"I'm sorry, you're his what, now?" I asked, not sure if I heard Yaehee correctly.

"Privately hired investigator. Or private eye, as some people say." She explained in a calm, rehearsed manner, as if it wasn't the first time she used those exact words. Yet it didn't exactly alleviate my confusion, and I asked,

"But aren't you too young to be a private eye?" 

Chanyeol burst out into laughter beside me and I looked at him in bewilderment. "She's undercover, Paran!" 

"Oh." I muttered, suddenly feeling stupid. Yaehee shot Chanyeol a scolding glare and he pouted at me apologetically.

"Anyway, the name's Choi Miran. My real name, that is. But in light of this case, you should probably continue addressing me as Yaehee. I'm 26 years old, and like I said, I work as a full time private investigator." My jaw dropped when she mentioned her age because it was honestly shocking. I mean, I've never even thought she looked older than me. To be fair,  Yaehee--I mean Choi Miran-- had quite a petite build, to the point that I stood taller than her; but if I were to be realistic, I would say that it was mostly her face made her look younger than me. 

Or maybe that was just the result of my genes... 

I tried to push away my self-deprecating thoughts and focused on listening, "I began working on this case a couple of months ago, when Chanyeol, here, came across my advertisement online." Her eyes met with Chanyeol's briefly, urging him to continue narrating the rest of the story. 

"Yeah. So I actually started investigating right after the police dropped the case. The first few months, our parents helped. But you saw how that turned out what with the police and their media play. We had no chance. Well, That really got to our parents and suddenly all they wanted was for the issue to rest. To pretend it never happened." Chanyeol's expression had changed into a mix of hurt and anger, but he continued, "I couldn't accept it. I couldn't let the murderer get away with killing my brother. So I decided to take it upon myself, keeping it a secret from my parents because I knew they would stop me if they ever found out."

"Anyway, so the first thing I did was to search the internet about how to conduct investigations about such cases." From here Chanyeol seemed to visibly relax and focus, probably due to the matter-of-fact nature of the topic. "Then, I planned how I was going to carry it out. First, I had to find suspects. To be honest I doubted anyone and everyone during that time; but I was thankful that everyone from our school had a valid alibi. So I asked the hostel management if there were anyone else staying during our school's trip. I even searched for any nearby accommodations or residences, which unsurprisingly, there were none. Our old school was infamous for choosing cheap and obscure localities to hold school trips in, and that time wasn't any different."

"I found out that the hostel was actually fully booked for the second and third day of the trip. Which wouldn't have been surprising given the relatively small size of this hostel; yet the fact that it was in such place that wasn't even well-known just didn't sit right with me so I asked for more details. Apparently, another school was holding their own trip just a day after ours started." He stared right into my eyes as he said that, as if to tell me something, and my eyes widened when it hit me. 

"No way." I breathed out in disbelief. 

"When I heard the name of the school, I immediately knew that it sounded familiar. It took me some time backtracking all the articles I've read while searching for similar cases, but I finally remembered that in one of the news clippings I was able to gather regarding a similar incident in another province, the same school was erroneously specified to be where the victim had studied. Apparently, the reporter half-assed his research and mixed up because there were two schools staying in the same venue when the victim died." Chanyeol paused again, as if to give me time to let that piece of information sink in. But at that point, my head was starting to feel like mush. So instead, I found myself staring at him hoping that the answers would magically appear on his face if I looked long enough.

"Oh my god." My eyes rapidly moved from side to side as all the clues started falling into place. Chanyeol nodded at me as if to confirm my thoughts even when I hadn't voiced them.

"It didn't take too much research to find out that the same school had been taking trips to the same localities where at least five of these 'accidents' occured. What was even more intriguing was the fact that the incidents happened every three years. And during each of those instances, that same school had 'coincidentally' been staying at the exact same venue."

By that time, I wasn't sure if my mind was still working. It all felt like too much and my head began to pound painfully from all the questions that were bothering me. When Chanyeol and Choi Miran started telling me about this investigation they were carrying out, I thought I'd begin to at least have a little understanding regarding this whole mystery. Yet the only thing it was was doing was leaving me more confused than before. And while all the information I'd been receiving was making my brain feel like mashed potatoes, I was almost prepared for what Chanyeol was about to say next.

"This is a serial murder case, Paran. And the perpetrator is someone from our school."

Almost. 

A/N: Lots of dialogue in this one so it's possibly 'info overload'-inducing. If you guys have any difficulty understanding some parts of this chapter, I'm willing to explain in the comments section. That doesn't apply to details regarding future chapters of course. ;)