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The livestream opened to the scene of Kai napping at the kitchen table, head cushioned in what was unmistakably a full bowl of steaming ramen. The room was dark, the only sources of light being the camera flash and the little lamp in the microwave that stayed on as long as it wasn't fully closed.
Yeonjun was seated next to Kai, hair dripping wet from a shower and dressed in the first pair of clothes he could find on the bathroom floor, those being Taehyun's sweaty gym shorts and the mysterious sweater the four of them distinctly remembered being Soobin's, though he swore up and down he had never seen it before.
Comments started flooding in, mainly about the bicycle standing in the kitchen. Taehyun discreetly panned the camera to the right, cutting off both the bike and Yeonjun in the process. Instead he focused it on the person sitting in a chair on Kai's other side with their hood up and turned away from the camera.
"Moa." The person spoke, slowly turning around in their chair to reveal Beomgyu, holding up a flashlight to light up his face from below. "The light of my life", he continued on, leaning forward. "Our dorms... are haunted."
Off-camera, Yeonjun sighed audibly.
"It started off small. Lights flickering, things being in different places than we left them, doors opening. But recently," he leaned further towards the camera, drawing the flashlight closer to his face, "it all started getting really strange.
Doors slam in the middle of the night. Our shadows will either not match our movements or disappear completely. Sometimes, one of the members isn't home, but we hear them call from another room.
It has gotten to the point of the others spending nights in the studios, while I have to stay here and fight off the demons on my own. That horror obsession in middle school is really coming in handy, but it's starting to make us lose sleep. Members keep falling asleep in weird places, such as ramen-" he motioned to Kai, who Yeonjun was checking up on to make sure he was still breathing. "-and the shower."
As if summoned, the dull thud of a sleepy Soobin running into a door came from the hallway, followed by the door slamming open and Soobin falling onto the floor with a pained groan. From the hallway, Moa would later swear they heard him asking what year it was.
The sudden noise woke up Kai, who sleepily lifted his head. "Huh?" Both he and the chat seemed to take a moment to realize the hot soup dripping from his hair and face, covered in noodles. "It's IN MY EYE!"
Both the people in chat and Yeonjun laughed at Kai as he rushed over to the sink to dunk his head under running water. Teahyun sighed as he zoomed in on the mess covering the table. "And who's gonna be the one who has to clean that up before it molds?"
"You."
"You."
"You."
A wave of #saveTaehyun tweets started up.
"Stop ganging up on Teahyun." Soobin came limping into the kitchen with a red mark on his forehead from the door, wearing the clothes Yeonjun had peeled off himself 30 minutes earlier, which were still damp with sweat. He looked around for a moment, taking note of the phone Teahyun was holding up and Kai crying into the kitchen sink. "Gyu, what did you do?"
Beomgyu gasped in mock offense. "Why is that the first thing you assume?! I have done nothing wrong, ever!"
"You know I love you, but everyone in this fucking room is aware of what utter bullshit-"
"We're live!" Taehyun interrupted cheerfully before Soobin could catch himself a scolding from their managers the next morning.
"Hi Moa!" Soobin's mood did a full 180, while Beomgyu stared at the camera with his mouth wide open.
"He's crazy, Moa, don't let the shy act fool you." He moved his chair further away from Soobin at the glare he received.
Finally, Kai emerged from the sink, eyes bloodshot and looking a little too murderous. Blinking rapidly, the first person crossing his line of sight was Yeonjun. "Thanks for the help, hyung."
"Don't hyung me."
"Whatever you say, Yeonjun-ah."
"Get back into your soup you little-" Yeonjun jumped up to chase Kai, who was already making a run for it. Grabbing him by the back of his neck, he began forcing the younger's head back in the direction of the ramen bowl. Taehyun turned the camera away respectfully.
"So why, exactly, are we live at midnight?", Soobin asked over the sound of torture.
Beomgyu's insulted face lit up like that of a child in a candy store. Kai's screams suddenly quieted, before they were replaced by Yeonjun begging for forgiveness as he was now the one being pushed into the bowl.
"I'm glad you asked!" Beomgyu jumped up and ran over to the fridge, knocking both Yeonjun and Kai into the table in the process, who groaned in pain as they were stabbed by each other's bony joints and the edge of the table.
