SCARED TO DEATH

"YUJINIE, what are you doing?"

[I'm trying to save your life.]

"Sun Geun-wook, do you trust me?" Yujin asked while holding the wooden baseball bat (that she pulled out from the guitar case earlier) in her hands tightly. She was talking to Geun-wook, but she was looking at the doppelganger behind him. "I know we drifted apart after your ex-girlfriend bullied me last year for being your childhood friend. But you still trust me, don't you?"

"Are you still mad because Shin Aera bullied you out of jealousy?" Geun-wook asked nervously, then he raised his hands as if he was surrendering while taking a step back. "Yujinie, I already apologized for that, didn't I? But if you want, I'll bow my head again–"

"Don't move!" she yelled when Geun-wook bumped into the doppelganger that he couldn't see.

He stopped moving right away. "Yes, ma'am!"

She glared at the doppelganger.

But to be honest, she was just putting on a tough façade. In reality, her entire body was trembling. It was a miracle that she was still standing straight.

And her heart?

It was beating like crazy!

[This is the first time that I've seen a doppelganger other than my own.]

She couldn't actually see ghosts because her Aunt Hayi closed her 'eyes' for her. Plus, she was carrying a load of talismans with her to prevent ghosts and other similar beings from approaching her. Thus, she was shocked to see Geun-wook's doppelganger.

[What should I do?]

"Yujinie, did I say or do something wrong?" Geun-wook asked, and he still sounded nervous while eyeing the baseball bat in her hands. It was as if he was expecting to be hit anytime. "I'll never ask you to be my girlfriend again, so chill."

She couldn't really focus on what Geun-wook was saying.

After all, her heartbeat was too loud for her to hear anything else properly. Plus, she was scared– scared for her childhood friend.

[Geun-wook's doppelganger showed up. And doppelgangers are harbingers of death.]

And how the doppelganger looked at the moment indicated how Geun-wook would die later. Seeing that the ghost had a huge wound in the head, then his death might be caused by blunt trauma, perhaps…?

[This mustard has a lot of enemies, so I won't be surprised if he gets into another fight later. And the next time he fights might already be his last.]

<"You. See. Me.">

She felt shivers down her spine when the doppelganger spoke to her again.

Fortunately, she couldn't see its face because Geun-wook was standing right in front of the ghost.

However, the doppelganger was laughing– and it sounded quite chilling.

To be honest, the atmosphere suddenly turned cold because of the ghost's presence. That was probably the second reason why she was trembling like a scared animal.

[N-No. I can't be scared. I have to save Geun-wook!]

Her Aunt Hayi taught her that she needed to kill her doppelganger if she wanted to live. Hence, to save Geun-wook, she had to kill his doppelganger.

"Yujinie, you're scaring me already."

"Sun Geun-wook," Yujin said, calling the mustard by his full name nervously. "Duck!"

"Are you cursing me?"

Ah, right.

She would often replace 'f*ck' with 'duck,' hence Geun-wook's confusion.

"No, I'm not using it as a curse word," she said. "I'm telling you to bend down if you don't want to get hit– now!"

Geun-wook crouched as low as possible without asking questions when she swung her wooden baseball bat.

Yujin intended to smash the bat into the doppelganger's face.

However, the bat's barrel hit an invisible barrier instead of hitting the ghost. Then a gust of wind hit her– pushing her back until she almost tumbled.

"Yujinie!"

Fortunately, Geun-wook stood up immediately and grabbed her by the waist, and pulled her close to his body to stop her from falling over. Of course, she was grateful. However, because of their position, Yujin found herself face-to-face with the doppelganger who was standing close behind Geun-wook.

She held her breath, scared to death when the ghost leaned down to meet her eye level.

<"You. See. Me,"> the doppelganger said, then he grinned from ear to ear. <"Hello.">

She closed her eyes tight and raised her wooden baseball bat.

Then she hit the flat surface of the bat's knob on the doppelganger's forehead as if she was putting a stamp on it.

"Begone, copy-cat!" she screamed, activating the spell engraved in the wooden bat.

She heard the doppelganger groan as if it was in pain, then a gust of wind hit her in the face. But the breeze was gentle this time. Hence, she didn't get pushed back.

After that, the cold feeling that the ghost had caused finally disappeared.

[Is it gone?]

Her thoughts got distracted when she felt Geun-wook push her gently.

When she opened her eyes, she saw him stepping away from her with his hands raised.

Ah, Geun-wook must have thought she was yelling at him for invading her personal space.

To be honest, she didn't mind since she knew that he did that to stop her from falling over earlier. Moreover, despite acting like a delinquent, Geun-wook had never touched her inappropriately before.

"Sorry," Geun-wook said. "Are you alright, Yujinie?"

Her gaze went past him, then she let out a sigh of relief.

[The doppelganger is really gone.]

