Junhong and Jongup laid out all the data they had of the other players. Papers strewn all over the floor, plastered on the walls and even notes written on them.

“Whoah, if only you’re this good with your real homework,” teased Jongup as he watches Junhong busy connecting dots. Junhong turned around, annoyance etched it his face.

“If you are so against me using your room for this stuff, then you should just say it,” an annoyed and stressed Junhong counters. Jongup holds his hands up, and stands beside his best friend, trying to calm his nerves.

“I didn’t say anything like that, now you lighten up a little Junhong.”

“I – I’m sorry,” Junhong says, letting out a heavy sigh. “It’s just, three weeks, three deaths, and now I’m left with three days to figure out what number to choose.”

Jongup stands aside and walks to the plain wall now transferred into a sort of canvas of collage. Looking at faces and information written – why they could be the killer, why they couldn’t and why should they be the target. “Why don’t you just choose from Kyungsoo, Jongin or Yoo Kwon’s number each week?”

“Then if I choose wrong, the probability of the others dying is high.”

“Well, sacrifices must be made.”

“Urgh! I don’t know anymore,” Junhong grunted as he drops to the carpeted floor and rolls over.

Jongup just exhales exasperatedly as he walks to the kitchen trying to find something they could drink. At that moment Junhong’s phone chimed and Junhong replied in another agonizing groan.  

3/26/2013: 8:19 pm: Status

Card chosen: Police

Player: Zelo

Update one: Killer has chosen his fourth victim.

Update two: Killer’s announcement:

“Yah! This game has gotten pretty boring, have you all run into hiding? Haha. Too bad, I’m also good at hide-and-seek. But since I’m feeling benevolent today, I’m going to give you idiots a clue as to who my next target is.

He/She is… a double digit number! Now everyone who has chosen single digit cards, what luck you have! I hope neither the *Doc nor the *Cop is what I’ve chosen else this would be all the more boring.”

*- if you remember correctly, the aforementioned characters have the Ace and Jack respectively, in the game of 21 both have double digit equivalence except for Ace which has the privilege of having both single and double digit counterparts.

“The Killer’s pretty conceited isn’t he?” Jongup states matter-of-fact while Junhong rolls into another pit of despair. Jongup couldn’t take the scene of his confident friend shred into pieces any longer it was both humiliating and pitiful. “Yah!” he calls out as he kicks Junhong, the other boy stops wailing.

“Stop being such a total worthless crap, and take this to your advantage,” Jongup starts with the prep talk. Junhong stops sniveling and looks up at Jongup. “So you may be the target or not, then that means you know you have to be prepared. We both know out of the three that has been eliminated already, two of them are double digits, two of our friends are single digits and we only have Jongin to worry about, though I don’t understand how they were able to get as many double digit cards—”

“They assigned the numbers, it was sort of complicated but that’s how they did it,” explained Junhong, slowly getting back to his senses.

“Really, do the others know?”

Junhong shakes his head, “It’s part of those PM that I get for being Police.”

Jongup glances at the wall again, “Well, at least you’ve posted their corresponding numbers.”

Junhong stands beside him, carefully studying the names, numbers and pictures of potential victims.

*~*~*

Junhong could only think of nothing else but which number to pick that he could neither eat properly nor sleep properly.  But Junhong wasn’t the only one who had been thinking about the deaths. Not entirely connected, no clues of foul play whatsoever still Detective Yoo Youngjae cannot dismiss everything as they initially are.

It was a known fact in the Force, that a large underground civilization, with probably a network worldwide, has its branch in South Korea. Were this seemingly natural causes of death just cover up? Detective Yoo is dying to know.

“You know, detective,” officer Jinki starts, finding his superior’s behavior odd, even for himself. “An accident is an accident, a homicide a homicide and a suicide a suicide no matter how much you look at it,” he sounded almost exasperated. Detective Yoo turned his swivel chair at its socket and faced Jinki.