"I've prepared some equipment." Beomgyu continued with a grin, ignoring the sounds of pain. As he opened the fridge door, about a dozen tangerines came tumbling out, which Beomgyu ignored like a champ and produced a suspiciously damp looking shoebox from the depths of the lowest shelf. The box made an unusually loud thud as he set it down on the table.
Kai, from a pile of his and Yeonjun's limbs, blinked tiredly through the remains of ramen clogging up his vision, looking like he still hadn't grasped the situation as Beomgyu repeatedly stabbed into the cardboard with his nails until he gained a good enough grip to rip into it. Instead of, you know, opening the box normally.
"We have!" The shoebox was opened, revealing the inside to be filled with more or less professional looking equipment. "EMF reader! Spirit box! Motion sensor! Salt!"
The items seemed to keep getting stranger the deeper he dug. By the time his arm was submerged up to his elbow, which, looking at the size of the box, should be physically impossible, he was just pulling out weapons.
"Water gun! Baseball bat! Oh-" Beomgyu paused as his hand came out of the box holding a scary looking clown doll, no larger than his hand. He looked around his members bashfully, who met his fluttering eyelashes with expressions of pure fear. "That's not supposed to be in here."
The doll made a strange rattling sound as it was put down next to the now empty box. Soobin chose this moment to drape himself over Beomgyu's back, squishing the younger down against the table with no mercy.
"Get off, you reek of sweat!"
"It's not even my sweat on this shirt."
"That doesn't make it any better!"
Beomgyu launched into a whining session while Yeonjun argued that his sweat smelled delicious, thank you very much. Over the sound of their blabbering, Soobin deadpanned at the camera. "I got 99 problems and 98 of those are directly caused by the members."
"What about the last one?", Kai piped up from his corner. Soobin sighed with a tired look on his face. "Being too hot and sexy. It gets exhausting."
Beomgyu hacked out a cough, still squished under his weight. "There's also an Ouija board under my bed, but I forgot to close a session last week and might have doomed us all so we'll only use it if Moa want us to." Taehyun, behind the camera, turned a little pale.
"Where did you even get all of this stuff?" Soobin grabbed the radio-looking thing curiously and began fiddling with the buttons. One particular press made it suddenly turn on, producing an awfully loud static sounds, which made him drop the radio on Beomgyu's lap. Beomgyu's voice dropped as he glared at the older through his bangs, cheerful smile gone.
"You ask too many questions." He grabbed the spirit box and twisted one of the many buttons, which turned the volume down. "It's going to get you killed one day."
Moa wasn't sure if they were supposed to be flustered because of Beomgyu's low voice or terrified of the words he spoke with said voice.
"I still think all of this is bullshit," Soobin proudly announced.
"Live!"
The doll clown on the table moved its head by itself, unnoticed by the members but very much noticed by terrified Weverse users. Taehyun set down the phone in an open kitchen cupboard, propped up with a salt shaker so it faced the table, where everyone was gathered.
"You know, Beomgyu Hyung," Kai piped up, trying to pull a bit of ramen from his hair, "You scare me sometimes."
"Only sometimes?" Soobin snorted and pushed Beomgyu's head down, who attempted to elbow him unsuccessfully. He cooed at the younger, patronizing in the exact way he knew he hated it. "my crazy little horror enthusiast."
"Don't worry Kai," Taehyun reassured, stepping into frame and grabbing blindly into the pile of gadgets. His hand came out holding a baseball bat wrapped in christmas lights, which he pointed at the camera threateningly. "I'll protect you."
In the middle of the mess stood Yeonjun, who gave the camera a look that portrayed just how fed up he was with them. "So, what's with your weird box and can we turn it off now?"
Clutching the spirit box protectively to his chest, Beomgyu jutted out his bottom lip in a pout. "It scans through radio frequencies at a high rate. If we hear words that are longer than one frequency is played, that's a spirit talking through it."
"You don't honestly believe that, do you?"
Beomgyu opened up his mouth to insult Yeonjun's entire bloodline, but was interrupted before he actually could. Over the consistent static, the distorted voice of a young girl spoke clearly.
"Asshole."
"You're so right, Jacqueline."
