Okay, now you get to find out what Ravi's been up to! Enjoy!

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The opportunity for Ravi to implement his plan didn’t come up until the next week, during which time the five of them lived their lives strictly by routine. They got up, went to school, ignored the people ignoring them, came home, ate in between, did homework, went to bed, and began the whole dreary cycle all over again.

To all outside appearances, they were doing fine. N and Ken continued to be the loud, boisterous, cheerful clowns they were. Ravi threw himself deeper into his studies and was considering taking the entrance exams early. Leo stayed as silent as ever and did nothing in school but stay in the office and do his work. Hongbin was the only one with an obvious problem. He became almost as silent as Leo, speaking only when spoken to and spending as much time by himself as possible. N had tried his best to cheer him up, but nothing worked.

However, looking closer, which no one seemed to do, it was possible to see past all that. Every one of them had a haunted look to them. Even N and Ken, as outwardly cheerful as they were, weren’t eating. Ravi looked even thinner than normal, and Leo and Hongbin had an almost gaunt appearance. It took enormous effort for any of them to force any sort of food into their mouths and it showed.

But no one seemed to look that carefully.

Ravi stayed late at school a week after Leo’s bad night, finishing a project for his Korean language class with a partner, who was wondering why Ravi was so fidgety. His hands were shaking and he kept sticking them in his pockets for several minutes at a time.

“I think we’re done here. All we need to do is print—”

“Okay great, I’ll see you tomorrow then.” Ravi grabbed his bag and slung it over his shoulder, leaving the school library so quickly that his partner stared at him before shaking his head. Wonshik and his friends had always puzzled him.

Ravi jogged out of school but turned in the opposite direction of the subway. There was a pay phone around the corner and this was the only chance he would have to do this before he chickened out.

Reaching the phone, Ravi pulled out the change he needed from one pocket and a small business card from the other. He slid his change inside the machine and dialed the number written on the card with slightly shaking hands. As the other line rang, he just stared at the card, hardly believing his own betrayal.

“Seoul Police Department, how may I help you?”

It took a moment before Ravi could speak around his dry throat. “M-may I speak with Detective Choi Ilsung?” He stammered.

“One moment please.”

Soft music filled his ears. If there was ever a time to slam the phone down, it was now. He hesitated, his hand still on the receiver, ready to drop it back onto the base at any second. The music stopped just then and the moment was lost.

"Choi Ilsung speaking.”

Ravi couldn’t say a word. Was this how Leo felt all the time? His whole body froze up until it felt like even the slightest effort to speak could make him crack into pieces.

“Hello? Is this a prank?”

Ravi cleared his throat feebly. “T-t-this is Wonshik.” He whispered into the receiver. “From Lee Bongcha’s Home for Boys.”

“I’m sorry? Wonshik?”

“Yes.”

He heard the squeak of a chair and the detective’s voice was suddenly louder. Ravi winced and held the phone slightly further from his ear.

“What can I do for you, Wonshik?” the voice was kinder now, less like a detective and more like a kindly uncle. “Can I help you with anything?”

Ravi was still speaking as quietly as possible, glancing around at passerby like the slightest indication of who he was talking to would make them cry, “traitor!”

“I have information for you. About Hyuk.”

“Hyuk? Sanghyuk?”

“I know who his dealer was.”

Now the voice was less kind and more urgent. “What?” Then he took a deep breath and seemed to calm himself. “Wonshik, why don’t you come in to the station? We can talk here.”

Ravi shook his head violently before remembering that the detective couldn’t see him. “No. It has to be over the phone. Don’t make me come or I’ll hang up.”

“All right, all right.” The detective said hastily. “How do you know about his dealer?”

Ravi swallowed hard. He stared at the brick wall in front of him and was silent for so long that the detective thought he’d hung up on him.

"Hello? Wonshik, are you there?”

"N, I mean, Hakyeon-hyung and I followed him one time.” Ravi said abruptly. The detective was quiet for a moment and then the sound of a drawer opening and closing and the clicking of a pen.

“Okay, Wonshik. I want you to tell me everything you saw when you followed Sanghyuk. You’re doing the right thing. We want to catch Sanghyuk’s killer as much as you do, all right?”

Ravi flared up. “No you don’t!” He said loudly. “You have no idea what we’re going through here. There is no one in the world who wants justice for Hyuk as much as we do, so shut up about wanting to get his killer! You just want to put someone in jail and the only reason I’m calling you is so that the wrong person doesn’t end up there.” Ravi closed his eyes and lowered his voice. “Like Taekwoon.”

The voice on the other end was choosing his words carefully. “I understand, Wonshik, I do. You’re right, I know this is hard for all of you, and I can’t claim to care as much as you do. But I do want justice for Sanghyuk. I’ve seen too many teenagers’ lives ruined and ended because of drugs and if I can get one more dealer off the streets for murder then it’s a good day for me. Please, Wonshik, I need you to tell me what you know.”

