Yoohyeon sighed deeply, going over the files once more before dropping them on the table out of frustration. She leaned forward, placing her head in between her hands and shutting her eyes closed tightly.

A soft hand wrapped around hers, pulling it down and forcing her to look up.

"It's been a week," Sanghyuk softly reminded her.

She bit her lip, nodding. "I know," she said hoarsely. "I know."

Taking a deep breath, Sanghyuk slid onto the chair in front of her. "They might start asking for you," he informed her.

She moved her head slightly. "I'm well aware," she said. "Yet, I still have nothing."

"Perhaps if you go back and talk to them you'll find something?" he innocently suggested.

"Like what?" she asked. "I can't even talk to them! The only way I can communicate with them is by gestures, and by answering yes or no questions." She leaned back against her chair. "If only I could talk to them, it would solve a lot of problems..."

"Perhaps you can."

She raised an eyebrow. 

"Perhaps going there is the next phase," he suggested. "You know you want to as well."

She sighed. He was right, once again. 

He smiled, leaning over and patting her hand. "Whenever you're ready," he told her before getting up and walking out of the room.

She lingered over the files, watching after him. 

Her hand reached out for the old black-and-white photograph lying over all the other papers sprawled over her desk, the class photo she'd found at Yoobin's place, showing all the guys and their entire class.

All except one...

As she picked up the photograph and scrutinized it, she noticed one prominent face missing.

Han Sanghyuk was nowhere to be seen in that old picture.

She hung her head as she faced the four expectant ghosts.

"I'm sorry," she apologized, feeling a small lump forming in . "I have nothing good to tell you guys."

A firm yet comforting hand softly squeezed her shoulder. "Don't apologize," Sanghyuk's deep voice resounded close to her ear. "They don't blame you. They know you did your best." 

She looked up to see the slightly crestfallen faces of Hongbin, Wonshik and Hakyeon. Hakyeon immediately turned around to look at Taekwoon, who'd turned his head away and closed his eyes.

Yoohyeon sighed deeply, walking to the cage. She bent down so that she was eye level with him, and placed her trembling hand on the wires separating them. "I'm so sorry, Taekwoon," she said. "I know you expected more of me." 

He turned his head, raising it so that their eyes met. A soft smile played on her lips at the look on his face.

It's okay, he seemed to be saying. I know you did your best.

"I'll set you free, I promised," she assured him. "You won't be trapped here for too long."

Behind her, Sanghyuk gave a slight scoff, which was prompted by a confused look from Hongbin. 

She pulled herself back to her feet, turning to the other three waiting expectantly for her. "I've done all the research I can," she said. "But there's still something missing. There are gaps, a lot of gaps here, that official data can't fill them all."

"So what do you suggest?" Sanghyuk inquired, folding his arms across his chest.

"If there's something you guys haven't told anyone, anything at all, please speak up," she said, looking over them.

They stared back at her with blank stares, and Sanghyuk sighed. "You know they can't talk, right?" he asked.

She groaned slightly, rubbing her temples. "If only there was some better way to communicate with you guys other than nodding," she complained. "Believe me, if it turned out that any one of you knew sign language or something-"

"Yoohyeon," Sanghyuk's voice cut through her train of thought, causing her to look at him.

"What?" she snapped.

Sanghyuk said nothing, except pointed behind her. Turning around, she found Hongbin, who'd come to the front, with his hands up.

And he was signing.

I can, he signed.

dropped a bit. "W-when did you learn sign language?" she asked.

A cousin was deaf, Hongbin replied. Our mother made us learn.

Us? She thought. 

"Well, this works," she agreed. "At least now we can communicate better."

Not very good, Hongbin signed, pausing every once in a while to remember the correct hand gestures.

"I think we'll be able to manage," Yoohyeon assured, trying to keep her excitement down. 

"Alright, is there anything, anything at all, that you guys did off the book?" she asked, stabilizing her voice. 

To her dismay, Hongbin shook his head. Hard to do, he signed. We never did anything without the others knowing...

Yoohyeon cast her eyes at the ceiling as she felt her heart fall. "Great!" she groaned. "So we're back to square one!"

"Maybe not quite," Sanghyuk cut through her thoughts. When she looked at him, he pointed. "Look."

Turning around, she saw Hongbin facing the cage, facing Taekwoon. 

For one of the first times, Taekwoon had lifted his head enough to see his entire face not being obstructed by his hair. His intense gaze was set on Hongbin, and the two seemed to be having a sort of conversation. 

Wonshik stepped away, running his hand through his dark hair while Hakyeon's head dropped and fists clenched. Hongbin took a deep breath, turning back to the other two.

There was a tape, he signed. 

"A tape?" she repeated. "What do you mean?"

He visited a therapist once, Hongbin explained. They made a tape. It's at the therapist's. No one knew about it.

Sanghyuk sighed. "And he seriously kept that from you guys?" 

Yoohyeon, however, held her chin thoughtfully. "An anonymous visit to a therapist, huh?" she mused. "This could change everything."

Sanghyuk turned to her. "Have you been watching too many crime dramas?" he asked.

She paid him no heed. "Don't you see?" she asked him. "He made an anonymous visit, which meant he wanted no one to know of it, off the books. The information he could have revealed there could be of upmost importance to this case!"

"You really think so?" he questioned her.

She turned to Hongbin. "Did he say anything about why he went there, and why he went anonymous?" she asked the other.

He sadly shook his head. He doesn't say.

"Why not?" Yoohyeon murmured. "What happened in that session that he wouldn't tell his closest friends?"

She paced slightly, thinking deeply. Sanghyuk reached out a hand to try and stop her, but then thought better and put it down, just following her hurried movements.

"And if he wanted it to be so off the books, then why make a tape that could be found by anyone?" she wondered further. 

She hopefully turned to Taekwoon, but found that he'd put his head down as before, avoiding looking at her in the eye. 

She gave a small frustrated sigh, going up to the cage and bending down. "Taekwoon," she softly said. "I don't know what happened at the therapist's, but I won't be able to help you if you don't tell us what you did and why."

He raised his eyes filled with guilt, peeking at her through his curtains of hair, and she sighed. "They're your friends, Taekwoon," she urged. "Will you keep them in the dark even in death?" 

He stayed quiet for a while before then looking at Hongbin.

His name was Dr. Cho, Hongbin signed.