.
“We don't abide by the same laws,” Ryujin explains. “Not that I know much, but these things are useless unless we want to have fun.” With that said, Ryujin slaps the device.
Chaeryeong registers two things: the first is that her hand is pierced by an icy cold, and the second is that the meter reads red. With an interjection, Chaeryeong drops the device, walks away and holds her affected hand to her chest.
Ryujin lets out a chuckle.
“Sorry,” she says. “It's the first time I've ever done that. I only knew what other ghosts told me.”
The coldness in Chaeryeong's hand moves to her spine.
“Others?”
Ryujin looks at her seriously. She stands up.
“Before, long ago, there were other spirits here, but they left. To the Beyond. Heaven.”
The Beyond. Chaeryeong shudders.
“And why are you still here?” she asks softly.
“Because I want to go back!” Ryujin exclaims as she folds her arms. “I want to fucking come back to life.”
Chaeryeong looks at her incredulously. What?
“But that's—”
“Necessary!” Ryujin interrupts angrily. It seems like anger directed at nothing in particular and everything at the same time. “There has to be a way to get my physical form! I'm sure of it.” Suddenly, her ethereal eyes widen as she looks at Chaeryeong. “Help me, Chaeryeong.”
“Ah?” Chaeryeong continues to process the information.
“Help me regain my physical form,” Ryujin says with tones of pleading in her voice. “Please, I know you can.”
“I'm just a normal student,” Chaeryeong points out shyly.
“You're the first one to see me who's come back,” Ryujin says. “You're the first one who cares enough about me to come back.”
“I came back for my things, actually,” Chaeryeong remarks inwardly, but falls silent. The excitement in Ryujin's voice, the longing in her countenance… Chaeryeong finds herself unable to tell her the truth.
“I—I will help you,” Chaeryeong says reluctantly.
Ryujin lets out a shout of happiness and claps her hands. Her clapping produces no sound, which disturbs Chaeryeong.
“Thank you, Chaeryeong! Thank you!” Ryujin repeats again and again. She sounds as excited as a little girl. “I'll finally be able to—”
Chaeryeong's phone rings in the room. Chaeryeong answers, glancing sideways at Ryujin.
“I need your help with a couple of things, Ryeong,” Jisu says. “Please come back as soon as possible from that place.” She hangs up.
“That's a smartphone, isn't it?” Ryujin says, pointing to the device.
“Ehm, yes.” How do you not know? “I have some business to attend to, so I have to go,” Chaeryeong excuses herself.
She gathers her things with a renewed nervous air, remembering that she's talking to a ghost who incidentally asked her for help to come back to life.
Ryujin looks on silently.
“I'll... I'll be back,” Chaeryeong promises as she straightens up with her bag.
Ryujin gives a smile that Chaeryeong thinks is cute.
“I'm counting on you, Chaeryeong.”
~~~
A week passes Chaeryeong engrossed in college and her part-time job at the library near the university. She searches for information on how to revive the dead, not surprised to confirm that it is impossible. The Internet suggests satanic rituals, which Chaeryeong doesn't even bother to look into.
She thinks of various ways to tell Ryujin that what she's asking for is impossible, but she always remembers the smile Ryujin gave her when she said she would help her. The cry of joy she let out, the longing in her voice.
When she has enough free time, Chaeryeong returns to the abandoned compound with a knot in her stomach produced by nervousness.
“Ahm… Ryujin?” Chaeryeong asks as she finds herself in the dusty apartment.
It's hot, despite the glassless window.
“Good morning, Chaeryeong!”
Chaeryeong gasps when she hears the cheerful shout. She turns around and there is Ryujin, with her faint transparency. Chaeryeong can't help but detail the transparency. She can see through Ryujin, but to do so she has to focus her eyes on the background. It's like looking through a dirty window, and Chaeryeong always thought ghosts would be much more transparent.
“—Chaeryeong!”
Another gasp, and Chaeryeong comes out of her musing. Ryujin is looking at her with her head cocked to one side.
“Is something wrong?” she asks.
“No, just… Nothing.” Chaeryeong waves a hand to put the subject behind. “Sorry for disappearing for a week.”
“I've been waiting for a lot of years for someone like you.” Ryujin shrugs. “I don't mind waiting a little longer.”
Someone like you. For some reason, Chaeryeong finds the words very pleasant. She shakes her head and leans back against the wall, looking at Ryujin. “I have to tell her that it's impossible what she's asking me,” Chaeryeong thinks. She swallows saliva and opens her mouth to blurt out the words, but ends up saying:
“How long have you been here?”
She wants to slap her forehead for being a coward.
Ryujin hums—Chaeryeong doesn't understand how—and paces around the room. She looks at a random spot near the wall, turns around and sits down. In the air.
“Eighteen, I think,” she says matter-of-factly.
