6:27 A.M.
He exhaled quietly.
"Guess we've got… thirty minutes before the motel kicks me out."
Turning away from the window, his gaze drifted back toward the bed.
Ha-eun was awake now.
She sat up slowly, her movements a little sluggish as if she had just woken from a deep sleep, well she actually did. Her hair was slightly messy, strands falling across her face as she rubbed one eye lazily.
When she noticed him looking, she smiled.
A small, sleepy smile.
"Morning…"
Doyeon opened his mouth to answer—
Then stopped.
Something was wrong.
The edges of her body were beginning to fade.
At first it looked like dust drifting through sunlight, tiny shimmering particles lifting from her shoulders and dissolving into the air.
"What?" Doyeon blinked.
The fading spread quickly.
"Wait—"
His expression changed instantly as he rushed toward the bed.
"Hey? what's happening?!"
But Ha-eun didn't look worried at all.
Instead, she giggled.
The sound was light and almost mischievous.
"Oh… right," she said, tapping the side of her head with her finger while sticking out her tongue slightly. "I forgot to tell you."
More of her form broke apart into faint glowing dust.
"We ghosts usually disappear during the daytime," she explained casually. "Around six-thirty in the morning."
Doyeon stared at her.
"You forgot to mention that?"
"Tehe."
Despite the situation, she seemed completely relaxed.
Then her expression softened.
"Anyway… thank you, Doyeon."
Her hand reached forward, gently wrapping around his.
Even though her body was fading, her touch still felt real.
Warm.
"By the way," she added quietly, looking up at him with a small hopeful smile, "you'll come back tonight… right?"
Doyeon sighed softly.
"Yeah. Yeah, I will."
The answer came out a little grumpier than he intended.
But the moment he said it, Ha-eun's face brightened.
Her smile widened instantly.
Before he could react, she suddenly leaned forward and wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug.
Doyeon stiffened in surprise.
"Ay…"
He started to push her away.
But then he heard her voice near his ear.
"Shh…"
Her tone was soft.
"Just let me stay like this for a moment."
Doyeon hesitated.
Then slowly gave up resisting.
With a quiet sigh, he sat down on the edge of the bed and pulled her gently into his lap so she wouldn't fall as her body continued to fade.
Ha-eun rested her head against his shoulder.
Her arms loosely wrapped around him.
The glowing particles drifting from her body grew brighter in the morning sunlight.
"Thank you," she murmured.
Her voice was growing faint.
"See you later."
Doyeon looked down at her.
"Sure."
And a moment later—
Ha-eun disappeared.
The room fell silent again.
Only the sunlight remained, quietly filling the empty space where she had been.
For a few seconds after Ha-eun vanished, Doyeon didn't move.
The sunlight continued spilling through the open window, quietly filling the room as if nothing strange had happened at all. Dust drifted lazily through the air. The bed beside him was empty again.
But Doyeon still sat there.
Frozen.
His hand remained lifted slightly, as though he could still feel the weight of her head resting on his shoulder.
"Ha-eun," he murmured under his breath.
Silence answered him.
Then—
From the darker corner of the room, where the morning sunlight couldn't quite reach, something shifted.
A voice spoke.
"Doyeon… you know you can stop."
The sound was low and hollow, like air moving through an empty tunnel.
Doyeon's shoulders stiffened instantly.
Slowly, his fingers curled into fists.
"Shut up."
His voice came out rough.
"It's been weeks. No— months. And now you suddenly show up again?"
He still hadn't turned around.
"I was hoping you'd stay gone."
For a moment the room stayed quiet.
Then something began to form in the shadows.
A thin strand of black smoke peeled itself away from the darkness in the corner. It twisted slowly in the air, thickening, stretching upward until a vague human-shaped silhouette stood there.
Its form wavered like burned paper drifting in the wind.
"Doyeon…" it said again.
The thing began moving.
Not walking.
Gliding.
Each slow movement brought it closer to him.
Doyeon finally turned his head.
The moment his eyes landed on it, his breath caught.
Even after all these years, the sight still made his chest tighten.
The black figure had no real face— only a hollow shape where one should be, like smoke pressed into the outline of a human skull.
It stopped a few steps away.
"Since you were a child…" it murmured.
Its voice seemed to echo from somewhere deep inside its body.
But then the sentence trailed off.
The shadow tilted its head slightly, as if reconsidering something.
"…Actually," it continued after a moment, "I suppose there's no need to say anything anymore."
The air in the room grew colder.
Then—
The black figure collapsed inward.
The smoke dissolved like ash carried away by an invisible wind, leaving nothing behind but empty air.
Doyeon sat there for several seconds after it disappeared.
His heart was still pounding violently against his ribs.
"Great," he muttered hoarsely.
His shoulders sagged as he leaned back against the bed.
"To think the thing that's been hunting me since I was a kid decided to come back now."
He let out a shaky breath and slowly lay down on the mattress, staring blankly at the ceiling.
"Seriously… what the hell is my life anymore?"
His voice sounded tired.
"First that thing. Then ghosts everywhere since I was a kid. And now…" He rubbed his face with both hands. "Now I've got some weird dating app sent by my missing friend."
With a tired groan, Doyeon stretched his arm toward the bedside table without bothering to sit up. His fingers fumbled around for a second before finally grabbing his phone, and he lifted it lazily above his face.
The screen lit up in the dim room.
The same app icon was still there.
[Dating Sim: Save Them All.]
For a moment it just sat on the screen, quiet and harmless like any normal mobile game. Then the title flickered slightly, and the letters distorted as if something behind the screen was rewriting them.
A new message slowly appeared.
[Congratulations! You survived the night.]
[We're happy to inform you that you only died once.]
Doyeon stared blankly at the screen.
His expression didn't change.
After a few seconds, his arm slowly fell back onto the mattress, the phone landing beside his head with a soft thud.
"Yeah," he muttered quietly, his voice rough with exhaustion. "I'm losing my mind."
He closed his eyes and exhaled slowly, pressing the back of his hand against his forehead.
"Being with Ha-eun last night…" he murmured, "…I almost forgot how miserable my life actually is."
For a moment he thought he might fall asleep again.
The quiet of the room wrapped around him, heavy and warm, pulling at his already exhausted mind.
Then—
RING!
The sudden sound of the motel phone shattered the silence.
Doyeon flinched and groaned in irritation, dragging himself upright as he rubbed a hand through his already messy hair.
"Yeah, yeah… I'm coming," he muttered toward the door, even though no one could hear him.
He pushed himself off the bed and reached for his jacket hanging over the couch, shrugging it on as he glanced down at his phone again.
The time glowed quietly on the screen.
6:39 A.M.
Doyeon sighed.
"Guess the night's officially over."