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Out of all of the various teams in the different departments that made up the Supernatural Disaster Management Bureau, there was only one team that had such a bizarre makeup of members that other agents couldn’t help but bring them up now and again. Aside from Hyunmoo team 1, Baekho team 3 might be the most talked about in the entire agency.
It wasn’t that the other agents necessarily disliked or hated them. They weren’t spreading malicious rumors about them, and no one avoided any of them, but they couldn’t help but to talk about them.
Baekho team 3 had five members, all of which had stayed alive and together since they had first joined the bureau two years ago. Not only that, but there were some saying the five of them were ex-idols who had left the entertainment industry together after encountering a certain disaster.
This alone would warrant discussion, but the truly odd part was: No one who tried could ever find any information about them online.
A few gutsy agents had asked about whether or not they had actually been idols together to their faces, and not once had they ever received a negative answer. While Baekho team 3 didn’t advertise their history, they didn’t hide it either if asked. They had even provided a group name, all independently, when questioned, but that had also shown no results.
It was strange, but in a field where they were dealing with the supernatural, most were able to chalk it up to being the result of whatever disaster it was that they had encountered. That piece of information, the group members were more tight-lipped about. No one knew what exact disaster they had been met with, but it was obvious from their reluctance to even give a hint about it that it had been a particularly bad one.
Beside the mysterious allure and their surprising survival rate, Baekho team 3 was also notable for their research skills. While the manuals they put together may not have the best formatting, what mattered most were their abilities to accurately and quickly find information. When it came to online searching, they all seemed to be masters at scouring forums. Many had commented this was likely due to their past as idols, if it indeed had existed in their timeline.
It was rare for Baekho team 3 to be sent out to the field for research. Usually, they remained inside doing virtual sleuthing, while Baekho 1 and Baekho 2 would go out before them if necessary. That was why today was such a rare day for them, but none of them were particularly worried about it.
The disaster they had been tasked with investigating seemed to be fairly safe, all things considered.
“We’ve been tasked with investigating a new case that has become popular online recently. On a certain road in Yeouido, civilians have been experiencing a strange incident when they pass by a particular intersection. All of the reports indicate the time these incidents occur is at or around 6:10 in the evening. The day of the week, month, and year don’t seem to have any influence on it. What occurs differs depending on whether the individual is driving or walking.
For those walking, they will suddenly feel a strong pull on the back of their neck and get thrown onto the sidewalk. Aside from minor scrapes and bruising, there have been no reports of serious injuries from these cases. For drivers, there have been reports of feeling as though they were suddenly hitting something, then their car would suddenly stop working. When the affected drivers exited their vehicles to check if they had accidentally run over something, nothing would be present.
The type of vehicle does not appear to matter whether or not the incident happens. Both buses, taxis, and passenger cars have reported on this occurrence. Of the three, only passenger cars have ever had signs of something having hit their vehicle appear on their cars.”
Standing in front of the room, Jeong Seongbin read from the report in his hands. He had been treated as the de facto leader of their team after the previous one had passed away. Given that the five of them had all joined at the same time and had no seniority among them in the matter, the other members had defaulted to their original roles that had been present when they were still part of spArk.
At first, he had been uncomfortable with the concept. SpArk had failed under his leadership, was it right for him to take on the mantle of being in charge once again? It was true they had left their idol life behind for reasons beyond his shortcomings as a leader, but even without the experience they had survived, they all knew their group hadn’t had much longer to go on.
It was part of why he hated having to go out and do fieldwork. Being in charge in the office where everyone sat together on computers doing research and writing manuals left little room for anything to go wrong. Actually having to go out and face disasters was the other extreme.
He was particularly worried for Kang Kiyeon and Choi Jeho, both of whom had sustained injuries during their careers as idols that had never fully healed. Even now, Choi Jeho had been given special exemption to sit out of fieldwork if he so wished, regardless of if they were assigned some as a team or not.
Turning his thoughts back to the paper in front of him, he continued:
“From what we’ve researched, there is a history of at least three major accidents resulting in the death of one or more individuals at the site. From previous cases, we can conclude that this is most likely a case of a deceased spirit reliving their death repeatedly. Thankfully, there is little danger in this category of incidents, and we should be able to completely resolve it within a day,” he further detailed, thankful for the fact that they were always given the easiest of cases.
