Chapter Text
✿✿✿
The day was early — too early for a normal person to be awake. The light from the setting moon cast an eerie glow on the surrounding area. Underneath a small arch bridge, something glinted like a treasure beckoning to be found.
But what was underneath the bridge wasn't a treasure — or maybe it once was to someone — but now it was lifeless... dead.
Three men walked towards the bridge unperturbed by the dullness of the morning. One led while the other two followed. It had just stopped raining, causing the air to be uncomfortably humid, and the ground underneath their feet soft.
"I shouldn't have worn these shoes," one of the followers complained. The other man beside him snickered, saying, "You can just wash it when we're back in the office, Jeno."
The man named Jeno sighed. "Who knows what time we'll actually get back," he muttered looking down at his shoes with a frown before following after his two companions.
The leader stopped underneath the bridge, beside the lifeless body. Jeno and the other man flanked both of his sides. They looked down at the body, trying to understand why it was there in the first place. They had seen dead bodies before. The more they saw it, the less unsettling it was to look at — though it still left an uncomfortable feeling. It was never nice to see a dead body, especially if their deaths wasn't something you could explain.
The body stood out — obviously out of place. The body was of a young girl, not too young, probably around her early 20s.
"She looks like she was dumped here," one of the men said.
The leader grimaced. "Dumped is such a harsh way to put it, Renjun."
"Well that's how it looks like, Jaemin."
Jeno coughed, walking forward, trying to prevent a fight between his two friends. It was almost dawn and he hadn't been able to sleep yet; he was tired.
"I think she was placed here, instead," Jeno pointed out. Jaemin and Renjun turned to him, confused.
Renjun, with a creased brow said, "Why kill her just to place her here?" Renjun argued. "Isn't that too much work?"
Jaemin was quiet for a while before muttering under his breath, “It looks like she died here.”
None of his two companions seemed to have heard him. Instead, they focused on investigating the scene. Renjun removed a camera from his bag and started taking pictures of the surroundings — then he proceeded to the body. Jeno was beside him taking notes on what he could see.
There were no visible wounds on her body, and nothing indicated that she was killed physically — no bruises or scars. She had her eyes closed, as if she was asleep. She even had her sleeping clothes still on.
Jeno walked around the body. Other than her clothes on, there were no objects around her that could identify her. There wasn’t a bag, not even a mobile phone.
“Do you think she lives nearby?” Jeno asked.
Renjun took another picture, before answering his friend. “I don’t think so,” he answered. “The next city is a whole kilometer away and before this bridge it’s all road.”
He pointed at something behind Jeno, before adding, “Unless she lives in the mountains.”
Jeno shook his head. “Her clothes are for the city,” he whispered. “There’s no way she’d wear something this thin if she lived in the mountains.”
“She couldn’t have walked here, could she?” Jeno asked.
They both looked around, searching the bridge and underneath it. Jeno even walked a small distance away before he came back. “There’s also no car.”
“So she was brought here then dumped here,” Renjun assumed.
“She looks like she jumped though?” Jeno said.
Renjun shrugged. “We should ask Donghyuck once we get back to the office,” he said.
Because they weren’t allowed to get evidence from the crime scene — since the city police would have to investigate too — Renjun just started packing up his things. They’d just have to ask for evidence from the city police later on.
Jaemin who had been listening to them for a while started walking away, seeing someone waiting at the far side of the river.
“Have you been here long?” Jaemin remarked as he got closer to a man by the river, wearing something plucked out of a historical drama.
He tipped his head in greeting. “I’ve been waiting for you.”
Jaemin just grimaced. “Is this the body you were talking about?”
The man nodded, his lips set on a thin line. Jaemin knew this man, and he knew that him looking this grim meant this was serious. “It doesn't looked like a murder to me, Yuta. It just looks like she killed herself,” Jaemin baited.
The man named Yuta sneered. “You know that's never the case with supernatural beings involved.”
Jaemin grinned. There were a lot of deaths taking place in the Living Realm. Humans rarely understood death — only thinking of those who died near them, the people close to them. But for the Underworld, no one was family. Each death was counted, and though humans didn't understand the magnitude of deaths that happen in the Living Realm, in the Underworld, they see the numbers. They understand how many lives were lost each day. These deaths were specially prevalent to the Guardian of the Underworld — the same man Jaemin was talking to now.
