"Even if there is someone here, Mr. Soohyun, you don't need to pay it any mind. Receiving attention is exactly what these things want."
Kiho appeared a bit ruffled, losing his previous completely calm composure. Lim Soohyun was contemplating between them. As someone who would readily throw himself in any situation for some fun, he wanted to go and see what it was, but Kiho was also here. He might even be seeing something he didn't want to. Kiho stared at him with eyes of expectancy, and Lim Soohyun unexpectedly crumbled under that gaze.
"Ugh...fine, let's go."
Tightening his grip on the wrist, Kiho pulled Lim Soohyun with him upstairs, but the person with a sprained ankle couldn't even take a single full step before pained whines came out of his mouth.
"Ow...ow...easy there."
Kiho stopped and glanced down at Lim Soohyun's foot that was being lifted into the air due to the bursts of pain shooting through the foot. He immediately loosened his hold and raised his arm instead, putting it on his shoulders. He supported him as they walked out of the basement. As soon as they were out the doorway, Kiho closed the door and slammed a talisman onto the wooden surface of the door.
"..."
Lim Soohyun watched, unamused by the sight, before he was dragged to the living room. Kiho made him sit on the couch while he crouched down to check his left foot, turning it left and right repeatedly.
"What are you doing? I only sprained my ankle. You're observing it as if you can heal it."
Lim Soohyun jerked away his foot from Kiho's hands as he spoke. Only then Kiho calmed down, going back to his composed self and sitting next to him on the couch.
"Would you like to tell me what you were doing down there alone, Mr. Soohyun?"
"I told you I was looking for you. I saw the basement door wide open and thought you went in there alone."
"What were you doing not coming up even though I was insisting?"
Kiho responded with another question as soon as Lim Soohyun replied to his previous inquiry. Kneading his ankle with a thumb, he gazed at Kiho, who was leaning back onto the couch, staring at him. Lim Soohyun felt like he was being interrogated for a crime he didn't commit.
"Which bedroom do you want to sleep in for the night? Actually, I might not be able to clean the other bedrooms, so take my bedroom. I'll just sleep here on the couch."
He rambled on, thinking of staying here instead of forcing himself to climb up and down just to sleep in a bed (he didn't want to clean another bedroom either).
"Don't try to bury it, Mr. Soohyun. It might not be my place to say anything to you, but how you're behaving isn't normal. If my guess isn't wrong, I believe you bought this house to have a place to play. You're not taking any of this seriously, are you?"
Suddenly becoming extremely concerned, Kiho confronted him. Lim Soohyun watched him for a whole minute before answering him.
"You're right...so what? It's not like I'm hurting anyone or doing something illegal. Why are you getting so worked up over nothing?"
"You're hurting yourself."
Kiho muttered. Hearing him, Lim Soohyun paused for a second. Taking his hands off his foot, he put it down on the floor and smiled wide at Kiho.
"Are you concerned about me, kid?"
He was amused, to say the least. He wasn't expecting to hear something like this from Kiho, who didn't use any excuses and spoke exactly what he wanted to say.
"I'm not a kid, Mr. Soohyun, and yes, I am concerned. Anyone would be if they saw someone putting their life in danger just for momentary entertainment."
"That's not true. Not everyone would care about a stranger. As long as it didn't affect their life, they'd be better off ignoring it."
Resting his head on the couch's armrest, Lim Soohyun placed his feet next to Kiho as he spoke while maintaining eye contact with a slightly tilted head to get a clear view of Kiho's face.
"It would have been different if I hadn't seen it myself, but since I have now...Mr. Soohyun, I want you to leave this house. Don't try to interact with these things if you don't know the consequences."
"My brain must be wired uniquely, Kiho. I don't care about my life much if it means I can be satisfied for the time being. If I go a few days without anything to entertain myself, I get severely depressed to the point I even want to end my life."
"There's just no meaning to this life, but everyone is still busy trying to survive. I can't understand them."
Lim Soohyun spoke without any reserves, and Kiho listened to him with his utmost focus. He was expecting to be ridiculed for this way of thinking and that he shouldn't be like this. He had heard all sorts of stuff.
"You will continue even living like this. Even if it isn't me, you'll just find another way to talk with spirits, isn't that right?"
A bit taken aback by his words, Lim Soohyun had yet to say anything when Kiho abruptly picked him up like a child. Shocked, he forgot to react. Holding him with one arm wrapped around his waist as if he weighed nothing, Kiho began walking to the stairs.
"What are you doing?"
He looked at Kiho's side profile as he asked him in a low voice. Grabbing Kiho's shoulders, Lim Soohyun didn't even have to fold his legs. They couldn't touch the ground anyway since Kiho was a little taller than him, and he was also being lifted into the air.
"The couch will be uncomfortable to sleep in, and about the séance—if the offer is still on the table, I'll do it for you."