Kai hid himself behind Taehyun with a scream, while Yeonjun froze in his spot and stared a chant of "what the fuck what the fuck what the fuck".
Soobin stared at Beomgyu like he was responsible. "What. was that. Why did you respond."
A girly giggle came through the box, lasting several seconds and making Yeonjun join Kai in quivering behind Taehyun in fear. Beomgyu, still pouting, grabbed the clown doll to let it sit on the palm of his hand and made its hand wave at the camera cutely. "It's just Jacqueline, guys."
Nobody said anything, except the little girl voice, which apparently belonged to... Jacqueline, the creepy clown doll. "Hello."
"I found her on ebay."
No longer endearingly thinking of Beomgyu as his crazy little horror enthusiast, Soobin abandoned his best friend to join the pile of bodies forming behind the safety of Taehyun.
"You bought a haunted doll?!"
The baseball bat was pointed at the doll threateningly. The cristmas lights jingled. "Off ebay?!"
Beomgyu turned his head away from them, flicking his hair with a limp wrist. "Don't act so surprised, she's been with us for years. Or did you think your plushies move around by themselves, Kai?"
Kai made a very manly squeal. "I thought I kicked them in my sleep!"
"Hueningie... You sleep like a log." Soobin was looking very pale now, trying to hide his much taller body behind Taehyun's.
"Sleepy boy," the voice giggled mockingly. Beomgyu joined the menacing laughter. Clutching onto Taehyun's shirt, Kai whimpered in fear.
"By the way Jacqueline, who put you in the fridge?"
The static suddenly got much louder, making Beomgyu jerk back from the spirit box. The girl's voice eventually answered, though it sounded strangled, like she was being choked by something.
"... big... bad..."
Now it was Beomgyu's turn to look at his members with wide eyes. "... big bad what?" There was no response. "Jacqueline?"
The static kept staticing, though no voice spoke through it. After a minute the other members could only describe as agonizing, Beomgyu finally turned off the box with a pout. As soon as the noise stopped, Yeonjun jumped out from behind Taehyun, acting like he wasn't quivering in fear a moment earlier. "Okay, what the hell was that? Moa, you heard that too, right?"
"This can't be!" Beomgyu suddenly shouted, jumping up and slamming his hands down on the table. Everyone else flinched, their mental image of Beomgyu having turned much more terrifying after he had shown the true nature of his special interest. "Some big bad demon bitch is messing with Jacqueline! We have to do something!"
Moa editors all over the world saved the clip of rare angry Beomgyu. Bamtoris were getting fed tonight.
Yeonjun also slammed down his own hand on the table just because, but immediately made a face of pure horror as it stuck to the table. "Why is it sticky?"
"No idea," replied Kai, knowing damn well he had spilled syrup onto that spot the night before.
"Everyone into the living room!", Beomgyu exclaimed, rummaging through the pile of ghost gadgets with purpose until he found his trusted flashlight again.
Looking up to see that no one was sitting, he hip checked Soobin hard enough to send him bumping into the backrest of one of the chairs. As Soobin clutched his hip in pain, the rest of the members scrambled to flee into the living room. Kai hurried to grab the phone from the cupboard on the way out.
Beomgyu followed after them, flicking off the lightswitches he passed and pulling shut the blackout curtains in the living room they had spent half of their very first paycheck on. They made movie nights much more enjoyable.
"Do we have to turn off the lights?", Kai whined. Beomgyu held up the flashlight to light up his face from below, making his voice go as deep as he could, which was, in Kai's humble opinion, pretty fucking deep. "Jacqueline likes the dark."
Yeonjun yawned, suddenly very sleepy in the darkness of the room. "Can we put your creepy ghost statements on pause until tomorrow?" He flopped down onto the carpet, dragging Taehyun and Kai down with him on each side.
"Shh, Hyung." Beomgyu pushed a finger against Yeonjun's lips, who stared at the camera in Kai's hands completely unimpressed. "We've only just begun."
He began fiddling around with the flashlight, making it turn off and back on a few times, before the switch was right in the middle. He placed it down on the floor, sitting down with crossed legs and folding his hands before him, looking from member to member expectantly.
Soobin, still clutching his hip, sat down with a cautious space between him and Beomgyu. "What now?"
