With much persuasion on Baekhyun’s part, Zitao agreed to an interview with the school newspaper. He sat in the grimy room reserved for the club and coughed as the dust puffed up about him when the chair shifted. Yixing and Jongdae sat across from him at the other side of the table. Yixing had a pad of paper and a pen in his hands while Jongdae cracked his fingers, stretching over the keyboard of Junmyeon’s laptop.

“So,” Jongdae cleared his throat, “Can you tell us what you remember happening yesterday?”

Zitao nibbled anxiously on his bottom lip, “It was maybe close to 3 pm when I realized I hadn’t used the bathroom all day long, let alone actually eating something. So, I left the booth in, what I thought, were the capable hands of my other club members. When I came back, the ballot box was gone… This was the only thing I was in charge of that day. And I abandoned my post… This is all my fault.” he choked on his words, suppressing the tears that pooled in his eyes.

“It’s not your fault,” Yixing smiled warmly, “Can you tell us who you’d last seen with the ballot box?”

Zitao nodded, “It was a few other freshman students, a sophomore and two juniors. No one else had access either. When I talked to Taemin, he’s a freshman like me, he said that he never saw anyone come or go from the back room.”

“Can you give us a list of the names of all the students who were at the booth during the time you were gone?” Yixing asked pushing the pad of paper towards Zitao who nodded simply again before picking up the pen and scribbling down the names of the students he remembered being at the booth in poor cursive.

“What happens if you can’t find the ballot box?” Jongdae asked suddenly.

Zitao sighed, “We won’t even be able to refund anyone… I don’t know what we’ll do. And we can’t send it all to the charity, as much as we’d love to. We don’t want everyone to think we were trying to scam them. This wasn’t supposed to happen…” he sniffled.

“It’s okay, Zitao. Thank you for your co-operation today.” Jongdae smiled and reached up to ruffle his hair, “Everything will be alright. We’ll figure this out for you, okay?” the younger didn’t say anything, just bowed deeply and left quietly.

Yixing sighed and reclined in his chair, propping his feet up on the tabletop. He hummed to himself, eyes closed deep in thought. Jongdae sat next to him again, typing a few notes up onto the laptop. It looked like this was likely an inside job, so that the suspects could easily be narrowed to the list Zitao had provided for them. Jongdae chewed on his bottom lip as he inspected the list of names curiously.

Lee Taemin - freshman
Jung Daehyun - freshman
Lee Hongbin - freshman
Kim Seokjin - sophomore
Lee Jaehwan - sophomore
Choi Minho - junior

“It’s not Choi Minho,” Yixing said cracking an eye open to peek over at Jongdae, “He hadn’t even known that the ballots were stolen when he was informed. His reaction said everything. Hongbin is harmless and so are the other two freshman. There’s no way they would try anything like this anyway - not during their first year of high school.”

“So it’s between the two sophomores?” Jongdae asked furrowing his eyebrows, “Seokjin and Jaehwan?”

“I don’t think they did it either,” Yixing admitted.

“Then… Wait, what?” Jongdae was confused, “I don’t understand?”

“They’re not the type of people to steal ballot boxes, Jongdae. For goodness sakes, they’re all part of the outreach team. That doesn’t even make sense. Think clearly.”

“Then who else would’ve had access? Taemin says he never saw anyone come or go!”

“Exactly,” Yixing mumbled, “Whoever it was, they were able to silence the club members. That’s the only likely story I can think of. I know these students, Dae, they’re not like this.”

“Then,” Jongdae cleared his throat processing Yixing’s theory slowly, “Should we call everyone on this list to an interview?”

“If you want to.”

✐✐✐

The clock in the corner of the room displayed the wrong time, 5:46 pm. In truth, it was only 2:44 pm. That’s when their first interviewee arrived.

“Minho, right?” Jongdae asked as the tall male took a seat at the table.

“Choi Minho,” he smiled, “Zitao said you guys wanted to interview all of us for the newspaper?”

Jongdae nodded, “We want to get the story straight for when we print it. If we can get everyone’s sides, we’ll be able to piece it all together properly. So, can you start from the beginning?”

Minho nodded, “Alright. Zitao shouted out that he was going to run to the bathroom and asked all of us to watch the ballot box. Taemin stood guard for the most part, so I went out front to sell more tickets. When Zitao came back not even ten minutes later, we both went to the back of the booth to see that the box was gone.”

