I headed to the room bypassing the kitchen and checked behind my shoulder this time to make sure no one would surprise me again. I gripped the door knob and turned it. Dang the door was locked. The rustling stopped with the sound of the door handle turning. I decided to knock on the door and see if anyone opened. I knocked once, then again. The room was completely silent now. I called out this time, “Hello, is anyone in there? It’s Yongsun. Do you need any help?” I regretted saying my name immediately, it probably wasn’t best to announce your name to something or someone unknown. Still silence. I waited there for a few minutes to see if anyone would come out.

Then I heard someone calling my name, it was a male voice coming from the lobby. Disappointed I turned and head back to the lobby. Dujun and Myungsoo were standing by the entrance, freshly showered, both with dripping hair. Irritated, especially after just having mopped the floor, I scolded them. “What is the point of showering after getting soaked if you don’t dry your hair?” I asked.

Dujun smiled and affectionately mussed Myungsoo’s hair. “Myungsoo was in a rush, he wanted to continue the conversation from before.”

Myungsoo grabbed Dujun’s right hand, motioned for me to follow and pulled Dujun down the hallway. I noticed neither of them made any effort to release their hands and from Dujun’s immediate blush I got the hint. Maybe that’s why Myungsoo was so cold to me, he was afraid I would make a move on his boyfriend. Maybe deep down there was a little disappointment, kind of like when your favorite actor or idol gets married but I was actually a little more relieved. Dujun felt, to me, like the warm family I had and wanted back desperately. I pulled myself back to reality, I needed focus so that I could graduate from this school with flying colors. I needed access to the doors it would open for me.

We reached the dining room but I paused. “Hey can we go to the kitchen for a little bit. I think I should probably heat up some water for tea so that everyone can warm up.” Myungsoo snorted but was gently pulled into the kitchen by Dujun who was now smiling. I think I saw some relief in his face at my acceptance of their relationship.

I didn’t think the kettle would be enough for everyone so I grabbed the stew pot from where I had seen it prior and had Dujun fill it up and place it on the stove for me. He and Myungsoo then sat on the counters opposite the stove while I rummaged for mugs and tea.

“Back to what we were discussing earlier,” Myungsoo started, “I wanted to gather my thoughts. There has been a lot of weird inconsistencies about this island and I thought we needed to put everything together before you spoke with Dr. Kang.” I nodded and watched him pull out a notebook which was confiscated by Dujun. Seeing my questioning look he said, “You wouldn’t be able to ask any questions because you wouldn’t be able to read Myungsoo’s scribbles.” I couldn’t help it, I laughed. It was the first real laugh I had in a while. Dujun chuckled as well while Myungsoo looked peeved.

“Anyway,” he continued staring at me, “I heard the dean saying that you had a gift. What is it?”

I wasn’t expecting a blunt question like that. I guess I wasn’t really trying to hide it from anyone here in the school and it would probably be pretty apparent once we started actually working together.

“I have what they call and eidetic memory. Well it is actually more of a photographic memory. They called it a gift because I store whatever I see or hear for years, maybe even forever, in my brain. Usually people only retain that high precision of memory for at most months. It’s very rare, so far I am the only person who has actually been proven to have one by scientific studies. That was the gift he was talking about.” Myungsoo and Dujun both looked interested.

Dujun leaned forward, “So you’ve had this since you were born? How did they discover it?

That was a topic I didn’t want to go into and they must have seen it on my face. Surprisingly it was Myungsoo who changed the subject quickly.

“So what did you feel was off about this place?”

I told them my concerns about the test in general, I still couldn’t figure out why they decided to test us on a deserted island. I brought up that the path we took to get here was also strange, there were much too many turns especially because you could see the hotel directly above the helicopter site, it took us too much time to get to the hotel. I was rewarded with a nod from Myungsoo. “Not to mention,” I said offhand, “while you guys were out I lost tract of Dr. Kang, she disappeared from the lobby office without me noticing and then I heard rustling from a room to the left of the kitchen. I didn’t even notice it the first day when we arrived but when I tried to open the door and investigate it was locked. I also had the strange feeling like Dr. Kang didn’t want me to investigate the room further when she found me the first time.”

Dujun looked thoughtful. “I also find the appearance of these new people strange. They seem like an odd group to decide to take a trip on a yacht all of a sudden, especially in the bad weather we’ve been having. They said it was a day trip but according to Seungho it has been raining since yesterday night, we just didn’t notice being locked up in here.” Locked up was an apt description I thought.

It was while I was thinking about this that Seungho’s listing of the people on the island at the time of the murder came back into the forefront. I really didn’t realize it at first but the group of strangers that had just arrived matched the descriptions of the suspects on the island at that time.