She couldn't sleep all night due to worry. As soon as the first light of morning broke through the window, Aera started getting ready to go to the hospital. Just as she was about to leave, Ji Hoo showed up, looking at her with curious eyes.
"Jackie seems fine. I was just about to go visit him at the hospital," she said.
"There were no complications, right? Did you examine his body?"
"Yes, everything went smoothly. Absolutely no issues."
"Excellent."
He was holding a small bottle in his hand.
"I brought this for your father. Just give him one drop a day. He'll gradually get better."
It had completely slipped her mind.
"Thank you so much, sir. Would you like to come to the hospital with me?"
"I can't. I have too much work. Thank you for everything, Arin."
After Ji Hoo left, she didn't waste any more time. She left her room in a rush and headed straight to the bus stop. Time felt like it was crawling. First, she would go see her father and give him the medicine. Then, she'd visit Jackie.
Eventually, the bus arrived. Fifteen minutes later, she was at the hospital.
She headed first to her father's room. He was still asleep when she entered. Aera took a glass of water and added one drop of the liquid Ji Hoo had given her.
"Good morning," she said, opening the curtains to let some sunlight in.
"Aera, you're up early. You should've rested today."
"I'm doing great. How about you?"
"I feel amazing. Last night I went around telling everyone, 'That's my daughter.' I'm so proud of you."
Smiling, she sat beside him.
"Go ahead and drink this."
"What is it?"
"Starting your day with a glass of water will help you feel better. Trust me. Drink it."
He downed the glass in one go.
"I'll tell the nurses to bring your breakfast. Then we'll give you your medication."
After leaving the room and informing the nurses, she bumped into Chuwon's manager in the hallway.
"Hello. How is Chuwon sunbaenim?"
"You? Oh right, one of the trainees. He's still asleep. We'll discharge him as soon as he wakes up."
"What about Jackie sunbaenim?"
"He already went home."
"Thank you."
Why hadn't Jackie contacted her yet? Had he forgotten everything again? Was it even possible that he didn't remember what happened while he was a ghost? She needed to find out. But she couldn't just show up at his house uninvited.
Lost in thought, she returned to her father's room. He was eating breakfast.
"You looked fine earlier. Why the long face now? Did something happen?"
She sat by his bed.
"No, my mind is just cluttered with internship stuff."
He held her hand and gently wrapped his around it.
"You're a strong girl. You take care of me, handle your own problems, and still manage to stay sane. Go on, get back to the company."
"I don't want to leave you alone."
"I'm fine, sweetheart. In fact, I feel even better today. I'll take a little walk around the hospital. It'll help pass the time."
He really did look better—maybe the medicine was already working.
"Alright then, I'm heading out. Take care of yourself, okay?"
After leaving her father's room, she walked to Chuwon sunbae's room.
When she walked in, he was in the middle of changing.
"Sunbae!" she quickly turned around. "I'm so sorry! Your manager told me you were still asleep, so I didn't knock. I didn't see anything. I'm really sorry."
She reached for the door."There's no need to leave, rookie. You can stay."
"I just wanted to check if you were okay, and… you look fine." She couldn't meet his eyes, so she kept her gaze fixed on the door.
"You figured that out in the two seconds you looked at me?"
She turned to face him. "You do look fine," but he had already walked up to her, and just as she was about to take a step back, she lost her balance. He caught her by the waist. It was an awkward moment.
"If you saw enough to tell I'm fine, then I guess you saw quite a lot," he said with a smirk. She quickly pushed him away.
"Well, if you're strong enough to hold me up like that, then clearly you're just fine, sunbae. I'll let you rest."
"Did you get to see Jackie?"
Tears welled up in her eyes. Not wanting him to see, she looked down.
"When I got there, he had already left."
"Did you try to contact him?"
"I don't have any way to reach him. If he wanted to talk, he would've contacted me. Maybe… maybe he doesn't remember anything."
Chuwon looked thoughtful.
"I don't like that jerk, but I can go to him for your sake. Do you want to come with me?"
"Would you really do that, sunbae? Thank you so much."
…
Chuwon had practically kicked his manager out of the room, leaving the two of them alone.
"You can't drive in your condition, sunbaenim."
"You're right. Then you drive."
She sat in the driver's seat and glanced at him. He was already looking at her.
"I get that you want to admire my handsome face, but we have somewhere to be. Let's go."
"I wasn't looking at your face, sunbaenim. I was just waiting for directions… maybe open the address in the GPS?"
He looked slightly offended.
"Ah… right." He set the address, and about thirty minutes later, they were parked in front of Jackie's house. Though house might be an understatement—compared to this, her place looked more like a shack.