Chaeryeong gags, mostly from seeing her sitting on nothing.
“Eighteen!?”
Ryujin nods and lets out an “uh-huh”.
“Some of the people who came here were carrying those devices they call 'smartphones' and I could see the date on them.”
“Since 2003,” Chaeryeong says quietly.
“Yep. I had a blast with the other ghosts, and besides, time doesn't go by so slowly for me.” A note of sadness is added to Ryujin's voice. “But, since everyone left, I have felt a bit lonely.”
Sympathy rises inside Chaeryeong. She can't even imagine what it would be like to spend several years alone in that place. She frowns as she notices something.
“Why haven't you gone elsewhere?”
Ryujin stirs the invisible couch—Chaeryeong has a feeling that if she reaches over and touches it, she'll only find air—with obvious discomfort.
“I can't get away from this building,” she says after a few seconds. “And going to the Beyond is not a damn option,” she adds with a snort.
“If she can't get out of here, even worse for what she wants to accomplish,” Chaeryeong thinks. She sits down on the floor careful not to kick up too much dust.
“Why do you want to come back to life? Surely in the afterlife you won't have to worry about anything. Not working, not paying bills, not studying… Nothing.”
Ryujin looks at Chaeryeong as if she had grown a third eye. And with an indignant air.
“I don't doubt it, Chaeryeong, but… My death was PATHETIC!” she shouts. Her shout doesn't resonate. It's as if the sound waves of Ryujin's voice cut off as soon as they form.
“Pa… pathetic?” Chaeryeong repeats.
“A fucking heart attack.” Ryujin sounds indignant. “Just like that, out of nowhere!”
Chaeryeong still doesn't understand. Ryujin seems to notice her idiotic face. She stands up and walks over to the back wall, where the window facing the empty parking lot of the building is.
“A pitiful heart attack," Ryujin says with a contemptuous snort. “I was calmly walking around my apartment when I got a fucking pain in my chest! Next thing I knew, I was seeing my body from the outside.” Ryujin burst out laughing. “Seeing that blew my spectral mind.”
“It doesn't sound fair,” Chaeryeong points out, unsure.
“Exactly! I mean, you're so calmly minding your own business when suddenly you die. I was healthy, dammit! I was exercising here at home; I was eating well… It's not fair, it's not fair.” Ryujin shakes her head to emphasize her words. “I didn't accept it then and I still don't accept it. By the balls I don't have I want to regain my fitness.”
Now Chaeryeong did understand. However, she didn't see how to tell Ryujin that, unfair her death or not, it was still impossible to revive her.
“There must be a way to come back,” Ryujin mutters to herself, looking out the window.
The longing in Ryujin's voice makes Chaeryeong swallow her words. How can she destroy Ryujin's hopes?
“We'll find a way,” Chaeryeong says, trying to make the lie sound believable.
It seems to work, as Ryujin gives her an ethereal smile. She dimples her cheeks, and Chaeryeong thinks: it's a beautiful smile.
“Thank you, Chaeryeong. I like saying your name, it's pleasing to the ear.”
Chaeryeong feels her cheeks getting hot. She coughs and covers her mouth to hide it, but Ryujin is looking out the window again. She leans against it and the sun's rays pierce through, accentuating its transparency.
“What's your plan, Chaeryeong? Because the other ghosts looked at me like I was crazy when I told them why I wasn't leaving. The bastards never told me anything useful.”
Chaeryeong gulps. Her plan is—wait, she doesn't have one.
“Well, maybe ghosts elsewhere will be nicer,” she says, wishing she didn't sound so insecure.
Oh, I'm just a student. I don't know how to revive the dead.
Ryujin doesn't notice her lack of confidence. She nods vigorously to herself.
“Yeah! I'm sure some ghost knows more about it than I do,” she says.
The prospect of looking for more ghosts excites Chaeryeong. If they're going to be like Ryujin, then she has no problem.
“I'll have to go by myself, though,” Chaeryeong points out.
Ryujin gives her an enigmatic look, so quick that Chaeryeong isn't sure if she really saw it.
“I'll try, I don't know, to lure more ghosts here.”
Chaeryeong nods. It might work.
“Do it at night,” Ryujin advises. “They're too lazy to leave the Spirit Realm in the daytime.”
“Spirit Realm?” Chaeryeong repeats.
Ryujin looks at him with an amused smile. Suddenly, she disappears before Chaeryeong's astonished eyes. She feels like her jaw is going to drop.
Just as quickly, Ryujin reappears, in the frame facing the smallest space in the apartment. Chaeryeong lets out a wooow, smiling like a little girl.
“The place I use, we use, to disappear from the sight of the living. That's the Spirit Realm,” Ryujin says with the same amused smile on her face.
“Unbelievable,” Chaeryeong chortles.
Ryujin shrugs her shoulders. “The first few times are fine, then you get bored.”
