to somewhere ( the haunted house )

The Piano of Dissonance

"Huh? What's happening there?" Harin asked, while she was hanging out with Siwoo while everyone was surrounding a certain group of people.

Siwoo, though he was the one who knew everything about the school, didn't know what was happening. "Dunno. Let's check it out!"

There it was, the school performance was in the middle of the courtyard. It was usually not allowed, but somehow, they let them go out there and perform a few songs during lunch. After asking others, they quickly realized that the band included some of the popular kids, although they never knew that they were into rock. They were probably inspired by the trendy new rock band that has been trending on Shinbistagram.

Particularly, everyone was screaming over the keyboardist of the group performing, who was quite handsome. Seungjin finally caught up with the group. "Dude, it's Taewoo Shin! He's that one model. Isn't he supposedly dating that one girl group member, the girl in his grade?"

"In middle school?" Harin laughed. "Hm, well, I mean, normal kids are dating these days, why not models. Speaking of dating, are you ever worried about Eunha dating?"

"Hmm, not really," Seungjin answered the question. "She should have some freedom. Mom didn't seem to care either about if she was dating."

"Harin," Siwoo laughed. "She told me about how no one really liked her. Judging from that, I don't think she's in the mood to date."

"Not everyone hates her," Harin argued. "She had that one friend named Minju! Minju Jang! They've been friends for a really long time, right?"

"Yeah, but these days, they don't really hang out..." Seungjin sighed. "Also, don't worry about it. Now that I think about it, it would be really weird if Eunha started dating someone. I mean, I haven't even told the person I like that I like them."

"I'm still offering to tell the person you like that you like them!" Harin smiled. "Come on, and even if you don't want me to tell them, I'm really good at keeping secrets!"

"Remember that time when Hajoon went to the skate park instead of the library?" Siwoo giggled. "You're very bad at lying, what if someone asks who Seungjin likes and you're the one who tells someone else, and then it spreads all around school? Imagine how embarrassing it would be for Seungjin!"

"Agh, true..." Harin nodded. "But still!" Realizing what Siwoo said after he said that Harin was bad at lying, she became more playful. "Wait, when did YOU become considerate of him?"

Charles then found them. "Yo! Hi, guys."

"Oh, hey!" Seungjin waved. "What brings you here?"

"Felt some kind of weird presence here," he nodded. "And now it's not here. I'll look out for it after school, though. It keeps on hopping everywhere, so it's really hard to find."

"Yeah, guys, we have to be safe," Harin said. "If there's a ghost like that. Alright then Charles! I'll call you if there's something weird happening."

After academies, Eunha went home after a short class, and was glad that she could relax on a Monday. Then, she heard a loud banging noise from the neighboring house. Annoyed, she went to the house, and knocked on the door. Impulsively opening the door, she was surprised to see that the door was still open. After a moment of silence, she simply ignored it and yelled out, "Can you shut it up?"

The ghost's head turned around in a complete 180. "No, I don't think I will."

And then, the door shut, and she fell asleep.

Waking up, she smelled something very familiar. "Huh? Where am I?" Yes, it was Shinbi Apartments. Specifically, inside a vent. The entire apartment complex had this scent, and Eunha recognized the vent because she went in one with Siwoo to check if they were haunted one time, and they were haunted, alright. "Hey! Stupid Otaku! I'm here! Where the heck are you?"

There was no answer.

She decided to explore the vents to search for an exit, and the same ghost appeared before her. "Maybe it was my bad luck that I'm stuck here."

Crawling to find a way out of the vents, she encountered the ghost again.

"Goodness," Eunha gasped. "Siwoo should be here, didn't he say his dad made him quit Science academy?" Harin and Charles ran over to the apartment complex, feeling some odd power coming out of a particular vent. Hearing people coming, Eunha started screaming.

"Eunha!" Harin called upon hearing her voice. "I'm here!" She took out the sword in her backpack and opened the vent with it, releasing the ghost.

When the ghost tried to escape, Charles took out a card. "You're not going anywhere!" The ghost, who couldn't endure the power was defeated. They went over to Eunha and checked on her.

"Eunha, are you okay?" Harin held her.

"S-Siwoo... he's supposed to be here, right?" she could only say. "T-Today's Tuesday... so..."

"No, Eunha," she laughed. "Siwoo said that his dad found a better option for him to take science classes with Older Sister Dongbaek from the English academy. She's really good at science."

Eunha understood, but she laughed with Harin. "Siwoo followed his dad? Well, that's new..."

From the front, Dongchan ran over to Eunha. "There you are! Your brother told me you'd be here. He's been worried sick about you! I needed to talk to you about something, but then, he just started blubbering!"

"Classic Seungjin..." Eunha giggled. "Anyway, what is it?"

"On Friday..." he began. "You awakened, right?"

Eunha stayed silent for a few seconds, but answered truthfully. "Yes, I did. So what?"

"This isn't a time to say 'so what'!" he got angry. "Everyone is so worried about you, and those bad guys, they're going to go after you! While I'm happy that that stupidly old man is dead, your life is put in danger!"

"You're a stupidly old man too!" Eunha laughed.

"That's not the point!"

Harin giggled a bit, looking at the two quarrel. "Wow, it's my first time seeing Eunha like this. It's so weird."

"True..." Charles was also astonished. "I don't think Seungjin has ever seen this side of her either. To be honest, I kinda thought she was emotionless as can be."

"Well, it's fun," Harin smiled warmly. "It seems like I've done a good job at being a nice role model!"

Charles, who had a warm feeling in his cheeks from seeing Harin smile, could only agree with her. "Yeah. You're a great teacher."

A/N: And, that concludes the chapter! Final exams are finally over! I'm free from school!