“Everyone up!” JR yells loudly.

The other three groan and move around, covering their ears and burying their faces into the couch.

“Breakfast is here!” JR yells, louder this time.

This seems to get their attention. They begin to stir, slowly getting up; the thought of food giving them more encouragement.

After everyone gets up, they all sit down at the table. Everything being much quieter than most other mornings. JR sighs, “There’s so much extra food without Minhyun here.”

He doesn’t get a response; the others are too busy wallowing in their misery.

During the day the police take each member one at a time for an interview. All of which proved to be inconclusive. Every member is considered to be a suspect. Even with all this drama happening, they are still expected to go out into the public and perform in order to avoid causing suspicion.

Later, that night, they begin to prepare for their live performance. They remain emotionless as the staff dress them, do their hair, their makeup. It takes a lot of effort to plaster smiles onto their faces as they take the stage.

Everyone cheers, screaming out their names. After a moment they begin to realise that Minhyun is missing. The cheering begins to die down as they stand, in wait of an excuse for Minhyun’s absence.

Baekho, Ren, Aron and JR step forward and say their trademark line, with less energy as usual, “Showtime, NU’EST time. Annyeong haseyo.”

 JR exchanges a grim look with Baekho before speaking, “You may all be wondering where Minhyun is. Sadly he has fallen ill and can’t perform with us tonight but I hope we can still do just as well without him!” JR sniffles slightly, tears beginning to well in his eyes.  

They give the audience a fake, reassuring smile which pains them. They can see the worry and pain in the audience. They’ve just lied to their devoted fans. It pains them knowing that everyone out there is so sad that Minhyun is supposedly ‘ill’; how would they feel if they knew that he was dead?

They continue with the performance, often saying wrong lines and messing up choreography, unable to maintain their concentration. A sudden sense of relief washes over them when they walk off stage.

They ignore their elder’s criticisms on their disappointing performance.

“It’s not right without Minhyun,” Baekho sighs as he wipes off his eyeliner with a washcloth.

“Well we have to get used to it, he isn’t coming back,” JR states. He is greeted with some odd looks from the other members.

“He’s right though,” Aron says before he buries his head into his pillow.

“Baekho? Mind if I borrow your hair brush?” Ren asks from the bathroom.

Baekho walks in to see Ren pulling a few strands of hair from his brush.

“Uhhh, yeah sure,” Baekho replies happily.

Again, there is only silence.  Without another words said, they all get into bed and fall asleep within moments of laying their heads down.

JR lies there, staring up at the ceiling, wide awake, his closest friends asleep around him. ‘Could one of these people really be a murderer? Is anyone here capable of that? He looks at each of them. Who was it and who is next?’

After a few minutes JR decides to get up. He trudges into the kitchen, in search of the light switch. He stumbles over a chair and curses, regains his balance and slides his hand along the wall, still looking for the switch. He suddenly feels a sharp pain in the back of his head. He turns quickly to find the cause, expecting to see something that had fallen. Nothing looks any different than before, he is still alone. He sighs and turns back towards the wall. He pauses for a moment, staring at the shadows on the wall. ‘Something is off,’ he thinks to himself before turning around again; Before he has a chance to get a better look he feels something hit him again. This time he drops to the floor unconscious.