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Namgyu wanted to be a club promoter.
That was the dream.
VIP lists, neon lights, free drinks, hot people screaming his name at 3 a.m. because he got them into the city’s most exclusive rooftop rave. He had it all planned — the outfits, the hustle, the rise to fame via nightclub bathrooms and overpriced tequila shots.
Instead?
He was at a haunted fucking hotel.
And it was all because of Thanos.
Now, rewind.
It all started when Thanos was butt drunk outside a nightclub on a Tuesday.
Like, full-on sideways. Screaming about how the moon was fake and how humans were just hairless worms with bones. A vibe.
When suddenly some random shirtless guy outside a convenience store whispered
“Yo… free drugs. Haunted hotel.”
Those were the only words Thanos heard. That was all he needed.
By the time Namgyu got a text from him saying:
“bro i found heaven come 2 me 😘”
…it was already too late.
Namgyu showed up the next morning thinking maybe Thanos was at some VIP afterparty.
He was not.
Instead, he found his best friend lounging on a velvet couch in the lobby of Hostel 404, eating dry cereal from a haunted teacup and giving a ghost fashion advice.
“Thanos, what the fuck is this place?”
“My new job.”
“YOU HAVE A JOB?!”
“Yup. They said I have the energy of someone who won’t live long. That’s apparently ‘perfect bait.’”
And then the manager walked in.
A woman with way too much eyeliner, a mug that said World’s Okayest Boss, and a lanyard full of tiny plastic knives. Her name was Semi.
She looked Namgyu up and down and said
“Friend of yours?”
“He’s not my friend,” Namgyu said immediately. “I don’t know him. I’m here to bring him home.”
“Too bad,” Semi said, flipping through a clipboard. “He already put you down as his emergency contact-slash-unpaid intern. You’re shadowing him for the week.”
“WHAT?!”
And just like that, Namgyu’s dreams of neon-soaked VIP parties died right there… beneath a flickering chandelier that hadn’t worked since 1998.
Now he’s stuck shadowing Thanos, sleeping in a dusty twin bed, fighting over ghost repellents, and dealing with haunted guest.
This was not the dream.
Not even close.
So Namgyu and Thanos were now officially employed(for the first time ever).
Meanwhile, two other lives were about to be ruined.
Minsu was a man of peace.
Not like, monk-level peace — more like “please don’t make me talk to anyone for more than thirty seconds” peace.
He was applying to cafés. Quiet ones. Maybe a library. Maybe a nice, calm pottery shop where no one screamed or levitated.
But he made the mistake of telling Thanos he needed a job.
And Thanos — who absolutely should not be allowed to text — sent him the following:
“yo i found a place, they got free food and ghosts lmao pull up 😎”
Minsu, against his better judgment (and honestly, the voice in his head that screamed “run”), showed up with a resume printed on resume paper.
He opened the door.
He saw a chandelier swing on its own.
He heard Thanos yelling, “HEY BRO, THIS TOILET TALKS IF YOU SING TO IT!”
He turned around.
He tried to leave.
But Semi, the manager, was already behind him.
“You look like you scare easy,” she said, sipping something suspiciously green. “You’re hired.”
“I—I didn’t even apply—”
“Perfect. You’ll be our new night shift bellhop. Ghosts love anxious energy. It’s like catnip for them.”
Minsu nearly cried.
Gyeong-su got roped in completely by accident.
He came looking for Minsu, because Minsu had texted:
“They hired me at a haunted hotel send help or garlic.”
He walked into the lobby. He was immediately mistaken for the exterminator.
“You’re here for the possessed rats?” Semi asked, tossing him a mop and a bag of salt.
“Wait—what—?”
“Great. You’re the new janitor-slash-ritual-circle-cleaner. Name tag’s in the drawer. Don’t mop clockwise, or you’ll open a portal again.”
Gyeong-su blinked.
Twice.
He didn’t know what the fuck he just got into but he didn’t think he could get back out after hearing that.
—
And so, the four newly employed began their first night at the weird, possibly haunted hotel.
12 A.M. sharp. The start of their graveyard shift.
They were the only staff working. Not because of budget cuts—just because no one else would survive the interview process. Or the ghosts.
Thanos was bouncing off the walls, wired from downing his tenth energy drink like it was holy water.
Namgyu stood beside him, dead-eyed, wondering how exactly his dream of being a club promoter had derailed this catastrophically.
Minsu was already checking Google Maps for the nearest exit route.
Gyeong-su looked like he’d be asleep in exactly five minutes, whether on the floor or inside a broom closet.
And then there was Semi, calm as always, standing like a sleep-deprived camp counselor in front of four emotionally unstable kindergartners. She held out five dusty mops like she was about to lead them into war.
“Alright team,” she said, voice way too cheerful for midnight, “I’m glad you’re all here and… breathing. Let’s start by cleaning the rooms.”
They stared at her.
No one moved.
A distant door creaked open by itself. A light flickered. Minsu whimpered.
Thanos clapped his hands. “Alright, Scooby-Doo gang, LET’S FUCKING GO!”
Namgyu turned to the wall and tried to disappear.