It wouldn’t be the first time they had encountered a case like this. While disasters usually involved supernatural beings that existed beyond human design, there were cases of spirits unable to move on for one reason or another. The main issue with such individuals were, if they were left alone long enough, they could morph into stronger less harmless entities. Catching this one now would hopefully both help the individual move on, and prevent a possible future stronger disaster.
“Do we have a list of the previous victims?” Kang Kiyeon asked, not having been assigned to research this case before it had escalated into requiring on-site action.
Prompted to respond, the one who had been doing the research, Lee Cheonghyeon, replied, “Don’t worry, I’ve already got all of their names and information memorized,” tapping his temple.
He and Jeong Seongbin were still somewhat awkward with each other after everything. While time and their new circumstances had given them the chance to have a few conversations about it, it didn’t seem like he could ever have the full trust of the younger man again like he once had. It was one of Jeong Seongbin’s biggest regrets, even if he had truly thought he was doing the right thing at the time.
“Hyung, are you going to go?” Park Joowoo asked, turning the question to Choi Jeho.
The older agent gave a nod, “Yes,” he said simply, although within the response the other members could infer more things. It wasn’t simply because the case had low danger and low need for action, but today seemed like it was a better day for Choi Jeho’s back than it usually was.
With all of the information ready and the members looking to be in their best possible form, Jeong Seongbin felt some of his worries ease. He would always have some level of trepidation about going out into the field, but today seemed like it was going to be one of the better ones.
Giving a nod of his own, he addressed the room once more, “Then, we’ll leave immediately. Make sure to remember to bring your equipment and to call each other by your agent names out on the field,” he said, something he had to do every time they went out after a few unfortunate incidents in the past. Thankfully nothing serious had ever come from any of them, but it was a good reminder to give.
It was a reminder a good leader would give. Jeong Seongbin was trying to be a good leader. A better one. Even if he still didn’t think he was fit to be one; not as a teenager at UA, nor as a fully grown adult at a government agency.
A chorus of affirmations and motions of agreement followed his words, the members as used to hearing the reminder as Jeong Seongbin was to saying it.
Putting the papers he had been reading off of back into the folder he had been keeping them in, Jeong Seongbin turned and led the way out of the room. Behind him, the other agents gathered their things and quickly followed after him.
The journey to the scene of the disaster was, thankfully, a quick and easy one. Using their government-issued bicycles, the five of them easily made their way to the street that had been noted in the report. It was a good thing, given it was already nearing the time of day for the anomaly to occur. If they had taken any longer, they might have missed it and needed to wait until the next day to resolve what should be a simple case.
Arriving at the scene, the night already seemed to be starting off well. Usually they had to cordon-off the area themselves and ask civilians to leave, but this evening there was almost no one around. It was a simple thing to send Lee Cheonghyeon off to ask the remaining few to vacate the area for government work. He was the most personable out of all of them, so he was more often than not given that job.
He and Park Joowoo took one side of the street to block off, while Jeho and Kang Kiyeon took the other. Given the incident range included an intersection, they had gone further and completely sectioned off the whole area. It was better to be safe than sorry in their field.
That finished, a quick glance at his watch showed they had about ten minutes left until the anomaly was set to occur.
“...Should we have brought a car for Agent Bam to drive?” Park Joowoo asked, realizing only now that they only had bicycles on them.
Despite years having passed since they had joined the bureau, Choi Jeho was still the only one with a driver’s license.
Shaking his head, Jeong Seongbin replied, “It was determined playing the part of a pedestrian would be enough, since either role prompts a response from the entity,” looking at the area they now had to themselves.
Because they weren’t entirely sure of the exact spot, the five of them would have to walk all around the area until something happened.
Truthfully, bringing a car would have been helpful, but none of them owned a car and the bureau didn’t have any to spare for agents. If they weren’t able to complete their mission tonight, he would have to see about putting in a request for one.
“We could try with the bikes, they’re technically vehicles,” his friend suggested, gesturing towards where they had parked them over at the bike racks nearby. Thankfully, there had been some in the area they had closed off, leaving them close by if necessary.
Lee Cheonghyeon must have overheard their conversation, as he raised his hand and shouted, “I’ll ride one, then!”
