Case: Ghost

The Woods

Kyungsoo, Chanyeol, and Baekhyun returned to the police department on Friday, after solving the Alpha Killer/arson case with the fire department. Kyungsoo relished the fact that he had managed to finish his paperwork in time to run off and join Baekhyun when they called for backup. He had the honor of finishing off the Alpha Killer himself. The smile was still stuck to Kyungsoo's face.
Chanyeol was just happy for him. He was so proud, he thought they should celebrate. “Hey Kyungsoo, let's get a drink after work today,” he suggested.
“No,” Kyungsoo immediately replied, “And it's Detective Do. We have another ghost on our hands.”
“When in the world did you have time to look into cases?” Chanyeol asked.
Kyungsoo didn't answer his question, but continued, “We need to work the case late into the night, as usual. Ghosts don't really come out in the sunshine, Park. I'm gonna email you the reports, can you create a digital file for the case?” He didn't even wait for a response, and just went on his way.
Chanyeol was usually glad to hunt ghosts with his ghostie buddy, but he felt let down that Kyungsoo coldly rejected his offer to drink. It wasn't every day that Chanyeol offered up his time for someone else.
“At least he's still wearing the gold glasses,” Chanyeol sighed heavily. Lazily, an idea occurred to him. He slid his phone out and snuck in some pictures of Kyungsoo at his desk, with his gold glasses.
~~~
Chanyeol glanced up after he shared the digital file on the case. He saw Kyungsoo open up the email and after five minutes of looking through it, Kyungsoo simply went back to work. Chanyeol frowned.
He received an email, and it was a reply from Kyungsoo.
This is terrible, the file needs more work. Send me the new one when you’re done.
His frown deepened. He thought about his little plan. It was kind of stupid, he had to admit, and he was wondering if he should carry through with it. He gathered his coat and other things and started getting ready to head out. They had a long drive ahead of them, and Kyungsoo had decided they would use Chanyeol’s car, so he had to prep it.
In the meantime, Kyungsoo typed up other reports for Sehun. About two hours later, Chanyeol parked his car down on the street, and texted Kyungsoo. At that instant, Kyungsoo barely finished his work for the day and ran off to drop the files at Sehun's desk. He dashed out before his captain could say anything, took his coat, and fled the precinct to start his ghost hunt. He was beginning to acquire a strong taste for these types of cases. It nearly matched his hunger for cases like the Alpha Killer mystery.
“Which I helped solve” Kyungsoo told himself giddily as he entered the elevator, “And I caught the bastard!” The doors had closed, so he whooped and gave a little jump of happiness. He had been waiting to do that all day, but only now was he able to, alone in the elevator. He couldn't be in a better mood. He slipped his coat on and joined Chanyeol outside on the street.
“I bought some great snacks for the trip,” Chanyeol stated, although somewhat glumly. Kyungsoo's rejection had made him feel a little awkward with the guy. They got in the car, and Chanyeol began their trip to the woods hours away. They were going further than the farmhouse this time.
~~~
Kyungsoo and Chanyeol had been complete opposites in their feelings and mental states for the entire trip, but not once did either of them become aware of each other's vibes. They were so wrapped up in themselves, that they almost didn't notice they were passing the woods.
“Hey, hold up!” Kyungsoo exclaimed, “You passed it.” Chanyeol pulled off to the side and looked around the dark to see the road signs. He grunted as he unfolded their map and traced his finger down the highway line. Sure enough, they passed the location by about two miles. Kyungsoo sighed exasperatedly, “Perfect.”
“Hey, don't be sarcastic with me. Maybe if you'd helped navigate, I wouldn't have had to deal with all of it myself and we wouldn't be lost,” Chanyeol snapped back. Kyungsoo looked at him, shocked. Chanyeol continued, “I have to do everything though, right? Because you did so well with the Alpha Killer?” His tired and upset state was fueling his rant.
“I asked you to do menial tasks,” Kyungsoo defended himself, “Creating a digital file from information I gathered? I mean, how do you mess that up? Literally, it was just that, and driving because I drove the other times. Or is filling the car with gas too hard to do alone all of a sudden?”
“The way you act, you're so… ungrateful! And self-absorbed, by the way. And filling the car with gas isn't hard, but it'd be nice to hear you say thank you.” Chanyeol turned his keys to start the car, but it sputtered. He tried again, but it didn't go. They looked at the meter and realized the car was out of gas. The significance of the situation dawned on them both simultaneously.
“Wow. Thank you, Chanyeol, really,” Kyungsoo muttered. “Should I also thank you for not shooting me in the leg?” He was suddenly bitter as he recalled the time he was forced to take off work due to the injury he'd sustained from Chanyeol’s gun.
Chanyeol bit his lip angrily. He took the map and keys and shuffled out of the car, making sure to shut the door loudly. Kyungsoo did the same, and silently, they grabbed their weapons from the trunk. At least they were on the same page with the ghost hunt. Begrudgingly, they trekked down to their original destination under the darkening sky. Chanyeol used his long legs to stay far ahead of Kyungsoo.
The distance was worsened by Kyungsoo's slight limp. His leg was still a bit weird from the gunshot wound, although it was healed for the most part. It didn't hurt at all, but it was discomforting. When Chanyeol arrived, he began the upward hike to the lake in the deeper part of the woods. It was a straight shot, but he had to clear a path in the shrubbery.
