~The Ghost Who Loved Me~
Jungkook had recently graduated from college and moved to the city to begin his first job.
With no relatives or close friends nearby, he had no choice but to find a place of his own. After days of searching, he finally found a small apartment in an old residential building.
The rent was surprisingly cheap.
The location was convenient.
And, most importantly, it was within his budget.
So Jungkook didn't think twice before taking it.
On the day he moved in, he was carrying the last of his boxes inside when an elderly man from a nearby apartment stopped and stared at him.
The old man looked at the apartment number.
Then at Jungkook.
His expression immediately changed.
"Boy..." he called hesitantly.
Jungkook turned around. "Yes, Uncle?"
The elderly man slowly walked closer.
"Why did you choose this apartment? Don't you know it's not a good place to live?"
Jungkook glanced around his new home before looking back at him.
"What do you mean, Uncle? Look at it. It's perfectly fine."
He smiled. "And more importantly, it's within my budget."
The old man—Uncle Lin—shook his head.
"I'm not talking about the apartment itself."
His voice became quieter.
"Someone died here about a year ago."
Jungkook's smile faded slightly.
Uncle Lin continued, "Since then, everyone who has come to live here has left within two days."
Jungkook stared at him.
"Two days?"
"Not even one stayed longer."
For a moment, Jungkook didn't know what to say.
Then he chuckled.
"Uncle, are you trying to scare me?"
"I'm serious."
But Jungkook simply smiled and picked up another box.
"Don't worry. I'll be fine."
Uncle Lin watched him disappear inside the apartment.
He wanted to say more.
But eventually, he sighed and walked away.
He had already warned the boy.
What happened next wasn't his responsibility.
The first few days passed without anything unusual happening.
Jungkook went to work every morning and returned home in the evening.
He cooked simple meals, watched something on his phone, and went to sleep.
Nothing strange happened.
No strange noises.
No mysterious shadows.
No footsteps.
Nothing.
By the fifth day, Jungkook had almost forgotten Uncle Lin's warning.
By the tenth day, he found the whole thing amusing.
And when nearly half a month had passed, even Uncle Lin began to wonder if perhaps he had been wrong.
From his window, he occasionally watched Jungkook leave for work in the morning and return home at night.
The boy was still living there.
Perfectly fine.
Uncle Lin couldn't understand it.
Maybe the previous tenants had simply been spreading rumors about the apartment.
Maybe there had never been anything wrong with it at all.
Meanwhile, Jungkook thought the same thing.
One evening, after returning from work, he dropped his bag onto the sofa and laughed to himself.
"That old man really tried to scare me."
He shook his head.
"Thank God I didn't fall for it. Otherwise, I'd still be searching for another apartment."
He had no idea that, while he was laughing...
Someone was standing silently behind him.
Watching.
Waiting.
Jungkook never noticed.
As the days passed, however, small things began to change.
At first, they were so insignificant that Jungkook barely paid attention.
A door he was certain he'd closed would sometimes be slightly open.
Objects he'd left on the table would occasionally be somewhere else.
Sometimes, he would wake up in the middle of the night with the strange feeling that someone had been standing beside his bed.
But Jungkook was exhausted from work.
So he blamed everything on his tiredness.
He didn't know that those little changes weren't random.
Something inside the apartment had begun to notice him.
And slowly...
It was getting closer.
At first, the ghost had intended to do what it always did: drive the newcomer out. The previous tenants had been loud, careless, and disrespectful to the quiet walls of the unit. A few flickering lights and freezing drafts were usually enough to send them packing within hours.
But Jungkook was different.
Jungkook hummed while cooking dinner. He quietly apologized whenever he bumped into a door frame.
On rainy nights, he sat by the window strumming soft, lonely melodies on his acoustic guitar, his voice gentle enough to soothe even a restless spirit.
Instead of fear, the spirit felt a quiet warmth taking root. For the first time in a year, the apartment didn't feel like a cold grave—it felt like a home.
And so, the haunting changed.
It started on a freezing autumn evening. Jungkook had collapsed onto his bed after a grueling fourteen-hour shift at the office, dropping off to sleep before he could even kick off his shoes.
Sometime past midnight, he stirred.
He didn't wake up from shivering in the night air, but from the distinct sensation of a heavy, warm duvet being pulled gently over his shoulders.
Jungkook opened his eyes slightly, staring into the dark room. I was too tired to grab the blanket earlier...
He reached for the bedside lamp.
Standing right on his nightstand—where he knew he had left nothing—was a glass of room-temperature water and two headache pills.
Jungkook sat up slowly, his heart thumping hard against his ribs.
"Is... is someone there?" he whispered into the empty air.
No shadowy monsters appeared. No doors slammed. Only a soft, cool breeze brushed against his cheek, light as a feather, smelling faintly of clean rain.
Over the next few weeks, the strange events only grew sweeter.
When Jungkook forgot to set his morning alarm, a soft gust of wind would tickle his face just in time for work. When he left his clean laundry piled on the couch, he’d come home to find it folded in neat stacks. When he fell asleep on the sofa watching movies, he would wake up with a soft pillow slid beneath his head.
Uncle Lin watched from across the hall, utterly baffled as to why Jungkook looked happier and better-rested every single day.
One evening, a violent thunderstorm rolled over the city. Thunder shook the thin glass windows, and the power in the building cut out completely.
Jungkook lit a candle and sat on the floor, clutching a warm mug of tea. The temperature in the living room suddenly dropped, becoming dense and localized just a few feet away from where he sat.
He didn't flinch. He didn't run.
Jungkook looked directly at the soft shadow swaying near the curtain.
"You've been taking care of me, haven't you?"
Jungkook said softly, a quiet smile gracing his lips.
"You're the reason everyone else left. But you didn't drive me away."
The air around the candle flame flickered.
Slowly, bathed in the faint golden light and pale moonlight from the window, the outline of a figure materialized. He was pale, ethereal, with striking eyes that held a mix of shyness and deep, lingering affection.
The ghost took a small, hesitant step forward, hovering in the cold air, looking down at Jungkook with an expression of quiet devotion.
Jungkook set his mug down and reached out his hand into the chill air.
"Thank you," Jungkook murmured.
"I was really lonely when I moved here... but I'm not anymore."
The ghost looked down at Jungkook’s hand, a soft, heartbreakingly sweet smile breaking across his translucent face. He placed his spectral hand just a millimeter above Jungkook's palm, the gentle chill feeling like a cool summer rain.
He hadn't stayed behind to haunt the apartment.
He had stayed behind to wait for him.
