Chapter Text
Ren looked at the rear view mirror to look at the other three in the back of the van, who weren't sitting despite his request.
How did he even end up here, picking this job? Ghosts?
Well, it was interesting. Something new to learn, he supposed. The only reason he went through was because apparently it actually paid if done correctly, and he found just enough people to be eligible.
So when he pulled to the curb of the road next to the address he was given, he unbuckled and went to the back of the van to where the stuff was- as well as the others. “We're here. Does everyone know the plan, or should I go through it again?”
Nick, who Ren was quite certain was the youngest, spoke up, “Uh, maybe run through it one more time? Just to be sure?”
He sighs in response but nods, “Okay, plan. We're identifying this ghost, okay? No exercising or whatever. Izzy stays here in the van to either give us shit or warn us when the ghost is hunting. You gotta be quiet if you're in the house, or else something bad could happen. They didn't give me many details, but take this seriously. Take note of how it reacts. Did you read about ghost behaviors from the book you got?”
From the silence in confused looks from Izzy and Nick, he assumed they didn't get much. He looked over at Alan, who seemed to be nodding along. 50-50 that any of them remembered anything.
“Alright, let's just go. I'll teach you along the way. Grab some things first. Someone get a thermometer and EMF. We'll need dots and cameras as well. Izzy, make sure to keep your walkie on you and also pay attention to the camera over there,” he points towards the front of the van before the screen on the side of the van, “And this. It's usually hunting if it's above this line, and just watch out for activity spikes.” He explained.
Izzy nodded, looking determined as she checked her walkie and grabbed some stuff to bring to the house just to help them save a trip, probably.
“Okay, so basically just watch how the ghost behaves and then write notes and determine from that?” Nick asks, making sure.
Ren just nodded in response while grabbing a flash light, spirit box, and notebook (plus pen obviously). He glanced around the van to make sure everyone else was grabbing actual useful stuff- besides Nick, who grabbed a crucifix, which was only a bit helpful depending on the situation. “We only get these materials so much. Don't waste or lose anything. That's the only crucifix we were given, and it'll be a pain to get another one.” He mentioned before grabbing the keys and heading to the empty house.
Nick just shrugs, “It's fine, probably.” before waiting a bit impatiently.
“Here, I'll leave this UV light, camera, and… dots here.” Izzy mentions before heading back to the van, as planned.
After unlocking and going inside the house, Nick ran ahead full of energy after turning the lights on and smirking, “Let’s do this! What was the ghost's name again?”
Alan looks up from the camera he was fiddling with, “Will Smith I think. Poor dude, to be honest.” He mentions.
Nick just shrugs, walking ahead and through the house.
the radios crackled with Izzy’s voice coming through, “Um. There was a small spike in activity. Everything’s good, though, right?”
Ren took his radio and turned it on, hearing it go through the other two’s radios. “All is fine. Keep telling us about those, though.”
Again, Izzy's voice crackled through all three radios, “Alright, got it.”
Nick groans, “Nothing’s happening.” He complains as he looks at the crucifix and light he brought in.
Alan looks at him and smirks, “Wanna do the honors of the spirit box?”
Ren just stayed quiet, paying more attention to the thermometer he had switched the spirit box with Alan for.
Nick, however, looked at the tool with interest. “How does it work? Just talk to the ghost and wait for a response, right?”
Alan nodded with a smirk, “Yep. Go in the room alone with the doors closed and lights off, and then you get to talk to our lovely Will Smith!”
Ren just moved on to the next room, watching the temperature carefully as he waited to see if it would go below freezing. “Hey, get the EMF reader and start actually doing stuff, guys.”
Alan just laughs a bit before coming over, “Coming, coming.” He mentions before handing Nick the spirit box and turning the EMF on and watching the levels.
“Brr… It's colder in this room. Is this the ghost room?” Nick shudders, his arms together as he rubs them quickly to get used to the temperature.
“Hmm…” Ren hums, “Freezing temperatures. Answer is yes, this is the ghost room.” He marks down in his journal and looks through the options of ghosts that had freezing temperatures.
Nick looked over his shoulder and watched until Ren flipped to a specific page. “WHATTT, this could be a demon?! What did Will do to become a demon of all things!” He exclaims, very concerned.
Ren sighs, “Just because it's an option, doesn't mean—” Ren stops, as Nick freaks out AGAIN, dropping the crucifix. As it hits the floor, the fact that it's burning is more prominent. “That it's a demon specifically.” Ren finishes.
Alan lets out a small whistle as he looks at it before taking a picture with the camera around his neck. “Interesting.” He notes.
Nick sputters, “What- What?! Interesting!? Dude- oh my god…”
Ren just shook his head, sighing. Of course. The youngest would obviously act like this. Then again, he still needed to learn a lot himself. “It's fine, Nick. You'll have to get used to this if you're going to continue this job.”
Nick just nods slowly, still staring at the now burnt crucifix in what seemed like horror or disbelief.
“Well, let's get more evidence.” Alan announced as he set up the camera and D.O.T.S.
Ren nods in agreement as he sets the journal down in line with the camera. “Nick, you have the salt, right?” He asks, barely looking up.
“Uh… yeah, where should I put it?..” He asks, seeming more nervous than before.
Alan leads him to good spots as Ren takes out his walkie talkie, “Hey. Izzy. Is the camera working? We've got freezing temperatures by the way.”
A moment later, Izzy's voice crackled through, “Okay, yeah, I can see. There was a kind of big activity spike a bit ago. Is everything alright?”