So they started cleaning.
And no, they did not split up into groups. Not because they were scared or anything—pfft, no way. It was purely strategic. More efficient that way. Totally logical. Very adult. Shut up.
Thanos, being Thanos, claimed the bathroom like it was a rave stage. Namgyu followed him in two seconds later like a very clingy, very suspicious backup dancer.
Semi glanced at the closed bathroom door and muttered, “They better not be doing anything in there.”
Minsu planted himself by the front door, clinging to the broom like a sword. He insisted it was “the safest place with the fastest escape route,” and no one questioned it.
Semi tackled the beds, fluffing ancient pillows and fighting off sheets that smelled like centuries of regret.
And the job absolutely no one wanted—cleaning the windows? That went to poor, unfortunate Gyeong-su, who stared up at the cracked glass panes like he was about to be drafted to war.
Namgyu followed Thanos into the bathroom, holding a dripping mop like it was a sacred relic. Thanos, for reasons only the universe and maybe five Red Bulls could explain, was aggressively scrubbing the mirror like it had personally wronged him.
Namgyu glanced around the mildew-infested tiles, the flickering light above them, and the faint smell of something that could only be described as “haunted lemon.” He sighed. Honestly? Not the worst place to be—Thanos was here, after all.
He cleared his throat, trying to sound casual.
“So uh, Than—”
Before he could finish, Thanos let out a sharp, echoing PFFFT.
He was beatboxing.
He brought the mop to his mouth like a mic, eyes squinting behind his crooked sunglasses, lips moving at a breakneck speed. Namgyu blinked. Once. Twice.
“What the—”
But before he could finish that sentence, Thanos spun around dramatically and thrust the mop in Namgyu’s direction. “Yo, hit the chorus, Su!”
Namgyu, despite everything, despite logic and shame and the threat of a ghost popping out of the sink drain, took the mop like it was a mic drop moment and started singing. Badly. Loudly.
It turned into a full-blown concert in under thirty seconds.
The acoustics were terrible, the floor was wet, and Thanos accidentally kicked over the bucket, flooding the corner. But they were laughing, singing love ballads like idiots, and for a moment—just one chaotic, sparkling moment—it felt like their own tiny stage in a cursed bathroom.
Namgyu wasn’t even thinking anymore. Just feeling.
Maybe this job wouldn’t be so bad after all.
From outside the bathroom door, Minsu flinched as he heard a loud “BAAAABY, YOU’RE MY MIRACLE!” followed by a violent clank and the unmistakable sound of a mop handle hitting porcelain.
“…Are they okay in there?” Minsu asked, gripping his own mop like a weapon.
“They’re probably just cleaning,” Semi said flatly, fluffing a suspiciously dusty pillow with mild aggression.
Thanos’ voice rang out again, this time in a falsetto so offensive it made the lightbulb above them flicker. Namgyu was harmonizing now.
Gyeong-su, halfway through wiping the window with all the motivation of a dying plant, didn’t even look back. “They’re having a concert,” he said, deadpan.
“God, I regret hiring them.” Semi muttered, pinching the bridge of her nose.
“Should we stop them?” Minsu whispered.
A loud splash, more yelling, and a thud answered him from inside.
Semi just shrugged. “Let them be. Maybe the ghosts will leave us alone out of secondhand embarrassment.”
Gyeong-su yawned and stared into the darkness beyond the window. “If a ghost shows up, I’m blaming Thanos.”
“Same,” Semi agreed.
Suddenly, as Gyeong-su stared out the window, he noticed something—
A white figure.
Tall. Motionless. Staring directly at him.
He blinked. It didn’t vanish.
It just stood there. Watching.
Alright.
Gyeong-su, the most normal and emotionally stable member of this mess of a crew, calmly closed the window.
Then, just as calmly, turned around, pale as a corpse and sweating like he ran a marathon.
“I—I think I’m done for today.”
“It’s not even 1AM yet,” Semi said, glancing at her watch.
“No. I’m quitting. I’m leaving. I’m done.”
Minsu, who had been dusting near the entrance like a coward, froze.
“Wait, WHAT? You saw something? Was it tall?! Was it looking this way?!”
“It was looking at me, Minsu!” Gyeong-su snapped, panicking now. “It made eye contact.”
Minsu immediately dropped his duster and pressed himself flat against the wall like it would absorb him.
“Oh god, it knows we’re here. We’re gonna die. I TOLD YOU THIS PLACE WAS HAUNTED—”
Semi sighed, not even looking up.
“Unless the ghost’s paying your rent, let it stare.”
“I’m verbally resigning,” Gyeong-su declared, putting on his jacket with trembling hands. “I don’t care if I didn’t sign a contract. This is spiritual warfare and I am not employed for that.”
From the bathroom, distant and muffled, came Thanos and Namgyu’s chaotic duet—
“Why you gotta haunt my heart?!”
—followed by the sound of a mop hitting tile and someone slipping.
Gyeong-su blinked.
“You know what? Maybe the ghost isn’t the scariest thing here.”
He slowly sat back down on the dusty bed, looking absolutely traumatized.
