The only sensation I felt was Sanghyun’s hand. That was all, a chain linking me to reality, dragging me across the realms of sub consciousness that I was floating in. My mind was jammed; there were so many thoughts and feelings that were waiting to be processed that my neurons had simply shut down. I couldn’t feel anything but that didn’t mean I was light. I was heavy, bogged down with so much that I couldn’t respond to anything.

When we reached the waiting room of the Principal’s office, Sanghyun finally let go of my hand and pushed me down on one of the chintz sofas. I was still crying, I couldn’t stop the tears, I didn’t even try. Still now, I couldn’t process that Sunggyu hyung was no more, that he wouldn’t be there in the library poring over books or helping the juniors to solve a difficult problem, he wouldn’t pet my head during lunch break or smile at me. There was no Kim Sunggyu anymore, everything he had done, everything that made him Kim Sunggyu was gone as well. He was now only a memory – that was his only existence on earth.

“Is he alright?” I wasn’t sure if the voice was inside my head or in reality until I looked up. I could faintly recognize Seungho, the other sophomore prefect. He was talking to Sanghyun, while casting worried glances at me as if I might faint any moment. We knew each other, but briefly. We had only ever met at prefects’ meetings.

And we’re going to have another prefects’ meeting, and there is no Sunggyu hyung.

“He shouldn’t be here.” I turned to my right, where the voice was coming from. There was another person in the room I hadn’t noticed before. I didn’t know this sophomore well either but I had seen him with Sunggyu hyung sometimes, well most of the times. And I think Sunggyu hyung had introduced me to him once as well.

Jang something….

“The Principal wants to see all the prefects.” Sanghyun was gently patting me on the head, it felt like Hoya, but not quite the same – I wanted to see Hoya, I needed to be with him, only he could comfort me now. “And why shouldn’t he be here, Dongwoo hyung?”

Jang Dongwoo – I remembered now. He was Sunggyu hyung’s best friend, well one of his best friends. Sunggyu hyung was a very friendly person, and he had a lot of friends.

And he left us all….

“He’s obviously stricken.” Dongwoo hyung sounded angry for some reason. “It makes no sense torturing him even more when he has suffered such a loss -”

“Hyung, we’re all shocked.” Sanghyun’s voice was calm but I could feel his hand slowing down on my head. He was tensed out for some reason.

Dongwoo hyung huffed impatiently. “Yes but Sunggyu was more than a hyung to Sungjong and it’s obvious that he’s hurting more than us.”

Regardless of my agony, I looked up. Dongwoo hyung looked serious. I couldn’t understand why he was saying these things – Sunggyu hyung had been like a brother to me. Dongwoo hyung, of all people, should know that we weren’t anything more.

Unless, Sunggyu hyung told him that we were more than that.

Somehow, I couldn’t believe Sunggyu hyung would have lied, especially about something like this. He might have told Dongwoo hyung that he liked me, or even that he had asked me out but he wouldn’t lie to him about our relationship. Maybe he was simply assuming things.

“What do you mean by that Dongwoo? They were friends.” I was glad that Seungho hyung had intervened. It was getting very awkward and the way Dongwoo hyung watched me, it was almost as if he expected me to lose consciousness like a distraught lover.

“I -”

“The Principal will see you now.” Vice Principal Jung ushered us into the Principal’s office. It was a large and spacious room, with a mahogany desk on one side and a sitting area furnished with expensive sofas on the other end. The police officer I had seen earlier at the general assembly was sitting on one of the sofas, busily leafing through some papers in his hands. He didn’t pay any attention to us at all. We bowed to the Principal and then stood respectfully in front of him. My tears had stopped and I tried to wipe my face clean of the tear streaks because Principal Kim was always strict about presentation. However today, he didn’t exactly look at us with that piercing look of his.

“What is he doing here? He’s not a prefect.” Principal Kim was talking about Dongwoo. It had occurred to me. But now that I thought about it, it didn’t make sense what Dongwoo hyung could have done to be with the prefects.