“That’s it?” Jongdae asked on confusion.

“That’s it,” Minho sighed, “I sold a handful of tickets and wanted to put them in the box, but I obviously couldn’t. I put the tickets in a tin. It’s locked away in the office for now.”

“Did you notice anything strange maybe?”

Minho shook his head, “I was busy selling tickets… I never really noticed much.”

“Ah,” Jongdae smiled slightly, “Thank you for your time.”

“No problem,” he smiled and stood from his chair, “Let me know if there’s anything I can do to help. I want to find those ballots too. I worked hard selling them.”

There was a knock on the door at precisely 3:00 pm. Kim Seokjin entered with a smile on his face, taking a seat across from Yixing and Jongdae.

“I was stacking cans at the time,” he explained, “Daehyun and I were out front and we couldn’t reach the top of the pyramid anymore so we asked Jaehwan to help us. He ended up having to leave and get a ladder. He came back just a few minutes before Zitao did.”

“Do you remember seeing anyone else coming or going at that time?”

“No,” Seokjin admitted, “We ended up behind the pyramid trying to stack some cans in the back, so we couldn’t see anything anyway.”

“Thank you for your help.”

At 3:27 pm, Lee Jaehwan stumbled into the room with a goofy grin on his face. He took his seat, smile never leaving his lips.

“When Zitao left, I was in the back taking a break and drinking a hot chocolate - which was delicious by the way. I had maybe fifteen minutes left when Seokjin asked me to help with stacking cans. When I looked at the pyramid, that’s when I realized that even I would have a hard time reaching the top. So, I went to find a ladder.” Jaehwan said, furrowing his eyebrows as he thought back to the festival.

“Is that it?”

Jaehwan tapped his chin, “I think so.”

“Alright, thank you for stopping by.”

“No problem!”

It was now 3:42 pm and the next interviewee entered the room shyly. Lee Hongbin smiled meekly before taking a seat.

“Zitao asked us to watch over the ballot box, but I think there was some miscommunication between all of us after he left.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, Jaehwan was on break so he wasn’t paying much attention anyway. He ended up going out front with Seokjin and Daehyun to stack cans. Minho went out front to sell more tickets so I’d thought I’d help him out. I ended up getting distracted by a senior student who asked me to explain what our cause was for. Taemin was the last person I saw with the box and the only one back there, but I don’t recall seeing him leave at all. He couldn’t have taken the box and hidden it somewhere if we never saw him leave, right?”

“Right,” Jongdae hummed, “Thank you for your co-operation in coming here today. We appreciate the help.”

3:59 pm was when Jung Daehyun arrived. He entered and sat down quickly, smiling at the two reporters staring at him.

“I offered to stay and help Taemin watch the box, but he laughed and said it would be fine. Seokjin pulled me out to the front to stack cans. When we couldn’t reach the top of the pyramid anymore, we asked Jaehwan to help us, but he said we needed a ladder. While he was gone to get one, Seokjin and I tried stacking more cans at the back. I didn’t see anything after that until Zitao came back.”

“Nothing at all?”

Daehyun shook his head, “Nothing.”

“Thank you for coming here today.”

“It’s no problem,” he sighed, “Anything to try and figure out what really happened.”

“It’s not like we’re interrogating you!” Jongdae said hurriedly.

Daehyun tilted his head to the side, “Oh.”

“We will try our best to find out the truth though,” Yixing smiled.

Yixing looked down at his watch. It was 4:16 pm.

Jongdae sighed and leaned back in his chair, “Taemin should be-”

“Hold that thought,” Yixing muttered pulling out his cellphone.

Kim Junmyeon-ge ♥
Yixing, answer your phone!

Kim Junmyeon-ge ♥
Seriously, there’s an emergency!!!

Park Chanyeol ^-^
You might want to check the social media club’s twitter account

Kim Junmyeon-ge ♥
Are you ignoring me?!

Byun Baekhyun ^o^
Have you visited the social media club’s website recently?

Kim Minseok-ge ^3^
Can you please answer your phone? Junmyeon is freaking out.

“Is that a heart next to Junmyeon’s name?” Jongdae asked looking over Yixing’s shoulder.

Yixing quickly slipped his phone into his pocket, “Never mind that, can you pull up the social media club’s website?”

“Sure.”

