Work Text:
Present
"Now...I pronounce you husband and-"
Crash.
The quiet anticipation that surrounded the dainty chapel immediately turned into questioning gazes and probing stares. The entire wedding party, including the groom and bride's attention, turned away from what could be a beautiful moment towards the loud sound.
A man, a bulky man, is smashed onto one of the big windows of the building. hands wide and face pressed against the window. He looks in pain.
Next thing they know, the huge oak doors of the old church bang open and yet another unknown man bursts in, turning his head all over, frantically searching for something. He stops and looks right at the couple standing at the altar and starts running towards them, clutching something in his hand that would look like a weapon to any sane person.
The bride screams, the priest wields his cross, and the groom ducks behind the bride. Yep, great start to married life. Maybe the bride should reconsider. She has some time now , thanks to the man charging towards her. She doesn't recognize this person. He's not a crazy ex or a jilted lover trying to disrupt her wedding day.
"Greetings Everyone, apologies for the interruption but if you could please leave the venue for a few minutes that would be really kind of you" the charging man speaks rapidly. "For fucks sake Chan! This is not the time for pleasantries. Get a move on" the squished to the window man right behind screaming at this 'Chan'. He looks exactly how a person who was squished against the window would look. Pitiable.
"Rr-right." His companion replies and takes out something from his back pocket.
Before the bride could ask who and what they are talking about, the entire venue is in chaos, as if it was announced that there was a bomb here. Is there a bomb here? Shit, she needs to leave. Her groom be damned, he can't protect her, she needs to do it herself—wait a minute, is that her would-be husband running away along with the priest? Leaving her alone in this chapel?
"Ma'am, we are extremely sorry, but..." the Kind 'Chan' has come to a stop now.
Creak.
Creeeek.
"Shit, we are too late," he says worriedly and looks up.
The giant chandelier hanging above the altar is moving in circles. And it's moving at an alarming speed.
"Ma'am, please..." She doesn't need to be told twice. She grabs her white flowy dress and starts descending the steps. she doesn't leave the hall though.She turns around when she reaches the door. Sue her for being curious.
Another person pushes against her and runs towards the men unlike everyone else in the venue holding a camera on his shoulders.
Is this a prank staged by the groom? No, that man has not got a single funny bone in his body.
The men rush towards the chandelier with their hands up. One of them is holding something greenish, the assumed weapon from before, and starts waving it at the chandelier. odd way of trying to fix a light.
Meanwhile, the other taller man kneels down and starts chanting something.
The other man films everything that is happening.
Oh no… Did her fiancé book a cult headquarters as their wedding venue? She really needs to rethink this wedding.
The men continue their weird antics; waving the green stick and the chanting, and within seconds, the chandelier comes to a stop and starts smoking.
Then It falls.
∆
Rewind- one day ago
When Chan initially joined the supernatural club at University to earn easy credits, he never anticipated that it would lead to a career in the same field years later. And he definitely did not think he would be joining a ghost hunting reality show of all things.
But he's here. And so is his rival and old classmate, Seo Changbin. Both contending for the "Supreme Supernatural Squad" title.
It was a unique opportunity, and none of them was going to let go of it.
They were filming their last episode today and the finalists, of course, like in a badly written drama, were Changbin and Chan's squads.
The SCREAM's or Seo Changbin's real Exorcists and Movers Co.(Yep, movers. Apparently, this company had a different day job),self-proclaimed leader, Changbin with a penchant for dramatic speeches but zero sense of direction or the affinity for the supernatural, had long proclaimed Chan as his lifelong rival just because Changbin's own club in University was denied permission to exist as there was already a supernatural club. He could have joined the same club, instead he chose to be dramatic and vengeful. Chan was not even the founder of the existing club; he was just the only (unlucky) guy in the club room that day when Changbin came to declare war on them.
Changbin's group consisted of him and two others, unlike Chan's, who was just him and the real founder of the supernatural club, Hyunjin (who, by the way, still thanks all the gods he wasn't present in the room that day because we would have just cried and forfeited the ownership of the club).
