I still remember the first time I "saw a ghost."
Technically, it was my first E-07-class spiritual anomaly investigation.
I had only been in the Bureau for two months.
My tactical soul-chain hadn't even fully integrated yet, and my mentor pulled me from training to join a short-handed team on site.
It was an old apartment complex.
Outside the cordon: silence.
Inside it… even quieter.
The team leader handed me a talisman tablet and said,
"Once you're in—don't speak.
Don't make eye contact.
Don't ask questions."
I nodded nervously.
But what I didn't know was—
the thing I would face wasn't the ghost.
It was myself.
The spirit gate opened, and the pressure inside nearly shoved me forward.
The air was damp—like water. Or blood.
The lights were dead. Only weak charm-lights glowed along the floor.
And then I saw her.
At the end of the corridor.
A girl in pajamas. Head lowered.
One step at a time, walking toward me.
She held an empty water glass.
And with each step, she repeated the same sentence:
"Can you see me?"
The leader told me not to look. Not to respond.
But I did.
I looked her in the eye.
The world froze.
In a blink, I was yanked into a confined space—
a mirrored room.
No walls. No windows. No light.
Just her.
She smiled and said,
"You finally saw me."
I was terrified.
So scared I couldn't even activate my soul-chain.
My hands trembled.
My mind blanked.
I forgot every escape technique I had learned.
She moved closer.
I could smell blood and antiseptic on her skin.
Then she said,
"I'm not trying to hurt you."
"It's just… it's been so long since anyone looked at me."
And suddenly—
I cried.
I don't know why.
Maybe it was the way she spoke.
Maybe she reminded me of my older sister at the orphanage.
The one who died in the fire.
The one who always smiled at me in dreams, saying, "It's okay."
So I whispered:
"I see you."
She paused.
Then smiled.
The room shattered—like a bubble.
She vanished into light, like she had never existed.
I collapsed at the hallway threshold.
When I came to, I was slumped on the team leader's back.
He chuckled.
"First rookie who didn't run from a ghost."
"And the only one who dared to answer."
I asked,
"Was she… a malicious spirit?"
He went quiet for a second.
"No."
"She was… an emotion that got lost."
"You gave her a way out."
That's when I understood—
Being a Spirit Detective isn't about defeating ghosts.
It's about acknowledging that ghosts were once people.
People who got stuck.
While we—
We just kept walking.
I've been through battles, near-deaths, miracles since then.
But only that first mission taught me—
That choosing to face fear…
is the beginning of becoming someone new.