Kyungsoo fortunately was able to follow the clearing left behind by his partner. He staggered through the woods without a map, but figured he wouldn't get lost as long as he stayed on the cleared up path. When he arrived at the lake, Chanyeol was sitting on a large rock beside it. His back was facing him, so he was looking into the lake. Kyungsoo walked up to him and looked down at their reflections in the lake.
“There's no cabin,” Chanyeol pointed out.
“There was supposed to be one,” Kyungsoo muttered. Chanyeol nodded. He got up with a sigh and suggested they spread out to see if there was a cabin in the vicinity. “No,” Kyungsoo argued, “We can't spread out in such an open location like this. We could get lost. I'm positive there was supposed to be a cabin here. Maybe it burned down.”
“Right, just the cabin burned down, in the middle of the woods, and the woods weren't affected by the fire at all. Because that's how fires work in forests,” Chanyeol saltily said.
“Look man, I don't know what your problem is, but you better push it aside and focus on the mission,” Kyungsoo scolded.
Chanyeol pushed Kyungsoo aside and walked past him. “You're right. Good advice.” He left the lake to search for the cabin. Kyungsoo was hurt. He didn't think he should be, but he couldn't help it. He felt like Chanyeol was being stupid and irrational for no reason. Against his better judgement, he didn't follow Chanyeol. Instead, he sat on the rock and waited.
~~~
An hour passed and night had completely fallen since Chanyeol left, so Kyungsoo was becoming extremely bored. He decided to walk around the lake to exercise his wounded leg. As he was rounding the second bend of the lake, he tripped over something and cursed loudly. He sat up and saw beside him the object he had tripped on. It was a short plank of dark wood that almost blended into the grass. Kyungsoo picked it up and ran his fingers over it. “The cabin,” he whispered. He stumbled to his hands and knees and crawled around, finding pieces of wood here and there. “The cabin,” he repeated more surely now. He stood up and ran to the lake, dropping to all fours to peer into the water. He swished his hand around and felt another thin board of wood.
Kyungsoo was sure the cabin had been destroyed somehow, and someone had disposed of its remains. For what reason, he didn't know. Out of nowhere, he felt something harshly shove him from behind and he tumbled into the water. He shouted, and struggled to get air, but the unseen assailant was persistently pushing his head below the water. Kyungsoo started to lose oxygen and his body went limp. He began to sink to the bottom of the lake.
At that moment, Chanyeol returned. He saw Kyungsoo's head disappear under the lake, and someone taking off into the woods. Adrenaline rushed Chanyeol into action. He took off his coat and shoes and dove right into the water, propelling himself toward his partner. He grabbed Kyungsoo under the arms and pulled him to the edge of the lake, where he got out first, then dragged Kyungsoo out.
“Come on, come on…” Chanyeol performed CPR on Kyungsoo, doing compressions on his chest until Kyungsoo sputtered water out of his mouth. He opened his eyes, and when his awareness returned, he said ghost. Chanyeol immediately understood. He carried Kyungsoo further away from the lake, then retrieved his gun. The salt bullets would get rid of the ghost.
Chanyeol looked around, but nothing appeared. He had seen the entity run into the forest, but he didn't want to give chase. If he left Kyungsoo alone again - he didn't even want to think about the consequences. Kyungsoo's coughing fit ended and he sat up. He groped around for his gun, but realized it must've sunk in the lake.
Chanyeol anxiously held his gun out in front of him, and his eyes darted everywhere. He saw something rustle in the bushes, and he shot three bullets there. He heard someone cry out, which was confusing. Kyungsoo shared a look with him. Warily, Chanyeol approached the bush, and gasped at what he saw there. A bearded man was bleeding from his side. “Oh no,” Chanyeol panicked, “Oh god no.” It looked like the bullets had skimmed the man, but Chanyeol wasn't about to risk it, so he deftly called the ambulance, and although he debated escaping, he knew he needed to make sure Kyungsoo also got to the hospital safely so they could extract any leftover water from his lungs.
“I'm not the ghost,” the stranger garbled, “Kill the ghost. It haunts this place.” Chanyeol was wide-eyed and bewildered at what the man was saying, and at the gravity of the situation. He took his overshirt off and tied it around the man's wound to slow the bleeding. He shushed the man so as to not escalate his stress.
Kyungsoo joined them, and stopped at what he saw. He gulped down his panic and said, "I lost my cool glasses too." It was an attempt to cheer up Chanyeol, but he wasn't very good at jokes and lightening up this kind of mood.
Police, medics, and a helicopter arrived on the scene almost an hour later, since the woods were so far out and they were in a discrete location. The man and Kyungsoo were taken to the hospital on the helicopter, and Chanyeol was led back to the street to be taken in the police car.
He kept cursing himself for his dumb mistakes. He couldn't believe he shot an innocent man. He also couldn't believe that the guy was talking about the ghost of the cabin too. “The ghost is there then,” Chanyeol said to himself, “It's there.” But what mattered to him right now was what they were going to do to him, and if that man was going to be okay. Would the medics be able to save him from a bullet wound in the stomach? Was Chanyeol going to go to prison? He rested his dizzy head in his handcuffed hands and anxiously pondered the future.