Minsu whispered, “If he’s losing it… what hope do we have?”
“None,” Semi said flatly, handing him a fresh rag. “Now shut up and clean before I make you mop the haunted hallway.”
Just as Gyeong-su resigned himself to ghost-infested capitalism, the lights flickered.
Once.
Twice.
Then off.
Complete darkness.
“Okay.” Semi’s voice cut through the void. “That’s normal. Totally normal. Old building, faulty wiring. Nothing supernatural about that.”
A loud creak echoed from upstairs.
Minsu screamed. Loudly.
“OH MY GOD IT’S COMING FOR US—”
The lights flicked back on.
Everyone stood frozen in place. Gyeong-su on the couch mid-exit. Minsu halfway to climbing Semi’s back. Semi, arms crossed, completely unfazed. And from the bathroom—
“LIGHTS, CAMERA, TRAGEDY—”
“—WHY’D YOU GHOST ME, BABY?”
Thanos and Namgyu were still in the middle of their impromptu bathroom concert, completely unbothered by the supernatural breakdown of the building around them.
“Why are they singing through a haunting?” Gyeong-su asked, voice strained.
“It’s how Thanos copes,” Namgyu’s muffled voice called back.
There was another loud bang upstairs. Followed by what sounded unmistakably like whispering. Too close.
Minsu was shaking. “D-Do ghosts know contracts? Like, if we’re technically staff, maybe they can’t hurt us—?”
“Nope.” Semi grabbed a flashlight from the supply cart. “You’ve clearly never seen a single horror movie.”
The lights flickered again. This time, they didn’t come back.
Everyone fell silent. Even the bathroom boys.
A beat.
Then—
“…Okay, but why does the ghost have perfect timing?” Thanos said casually, stepping out of the bathroom holding a mop like a mic stand. “That’s like… stage lighting, bro.”
“Bro, it’s a ghost,” Gyeong-su hissed. “Not your tech crew!”
“I dunno, I kind of feel like it’s vibing with us,” Namgyu added, joining Thanos.
“I will genuinely beat you with this flashlight,” Semi said, deadpan, flicking it on.
“Wait,” Minsu whispered, eyes wide. “What if the ghost used to be a staff member?”
Everyone stared at him.
“…Okay, yeah,” Semi muttered. “That’s the worst theory I’ve ever heard, and I had a drunk Thanos come into my hotel.”
“I thought they were free drugs here!”
“You heard them from a homeless dude!”
Another creak from upstairs.
They all turned toward the staircase.
Gyeong-su groaned and pulled his hoodie tighter around him. “We’re so underpaid for this.”
“We’re not paid at all,” Namgyu pointed out.
“Exactly.”
Namgyu nudged what he thought was Thanos.
“Heh, remember that one time you were so drunk you wore your boxers as a shirt? Good times, huh?”
…
Silence.
Namgyu blinked.
“…What, not funny? Okay, how about the time you tried to climb a vending machine because you thought it was a portal—wait…”
His voice trailed off.
“Why the hell are you so tall?”
He slowly tilted his head back.
No purple hair. No mop in his hand. Just a towering, pale figure with hollow eyes staring straight down at him.
Namgyu’s soul nearly left his body.
“AAAAAAAAHHHHH—!!”
He launched himself sideways like a feral cat and body slammed into the real Thanos, who was halfway through drinking a Monster and definitely not ready for 140 pounds of sheer panic.
“What the fuck—?!” Thanos wheezed, catching him with wide eyes as Namgyu scrambled up his chest like a terrified koala.
“IT WASN’T YOU! IT WASN’T YOU!! I ALMOST HAD A HEART ATTACK!!”
Everyone froze.
Minsu, mid-scrubbing a suspicious stain on the door knob, shrieked and flung the sponge across the room. “WHAT WASN’T WHO?!”
Semi was on the bed, halfway fluffing a pillow, and stared. “Is he possessed or just being dramatic again?”
Gyeong-su was wiping the window and slowly turned around, pale. “What do you mean that’s not Thanos?! He’s literally holding you right now.
Thanos looked over Namgyu’s shoulder.
There was nothing.
“Bro,” he said, blinking. “Did you just flirt with a ghost?”
Namgyu slapped his arm. “I thought it was you!”
“You think I’m six-foot-eight and glowing white?!”
“I don’t know! You do weird shit when you’re hungover!”
Semi, somehow still calm, grabbed the mop like it was a holy weapon. “Okay, new plan: we move in packs. No bathroom breaks alone. Ghosts fear eye contact.
“This room is haunted,” Gyeong-su declared, dropping his mop. “The ghost’ll probably clean it for us. Let’s just leav—”
Ding!
The bell at the front desk rang.
At 1:03 a.m.
Everyone froze like NPCs mid-glitch.
“…That’s definitely not good,” Minsu whispered.
Namgyu turned to Semi, eyes wide. “You’re the manager. You go.”
“Excuse me?” Semi crossed her arms. “I’m paying all of you.”
“Barely,” they all deadpanned in perfect sync.
Semi blinked. “…Okay rude.”
