Breaking: freshman English major found dead by local store; thought to be rob-and-kill

“Do you think it could be someone who knew?”

The group is gathered in the library, huddled over a copy of the school newspaper. Gyuri’s words bring a thick pall of silence over everyone.

“.” Jinhwan curses. “If it was one of the people who ditched us, I’m going to lose my .”

Hwanhee buries his face in his hands, and Jungkook pats his shoulder. “It’s okay, let’s just stay apart from now on.”

“Yeah, don’t draw attention to yourself,” Jungeun suggests, fidgeting with the hem of her sleeve. “Not even in class.”

A week goes by, and nothing much happens except a few police officers wandering the campus. But Jinhwan can feel the effects of the extra IQ points. He can finally keep up with his math classes, finally knows what’s going on in physics, and he loves it.

His heart seems ready to explode, chest itching for more, and Jinhwan has to consciously remind himself that murder is bad. It scares him sometimes, how easily the thought of murder comes, and how easy it would be to actually do it. But he’s already dug himself into a hole, and to kill more would be to dig even deeper. He’s already thigh-deep as it is, and Jinhwan does not want to sink even further in.

Originally, he only wanted to protect the others from betrayal. That was his main goal, and now that it’s accomplished, life must go on. There’s a tall boy with a sweet smile waiting for him to come home every day, and Jinhwan desperately does not want to lose that.

“Jinhwan!” Speaking of the boy, there he is now, barrelling across the green with a stack of books in his arms. “Jinhwan, look!”

Jinhwan looks. It’s a whole entire math thing that he’s never learned and never will. “What the is a graph theory?”

Hwanhee’s laugh is clear and bright, like silver bells in the spring wind. “Well, it’s a study of pairwise relations…” He launches into a detailed explanation, eyes shining with genuine happiness, and Jinhwan can’t help but smile. He glad he’s helped the kid get over Jungwoo’s death, and he’s glad the school allowed them to live together for the rest of the year. In a way, though, he thinks that Hwanhee has actually helped him a lot more.

“Did you get that?” The boy has a sheepish look on his face. “I know you don’t really like math…”

“It’s okay.” Jinhwan’s quick to shush his concerns, taking his arm playfully. “You can make it up by getting me lunch.” He sticks his chin up in the air, pretending to ignore Hwanhee as he whines.

Then, out of the blue, he spies Gyuri and Jungkook on the other side of the green. They’re walking hand-in-hand, laughing about something. Jungkook looks more relaxed than Jinhwan has ever seen, and Gyuri is still just as sweet as she was before the murder. So much, in fact, that Jinhwan even doubts it was her and not her evil twin sister.

“Oh, there’s Gyuri and Jungkook!” Hwanhee waves his entire arm, trying to catch their attention. “Oh wait--”

Jinhwan can’t help laughing and puts his arm around his waist. “It’s okay, we’re all friends anyway, so it doesn’t matter that much.” As the words leave his mouth, Hwanhee flushes red and falls quiet. “Hm, what’s wrong? Don’t feel too bad about it.”

“It’s not that.” The boy’s voice is quiet, and he refuses to meet Jinhwan’s eyes. “W-what food do you want?”

As they eat cold pad Thai, Hwanhee’s face is still red. Jinhwan thinks he knows why, but the thought makes him want to laugh out loud, so he doesn’t dare think it.

“Jinhwan, chum buddy pal!” Suddenly, Changkyun claps a hand on his shoulder, scaring Jinhwan’s soul half out of his body. He punches Changkyun, hard, and Hwanhee’s eyes widen.

“Get the away from me,” Jinhwan growls in annoyance. “I’m not letting you copy my homework.”

Changkyun sits down next to him. “Did you hear the news?” Jinhwan’s brain stops working. What news what news what news we were careful we destroyed everything what news what news what-- “Apparently some kid in our class is seeing a therapist for insanity.”

Hwanhee’s head jerks up. “I heard about that!” he breathes, eyes wide and serious. “It’s Jungeun, that blonde girl who-- who was best friends with Yuqi.”

Jungeun, insanity? Jinhwan doesn’t have a hard time believing that. After all, there’s no reason for either of his friends to lie, especially Hwanhee. “That’s terrible.” His expression of pity is genuine, but his brain is already working fast to figure out how to dispose of her before she reveals anything important. “Is she… is it really bad?”

Changkyun shrugs. “I don’t know, but she said something about killing someone, something about Iceland. Do you think it could be Myungeun?”

Jinhwan’s blood freezes. , it’s gotten so serious. “Maybe.” He’s afraid of meeting Hwanhee’s eyes for fear of revealing anything to Changkyun. “But then again, maybe she’s so gone in grief that she’s just saying anything that she wants.”

“That makes sense too.” Changkyun sighs, stealing some noodles for himself. “But Dr. Ahn, the therapist, is apparently launching a whole investigation.”

“Based off a single statement?” Jinhwan takes out his phone to text Gyuri. “I doubt she would.”