Like those numbers, humans rarely knew the cause of some deaths. One might look like an accident, but Jaemin knew better. Evil spirits were prevalent in the Earth as well — too angry to have died and taking revenge on those still alive.
These were the type of cases that Na Jaemin investigated.
He worked in a private investigative agency called Dream Firm that deals with the supernatural — any crime that involves the supernatural was their jurisdiction. There were four of them in the office. It was a hard job, harder to get in especially since you needed a few “abilities” to qualify — like being able to see ghosts.
Despite that, only Jaemin could see Yuta. Though Jaemin always thought that it was because the Guardian of the Underworld just didn’t like explaining himself to humans. Jaemin’s family had known him for centuries and Jaemin had known the god since he was younger. Yuta had even attended his first birthday party. Still, the others might not know who Yuta was — they called him the informant — they still trusted the information he gave them despite it not making sense.
Nothing really made sense in their line of work.
“So why are we here, Yuta? This really doesn’t look like a spirit killed her,” Jaemin addressed.
Often, when spirits kill a human they’d leave marks — bruises, burn marks, anything that was out of place.
“Her soul is missing,” Yuta admitted. Jaemin stared at him wide-eyed, as if not understanding what that meant.
“What?” he asked.
Yuta sighed. “Her soul is missing,” Yuta repeated. “The fact that she died today was surprising enough — today wasn’t her day — but when I visited the body this morning her soul wasn’t here.”
“Have you looked around then? Her apartment or the places she frequented?” Jaemin asked, still in disbelief.
“I’ve been doing this job for centuries, Na Jaemin. I know what to do.”
Jaemin raised his hand in surrender, and whispered something about just wanting to remind him in case he forgot. “We can’t feel her soul in the underworld. As if it just vanished.”
Jaemin took a deep breath, finally understanding why Yuta had brought them here. “That’s why you think this isn’t a mere accident.”
Yuta nodded.
Jaemin’s phone started vibrating in his pocket. When he looked down at it, he saw a message from his husband saying the police were on the way to the crime scene.
Jaemin sighed. “We have to go,” Jaemin started. “The human police will be here soon.”
Yuta clicked his tongue as he shook his head. “Why do they keep meddling with things that don't concern them.”
Jaemin just smiled, placing a comforting hand on Yuta's arm. “She’s human after all,” he commented. “We’ll try to find something.”
Yuta nodded and then disappeared in his place.
Jaemin walked back towards Jeno and Renjun and told them it was time to leave.
✿✿✿
The train underneath Lee Donghyuck's feet rumbled. Startled, he opened his eyes. He turned to look outside the train and realized it was night time. Donghyuck had no recollection of riding a train or why he was there in the first place. Where was he headed?
He wasn't one to take the train. Besides, he lived in a small apartment above the office he was working in. He didn't really have a reason to stray. The last thing Donghyuck remembered was being in the office, waiting for Jeno, Jaemin and Renjun to come back from their field trip.
But Donghyuck must've been so tired that he hadn't realized he was on a train.
He looked around the inside of the train. There were barely any people. Only an old woman in front of him, and a drunk guy on the last compartment. It was night time— understandable why there were few people inside the train.
Still, Donghyuck felt uncomfortable.
He looked down at his hands. He had his phone and earphones and nothing else. Not knowing what to do, and wanting to ease his discomfort, he decided to listen to some music.
The train continued moving and not stopping making Donghyuck wonder how long this trip really was and where he was heading. He remembered the way to the office from the city center. If he was there and going home, or the opposite, there wouldn't be stops between each other that was this long.
But Donghyuck stayed in his seat. He wouldn't be able to do anything until the train stops anyway. There wouldn't be anywhere to go.
He found himself closing his eyes, finding it easier to forget whatever was around him. Maybe once he opened his eyes, he'll be at his stop already. Whether it was his stop or not, he was determined to get off at the next stop.
As soon as he closed his eyes though, the train stopped, abruptly, sending him forward. The lights turned off and they were surrounded by blackness. He hadn't even realized his earphones plugged out of his phone, and the an eerie sound started coming out of it. It wasn't his music; he didn't have anything like this.
