Donghyuck can see and hear spirits. He listens to them and then seeks justice - the boy assists the police to find their bodies and helps the restless spirits. Donghyuck is fine with that, it's fun to work with the police and get money... But everything changes when Donghyuck meets a female spirit who claims that his roommate Mark killed her over the summer.
Donghyuck was different ever since he started his puberty.
Some of his classmates had pimples and really annoying creaky voices but not Donghyuck. Of course, he also went through that, but something way more unusual was happening in his life.
Donghyuck started hearing spirits.
He saw them when he was younger, but he wasn't able to hear them. Only when he started his teenage years did he hear their voices. Since it was a brand new experience, there was a lot to learn. Spirits were talking over each other, confusing Donghyuck so much to the point his head started to hurt.
But little by little, Donghyuck learned how to listen and talk to them. The only rule was to avoid talking to them with other people around. Donghyuck saw a lot of judging faces when he first accidentally talked to a spirit out loud, in a supermarket.
"He killed you?" he gasped in surprise, drawing people's attention to him.
"W-what's wrong with the kid?"
If not for his mom, Donghyuck would actually have thought that there was something wrong with his head. Because of the supportive woman, Donghyuck understood that he was special.
"Your grandfather had the same ability. He also claimed to have seen spirits too. It's normal in our family."
Together with her, they visited lots of places only to find out that Donghyuck was a medium, "a person through whom the spirits of the dead are alleged to be able to contact the living."
Donghyuck told her what the spirits begged him for justice. They told him about the bad people (killers, in other words) and what did they do to them. Thirteen-year-old Donghyuck was terrified by how disgusting the world was! Because of the spirits, he found out how merciless the killers could actually be.
Killers were doing everything! They sliced heads, cut fingers, and broke bones. Knowing that it was happening in real life, Donghyuck always ditched watching scary movies with his friends.
One day Donghyuck decided to answer the desperate call of one spirit. Maybe because the transparent figure in front of him looked the same age as him. The boy told him about some very scary man that abducted him, abused him, and then threw him in the river.
Fourteen-year-old Donghyuck was so enraged that he went straight to the police and told what the spirit said. Of course, grown people made fun of him for telling such fairytales, but one woman got intrigued and decided to check the river.
"Mom!" Donghyuck called his mother on the phone. "I just reported one spirit to the police."
The boy's mom appeared to be more trouble than excited.
"Oh, my lord! Get out of here. They'll think that you–"
"No! Mom, they found the body! Exactly where I and the spirit told them."
After the incident, which surprised all of the people, who heard the boy rambling, Donghyuck was called to the police station more often. There he would talk about the crimes, and tell what the killers and the victims looked like. Almost every case was solved just with Donghyuck's help. Even unsolved ones weren't a mystery anymore when they got into Donghyuck's hands.
The boy learned about psychopaths and other sick people. He saw familiar faces getting arrested, such as neighbors of his, a pizza place guy, and some old politic, and knew that even the warmest people could have secrets.
For some reason, the discreet and secretive Donghhyuck's alliance with the police leaked. There were always rumors as people just couldn't keep their mouths shut. Newspapers started writing about the medium boy too. Thankfully, he was left anonymous because he was underage because if something more had leaked, Donghyuck would felt unsafe.
He could no longer walk to the police station because someone might see him. Donghyuck needed to be extra careful as he was also a possible target for killers who didn't want to be found.
Because of that, Donghyuck and his mom had to move from one town to another. They didn't stay for long just for their own safety. Money wasn't a problem as Donghyuck was getting paid a lot. However, the lack of normal communication with people troubled Donghyuck. He wanted to talk to kids his age, not with spirits!
The boy tried to make friends and successfully did. But only when he was acting just like them, childish, careless... Not even once did he tell someone about his ability. It would make him stand out, and also point out his mature behavior. There wasn't a single kid who would know about murders as much as Donghyuck did. Now even the horror movies weren't scary for a sixteen-year-old Donghyuck. They were so fake!
Getting into high school, Donghyuck stopped communicating with ghosts and focused on exams. His mom even found medicine for him to silence the voices. Because of that, Donghyuck got a lot of calls from different police stations, asking for collaboration.
"I have to study for my exams," Donghyuck turned them down. "I'm very sorry."
"The death rate increased ever since you refused to help us."
It was like the killers were great at math and realized that the medium boy must be in high school.
"I'm sorry..." Donghyuck kept repeating.
Constant guilt of not helping the spirits made Donghyuck write letters and send them to the police stations just as he finished reading books. He was multitasking like crazy. That was why he didn't do that good in his exams. Luckily, he had a lot of money which meant that he could pick any university out there.
Although he had a lot of potential to study law, he applied to the performing arts course. Donghyuck didn't want to be surrounded by the crime world all his life. So he at least thought he could be a singer, which was the opposite of his secret job.
