six

                                    

                                          
After Jihoon fell asleep, Soonyoung decided it was best to leave him alone and he vanished from his apartment. It was still late at night, but the street was still bustling with nightlife. Many were coming from or going to bars or clubs, others were simply making their commute home, just to start it all over again in a few hours. Back when he was alive, Soonyoung pitied the people who lived their lives in an endless loop, but now he would give anything for that as long as he was alive. In the beginning, he thought the whole ghost thing was cool. He thought he could make the best out of it and have fun with it. That lasted until his funeral. When he saw his mother sobbing uncontrollably and that there was nothing he could do to comfort her, he realized exactly what it meant to be a ghost left behind in the living world. The afterlife was lonely, he learned rather quickly. Even though he was dead, he was in pain. He was constantly depressed and the events and relationships of his life weighed on him. He held so much regret. He assumed that was why he couldn't move on.
He walked in the middle of the sidewalk, letting people pass through him, unfazed. He continued to walk in his gloomy state. He didn't notice it but his mood was causing the lights to flicker and one even burst causing bystanders to exclaim in surprise. He didn't care. He continued walking until he arrived at the funeral hall. During his year of being dead, he met many other ghosts in the funeral hall. He learned funeral halls were considered to be common grounds. It was a place full of life and death. Many people passed through, but humans were too focused on their grief to recognize all the spirits around them, making it the perfect place for ghosts to hang out. 
Soonyoung had even managed to make a few friends in the afterlife. He met Lee Chan a couple of hours after his funeral. He wasn't sure of what to do or where to go, still shaken up from seeing his parents grieve. That was when Chan approached him. He had been dead for over two years at that time but was careful to never reveal how he died. Soonyoung assumed it had to be tragic as Chan couldn't have been older than eighteen or nineteen. The day they met, Chan sat with Soonyoung and explained the middle ground theory and his experiences in being a ghost. He also introduced Soonyoung to the others.
Choi Sungcheol was another one of his afterlife friends. He was a bit older than Soonyoung, but not by much. He said he died during a misunderstanding as he was trying to save someone. Soonyoung had been confused as to why the older was a ghost. His last act was heroic. He should have moved straight on, but like Soonyoung, something was holding him back. The only difference was, he didn't seem to want to figure it out. The others suggested he should go see Jihoon but he would always shake his head and change the topic. 
Gyeongsuk was another friend of his. When he was alive, he wouldn't have thought to be friends with an elderly woman, but in the afterlife, he learned he couldn't be too picky. Besides, Gyeongsuk was a sweet old woman with a tragic story. She died in the nineties at seventy-one, but it wasn't due to natural causes. She had been brutally murdered. Her case had never been solved, leaving her to roam until she could get justice. Despite her tragic story and circumstances, she kept a happy disposition and took care of the three of them as if they were her own grandsons. Soonyoung found himself lucky that he wasn't wondering about the afterlife alone. The moment he entered the funeral hall, Gyeongsuk warmly greeted him. 
"Soonyoung! You're finally back."
Even though he was still in a bad mood, he gave the elderly ghost a bright smile, not wanting to worry her. He sat down at the table next to Chan and looked around. There were multiple people in the hall today meaning there was an ongoing funeral. He glanced out the window to see the sun shining high in the sky. He had spent too long walking around outside that time passed him by too quickly again. He hated not having any concept of time. He looked over at Chan. 
"Who is it today?" He asked. 
They had seen plenty of funerals and often tried to speculate who it was and what happened to them. They would also wait to see if another ghost would be joining their group.