It wasn’t good for either Kang Kiyeon or Choi Jeho to ride their bicycles for long given their chronic injuries, and if neither Park Joowoo nor Jeong Seongbin were volunteering first, it left it up to the former composer to take on the role.
With their duties now decided, Jeong Seongbin looked at his watch and held up three fingers. As there was little time left, the team members began to wander around the road instead of standing while waiting. The weather was starting to get colder, moving around helped to keep them warm, too.
As he walked himself, their leader kept his gaze on his watch as he put down one finger, then two, then all three.
Now, it was up to fate that at least one of them would enter the zone necessary to trigger the entity into reacting.
Walking up and down, back and forth across the streets was surprisingly difficult. It was almost instinctive to keep moving further along than to just go around a small area, but for the sake of their mission, they had to do it.
With his head down, Jeong Seongbin waited for any sort of sensation on the back of his neck area, but felt nothing. Worried they might not be able to capture the entity in time, he turned his gaze back to look at the others just in time to watch Choi Jeho start to be pulled backwards.
Whether it was because Choi Jeho was a particularly tall and muscular man or something else, the entity seemed to struggle to pull him back compared to the reports. That was lucky for them, then.
“The binding rope!” Jeong Seongbin shouted, Choi Jeho giving a quick nod at his words.
In almost a split second, the older man had quickly twisted around and tied the rope he had pulled from his bureau-issued jacket around something invisible to their eyes. While using a binding rope on a residual human spirit might seem like overkill, given the situation and their inability to actually see the entity, it was a necessity.
Thankfully, Choi Jeho had enough experience to be able to capture even something he wasn’t able to see. It looked like he had somehow grabbed at whatever was holding at the back of his jacket and then turned, tying the rope around as much of it as it could.
Within moments, something unseeable had rings of rope visibly keeping it in place. It seemed to be too stunned to try to escape at first, then began to thrash back and forth.
Given the hypothesis of what sort of entity it was, it made sense. Whoever this was had been reliving the same day over and over again; to have suddenly found itself tied up with rope would break the script, and undoubtedly shock and confuse it.
Breaking the typical cycle of actions and using the binding rope also had the added benefit of making the entity visible to them. The rope seemed to tighten for a moment, and then suddenly, the faint image of a person slowly began to become more and more clear held within its grasp.
By the time it was finished, the other members had already rushed over, standing around the confused entity together in a fan-like formation facing its front.
Within the binding, there now stood a confused looking man. It was definitely an adult, although he was on the younger side, likely under thirty-five. The suit he wore hinted at him having been a worker from the area, while the dark circles under his eyes and incredibly pale skin pointed to someone who had little time for sleep or moments outside.
That wasn’t necessarily uncommon when it came to working for certain companies, or so Jeong Seongbin had heard.
Those dark eyes and sharp looks gave the spirit an intimidating aura. The clear anger it had at suddenly finding itself tied up didn’t help with that, either. He briefly worried about whether or not they would be dealing with an angry residual spirit, rather than a sad or confused one.
“Do you recognize him?” Kang Kiyeon asked, directing his query towards Lee Cheonghyeon.
With a nod, the slightly older man replied, “He was one of the casualties from the most recent accident here. Three years ago, a man in his late 20s passed away in an accident involving a passenger car. If I remember correctly, he had been trying to save someone. The other person survived, but he was pronounced dead at the scene,” he explained, reciting what he had researched previously when first looking into the case.
Choi Jeho had yet to take his eyes away from the spirit, likely to keep watch in case it managed to escape.
Park Joowoo was similarly looking, although he turned his head towards Lee Cheonghyeon at those words and said, “Do we know his name?”
It wasn’t wise to outright state the name of the residual spirit without knowing how it would react, so the younger man simply gave a nod and left it at that. If they could, they would use it to help calm the entity down, but it all depended on its state. Currently, it was looking to be more aggressive than docile.
“What are you–!” the spirit had started voicing its complaints at one point, but Jeong Seongbin had tuned it out to focus on what Lee Cheonghyeon was saying. Turning back now, he could see the being suddenly stop as it took in all of them.
Curious what could cause that reaction, if maybe perhaps the spirit had realized the situation and was already ready to move on on its own, Jeong Seongbin waited to see what it would say next.
