I was just going to voice my concern when we heard footsteps in the hallway outside the kitchen. Dujun shoved the notepad he had been scribbling in into his tracksuit pocket and we all tried to look nonchalant. Dr. Kang and Instructor Jung walked in. He had changed out of the bright red tracksuit and was now in dark blue, similar to our track suit color.

“What are the three of you doing here?”

I answered quickly, “I thought everyone could use something hot to drink so I asked them to help me heat up some water for tea,” gesturing to the large pot of hot water. Dr. Kang smiled saying, “You’re always one step ahead of me aren’t you, Yongsun.”

“Dr. Kang will take over, the three of you will follow me to continue lessons. It’s 11 am currently so we will have another lecture until lunch.” Instructor Jung turned and walked out of the kitchen and after a few surprised seconds we followed him back to the conference room.

Seungho was already sitting at the large table, I took a seat beside him. He also hadn’t bothered to dry his hair. I sighed inwardly, what was I going to do with these boys. I was a little surprised we would still have lecture, I really thought with the strangers appearing everything would come to a halt.

Instead of the medical forensics lecture we were supposed to have we went through the procedures for arrests. I tried my best to pay attention but my mind kept slipping back to everything that was going on. Dr. Kang came into the room in the middle to deliver 5 mugs of steaming hot tea which I accepted gratefully. I looked across the table and saw glazed appearances on both Myungsoo and Dujun’s faces, I’m glad I wasn’t the only one not able to pay attention. Regardless the 55 minutes went by pretty quickly and soon I found myself heading back down the hallway to the dining room for lunch.

I was surprised to see the strangers and Mr. Young already getting food. There was more of a spread today with rice, vegetable stew, stir fried pork and greens. My appetite revved up as we joined the line for the buffet table. I noticed that the strangers were not sitting together, the older muscular man and the foreigner had sat together but the lady had picked the other table. The two younger men were still in line with us. I let Seungho and Dujun go first as I could already see them salivating. Myungsoo let me go next and I took a little bit of everything that I could carry. Dujun and Seungho had joined the table with the two men. The younger muscular man also sat with them and they were then joined by Dr. Kang. My table was also full by the time Myungsoo and I sat down, both the lady and the studious looking man had already started eating. Mr. young was talking but I didn’t know if either of them were listening.

“And these are two of our talented students, this is Kim Myungsoo and Kim Yongsun. This was supposed to be their orientation to our academy.” He finished.

We murmured polite hellos.

Mr. Young continued in a jolly voice, “This is Mrs Lisa Chiu and Mr. Kim Sungyu. They were traveling for a reunion trip which was cut short due to the weather. Fortunately, we have plenty of supplies and rooms for everyone.”

Kim Sungyu was the same name as the secretary. Lisa Chiu could have been Lisa Cheung, if she had gotten married it would explain the different last name. The others must be the architect, construction foreman and landscaper. I hoped Dujun had put two and two together and was asking questions.

The adults at our table were ignoring us and conversing on their own about their plans. I took this opportunity to whisper my concerns to Myungsoo who had noticed the same. I decided to take a chance and ask some questions. When the conversation lulled I interjected.

“So what type of reunion were you guys having, it doesn’t seem like it would be a school reunion?” I tried to sound polite but I think Myungsoo was rubbing off on me.

Both of them looked a little startled by the sudden question.

The secretary started first, “It’s a work reunion, we used to work together.”

“Oh,” I said, trying to sound a little vapid, “what work do you guys do?” Myungsoo relaxed a little in his chair, giving off a bored air but I knew he was focused on the two of them.

“Uhm, we were all in the construction and development business but we’ve since all moved to different fields. Mrs. Chiu here is one of the foremost fashion designers in Beijing. I am her secretary.”

“What do the others do now?” This time Myungsoo asked.

“Well, I think Thomas is retired now, he lives in the US now. He used to be an architect. Tommy Lee owns a small construction firm in Hong Kong and Dennis Cho is a freelance landscaper, I think he was working in Jeju for some new resort that’s opening up.”

All of the names matched up, occupations too. We were looking at the suspects for the murder of John Ying. More questions were popping up. Why were they here, why at this time? It had been 10 years since the murder, the statute of limitations wasn’t even up so why risk gathering together again. Was the murderer that confident they wouldn’t be caught.

Myungsoo was continuing with his questions. “So why were you guys near this island, was there some significance? As far as we were told there were no other islands in the area.”

Mrs. Chiu spoke for the first time; her voice was husky and heavily accented. “I just bought a yacht to celebrate the success of my new fashion line. I decided to invite everyone for a two-day trip on the yacht, they all played a role in my success and so I wanted to share my happiness.”

It was a nice answer but neither of us were buying it. Loud laughter from the next table interrupted my next question.

“Well if you will excuse us, it has been a tiring day and I would like to finish up some work and rest before dinner. If you are done Secretary Kim, please come.” With that Mrs. Chiu stood up and left the dining room. Secretary Kim picked up their tableware and plates and bowls and placed them in the bin for dirty dishes and followed her out.

Disappointed, I turned back to my now cold food and started to eat. I felt a pinch on my upper thigh and I glared at Myungsoo. He pointed down with his eyes, I looked down and saw a small piece of paper from a notebook folded on my leg. Putting down my chopsticks, I secretly opened the note. Shocked by what I saw, I looked up at Myungsoo.