"I'll call first. Let's not just barge in."
She nodded.
"Hello? Jack… oh, Manager Yoon. How are you? Anyway, I need to speak with Jackie. No, I didn't call to start a fight. There must be a misunderstanding." He glanced sideways at her. She looked away. What else could she have said to explain why both of them were found unconscious?
"I understand, Manager Yoon, but why does it feel like you've taken his phone away? If you could just give the phone to its rightful owner, I'd like to speak with him directly. I'll wait."
Chuwon looked deadly serious. It made her stomach twist with anxiety.
"Yes, I'm listening. I see… He's not well enough to talk? Then why did you rush him out of the hospital this morning? I'm not interrogating you, Manager Yoon. Anyway, I'm hanging up."
She could already guess what he was going to say.
"Sorry. I thought I could help, but apparently Jackie isn't well enough to talk."
"I understand. Thank you, sunbaenim. If you tell me your address, I'll drive you home. Then I'll head back to the dorm."
"You can't go back like this."
"Please, sunbaenim. I'm tired. I'll probably just sleep."
"You're going to cry in your room all day, aren't you? Nope, I'm not letting that happen."
He reached into the backseat and pulled out some cones and masks, handing them to me.
"Sometimes I just want to walk among people without being noticed. These work surprisingly well for hiding."
"What are these for, sunbae?"
"You did a great job yesterday. Now the two of us are going to celebrate your success."
"That's really not necessary..."
"I'm not accepting any more objections."
After parking the car in the lot, we both put on the masks and cones he gave me.
"What do you want to do? Should we go to the movies?"
I was about to say yes, but then I remembered—Jackie wasn't by my side anymore. Dark places no longer felt safe.
"Sorry, sunbaenim. Let's do something else."
He checked his watch. "It's almost 2 PM. Let's grab something to eat."
We went to a nearby Korean BBQ place, the kind where you cook your own meat at the table.
"I always come here. It's usually empty at this hour, but in the evenings you can't even find a seat."
Since I hadn't eaten breakfast either, I was feeling quite hungry. This was a good choice.
As soon as the meat trays arrived, I stood up to cook—but Chuwon beat me to it.
"Sunbaenim, at least let me do the grilling."
"You're looking at someone who's mastered the highest level of BBQ. So I'll grill, and you'll eat. Though honestly, you don't look like someone who eats much, but I'll eat for both of us."
I laughed, smirking at him.
"Think again."
"What was that? Didn't quite hear you."
"Nothing, sunbaenim. Please carry on."
The meat started sizzling, and it smelled amazing. He wrapped a piece of beef in lettuce and held it out to me. I tried to take it from his hand, but he pulled it back.
"Open your mouth."
"I can feed myself."
"Don't be difficult. Come on, open up."
With a sigh, I opened my mouth and he shoved a big bite in. After swallowing, I finally managed to speak.
"I think I'll eat by myself now, thanks."
He looked embarrassed. "Sorry. I've always wanted to feed someone like this… guess I failed."
Why was he saying things that made me feel guilty now?
As I picked a smaller lettuce leaf and got ready to eat it, I noticed Chuwon sunbaenim had his mouth open, waiting like a baby bird.
I ignored him and continued eating.
"Don't look at me like that, sunbaenim. I'm not doing couple stuff with you."
"Wow, you really can be ruthless when you want to."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Only couples do this kind of thing? Close friends can feed each other too, you know."
I let out a frustrated sigh and kept chewing.
"You eat pretty heartily. That's actually really cool."
"Cool?"
"Most trainees or idols have to count every calorie. Sometimes we go through intense diet phases. That's why I never had a proper eating buddy. But you… you don't seem to need any of that. I think I finally found the eating partner I was looking for."
Chuwon sunbaenim might seem cold and arrogant from the outside, but the more I got to know him, the more I realized his personality was the opposite of how he looked.
After the meal, we went to a cozy, brightly decorated café with a garden to drink something warm. The sky had begun to darken.
"Sunbae, it's getting late. I need to get back to the dorm."
"But we still haven't gone to the amusement park. If you're worried about ghosts, you can hold onto my arm."
It was a sweet gesture, but realistically, Chuwon sunbaenim was quite the scaredy-cat. If he ever saw what I did, he might just drop dead on the spot. I insisted on returning, but he was stubborn as always, and in the end—I gave in. Again. No point fighting it. He was going to do what he wanted anyway.
...
We were walking quietly toward the amusement park. Up ahead, there was a crowd gathered outside a store.
"Let's see what's going on over there," he said, pulling me along.
He asked an older lady in the crowd what was happening.
"The store's holding a special opening event. But only couples can enter the competition."