Chaeryeong hesitates, but since she hasn't spent eighteen years being a ghost, she keeps quiet. Remembering that her free time is not plentiful, Chaeryeong straightens up.
“I have to work,” she says.
“You work?”
“In a library.”
“Oh. Okay, see you later. Take care, Chaeryeong.”
“Take care, Ryu—” Chaeryeong interrupts herself as she realizes the stupid thing she just said.
Ryujin lets out a cheerful laugh. She drops backwards and lands as if by magic in mid-air, still laughing.
“Sorry!” Chaeryeong says in embarrassment.
“No, no! That was funny. Besides,” Ryujin straightens up on the invisible bed, “it's the intention that counts.”
Chaeryeong doesn't notice the smile on her face. Ryujin is easy to talk to, she concludes.
~~~
“You went to that place again, didn't you?” Jisu asks in the evening, when she and Chaeryeong are in their shared bedroom.
Chaeryeong nods. She smiles as she remembers Ryujin falling on top of an invisible bed, laughing heartily. Looking at Jisu, she returns a frown accompanied by a smile.
“I'll have to go with you. It's going to be true that you saw ghosts after all.” Jisu pauses, smile tinged with mockery. “Either that or you're going crazy.”
Chaeryeong rolls her eyes. She hopes Ryujin doesn't mind someone else seeing her.
~~~
Algebra has never been Chaeryeong's favorite subject, but she also doesn't find it so boring that she's nearly fallen asleep four times. All she can think about is coming and lying on her bed to sleep two days in a row. She apologizes to Ryujin in her mind. She won't be able to go out to visit ghosts today.
The morning passes torturously slow. Chaeryeong crosses paths with Jisu on her way to her last class. Jisu looks radiant, which makes Chaeryeong doubt whether they sleep in the same room.
Chaeryeong stifles a yawn on the back of his hand. Professor Kang is talking about some theory of psychology, but Chaeryeong's eyes close. She nods a couple of times, and her classmate Yeji has to tap her foot to wake her up.
“I'm going to a coffee shop with Yeji, will you come with me?” Jisu asks when they are finally free.
“I'll pass. I'm falling asleep standing up,” Chaeryeong says with another yawn. “Besides, I don't want to see you two making eyes at each other.”
Jisu mumbles something about her and Yeji not making eyes at each other, but Chaeryeong is already walking away by then.
Chaeryeong walks alone across campus to the dorms, her pace brisk. All she can think about is the comfort of her bed, which, though it normally doesn't seem like a big deal to her, now seems heavenly just thinking about it.
Chaeryeong unceremoniously tosses her backpack on the chair. She carelessly removes her shoes and turns toward her bed.
Despite her tiredness, Chaeryeong lets out a scream at the sight of Ryujin sitting there.
“What the hell!?”
“What's up,” Ryujin says, waving a hand and smiling. Chaeryeong doesn't know why she's smiling.
“You're supposed to be confined away from here.” Chaeryeong doesn't mean to sound rude, but she's too surprised to watch her tone.
“Well, you see… I lied to you.”
Chaeryeong blinks. She gasps when there's a knock at the door.
“Chaeryeong? Are you okay? I heard a scream.” It's Yuna, her neighbor in the dormitories.
“Yes! Everything's fine,” Chaeryeong answers without looking away from Ryujin.
“Have you seen those movies where the main character is haunted by a ghost wherever he or she goes? Well, they didn't lie about that,” Ryujin says when Yuna is gone.
For about the fifth time since she's met Ryujin, Chaeryeong rethinks what she knows about ghosts.
“So you really are a demon who wants to suck my life energy,” Chaeryeong says with a groan.
“No! I'm just linking myself to you so I can get out of that dusty building. I'm not sucking your soul or any such nonsense, but since I made you… my home, so to speak, I'm consuming your energy.”
“That sounds like you're sucking my soul!” Chaeryeong squeals.
“It's not the same thing, damn! I just need to link up somewhere else and that's it. And I'll do it right now,” she adds as she sees Chaeryeong's furious look. “You can't stand anything,” Ryujin mutters.
“Yeah, too bad I can't stand having my soul sucked out by a ghost,” Chaeryeong snorts sarcastically.
Ryujin lets out a chuckle, and Chaeryeong feels the corners of her lips tug upwards. A relieved sigh escapes from her as she feels some of her tiredness suddenly disappear.
“Done,” Ryujin says.
“Ah? So fast?” Chaeryeong asks, astonished.
“Wonderful, isn't it? I made this building my home.”
“I have a feeling you use that term to avoid saying you haunted the place.”
“It's not the—” Ryujin begins, but grimaces thoughtfully. “It's really the same thing.”
Chaeryeong laughs, despite her tiredness. It seems to be marked on her face, as Ryujin stands up and moves away from the bed. Regret blooms on her transparent face.
