welcome to my playground - k.jw

5.

jisung and kyungmi spent hours sitting with each other talking about random topics. there was a comfortable atmosphere that was around them during their time together.

after sitting down for so many hours, the two of them decided to walk around and view all the different sceneries around the area.

"oh jisung, there's a park we can go to! it has a playground there and you might like it." kyungmi exclaimed, voicing her idea. jisung turns to her with a happy smile and nods his head.

the two of them walked together side by side, jisung's arm being around kyungmi due to the height different. soon enough, the both of them had arrived at the park.

from afar, sat jungwoo at the usual bench under a tree. jisung saw jungwoo's figure and turned to kyungmi, tapping her arm lightly.

"is he a ghost too? he looks troubled." kyungmi looked over to where jungwoo was.

the boy sat his his head dug in the palm of his hands. his hair was messy and even just his aura was off and less bright than usual.

"jisung you go play, i'll go talk to him."
"are you sure?" jisung looked down at kyungmi, unsure of whether to leave her alone.

"yeah, i'll be fine." with her reassurance, jisung nodded his head and left to go to the play set on the other site of the park.

kyungmi took in a deep breath and walked over towards jungwoo. quietly, she took a seat beside jungwoo on the bench and looked down at the distressed ghost.

"jungwoo? is everything okay? you seem really down today.." kyungmi spoke softly. she raised her hand to pat his back but wasn't sure if it was a good idea - afraid that he might not like being touched - and so she retracted her hand.

jungwoo sat up straight and ran a hand through his messy hair. "yeah, i'm fine. i just uh..had a sudden memory yesterday." jungwoo said, trying not to worry anyone.

"do you..wanna talk about it? you don't have to since i know we aren't close, it's just if you wanna vent all your feelings out?" kyungmi said.

she didn't want to say anything that might trigger his emotions. she could tell already that something about the memory didn't sit right with him, and so she didn't want to pry off him.

"actually yeah, i really do need to talk to someone right now." jungwoo chuckled sadly.

"i died, don't even know how, and had a choice. i could either come to earth or go to the afterlife and for some reason i chose earth. why? i don't even know honestly. i just thought that it would be nice to wander around freely instead of running errands in the after life - i don't know. i've been here for four months and i'm starting to hate it. it's so lonely with no one here to talk to. people can't even see me and barely any ghosts come to the park, they all roam around heck knows where."

"not only that but i got a memory yesterday when i was at hangang and i had a lover who i don't even know if we were together or not when i died and i don't even know who she is other than her name. i wanna meet her, i really do. li seojin, if you hear her name anywhere could you tell me?"

jungwoo turns to kyungmi with sad eyes. with a soft smile, kyungmi nods her head.

"it's okay to feel uneasy and frustrated. sometimes we make decisions we regret and sometimes we learn to love. i reckon you felt drawn to the earth. maybe you had a significant role when you were alive or maybe there was someone waiting for you here - maybe seojin." kyungmi replied, reassuring the male ghost that it was okay to feel what he was feeling.

"thanks kyungmi. what about you? it's been two days for you, what's it like?" jungwoo asked. he turned to the girl, ready to hear what she had to say.

"it's been overwhelming. first night here and i already regained a dreadful memory about my poor relationship with my mother and i had another one about her earlier today. there was byeol, who i could've saved but was too much of a coward to because of the rules a ghost must follow. everyday here is eating me alive but that's the price i have to pay for choosing this."

jungwoo nodded his head after listening to her words. there wasn't much to say other than the fact that he pitied her. he felt sorry for all the misfortune and distress that she had been through.

"you'll get through it, and if anything, we can go through it together."