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

30. Denial or Acceptance

Heesung slumped down. Jake let out a small breath to try and calm himself. Perhaps it was all just boredom that had made them think that.
Of course it wouldn't have been anything big. If it were, the other members would've been freaking out, but it seemed to not be the case.

Not yet for them, at least.
With life as a hunter, anything would change at any given time.
It was just a matter of when.

...

Time: 13:24, October 22

She could still hear her, feel her presence within. Her skin prickled with an uncanny feeling of fear yet of longing at the same time. It was like two parts of her were being pulled apart by strings, slowly and slowly.

"My sacrifice was given to you, Eunchae. I can't express to you how much I regret it."

Garam was sitting at the pale grey table again, staring at her disappointedly.
Eunchae shook her head.
"You're not real. You're not."

She could see the corner of Garam's eye twitch in frustration.
"Such a waste, don't you think? A stronger, more agile and more useful hunter, sacrificing herself for a puny, young, weak girl like you? So much for being a friend. A true one wouldn't let their friend die, like what you did. If we weigh the odds, it should've been you who died that day. And I could've gotten out... alive. But no, you had to timely pass out and lead me to my untimely death."

The words cut through Eunchae's guilt like spikes. She herself already couldn't forgive for what had happened. Even worse when an apparition looking just like Garam kept telling her that Garam's sacrifice was useless.

The apparition stood up from the table, and stood, staring at her blankly.

This, for some reason, shook Eunchae even more than when she had been speaking. The gaze gave her an uneasy and eerie feeling which she couldn't shake off.

Garam spoke to her in a mellow, empty voice: "Eunchae... I bring a new meaning to it, don't I? 'Ghosts of the past'. Only, I wouldn't have been a ghost if it weren't for you."

Eunchae slammed her hands down on the table.
"STOP IT! YOU'RE NOT GARAM! YOU WILL NEVER BE LIKE HER!!!" She screeched.

But Garam just stared at her with unchanged eyes.
"What's it with you and denial? It seems like you meet on a daily basis. Or, perhaps, it's the feeling of regret?"

Regret.
It rung in her mind.
Regret had haunted her. Everything about Garam had given her made her feel a deep sense of regret.
Hence why she'd never walked foot in Garam's room ever since the day of her death.

"You're a fearful child, Eunchae. Acting upon the weak side of you mortal's nature. Perhaps it's best for you to give up your strength, to give into your regret... instead of living with the fear of it every day." Garam snarled, her eyes turning a soulless black.

Eunchae took a few paces away, weary.

Garam smiled.
"I don't need to look like your dear friend Garam to prove my point to you; give up, Eunchae. Accept yourself for who you are, a weak, regretful mortal,"

She stood forwards, her face leaning right over the table, staring at Eunchae with an uncanny grin stretching from one ear to another. Her teeth were like fangs, inhuman and sharp.
She spoke through her teeth;
"All you need to do... is accept."

She held out her hand, now a black and devilish claw, with the knife-like talons and veins filled with dark blood prominent under her skin.

The spirit wanted Eunchae's hand in hand. It would seal the devil's deal.
It called out to her like a siren, blaring over anything and everything. As much as she wanted to deny it, it shone out like gold to her, glinting feverishly.