He tried to feel his way around the darkness. Suddenly, the lights started flickering and what he saw made him fall on his feet. There was blood everywhere. What was strange was that he couldn't smell it.
But suddenly he could feel it pooling around his hands. He took a couple of deep breaths. He worked with the dead — he had seen the dead in spirit — this shouldn't be scaring him.
But it did, and that was worse. He looked down at his phone trying to dial his brother's number but his phone had stopped working. The lights flickered again and then came back on, blinding him. When his eyes adjusted, he realized that the two other passengers were dead.
A hooded figure was crouched down, leaning onto the drunk. Donghyuck found himself getting sick when he saw, in the hands of the hooded figure, what looked like human organs. He controlled a gag, only to let out a strained cough.
Suddenly the air started to chill. Donghyuck found himself backed into the corner, eyes closed. He kept them closed, hoping that wouldguard away whatever creature was inside the train.
When he heard nothing but silence, he slowly opened them.
In front of him — staring — was a man with two black holes on his face where the eyes should be and a sickening grin, his mouth dripping with blood.
Donghyuck found himself screaming.
✿✿✿
Donghyuck opened his eyes abruptly, looking around the place, helplessly. He released a sigh of relief realizing he was still in the office. He closed his eyes trying to remember what he had been doing before he had fallen asleep. The last thing he remembered was seeing Jaemin, Jeno and Renjun off after getting a head start from the informant about a body somewhere. He must’ve fallen asleep waiting for them to return. With only his ragged breath echoing throughout the space he realized that his co-workers weren’t back yet.
He continued taking in breaths, keeping his heart calm. It was all a bad dream — Donghyuck couldn’t even remember most of it. All he remembered was that he was on a train.
Not that he was awake though, it all made sense that it was a dream. Donghyuck couldn’t even remember the last time he ventured out of the general area of their office. Still, Donghyuck felt himself shiver remembering how scared he felt. Though he couldn't remember the dream anymore, he still remembered the feeling of fear.
He wiped a bead of sweat that rolled down from his forehead and started looking for something to drink. He walked towards their water dispenser and sighed. There was a note tacked on the wall beside it saying they ran out of water (obviously) and that water would be delivered that same day.
Groaning, Donghyuck grabbed his jacket and wallet and decided to get something to drink at the bakery on the first floor.
Once he was out of the office, he could already smell the bread wafting through the stairwell. He inhaled the scent, feeling his legs grow weak and his stomach grumbled. He definitely deserved to get something to eat too. Besides, if his three co-workers weren’t back yet despite the sun having risen already, then they’d probably not be back soon.
If Donghyuck was being honest, he absolutely loved the bread in Moon Shine Bakery — though he didn’t actually have much to compare it to. Whatever they put in their coffee and in their bread, Donghyuck was sure of one thing: it was always heavenly tasting.
When he opened the door of the bakery — the bell on top of the door ringing — the owner, Liu Yangyang, smiled to welcome him. As soon as he saw Donghyuck though, his face fell. His forehead creased in worry.
"Are you okay?" Yangyang asked as soon as Donghyuck took a seat in front of him on the counter.
"I had a very bad dream," Donghyuck answered.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Yangyang asked, grabbing an empty cup from the shelf and immediately poured Donghyuck coffee despite the latter not ordering anything.
He pushed it towards Donghyuck and the latter immediately cupped his hand around the cup to let his hands soak in the heat. He shook his head, looking down at the coffee. "I can't really remember it," he admitted.
Yangyang frowned — seemingly disappointed — though Donghyuck was too distracted to notice. Yangyang grabbed a plate from the shelf and removed a slice of cake from one of the display stands, putting it beside Donghyuck's cup of coffee.
"Eat then," he said with a smile. "You'll feel better."
Donghyuck smiled, looking at the piece of cake. Yangyang let him eat as he prepared other things around the bakery.
When Yangyang moved into the empty room in the first floor of their building, and started the bakery, he never really opened early. But most of his customers ended up being those who returned from night shift and was about to go home — just grabbing a cup of coffee on the way. Because of that, he ended up opening the bakery earlier than usual despite him living far away. Though Donghyuck didn't actually know where he lived.
