bully; yugbam

[part nine]

"No, he's not, for the last time," he scowls. "He died thirty years ago."

Those words continue running through Yugyeom's mind, still trying to process everything. He is shocked, looking between Bambam and Mark with wide eyes. And that's when he notices it. Mark suddenly disappears in front of their eyes. Yugyeom's eyes become bigger, and he lets out a gasp. This whole time...I've been talking to a g-ghost?

"Bam, that guy was a ghost, too," one of Bambam's buddies says, just as shocked as Yugyeom.

"Now that you say it, he does seem familiar," Bambam mutters, and he looks down at Yugyeom, the younger looking back at him with fear and surprise in his eyes.

"Leave him be," another buddy says, and Bambam raises an eyebrow at her. "We can deal with him later."

Bambam looks back at Yugyeom, and the younger just gulps. He doesn't want to end up having to explain to his uncle all his injuries.

"We'll let you go off this time," Bambam says in a low voice, his grip around Yugyeom's collar tightening, bringing their faces closer. "But you have a small homework assignment. Figure out who your 'friend' was, and what he had to do with Jackson Wang."

And with that, Bambam lets go of Yugyeom, pushing him away, the silver-haired male falling on his ass. Bambam sends him a cold glare, before he and his buddies walk away, talking and laughing amongst themselves.

Sighing, Yugyeom weakly gets up, finding no strength in his muscles. He grabs his bag, pulling it on with shaky hands. M-Mark-hyung was a ghost?

Yugyeom can't believe it. Mark had seemed human enough. But Yugyeom finally pieces all the pieces together. The teachers never acknowledge Mark. They don't call his name during attendance. The office staff says there isn't a student named Mark Tuan at their school. And when Yugyeom would talk to Mark at school, or in public, people always give him weird stares. As if he was talking to someone who wasn't there.

Mark-hyung is a ghost. Oh my god.

Still a bit shaken, Yugyeom arrives at the library. He shoots the librarian a small smile as he heads toward the front desk.

"How may I help you, Yugyeom?" she offers, smiling up at him.

"Um, I may s-so-sound w-we-weird s-say-saying t-th-this, but...was t-th-there a M-Ma-Mark T-Tu-Tuan or J-Jack-Jackson W-Wa-Wang t-th-that c-ca-came to this s-sc-school?" he asks hesitantly, biting his bottom lip.

The librarian thinks about it, narrowing her eyes in confusion. Her eyes then light up, and she motions for Yugyeom to wait for a while before she disappears. She comes back with a big, brown book, handing it to Yugyeom.

"This has all the students that used to come here in the 1920s and 30s," she explains.

But I thought Bambam said that Jackson died thirty years ago, Yugyeom thinks to himself, but he doesn't voice it to the librarian. Instead, he nods, bowing to her in thanks, before he heads toward an empty table with a computer on it. He opens the book, greeted with dust. He blows it off, coughing a bit, before flipping through all the years.

Finally, he arrives in the 1920s section and skims through the names. Mark Yi-en Tuan.

Yugyeom looks at the fifth kid in the row, his eyes laying on the familiar facial features of Mark. He looks a bit younger than he does as a ghost, but you can barely tell the difference. 

This is 1925. Mark-hyung is here, but...what about Jackson?, Yugyeom thinks to himself, before flipping through the pages until he reached the 1930 section. Still no mention of Jackson.

Yugyeom huffs before his eyes land on the computer in front of him. He quickly logs in and goes to Google. He types in mark tuan, and a lot of results come in. Yugyeom clicks on the first link, and a picture of Mark, as well as a bit of his information, appears.

Mark Yi-en Tuan was born on September 4th, 1907. He was a foreign student from America and came to Seoul, South Korea to study. He went to Busan Elementary, Daegu Intermediate, before going to JYP High School in Seoul. Unfortunately, he died two months before graduation. He died, taking his own life. 

His date of death was April 13th, 1926. He died near the Han River. He was cremated, and he will never be forgotten in JYP High School.

"Why w-wo-would he t-ta-take h-hi-his own l-li-life?" Yugyeom mutters to himself, a small frown forming on his face. Mark-hyung said Jackson was his boyfriend, but he died in 1926, and I don't think Jackson was even born yet. 

To that thought, Yugyeom continues flipping through the pages, seeing if he can find 'Jackson Wang' anywhere. When he reaches the 1990s, he does. Wang Ka-yee.

And there he is. He is in the fifth row, and the fifth kid to be in that row. He is smiling, pearly white teeth on display, and he was one handsome man. There is no other information, so Yugyeom searches Jackson online, too.

Wang Ka-yee, also known as Jackson Wang, was born on March 28th, 1972. He was a foreign student from China and came to Seoul, South Korea to study. He went to Busan Elementary, Daegu Intermediate, before going to JYP High School. He was the school's quarterback and the most popular guy. Unfortunately, he died five months before his graduation. He died, getting shot in the head by mistake.

His date of death was January 13th, 1991. He died whilst visiting the Han River. He was cremated, and he will forever be remembered.

"Wow," Yugyeom mumbles to himself. "B-bu-but h-ho-how d-di-did he and M-Ma-Mark-h-hy-hyung m-me-meet?"