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"la plus belle des ruses du diable est
de vous persuader qu'il n'existe pas."

≫ the devil's finest trick is to persuade you that he does not exist. ≪

— Charles Baudelaire —

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[ 3RD PERSONS VIEW。]

A bleak Wednesday morning it was for the students of Hwanseong Highschool. The second-year students were trudging their ways into their classroom, some ready while some weren't even close to being prepared for their quiz today. Meanwhile, the first years had a more free first period.

Again, rumors went fast around the school as they had confirmed a certain anomaly in the town. People were talking about the copycat ghost– who seemed to be famous for copying deceased people; that's what kept the hallways alive today.

Mark furrowed his eyebrows together, a bit confused about what was circling around the students. "A ghost copying dead people?" he murmured before glancing towards the main doors where everyone was busy talking.

"Did you hear? The story about the copycat ghost?"

"I know! Fuck, it's so creepy!"

"I heard that it has been copying Haruki the past few days..."

"We should just ignore it."

"After all, we shouldn't mess with nonexistent things."

His fingers lost in his dark brown hair as he blinked upon hearing their little chatters. Soon, the bell rang and it was time for all students to get to their rooms. Fortunately, Mark was called out to the office, telling him that he should apply to become Student Council President again. After all, he was the President last year.

Upon exiting the office, he froze to see a girl walking around the hallways wearing the same style uniform as his. He licked his chapped lips, gulping harshly as he gathered the strength to speak up.

"Are you the new student?" the girl turned back and hummed.

His heart stopped, eyes gouging as his lips parted a bit. "Wait–"

"You can see me?" she raised a brow, pointing at herself making him confused.

Mark nodded, "Of course. Don't others see you?"

Her shoulders went up for a bit before it slumped down again, "I don't decide who they believe to see or not."

She looks like Haruki...

That thought remained in his mind as he faced her. They stood there in the middle of the hallway, staring at each other before the corner of her lips tugged up into a small smirk, "You're not scared?"

Mark runs his tongue over his front teeth, his finger ms curled into a fist, "Should I be?"

"Depends." she crossed her arms, "If you think I exist or not."

Mark pursed his lips together, raising his head up, an eyebrow raised, "Copycat ghost?"

Her nose crinkled, she scoffed at his words. Mark squinted his eyes at the girl, gazing at the eyepatch she had under her dark brown hair.

"Do you have a name?" he questioned softly.

"Haruka." she stated, "Choi Haruka." the said girl turned around and started walking away, taking the stairs to her assigned classroom.

Mark watched her figure disappear before making his way to his own classroom. As he did, nothing but thoughts about the girl filled his mind. Something was definitely going on in the town, and he wasn't particularly sure what.

With the letter he received from Haruki, he still assumed that the kidnapper behind the case of 2017 was still out there, more specifically, the kidnapper already had it's the first victim– if Haruki's theory about the true kidnapper keeping an eye on her.

His fingers drummed against his wooden desk, staring intently on his textbook albeit he couldn't even think straight to read a book.

Another thing that was going on was the rumored copycat ghost. It was a bit disturbing to think that there was a ghost roaming around, portraying itself as someone who was alive.

Shaking his head, he closed his textbook and lunged forward to take a nap. Maybe he was just thinking too much.

— • • • —

The backdoor to class 2-C opened and came in shortly was a dark-haired girl. Chills went down their spines as they did their best to ignore the person who had just walked in, however, three boys couldn't just keep their calm.

Chenle kept shifting in his seat as the girl sat next to him, in Haruki's previous seat. He looked up, the teacher didn't even bother to take notice of the girl. Sighing, he focused on his test sheet, occasionally looking to the side to glance at the girl who was taking her own test.

After the first period, they had a short ten-minute interval before the start of their second period. Donghyuck kept tapping his hand on his table, trying his best to ignore the girl who was seated near him.

Renjun, on the other hand, was starting to panic deep inside him. Managing to pull up a straight face, he kept scribbling down doodles onto his notebook. Once he was done, he gasped softly upon seeing the words he had scribbled down.

Choi Haruka. Hissing, he tore off the part of the paper he wrote on, crumpling it into a small ball before keeping it in his blazer's pocket.

"What the hell is going on," he mumbled, shaking his head.

A couple of hours went by and the lunch bell started to ring, sending a thrill of happiness towards the students.

The students, one by one, started leaving the classroom, either to meet up with their friend groups or get to the cafeteria quickly. It happened so that Chenle didn't have much of an appetite again that he purposely wanted to stay back.

As he did, he wasn't the only one occupying the now empty classroom. Clearing his throat, his eyes glowered down at the mysterious girl.

"Who are you– no, what are you."

"I'm just like any other," she replied in a hushed tone. "To exist or not to, it doesn't even matter anymore."

His face perplexed, "What do you mean? You look so much like Haruki– don't tell me... are you a copycat ghost?"

"Oh Chenle, didn't your friends tell you not to mess with nonexistent people?"

— • • • —

lol let's all lose brain cells together
comment down your theories so far :0
-jibin