But Donghyuck was glad for Yangyang's presence.
The whole building was owned by Jaemin — something he had inherited from his parents when they died. There were four floors. The bakery and Renjun’s lab occupied the first floor (though you could say that the lab was a separate building in itself attached to the back of the main building), the office on the second floor, Jeno and Donghyuck’s, and Renjun's apartment on the third and Jaemin's apartment, who he shared with his husband, Mark Lee, on the fourth. Because of that, whenever Jeno, Renjun and Jaemin were away for field investigations, Donghyuck wouldn't have someone to talk to.
He wasn’t particularly close to Mark Lee, and the latter was also always away for work so Donghyuck only really had Yangyang.
When Yangyang turned the first floor into a bakery, Donghyuck found himself being there everyday. He liked what he did in the office, but without anyone present, he often felt lonely. Yangyang was good company and he worked alone as well.
Instead of just benefitting from it, Donghyuck thought that maybe Yangyang might want some company as well.
"Did you always work alone?" Donghyuck asked, finishing most of his slice of cake.
"I used to work in a cafe in the city center," Yangyang answered, wiping the counter clean. "But I had a fight with the owners so I decided to just start my own business away from the center."
"Was the coffee there not good?" Donghyuck teased.
Yangyang grinned. "You can say that."
Donghyuck smiled, appreciating Yangyang for riding on with his joke. He emptied his cup of coffee just as the door opened — the bell ringing.
Yangyang perked up at the customer making Donghyuck turn to see who it was. It was an old man, his eyes looking tired. His clothes were a little caked with mud. Donghyuck wondered where this man had been.
"Is your shift over, sir?" Yangyang asked, distracting Donghyuck from his thoughts.
"It is," the man said, sitting down at the other end of the counter. "I can't wait to get home."
Yangyang placed a newspaper in front of an old man and a cup of coffee. When he walked towards Donghyuck again, the latter asked. "Who is he?"
"He's the grave-digger at the local cemetery," Yangyang answered. "He comes in everyday for coffee before he goes home."
Donghyuck shivered. "That's a scary job."
He turned towards the window and saw his brother, Renjun, and Jaemin walking past. He stood up, planning to leave. Distracted, he didn't hear Yangyang ask, "Are you scared of ghosts, Lee Donghyuck?"
"What?" Donghyuck asked realizing Yangyang was talking to him.
"Nothing," Yangyang said. Donghyuck looked at him curiously but Yangyang smiled, and suddenly Donghyuck forgot why he was curious in the first place. "See you later," Yangyang muttered.
Donghyuck nodded, rushing out and running towards the office before his brother could pester him about where he was.
✿✿✿
When Donghyuck got to the office, Renjun was already printing the photos of the scene and taping them on the glass board. Jaemin was outside on the veranda receiving a call, while his brother seemed to be in the bathroom.
Donghyuck approached Renjun and looked at the pictures. He didn’t ask about the case though. Instead, he asked about his brother.
“Jeno’s cleaning his shoes in the bathroom,” Renjun said, his tone seemingly uninterested though Donghyuck knew better. He grimaced, but didn’t push the issue further. Besides, none of them had slept yet (aside from Donghyuck) and teasing Renjun might just backfire on him.
“So what do we have?” Donghyuck started.
Just then, Jeno came out of the bathroom, slippers on and placed his shoes on the veranda.
“A dead girl,” he answered.
Donghyuck scoffed. “I can see that.”
Donghyuck turned back to Renjun seeing the latter roll his eyes. “Jeno thinks she jumped,” Renjun commented. “I think someone pushed her.”
Donghyuck stared at the photos of the dead girl while Renjun continued printing and pasting photos, while Jeno started writing down the information on the glass board.
From the way her body was positioned, back facing the sky and face planted on the ground it did look like she was pushed. Whenever suicide victims killed themselves by jumping off a large height, they’d often let themselves fall — rather than jumping — pushing themselves back and letting gravity take over. Some, who did jump, would jump face forward but would place their hands in front of them just before they hit the ground — a flight response.