Ravi’s knuckles were white against the phone, having been clutching it in a death grip the entire conversation. He relaxed his fingers, the feeling tingling back into them, and he sighed once, feeling like he could just lie down and not care about anything anymore.

“Hakyeon-hyung and I followed Sanghyuk a few months ago. We were worried and we wanted to know where he was going and thought that maybe if we knew where he went to buy, we could stop him. Or something. I don’t know.”

“Okay, good.” The sound of pen scratching on paper. “What happened next?”

“He to Naebu street, you know, where those weird looking apartments are, and knocked on one of the doors. It’s pretty close to our house, so we didn’t think much of it at first. We didn’t hear anything when Hyuk knocked, but he called through the door to tell Jiyong that his protégée was there. The door opened right away and he went inside.”

There was a sudden bang and Ravi jumped. It sounded like the detective had slammed his fist on his desk and knocked something over. “Son of a—” He took a deep breath and asked Ravi quite calmly, “are you sure he said Jiyong?”

"Yeah.” Ravi said quietly. “We waited around for a while and then he came out. He didn’t look any different, but he was holding his hand over his pocket really tightly. He looked around and then went back home. That’s it.”

He heard an intake of breath and the sound of a pen being thrown onto a hard surface. “Thank you Wonshik.” The detective said. “You did the right thing, and I think you know that.”

“Whatever.”

“Look, Wonshik.” Ravi stopped himself from hanging up and put the receiver back to his ear. “If you ever just want to talk, you can call me, all right? That goes for the other boys as well.”

“If you say so.” Ravi didn’t believe it for a second, but he humored the man.

“Same goes for if you ever need help. I’m on your side.”

Ravi hung up the phone with a bang. He didn’t need anyone giving him sympathy for anything. He did what the man asked and that’s all he wanted. So why did it make him feel so sick inside?

He stepped miserably away from the phone and rounded the corner to head to the subway station. It was getting dark and he didn’t want to answer questions; even he didn’t stay at school this late.

Before he took even one step in the direction of the train, a hand grabbed his wrist and pulled, slamming him against the brick wall and knocking the breath out of his chest in one whoosh. Ravi looked up at his attacker and found Leo looking daggers at him.

Somehow, this made him more scared than if it had been a random mugger.

Leo pinned Ravi’s shoulders against the wall and simply glared. He’d seen Ravi leave school in a rush and go in the wrong direction and he followed him to find out where he was going. Ravi never left school in any sort of hurry. On the contrary, he always left like the school building was the worlds greatest toy store and he was a five-year-old who hadn’t finished browsing yet. He’d stayed carefully behind the corner and overheard Ravi’s entire conversation. It had taken every ounce of self-control he had to keep himself from sprinting over to that traitor, grabbing the phone out of his hand, and slapping Ravi across the face. He was restraining himself even now against that last part.

"I'm sorry hyung!” Ravi's deep voice rose to a squeak, and he didn't even attempt to struggle out of Leo’s grip. “I’m sorry, I had to!”

You did not have to do ANYTHING.

And now Ravi wouldn’t shut up. He kept babbling on. “I had to tell them. They won’t catch the guy unless we told them what we know. We’re all doing so badly, and you know it! You and N-hyung were so upset—” He was awake that night? Leo flushed red at the insight about his unknown audience, but Ravi didn’t seem to notice. “And Hongbin is getting more depressed by the day and none of us can stop it. The only way any of us is going to get any sort of peace is if the police catch the guy! It has to be Jiyong, there’s no other person who would kill—”

Leo let Ravi go abruptly and looked away. He couldn’t stand to look at him anymore. Ravi stumbled and nearly fell at the suddenness but Leo didn’t help him in any way shape or form.

Ravi ran down the street as fast as he could, as far from Leo as he could, and Leo made no attempt to follow him. He dropped his backpack and leaned against the wall, eventually sliding down to the ground and gripping his hair. He rested his forehead against his knees and prevented himself from punching the wall behind him. It probably wouldn’t be smart to injure his other hand.

However, the overheard phone conversation wasn’t all bad. Leo hadn’t been the one to accompany Ravi and N to follow Hyuk, but now he knew where Jiyong lived. He’d suspected for four years who the scumbag was that sold Hyuk his own death, but he never thought to follow his friend. In some twisted way, he hadn’t wanted to betray him.

Unlike Ravi.

“Hey!” Leo lifted his head to see a shopkeeper glowering at him from across the street. “Get away from there! If you’re not a customer don’t be bothering anyone. Go on, go home!”

Leo didn’t have the energy to direct his own scowl to the man and stood up slowly before picking up his bag to leave. The shopkeeper glared at him all the way down the street and around the corner and Leo could just imagine his shake of the head at the hooligan that had dared grace his doorstep before he pushed the man out of his mind and headed for the train.