Whirling around I was relieved to find Dr. Kang standing there looking puzzled.

“What are you doing” she asked.

“I heard some noises coming from this room, it sounded like someone was rifling through things. I thought it may have been you so I came to make sure everything was okay.” I blurted out in a rush of nervousness. My heart was still pounding from the surprise.

Right at that moment there was a loud crash of thunder which made us both jump.

Dr. Kang laughed sheepishly and said, “It must be this dark hallway, it feels almost like a scary movie.”

She ushered me back to the lobby where we both waited patiently. I decided this would be the best time to ask her about the island but as I thought about what best to ask her there was some movement from the dark path. We both squinted to see what was going on.

Mr. Young and Seungho were struggling up the path. Behind them were two men we had never seen before. Dujun followed assisting a woman and two more men. Myungsoo and instructor Jung brought up the rear of the group. Everyone looked miserable as they trudged, I noted they were all carrying small suitcases or backpacks.

I ran and grabbed some of the towels I had brought in earlier, Dr. Kang noticed and mirrored my movements. We waited for the group to enter the lobby and started handing out towels to the bedraggled group. While I did so I got a better look at the strangers.

The first man who had entered was tall and muscular, he was at least in his late 50s with graying hair. The man standing beside him was about 20 years younger, shorter and wiry. The lady Dujun had helped looked to be in her late 30s, she had a beautiful aristocratic face, the only tells to her age were the small crow’s feet at the corners of her eyes. She was complaining loudly about her wet state.

I turned to the last two men. The first was in his late thirties as well, he had a kind face which became more studious once he put on his round shaped glasses. The last man was a foreigner with graying blond hair, he was tall and more on the larger side. He took the towel from me gratefully.

“Well it seems like we have some unexpected visitors,” Mr. Young smiled his dimples becoming more pronounced. “I will tell the kitchens to get something warm ready for us. In the meantime, Dr. Kang will show you to some rooms where you can get changed first and to the bathrooms for some warm showers. The rest of you,” he said turning to the boys, “can head to your rooms and get a shower and change. We will need to use the girls showers as well as there are quite a few of us that are wet so miss if you can head up and use it first so we don’t disturb you.”

With that Dr. Kang escorted the large group to the stairs and they disappeared leaving only puddles of water on the lobby floor.

“Ms. Yongsun, thank you for the towels. I hate to ask this of you but could you help by mopping up all this water, I would hate to have anyone injure themselves on a wet floor. There are some cleaning supplies in the lobby office.” With that Mr. Young turned around and headed upstairs as well, followed by instructor Jung. I was left with a wet floor and three sopping wet guys.

I sighed, turning to them. They all looked pretty miserable so I shooed them upstairs and headed for the lobby office. There were a few mops and buckets behind the door so I grabbed one and started cleaning the floors. The repetitive movements actually gave me a chance to calm down and I was able to organize my thoughts.

First, I needed to know what to ask Dr. Kang. I wanted to know how she got out of the lobby office without me noticing. My back was turned but with how squeaky the door was there was no way I wouldn’t have heard her leaving. I also needed to ask her more about the history of the island, Seungho’s breakdown had been detailed but it wasn’t enough. I wondered if she would know more about everyone’s alibis so that we could figure out what purpose the murder served. Was the goal to halt development for another reason, if that was the case why had the island been abandoned until the school had bought it? I also wanted to ask her why we had been brought to this island, if all we would be doing was going through courses it could have been done at the school, there was no reason to waste money on a helicopter and shipping supplies to this abandoned island for what we were currently doing. Lost in thought I quickly finished mopping the lobby area. I hoped Dr. Kang would still be available this evening after dinner.

I placed the supplies back in the office leaving the mop in the laundry room to dry. I washed my hands and was about to return to the lobby when I heard that same rustling. It was coming from the back where that room was. Everyone was probably still showering and cleaning up so I decided this was the time to investigate.