𝙋𝙇𝘼𝙔𝙇𝘼𝙉𝘿 // 𝘱1𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘺

08

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That definitely wasn't supposed to happen. After removing his hand, everything was supposed to be normal! Jongseob wasn't supposed to be crying, and he definitely wasn't supposed to be feeling a tingle in his hand.

"What happened?!" He cried out, but to no answer. Panicking, he ran to the door and tried to pry it open, but it wouldn't budge. It was barricaded from the outside.

"I told you to run."

Jongseob froze at the unfamiliar voice behind him, and fell too his knees. Was he gonna die? He was only young, and he hadn't even said goodbye to his friends...

"Woah, chill! We're not gonna hurt you."

Still, he didn't dare to look behind him. "What happened..?"

"My friend thinks your cool, and made you do a ritual that brought you to the other world. You're pretty lucky that you're trapped in only one room." The unknown man said, seemingly pitiful.

"I said I'm sorry!"

"I know, Shota. I know. Anyways, we're not gonna hurt you, kid. I'm Keeho, and this is Shota. We're ghosts, if you haven't figured out by now." The unknown man, now identified as Keeho, approaching Jongseob and placed a hand on his shoulder. "It's gonna be okay."

Jongseob slowly turned around, meeting eye to eye with Keeho's pale face. He seemed... Dead, yet so full of life.

Behind him was Shota, sulking with a pout. What was going on?

"I just wanted a friend..." Shota mumbled.

"I know, but you can't just lure living people to the other side. It's too dangerous!" Keeho scolded, but the other ghost didn't seem to budge.

"How... How do I get back?" Jongseob barely managed to ask, finally having the courage to stand up and fully turn around to face the two.

Keeho and Shota didn't respond. Rather, they looked quite... Unsure.

"Well... You'll have to wait until the dance room is opened again." Keeho blurted out.

Jongseob's face drained of all it's color, almost mimicking the two ghosts in front of him. He was stuck. He was stuck there until the practice room was to be opened again.

He was fucking stuck.

"No... T-The last time this room was opened before me, Intak hyung, and Jiung hyung opened it was 3 years ago! D-Does that mean I have to wait 3 years?!"

"Uhm... We can't really answer that for you." Shota apologized. "Sorry..."

Jongseob fell onto his knees, still horrified and scared.

"Hey, we're good company! Don't worry, okay?" Keeho tried to reassure, but the younger wasn't feeling reassured at all.

"Yeah! We'll be your friends! Let's do a 20 question game." Shota suggested, not quite getting the memo that the living boy in front of him was hyperventilating.

With a bit of help and affirmations, Jongseob had calmed down. He was sitting on the floor, and Keeho and Shota sat in front of him.

"Can I ask you something?" He spoke up.

"Shoot." Shota responded.

"How did you die?"

The two fell quiet at that, glancing at each other, unsure. Keeho was the first to speak up.

"I died in a school fire here in the practice room 3 years ago, and Shota was accidentally locked in here to starve 3 years ago, too. Since then, we've just been... Roaming 'round the school." Keeho explained, getting an understanding nod.

"Oh, I'm sorry..."

"It's fine. But since then, foreign students stopped coming by. I wonder why?" Shota said, saying the last part in fluent Japanese.

"Hey, you said you could roam around the school, right? And I can't?"

"Uh-huh!"

"Can you do me a favor, Shota?"

———

The next morning...

Class ended and Intak and Jiung left the classroom. The halls were full of students moving to their next class, so any other sounds were muffled by the loud chattering of the students.

But when they pass by the dance room once again while walking to their next class,

Intak swore he heard something fall on the floor. Something metal, something hard.

Something like the screw that held up the barricade of the old dance room.

(a/n: sorry for not updating in a long time! i genuinely forgot wattpad existsed)