Jongdae turned the laptop to face him, quickly typing in the Monarch Academy’s social media club web address. It took a while to load, but when it did, both boys’ jaws dropped. There, on the front page of website was a photograph of Lee Taemin holding the ballot box looking rather embarrassed. Underneath the photo in bold font, it read, ‘Ballot Box Found! Freshman Lee Taemin admits to stealing names for 50/50 draw! #scandal #outreachclub #autumnfestival #monarchacademy’ The article was posted just ten minutes ago.

“I have this feeling that Taemin won’t be showing up for the interview this afternoon…” Yixing observed.

“Probably not.” Jongdae muttered.

✐✐✐

“Zitao, have you seen Taemin?” Yixing paced back and forth in the club room anxiously on his phone, “He’s at dance practice? Yes, yes I saw the article. No, I know. It definitely wasn’t him. There’s no way. Of course I will do anything to clear his name. I promise. Just leave this to your ge.” he hung up the phone and looked at Jongdae a little breathless, “We have to catch up with him at the gym.”

The two boys wasted no time sprinting to the gym where they found Taemin dancing in one of the practice rooms, music blasting through a small stereo. He looked troubled as he moved, body flushed and chest heaving. Yixing watched through the window before pushing the door open and walking in. Taemin nearly stumbled over his own foot when he watched Jongdae and Yixing entering through the mirror. Jongdae reached down and hit the stop button of the stereo.

“C-Can I help you?” Taemin asked fumbling for a towel to wipe the sweat from his forehead.

“Why did you admit to something you didn’t do?” Yixing blurted.

“What?” Taemin paled as he took a sip of his water.

“I know you Taemin. There’s no way it was you that took the ballot box. So, why did you confess to a crime you didn’t commit?”

“Yixing,” Jongdae breathed harshly, “What are you doing?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Taemin stuttered through his teeth, “I committed the crime. It was me. I’ve turned myself in…” he trailed off with a sigh.

“Are they blackmailing you?”

Taemin’s eyes went wide, “Excuse me?” he gaped (and so did Jongdae).

“That’s a pretty grand conclusion, Yixing…” Jongdae whispered sternly, “Are you sure you want to do this?”

“Look, hyung,” Taemin looked around the room and motioned for them to close the door, Yixing complied before the freshman opened his mouth again, “He said I had to if I wanted to stay on the dance team. Please don’t do anything further. I’m only getting suspended for three days for this. I don’t want to make it worse on myself.”

Yixing blinked, “Oh. So it was him.”

Taemin took a deep, shaky breath, “Please stop, hyung.”

“What’s his motive anyway? Another ridiculous ‘scandal’ for him to post on that bloody gossip website?” Yixing was practically fuming, “I’m not going to let him do this to you, Taemin.”

“It’s too late,” Taemin gasped, “There’s nothing we can do about it now.”

“Don’t say that. We’re going to put an end to this. Come on, Jongdae.” Yixing said angrily, grabbing Jongdae’s arm and forcing him to follow.

✐✐✐

It was the first day of Taemin’s suspension and the whole school was talking about it. The posts about the ballot box scandal online were endless and the social media club was more popular than ever, their ratings online skyrocketing for their exclusive discovery. Yixing was enraged.

“That jerk,” he growled, “I cannot believe him.”

Jongdae sighed and handed Yixing a cup of green tea, “You could use this, I think.”

Yixing accepted it and took a sip, “I didn’t think he would stoop so low.”

“I don’t even know who we’re talking about,” Jongdae groaned, “You need to clarify things with me. I’m confused!”

“Wu Yifan,” Yixing snarled, “He doesn’t know when to stop.”

“Isn’t he the senior that runs the social media club?”

“Yes,” Junmyeon sighed, “And Yixing is right, he doesn’t know when to stop.”

“I’m not surprised, honestly. Now that I think about it, this is something that he would do.” Minseok clucked his tongue, “Poor Taemin though.”

“What do we do about it?” Jongdae asked curiously, “Is there anything we can do about it?”

“Not unless Taemin admits to the truth.” Junmyeon mumbled.

“I’m not writing our headliner on Taemin stealing the ballots if he didn’t do it.” Yixing stated finally, “There’s no way.”

“I’m afraid you might have to…” Junmyeon said quietly.

“No!” Yixing yelled abruptly standing from his chair, “There’s no way!” he seethed before storming out of the room.

Jongdae bit his bottom lip and followed after his partner, “Hyung… Yixing-hyung?”

“What?” he spat back.