Over the summer, Donghyuck worked with the police again. He even met up with them and went to the crime places himself. He wasn't a kid anymore. Yet he felt nauseous seeing the bodies of the victims.
"Any details about the killer?" a young detective named Taeyong asked.
"He doesn't know anything," Donghyuck said as he saw the spirit shaking his head. "He was attacked from behind."
"What about the voice, strength, the smell of the attacker?"
"He smelled of cigarettes," the spirit said.
"He smelled of cigarettes," Donghyuck repeated.
"Cheap."
"Cheap ones."
"What about the strength?"
"The way he stabbed me... It was so fast. I guess he was strong."
"He was strong. I suppose, a man."
Taeyong nodded and wrote something in his notebook.
"Thank you, Donghyuck. If he remembers something, please contact me."
"Always."
🕊️
Donghyuck's first year at university was rather stressful. New places meant new spirits. Donghyuck met lots of restless spirits who had died on school grounds and had no piece. They bothered him, making it hard for the boy to sing to the tune.
He talked to them during his free time, mostly shushing them away as he could no longer help them if their case was older than twenty years. That was his second rule. Donghyuck made it in addition to avoid getting mixed up with crimes decades ago, especially when there were lots of new ones.
Other spirits chased him from different towns and kept following him until he wrote about them to the police. As soon as a spirit disappeared, Donghyuck knew that their bodies were found and they rested in peace.
Apart from the spirits, a whole new system of the university bothered the young boy. He came there right after high school and felt so green. Especially when most of his classmates were way older and more experienced than him.
Mark, his roommate and classmate, was one year older and had experience in writing music. He wanted to be a rapper in a duo, but to achieve that, he needed to have a buddy who could sing. As his roommate, Donghyuck was joining him most of the time, although he was pretty sure Mark wanted his partner to be a girl.
"You have a nice voice, Hyuck," Mark said once and sparked a flame of love in the boy's heart.
For the first time, Donghyuck had a crush. He managed to fall for Mark just in two months! It got way harder when the feelings hadn't changed as months passed. He truly liked Mark, meanwhile, his fellow roommate had no idea about it!
He thought of Donghyuck as a reliable buddy. They would grab drinks together, play games, and tell their secrets. About the last part, Donghyuck knew everything about Mark's feelings for girls. Mark had lots of girl buddies with whom he kissed but hadn't gone further. And there was Donghyuck, who usually lied about smoking weed just to cover up that he was seeing spirits.
Anyway, in Donghyuck's eyes, Mark was everything! He was so well-mannered, funny, sometimes awkward, but most importantly, very humble and honest. Donghyuck thought Mark was the angel from heaven.
Well, until a spirit of a girl in long brown hair showed up.
It was the very start of their second year. Donghyuck just returned from his summer vacation, straight to the dorm. He only got to place his bags when the said spirit appeared.
"Hello," Donghyuck greeted her out loud as he knew he was alone at the moment.
"I'm Byeol," she introduced herself. "I know you can help me."
"Hello, Byeol. I'm sorry that we're meeting under these circumstances," Donghyuck said the line he always had under his sleeve. "What brought you here?"
"I died a week ago," the girl spoke with tears in her eyes. "I got into my male friend's car and he drove me to the woods. I don't remember what happened there, but I was close to death when I found myself in the middle of the woods, floating in the lake.
Donghyuck heard all kinds of stories during these years, but it still freaked him out when girls or kids got into a car of bad people. Even if she called him a friend, it seemed like he wasn't very reliable...
She was dead.
"Which forest was it?"
"I don't know. But there was a yellow house on our way there."
"I know it," Donghyuck said, grimacing.
It was the forest that most people went missing. Like 30% of the cases included the forest. It was on the highway, which made it easy to dump bodies just as passing by.
"Who was your male friend?"
"We met up because of our mutual friends. His name is Mark. He was really friendly with me b-before he killed me."
Donghyuck paused for a second as a familiar name rang in his ears. The world had millions of Marks, but Donghyuck knew only one.
"How did he look like?" he asked, suddenly feeling cold.
"He has black hair, a sharp jawline and high cheekbones."
"Do you know his last name?"
"Lee. He's Canadian."
Donghyuck felt dizzy all of sudden. He felt so weak in his legs that he had to sit if he didn't want to faint. Still, even when he was seated, he couldn't calm down. The way she described the killer made Donghyuck's heart race.
It was obviously Mark!
Millions of people could look like him. Millions of them could have a name like him. But only a few could have everything – name, appearance, ethnicity, and personality.
The door opened and the person Donghyuck had doubts about went inside. Mark was smiling widely at Donghyuck, making the boy shiver.
"How was your summer vacation, bro?"
"Great," Donghyuck faked a smile. "How about you?"
"Nice! Just got my driver's license a week ago."
Donghyuck glanced at Byeol and felt how his heart skipped a beat. The girl stared at Mark with wide eyes.
Donghyuck had to pinch himself to make sure that he wasn't dreaming.