To be honest, the show did not meet the expectations of the production team. The past contestants were a disaster. They failed spectacularly at every obstacle that was thrown their way. Their only hope was the finalists. The entire show budget was riding on this last episode and how well it would do as these two groups had made quite a name for themselves and their ghost hunting skills. (Also known to the public as the only two groups who knew what they were doing. And their visuals helped too).
The last task consisted of Three rounds, Their host explained, 1.explore the rumoured haunted mansion on the outskirts of town 2.retrieve the golden bell that was hidden in the master bedroom. 3. First one to reach the venue wins.
And before the host could end his sentence,
"Let's head to the outskirts!" Changbin declared, and promptly left the venue with his friends.
"Do you think he realises that we're not supposed to go there until dusk?" the host asks Chan.
four hours later
The production crew arrived at the haunted mansion with cameras rolling. The host, dressed in a dramatic cape, commenced his introduction, attempting a monologue about confronting evil spirits. However, he mixed up his lines and ended up tripping over a garden gnome in an awkward tumble.
Cut.
With everything now in place, it was time to finally find the champion.
To truly capture the eerie essence of the haunted mansion, the teams were sent in with only a single cameraman each and their own equipment. There was no point in exploring a haunted house if it was lit up with spotlights and flashing cameras at every corner.
As soon as they reached the grand hall of the mansion, they encountered a wispy yellow light. Jisung, one of Changbin's friends, couldn't contain his excitement and screamed, "Jackpot! This is easy; we'll win in no time!" He laughed heartily.
"Jisung, this is only the hall. We have to reach the master bedroom," deadpanned Seungmin, another one of Changbin's friends, elegantly dressed in a suit and bow tie while twirling an umbrella.
Don't ask Chan, he barely knew this Seungmin guy. Dealing with Seo Changbin demanded all his attention whenever they came face to face.
Undeterred, Changbin moved forward and poked the wisp, and suddenly they heard a voice that greeted them with a cheerful "Good evening, chaps!"
"An English speaking ghost! How cool!" Jisung whispered excitedly.
Changbin, trying to maintain his composure, demanded, "Reveal yourself, spirit!"
The wisp now transformed into the shape of a cat, which simply chuckled and floated through the walls, causing Jisung to gasp and exclaim, "He's transparent! A true ghost!"
"What else were you expecting a ghost to be, Jisung?" Seungmin rolled his eyes and playfully bonked his umbrella on Jisung's head.
"Come on, let's catch it," Hyunjin said to Chan, and they all spread out in different directions.
"Wait! Wait, we only have two cameras. You have to stick together!" Chan heard his own cameraman, Jeongin, saying to the empty halls of the mansion.
∆
The cat-ghost, a seemingly innocent presence at first, turned out to be more of an obnoxious pest than anyone could have anticipated. It took immense delight in playing relentless pranks on the seven men trapped inside the house. the other cameraman, who, at one moment, reached the peak of frustration. The mischievous feline apparition repeatedly appeared right in front of the camera lens, catching the poor man off guard and nearly giving him a heart attack. In a fit of exasperation, he finally screamed, threw his camera at the floating cat, and stormed out of the room, leaving the remaining team members to deal with the rest.
As if the cat-ghost's antics weren't enough, their misadventures with the supernatural continued to escalate. Equipment vanished mysteriously, and furniture rearranged itself in inexplicable ways. At one point, an inadvertent mishap led to a mini fireworks show in the garden, courtesy of Seungmin accidentally setting his umbrella on fire while trying to burn a sage stick to ward off evil spirits within the mansion.
Changbin was waving around a baseball bat in the air hoping to hit the ghost, no one knew where he got it from,and nobody asked. Hyunjin was sitting in the middle of the long dining table tarot cards spread out, and exclaiming he found the cat's location every five seconds only to see dust at the said location.
From Jisung mistaking a squirrel for a ghost and chasing it around creating a ruckus and with the only cameraman left in charge, screaming at everyone to "STAY IN THE FRAME" Chan highly doubted they would be able to find the actual ghost in this mansion, the one who held the famed golden bell.