“We should handle this like mature, rational adults,” Gyeong-su said, raising a hand. “We can vote—”
“Rock, paper, scissors!” Thanos yelled, already throwing scissors.
Everyone groaned.
“Alright, I win!!!” he cheered, doing a little victory dance that looked like he was dodging ghosts.
“You can’t just win by going first!” Namgyu argued.
“I can if no one else plays fast enough. Ghost rulebook.”
“There’s no ghost rulebook.”
“There is now.”
Gyeong-su sighed, dragging a hand down his face. “I should’ve gone to dental school.”
“Too late now,” Semi muttered. “You’re stuck in this ghost-infested circus with us.”
“Okay,” Thanos clapped his hands, “I’ll lead, but Namgyu’s coming with me for moral support.”
“I’m not moral support, I’m just scared!”
“Exactly.”
And so, against all common sense, the two most unqualified people marched toward the front desk to face what was definitely not just a regular guest.
They both froze when they saw him.
Standing under the flickering light like a discount cryptid in sweatpants and slides was none other than MG Coin. Myung-gi. The guy who once told them “investing is a mindset” before disappearing with their money and their dignity.
Namgyu blinked. “No. Fucking. Way.”
Thanos squinted. “Bro… is that a hallucination or the man who made me buy crypto in yen?”
“It’s him,” Namgyu growled, taking off his slipper. “I recognize those dusty-ass Adidas slides anywhere.”
Thanos didn’t even wait. He lunged.
“YOU RUINED MY LIFE!” he screamed, grabbing Myung-gi by the hoodie. “YOU TOLD ME I COULD RETIRE BY TWENTY-THREE!”
Myung-gi didn’t flinch. “You could’ve. If you held.”
“HOLD? BRO, YOU DISAPPEARED!”
Namgyu joined in, whacking him with the slipper. “YOU SAID TRUST THE PROCESS!”
“You guys didn’t read the terms and conditions.”
“YOU SENT THEM IN WINGDINGS!” Thanos shouted.
Myung-gi just stood there, completely unbothered, like being jumped by two deranged ex-investors was part of his Monday routine.
“You done?”
Namgyu and Thanos paused, panting.
“…No,” Namgyu wheezed, slapping him again. “Not until I get my ₩300,000 back.”
“Make it ₩400,000,” Thanos added. “With emotional interest.”
“I’ll buy you both a vending machine soda,” MG offered, straight-faced.
“I want your soul,” Namgyu snapped.
“You can’t have that,” MG said. “It’s in escrow.”
Thanos and Namgyu just looked at each other.
“Okay but like,” Thanos said, letting him go, “what are you doing here?”
“Oh yeah, I hired him last minute,”
Semi cut through, suddenly appearing with a broom over her shoulder like some battle-hardened janitor.
Namgyu jumped. “When did you get here?!”
“Well, I heard a ruckus going on and decided to check it out.” She squinted at MG Coin, who was still brushing off slipper dust like nothing happened. “…I see the rage was justified.”
“So you just—left Minsu and Gyeong-su alone?”
“…Oh shit.”
A beat of silence.
“Okay but in my defense, Gyeong-su is the most normal person here,” Semi said quickly, already walking toward the hallway. “And Min-su is… great at screaming for help?”
“MIN-SU IS PROBABLY CRYING INTO A GHOST’S CHEST RIGHT NOW,” Namgyu snapped, running after her.
Thanos followed, pausing just long enough to side-eye MG Coin.
“You even breathe near our wallets, I’m exorcising you next.”
MG Coin just nodded, unbothered. “Noted.”
Min-su was curled up on the freshly mopped floor, hugging a mop like it was a security blanket, whispering his last prayers.
“Tell my mom I love her. Tell my cat I’m sorry I stepped on his tail in 2018. Tell—”
“Min-su.”
Gyeong-su was sitting against the bed frame, arms crossed, dark circles threatening to devour his entire face. “We’ve been here for ten minutes. Nothing has happened.”
Min-su pointed toward the flickering light bulb above them. “That’s not normal. That’s how every horror movie starts!”
“Maybe it’s just bad wiring.”
“And the temperature drop? I can see my breath, Gyeong-su. I can see my breath and we’re indoors.”
Gyeong-su sighed. He was regretting his entire life. Every decision. Especially agreeing to work here for minimum wage and unlimited ghost trauma.
“Maybe if we stay still enough, they’ll think we’re already dead,” Min-su whispered, now flat on the floor like a plank.
Gyeong-su rolled his eyes—but froze when the closet door creaked open all on its own.
“…Okay, that was definitely not the wind.”
A pair of pale hands slowly reached out.
Min-su screamed and bolted out the room. Gyeong-su followed, face blank but running at top speed.
They collided in the hallway—right as Semi, Namgyu, and Thanos turned the corner.
“Ghost!”
“Closet!”
“Hands!!”
Min-su and Gyeong-su yelled in unison, clinging to each other like they were reenacting a tragic drama.
“What are you guys talking about—?”
“WE SAW HANDS. HANDS!!!”
Min-su was flailing dramatically. “There were pale hands coming out of the closet! Like The Grudge but worse! And—and the door slammed shut like it was personally offended!”