“A manner of thinking like that, is the reason why you’re still my subordinate,” Youngjae counters. He had been reading, re-reading and brooding about the past three cases. Jinki scowls. Youngjae sighs.

“Fine, here’s my theory,” he says. “Three weeks, three deaths, though unconnected but oddly related,” he finished casually.

Jinki folds his arms over his chest. “A lot of cases happen weekly, monthly, annually.”

“But never on the same day,” counters Youngjae.

“Come again,” Jinki was taken by surprise. This time Youngjae’s smile widens and Jinki hates that smile.

“A train accident, a robbery slash homicide then a suicide all happening on the same day for the past three weeks,” Youngjae begins his deductions as he leans against his oak table, elbows propped and fingers intertwined, his thumbs massaging his chin. “Of course the first two cases could just be offhandedly deemed as unfortunate yet ordinary events. However, a rising star has suddenly committed suicide?”

“Well, detective, the world of show business is said to be pretty harsh.”

“Harsh or not, Kwon Yuri was a known stubborn girl herself, and even if she’ll have a hundred anti-fans, a thousand fans would still be there to back her up. Then there’s projects sprouting out everywhere, who would, despite the roughness, think of eliminating themselves from this world?”

Jinki was about to voice out his opinion but Youngjae stopped him.

“Like I said Jinki, Kwon Yuri was a known stubborn, strong-willed girl and also arrogant and self-centered or so the rumors go,” Youngjae sits back and twirls the seat again, now facing the blinds. “So why would she commit suicide at such a young age when everything was where she has always wanted everything should be?”

Jinki could only sigh. He can’t win over Youngjae, not when he is this all hyped up, and when his logic has actually made sense. Youngjae smirked.

“So what’s your next step now?” a defeated and tired officer Lee Jinki asked.

Youngjae stood up and opened the blinds so he could see the busy street below. “Atrocious as it may be, all we can do is wait,” he says coolly. Youngjae could hear the surprised gasp from his subordinate and it only made him smirk. “After all, everything I’ve said was only a mere theory but when something does happen on Friday especially at night, then we’ve got ourselves a serial murderer, a playful one.”

Jinki almost cringe at how cold and sinister Youngjae’s last words sounded. He knew the detective was just getting in the mood and being exaggeratedly expressive but it still sent him goosebumps, the negative kind.

3/28/2013: 09:19 am: Status

Card chosen: Police                                                         

Player: Zelo

Update: Doctor has chosen a citizen to heal.

*~*~*

Junhong sighed heavily and as carefully as he could, with both his gut feeling and random picking, he tapped on a card and pressed ‘Send’. Now all he has to do is pray and hope that at least he or the Doctor has been sided with luck and has chosen the same Citizen as the Killer. He replaced his phone back in his coat’s pocket.

3/29/2013: 10:47 pm: Status

Card chosen: Police                                                         

Player: Zelo

Update: Police has chosen a citizen.

He sighed heavily again, as if he had been carrying the weight of the world, or at least for eighteen residents of Seoul. He was tired. He had spent the whole afternoon trying to find out about activities of the potential victims. One thing was common though, everyone of them was either anxious or agitated. They were probably more cautious and close to paranoia than they have ever been in their lives. Who could blame them? Junhong thought, they’ve just gotten themselves in a very crazy game with Death the only way out. However, he was only able to visit three people.

Junhong stared at the red man blinking across the street, waiting for it to turn green before crossing, even though the wide road was practically deserted. He sighed as gravely as before again. Tomorrow, he’d normally be excited for tomorrow, because it signals the beginning of the end of the week. Tomorrow he’ll only grumble at being woken up early and probably pop quiz or morning duty but since three weeks ago, Junhong could only dread for that Tomorrow. Would he still be alive, for how long? Would it be his end, how exactly? And Junhong exhales sadly for far too many times that day that he has lost count. The red man had almost blinked its last and was instantly shifted to the walking green man when suddenly a car came swerving through the road and crashed against a post, barely dodging the couple that was also crossing the street from the opposite end.

