The Next Life (다음 생에 만날래)

The Sacrifice

"I found this." Seulgi had been scrolling through her phone for the past half hour since we got back to my place. "Kim Sunwoo was a student who died in a car crash a few years back. He was in the car with his younger sister, Kim Sunyoung, who was driving when a truck driver ran light and slammed into the side of their car. Specifically Sunwoo's side. It was ruled the truck driver's fault for losing concentration."

"What happened to his sister?" Joohyun asked.

"It says that she survived, but that's as far as the article goes."

"I think I found her," Wendy chimed in, grabbing the others' attention. She turned her phone to show us the screen, which displayed the Instagram profile of a young woman with a considerable number of followers. "It took a while, but I managed to narrow it down between the other Sunyoungs." She scrolled through the profile and clicked on a picture of the girl and a slightly older man. "This is him, right?" she asked me.

The man had large eyes which stood out on his small face, and a smile which resembled the one I'd seen earlier.

"Yep, that's him."

"Her last post was last year," Wendy said, looking at the profile. "Nothing but a black and white picture of a flower. Before that, nothing since December 6th 2017."

"That's the day of the accident, according to the article," Seulgi said.

"So we got the girl," Wendy said. "Problem is, how do we give her the note without seeming creepy?"

After Sunwoo had left the bedroom back at the abandoned house, I'd looked in the master bedroom as promised. Sure enough, there sat a chest of drawers, and in the first drawer was a folded piece of paper waiting for me atop a battered cardboard box. Upon inspection, it clearly had the logo of a hospital on it. I kept the folded note in the pocket of my blue sweater, where it now remained.

"I'll take care of it," Joohyun offered. "Let me reach out to her." There was a certain... urgency to her tone. Like this was something she needed to do, for whatever reason.

"Without discussing first?" Wendy questioned.

"Just send me her profile."

"We should at least–"

"Unnie," Yerim cut in, placing a hand on Wendy's arm. She shook her head subtly as her eyes told Wendy to drop it and let her cousin take the responsibility. Oddly out of character for her, I thought to myself, but quickly brushed it off.

Once that was settled, the members of Red Velvet began to relax in our living room, no longer discussing our earlier investigation. As Wendy went to sit next to Joohyun to help her reach out to Sunyoung, Yerim filled her spot on the couch next to me.

"Oppa, are you sure you're okay?" Now she seemed like herself again. "Seulgi and I were so scared when the door just slammed shut like that."

"I'm fine, Yerim," I reassured her. "I talked to the ghost and things were settled."

"So it's true." Her voice filled with excitement. "You really can see ghosts."

"What, you doubted?"

She shook her head in horror. "N– no, of course not, oppa. I would never."

"Kidding."

Pouting, she changed the topic. "How long have you been able to see them?"

"As long as I can remember." I shrugged. "Not sure if I was born with it, or cursed, or whatever."

She nodded her head in understanding. Her eyes darted around the room, shaking her legs lightly as they dangled off the couch. She pursed her lips as though racking her brain to come up with a follow-up to keep the conversation going. In the moment of awkwardness, my eyes found Sooyoung's gaze for a brief moment before she looked down, twiddling her thumbs. She reminded me of a dog who was just scolded for nipping at its owner. Like she wanted to say something.