“Yeah, all good.” He mutters before the lights flicker. “Check the activity thing would you?”
A moment goes by and his flash light turns off before Izzy's voice comes through, “I think- that's really high. Is it- is there a ‘hunt’?”
Without hesitation, Ren turns the radio off and leaves the room, looking around. He was so dead. So so dead.
Thankfully, he made it to a closet and heard a panicked shout in the distance. So it wasn't on him, but… This was probably bad news. Closing his eyes, he tried focusing on any footsteps that he may hear other than his fellow colleagues.
A few moments passed. And more. Then, it felt safe. He turned his walkie talkie on again and spoke, “Is everyone okay? That was a hunt.”
Izzy's voice came through again, more panicked, “An actual hunt?! Is everyone okay?!”
Alan's voice came through, “Me and Nick are fine, but he's pretty spooked.”
“Expected.” Ren muttered quietly to himself as he exited the closet and took a calming breath.
Returning to the room, he looked at the floor- at the equipment to be specific. As he looked, there was some writing on the book. So most likely candidates were Hantu, demon, and a deogen. Though, it was more surprising that everyone had managed to survive the hunt…
He took his walkie talkie and waited a moment before speaking through it again “Hey. We've got ghost writing.”
“Alright.” Alan's voice crackled through the walkie talkie.
A few moments later before Alan and Nick had made their way back into the dining room. “Welcome back.” He mentioned before the lights flickered again. He noticed Nick flinch a bit, taking a step back and glancing around.
Izzy's voice came through the walkie, “HUNT, HUNT, I- oh, sorry, but I think there's a hunt. I'll try to be quieter.”
Ren just glanced around as he stepped around before immediately leaving the room when he saw the outline, and holy hell- creepy as fuck. It wasn't long before he was just jogging as he tried to stay away from the ghost.
Surely no one was going to die on their first job– probably. A very hopeful thought.
What felt like forever, the lights finally flickered back on before everything seemed slightly calmer. Ren sighs, leaning forward and keeping his hands on his knees to stay up easier as he catches his breath from running in that freaky situation.
It wasn't that he got scared or freaked out easily, but ghosts are fucking insane. The thought of dying from one wasn't ideal.
“God…” He mumbles, a bit breathless.
After catching most of his breath, he stands straighter, he looks around at his surroundings before making his way to find the others.
“Rennn! You good?” He hears Nick nervously call out from the room down the hall.
“Yeah.” He responds, not making much effort to project his voice and make sure that he was heard.
After rounding the corner, he saw Nick in a corner, with Alan leaning against the wall as he went through the notebook of evidence.
“Let's go back to the van and discuss before another hunt starts.” Ren suggest, already heading out of the room.
Nodding quickly, Nick gets up and follows him to leave the house. “Yeah, that sounds better than being chased by a ghost!”
Alan hums and follows.
Once they get to the van, they see Izzy worriedly watching the activity screen before she notices they all return. “OH, thank God's! You're all okay!” She lets out a breath, calming her nerves.
“Yeah. We've got ghost writing and freezing temperatures and one less crucifix. It's between a demon or a Hantu. I'm thinking it's a demon since it was hunting frequently, but… I guess it's more surprising to me that I wasn't immediately targeted in the first hunt since I would've been easy.” Ren replies, breaking down the bit of evidence they had and his thoughts.
Alan just nods a bit, “Yeah, I'm thinking demon based on what we have.”
Nick just nods, seeming more quiet than usual.
“Oh. Are we done, then?” Izzy asks, a bit surprised.
Ren shrugs. “Basically. We'll need to go get our stuff back before leaving though, and get a photo of the ghost writing as extra evidence and such. Alan, do you want to?”
Alan looks over and hums before nodding, “Yeah, sure. I can do that.” He replies before heading back to the house.
Ren just watches him, slightly surprised he was that willing to do that, but not really caring. He glances over at Nick, “You good?”
Nick looks over, surprised. “Huh?- oh, yeah. Just a bit… shaken, I guess.” He gives an unconvincing smile, but Ren doesn't question it.
“Alright. I'll send what we have in and give everyone their money next time. We could try rotating people soon, but for now I think everyone is doing their roles well.” Ren explains as he organizes his notes and puts down a demon for his final answer for what demon it is. He'd turn this in later…
He went over to the front seat of the van and put the keys in as they waited for Alan to return. A few minutes pass before Alan comes, hauling all of the stuff they had brought in with a bag. “Back, got the photo.” He mentions before putting it all on the ground and closing the back of the van before sitting down.
Ren just nods before driving back, vaguely listening to the others as they talk about how nerve wracking this all was- other than Alan, who mostly talked about how it sucked that Nick never got to do the spirit box.
Really, Ren knew that they should've gotten more evidence, but for the betterment of the group, this was enough. Nick had gotten pretty nervous and scared, so the first part of all of this was probably getting the group members, including himself, useful to the hunting and familiar with what the ghosts acted like while gathering evidence.
After he had dropped everyone off at their houses, he found himself at the building he had gotten the address and other information from and headed in.
Glancing around, it looked as creepy as ever. By creepy, it was really just a barely clean and almost empty building that gave off the vibes of some abandoned hospital with two people working the front desk, yet only one out at a time.
Without saying a word, he put the notebook he got on the desk and watched as the desk worker who wore the name tag that said ‘Sal’ took it and nodded after looking through all the pages before handing him an envelope.
Glancing at the envelope, he just stayed there for a moment before leaving the place without any words.
“Creepy as hell..” He mutters to himself before getting back in the van and drives home.