The woman screamed and soon attracted a substantial amount of crowd. Without thinking Junhong headed for the car as a couple of men did. “Sir! Sir! Can you hear me?” Junhong called out, he had found a way towards the side of the driver. Slowly, agonizingly, the driver stirred after a few beckoning and a bit of shaking. Junhong sighed in relief and shouted to call for an ambulance and someone had replied that it had been done already.

A few minutes later, Junhong and a couple other good men, tried to free the driver from any further pain as they could, but the driver was stuck to the seat, or rather, his foot was somehow in a complicated position. All they could do was keep him from fainting and stop any visible bleeding as much as possible. But what almost stopped Junhong’s heart was that this man was a player of the game, knowing that, Junhong’s blood run cold. Was this merely an accident or was foul play involved? Junhong mentally smacked himself, with a victim this obvious, how else could this be not part of the game?

Thirty minutes later, Junhong reached the hospital, he didn’t exactly knew why he was also lumped in the ambulance but he guessed that maybe because he was the only other person that had seen the accident. The couple was too wound up, especially the woman, that they were also attended to. Five minutes after, his parents called after receiving his text. Another five minutes pass and he was asked by a couple of officers about the incident.

“So can I leave now?” Junhong asked, eyes wary and heavy.

“Aren’t your parents coming to pick you up?” Youngjae asked.

Junhong shook his head, “They’re on a trip currently all they could do is pester me every five minutes or so,” he answers as he glances at his phone vibrating incessantly. Youngjae smiled and gestured Junhong to hand it over to him. Tired, confused and shocked, Junhong gave him the phone. Youngjae talked with Junhong’s mother then returned Junhong’s phone with the absolute order of giving him a ride home.

“You’re not staying detective?” an officer asked.

“Can we still not crack open his phone’s passcode?” Youngjae countered.

“Like what we’ve been telling you ‘no’!” This time it was Jinki who answered, returning from the Information desk.

Youngjae sighed pocketing both his hands in his coat. “Then we’re calling it a night,” he muttered and bobbed his head, telling Junhong to follow suit.

“What are you smiling at?” Jinki asked suspiciously, when he saw the amused grin plastered on Youngjae’s face while driving. “This is just a drunk driver accident, detective,” stated Jinki.

Oh how I wish it was just that, Junhong thought as he stays quietly still at the back.

“So you say officer Lee,” Youngjae starts. “But we’ll never know until we check his car.”

Jinki sighed. Junhong was amazed. “Don’t say it,” warned Jinki but Youngjae doesn’t listen, Youngjae rarely listens unless it was his own voice talking. Youngjae grins widely, showing some of his pearly white teeth.

“This is murder, Jinki, well an attempted murder for this case,” he says with a shrug.

“Murder?” Junhong mutters, surprised, utterly surprised that probably this detective has catch on things.

Jinki took a swift glance at Junhong from the rearview mirror. “That’s only in theory,” he says. “His theory,” he scowls at his superior who just scoffs.

“Four weeks, four accidents, three deaths, and one who is somehow lucky to come out with a few broken bones and maybe internal hemorrhage,” Youngjae points out and Junhong could only hold onto his breath else he’d have agreed or speak more than he should. Jinki sighed in defeat and apologized to Junhong, hoping for his consideration on how his superior had been acting.

“Thanks for dropping me off,” Junhong said with a bow. Youngjae smiled amicably and pet Junhong’s hair.

“No problem,” Youngjae replied. “By the way, so as to appease with my colleague’s heart, I hope you won’t divulge whatever I have been blabbing about in the car, although I don’t deduce things without basis.”

Junhong could only nod. Youngjae smiled again before pulling up the window and swerving off the sidewalk.

“I guess your theory isn’t so farfetched,” Jinki said after a few minutes of silence.

“Oh, and why is that?” Youngjae asked, giving his colleague an amused sideways glance.

“Well, at least for now, it applies to this incident,” Jinki tries to defend himself.

Youngjae diverts his gaze outside, now being more serious. “So what have you found out?”