After two hours of getting no results and being played over by a freaking ghost of a cat, Chan, feeling desperate, decided something had to be done. He needed to contain the chaos.
∆
Chan and Changbin successfully reached the master bedroom, with no sightings of the ghost cat that had haunted them for three hours straight. He hoped the cat was still stuck in the dining hall with the rest of the group. He had to bring Jeongin out with him, of course; the little man's eyes screamed murder when Chan suggested he stay inside the room while he stepped outside to check something. Tricks did not work on him, noted.
So he got Changbin, with a simple 'wanted to apologise to you' sad face included, pulled Jeongin and his trusted camera, closed the door from outside, put a chair against it, and made his way up towards the bedrooms, trying to ignore Changbin's loud wails about how he's a liar.
∆
Getting the golden bell was the easy part, according to the host, as it was placed inside by the production team themselves. The challenging part, apparently, was the silhouette of a man sitting on the armchair beside the table the golden bell was on.
Great, another ghost appeared easily. Never once had Chan encountered spirits - kind spirits, confused spirits, or even vengeful spirits - this easily. This was all starting to look like a setup.
Nevertheless, Chan crossed his fingers, hoping the spirit would be kind, and also hoping Changbin wouldn't offend the spirit like he did once two years ago when they both were working on the same job; that spirit haunted them for three days before they could exorcise it.
Too late.
"Unhand the bell, you pastry white apparition!" Changbin yells, pointing his baseball bat at the man. Seriously though, how he thinks he can fight a ghost with a bat, Chan doesn't know.
"It's pasty," the man replies.
"What?"
"It's pasty white and not pastry white."
"I don't care! What are you? A teacher?" Changbin fights back.
This spirit is strangely calm. Not good.
"Yes, in fact, I was a professor. Zoology. Sad story, really. They didn't pay me. So I stole some funds from the science department and burned down my class," he smiles. "So they tried to put me in jail. But I ran to a different country. This country. Bought a luxurious house, got a cat, you must have met Felix downstairs-" He smiles evilly again.
Yes, they did meet Felix.
Chan tries to move slowly towards the table. They can just grab it and go. The ghost is busy reciting his life story to a confused Changbin.
"-I died early though. We were poisoned. Felix and I. Our neighbours didn't like the foreigners who showed up out of nowhere and-"
Chan is almost there.
"ENOUGH! I'm not here to listen to your sob story. I'm here for the bell. Give it to me. There is prize money involved, and we are all broke!" Changbin says.
The spirit smiles. Those dead feline eyes seem to spark.
"You really think you can come into my house, disturb my peace, and walk away peacefully, little man?!"
Chan closes his eyes. This is not happening, please.
"You want the bell, then come get it," he says. "I will be waiting for you," he says and disappears from the room.
Chan wants to strangle the alive man who stands stupefied in front of him.
∆
one hour later
"Are we in the right place?" Changbin said with a puzzled expression.
"Yeah," replied Chan, equally perplexed.
"So why on earth is this place... well, there's absolutely nothing here!"
"I can see that, yes," Chan deadpanned.
"Chan? Why in the world is there nothing here?" Changbin almost screams pointing at the vast space of flat land in front of them.
"Don't give me that look; I'm just as lost as you are!" Chan retorted.
"Darn those cheeky kids.They had us going! No respect for their elders, I tell you."
"They didn't seem like they were lying, right? Did we accidentally get into the wrong bus?Check the address again"Chan couldn't help but wonder.
"The address is right.i checked thrice. Wait, let me call the producer. I still don't understand why they sent us to find the ghost." Changbin grumbles.
Chan knows exactly why they were sent to confront the ghost. But he is tired and would like a few peaceful moments.
Changbin had walked a few steps ahead of Chan while searching for the church in whose backyard the ghost formerly known as Lee minho was Buried. Again, don't ask Chan. It was Changbin's idea to look for him there and the producers agreed. Which was smart as most spirits tended to be attached to certain specific places only.
