Gifted: The Revelation (Seventeen Meanie) | Mingyu x Wonwoo

Chapter 14

~Jeongin's p.o.v~

It happened when I was nine years old. The first time I saw...the dead one.

I was at the mall with mom when I saw an ice cream stall at the center of the lobby. I wanted some ice cream, so I pulled my mom's blouse lightly to gain her attention, but she ignored me. Then I remembered. I had some changes in my pocket. I could buy the ice cream all by myself. I'm a grown-up man. Plus, mom was probably gonna stay at this store for a while.

So, I started to run toward the stall when suddenly, a girl fell right beside me. I jumped at the loud thud and fell on my butt, shocked. The girl's head started to bleed as it became a puddle of blood in front of me. I just sat there, froze, too stunned to even move. I could see the inside of her head. People around seemed to ignore what just happened as they just walked past until a lady approached me and lifted me up.

"Hey buddy, are you okay? Did you hurt somewhere?" the woman asked.

"Did you see it?" I asked her, my eyes still on the dead body.

"See what? Nothing here. Are you sure you're okay?" the woman asked back.

"What happened here?" mom came.

"Oh, are you his mother? I saw him sitting on the floor..."

I couldn't hear the lady's voice as I was once again shocked when the dead girl suddenly stood up as her body flew back to the fourth floor of the mall. The blood on the floor was gone. I looked up and saw her standing by the edge as she jumped the second time. My body trembled in fear when the body hit the same exact spot on the floor. The puddle of the blood started to form again. And it repeated, over and over again. I was lost of words. My eyes started to tear up as now I knew how it felt to be terrified.

"Jeongin, why did you wander around like this? It's dangerous." My mom said.

"Jeongin, what's wrong?" her eyes filled with concern when she was me tearing up.

"M-mom, look." I pointed my finger at the dead body.

"Someone just died in front of me."

---

That's how it happened. Then, it started to occur more frequently. So frequent that I saw the dead one every day. I was so scared that I always keep my head low. I didn't want to see 'them'. 'They' looked terrifying. But as time went by, the fear turned into curiosity. It was like that for some time until I had the courage to face 'them'. I had no one to share this. My parents didn't believe me. I thought I had to face this alone because everyone around couldn't see the dead.

One day at school, I went to the toilet when I found a leg poked out from under the door at the last toilet stall. My heart started to beat hard as my legs brought me to that certain toilet, eager to know what 'they' looked like upfront. I opened the door slowly, revealing a headless body laid on the floor. A chill went through my body. I wanted to run away but I was so curious about the creature. My hand slowly raised toward the body when suddenly,

"Jeongin!" someone called my name.

I looked at the owner of the voice, my best friend Hyunjin. I looked back at the stall and the body was gone.

"What took you so long in here?" Hyunjin asked me.

"Nothing." I replied before I entered the stall to finish my business.

---

A year later, I gathered enough courage to tell Hyunjin about this thing. He believed in me because he knew I never lie. I felt so delighted, finally, someone believed in me. Just like me, Hyunjin was also interested in knowing more about the dead. There's not much to share since I myself never had any interaction with the dead. 'They' seemed to avoid me.