HUNTERS || ENHA/LSFM || - A K-pop Ghost Hunting Story

9. Close Call

Sunghoon raised his glass.
He silently dedicated his toast to Garam, and that nobody else would have their lives cut short like hers.
He also wanted to raise his glass to Eunchae, that she would finally overcome her feelings, and return back to them as normal.
Sunghoon dedicated his toast to the group.
That they would stay together as one.

"Cheers."

...

Time: 20:58, October 18

"Latte was definitely a great choice before bed..." Yunjin mumbled, rubbing her stomach.

Sunghoon nodded.
The latte was great, yet he thought that the timing was a little bit unethical, as it was already the evening, and each of them needed sleep.
Latte was not going to help with that at all.

Each of the other members had already said their goodnights, and were already in their rooms.
Yunjin was about to leave too.
"Sunghoon, get some rest. Who knows? You could be in the middle of a dream, and then, poof, you've suddenly got to get up and rush out to fight a spirit. So, stay alert, and cherish every second you get to sleep."

Sunghoon chuckled, and waved to bade her goodnight.
She also let out a laugh, and disappeared through her door.

Sunghoon returned to the mattress in the corner of the room, under the circular skylight window, collapsing onto it in relief.
He was very weary from the experiences of the day.

But he still had energy. Must've been the latte.
So he kept himself entertained, pondering his thoughts clumped in his mind.
He had a lot of questions; starting with Eunchae.

Sunghoon wondered how she was doing.
He took a quick glance at her door, squinting through the darkness. It was still closed, and the vanilla latte was still sat outside her door, lonely and untouched.
He sighed.
She was probably still having a rough time.

He thought about Eunchae, and Garam. He wanted to know about their bond, how close the two really were.
But he knew that it would probably be better for him to scrap that idea. There was no way he would have the chance to ask about Eunchae, for it would be too sensitive of a topic to talk about.

He tried brainstorming, giving himself a different topic to think about, as long as the caffeine was in his system.

Then, he tapped his head.
"Eureka..." he mumbled.

He would think about those two strangers they met earlier.
Starting with their conversation at the cafe.

He pieced together bits that he had heard.

"...they don't have this in Japan."

Perhaps, he thought, one of them was from Japan, or even all of them were.

"... he'd love this... they should've come."

Maybe there was more of them.

"...died..."

Something must've happened, but he wasn't sure what. However, Sunghoon knew it couldn't have been something good.

They were a group, perhaps foreign, and there was an event that someone or something died in.
Sunghoon put his hands to his face. All the thinking didn't get him much farther than he started with.
But it did get him tired, at least.

He could already feel the caffeine wearing off, making him increasingly more and more dreary. Sunghoon sunk farther down into the mattress, finally feeling comfortable and able to relax his mind.
The thoughts stopped racing around his head, and instead slowed down and formed into one mushy blob.
And his body sent him into a much needed rest.