“Okay, calm down,” Semi said, completely unbothered. “You’re overreacting.”
Gyeong-su looked her dead in the eye, sweat beading at his temple. “I have a science GPA of 3.9. I don’t hallucinate.”
Thanos was sipping from a can of energy drink, watching the scene like it was free Netflix.
Namgyu was still clinging onto his sleeve, whispering “I saw a ghost’s bare ass” like he had PTSD.
Semi clapped her hands once.
“Alright! Let’s get it together, people. I’m proud to officially introduce our newest addition to the hotel staff—”
She stepped aside.
There stood MG Coin, in a crumpled uniform two sizes too big, sipping iced coffee like he’d just walked out of a stock market crash. Completely emotionless.
Min-su blinked.
“…Isn’t that the guy who tried to sell me a cursed air fryer on Instagram?”
“You said it was limited edition!” Gyeong-su snapped.
MG Coin nodded slowly. “It was. Spirit-enhanced heating. You’re welcome.”
There was a moment of silence.
And then Thanos lunged.
“YOU SCAMMED ME OUT OF TWO BITCOINS, YOU SON OF A—”
Namgyu followed. “GIVE ME BACK MY NFT!! I DON’T EVEN KNOW WHAT AN NFT IS!!”
Semi yanked Namgyu and Thanos off MG Coin like she was separating toddlers in a daycare. She sighed, deeply. “Guys, focus. This isn’t the time to throw hands. You’re all here for a job.”
“…Unwillingly,” Namgyu muttered, adjusting his hoodie with great offense.
Semi clapped her hands once. “Right. Clearly some of you can’t function in a group, so I’m splitting everyone up. Namgyu, you’re on the third floor. Alone. It’s the most haunted.”
Namgyu’s face twisted. “Why the hell am I going alone?!”
“Because I have a deeply personal grudge against you,” Semi said flatly.
“That’s not fair!”
“Fine. MG Coin, you’re going with him.”
“…What the actual hell?! That’s worse!” Namgyu looked between Semi and MG Coin like this was some elaborate prank. “He doesn’t even believe in ghosts! He barely believes in emotions!”
MG Coin adjusted his jacket. “Correct.”
Thanos, watching with a juice box in hand, gave Namgyu a thumbs up. “Don’t get possessed, babe.”
Min-su crossed himself like a priest. “May your soul find peace.”
Gyeong-su opened Google Maps and quietly searched “how to do an exorcism.”
Semi ignored the chaos. “The rest of you, breakfast buffet. Move.”
And like that, the most cursed duo—Namgyu and MG Coin—headed up to the third floor. One ready to scream at the slightest creak, the other completely dead inside.
The two stepped into the elevator in complete silence, the air thick with tension—and mild regret.
Namgyu jabbed the “3” button with unnecessary force, arms crossed like a child mid-tantrum.
Ding.
They ascended slowly, the fluorescent lights above them flickering like a bad omen.
Then Namgyu looked down.
There was no third floor button.
Just G, 1, 2… and then 4?
His stomach dropped. “Uh…”
Before he could say anything, the elevator dinged again.
And opened.
To a pitch-black hallway that definitely didn’t exist on any floor plan.
“…Okay,” Namgyu whispered, backing up. “What the actual—”
MG Coin didn’t flinch. Didn’t blink. Just calmly stepped out like this was the most normal Tuesday of his life.
Namgyu grabbed the edge of the elevator door, debating if he should just live in there now.
“…We are definitely in hell,” he muttered.
MG Coin turned back to look at him, face blank. “Then you should get out of the elevator. It doesn’t stop in hell.”
“…Fuck.”
“You should go first,” Namgyu whispered.
“Okay.”
Without hesitation, MG Coin stepped out of the elevator. Namgyu hesitated, then quickly latched onto his sleeve like a terrified kid on a field trip.
The hallway was dark—too dark. And dead quiet.
Until a small, pale figure darted across the corridor ahead of them.
A little girl.
Except… she wasn’t running. She was gliding.
And she wasn’t blinking.
“Oh, fuck me,” Namgyu gasped, clutching tighter.
MG Coin glanced over. “I’m not gay.”
Namgyu nearly threw him into the ghost out of pure rage.
Namgyu yanked his hand away from MG Coin’s sleeve like it had caught fire.
“I didn’t mean it like that, you absolute fungus.”
MG Coin blinked slowly, completely unbothered. “Then be more specific next time.”
Namgyu looked around, heart racing. The hallway stretched on endlessly, lights flickering like some kid was playing with the switch. He could hear distant whispers—or was it just the old walls groaning?
He didn’t want to find out.
“Okay, game plan,” Namgyu muttered. “We don’t split up, we don’t look into any mirrors, and if anything asks us to play with it, we run.”
“I don’t run.”
“Cool. Then you can die first.”
They walked, each step creaking louder than the last. Namgyu tried not to look at the picture frames lining the wall, but one of the paintings definitely turned its head when they passed.
“I hate this,” Namgyu hissed. “I was supposed to be a club promoter.”
“Life is full of disappointment.”
“Why do you talk like you’ve been divorced three times?”