“I'm sorry for lying to you. I thought you'd run away if I told you I needed to bond with you to get out of there. You're the only one who spent enough time with me for me to bond. Excuse me.”
Chaeryeong sits on her bed.
“I wouldn't have run away,” Chaeryeong assures her. “I would have gladly helped you out of there.”
“Got it. You're a good person.”
Chaeryeong rushes off to get some clothes to change into, avoiding having to look at Ryujin. Ryujin speaks as if she really believes it, and mortifies Chaeryeong.
“You like Ghostbusters, and I imagine you like it a lot,” Ryujin comments.
Chaeryeong pauses to look at the poster. She smiles.
“I saw a ghost when I was little,” she says, “and since then I've been attracted to anything related to them.”
“Lucky me.” Chaeryeong doesn't know what to say, so she goes back to rummaging through her clothes. Ryujin speaks again, “What about these girls? A band?”
“Girls' Generation, yes. I love them,” Chaeryeong adds energetically.
“Later you'll show me some of their songs and see how they do.”
Chaeryeong already has a list of songs to recommend to Ryujin, but a barely contained yawn reminds her of her tiredness.
“I need to change for a nap,” she says.
“Ah, you must certainly still be tired. I'll go for a walk.”
Chaeryeong follows Ryujin's gaze. Her eyes widen as she sees Ryujin walk through a wall and disappear.
Coming out of her stupor, Chaeryeong changes to sleep.
You're a good person.
Chaeryeong grimaces. If she really was, she would tell Ryujin the truth.
~~~
Chaeryeong's first thought upon waking up is dedicated to the spectral Ryujin. “What could she be doing?”
Jisu hasn't returned when Chaeryeong wakes up from her nap. She predicts that she will have trouble sleeping that night, as she wakes up at seven in the evening. She gets up to turn on the lights, and as she turns around, she gives a start.
“Stop doing that!” she says in annoyance.
“What? But I didn't do anything,” Ryujin defends herself, sitting on Chaeryeong's bed.
“Stop appearing out of nowhere,” Chaeryeong says, frowning.
“Okay.” Ryujin rolls her ghostly eyes. “A thousand things have changed since I died!” she says enthusiastically.
Chaeryeong sits down on the chair, removing her backpack.
“What have you been doing?” she asked, dead curious.
“I wandered around the different rooms of this place. You know, reconnaissance mission.” Ryujin gesticulates as she speaks. “I stayed for a while in the room of a guy who had some kind of small computer on her lap. It had the screen attached to the keyboard! And the screen was flat!”
“They're called laptops,” Chaeryeong reports.
“I was hallucinating when I saw it,” Ryujin continues. “He was watching movies. Spiderman 3! There was only one when I was alive. I didn't understand much, but I stayed watching it until the end.”
Chaeryeong nods to show that she listens to Ryujin, while at the same time wonders what the girl's reaction will be if she informs her that they made two more movies with another actor, and that, on top of that, there are two more recent ones with another one on the way. She avoids saying it so as not to get Ryujin even more excited. When she has to tell Ryujin the truth…
Chaeryeong squirms in her chair. “Why did I have to promise things I can't keep?”
“—unbelievable that everyone has those gadgets.”
Chaeryeong shakes her head. She missed what Ryujin said.
“Excuse me, Ryujin?”
“The phones,” Ryujin repeats without noticing Chaeryeong's musings. “Everyone has one, and they're big, flat and buttonless, with a huge screen! How much did I miss?”
“A lot,” Chaeryeong mutters.
“And I plan to catch up soon.” Ryujin's tone assures that this will be the case. “I wouldn't mind spending a little more time as a ghost. Being around so many people, I want to experiment with a lot of things.”
Chaeryeong feels part of a weight being lifted off her shoulders. She knows that feeling relieved that she doesn't have to tell Ryujin the truth is still cowardly, but she can't help it. “Maybe Ryujin will be distracted enough to forget her goal…” she thinks without much hope.
“Anyway, I'm going to keep hanging around for a while,” Ryujin says, pulling Chaeryeong out of her musings again. “I guess you have to study.”
“That's right. Ahm... Have fun.”
Ryujin lets out a giggle like a kid at an amusement park.
“I will.” Ryujin stands up and rubs it, going through the ceiling.
“How cool,” Chaeryeong babbles, staring at the ceiling.
After shaking off her astonishment, Chaeryeong goes to study, ignoring the little part inside her that wonders what Ryujin is doing.
~~~
Ryujin doesn't come back for the rest of the night. Chaeryeong worries about her, but chides herself by rolling her eyes. “She's a ghost, what's going to happen to her?”
Chaeryeong avoids saying anything about Ryujin to Jisu when Jisu returns, smiling, from the street.
“Only Yeji puts that smile on your face,” she tells her, sketching a small smile.