Neither of those scenarios was seen in the pictures Donghyuck was looking at which meant she was likely pushed, or she was placed there like that. Since Donghyuck wasn’t there, he wouldn’t know if she was pushed or placed. Besides, the ground would look different in those two cases.
“Can we go back to the crime scene?” Donghyuck asked when he saw Jaemin walking back to the office, closing the veranda door behind him.
Jaemin nodded. “In an hour,” Jaemin answered. “Mark would be there though or else you won’t be allowed near the scene at all.”
“Am I allowed to finally gather evidence?” Renjun asked.
Jaemin nodded. “Just not too much to ruin the scene.”
Renjun grumbled but taped the last photo on the wall before saying, “Let’s have breakfast first.”
He removed his phone from his pocket, and hastily scrolled through something.
“Have you had breakfast?” he asked Donghyuck.
“Just bread and coffee,” Donghyuck answered.
Renjun snickered. “That’s not a proper breakfast.”
“He’s been advertising this cafe he tried recently,” Jeno said, turning to his brother with a grin. He turned his attention to Renjun and grimaced. The latter snickered before showing Donghyuck the menu. “They have a really good breakfast menu.”
Donghyuck smiled, “I’d have a breakfast sandwich.”
“English Breakfast for me,” Jeno called.
“The tea?” Renjun teased.
Jeno smiled at him sweetly before rolling his eyes at Renjun hoping Renjun got the message.
“I absolute hate him,” Renjun muttered under his breath which Donghyuck just laughed at. The former noted Jaemin’s order before putting away his phone, walking towards his desk to get some work done.
Donghyuck stayed staring at the board trying to process the whole thing as they waited for the food to arrive.
The food arrived half an hour later with none of them having any thing to add to the case. Even with Jaemin telling them that Mark had promised he’d tell them something, they were still lost on where to start.
Renjun immediately ran towards the door excited to finally eat. Donghyuck and Jeno turned the glass board towards the wall to prevent whoever was delivering food to see anything about the case. "Maybe we'll be able to think once we had food," Jeno commented walking towards the meeting table — turned dining table because they haven't really used it for meetings in a while.
"Hopefully," Donghyuck answered, throwing his pen on the table and following Jeno to the table.
A man walked into the office following Renjun who was busy telling him how much he loved their food.
"We're glad you've been enjoying our food," he said. "We're always working on improving."
Donghyuck eyed the man curiously. His response sounded somewhat robotic — like he had been practicing to say it. Though maybe he had been. Maybe this was something they were asked a lot and he already had a script on how to answer it.
Renjun, though, continued barraging him on some of the things they might work on. Jaemin sighed at Renjun, turning his attention towards Donghyuck instead who just shrugged, removing the weird thoughts in his mind, and smiled — as if saying they should've been used to Renjun by now. It's been eight years since they've known each other anyway.
After setting up the food and accepting the payment from Renjun, the man removed a card from his back pocket. "Next time you'll order, we'd appreciate if you ordered from us directly," he said. "Delivery apps have additional costs."
Jaemin took the card, noticing a scent wafting from it. He inhaled the scent and snickered. "It smells somewhat like cinnamon," he commented, putting the card on the table.
Donghyuck picked up the card to read the contents. It had the name of the cafe, "The Lotus Flower Cafe" with the names Xiao Dejun and Huang Hendery below it. The number of the cafe, and their respective numbers were also written underneath.
The delivery man took one last bow towards the four before they eventually left.
Renjun pulled the card away from Donghyuck’s hands and tacked it on their corkboard so that he could easily see it the next time they ordered.
"Let's eat," Renjun said sitting down in front of Donghyuck. "Don't forget to tell me what you think so I can leave a review on the website."
✿✿✿
After eating, Jaemin informed them that they can visit the crime scene again. Renjun and Donghyuck immediately prepared to leave, with Jeno and Jaemin staying in the office.
Mark was nowhere to be found when they arrived at the crime scene though his car was parked nearby. The two of them ignored his absence and walked towards the bridge. They stayed above the bridge, looking at the crime scene down below.
“Do you think we could take everything?” Renjun asked.
“Mark lives just above us,” Donghyuck warned. “He’ll have your head once he finds out.”