She was about to assure Geun-wook that she was fine. However, she saw a policeman come out of the station while looking at the two of them weirdly.

"Students, what are you doing there?"

Yujin gasped, then she pulled Geun-wook by the sleeve of his varsity jacket. "Let's run, Sun Geun-wook!"

"Moon Yujin, you're really a weirdo," Geun-wook said, laughing. Then he leaned down for a moment to grab her guitar case from the ground. Then he ran along with her– away from the police. "But you're MY weirdo!"

***

"SUN GEUN-WOOK, wear this as much as possible," Yujin said while putting a black wristband on Geun-wook's right wrist. "There's a talisman sewed inside. If you need to remove it, then at least keep it near you."

"This is one of the wristbands that you always wear. Why are you giving this to me?" Geun-wook asked, his eyebrows furrowed. "You even walked me home this late at night."

That was right.

In fact, right now, the two of them were standing in front of the apartment complex where Geun-wook lived with his mother. It was already late at night. But it was around the time students would normally go to private academies after school hours, so the streets were still lively.

Plus, it wasn't a big deal to walk him home since she lived in the same neighborhood anyway. Most of the students going to the Haneul High School were from the area, too.

"Did you see a ghost tailing me or something?"

Geun-wook laughed at his own "joke."

But she didn't.

"Oh," he said, then he turned serious. "So, a ghost is stuck to me?"

"I saw it earlier, but it's gone now."

"Is it dangerous?"

"It's your doppelganger," she explained while nodding. "Once your doppelganger appears, it means you're about to die."

He fell silent.

To be honest, she was waiting for him to laugh and make fun of her.

[Whenever I talk about ghosts, people would laugh at me and say I'm still on my 'eight-grade syndrome' phase.]

The 'eight-grade syndrome' was apparently a condition where people like her, who were almost adults (or already grown up), still believed that they had superpowers. That, or they allegedly believed that they were a part of the TV show that they were into.

[Most of my bullies just call me a 'crazy pitch,' though.]

"Am I going to die soon, Yujinie?"

"Of course not," Yujin said firmly. "I won't let you die, Wook-ah."

Oops.

She bit her bottom lip when she accidentally called Geun-wook by his original name.

'Wook' wasn't a pet name.

When she met him when they were in elementary school, Sun Geun-wook's legal name was Sun Wook. She didn't know what happened, but when they met again in middle school, his given name already changed to 'Geun-wook.'

And he hated being called 'Wook.'

["If you call me 'Wook' again, I'll make your life hellish.]

Those were the words that Geun-wook said to her when they reunited in middle school, back when she didn't know yet that he had already changed his given name legally.

"I'm sorry," she said guiltily. "I didn't mean to call you by your old name, Geun-wook."

"It's alright," Geun-wook said. "But I hope you get used to calling me by my new name. 'Geun-wook' is too long, so 'Geun' will do."

His close friends called him 'Geun' instead of 'Geun-wook,' if she remembered correctly.

She still felt awkward, but she had to respect his wish. "I understand… G-Geun."

Aigoo, why did she stammer?

"Does it feel awkward calling me by my new name?" he asked, laughing. But his laugh didn't sound as energetic as his laugh earlier. "Then you can just call me 'Mustard' until you get used to it."

"Huh? You know I use 'mustard' as a replacement for a curse word. Is that alright?"

"Yep, it's alright," Geun-wook said, then he grinned. "I'll just call you 'Honey' in return."

She hugged herself and rubbed her arms when she got goosebumps. "Stop, that's so corny."

He laughed again and this time, his laugh sounded lively.

Thank goodness.

"Sure, Honey."

"I'm going home," she declared while gripping the strap of her guitar case on her shoulder. "Mustard, don't fight. I'm serious."

He grinned and raised an eyebrow at her. "Honey, will you get sad if I die?"

"Don't say things like that," she said, frowning. "I won't let you die."

He put a hand over his chest and made a face as if he was touched by her words. "Why aren't we dating yet, Moon Yujin?"

"Dating isn't my priority," she said bluntly. "But if I'm still here by the time I turn twenty, I'll think about it."

After all, her Aunt Hayi told her that once the first number of her age changed, she wouldn't get chased by her doppelganger anymore.

[I just need to endure until then.]

"Are you going somewhere far after high school, Yujinie?"

"I'm not sure," she said vaguely, then she waved her hand to shoo him away. "Go in. I'll leave after I see you go."

"I'll walk you home tomorrow."

"You don't have to–"

"Good night, Honey!" Geun-wook said, cutting her off playfully. Then he sent "flying kisses" to her while walking backwards. "I'll call a cab for you, so stay there and wait."

Yujin clicked her tongue while watching Geun-wook call a cab instead of entering the building like she asked him to. "Frustrating mustard."

***

Please add SPOOKY SOULMATE to your library~