“There’s more.” Hwanhee cuts in, food untouched. He fidgets with his fork. “Jungeun apparently gave proof, th-that she and a whole group forged an email to the dean about the whole travelling-the-world thing.”

“It’s a group effort?” Jinhwan’s fingers text desperately. Changkyun looks over his shoulder, but there’s nothing much to see except gossip.

“Yeah,” he says, standing up to leave. “But she won’t name anyone. Dr. Ahn’s still trying to get her to talk.”

After Changkyun leaves, Hwanhee’s face is pale. Jinhwan forces a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry,” he says quietly. “Insanity never gives solid proof.”

“I’m scared.” Hwanhee sounds like he’s twelve. “I-I don’t want to get caught. Then everything will… have been for nothing. Myungeun, Jungwoo.” Suddenly, he looks up, eyes wild. “Do you think Yuqi had something to do with it?”

He means her death, and Jinhwan can only shake his head. “I don’t know,” he lies through his teeth. “I-I hope not.”

But he knows, and he also knows that there must be another death. Hwanhee puts his head down on the table and cries, and Jinhwan has never felt so helpless.

***

Gyuri: are we still on with coffee?

Jinhwan Kim: idk why you want to make your own damn coffee just go to starbucks or smth

Gyuri: u just get the creamers and ill take care of the beans

Jinhwan Kim: i still cannot believe your hipster

***

The next day, Jungeun is found dead behind the science building, strangled with a thick rope. The school riots. It was clearly a silencing act, meant to shut her up so she couldn’t betray anyone.

Hwanhee bursts into tears during class, and Professor Shin blanches as police storm into his classroom, demanding an investigation of every student. “As far as we know,” they say, “both victims have been in this specific class.” The suspect is within you. The implication hangs heavily in the air.

Jungkook is first, for the sole reason that he sits closest to the door. Jinhwan blanks out until he hears his own name.

“No, Jinhwan!” Hwanhee sobs out loud, clinging onto his arm. Jinhwan smiles gently, disentangling himself with a pat of his head.

“It’s okay, they’re not going to do anything bad to me.”

In Professor Shin’s office, three officers sit behind the desk. The lead officer seems to be annoyed at the other two and keeps waving them off.

“Jinhwan, is it?” He flips through a file, and Jinhwan sees that it’s his student record. “Let me introduce myself. I’m Captain Sunggyu Kim, and these are Officers Sehun Oh and Namjoon Kim. We’re in charge of investigating the deaths of,” he pauses for just a second, “Yuqi Song and Jungeun Kim, and the disappearance or possible death of Myungeun Kim.”

“First, we’d like to ask you what you thought of these three people,” Officer Oh cuts in, a clipboard in his hand.

Jinhwan blinks. “I didn’t know them well,” he admits, twisting his hands together. “Yuqi was loud and cheerful. She, she talked a lot. Myungeun and Jungeun didn’t really, especially Jungeun. Myungeun was in some of my other classes, and I remember she only really talked to the teacher.” He stops. “Is that what you meant?”

“Perfect.” Officer Namjoon Kim makes a note on his own clipboard. “Do you know why anyone would kill them?”

“Yuqi was smart,” Jinhwan remembers. “She was in English and psychology, and she always knew what to do and say in any situation. Jungeun was smart too, she was a chemistry major. But Myungeun…” He hesitates. “I’m not saying anything bad, but it seemed like she just, I don’t know…”

“Was she not as smart?” Captain Sunggyu Kim interrupts. “It’s okay, you can say it.”

Jinhwan nods. “She struggled a lot in astronomy, and I… don’t know why someone would want her IQ points.” He burns in shame, lowering his head. “That’s a terrible thing to say, I’m sorry.”

Captain Kim hums, tapping his pen against the desk. “Were they nice people?”

“Oh, yeah, definitely. Yuqi got along with everyone, and I think she was close with Jungeun, so by association, Jungeun had a lot of friends too.” He furrows his eyebrows, trying to remember anything else. “I don’t think Myungeun had that many friends, but she was nice. I don’t think anyone hated her, at least.”

Silence as the two younger officers scribble violently. Then, Captain Kim leans forward, eyes cold and sharp. “Did you know, Jinhwan,” he says slowly, “that Doctor Ahn Heeyeon was the one who pointed us to this class?”

Jinhwan had been prepared for this question. “I’m not surprised,” he says with a smile. “I’ve been to her before too, she’s very intelligent.” The captain stares at him for a few more moments, and then he nods, waving a hand in dismissal.

As he leaves, he lets out a shaky breath of relief. He did well, didn’t bust himself or anyone else. He blanks out again in a daze as Hwanhee enters the office. When he comes back out, tears running down his face, the interrogations end, and Professor Shin holds open the door.

But the police don’t leave. They sit down in the back of the classroom, claiming that they ‘just want to observe’. Jinhwan makes eye contact with Captain Kim, and the police officer tilts his head forward, a small smirk on his face, as if to say ‘, you thought’.

Jinhwan hates him already.

ah yes, the typical 'officers oh and kim' and then mr. kim sunggyu comes barging in