It’s not that convicting Sehun is hard. It’s just finding him that’s a pain in Yifan’s side.

The videos are morbid. They’re mostly just Sehun, though. Joonmyeon is the one that points out the distinct lack of Jongin in each video. There are a few where Jongin is seen handing Sehun things, but there is never one of him out rightly killing someone.

“Maybe we can just get him on accessory in the ones he’s in,” Joonmyeon advises softly. “He’s remorseful and he’s trying to help us find Sehun. Please, Yifan, we can’t let him go to jail for the rest of his life.”

Yifan shakes his head. He knows that Jongin isn’t really to blame for all of the killings, all of the murders. “I can’t just let him walk out of here, not with that confession he gave us,” he replies sadly.

Sounding desperate, Joonmyeon begs, “What about a deal? We can offer him a deal, can’t we?”

That makes Yifan think.

Jongin has already offered up valuable information and has his partner. He’s already agreed to be a witness for the prosecution rather than the defense. That could possibly take the possibility of the death penalty away from his sentence, but he’ll most likely be in jail for the rest of his life either way.

There’s only one way to get Jongin’s sentence reduced, even if it’s down to twenty-five years.

“I have a plan,” Yifan announces, standing. Joonmyeon watches him as he walks towards the interrogation room where Jongin and Kyungsoo are sleeping in the early hours of the morning.

Jongin takes a seat at the restaurant in the corner of the room. His eyes dart around, looking for a specific figure.

“Jongin.”

He blinks and turns back to the seat across from him to see a brown-haired Sehun. He’s sitting across from him, with crossed arms and a stoic expression on his face. He looks around briefly.

Seeing no one there, his cold mask falls away. “I thought they caught you! God, I thought you were going to get the death penalty today!” he exclaims quietly, relief seeping into his voice. He offers Jongin a small smile. “We should’ve been more careful, but we’ll know better for next time.”

“They let me go because they didn’t have enough to convict me,” lies Jongin easily. “They can’t arrest me again on the same charge, but that’s why I sent you that message.”

Sehun grins darkly, his sadistic, psychotic nature showing through his toothy grin. “I don’t think anyone gets it. Sending a song through a certain radio station with a certain message. Even if someone figured it out, they’d have no clue what song it is!” he cheers, commending himself for his apparent genius.

Nodding his head in agreement, Jongin opens the menu in front of him. His eyes scan over the list of foods and drinks as he replies, “Well, let’s face it, not many people know or listen to a lot of 2PM’s older songs. So ‘Angel’ was really the sensible choice, right?” He doesn’t look at Sehun as he speaks, instead looking towards the window in front of their table.

Outside the window is a van, one that practically blends in with the background. But Jongin knows that inside the van are the two detectives that are ready to take Sehun down and two friends who are only able to watch sadly as their boyfriends turn into serial killers.

“Sehun…” Jongin starts, bracing himself for what’s about to come, “… I think we should stop this. One more murder and we’re risking everything. We’re going to get caught and you know it.” Sehun’s smile slides right off his face as he folds his hands across the table.

Jongin can practically feel the chill that radiates from Sehun’s frosty words. “What do you mean, stop? We can’t stop now!” He glares at Jongin. “Aren’t you having fun, too?” he demands.

The slightly older male simply heaves a sigh great enough to move mountains. He looks at his friend and partner in crime sadly. “Do you even know the names of everyone you killed? Who they were?”

This question seems to irritate Sehun.

“Of course I do! They were so much fun! How could I forget the most fun I’ve ever had?”

“So you could list them. All of them. And tell me why you killed them,” Jongin challenges, his frown growing deeper at Sehun’s childish response.

Sehun glares and starts to recite a list of names. “Oh Ahri. Lee Taemin. Im Yoona. Henry Lau. Kwon Yuri. Choi Siwon. Kim Taeyeon. Jung Yunho. Kim Minseok. Ahn Chilhyun. Zhou Mi. Lee Soonkyu. Lee Hyukjae. Choi Jinri. Zhang Li Yin. Jung Soojung. Lee Jinki. Kim Kibum. Oh Hyerin. Park Chanyeol.”

Jongin’s eyes widen, hearing the sheer amount of names.

“Sehun, I… I didn’t know it was that many…” he mutters, feelings tears of hate for his friend and regret for his own actions start to well up in his eyes.

The younger merely scoffs. “That’s because you weren’t ing there for most of them! Those were the days that you were too busy to play. Kyungsoo had all your attention and of course you wouldn’t have heard about Hyerin. I killed her months ago and dumped her in the construction site. Never reported her missing. No one suspects anything because she’s a truant, a useless druggie,” he rants.

Jongin suddenly feels like he can’t breathe. “You… I ing can’t believe you… You killed your sister!”

“You’re ignoring the part where I said Oh Ahri, too, Jongin.” Jongin’s head snaps up to stare at Sehun, who doesn’t look the least bit regretful for his actions. “I never liked my mom. She was the reason my dad left us. She was ing annoying, too.” He grins, rolling his eyes. “She’s probably burning in hell as we speak,” he proclaims.

There’s something in Jongin that snaps with those words. “You son of a !” he roars, leaping up and lunging towards Sehun, murderous intent in his eyes.

Yifan curses inside the van as he hears and sees the beginnings of an altercation between the two friends that will possibly end in the death of one, if not both, of the boys.

“. Everyone, get in there! Arrest Sehun!” he barks into the radio.