"I'm glad you asked!" The flashlight flickered for a second, before turning back on. "The switch is right in the middle, so any slight touch can turn it on or off. It's believed that a spirit can move the switch just enough to give us responses to simple questions."
"Now that," said Taehyun, sounding mildly impressed. Beomgyu's chest began to swell with pride, until he went on, "is a new low for you."
Beomgyu deflated with a pout. "All you ever do is slander me." The flashlight flickered before suddenly turning off completely. Despite his initial scepticism, Kai flung himself into Yeonjun's side.
"See? They agree with me. Everyone here has it out for me." The flashlight turned on and off rapidly in agreement. Beomgyu was feeling very validated.
"Hey, we only have it out for you when you're being terrifying," Soobin defended himself. The flashlight stopped flickering immediately.
Skillfully ignoring him, Beomgyu kept his attention on the flashlight. "Can you turn the light on again, please? For confirmation."
For a second, nothing happened. Yeonjun was already mapping out his next diss when the flashlight began flickering again, eventually lighting up completely.
Beomgyu's laughter sounded a bit too manic for comfort. "It's working, never doubt me again!"
The flashlight turned off and on again in agreement. "Are you the one who put Jacqueline in the fridge?"
It flickered again. Kai panned the camera from member to member, getting a wide array of reactions, most of them being variations of what the fuck.
"Were you trying to hurt her?" The flashlight flickered a few times, but ultimately didn't turn off all the way. Beomgyu hummed and looked between his members in thought.
"Were you trying to hurt us?"
"Why would you ask it that?!"
The flickering started up again and kept going, though once again, there was no clear response. After a few seconds of noncommittal flickering, Beomgyu asked into the room, "Hello? Are you still there?"
Nothing.
"Hello? Jacqueline?"
"It's okay Hyung, we always knew you were a little insane. We won't judge." Kai patted Beomgyu's thigh sympathetically when the flashlight just kept steadily flickering. He got a glare in response.
"You just saw it giving clear responses!"
Taehyun eyed Beomgyu judgingly. "This doesn't look like a clear response to me."
Beomgyu crossed his arms and turned his back to Taehyun. "Do you have any better ideas?" He spoke through a pout.
Rule #1 for the survival of Tubatu: Never challenge Taehyun.
Taehyun sat up straight, cleared his throat, then yelled, "Hey you demon fuck!"
Multiple hands reached out to slap over his mouth, which he skillfully dodged.
"Weren't you the one telling me not to cuss on live?"
"Show yourself!", he went on, ignoring Soobin.
This time, when the flashlight turned off, there was the audible sound of the switch being flicked. The living room was plunged into complete darkness, not a single flicker lighting up the space anymore. There was a lot of scrambling as they all tried to find someone to fling themselves onto.
"Turn on the flash!"
"I'm trying!"
Somewhere in the darkness, the ominous sound of something being moved disrupted the quiet of the apartment. With bated breaths, the members waited in the darkness, as the distinct ring of a bell could be heard, followed by nearly silent clicking. Kai finally found the flash.
The light that came from the phone was blinding for a second, and by the time everyone's eyes had adjusted, they were staring at the source of the clicking. It was the turning of the wheels of their Kitchen Bike. In the living room. Rapidly approaching them by itself.
"Go go GO!" Yeonjun's yelling brought everyone out of their daze, quickly jumping up and rushing down the hallway to escape the bike's fury. Instinctively, Kai latched onto the back of Soobin's shirt and followed him into one of the bedrooms. Right behind them, Beomgyu barely managed to rush through the door before it was slammed shut.
Across the hallway, Yeonjun and Taehyun's panicky rambling disappeared behind another door.
Not daring to breathe, the three of them stood in the darkness, looking at each other with wide eyes. "That-" Soobin started, whispering, before suddenly cutting himself off at the sound of a muffled voice coming from the living room.
"Hyung?", called the familiar voice of Beomgyu through the door. Kai gasped and spun the camera around to face Beomgyu, who was standing behind him, wide eyed.
The room was silent for a while, the three of them staring at each other, afraid to breathe. After a few second came the creak of the door across the hallway opening, followed by Taehyun's voice hissing "wait!". Kai slowly opened the door just wide enough for the camera to film through the gap, capturing Yeonjun escaping Taehyun's grasp on his wrist and rushing into the living room, where the disembodied voice had come from.