Renjun sighed. “That’s true,” he said, wearing the camera over his head.
There was a police line around the crime scene and the body was gone — which was better for Donghyuck cause he could actually understand the whole crime scene better.
“Are you going down?” Renjun asked.
Donghyuck shook his head. “Maybe later,” he said.
He stayed at the top of the bridge just looking at the crime scene — trying to formulate the what ifs. She wasn’t pushed — at least that was clear. The ground where she had lain didn’t look too disturbed for someone who had fallen the height of the bridge. She wasn’t placed either because from where Donghyuck was standing, there was only one pair of footprints. Donghyuck assumed it was the victims.
If that was the case, the only logical thing Donghyuck could think of was she lied down here herself.
He groaned, because it didn’t make sense.
“It’s strange, isn’t it?”
Donghyuck jumped and turned to where the voice was and saw an old woman standing beside him. He shivered, suddenly remembering the dream he had earlier. It wasn’t the same old woman — though he couldn’t really remember — but she gave out the same vibes which made Donghyuck cautious.
“Who are you?”
The old woman just smiled but didn’t answer. Instead, she said, “She wasn’t killed by a human.”
Donghyuck raised his brow. That bit was obvious if they were investigating it. But Donghyuck still had doubts.
“How do you know that?”
“I saw it myself,” the old woman commented.
Donghyuck abruptly stared at her, surprised. “What did you see?”
"She came at the dead of the night."
"Was anyone with her?"
The old woman shook her head. "She was alone. Sleeping."
"Sleeping?"
"Sleepwalking," she corrected. "I watched her from afar as she laid herself underneath the bridge. Soon enough, she was dead."
"Just like that?" Donghyuck questioned.
"Just like that," she repeated to prove her point.
"But why would you think she was killed by something?" Donghyuck asked still confused. The old woman smiled — tiredness etched on her face. "You are thinking it aren't you? Why would she lay down here by herself. If she wanted to die there are other means, not like this."
Despite still feeling like this was a suicide, Donghyuck didn't push further. The old woman looked insistent and sure of herself. She wasn’t killed by a human then how did she die?
Donghyuck turned back to where the woman was and was surprised to not see anyone, instead Mark Lee was walking towards him instead.
“Are you okay?” Mark asked.
“Did you see an old woman?” Donghyuck asked instead of answering.
The older man looked at Donghyuck curiously and shook his head. “I only saw you.”
Donghyuck just sighed, not explaining further. Whatever he saw, whether it was real or not, the words stayed in his head. He kept thinking about it until Renjun returned and told him they should head back.
Even when he arrived back at the office, he still remembered the words. Jeno and Jaemin had gone to meet the deceased childhood friend and Renjun decided to start experimenting on the evidence in his lab.
That left Donghyuck in the office.
It annoyed him that he didn’t understand it. He wrote down beside the notes that Jeno had written in the glass board what the old woman told him. Though they did follow the legal procedures of the Living Realm, they weren’t as strict when it came to gathering evidences. Wherever they could get evidence — whether word of mouth or something supernatural — they’d take it.
Besides, they were dealing with the supernatural, sometimes to gather evidences through strange ways was the best.
“She lied down there herself?” Donghyuck muttered. “And she was sleepwalking.”
Donghyuck wrote Dream at the edge of the board and encircled it not knowing if it was important. He had never encountered someone actually dying in their sleep. For all Donghyuck knew, that was just a saying for those who never woke up again the next morning.
Sighing, Donghyuck tried to recall anything else from the scene, removing his mind from what the old lady had said.
Apart from the position of the body, Donghyuck remembered something else.
He remembered a very strong smell, though it was masked with the smell of the ground and the rain. Donghyuck wouldn’t have noticed it at first — it smelled almost earthy — but it also smelled of something else. A smell that Donghyuck was sure wasn’t supposed to be in that kind of place. It was spicy, and somewhat enticing.
Something that Donghyuck had only smelled in the city.
The place awfully smelled like coffee.
✿✿✿
Jeno and Jaemin met a young man named Kim Jungwoo who was the victim’s neighbor and childhood friend.