What it did say, he couldn’t say he had ever expected to hear again in his life.
“...SpArk…?”
Every member of Baekho team 3 seemed to freeze at that moment.
After the disaster, they had been informed no one would remember anything about who they were before it had happened. With nowhere to go and nothing left of the lives they had before that day, they had had no choice but to join the bureau and accept new papers. While they hadn’t technically forged their identities, since they had existed before the incident, they had needed to be re-registered with the government and had papers created for them.
Not since that day had anyone ever recognized them as spArk. Even their co-workers, who had caught wind of the truth in some small manner, hadn’t ever recognized their identities as idols. This was the first time in years someone had called their group by that old name instead of Baekho team 3.
It was a bizarre feeling.
The first to recover, Jeong Seongbin quickly replied, “...That’s a name we haven’t used in a while. We’re no longer idols, we’re now members of the Supernatural Disaster Management Bureau working under the government for a few years now,” taking the chance when the entity seemed to calm down to emphasize the passage of time.
“What…?” the spirit said, looking shocked at the words.
Seeing that the being was still listening in a less agitated state, he continued, “Although it may be hard to believe, it’s been three years since you–”
The words he was saying were cut-off as the disaster started to shout again, sounding somehow even more annoyed than before, “What? Disbanded? You mean after all of that, you disbanded?! All of that work I had to do, trying to fit you all into banners when King of Cuteness Kang Kiyeon was too short to make it fit, having to comb through, cut, and edit even the slightest hint of you all getting along, and being forced to research more about Center Emperor Choi Jeho than I could have ever have wanted to even consider knowing about–All of it was for you to just quit?!”
Now it was Jeong Seongbin’s turn to stare in shock. He could barely comprehend the words he was hearing right now. They had never been that popular while working under the spArk name, but he did know almost all of their fans were teenage girls. To find an adult male fan here, in this situation, was so completely unexpected that it was hard to bring his mind back rightside-up to respond.
“You were our fan?” Lee Cheonghyeon asked, having come closer at the explosion of words.
The spirit’s outburst seemed to have done little to quell his rage, instead, he continued to complain, “Fan? Do you know how much I had to endure being forced to make fan materials and research all of you while under Manager Nam? Just because his daughter was your fan, he would call me at all hours demanding I do this and that for her! Even my sister–”
At the mention of his sister, the entity seemed to lose all of its focus on them.
Instead, he turned his head around this way and that almost frantically, asking, “My sister, is she–?”
“She survived. If you want, I can try to get into contact with her,” Lee Cheonghyeon replied, the only one with the information of the case in question.
Those words made the entity completely relax his stance, his body visibly decompressing. Shaking his head, the spirit said, “As long as she’s alright…”
After a moment, Jeong Seongbin tried to continue where he had left off before being interrupted earlier, clearing his throat he said, “As I was saying earlier, it’s been three years since the accident. You’ve been trapped here that entire time replaying the events of your death. If you’d be willing, we can help you try to move on to the afterlife,” the offer was sincere, although the question of willingness was more for whether it would be their team handling it or not rather than one of wanting to move on or stay. Ultimately, the spirit would have to move on before it changed into a more dangerous entity.
“Three years…?” the man asked, looking shocked by the knowledge.
With a nod, Kang Kiyeon took the chance to cut-in and added, “That’s why we’re the only ones here. Otherwise, your sister and the driver who hit you would be around, right?”
It wasn’t the wisest thing to drop the knowledge of a human spirit’s previous death on them so quickly and strongly like this, but given the amount of force reported in prior cases, it was imperative to get the entity to move on before he could get any stronger. It was already a miracle he hadn’t become something else at this point.
The being looked around, only now seeming to be able to see the actual scene of the street.
He seemed surprisingly nonplussed by the news of his own death. If anything, he looked more bewildered at the fact that three years had passed. That in itself wasn’t strange to be bewildered by, but his immediate and easy acceptance of his death was odd. Usually, these types of entities had trouble moving on because they couldn’t accept their death, otherwise it was that they had some regret left. It seemed that this particular case was the latter rather than the former.
“You’ve been grabbing random people and throwing them,” Choi Jeho finally spoke up, having been a victim of this himself.