"Moa, you heard that right?", Kai asked the people in chat, opening the door a little bit wider and leaning out. In the dark living room, the shadowy outline of Yeonjun came to a stop.
"Gyu?"
Beomgyu peeked his head out of the door and whisper shouted, "That wasn't me calling!"
Carefully, they all came shuffling out of the rooms. The phone's flash wasn't bright enough to light up the living room from where they stood, keeping Yeonjun in the dark.
After a second of tense silence, Soobin unlocked his phone, which immediately started playing the tiktok he had been watching before the livestream started. He used the thirst trap on the screen to light up the hallway with flickering red light. Yeonjun stood in the living room with his back facing them, not moving a muscle.
"Y-yeonjun Hyung?", Kai asked carefully, inching closer step by step. The camera shook in his grip, and the closer he got, the more concerning Yeonjun's silence became. Soobin pushed Taehyun in front of him, using him as a human shield as Beomgyu bounced past them into the living room curiously. There was a moment of peaceful silence before everything went to shit.
The voice that spoke up was unmistakably Yeonjun's, but it sounded wrong, like something was fundamentally amiss.
"Foolish mortals."
Kai flinched back. Within the camera's view, Beomgyu froze with his hands outstretched, as Yeonjun's head snapped around, his whole body turning with the force his neck moved with. Somewhere in the background, Soobin gasped.
Yeonjun's eyes were rolled back into his head, almost completely white. The grin on his lips was pulled too wide, veins popping out on his forehead in strain.
"You think you can challenge me? You think you're worthy?"
He addressed Beomgyu, shooting a sharp glare straight through him. Beomgyu remained frozen, not moving a muscle. Both Soobin and Taehyun flocked together behind Kai, wanting to run far away but terrified of attracting attention.
"You don't know who you're messing with, do you?"
Finally, Beomgyu moved. But to everyone's horror, he didn't run away, instead clutching his hands together in front of his chest as he blinked his long eyelashes at the being controlling Yeonjun. "HELLO MISTER DEMON MAN I'M A HUGE FAN CAN WE PLEASE BE FRIENDS? PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE-"
He was cut off by a burst of blood-curdling laughter that sounded painful ripping out of Yeonjun's throat. It sounded wrong, too low but too high and not smooth enough, like it was stitched together out of multiple voices.
"Your desperation amuses me."
Kai took a step back, grasping around blindly in search of someone to hide behind, yet still determined to capture everything on camera. Yeonjun's body shook with erratic laughter, limbs moving unnaturally, until suddenly, he collapsed like his strings had been cut.
His limp body fell backwards, landing on the couch. Yeonjun's eyes immediately flew open as he gasped, wide and bloodshot.
That was hot, a lone Moa commented, their message being drowned by the flow of the chat quickly.
"Aw man, why do you get to be possessed?! I've been dreaming about it for years!" Beomgyu stomped, fists clenched as he stared at Yeonjun like he had personally asked to be possessed so Beomgyu wouldn't be. Yeonjun gaped at him, still sprawled out on the couch and panting.
Dropping to his knees, Beomgyu grabbed his hyung by the shoulders and shook him back and forth aggressively. "What did it feel like? Were you conscious? Could you see? You have to tell me everything, Hyung!" Yeonjun let it happen, completely speechless and still gaping.
Taehyun stepped out from behind Kai, trying to get a better look at Yeonjun's suffering without his view being blocked. He took the phone from Kai's hands, pushing the camera closer to Yeonjun's face. "See, Huening, you've gotta put your back into your camera work."
Kai, not one to go down easily, snatched the camera back and pointed it right back at Teahyun, triggering his fight or flight response, with the core difference that Taehyun's fight or flight included flinging off his shirt and flexing.
This is my favourite live, the same Moa commented. This time, their chat message received a lot of agreement.
Soobin cleared his throat, interrupting Kai from pointing and laughing at Taehyun, now clutching his shirt in front of his chest in shock from his own actions. Yeonjun's soul had left his body, lying limp under Beomgyu's mercy. "So... What's next?"
