"Do not try to contact anything. I only perform a séance for those with a solid reason and a target person they wish or long to talk with."
"My services are not for entertainment."
Saying his piece, Kiho got up and left the kitchen. Lim Soohyun, whose mood was plummeting due to boredom, quietly lit the cigarette in his mouth with his lighter. Kiho's reaction didn't surprise him, but he also didn't expect Kiho to reject doing a séance for him despite being paid for it. There aren't many who would reject a job offer for the sake of their morals. Lim Soohyun wasn't particularly upset about that part. It was more so because he had wasted his whole day over getting someone else involved and still failing in clearing the quest.
"Kiho?"
Putting out his half-burned cigarette on the ashtray, he also got back on his feet. He wanted to settle Kiho in a bedroom before deciding on what he wanted to do for fun before going to bed. Not hearing back from Kiho, he had no choice but to follow and see where he had gone.
"Just sleep here and leave in the morning. I told you it's not safe to drive at night on the hills."
As he spoke, he walked out of the kitchen to the hallway. Kiho was nowhere to be seen, but then he noticed that the door to the basement was open ajar—because instead of seeing the door under the light, he only saw the darkness of the basement, meaning that the door had been unlocked.
"Kiho?"
Gazing into the dark and unlit basement, he muttered his name. Had Kiho really adventured alone into the basement?
"How did he even open this door?"
Lim Soohyun checked the doorknob. It was barely hanging onto the door. Thinking Kiho had broken into the basement for some unknown reason, Lim Soohyun began to worry unnaturally. He hadn't been in the basement himself, and Kiho could see spirits. What if he sees something too sinister in there?
In the end, Kiho was just a kid who had become an adult only recently. Lim Soohyun would feel guilty if he got a kid into an accident. If he passed out from a sudden shock, the closest hospital was an hour's drive from here. Clicking his tongue, he turned on his phone's flashlight and examined the basement's condition. The wooden planks being used as steps leading down to the basement were super old and covered in spider webs from every corner. As Lim Soohyun stepped on the first step, it creaked heavily under his weight.
"Kiho, are you down there? These won't break, right?"
"Breaking a bone right now would be the dumbest thing."
Lim Soohyun spoke, but Kiho never responded, which only made him hurry while being cautious of the steps. Halfway down the steps, he kicked his feet into the air to throw away the spiders crawling onto his legs when he heard his name.
"Mr. Soohyun?"
He immediately turned back to the voice. Kiho was standing in the doorway of the basement, seemingly more confused than him.
"Why are you going in the basement?"
"I was searching for you. Where did you go?"
As he spoke, the flashlight of his phone vanished abruptly. He saw it turning off as if his battery had died. Lim Soohyun didn't remember how much battery he had, so maybe it really did die.
"Mr. Soohyun, come back up here."
Kiho, standing in the lit doorway, hesitated to come down as he spoke in a bit of an urgent voice.
"Yeah, I'm coming."
Replying, he was about to climb back the steps with barely any light when his foot got tugged at a weird angle. He instantly lost his balance, falling from the remaining steps straight onto the basement ground.
"Mr. Soohyun! Are you okay?"
Kiho shouted the moment he heard a loud thud from the basement.
"Ugh..."
Groaning, Lim Soohyun dusted his clothes with his hand as he tried to stand on his feet again. He limped, only putting his weight on his right foot. His left ankle hurt too much for him to walk on it. Standing in the dark, a flashlight blinded him from the top of the stairs.
"Wait! Kiho, don't come down."
The footsteps coming down paused at his words. Lim Soohyun stretched his arm that hit the wooden plank when he fell. It was aching from the collision, but his left foot's ankle was worse. It felt like he had sprained it too badly. The reason he had asked Kiho to not come down was because he hadn't slipped—he was sure of it. It was more like someone had dragged him forcibly down the stairs.
"Mr. Soohyun? Are you hurt? Don't go anywhere. I'll come over."
"Wait a minute. I'm not going anywhere."
After assessing his condition, only then did he glance around in the basement. It was bigger than he had imagined it to be. Only the entrance of the basement was visible due to the source of the light being on top of the stairs. The walls weren't even painted. It seemed like the family that once lived here didn't come down very often, or maybe they just didn't have a need for the basement. Picking up his phone from the ground, Lim Soohyun tried to see if he could turn it on.
Though his screen had survived the fall, his phone was still out of power. Sighing, Lim Soohyun put it in his pants pocket, deciding to get out of here. The dust accumulated in this place was no joke. He could even see the particles of dust in the faint flashlight floating around comfortably.
"....."
One step on the wooden plank, Lim Soohyun felt as if he was being stared at by someone. The feeling of being watched—he had already become familiar with it while living here—but this was new. Instead of feeling eyes behind him, he felt them from the side, from the basement that was still shrouded in darkness. Amused by this realization, he felt a thrill in his heart, wanting to explore more, when his hand was suddenly taken by someone.
"Let's go. Don't stay here."
He hadn't even noticed when Kiho had already climbed down, securely bracing his wrist. He tugged at him to come upstairs. However, Lim Soohyun stayed unmoving as he spoke.
"Kiho, I think there's someone in the basement."