Junho fell silent, lowering his head. There was something he had kept buried without ever telling his family. “All right. I’ll give you a chance to think about it,” he said, unmoved in his decision.
“Ugh, please, bro!” Lay looked incredibly frustrated. He was curious about what had made Junho so stubborn about his final request.
“Lay, during the funeral, keep an eye on the friends who come—especially anyone with a tattoo on their neck.” Not long after saying that, Junho disappeared again.
Lay grew uneasy. His best friend seemed even more powerful now. He could appear anywhere he wanted. “But who would want the superpower of being a ghost? Hah! All that grief for nothing. Turns out he’s even freer to come and see me.”
Lay didn’t go to sleep. Junho’s message kept bothering him. He followed Junho’s instructions, starting with the lawyer.
After taking a shower and drinking some coffee, he felt better. He wasn’t nearly as sleepy as he was curious.
Around seven, Lay arrived at Junho’s lawyer’s house. The lawyer greeted him with a puzzled look; he had only just met Lay.
“I’m Junho’s best friend. Last night, I stayed with him in the ER, and he gave me a few messages. He asked me to come see you and investigate this matter—” Lay went on explaining until the lawyer understood the situation.
Junho’s accident hadn’t been caused by a truck’s brakes failing. It had been deliberate. Though Anton, the lawyer, wasn’t entirely convinced, he began working on the case. Lay accompanied him, checking the campus CCTV footage and the roads Junho had traveled. Before they knew it, it was nearly evening, and Junho’s funeral was about to begin. There was still another message Lay needed to carry out.
Lay had suddenly changed roles and become a detective, while his work as a doctor was temporarily on hold.
“Mom, how can I turn back time?” Luna asked weakly.
“What do you regret, Lun?” Maya asked, gazing intently at Luna. The girl lowered her head, feeling guilty and sad.
“Yesterday morning, I refused to kiss and hug Dad. That was his last request, wasn’t it, Mom...?” Luna burst into tears. The innocent girl had lost her first love at such a young age.
Maya took Luna’s head and pulled her into her embrace. She knew that her joke that morning had become a source of regret for her little daughter. Maya then explained that Junho loved her and her younger brother very much.
Junho’s parents were still in shock. As guests continued to arrive, the reality that their eldest son had gone before them became increasingly impossible to deny.
Maya looked stronger as she continued accepting condolences from her hospital colleagues, students, and Junho’s friends.
Lay had just arrived and formally offered his condolences to Junho’s parents. Junho’s dad remembered Lay. It seemed his son had known the doctor well. Otherwise, why would Junho have thought of entrusting his wife to him?
Junho’s dad kept watching Lay from a distance. When a group of Junho’s coworkers arrived, he saw Lay secretly taking pictures from another side of the room.
Junho’s dad was quite perceptive when it came to people’s actions. The guests continued coming until nightfall, and Lay was the most devoted guest there. From the afternoon until the funeral ceremony ended, Lay never left the building.
Only when things had quieted down did Lay try to say goodbye to Maya and Junho’s parents.
Outside the building, Lay ran into Anton, the Junho family’s lawyer. Junho’s dad’s curiosity about Lay still lingered. His daughter-in-law had told him that Lay was an OB-GYN and had recently become close friends with Junho. Then he noticed the lawyer with him. What were they talking about?
“Mr. Anton, see the man wearing the blue tie? I think that’s the person Junho was referring to that night.” Lay shared what had really happened. Even so, he didn’t tell him that Junho’s ghost had come to see him.
“That information isn’t very reliable, Mr. Lay. We don’t know what kind of problem Mr. Junho was facing at work.” The lawyer had a point. The information was extremely limited. What exactly was there to be wary of about the tattooed man?
After speaking with Junho’s lawyer, Lay was even more confused about where to begin. He had no detective skills, yet Junho’s ghost had casually instructed him to investigate. Maybe he needed to change roles and statuses—or perhaps he had to go back to school.
“Oh my God...” Just then, Junho’s ghost suddenly appeared again.
“Aaaagghhh!