MG Coin stopped. “Because I have.”
Namgyu stared at him, speechless.
“To who?”
“Junhee.”
Then a lightbulb exploded right above them.
They both screamed.
Except MG Coin’s scream was silent. Just his mouth open in an “O” while Namgyu shrieked like a dying kettle.
They bolted—well, Namgyu bolted and dragged MG Coin behind him by the sleeve again.
Don’t look back, don’t look back, don’t loo—
Goddammit, he looked.
And there she was.
That same creepy little girl, sprinting toward them like a cracked-out goblin on Red Bull, her giggle echoing like it belonged in a horror movie trailer.
“FUCK! Don’t just stand there like a divorced dad—throw something at her!” Namgyu shrieked, practically climbing onto MG Coin’s back.
MG Coin calmly dug into his pocket like he was fishing for spare change, pulled out a single individually wrapped mint, and chucked it.
The mint bounced off the ghost girl’s forehead with a soft plink.
She stopped.
Namgyu stopped too, panting, hands on his knees. “Did you just throw a fucking mint at her?!”
“She looked like she had gingivitis,” MG Coin said.
The ghost girl blinked once. Then, she sniffled.
“Oh no,” Namgyu muttered. “Oh my god. You made her cry.”
The little girl’s lip trembled, her eyes welling up with ghostly tears.
“I think you offended her!” Namgyu said, smacking MG Coin’s arm. “Apologize!”
“She was trying to kill us.”
“She’s like five!”
“She’s like five hundred.”
Namgyu turned back to the girl, awkwardly crouching down a little, unsure what to do with his hands. “Uh… hey… we’re sorry, okay? We didn’t mean to throw… sugar at your face.”
The ghost sniffled louder. “I just wanted to play…”
Namgyu froze. “Nope. Nope, that’s our cue.”
He yanked MG Coin back into a sprint just as the lights behind them popped one by one and the little girl’s head twisted completely backwards.
“WE ARE SO FUCKING DEAD!”Namgyu screamed.
MG Coin, still completely stoic, simply muttered, “I knew I should’ve stuck to bitcoin.”
And so they ran.
Not to the elevator—please, they weren’t that stupid. That’s how people died in horror movies. Elevators were death boxes with music.
They bolted straight for the stairs, feet thundering down the steps like cartoon characters on crack.
Behind them, the little girl ghost was surfing down the railing like Satan itself. Arms outstretched. Giggle unholy. Eyes wide. Zero thoughts. Maximum chaos.
She was this close—Namgyu could literally feel her icy ghost breath tickling the nape of his neck.
In a blind panic, Namgyu did the only thing he could: he whipped his head back, sending his luscious, freshly-conditioned hair smacking her square in the face.
It was like hitting a banshee with a silk whip.
She shrieked. A high-pitched, glass-shattering eardrum destroyer of a scream.
They made it to the breakfast buffet, breathless, sweating, MG Coin still holding that dumb little mint wrapper like a weapon.
Silence.
Then, the distant sound of furniture scraping, lights flickering, and the unmistakable thump of ghostly wrath.
“Oh, we’re so fucked,” Namgyu wheezed.
“Yeah,” MG Coin said, finally blinking. “That’s fair.”
And so, by some divine miracle—or maybe just MG Coin’s emotionless GPS-like sense of direction—they finally found the breakfast buffet.
What greeted them?
Chaos.
Thanos was dramatically flipping dishes off the counter like some unhinged Michelin chef who just lost a star. Plates shattered. Forks flew. He was humming the Mission Impossible theme under his breath.
Minsu was in the corner, curled into a fetal position, mumbling prayers in three different languages and possibly speaking in tongues.
Gyeong-su, the unsung hero, was the only one actually doing the job—scrubbing a cereal dispenser with dead eyes and the posture of a man who had seen too much.
And then there was Semi.
Their manager. Their fearless leader.
Chilling at a table, legs crossed, phone in hand, casually swiping left and right on Tinder like this wasn’t a supernatural war zone.
Namgyu blinked. “They aren’t gonna be much help.”
“We’re so fucked,” he muttered.
MG Coin nodded. “As expected.”
Thanos finally noticed them, his head perking up like a dog hearing the treat bag crinkle.
“My boy! Namsu! You’re finally back! I’ve missed you!”
He barrelled toward Namgyu, lifting him into a death-grip hug that felt more like a wrestling move. Namgyu gasped for air, eyes bulging, while Thanos threw a sharp glare over his shoulder at MG Coin.
“Gyu.”
“What?”
“It’s Namgyu.”
“Yeah, that’s what I said.” Thanos grinned. “Anyways, what happened to you guys? It’s almost like… a light bulb exploded and a little girl chased you down the hall or something.”
Namgyu pulled himself out of Thanos’s boa constrictor arms, wheezing. “Okay… that was oddly specific. And true.”
Minsu let out a dramatic gasp like he was just told he had six months to live. “So it is true!!” he shrieked, backing into Gyeong-su, who didn’t even flinch.
“There are ghosts here! It’s haunted! We’re gonna die here—this is how I go, not even in a cool way!”