“Shut up! It's not because of her. We went to a museum together, and I got to see beautiful works there,” Jisu mumbles, her cheeks flushed.
Chaeryeong's smile widens. She is almost as excited as Jisu. Seeing two people get close to each other and enjoy each other's company seems endearing to her, though it also reminds her of her own wish to meet someone like that. “It will come,” Chaeryeong says to herself, hoping it's true.
~~~
“It's a good day to go shopping,” Jisu says in a frustrated groan, “but the Philosophy teacher sent out a damn essay on Plato. Ah, and Professor Jihyo started blabbering about ghosts again and—”
Chaeryeong stops listening to her. She knows all too well how Professor Park is about ghosts: an amateur, just like Chaeryeong. However, Chaeryeong has never had a conversation with her on the subject. Maybe it's because she doesn't watch classes with her.
It's almost ten in the morning and Ryujin hasn't shown up. “Will she have found a way to go anywhere? Or did she just forget about me now that there are many more people here?” For some reason, her stomach shrinks with sadness at the thought of such possibilities. Even thinking about how this will get her out of having to find a way to bring Ryujin back to life doesn't feel any better. She likes Ryujin and—
“Chaeryeong-ah!”
Chaeryeong gives a sharp gasp and almost stifles a scream. The head of a smiling Ryujin peeks through the ceiling. Chaeryeong is disturbed that Ryujin's hair doesn't fall due to gravity.
“What's wrong, Chaeryeong?”
Chaeryeong looks at Jisu. Jisu has a curious expression.
“Erm... nothing,” Chaeryeong replies.
Her eyes drift to the ceiling, to Ryujin, for a few seconds before returning to Jisu. Jisu doesn't overlook this and looks up at the ceiling as well.
“This is your roommate, isn't it?” Ryujin says, looking at Jisu. “She's pretty.”
Chaeryeong stifles a grunt. Ryujin didn't tell her she was pretty when they first met.
“What the fuck am I thinking?” Chaeryeong thinks, scandalized with herself.
“I don't know what you were looking at on the ceiling, Chaer, but I don't see it,” Jisu says, eyes narrowed.
Ryujin comes down and stands in front of Jisu, still upside down, as if she were hanging by her ankles from an invisible rope. She raises a finger and pierces the tip of Jisu's nose with it.
Jisu wrinkles her nose and brings her hand to it.
“My nose suddenly turned cold,” she mutters, quizzical.
Ryujin bursts out laughing.
“I love this,” she says.
“You don't see anything, you say?” Chaeryeong asks Jisu, but looking at Ryujin.
“She doesn't believe in ghosts,” Ryujin says, understanding the implication. Only those who believe in us wholeheartedly can see us.
“No, nothing,” Jisu replies at the same time.
“Do you remember I said I saw a ghost, Jisu?” Chaeryeong asks cautiously.
Seeing Jisu nod, she looks at Ryujin out of the corner of her eye.
“It's time to make her a believer,” Ryujin says, with a mischievous smile.
Chaeryeong mimics the same smile.
“Well, she's here,” she says to Jisu.
Jisu bursts out laughing. “Yeah, right.”
“Ryujin?” Chaeryeong calls out.
“Ryujin?” Jisu repeats.
Ryujin flies to Jisu's bedside table, where a notebook and pencil rest.
Chaeryeong points to the bedside table, and Jisu follows her finger.
Ryujin picks up the pencil and lifts it into the air. Chaeryeong gasps in surprise, despite already sensing that Ryujin could touch physical things. Jisu, for her part, gives a gasp and moves away from her bed.
“The fuck!”
“It's a ghost, Jisu,” Chaeryeong tells her calmly.
“Stop playing with me, Lee,” Jisu warns. “You're up to something. With ropes or—”
“Your left arm will be cold in three seconds,” Chaeryeong cuts her off with a command.
Ryujin quickly flies to Jisu and, after three seconds, runs her hand over Jisu's left arm. Jisu shrieks and holds it to her chest, rubbing it.
“But—But! —”
“Ryujin, close the notebook,” Chaeryeong orders calmly. She has to make a monumental effort not to burst out laughing.
“At your orders, captain,” Ryujin says as she crosses the room quickly. Still face down, she grabs the cover of the notebook by the edge and closes it.
Jisu stifles a scream. Her eyes are wild and terrified. Chaeryeong takes pity on her.
“It's not bad,” she says.
Jisu looks at her suspiciously. Slowly, her eyes calm down, but not completely.
“Is it really a...? Really?” she asks with less disbelief than before.
“I swear,” Chaeryeong says.
“So am I,” Ryujin seconds solemnly, and Chaeryeong stifles a smile when she hears it.
“If—” Jisu swallows. “If you're really real,” Jisu points to the top drawer of the small table, “open that drawer.”
Ryujin raises an eyebrow but does as Jisu says. Jisu gasps again and lets out an exhalation.