That seemed to make him even more unsettled. Before anyone could get another word out, the spirit was already kneeling on the ground, his head bowed low as he said, “I apologize. If there’s anything I can do to make it up to the victims, please let me know. Even if it’s having all of my savings go to them for any injuries, or bowing in front of their houses for one-hundred days each,” sounding undoubtedly sincere.
Surprised by the extreme reaction, the members of Baekho 3 exchanged glances with each other.
As the leader, Jeong Seongbin stepped forward and said, “It’s alright, no one was seriously injured and you were unaware of it. The bureau also has no plans to punish you for it. Instead, could you tell us what we can do to help you move on?” circling back to the main point once more.
The spirit looked up at his words, a thoughtful look on his face.
It was a bit funny to think about how intimidating he had looked before. While the entity had gotten angry, the most he had done was rant about having to make fan material for them when they were still spArk.
“Are there any particular things you want to do before moving on?” Lee Cheonghyeon asked, trying to help the being narrow down anything that could be the answer to their predicament.
With a pensive look, the spirit replied, “...I can’t think of anything…All I wanted to do was save my sister. If she’s fine, then that’s more than enough for me,” which did fit given that had been one of the first things he had asked of them. In fact, one could argue he hadn’t been reliving his death itself as the main focus, but reliving trying to save his sister because he had never learned whether or not he had actually managed to succeed in doing so.
This was a problem, though. If the one thing the spirit wanted to do had already been realized, then what was keeping him here? They couldn’t just leave him to freely go around when he could change at any time.
“Then, would you like to come back to the bureau with us for now?” Park Joowoo, likely having the same thoughts as Jeong Seongbin, offered.
It wasn’t unusual for supernatural entities to be registered with the bureau and work together with them. Their biggest contract and most used were the dokkaebi, but they certainly weren’t the only ones. While this spirit didn’t necessarily seem the most strong, the fact he could pull living humans around and stop cars showed he was already more powerful than he should be. With time, he could become even stronger, too.
The man didn’t seem to love the idea, but he stood back up straight and replied, “...Alright. I don’t know where else I could go right now, and if I’ve been causing trouble, it’s only right for me to go with you all.”
The way he said it made it sound like he believed he was serving a sentence at the bureau for his actions over the past three years, but what mattered was that he had agreed.
“Then, please follow us after we take down the barricades,” Jeong Seongbin said, while behind him the younger members were already moving towards the blocks they had put up to take them down. The case, thankfully, went easier and more quickly than any of them had expected, even having gone in with the knowledge that it was a low-risk one.
It was ultimately decided not to put the spirit in a glass prison or sealing device. He was non-violent and had already agreed to follow after them, so it didn’t make sense to waste resources like that. Of course, Choi Jeho still kept an eye on the man in case he suddenly changed his mind, but the trip back to the bureau was as quick and easy as the way to the incident site had been.
After explaining the situation to a superior agent, they saw the spirit off to the area supernatural entities were contained until a contract was drawn up and the extent of their abilities were understood. This had all been explained to the spirit himself beforehand so there would be no negative reaction to being left in another area on his own at the bureau.
The spirit took it all in stride, even the fact that the binding ropes had to be kept on until they could find a better item to use to make him permanently visible to agents of the bureau.
With that finished, Baekho team 3 went back home for the night. They didn’t live together, but the five of them had gotten small places in the same area and usually walked to and from work with each other, depending on who woke up when.
“I never expected to meet someone who knew about spArk still,” Park Joowoo commented as they walked, clearly having been as struck by that moment as Jeong Seongbin had been.
Kang Kiyeon gave a nod, saying, “I was surprised, too. Didn’t they say no one but us would be able to remember?”
It was something Jeong Seongbin had been confused by, too, but he had figured out a possible answer quickly enough. Looking at the two younger men, he explained, “It might be because he died before then. If he was already an entity that knew about us at the time, he may not have been influenced by the disaster,” it was unknown exactly how much different disasters could impact each other, but this seemed to be the most likely case.
“He went to our fansigning once,” Choi Jeho said, cutting into the conversation from the very back of their group.
Four heads turned his way at the words, surprise on every face.
“You recognized him?” Park Joowoo asked.
If that had been the case, perhaps the reason Choi Jeho had been staring so hard at the spirit wasn’t to keep an eye on him, but because he remembered seeing him somewhere before.
