Friend {SoonHoon}

twelve

"So, not only do you hold guilt about what happened to your friend, but you were murdered and it was wrongly reported as a suicide?" Jihoon asked as he tried to process everything.

Soonyoung had finally convinced Chan to go to Jihoon and after some research, the younger told them everything. As he listened to his story, Soonyoung felt his heart breaking into a million pieces. He was so young and for people to have played with his emotions just to kill him angered him more than anything. However, he stayed calm. He didn't want to cause Jihoon a power outage and risk scaring Chan. Besides, he knew Jihoon could bring Chan to justice.

Chan nodded slowly in reply. "I have no idea how to solve any of it, though. That's why I'm stuck." He admitted. "It's not like I can go up to Seungkwan and apologize. Besides, even if I was alive, I doubt he would want to hear it." He concluded sadly.

Jihoon sighed but gave the young ghost a kind smile. "Don't worry, that's what I'm here for. I'll figure it out." He promised.

"What about the guys who murdered me?" Chan asked. "That's even more impossible."

Before Jihoon could reply, Soonyoung stepped in. "Jihoon is the best. He'll figure it out, as promised. I wouldn't have brought you here if I didn't believe that." He reassured softly.

Jihoon's cheek turned pink at Soonyoung's sudden praise, but he recovered quickly with a clearing of his throat. He opened a drawer of his desk and pulled out an ID card, placing it on the desk.

"I haven't had the chance to use this one yet." He said seeming rather excited.

"What is it?" Chan asked.

Jihoon held it up proudly. "One of fifty aliases, Moon Jaesun, a private investigator."

"You have a fake ID?" Soonyoung asked disbelief.

Jihoon's proud expression dissolved into disappointment at Soonyoung's clear disapproval.

"Listen, I've been doing this for years. You can't just go up to people and tell them that you see ghosts. They'll most likely have you arrested on the spot or run away. I have to do this skillfully and in case it all goes wrong, it's best not to use my actual name." He explained.

Soonyoung wasn't fond of the method, but he had to admit it was solid reasoning. "Fair enough." He muttered.

"If it'll help me move on, then I don't care what you do," Chan replied.

Jihoon pointed to him. "See, he gets it."

Soonyoung rolled his eyes. "Whatever, so what are we doing?"

"We talk to our only reliable witness, Seungkwan." 

*

"You know, maybe when we find him, you should let me do the talking." Soonyoung started as he and Chan followed Jihoon around the campus.

Jihoon looked around for anyone in earshot before replying. "You're dead, remember? He won't be able to hear you." He pointed out.

Soonyoung sighed in exasperation. "Thank you for that reminder. I was wondering why I could suddenly walk through walls and felt cold all the time." He snapped. "What I meant was that you could repeat after me."

"Why would I do that?"

"Well, you seem to lack social skills. Your only friends are an editor and a couple of ghosts. Not to mention, almost all of your conversations with Wonwoo have made me cringe. I just feel like it would be best to have a more experienced person doing this. I mean, I had a lot of friends when I was alive."

"And how did that work out for you?" Jihoon retaliated without thinking.

As soon as the words left his mouth, he regretted them. Even more so when Soonyoung's playful expression fell and was replaced with a saddened one. Jihoon cleared his throat and tried to retract his words and thoughts.