There probably aren’t a lot of possible actions a person could take upon learning that a murderer was lurking in his or her school. Well, for one, the said person could immediately pack all his or her belongings then flee the god-forsaken place. Another option would be to report the case to authorities and let them work it out. Or taking probably the most drastic course of action, shut oneself in his or her room and never come out again.

Being the rational person I was, however, I chose to sit there mutely, and contemplate the choices I’d made in my life thus far. I mean, my only fault in this probably was agreeing to help Chanshik. And, possibly, taunting Chanyeol in the cafeteria that one time. And maybe that time I joked if he was gay when Jae-eun said he has never accepted a girl’s confession. But really, all of those combined couldn’t really amount to me deserving to be in this situation, could it?

“Paran? Do you want me to continue? We could stop here if you want.” Chanyeol suggested when he noticed I wasn’t talking. He had a worried expression on his face which made me feel slightly guilty. Did he think I was going to back out on him, now? Well, was I?  I asked myself. I didn’t know. I’d never been in a situation where I was made to decide if I wanted to go on helping a guy trying to track down a serial murderer, much less one who could be roaming the halls of my own school. That didn’t only mean that the person we were dealing with was a complete psycho. It also meant that the psycho’s next victim might just be one of us.

 This is progressing way too fast. I thought for probably the thousandth time. That was probably it, to be honest, the reason why I still couldn’t grasp anything about this whole case. And probably also the reason why I proceeded to answer in a voice I almost couldn’t recognize as my own, “No, I’m good. Go on.”

Chanyeol gave me an uncertain look before continuing, “So after I found out about that, I decided to convince my parents to move to this place. Which was probably the most difficult part, thus far, although I succeeded eventually.”

“I knew the risks of my transferring, such as the killer being aware of my intentions, so I did my best to show that it was just some sort of coincidence that my family moved here. I made friends and tried to get a good rep, but I never mentioned Chanshik to anyone. Thus, my reaction when you came to me talking about him.” He grinned sheepishly at that, and I crossed my arms to feign anger, “Don’t think I’d forgiven you for that yet.”

“B-but you said…” He pouted, and I bit my lip to keep myself from laughing.

“Alright, can we keep the conversation on topic please? There’ll be plenty of time for flirting after this.” Yaehee—or Miran-eonni, I really couldn’t figure out what to call her, interrupted, calling both our attention. Although she had spoken in a stern tone, she had this playful smile on her face, and I could feel my face flush in different shades of red from her remark.

“A-anyway,” Chanyeol cleared his throat on the opposite side, and I could almost make out a pinkish tinge on his cheeks as he pursed his lips tightly before speaking again, “After a while, I decided to look for help. I decided that I needed someone who could legitimately and methodically carry out this investigation since I had to lie low. And that was when I found Miran-noona.” That was her cue to talk.

“Right. So while we knew, given the triennial pattern of the incidents, that the next murder was supposed to take place around three years after Chanshik’s, we had to act fast. It was still better to find out who the culprit is as soon as possible, but worst case scenario was: we could catch the murderer right before he attacked his next victim. Anyway, I got into work right away, with research as first priority. The thing about investigations is that you need to do your research thoroughly; movies and TV shows don’t emphasize that enough. And how do you do research? Paran?” I almost jumped when she called my name, and it felt like I was suddenly being given a pop quiz in Investigating a Murder 101. Seeing my startled—and clueless—expression, Miran-eonni shook her head, making a few clicking sounds with her tongue. I heard Chanyeol snickering beside me so I sent him a disapproving glare. He immediately stopped and pursed his lips, although his eyes were still smiling.

“Chanyeol?” Miran-eonni called him next, making him visibly flinch, and I had to keep myself from laughing this time. “Got any ideas?”

“Uh… go through the local news?” He tried, and Miran-eonni’s mouth twitched.

“You guessed right.” She smiled approvingly while narrowing her eyes, and Chanyeol stuck his tongue out at me. I scoffed and rolled my eyes at him.

“But when my search though the local news archives came up with nothing, I understood that this case was much bigger than we had expected.” As Miran-eonni said that, our group’s mood went back to the somber state it was earlier.

“Chanyeol! In this case, what would have been the next best alternative to the local news?” He was not prepared this time and couldn’t respond in time, resulting to a Miran-eonni who was clucking in mock dissatisfaction. I stuck my tongue out to him this time, and he scowled at me, before we both burst out chuckling.

“The school publication! Seriously, people, this is basic stuff!” Miran-eonni cried in pretend exasperation, but soon she was joining us in laughter.

“But here’s where things get weird.” My ears perked up at her last words and all of us quieted down in anticipation for what she would say next. “A week before and after each of the murders happened, there would be one specific article in the school news paper that would have several printing or editing errors. Now any other normal student would think that it was just the journalist’s mistake, right? But when I inspected the articles further, I found a pattern wherein the letters or numbers that were supposed to go where the errors were made formed an instruction. Well, roughly, an address, a date, and a time.”

“Now, tell me, Paran. If, let’s say, this was our murderer posting those articles or perhaps just messing with the articles prior to publication enough to get those codes in the school paper, why would he or she specify a location and a time, as if calling a meeting, a week before carrying out the deed? And why would he need to use such a widely consumed means of communication?” Miran-eonni challenged, giving me a serious look. And while I was able to return her gaze, I did not dare to respond to her question. Even if I might have known the answer.

To be completely honest, the possibility had crossed my thoughts before. Yet, I kept pushing it out of my mind because it was more convenient that way. It’s always easier to believe that when you’re trying to find a person, the person you’re looking for is hiding in only one place, and hiding only behind a single mask. But clearly what Miran-eonni was trying to say here was that,

“There’s more than one murderer.” I found myself saying what’s on my mind anyway. Miran-eonni nodded and I saw Chanyeol’s face darken at my words.

“But there’s something else, Paran.” I drew a shaky breath when she called me again, my eyebrows unconsciously drawing together in expectation. “Earlier this morning, there was another article. And in a matter of days, the murderers are going to hold another meeting. Our time’s almost up.”

A/N: Hey guys! Sorry for the late update. My whole building's internet and telephone lines were down for the past few days.

P.S. I kinda want a beta reader for the next chapter because I think it’s weird…...........

Edit: I just put in the line above this note. Sorry if you thought it was an update.