𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐬 | 𝐚 𝐭𝐱𝐭 × 𝐢𝐭𝐳𝐲 𝐟𝐚𝐧𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧

seven - ominous manifesto

ominous manifesto

"i'm sorry, guys. i want absolutely nothing to do with this." lia shrinked under the watchful eyes of yeonjun and soobin as she rejected them, especially him for the second time.

"we know. you probably find clubs a waste of time and would rather you do chores and study your ass off like every other kid in seoul but, sorry, you can't do that," said yeonjun, a hint of sarcasm laced in his voice.

lia narrowed her eyes, darting between the two boys in confusion. she asked with a laugh, "why not?"

this time, soobin was the one to explain. he stated with tired eyes, "because the entity specifically states that it wants you."

"huh?" lia blinked. who wants who?

more importantly, why?

"yeah. believe it or not, it's next victim is you—i mean, you're in the list but we can't exactly say when it'll come for you. you could be second or third on its rooster but worry not, dear lia. the reason why we've forced you into our club is to protect you," said yeonjun, smiling.

"o…kay. that's comforting." it was not. "so when are you guys gonna leave?"

lia felt ominous, and a little freaked out. yeonjun was too enthusiastic about the topic of dead people and ghosts while soobin… was just soobin. also because her mother said she would be home by two and the hour hand was ticking closer towards the number by the minute. she did not want her mother to come home and find her with boys, especially if they were sons of her favourite customers. her mother would never let her breathe normally again.

soobin raised his hand and checked his wristwatch. "it's time for us to go." turning to yeonjun, he said, "i need to pick up a white suit. let's go?"

"okay. i had a good time, lia, and i really hope you'll seriously take into consideration what i- we told you today. we're not playing around, lia. plus, we also need feminine brain power to help us."

yeonjun smiled tentatively as he left with soobin. they waved a taxi just right outside her shop and went away leaving behind a stunned, frozen lia in the door.

okay. what the fuck just happened?

she ran back inside, circling the room as her face creased into a frown whilst her head was deep in thought.

a ghost is trying to kill me? why? what? as far i'm concerned, i'm not depressed and neither am i engaged in bad behaviour or consuming bad things. so why me?

when at that moment…

lia~

she snapped her head as if she was trying to break her neck, a horrified look plastered on her face.

did someone just- my name?

lia~

again!

hehehe~

"oh, shit!" when she realised she wasn't hallucinating but was actually hearing things, she jumped from the ground and sprinted out to the backyard. her chest heaving up and down, gasping for some string of rationality as her wide eyes looked back at the shop with horror.

"wha-what- what the hell!" she broke out into a swearing mess. "what the hell was that?! oh, my god! i'm losing my mind," and concluded that she was going insane, "i'm hearing things now. oh, lord. i'm going crazy. i'm going crazy!"

"lia?"

"AAAHH!" she screamed when a hand landed on her shoulders and a voice called her name. but on turning around, she realised she was staring at her mother. "m-mom?"

mrs. choi first took in the sight of her horrified daughter, worry instantly kicking in. "what's wrong? lia, what's wrong?"

"nothing. nothing. i was just… i was just freaking myself out."

her mother bought it immediately, which was a surprise. "it's because you watch those darn horror movies. i told you those aren't good for your head, never watch them again, alright?"

lia crooked the end of her lips, it was supposed to look like a smile. "alright, mom. i won't watch them ever again." never again.

her mother nodded and brought her inside, however, the horror still lingered. she glanced at the shop, then upstairs, an ominous feeling creeping in. upon having made up her mind, she shook her mother's hands off as she said, "mom, i need to go shop for a white dress."

"a white dress?" her mother frowned.

"yeah. hwang yeji, you know, the daughter of that family who runs the resorts? she invited me to her parents' anniversary party. the dresscode is white and i don't have any white dress," she explained.

mrs. choi's face finally lit up. "of course, dear. you can take my card, and buy a pair of new shoes too, okay?"

"okay," she bopped her head.

she quickly ran inside her room, grabbed her bag and went out, promising her mom that she would return by four. the first place she went to was choi yeonjun's house. she wanted to visit the clothing store and be done with the dress but yeonjun's house was on her way and eventually, she found herself standing before his gate.

"who is it?" a voice inquired in the intercom.

"this is choi lia, i'd like to speak with choi yeonjun."

"please wait a moment."

moments passed with utter silence, just as lia thought she needed to explain herself more to the intercom, it spoke again. "please come in, miss."

the gate unlocked itself upon the voice's words.

the house was as expected of a rich family; the front lawn was kempt and mowed, the elevation was neat, the flowers… lia recognised some of them were from her mother's shop. but she wasn't here to talk about flowers.

a dainty maid opened the front door for her. she bowed politely, and as she did she caught sight of soobin looking up from a magazine in the living room.

just then, stomping down the stairs hurriedly was yeonjun. "lia! surprised to see you so quickly!" but when he saw her anxious face, his grin fell. "what's wrong?"

soobin kept his magazine aside too, frowning as he got up. yeonjun stood before her, asking again, "what's wrong? what happened?"

the words coiled at her throat but she couldn't find the voice to speak them aloud. after a period of choked gasps, fear and courage, she finally said aloud, "i heard it."

"what?"

"whatever it was, it spoke to me and… i'm too afraid to go alone." she meant shopping. that she was afraid to go shopping alone, or be alone in general. a fearful thought in her head believed the voice would speak to her, haunt her again if she was alone.

"so let's go together," said soobin. the other two whipped their heads at him. yeonjun was surprised because he didn't expect such words to come out of his aloof friend's mouth. but soobin was dead serious. "let's go together, i doubt it would recklessly try to reach you if you're with us. i mean, it hates us but it would never try anything funny on us, not after everything we did to it."

lia couldn't help but ponder what exactly did they do to the entity for it to fear the boys but she decided to question them later on a much better circumstances. "thank you." it was almost a whisper but regardless, he heard it and acknowledged her with a nod.

the air was getting awkward, so yeonjun decided to do something about it.

"okay! this means we're going shopping! i'll get my phone so we can go," he said as he sprinted back upstairs.