“I can't believe it…”
Ryujin disappears from Chaeryeong's sight and reappears beside Jisu.
“Believe it,” she says.
Jisu screams and jumps away from Ryujin. She runs up to Chaeryeong and throws herself at her. Chaeryeong catches her as best she can, drowning an imprecation.
“Shit, shit, I see it!” Jisu shrieks frantically. “How crazy! Am I high?”
“No,” Ryujin replies. “My name is Ryujin, nice to meet you.”
Jisu gawks at her for several seconds.
“I'm Jisu,” she finally says, slowly.
Chaeryeong laughs and Ryujin joins her.
“So, Jisu,” Chaeryeong says when the laughter stops, “do you still think I'm crazy?”
Jisu gives her a sideways glance, but her eyes quickly return to Ryujin.
“I think we're both crazy,” she replies.
Chaeryeong rolls her eyes in response.
~~~
“I linked to a guy around here because I heard he was going to a party,” Ryujin says, sitting cross-legged in the air. “If you had seen what they did… When I suspected that the guy was going to a room to fuck a girl she'd been talking to, I linked myself to the house and went back and forth.” Ryujin chuckles. “I threw a glass in front of a guy who was drunk off his ass. His face of disbelief was hilarious.”
Chaeryeong shakes her head, but a smile breaks out on her face. “So that's what she'd been doing all night.”
“I guess he didn't see you or he doesn't believe in ghosts,” Jisu says in an unsure tone.
“I don't know, but I can hide even from those who believe in ghosts,” Ryujin replies with a shrug. “Look.”
Chaeryeong pays attention, but Ryujin stands still, doing nothing. Jisu, however, starts looking in all directions.
“Where did she go?” she asks.
“See,” Ryujin says, and judging by Jisu's wince, she can see Ryujin again. “I hid from you but not from Chaeryeong.”
Jisu and Chaeryeong let out an “unbelievable” under their breath. Chaeryeong is fascinated with Ryujin. She's everything Chaeryeong always wanted to see. “As far as ghosts go,” she corrects herself with alacrity.
~~~
Chaeryeong likes her job at the library. Arranging books, manning the checkout when her corresponding companion—who can be a girl named Minju, a boy named Felix, or a girl named Hyunjin—can't, and reading in pleasant silence.
She is currently on the second floor of the library, from which she can see the first. There are few people, and they are all students at the university she attends. Rows and rows of shelves with hundreds of books occupy the view, except for the area where the tables are.
Chaeryeong stifles a powerful yawn with the back of her hand. “Weird. I slept like a baby last night.” She frowns, forming an idea of what might be causing her drowsiness.
Her gaze moves quickly down the aisles made up of rows of shelves. All of them empty. She notices something strange at the back. She could swear that a book has moved on its own… By the time she realizes it, she is already descending the stairs. “That girl…”
Already in the Fantasy/Epic Fantasy section, Chaeryeong reaches the place where the book was moving, which, incidentally, is now rubbing in the middle of the corridor.
Chaeryeong takes quick glances around. It is deserted.
“Ryujin!” she mumbles in a reprimanding tone.
Ryujin materializes with her back to Chaeryeong instantly with a, Chaeryeong be damned if she is wrong, jump.
“Hello,” Ryujin says with an innocent tone and a big, beautiful smile as she turns around.
Chaeryeong is surprised at how cute she looks, despite the hazy transparency.
Focus!
“First,” Chaeryeong says approaching her and in a low voice, “what are you doing here? Second, don't bewitch me!”
-First," Ryujin replies, closing the book, “I was curious. Second: it's not bewitching, you understand! Alright, I've already linked to the library.
Chaeryeong feels a sudden improvement. She straightens up, realizing that her shoulders were slumped.
“Can you… put the book back? Someone might see it float.”
“And what a look on their face!” Ryujin says with a chuckle, but obeying Chaeryeong.
Chaeryeong smirks, noticing something.
“I scared you,” she says.
“What?” Ryujin faces. “Of course not.”
“I scared you!” Chaeryeong repeats, her smile enlarged.
“You surprised me,” Ryujin replies, folding her arms.
Chaeryeong takes another look around before speaking again, “Can ghosts be surprised?”
“Sure, we can feel emotions,” Ryujin replies. “We can feel anger, sadness, happiness, surprise, confusion… After all, feelings come from the soul.”
“Some of the biology professors would fight you for what you said.” In particular, Professor Bae would flatly deny what Ryujin said.
“Yeah, but have those prissy people ever seen a ghost? I doubt it.”
Chaeryeong thinks it's a good argument.
“Fear or not, I paid you with your own medicine,” Chaeryeong scoffs.
Ryujin snorts but then lets out a laugh.
“Don't make me link up with you and end up dead asleep at four o'clock in the afternoon.”
