Friend {SoonHoon}

three

Jihoon slammed his head down on the desk and let the throbbing pain comfort him. He was predictably getting nowhere with Soonyoung. He needed to help him so he could get him out of his life for good and the ghost didn't seem to want to cooperate. 

"Okay," Jihoon began as he lifted his head. "Let's go with something easier." He had to. His last ten questions either had no answers or strange ones. It seemed they would have to go back to the basics.

"How did you die?' He asked calmly.

Soonyoung seemed to perk up at the easy question he could answer. "Asthma attack. Crummy way to go, but here I am."

"Okay, can you think of any unfinished business you might have?"

Soonyoung thought for a moment. "I wanted to lead my own dance crew, but it wasn't that big of a deal either." He finally shook his head. "Nah. I don't have any unfinished business."

Jihoon was starting to get aggravated once more. Did this ghost really want help or did he just want to annoy Jihoon?

"Okay, so if you know how you died and why, and you don't have any unfinished business, then why are you still here?" He asked.

"I don't know! I've tried so many times to move on. I've tried every ritual, every shaman, but I never leave. I'm stuck here and I have no idea why." He explained. "Every time I feel like I'm able to go, there's some odd force pulling me back."

Jihoon softened a bit. It was indeed an odd situation. Usually, accidental deaths or self-aware spirits moved on rather quickly with little to no problem. He had dealt with a few cases of ghosts who couldn't remember how they died, but once they recalled all the details, they were able to move on. However, Soonyoung knew how he died. He should have been able to move on. So, that left one other possibility. He eyed the spirit.

"I had a case like this only one other time. The spirit thought she knew how she died and couldn't think of any unfinished business, however, just like you, she couldn't move on."

"So what was wrong with her?" Soonyoung asked, sounding serious for once.

"It turns out she was murdered."

Soonyoung instantly scoffed. "I couldn't have been murdered. I had a simple asthma attack. That's it." His voice was full of disbelief, which Jihoon expected. It was a lot to take in.

Jihoon shrugged. "Don't asthmatics usually keep their inhalers handy in case of emergencies? Where was yours?" He questioned.

"I was clumsy and messy! I used to lose things all the time!" The ghost exclaimed, trying to defend himself.

"If you say so."

The usually cheerful ghost now wore an angry expression. Jihoon jumped a bit when noticed the lights in his apartment blinking rapidly. It seemed Soonyoung wasn't lying about being more powerful than the average ghost. That kind of power usually came from pent-up rage, further proving Jihoon's theory. Deep down, Soonyoung had to know something was wrong. He was just confused and in denial. It was something Jihoon often saw in cases such as this one.

"Calm down!" Jihoon ordered, "I'm sorry." The last thing he needed was an angry ghost raising his already high electric bill.

Slowly the lights stopped flickering and they returned to their normal brightness. Jihoon sighed in relief. It seemed he had to be careful how he approached the topic of Soonyoung's death in the future. He didn't want a repeat of the lights or something worse. Soonyoung's expression of anger had shifted to one of slight annoyance.

"Murder by asthma. You're ridiculous." He scoffed.

Jihoon wanted to retaliate, but instead, he kept quiet in fear of angering the ghost again. He got up and headed to his room. Curious, Soonyoung followed closely behind. When he saw Jihoon grabbing his laptop, he scoffed.