2

After a few more steps Ji opened the door in a move. He froze in place – there was no one there. He stepped outside throwing  an eye around. Except the cart that should’ve been managed by the  room service personnel, there was nothing else there. Like something hit him in the back of his head, he quickly startled and rushed back in. He rolled around a little in search of his friend. The opened bathroom’s door made him  run towards it.

“Hyung, what’s the matter now?” he leaned to grab SeungHyun’s hands when he saw him crawled to the ground again, swinging back and forth.  Because his friend wouldn’t react, he followed his look. The first glimpse robbed him a short scream. He covered his mouth with both of his hands  and his cobwebby eyes followed the  blood trail covering the white bathroom tiles. The trail stopped  with a hand print on the mirror.

SeungHyun gathered all of his strength and managed to get up. He stumbled numb to the mirror and put his own hand on the print – his hand was way bigger. He was about to faint when Ji’s helping arms caught him on time.

“Hyung, come with me…” Ji barely spoke.  “We’ll think about it later, ok?”  he said struggling to lead SeungHyun towards the shower cabin. Even though he was a head shorter than his friend, he managed to get him inside. He the water and stepped back. “You’ll feel better afterwards…”  he whispered without believing it.

SeungHyun slowly nodded and JiYong left him alone.

After an entire hour, time when  Ji felt like he will smash that door for a couple of times, SeungHyun exited. The white rope he was wearing made him look even bigger than he already was and his inexpressive face  couldn’t betray any feelings he must’ve had. He slowly sat on the big armchair. With shaking hands he lit up a cigarette.

“We were together last night, right?” he suddenly asked after minutes of absolute silence. 

He  put out the cigarette blowing the last smoke and waited for Ji’s answer while lighting up a new one.

“No… I mean yes…” Ji said hesitating.  “You were the first to leave the party last night though…”

“I can’t remember anything” SeungHyun said massaging his aching temples.

Ji would’ve wanted to start a conversation but he just couldn’t think of anything to say.  Instead he remembered the blooded tiles and suddenly got up. He rushed straight to the bathroom. SeungHyun silently eye-followed him, lighting up the fifth cigarette.

“You… you cleaned it…” Ji returned a little frightened.

“Yes” SeungHyun replied without looking at him.

Several noisy knocks on the door made his eyes tear up again but he struggled not to show it.

“Hyung!!” SeungRi barged in.

He was the youngest of them all, but definitely an important part in the visual appearance field of their famous five boy band members.

“Hyungs, haven’t you heard?” he barely breathe.

“Hear what?...” JiYong asked trying to calm down the younger.

“There has been a murder here last night!” Seungri answered in a beat stabbing Seunghyun’s heart until the two tears swiped down his cheeks.

“And… and what’s that supposed to do with us?...” Ji did his best to sound calm.

“Umm… Dae-hyung found the body…” the younger said “and they’re taking him down town to the precinct…”

“What?!” Seunghyun jumped up and ran out the door even though he couldn’t feel his heart beating anymore. His breath became heavier and heavier as he approached the crowd gathered somewhere down the hall, near the elevators.

“This is so odd” Jiyong thought for himself. He realized he never heard or saw anything out of the ordinary when he answered the door less than an hour ago.

“Daesung-ah!” Seunghyun shouted to make his way up to his friend.

“Hyung!” he replied but Seunghyun couldn’t hear it anymore. He looked with his hands for a place to lean on, and clenched his eyes tight. The sudden image of a woman’s headless body brutally assaulted his mind. He saw his hands touching the very bright ruby that was now lying in a great puddle of blood. He remembered the woman’s face and her big smile, wearing that ruby so he quickly opened back his eyes to search for a redeeming image. He found it on his friends’ faces, even if he couldn’t yet hear them. He left all of his weigh on the wall behind him and he voicelessly followed Ji as he was asking someone to cover up the dead body. When Ji returned to his side, he slowly mumbled:

“Lee Yong – noona…”