“Tsk, tsk. Your fate is one that ghosts would go crazy for!”

It was something I had heard until I was sick of it, ever since I was born.

From my earliest memories, I could see ghosts. The bastards hovered around me day and night, eventually clinging to my life and following me everywhere. Even the moments I fell asleep weren't entirely mine. When I closed my eyes, I felt a presence, and when I opened them, a strange figure flickered in the corner of my vision.

The number of ghosts surrounding me was countless. And those eerie things invariably brought misfortune to the people around me. Anyone who got close to me got hurt or suffered through tragic events. At first, I thought it was a coincidence. I tried to believe that over and over, but as the same things repeated, only one undeniable fact remained.

People by my side become unhappy.

After realizing that, I gradually grew exhausted. I forgot how to rely on anyone and even let go of the hope that a normal relationship would one day find me.

Then one day, I met Baek Yihyeon.

It was strange. Even when he approached me and stayed for a long time, he suffered no harm. The thing I feared most didn't happen to him.

Thanks to him, I felt for the first time what it was like to have someone by my side.

Sharing trivial stories, laughing at small things, and looking forward to seeing that person again tomorrow. A daily routine that was natural to others felt like a miracle to me.

Maybe I could cherish someone too.

Maybe someone could cherish me too.

I got excited like a fool. The emotion of expectation, which I had forgotten for so long, reared its head again because of this one person, Baek Yihyeon.

If only Baek Yihyeon hadn't been rushed to the emergency room during our first year of high school.

The cause was a car accident. It was because of some crazy person who treated human lives like a joke and got behind the wheel drunk in broad daylight. For a while, Baek Yihyeon lay in a hospital bed, unable to even open his eyes.

The moment I heard the news, I realized.

That people by my side eventually get hurt. No matter how much I hoped for an exception or prayed for it to be different this time, the result wouldn't change.

Maybe the only existences allowed in my life were ghosts from the very beginning.

That's what I believed.

After becoming a college student, I cut off contact with Baek Yihyeon. I didn't even know if he resented me or if he still remembered me. I didn't have the courage to check. I didn't want to see anyone become unhappy by my side ever again.

I entered college as if I were running away. In a place different from the past, where no one knew me, I wanted to live normally this time.

Of course, reality wasn't as kind as I thought. To cover my tuition, I started working part-time at a cafe near the school, and a life of heading straight to the cafe after classes and assignments followed.

Ghosts still followed me. Just because the location changed didn't mean those bastards would disappear. But it was okay. I was used to it now, and I thought I didn't have the right to expect a different life in the first place.

But then, from a certain day, some strange guy started talking to me constantly.