Maybe he is the new prefect? Because now that he’s gone, his place needs to be filled.

“Yes Sir, but he’s the boy’s closest friend,” Vice Principal Jung replied.

So Dongwoo hyung is getting to be a prefect just because he was Sunggyu hyung’s best friend.

It was very odd but these things didn’t matter because – because Sunggyu hyung was gone.

"And his other friend is receiving treatment for shock, Bang Yongguk. I instructed the matron to send him to the office as soon as he is well enough."

Bang Yongguk - the name rang a faint bell but at the moment, I didn't care.

Principal Kim nodded, before starting. “Listen carefully, what I’m about to tell you is classified information and you may not talk about it with anyone, not your classmates, not even your parents, do you understand?”

We all nodded in unison. We couldn’t really protest and I was sure everyone was just as curious as I was.

What can be so important and secretive that we can’t tell our parents?

“Sunggyu’s death was not normal.”

We gasped audibly, all of us.

I had once seen a storm brewing overhead in the open. One moment, the sky was clear, and the next, an army of the darkest clouds had conquered the sky up to the horizon in a rush. In the same way, a black canopy seemed to cover every inch of the room. There was dead silence and I could hear the clock on the table ticking.

Principal Kim seemed to be unnerved by the silence and he coughed slightly, then continued. ”He was found dead in the garden, cold and bloodied. We don’t know how he got there. Do you happen to know any information about –” He was looking straight at Dongwoo but he was interrupted by the police officer.

“Sir, if you please, I’ll be doing the interrogation.”

I had thought the police officer was still immersed in his papers but he had been apparently listening to our conversation. I turned back slightly and saw him looking at us. He had a stern face, but there was something very friendly about it.

The Principal looked outraged to be interrupted but he didn’t say anything. He nodded at Vice Principal Jung, who cleared his throat.

“Inspector Kim Youngwoon would like to ask you some questions. Go to the waiting room and wait for your turn. We’ll have the interrogation at my office.”

His office was right beside the Principal’s so we all filtered out into the waiting room, our minds buzzing with hundreds of questions. I sat down immediately; I felt dizzy. What did they mean by his death was not normal? Obviously for a young and healthy person like Sunggyu hyung, his death was abnormal but he might have had a disease or it could simply have been heart attack. And then, what was he doing out in the garden at night? We were not allowed out of bed after 11 pm.

Did he see someone out in the garden? Did he go out to stop them or something?

Cold and bloodied – a streak of electricity crept up my spine. I couldn’t imagine his face, kind and smiling, steeled in death and blood…no!

Several thoughts were forming in my head before they were being replaced by newer thoughts. I couldn’t concentrate on anything because everything was so messed up.

“Lee Sungjong, go in.” I started as Vice Principal Jung called my name. I hadn’t expected to be the first. I thought for sure that Dongwoo hyung would be asked to go first because he had been Sunggyu hyung’s best friend.

I got up slowly, pausing to get my balance, before I ventured towards the Vice Principal’s office. Sanghyun tried to smile reassuringly at me but from the frown on his forehead I could tell that he had his own thoughts that worried him.

I tried to put up a brave front in front of the police inspector, who was sitting on one of the two chairs near the main desk. He returned my bow and greeting and pointed at the chair beside him. It felt odd to have an older person sitting by my side instead of facing me. He however seemed unconcerned. He turned his chair a little so that he was looking at me from the side. I followed suit so that we were facing each other now.

“So Lee Sungjong? I heard good things about you from the Vice Principal.” His voice was deep but not stern or intimidating like Principal Kim’s.  In fact, the way he spoke was soothing. And it started to take effect on me – I unclenched my fist which I wasn’t even aware of clenching in the first place.

“Yes, Sir.”

“It’s a bad business, such a bright student dying like this. And at such an age.” He sighed and for the first time I felt that someone really sympathized about Sunggyu hyung’s untimely death. “I heard you two were really close.”

I opened my mouth but I couldn’t bring myself to say anything. The choking feeling was back and I didn’t know what to say.