He didn't seem thrilled about that.
"What's the prize?"
"First place wins a trip to Jeju, second gets a phone, and third a smart watch."
Chuwon turned to me. "Wanna try?"
I leaned toward his ear. "Don't be ridiculous."
"Even if we don't win, it'll be a fun memory. Come on, let's sign up."
The competition required the guy to carry his partner on his back. The longest-lasting couple would win.
"You're going to hurt your back trying to carry me."
"Don't underestimate me. We're going to win."
Once the contest started, he lifted me onto his back. The crowd was cheering. After about 10 minutes, sweat was dripping down his neck.
"Sunbae, seriously, you're going to injure yourself. Just stop."
He ignored me. One by one, the other couples started dropping out. Soon, only three remained—including us. Then another one gave up.
"Sunbae, come on. You've proven you're the strongest, let's just stop."
"Your support and faith in me… it's making me emotional. Quiet now, you're distracting me."
What was I doing? I was just trying to stop him from hurting himself.
Finally, the last couple gave in—and we won.
"Congratulations to our winning couple, MinAh and Jang! You've won a 4-day, 3-night stay at a 5-star hotel in Jeju!"
We had used fake names when signing up.
Overwhelmed with joy, Chuwon picked me up in his arms.
"Put me down!"
"Oops, got carried away."
"Sunbae, we can't go on a trip together."
"Why not?"
"Seriously?"
"Fine, wait here."
He pouted, took the trip ticket, and walked over to the second-place couple. After a brief conversation, he handed them the trip ticket and took their prize instead. Then he ran back and handed me one of the phone boxes.
"You really didn't have to push yourself so hard."
"No matter what I do, you're never satisfied, are you?"
He was right. He'd been going out of his way for me all day, and I kept brushing him off.
"You're right. I'm sorry. Thank you. I actually needed a new phone… guess I got one for free thanks to you."
But this time, he wasn't smiling.
"Sunbae?"
"If you're bored, I can drive you back to the dorm."
"I said I'm sorry! Let's go to the amusement park. I've always wanted to."
He looked surprised.
"You've never been?"
"Even if I have, I don't remember."
"Then follow me."
...
We finally reached the amusement park. There were all sorts of rides and colorful lights. He led me to a massive pirate ship.
"Let's go on this one."
"It looks terrifying. Have you ridden it before?"
"Once, years ago."
"Why just once?"
"That's when I found out I have a fear of heights."
"Sunbae, no offense, but have you lost your mind? Isn't there anything else?"
"There is. But I want to ride this now. I feel braver with you by my side."
I coughed awkwardly, trying not to laugh. He must've thought I hadn't noticed him faint yesterday.
I grabbed his arm and tried to pull him away.
"Let's try something else. I'm scared too."
"If you're scared, then we definitely need to do it. I'll be brave for you."
He dragged me onto the ride. I wasn't joking—I was genuinely scared. But I guess he thought I was bluffing. As the pirate ship started to move, I began reciting every prayer I knew, just to make it out alive. I closed my eyes in fear, and within just 2–3 minutes, the ride started to slow down. I heard people shouting.
"Someone fainted!"
"Stop the ride!"
"Sunbae, someone fainted. They're stopping the ride for them. Let's quietly sneak off too, okay?"
I slowly opened my eyes. "Sunbae…"
His eyes were closed, his head resting on my shoulder. Everyone was staring.
It was him who had fainted.
"Sunbae?" The crowd noise drowned out my voice. When he didn't respond, I slapped his cheek.
"Ow! That hurt. Why'd you hit me?"
"Didn't you just faint?"
"Nope, just wanted to rest my head on your shoulder."
"But I kept calling your name and you didn't respond."
"It was too loud. I didn't hear you."
Eventually, the ride stopped. People rushed over, asking if we needed an ambulance. Chuwon ignored everyone, stormed off deeper into the park.
"Sunbae, slow down, I can't keep up!"
"They ruined everything."
"Who did?"
"Forget it. Is there another ride you want?"
There was a carousel nearby.
"Let's ride that."
After the pirate ship disaster, it was a relief. We actually had fun.
...
"Sunbae, thank you for today. I had a really nice time."
"It was a great day for me too. Thanks."
"Goodnight."
"Goodnight."
He waited until I entered the building before driving off.
Because the lights were on, I wasn't too scared walking to my room. I tried not to look around as I approached my door. But when I reached for my keys, I noticed the door was already open.
Had I forgotten to lock it in the rush this morning?
Inside, my stuff was a mess—and my computer screen was lit up with my YouTube channel.
Someone had been in my room.Someone had discovered my secret.But who?
ChatGPT'ye sor