“Not if I can fix it.”
The room fell quiet. Semi stood tall at the center of the madness, suddenly serious. Like, spookily serious.
“I’m not the manager for nothing,” she declared, pocketing her phone like she wasn’t just liking some girls tinder. “This hotel was passed down from my grandparents. I’m not oblivious to these ghosts.”
She reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out… a kitchen whisk.
Everyone stared.
“Where is she?” she said, eyes sharp.
“I’ll exorcise her.”
Just as Semi struck her heroic pose, the sound of tiny feet pattering echoed down the hall.
And then—zoom—the little ghost girl came barreling down the corridor again, mint clenched in her tiny hand like it was her last possession on earth.
“Alright Semi, you got this!” Thanos cheered like it was a sports event, pumping his fist.
The girl screeched like a banshee on a sugar high. Minsu clutched his ears and curled into himself with a whimper. Gyeong-su, unfazed, kept scrubbing the counter like this was just Tuesday. Thanos beamed at her like a proud stage dad. And Namgyu and MG Coin? Yeah—they’d emotionally checked out like five disasters ago.
Semi took a deep breath, stepped forward, and raised the kitchen whisk.
In Latin—or what sounded like Latin but might’ve actually been gibberish she picked up from YouTube—she began chanting something that was way too confident to be questioned. Her voice rose with command, and, surprisingly, it worked.
The girl let out one final blood-curdling wail as a blinding, otherworldly light exploded from nowhere. The walls rattled, the air vibrated, and the mint dropped to the floor with a clink as she vanished into a shimmer of nothing.
Silence.
A beat.
Then—
“Holy shit,” Namgyu whispered.
“Did… did the whisk just—” Minsu stammered.
Semi wiped her brow and tucked the whisk back in her pocket like a badass.
“Yeah,” she said coolly. “And don’t touch the mint.”
Thanos curiously touched the mint.
Just a poke. Just a little tap with his pinky. It looked kinda shiny, okay?
And that was all it took.
Because the air dropped ten degrees, the lights exploded—not flickered, exploded—and the ghost girl didn’t just reappear.
She resurrected.
But this time, she brought her whole fucking family.
Tall shadowy dad with no face. Mom with three heads and a bleeding apron. A floating baby with demon wings. What the actual hell.
Everyone stood frozen, wide-eyed, staring at the freshly summoned Paranormal Nuclear Family.
Gyeong-su, who had been loyally scrubbing the same countertop for the last 30 minutes, finally stopped.
The six of them—all in sync like a sad, haunted boyband—turned their heads ever so slowly to the side.
And then bolted.
“THANOS WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?!” Namgyu screeched as they sprinted.
“I THOUGHT IT WAS A CANDY!”
“WHY WOULD YOU EAT GHOST CANDY?!”
“I DON’T KNOW, I PANICKED—”
The ghost dad howled behind them. The floating demon baby let out a screech that cracked a mirror. Minsu was already sobbing. Gyeong-su was muttering “I didn’t sign up for this” like a mantra. Semi had her whisk out again, ready for round two. And MG Coin? He just jogged silently, like this was just another Tuesday.
They were so unbelievably fucked.
They ran.
The kind of run where your legs are spaghetti, your lungs are on fire, and everything around you blurs except the sound of something monstrous chasing you.
Footsteps? No—drags. Wet, snarling drags across the cracked tile floor. Walls groaned like they were alive. Lights shattered as they passed. Every time they looked back—
—the ghost family was closer.
“Where the hell is the exit?!” Minsu screamed, already three octaves higher than normal.
“This hallway wasn’t this long before!” Namgyu panted, practically yanking Thanos by the wrist.
Thanos, wheezing and somehow still laughing, shouted, “This is just like Mario Kart Rainbow Road, bro!”
“This is not Mario Kart!” Namgyu cried as something cold brushed his neck.
They took a sharp turn into the kitchen, nearly slipping on a wet tile. The fridge door slammed open by itself, and a rotting chicken carcass flew out at Thanos.
He swatted it like it was normal. “This is fine. This is totally fine.”
“Why is the ghost family growing?!” Semi yelled, pointing to a new figure dragging itself from the ceiling.
“IS THAT A GHOST UNCLE?!” Minsu shrieked.
The baby ghost let out a bone-piercing shriek that shattered all the kitchen windows in unison. MG Coin ducked behind the fryer like it was routine.
Namgyu and Thanos made it into the pantry—only to have the door slam shut behind them.
Pitch black.
Silence.
Then:
scriiiiiiitch—scriiiiiiitch—scriiiiiiitch
The sound of long, gnarled nails dragging across the wood outside.
“…Thanos,” Namgyu whispered, eyes wide in the dark, “I swear to god, if you touch anything in this pantry—”
A pale hand reached under the door.
Namgyu screamed.
The door burst open and Gyeong-su yanked them out, breathless. “We’re going. NOW.”
They ran again, dodging floating knives and ghost puke, until they burst into the lobby—
—only to be met with the entire spectral family, waiting for them.
Namgyu’s heart dropped to his knees.
“I’m gonna die in my work uniform,” he whispered.