“Don't even think about it,” Chaeryeong warns.
Ryujin raises an eyebrow and walks up to her. Her face is just an inch away from Chaeryeong's, who fights the urge to take a step back.
Ryujin has to lift her head ever so slightly to look Chaeryeong in the eye. It is impossible for Chaeryeong to elucidate the color of the girl's eyes; the dirty transparency prevents it.
“You're shorter than me,” Chaeryeong realize, hiding her embarrassment at Ryujin's proximity.
Ryujin snorts again and starts levitating. Now it is Chaeryeong who has to raise her head, and a lot, to look at Ryujin.
“And now, midget?” she says with a smirk.
“That's cheating!” Chaeryeong protests.
Ryujin rises to touch the ceiling, many meters above, and then disappears. Predicting what she is going to do, Chaeryeong is not surprised when Ryujin appears in front of her again, at the same height. She's very close again.
“I'd say that too if I couldn't fly,” Ryujin says, condescendingly.
Chaeryeong sticks her tongue out at her. Ryujin moves even closer to her and doesn't stop. Chaeryeong shrieks as Ryujin's face pierces her own. She feels a shivering cold all over her body, head included, though in her cheeks her blush fights the chill produced by the ghost.
“Find me a place to read, please.” Ryujin's voice comes from behind.
Chaeryeong refuses to turn around, her cheeks burning.
“Okay,” she says. “What book do you want?”
“Let me—”
“You're not going to have a book levitating around,” Chaeryeong cuts her off dryly.
She hears Ryujin snort.
“Well.” Ryujin appears in her field of vision and points to a book. “This one.”
Chaeryeong takes the book. It's epic fantasy and she recognizes it: The Dragon Reborn, third book of The Wheel of Time.
Chaeryeong turns to Ryujin with an irrepressible smile.
“Do you like The Wheel of Time?”
Ryujin nods enthusiastically. “I love it,” she says, smiling. “I was just starting this one when I died.”
“I'm just finishing the second one. I didn't expect Mat to be the one to blow the Horn of Valere," Chaeryeong comments as she starts walking.
“I know, right!? I swore it was going to be Rand,” Ryujin replies, levitating next to her. “How do you pronounce 'Moraine'? And 'Aes Sedai'?”
She and Ryujin continue to talk about the saga as Chaeryeong leads her to a room used for storage. Chaeryeong notices the smile on her own face, and likes it.
~~~
“Time certainly doesn't pass the same for Ryujin,” Chaeryeong thinks, looking up from the computer. Two months have passed since Ryujin has been swarming around the university, and she hasn't mentioned the topic of reviving more than in passing. Chaeryeong doesn't want the day to come when she decides to seek answers once and for all.
“Concentrate,” she compels herself, glancing at her notebook. Midterms are a week away, and she has a lot of topics to research and study. The stress is so much that the back of her head hurts. Chaeryeong rubs it with a grimace.
“Chaeryeong!”
Chaeryeong doesn't even flinch when she sees Ryujin appear through the front door. She has a big smile, which falters when she sees Chaeryeong's face.
“Are you all right?”
“Yeah, just… a lot of homework,” Chaeryeong replies with a tired sigh.
“College is still a pain in the ass no matter the era, right?”
Chaeryeong laughs and nods. Ryujin walks up to her and slowly puts her hand through Chaeryeong’s head. Chaeryeong shivers with relief. The cold comforts her and gives her goosebumps.
“I wish I could do more to help you,” Ryujin murmurs, looking at her with something akin to affection in her unfamiliar colored eyes.
“No need, I'm fine.” Chaeryeong smiles slightly at her, grateful.
Ryujin hums, not very convinced. Her eyes widen. “Ah, I know, I'll be back in a moment,” she says before disappearing.
Enough minutes pass for Chaeryeong to return to her investigation, albeit distracted by Ryujin's words. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Ryujin's head peek through the door.
“Can you open it?”
Chaeryeong frowns, but gets up to do so. Why doesn't she just walk through the door, as usual?
Opening the door, she sees that Ryujin is carrying a soda in her spectral hands. Ryujin quickly crosses into the room. Chaeryeong pokes her head into the hallway and looks side to side. It is deserted, much to her relief. She closes the door and turns to Ryujin.
“This is your favorite, isn't it?” Ryujin asks, pointing to the orange Fanta in her hand. “I heard you say that once.”
“Well, yes. How did you manage to bring it?”
“I saw some coins lying around while I was walking around,” Ryujin replies. “I used them at the vending machine and came here.”
“And no one saw you?” Chaeryeong already imagines some student screaming because they saw a bottle levitating around.
“No. I made sure to dodge everyone I saw,” Ryujin replies. She holds out the bottle to Chaeryeong, who takes it.
She goes back to her station in front of the computer and uncaps the drink. It's cold, just the way she likes it. She lets out a relieved sigh as she swallows.