“It’s strange to think that Hyerim would die like that," Jungwoo said, after a few rounds of questions. Despite them asking about all the possible things, neither Jeno and Jaemin actually got anything out of it. It was only pointing at what they already knew — and probably concluded.
It wasn't a murder.
The only thing they were able to get though was her name and her family background: Yoo Hyerim, 22 years of age, didn’t have any surviving family members apart from an aunt who she was living with.
“Was she feeling well the past few days?” Jaemin asked putting down his cup of tea.
Jungwoo grimaced. “She was in the best state I’ve seen her,” he said.
“She was talking about our hometown so much, she even mentioned the mountains we used to camp in.”
This piqued both Jeno and Jaemin’s interest and they stared at the man curiously.
“What did you say?” Jaemin asked.
“When we were children our parents would always bring us to the mountains,” he started. “There was this clearing — beside a river — and we would always set up camp there.”
Jungwoo smiled as he recalled the memory. “Just a few days ago she was telling me that she kept of dreaming about the mountains again, how it would be nice to just go back there to escape the rush of the city, and lie down by the river again.”
Jeno and Jaemin stared at each other. They both looked distraught — not sure how to process this information. It was like a puzzle — they were just thrown a thousand more pieces when they hadn’t even managed to solve the borders.
They bid farewell to Jungwoo a few minutes later, having nothing else to ask.
As they were walking out, Jeno muttered, “She died the same way as her dreams?”
“Looks like it?”
“Can you even kill someone through their dreams?”
“I have no idea.”
✿✿✿
As they were walking back to the office, Jaemin noticed a familiar man standing at the bottom of the stairway. Jeno rushed past him — obviously unaware that he was there. The man started walking away slowly, at a pace which Jaemin could follow.
Jaemin called that he’d be up in a minute and started following the man.
“If you wanted to give me answers, Yuta, you could just, you know,” Jaemin gestured around him, “Fax me or something.”
Yuta stared at Jaemin confused. “We do not have human devices in the underworld.”
Jaemin could only laugh.
“Have you figured it out yet?” Yuta suddenly asked.
“She was killed while she was asleep?” Jaemin commented, though still unsure.
Yuta nodded, slowly, as if he wasn’t sure either. “It’s not a 100% clear but that’s what we in the underworld have gathered as well.”
“Is it possible?” Jaemin asked. “To kill someone in their dreams?”
“Possible, yes,” Yuta confirmed. “But extremely difficult.”
“What do you mean?”
“You’d have to be a very powerful spirit,” Yuta started. “And your host must be in their most vulnerable. That’s what makes it difficult.”
“Because if they woke up in the middle of the dream then nothing will happen,” Jaemin muttered, in realization.
Jaemin sighed, a question he dreaded to ask on the tip of his tongue. “So how do we catch this spirit?”
Yuta shrugged. “You can’t,” he admitted. “Not unless they leave something behind.”
Jaemin found himself dizzy and his head aching, watching the Guardian of the Underworld vanish in front of him.
✿✿✿
Jaemin was still awake when Mark got home despite it being past 1 in the morning. He was on the bed, glasses on, and looking at the notes from the earlier case.
“What’s that?” Mark asked, jumping on the bed and looking over Jaemin’s shoulder, after he finished changing for the night. He read through the case file and realized it had been the same case they were given that day, only this time Mark had this case closed.
“We classified that case as an accident — death by hypothermia,” Mark said.
Jaemin sighed. “It’s looking like it. Yuta says it isn’t.”
Mark hadn’t seen Yuta. He was just another name to the many people — or spirits — Jaemin had met. Though it often bothered him, he actually liked not seeing things Jaemin saw.
He wasn’t as brave as his husband. Having the ability to see spirits would’ve killed him.
“Don’t let that keep you up all night,” Mark said, his voice quaking in worry. He kissed Jaemin’s shoulder before lying down on the bed, turning off the light on his side of the bed.
Jaemin sighed, putting down his notes and turning off his lights as well.
✿✿✿
At the other side of town, at an almost empty mansion, a black figure enveloped a room, removing whatever light that was reflected through the walls. A shrilling sound echoed throughout the hallways — like what you'd hear in the movies to indicate something was coming.
Inside a room, a young girl lay still. Eyes closed, serene-looking, and dead.