Thanos raised a broom like a sword.
And Semi, her back straight, held up her whisk again.
“…Round two.”
The light exploded out like a supernova—blinding, pulsing, beautiful—and for one holy second, it looked like it was working. The ghost mom wailed, the ghost uncle shriveled, the baby did a horrifying backflip mid-air—
And then?
Nothing.
The light fizzled.
The ghosts stopped screaming.
They stood there.
Silent.
Staring.
“…Did it work?” Minsu whispered, trembling like a leaf in a blender.
Semi lowered her whisk, blinking.
Then the ghost dad opened his mouth—
And let out a screech so loud the walls cracked.
“NOPE! NOPE! WE ARE SO FUCKED!” Namgyu yelled, grabbing Thanos and MG Coin like flotation devices on the Titanic.
Thanos laughed like a maniac. “She made it worse! That was the opposite of an exorcism!”
“WHAT THE HELL DID YOU EVEN SAY?!” Gyeong-su shouted, ducking behind the front desk.
Semi was frozen, staring at her whisk like it betrayed her.
“I—I might’ve accidentally summoned something… else.”
“LIKE WHAT?!” Minsu cried.
Behind the ghost family, something massive stirred in the shadows of the hallway.
A low, unearthly growl echoed out.
“…Something worse,” she muttered.
The ghost baby turned its head—180 degrees—and smiled.
And then they all charged.
“RUNNNNNN!” Namgyu screamed, voice cracking like glass.
Thanos tripped over the couch, MG Coin kicked over a vase, Minsu sobbed mid-sprint, Gyeong-su carried a chair like it was a weapon, and Semi clutched her broken whisk with a war cry.
It was chaos.
It was hell.
It was a normal night shift at the haunted hotel.
They slammed the door shut with the force of six desperate idiots.
It was silent for half a second.
Then—BANG!
The whole door rattled in its frame as ghost dad slammed against it like a linebacker. Minsu screamed like he was being sacrificed.
Thanos shoved a lamp in front of the door like it was going to do something.
MG Coin calmly sat on the floor like this was just another Tuesday.
Semi was frantically flipping through an old notebook, muttering to herself.
Gyeong-su was dialing 911 even though they already knew no one was coming.
Namgyu had climbed onto the bed and was hugging a pillow like it could protect him from death.
“WE’RE GONNA DIE!” Minsu wailed.
“Stop yelling, you’re giving the ghost more power!” Thanos snapped, holding a Bible upside-down.
“Why do you even have that?!”
“I DON’T KNOW, IT WAS IN THE NIGHTSTAND!”
BANG! BANG! The door cracked a little.
“They’re gonna break through!” Namgyu shouted.
“They’re ghosts, dumbass, they don’t even need doors.”
MG coin said flatly.
“I told you not to touch the mint!” Semi hissed
“I DIDN’T KNOW IT WAS HAUNTED MINT, OKAY?!”
Thanos was pacing in frantic circles now. “Okay okay okay—let’s all calm down, let’s all think, let’s all—”
Suddenly, the lights went out.
Pitch black.
Dead silent.
No breathing.
Except… not theirs.
A raspy little giggle echoed from under the bed.
Namgyu screamed like a man being possessed and jumped on Thanos’s back.
Minsu passed out.
Gyeong-su threw his phone across the room.
Semi lit a candle.
MG Coin? Still sitting. Unbothered. Hydrated. Possibly already dead inside.
Then, just as Thanos was about to flip the bed—
A knock.
A soft, calm knock.
From inside the closet.
“…Okay,” Thanos whispered, his voice high-pitched. “New plan. We jump out the window.”
The lights blinked on like nothing had ever happened.
Warm. Soft. Peaceful.
The angry slams stopped.
The closet went still.
The giggle under the bed disappeared.
It was 6AM.
They’d made it.
Thanos dropped to his knees and kissed the carpet. “I wanna thank God, the moon, my liver for surviving another shift, and—Namgyu, come here, I need a hug.”
Namgyu, still clinging to the ceiling fan somehow, didn’t move. “Is it over? Are we dead? Am I hallucinating again?”
Semi stood by the window, watching the morning sun rise like a dramatic anime protagonist. “We survived the ghosts. But can we survive the reviews?”
MG Coin casually opened the closet and grabbed his jacket. “Same time tomorrow?”
“No,” Minsu said immediately, curled in the corner, eyes wide open, traumatized. “I’m transferring to a library. Or a nunnery. Somewhere ghosts can’t follow.”
Gyeong-su picked up his phone from the floor and checked the time. “Wow. Six. I was this close to quitting my job and my life.”
The room was wrecked. The door was barely hanging on its hinges. The floor was covered in mint wrappers, Bible pages, and Minsu’s emotional breakdown.
But they were alive.
Barely.
“…So,” Thanos grinned, completely unfazed again. “Who’s getting breakfast?”
Everyone groaned.
And just like that, the first shift ended.
They had no idea how they were going to survive the rest of the week.
But for now?
They limped out of that haunted hellhole together—bleary, sleep-deprived, and just a little more traumatized than yesterday.
Team bonding, baby.