"I think this situation calls for a seance!", Beomgyu responded, much too enthusiastically for the situation. Yeonjun shot Soobin a pleading look, who pretended not to see it. This wasn't his battle to fight. His phone was already blowing up with messages and calls from management, there was no need to incriminate himself further.
"We need chalk! Get the chalk, Kai!", Beomgyu instructed, jumping up from harassing Yeonjun. "Taehyun, clear off some space on the floor! I'll get Jacqueline and Soobin, you get the candles!"
Stumbling in the direction Beomgyu had pushed him, Soobin looked around unsurely. "We have candles at home?"
As Taehyun began kicking away the objects that covered the living room floor, Kai returned with a handful of white chalk and Yeonjun started periodically twitching. Soobin tried to find the candles, no really, but there was no way he was going to find anything in these living conditions.
"I tried and failed to find your candles. Don't tell me you stored them under your bed because I am not going down there."
From his position on the floor to prepare the chalk, Beomgyu glowered at Soobin. He didn't get to actually respond, as a ringing sound interrupted him. Slowly, everyone present turned to the bike, though it was still laying in the hallway, no trace of possession to be seen. The sound rang again, echoing through the silent dorm.
"Is that... the doorbell?"
Moa got to see rare terrified Taehyun for a glorious minute. Soobin directed his attention to the slumped form of Yeonjun on the couch and whisper-shouted, "You're the oldest, do something!"
"You're the leader!"
Soobin spun around to Kai, who met his gaze with a pout.
"Hyung I'm baby!"
"No, I'm baby," Beomgyu insisted.
Desperate, Soobin turned to his last hope, Taehyun. He was met with a deadpan stare. "If you don't go I'm putting chip crumbs in your bed."
"Fine," he forced out and began leading the awkward group shuffle (minus Yeonjun) down the hallway. When they reached the front door, the doorbell rang again, menacingly. With a shaking hand, Soobin reached out and pushed down on the doorknob, before quickly jumping back.
Ever so slowly, the door opened with a drawn out creak. The members all held their breath. Glowing like an angel in the hallway's lights stood Jimin, wearing sweatpants and holding his phone in one hand and an open bag of chips in the other.
"Sunbaenim?! What are you doing here?"
"Joining in on the fun, obviously." He showed his phone screen with a grin, already toeing off his slippers like he owned the place. The screen showed the livestream playing with a slight delay.
"Hey Moa how are you Kai you have something on your face", he went on without pausing for a breath, still grinning.
Kai cupped his face and batted his eyelashes. "Is it beauty?"
"No, it looks like ramen."
Kai, his bright smile frozen on his face, turned around to leave. "Let's chat with the demon, Moa!" He grabbed Taehyun's shirt to pull him along, which he was still protectively clutching to his chest, resulting in a surprising high note from Taehyun.
They quickly disappeared back into the dorm to keep setting up the seance, leaving Soobin alone with Beomgyu and Jimin. Beomgyu bounded up to Jimin with bouncy steps, his voice a few pitches too high from excitement.
"Did you see Yeonjun Hyung get possessed?! Did you did you?"
Jimin threw his head back elatedly. Soobin recognized the expression of a thoroughly satisfied horror enthusiast with terror. "I did! It was beautiful!"
Oh god, there's two of them.
They both slap their hands around excitedly in a way that Soobin had only seen people react to meeting idols, except they were this giggly about a literal demon. Beomgyu squealed something that could not possibly be identified as words, though Jimin somehow understood and nodded aggressively.
The two just kept giggling until it turned into cackling and Soobin felt a migraine bubbling up. They're annoying. God, they're so annoying. Sometimes he wished he could just wrap his hands around Beomgyu's pretty little neck and squeeze.
So when the door slammed shut behind them by itself as they started screaming, effectively cutting them off from the rest of the group inside the dorm, Soobin couldn't get himself to suppress the utter joy that came with the thought that maybe the ghost would finally finish the job. He felt a bright light open up at the end of the tunnel. Was that bells chiming he heard? A gleeful, dirty smile took over his face at the muffled screaming.
"Soobinie?", an angelic voice called out to him, and he thought that this must be heaven.
"God?", he responded.
"There is no god here." It was Taehyun, stepping around the corner with the camera, staring deep into the dark parts of Soobin's soul with unblinking eyes. "Except for me."