When Chan catches up with Changbin, his face is doing his usual 'i'm done with this shit' expression. "What happened? what did they say?" He inquires.
"They made a typo". Changbin wails " the address is supposed to say 26th Street and not 226. No wonder there's nothing here. It's because this is a non-existent place!"
Chan is speechless. The taxi driver had looked at them funny when they said the address out loud and must have brought them here just for the money.
∆
It's late when they get back to the set. Jeongin-the cameraman with a new camera was waiting for them. Everyone was tired. An all together decision was made to stop for the day so everyone could get some rest. It was a hectic day. So they stopped filming. But they started filming as soon as 6am the next day, everyone was informed And both the groups were let go. Technically the others were already sound asleep in their rooms, not caring for their friends who had gone to some unknown place to hunt down a rogue ghost.
∆
Chan was tired but not sleepy, he walked outside the dorm facilities that were provided to them for the show. He mulled over the happenings of the day.the chaos the mild sacres. And the fact that they probably will be doing the same tomorrow. He thinks about the time he spent talking and joking with changbin like they would do from time to time whenever they had to work together on the same job while they waited for the car sent to pick them up form the inhabited area.
"I've seen some pretty spooky things", a familiar voice hits him from behind softly "but you right now take first place."
"What about you?" Chan replies, taking the same soft tone " acting like a ghost, haunting me 24/7. Are you that obsessed with my charming personality?"
Changing scoffs as he comes to stand beside Chan "you definitely are otherworldly. no doubts about that."
Chan laughs at this. Changbin always makes him laugh. He doesn't want to disturb the night anymore so he stays silent.
And they stay that way for a long time.
"Changbin listen-"
∆
Next morning, all the setup was ready. The cameraman, now two as the other guy, was forced to go with them again. The producers had found them first thing in the morning, saying, "We are already way over budget," as she shrugged and left, giving them a clear time limit. It was fine; Chan had a plan.
He and Changbin spent the rest of the night coming up with the perfect plan. It took a few minutes, but Chan was shocked that Changbin had accepted the truce. He and his motley crew seemed mostly motivated by the cash reward, unlike Chan and Hyunjin, who had initially joined for fun.
The plan relied on how well they could hide the fact that they were in cahoots from everyone, including their own teams. Yesterday had been enough proof that they couldn't get a single thing done if the others were involved.
They came up with some bullshit separately and, instead of going to the graveyard as planned by the production team, they took them back to the mansion. "The key is the cat!!" Changbin had exclaimed persuasively, and a persuasive Changbin was a force to be reckoned with. And so they were back there. The mansion looked even more forlorn than it did the day before.
Five minutes later, Changbin had locked the entire crew, save Chan, in the same room as before (this time with the cameramen), and they were on the road, driving away to the church grounds by themselves. If they weren't caught on camera, then the production team could do nothing but reward both teams equally. It was a foolproof plan, according to Changbin.
Armed with a specially crafted ghost trap, a spectral scanner, and an assortment of enchanted trinkets, the duo ventured into the graveyard behind the chapel, full of intent. The only problem was they had chosen the wrong time. There seemed to be a large gathering at the church, perhaps for a christening or a wedding. They had to be careful not to draw attention to themselves or the fact that there was a vengeful ghost roaming the grounds. Their confidence waned.
"Can you walk softly? The sound of your equipment will draw attention to us," Changbin whispered.
"I am walking softly. It's your useless baseball bat hitting the pavement that's making the sound," Chan retorted.
"Hey! The baseball bat is enchanted! It's not useless!" Changbin snapped defensively. "-how dare you disrespect-"
"Sshh, we are here," Chan interrupted Changbin's whining.
Lee Minho was waiting for them. He sat on a stone hedge beside his own gravestone, his cat's ghost on his knees. At least this meant the others were not trying to burn down the old mansion.
"Took you long enough," he sneered, and the aura around them turned chilly.
"Come on, you old spook, relax a little. We are here to talk," Changbin said.
"Relax? I have been doing that for years. I want to have fun today. Maybe add more to the collection of people I got rid of," Minho smirked, his intentions not sounding creepy at all.