The older man nodded and replied, “He was the only grown man there. It was hard not to notice him,” which did make sense.
Jeong Seongbin tried to think back to their fansignings, but he couldn’t remember seeing that man before. Then again, Jeong Seongbin had a lot of things about being an idol he would have rather forgotten. After the incident, he had pushed most of his memories of that time to the back of his mind.
“What was his name?” he asked, looking to Lee Cheonghyeon for the answer.
The younger man thought about it for a moment, searching his memories of the reports he had read. After a moment, he replied, “I think it was ‘Kim Iwol’...?”
The name wasn’t familiar, but it had been a longshot to think hearing it would jog Jeong Seongbin’s memory of when they might have met. Still, it was nice to know the name of the spirit they had brought in rather than just calling him a spirit or an entity all the time in his mind.
***
It didn’t take long for Kim Iwol to be registered with the bureau and the extent of his abilities marked down. For a human spirit that hadn’t been affected by a disaster in death, he had a surprising range of abilities. Of course, they paled in comparison to those of other disasters, but given his origins, they were impressive all the same.
An ability to influence other beings to think how he wanted them to, telekinesis, and a mild ability to control technology. All said, they weren’t too strange to think of a “ghost” having in the traditional sense, but they had been deemed helpful enough for him to be given a proper contract to sign with the bureau.
Given that Kim Iwol did not have his own domain to return to, and that it would be cruel to force him to remain at the scene of his death, he had been given one of the rooms set aside for contracted entities at the facility.
This would end up being the correct decision, although at the time no one could predict just how helpful the spirit would be with the work they had to do.
Kim Iwol, they would find, had a tendency to take on more work than necessary. He seemed almost uncomfortable when he had nothing to do, making up things that needed to be done rather than simply resting. As a result, it wasn’t uncommon to see him flitting between the different departments and helping in any way he could.
For the rescue teams, he would go out and lend his power whenever it was requested of him. While it was the most rare of the departments to call him, he would never turn down a call for his help, no matter the situation or team that needed him. Even further, when he learned about the rescue number the bureau had for trapped civilians, he would go into random disasters that were difficult for agents to regularly enter to leave cards and call out the number in case anyone was trapped.
The cleaning teams were where he spent the second most time, showing off his surprisingly strong skills in the area. A joke had started that you could always tell whenever Kim Iwol helped with a cleanup, because there wouldn’t be a speck of dust left in the place. He took the job seriously and was often the last one at a site, determined to clean up as much of it as possible.
Jeong Seongbin had thought that there might be something more to it beyond just a desire for cleanliness. He had wondered if it might have to do with the man wanting to try to prevent anyone else from falling into a similar situation to him by ensuring their place of death had been properly cared for, but he never had the courage to actually ask about it. They weren’t close enough for a conversation like that.
Where Kim Iwol could be found most often, however, was the research department.
Despite his stated disdain for spArk, for whatever reason, Kim Iwol spent the majority of his time around them. He would say it was because of his frustration with their manuals, often completely taking over writing and formatting them from whoever was working on one, but whether that was the full truth or not, Jeong Seongbin couldn’t say.
He was also even more incredible at research than anyone in spArk. No matter what information was out there on the internet, Kim Iwol would manage to find and compile it.
It had gotten to the point that he had started holding lectures for all of them on bettering their office skills. He didn’t only go over looking things up and making manuals, but told them how to better organize their information with the different office programs available to them. By now, they all were well aware of how to use Microsoft Office, not to mention their shared Notion page where they kept their group field notes.
Kim Iwol was a master at office work, and he would make sure everyone learned just as much as he had learned to a level he deemed acceptable.
One might think having to endure his nagging and lecturing would make him unpopular with the agents, but it was the complete opposite. With how helpful he was and how much better their work was turning out–how many more people were being saved–the agents at the bureau all held a great fondness for the man.
He was like a reliable senior who would come in and fix things whenever work wasn’t going well. It helped that he had a tendency to be somewhat dramatic at times, which paired with his tenacity to aid all of the departments, and the genuine advice he would give, charmed everyone he met. The higher ups in particular were pleased with how much their work had improved, Jeong Seongbin had heard that apparently one had even lamented that they hadn’t been able to find and recruit Kim Iwol sooner.