“Kim Sunggyu was murdered. Ruthlessly.” My mouth fell open. There was a controlled bitterness in his voice. The Inspector continued. “He had been found in the garden by the gardener in the morning. The Police was called. Of course we have to do post-mortem analysis but from what we’ve seen, it’s pretty clear he had been murdered by someone, on purpose.”

I could feel that I was shaking all over. Inspector Youngwoon put a hand on my knee gently. My head was spinning horribly.

Murdered – Who? Why? How? No…

My mind couldn’t form any coherent questions. I hugged myself to stop the shivering but an acrimonious feeling was building up at the back of my throat. It was burning me. I wanted to get up and run away. Even if I was free to do so, I was pretty sure my legs couldn’t carry me.

“Kim Sunggyu was perfect in every way. I can’t imagine why anyone would murder such a boy, his school records are clean. He’s a prefect, he doesn’t have any police records whatsoever, he comes from a respectable family – it just doesn’t seem right.” When I looked up to meet the inspector’s eyes, I saw frustration there. Frustration and confusion. He couldn’t accept this any more than I could.

True, Sunggyu hyung had been perfect. And a prefect too. That was the highest award anyone at Endless High had ever gotten. And Sunggyu hyung always did his job well. I remembered how he used to break up fights between us and Woohyun and his gang – how…

“He - he had a lot of enemies. The – the - there are students in this school he punished, who didn’t like him.” I didn’t know how I managed to form the words but there was one thing that I felt certain about – whoever had killed Sunggyu hyung deserved to be convicted, they had to be punished.

Inspector Youngwoon looked at me for a long time, before leaning forward.

“But Sungjong, they are students, they can’t be cold-blooded murderers. It looks planned, not an act of rage or inexperience. And besides the way he had been killed, it couldn’t have been a student…” His voice was lost in murmurs – I didn’t know what he was implying until something occurred to me.

“He – well there was this confrontation going on between him and Prof. Kim Heechul. Sunggyu hyung had reported him to the Principal for abusing the students.”

The Inspector nodded. “I have been informed of that. Kim Heechul is on probation he hasn’t left the ground yet. Naturally, he is our prime suspect and he will be questioned.”

I shivered visibly again. Prof. Heechul, who taught us history, had murdered Sunggyu hyung – it was too much for me to handle.

It can’t be, it just cannot be…

“But – but…” I didn’t know what I wanted to say. I didn’t want to defend Prof. Heechul but it seemed almost unbelievable that he would kill Sunggyu hyung, that he’d go to that extent.

“I had a talk with Jang Dongwoo before the assembly. He said something about you and Sunggyu being together-” In spite of the situation, I blushed. I couldn’t help myself. Talking with my friends about it was one thing but talking to an adult, and that to a police officer about it wasn’t my cup of tea.

“And how did he treat you?”

“I – we –we…”

“He never tried to do anything against your will did he? Force you into anything?” I was too startled to speak. I didn’t know what exactly Dongwoo hyung had told him about us but he seemed to have the wrong idea.

“It’s okay, you can tell me. I’m here to seek out the murderer.” I gasped again, trying to find my voice.

“No! It wasn’t like that between us. We were just – friends.” His eyes darkened. I could tell that he didn’t believe me. I had to speak up.

I told him the whole story, about how Sunggyu hyung had asked me out and how I had rejected him. He nodded; I couldn’t tell if I could convince him or not. But I wasn’t too worried – he could ask anyone, they all knew.

“And after that your relationship was fine?”

Honestly, it had not been completely fine. I was embarrassed but Sunggyu hyung was a gentleman and he had decided to give me time to get rid of my awkwardness over it.

Sunggyu hyung was a guy like that.

“Yes, we are fine, we were fine. Everything’s fine.”

Tears started to fall down my face again and if he didn’t excuse me then, I’d have probably fainted right there. I ran away from the room and I thought I heard Sanghyun calling me but I just ran blindly until I was in our dormitory and safely in Hoya’s arms.