"Look Minho, we can help you, we-" Chan started to negotiate.
"Shut it. I'm not a fan of making friends," the reply came icily.
"Give us a chance."
"Hey, wispy guy," suddenly Changbin interrupted, "Didn't you say you were a professor? Why does your gravestone say you died when you were seventeen?"
Minho blinked. Silence.
"Did you make up the story to scare us? You didn't burn anything, didn't steal any money, did you? You didn't care if people came to your mansion. You liked it!" Changbin laughed, "typical teenager shit, trying to get attention from adults."
Minho's face looked even more transparent than before, and he seemed annoyed. Now he was actually annoyed. Looks like that comment pissed him off for real. The cat in his lap, Felix, Chan remembered its name, screeched and disappeared.
"Changbin, not again!" Chan exclaimed.
The ghost let out a spine-tingling scream and charged at the two unsuspecting men. He went through Chan, and he felt his body go ice-cold as he stumbled.
Changbin was quick to attack the ghost with his bat.
"Ouch!" Chan screamed.
"Oops! My aim is a little rusty," Changbin quipped, shooting him an apologetic grin.
"Rusty? We're dealing with a vengeful ghost! Focus!" Chan scolded, standing up straight and clutching his shoulder. "I swear, Changbin, your aim is more dangerous than the ghost itself!"
The ghost now circled above their heads, pulling in wind and leaves along with it, making it hard for the men to see. In the distance, they heard shouts of familiar voices.
"Shit," Changbin cursed. "They are here. We have to be quick," he told Chan, who was struggling beside him.
"Come on, remember what we do."
"Of course, what do you expect me for," Changbin replied and took out a container from his pocket.
Chan pulled out an iron beam from his backpack and swung it hard. Twice. In both directions. And bingo!
They heard a thunk, and the silhouette of the ghost fell down. The ghost struggled against the beam's pull, its form flickering with anger and desperation. Changbin and Chan quickly worked together to reel it into Changbin's box, their efforts syncing perfectly as if they had practised this routine a hundred times.
As the containment unit closed around the vengeful ghost, the wind calmed down immediately. They heard a triumphant cheer from behind them. Jeongin had filmed everything. "GOOD JOB," he screamed from the distance. "I'm gonna call Kim and tell her we are set for the day."
Changbin smiled brightly at his partner. They did it.
Or not.
It happened too quickly; the apparition of the cat swooped in out of nowhere and knocked the black box out of Changbin's hand. It fell open, and the former vengeful spirit flew out in rage.
"Shit." This time, it was Chan who cursed.
∆
present
30 minutes later.
Hours later, after the eventful session, Chan and Changbin finally got a moment to catch their breath. They were unscathed as Chan managed to push them both out of the Chandelier's way before it fell. Surprisingly, the bride allowed them to rest in her dressing room, despite the chaos they caused. The bride had formed a mistaken belief that they saved her life. They apologised, and the production team offered to cover the damages, which the couple did not refuse as they had hoped. Jeongin had filmed everything so the final episode was going to be 'epic' in Jeongin's words. All of them collectively decided that both teams would share the reward equally.
And maybe Changbin was also planning on properly asking Chan and Hyunjin to join his company.
He and Chan were covered in minor bruises but otherwise unharmed. Changbin looked at his new partner; his eyes were closed, head tilted back in the chair, emanating a sense of peace. So Naturally, Changbin had to disrupt that tranquillity.
He stands up and calls Chan, "Hey, Chan..."
Chan responds by opening one eye in acknowledgment.
"Remember when we got married?" Changbin teases.
That seems to catch Chan off guard. He quickly sits up, his eyes wide with surprise. "Wha-what? Changbin? We're not married!" he protests, trying to understand what was going on.
Changbin smirks mischievously, leaving the room without saying anything.
A moment later, he hears Chan's voice through the door, filled with exasperation, "Changbin, we're not even dating!"
"And whose fault is it?" He replies cheekily
Chan stares at him even more confused.
Too easy, Changbin thinks to himself and skips all the way down to the door.
∆∆