While his relationship with Baekho team 3 had been awkward at first given his one-sided past with them, they had ended up growing close over time. It was a combination of the six of them being the only ones to remember a time when spArk existed, as well as the fact that their team had been the one to bring him in.
Lee Cheonghyeon had even made up an agent nickname for the spirit, who didn’t need one given his identity as a supernatural entity itself, but who used it whenever he went out with the rescue team. Once it became well known around the facility, even other agents started using it when they met Kim Iwol in the hallway.
Apparently, the other departments were calling him the “phantom sixth member of Baekho team 3”. Jeong Seongbin couldn’t say anything against it, given it was all but true at this point. Somehow, Kim Iwol had fit seamlessly into the dynamic Baekho team 3 had had for years now, despite never having been part of their idol group. He was almost like the eldest member they never had.
It was to the degree that other agents would tease new recruits by introducing them to Kim Iwol as though he really were a regular living human agent. There was nothing cruel in it, rather, it was more of a joke to see how long it took the rookies to realize the truth. So far, there were still some who didn’t know even after almost half a year in.
That was how now, even over a year later, Jeong Seongbin found himself sitting in their team room watching Kim Iwol type away furiously at a computer. Next to him, Lee Cheonghyeon was similarly working on something, both having been at it for over two hours now.
“That hyung never takes a break,” Kang Kiyeon shook his head at the sight from his seat beside Jeong Seongbin’s, letting out a sigh.
Park Joowoo, on the younger man’s other side, commented, “He doesn’t really need to, considering everything…”
Which was true physically, but Jeong Seongbin would be lying if he said he wasn’t worried about the older man’s mental fatigue.
Choi Jeho had taken the day off today, leaving the five of them the only ones in the office for today. He and Kim Iwol seemed to both naturally repel each other, but also have an odd sort of understanding of each other that no one else could quite get. Jeong Seongbin wondered how much of that was due to Kim Iwol’s past of being forced to focus on the other man and how much of it was truly up to their natural personalities.
Apparently the two of them had had some sort of talk alone and came to an understanding about it all a few months ago, but Jeong Seongbin hadn’t been privy to the conversation and he was not so shameless as to outright ask about it. It didn’t really matter what the details were anyway, what mattered was that afterwards, the tension between them had melted more into something almost friendly rather than actively antagonistic.
“Hyung, look!”
Lee Cheonghyeon’s exclamation caught the attention of everyone in the room, although it was obvious he was speaking to Kim Iwol.
Curious, the older man paused in his work and looked at the man next to him, “What is it?” he asked, turning his gaze to the screen.
The younger agent moved aside slightly to show the full page to the spirit next to him, a wide smile on his face, “I managed to make all of us fit into the banner! It’s not perfect, but if you use the pen tool to cut out Kiyeon in Photoshop and then shift him upward, no one’s left out, and you can’t even tell it’s been edited,” he said, sounding more proud than Jeong Seongbin had ever heard him before.
That was what he had been working on this whole time…?
“Cheonghyeon…” Kim Iwol said, staring at the screen, then he turned to the man in question and asked, “Have you ever considered applying to be considered a national treasure?”
He said it seriously, too.
The two then devolved into what Choi Jeho had aptly labeled “conversations in a world only those two can understand”, completely tuning out the rest of the room.
Jeong Seongbin couldn’t help the smile that rose at the sight, knowing the others were just as amused. It was incredible to think about how so much had changed in just a year. Before, they had all been working at the bureau more because they had to than anything else. While the tension among them had been better than it was when they were still performing as spArk, it had still undoubtedly been present.
Now, the office had never felt so warm and full of life. Jeong Seongbin was finding he actually looked forward to going to work every day. He was even able to have conversations with all of the members, including Lee Cheonghyeon, without any awkward pauses or implications of avoided topics.
In the end, it was all thanks to the spirit they had met that day.
The man was almost like the missing piece their group had needed to run smoothly. A part of Jeong Seongbin wondered how things might have been if they had met Kim Iwol earlier. If maybe there existed a world where spArk had been six members, instead of five.
In the end, what ifs and alternate timelines were something he couldn’t do anything about. For now, he was happy to enjoy every day with the five other members of Baekho team 3.