Within moments, officers are swarming the restaurant, pulling the vicious and stronger Sehun off his bloodied and beaten companion who never stood a chance. Jongin sits up, wiping the blood from his lips with the back of his hand.

He growls at Sehun, “Hope you had fun, because it’s game over, Oh.”

Sehun only shoots a glare back. “When did you decide to stop playing, Kim? Because that was when it was really over. When you surrendered to these s,” he snaps, struggling against the handcuffs around his wrists and against the hold of two strong officers.

Yifan and Joonmyeon step into the restaurant, Kyungsoo and Luhan behind him. As Joonmyeon pulls Kyungsoo over to tend to Jongin’s battle injuries, Luhan watches as Yifan fearlessly approaches Sehun.

The two alpha males look each other straight in the eye, neither willing to blink.

“Oh Sehun, you are under arrest for twenty accounts of kidnapping murder in the first degree,” Yifan declares. “As well as a charge of domestic violence.”

Sehun’s glare shifts to Luhan, even if it’s only a second, and Luhan shrinks back. The taller male easily slides in front of him, definitely not intimidated by Sehun’s glare.

“I know my rights,” Sehun replies coldly. “Don’t waste your time reading them.” Yifan doesn’t speak, simply grabs Sehun with two hands, one by the nape of his neck and the other around his bound wrists.

Luhan watches as Sehun is shoved none-too-gently into the back of a police car. He hasn’t even spared a glance back at the doe-eyed male who he whispered “I love you” to at night.

I guess it was never real.

The small, fragile boy that is Luhan lets his shoulders sag. He looks to Yifan, who has returned from outside. “I’ll testify against him,” he says, “on one condition.” Yifan raises an eyebrow. “I want to be the one to tell the families that Sehun was responsible. I want to apologize on his behalf.”

Yifan scoffs. “He’d never apologize on his own, and they sure as hell won’t be ready to forgive him.” He pauses, seeing the defeated look on Luhan’s pretty face. “But I suppose you could apologize if it makes you feel better. I doubt they’ll be mad at such a cute face,” he adds as a joke, cracking the smallest of grins.

“Jongin,” Kyungsoo whimpers as he hugs his boyfriend. “You were so brave. So, so brave. I thought Sehun was going to kill you at a bunch of points in time!” He quickly covers his mouth, realizing how insensitive what he’s just said is.

But Jongin only lets out a dry, unamused chuckle. “I’m not brave,” he protests lowly. “I’m just trying to make up for what I did. I want to atone for my sins before I can’t do anything to even try.”

Kyungsoo frowns. He looks to Joonmyeon, who has a slight smile on his face.

The detective kneels in front of the couple of Kim and Do, the latter of whom is holding onto the former as if he is his lifeline. “That’s the thing, Jongin.” Joonmyeon’s smile somehow makes the both of them feel much more calm about everything that’s happening. “You helped us. You found Sehun and you got him here. You got him talking. You got him to confess. And for that, we have a deal that you’ve already held up your end of the bargain to. We’re going to appeal to the judge to reduce your sentence.”

Although Kyungsoo’s face lights up, Jongin’s frown grows deeper, his entire demeanor growing darker. “Why?” he barely manages to ask. “Why would you do that for me?” Joonmyeon notices that Jongin’s eyes are beginning to fill with tears again. He looks much younger and much more innocent than he really is.

“The evidence isn’t enough,” Yifan proclaims suddenly. “We only have the call you made and your voice on recording. We don’t have a confession that you killed anyone, just that you were there and you liked seeing it.”

Jongin’s tears begin to fall.

Kyungsoo looks from one detective to the other. He stutters out, “What does that mean, then?” His eyes are filled with hope.

The smile on Joonmyeon’s face grows a little wider. He’s clearly pleased with the outcome that’s going to happen. “If you plead guilty, we can add that you tested positive for sociopathic tendencies. We’re going to try and get you to spend most of your sentence in mental rehabilitation, see how you work once you’re away from Sehun,” he explains to the sobbing Jongin and hopeful Kyungsoo.

“You-You’d do that? A-And it’ll work?” Even Jongin sounds hopeful now.

Joonmyeon nods, placing a comforting hand on Jongin’s shoulders that are wracked with silent sobs. “We’re very sure that it will,” he replies confidently.

At those words, Jongin’s tears only fall faster.

The trial begins as soon as the evidence is in order.

Kyungsoo has met all the witnesses in prosecution and defense. He, however, is not testifying. He wants Jongin to get help, he really does. It’s just that he doesn’t want to have to testify against Jongin, but can’t bring himself to testify for him.

Meanwhile, there are family members, friends, significant others who have come to the trial, either to testify or to watch.

Byun Baekhyun is among them.

For some reason, he has already realized that it wasn’t Jongin who was the one truly responsible for Chanyeol’s death. When he greets Kyungsoo, it’s with a smile. “I hope that I’ll be of some help to you. I just want to get justice for Chanyeol… but seeing Jongin go to jail isn’t justice,” he says. “I blame Sehun, not Jongin.”

Kyungsoo only manages to stutter, “How…?”

“Those detectives. They told me everything.” Baekhyun smiles a small, teary smile. “I feel good knowing that the real murderer will get what he deserves and that Jongin will get the help he needs,” he replies, his voice faltering and stumbling a few times in that single sentence.

Gently taking his old friend by the hand, Kyungsoo squeezes, his own smile starting to match Baekhyun’s. “Thank you,” he murmurs. “Thank you.”

Yifan smiles secretively to himself as he watch