“Is there any way we can get evidence of the blackmailing…?”

“Evidence of the…? It was probably just done verbally.”

“Please, he’s the president of a social media club. That doesn’t even make sense. Think clearly.”

Yixing cracked a small smile at the familiar words, “Alright then. What do you propose we do?”

“Oh,” Jongdae grinned, “Leave that to me.”

✐✐✐

“He was likely blackmailed the day before, or he would’ve made more of a commotion when the people who really took the ballots entered the room.” Jongdae said, sitting at a school computer, “And, if we’re lucky, he did it via Facebook or some other form of social media platform. We’ll be able to find messages back and forth between them if it happened the way I think it did.” he explained this as he began typing in codes in an online internet program.

“Right, but how do we do that?” Yixing asked curiously.

“We hack into it,” Jongdae shrugged.

“That’s an invasion of privacy!” Yixing gasped.

Jongdae raised an eyebrow, “Are you really about to lecture me about invasions of privacy?”

Yixing could only laugh awkwardly at that, “Alright, fine. But we can’t just use that as proof, we’ll get caught for hacking.”

“That’s not important. What is important is that we have our own blackmailing tool.”

“Oh,” Yixing was finally catching on to Jongdae’s plan, “You’re just as devious as me. I’m not sure if I should be afraid or impressed.”

Jongdae chuckled darkly, “Only be afraid if you’re on my bad side. What social media accounts would Taemin use?”

“As far as I know he only uses Twitter.” Yixing said, “I follow him. He tweets a lot about dancing and at someone named @JonginLovesPuppies.”

“Let’s see,” Jongdae thought aloud as his fingers worked on the keyboard of the school’s computer. Soon enough, he had Taemin’s twitter feed open and there were plenty of private messages in his inbox for Yixing and Jongdae to look through.

Bingo.

“There it is,” Yixing whispered, “Look at all those messages…”

@LeeTaemin93
Why would I do that?

@WuGalaxy
I just thought you might want to keep your spot on the dance team.

@LeeTaemin93
What are you talking about?

@WuGalaxy
You know I’m close friends with the captain of your dance team, right? He owes me a favour.

@LeeTaemin93
You wouldn’t!

@WuGalaxy
Of course I would :-)
Should I message him now?

@LeeTaemin93
No!
I’ll do it…

@WuGalaxy
That’s more like it ;-)

✐✐✐

“Wu Yifan!” Yixing shouted as he entered the room reserved for the social media club, “We need to speak with you.”

Yifan look up from his phone, “What can I do for you?”

Yixing slapped pages of printed out messages from Twitter onto the desk Yifan sat at. His face paled almost immediately, his cell phone slipping between his fingers and landing on the floor with a thud.

“Where did you get these?” Yifan panicked.

“That doesn’t matter,” Jongdae cut in, “The question is, shall we tell Director Lee, or will you?”

Yifan’s jaw hung loose. He opened and closed his mouth several times trying to find the right words to put together as an excuse, but nothing would come out. His mouth became dry suddenly. He was cornered, trapped, caught. He swallowed hard.

✐✐✐

“Thank you,” Taemin smiled wearily as he came to school the next day, “Really, thank you.”

“It’s nothing really,” Yixing beamed, “We did what any good reporter would. We worked hard to bring out the truth.”

“How did you get him to confess?” Taemin asked in astonishment, this entire ordeal had been completely unbelievable.

“Uh,” Jongdae coughed, “We may have hacked your Twitter account…”

Taemin blinked a few times, “You did what?”

“We used Yifan’s blackmail messages against him.” Yixing explained, “We hacked your account to get them.”

Taemin coughed, face reddening, “You didn’t happen to read anything else, did you?”

“Of course not!” Jongdae squeaked, “Just the conversation between you and Yifan! To get the evidence we needed.”

Yixing grinned, “It was Jongdae’s idea. I thought I was going to have to give up, but this kid here,” he slung an arm around the younger, “He decided to fight fire with fire.”

“You two are kind of intense,” Taemin sighed, but it wasn't in annoyance or frustration. It was more like he was happy to have this weight lifted off of his shoulders, “You have no idea how thankful I am for this regardless of you hacking into my account.”

“We're just glad to get the truth out there.”

The second issue of The Monarch Times' headliner read, “#ScandalBusted.”

What am I even writing anymore? Someone stop me. I'll edit this later ~ ^^;