“Thank you very much, Ryujin,” she thanks. “That's very kind of you.”
Ryujin waves a hand and averts her gaze, seemingly self-conscious. The sight makes Chaeryeong's heart pound.
“It's the least I can do to help you,” she says softly, and Chaeryeong feels like hugging her. She blinks at the thought, but can no longer push it from her mind. “Anyway, I'll leave you to study. Cheer up!” Saying this, she disappears in front of Chaeryeong.
Chaeryeong looks at the empty place where Ryujin was standing for a few seconds before returning to her business. She feels, indeed, more animated now. More motivated.
~~~
“I heard today that one of the girls next door, Yuna, always wanted an older sister,” Ryujin comments.
It's information that Chaeryeong knows beforehand. For as long as Chaeryeong has known her, Shin Yuna has always wanted an older sister. “To tease her all day long and have her spoil me,” is what she says, with her bunny smile, when asked.
“When you say 'find out', you don't mean 'I spied on her until she said such-and-such', do you?” Chaeryeong asks with a raised eyebrow.
“Obviously not!” Ryujin defends herself. “Just because I happened to be around when Yuna said that is not eavesdropping.”
Chaeryeong doesn't believe her, but what can she do to a ghost? Nothing. Ryujin has repeated several times that there's no way to catch them. Candles in jars? That's stupid. Boxes with white sand? Pff.
“At least tell me you don't spy on anyone while they're doing private things.” There's a slight note of disturbance in Chaeryeong's voice.
“No! I'm not a pervert,” Ryujin says, offended.
Chaeryeong raises her hands.
“I'm sorry.”
“I mean, I could spy on you while you're taking a bath and you wouldn't even know, but it's wrong.”
“Ryujin…” Chaeryeong's ears are red.
“I didn't do it. I swear on my grave.”
“Your grave,” Chaeryeong repeats after a few seconds of silence. “Where is it?”
“I think it's in South Jeolla,” Ryujin replies with a thoughtful finger to her jaw.
Chaeryeong settles back on her bed, dumbfounded. It dawns on her that she doesn't know much about Ryujin.
“So far away?”
“That's where I'm from.” Ryujin lies down in mid-air. She turns and leans on one elbow, looking at Chaeryeong with her unfamiliar colored eyes. “Strange I haven't told you yet.”
“Well, yes. What about your parents? Don't you think they'll get a big shock if they see you in the flesh again?” Chaeryeong asks. She curses her curiosity—she has brought up the subject she so much wants to avoid.
“They died when I was a baby.” Ryujin shrugs. “On that side, no problem.”
“Oh, I'm sorry.” Chaeryeong curses twice as much for her lack of tact.
“Don't worry,” Ryujin says in a reassuring tone. “I used to live with my grandmother's old witch. “Old Grandma Kim and I didn't get along at all, so I left that house as soon as I could. I moved here to Seoul and forgot about her. I was just starting college when my heart decided it had better go to sleep for good.” At the last part, Ryujin sounds very irritated. “My building was left uninhabited a few years after my death.”
Her last name is Kim. Another fact Chaeryeong had overlooked to ask.
“Wow. Did you have friends?”
“I didn't have time to make any. A kind old lady lived in the apartment next to mine. She gave me cookies when I moved in, but she left with the rest when they left the building,” Ryujin answers with some sadness. Her face suddenly brightens. “But I have you now. It was worth the wait.”
Chaeryeong feels her heart redouble its gears and spread warmth all over her chest. She squeezes the sheets slyly and gives a shy smile.
“Ah—I'm glad… you like me,” she stammers. She swallows to clear her nervousness. “I like you a lot too.”
Ryujin grimaces curiously and averts her gaze. Chaeryeong is unable to decipher the grimace well, but it's not one of displeasure. It's like a mixture of discomfort (or nervousness) and self-consciousness.
“I'm glad,” Ryujin says as she looks at her again. “By the way, now that your midterms are over, can we get down to the business of looking for more ghosts?”
Damn. Three months. That's how long the peace has lasted.
“Y—yeah,” Chaeryeong agrees, feeling flowers of mortification grow inside her.
Ryujin claps her hands. As usual, her clapping does not form sound waves.
“Excellent. While wandering around, I learned that there are a couple of houses on the outskirts of Seoul that are uninhabited and said to be cursed. Sounds like a perfect place to start.”
“Cursed” Chaeryeong chokes.
“Don't worry; I'll protect you,” Ryujin assures her with a wink.
Chaeryeong jumps up from her bed and rushes to the closet.
“I have to get my clothes ready, then,” she excuses herself. Her cheeks feel like two hot coals.
“Okay.”
“What's wrong with me?” Chaeryeong wonders. The strange feelings that have been assailing her for a couple of weeks now whenever Ryujin smiles or winks at her make Chaeryeong feel lost.