Chapter 10
Nightingale of the Night
----------

Polybius Square, Ceasar's Cipher? NO! These ciphers are useless! Why the hell did I use them? There aren't even numbers or other characters here besides the letter of the english alphabet.

"Why are you too focused?", I heard a voice ask me then waved a hand in front of my face.

I continously blinked and faced the man before me, which is Namjoon. "It's just... there's a new-"

"Case? More likely. But why the long face? Is it leading you somewhere confusing?"

I want to say 'yes' but Namjoon will probably worried. Damn ciphers! If only I have an IQ of 148, I could have answered this damn cipher. IQ, wait-

"Namjoon! I need your help."

Namjoon was quite surprise by my request. Since I almost always ask and talk to Taehyung about cases, he might be surprised that I asked him. Well, I seriously need his intelligence now though. He's the only reliable one when it comes to word and mind games.

"I have this cipher left by the killer, and I can't figure out what it says." I handed him the note that I took earlier from the crime scene. Inspector Ji Eun had the note finger print scanned, and to no avail, there weren't any finger prints. Namjoon took the note and examined it. 

Meanwhile, Jimin and Yoongi glanced at our side. "What are you two talking about?", Jimin asked. "Probably smart stuffs." Yoongi grunted. "I hate letters, or numbers, or anything related to education."

"Same." Jimin agreed to Yoongi. Hoseok stole Yoongi's pizza and started eating them. The poor older one tried taking back his pizza from Hoseok but the latter ate it in full piece. In just. One. Bite. " you." Yoongi muttered. I chuckled at the sight and ate my own pizza.

"Jungkook?" I looked up at Namjoon who has a disturbed face. "I... have decoded the cipher."

Everyone from us in the table looked at Namjoon, even the silently eating Jin and Taehyung by the edge faced him. "What does it say, smart pretty boy?" Jimin asked. Namjoon reluctantly looked at Jimin. "I don't think you guys should know, only Jungkook should." Jimin pouted and went back to eating his pizza. "Pretend I didn't ask anything."

"What does it say, Hyung?" Namjoon had this troubled look once again. He handed me the paper where he solved the cipher.

"a murder for the detectives"

I looked at Namjoon in disbelief. 'A murder for the detectives?' That sounds horrible. Is it really the meaning or not?

"That's it, Jungkook. That's what I got. I used the columnar transposition cipher to solve it."

"Columbus- what?" Yoongi asked. Namjoon and I glared at him. "Okay, I'm not here. La la la~"

"Columnar transposition cipher where the message is written out in rows of a fixed length, and then read out again column by column, and the columns are chosen in some scrambled order. In short, they used 'Bambam' as a clue." Namjoon said and handed me his scratch paper.

 

"Damn it. Useless note! Useless!" I angrily said and stood up from my seat then went out of the cafeteria bringing the notes Namjoon used with me.

"Jungkook, chill out... Let's smoke somewhere." Taehyung who followed me without me knowing. I faced him and agreed on his invitation. 

We went on the back of the main campus building facing the abandoned one. The abandoned one looks creepy, there was a part where the lights were flickering randomly. I hate ghosts. Taehyung handed me a juul and I turned it on putting the flavor in and smoked with him.

"It feels complicated." I started.

"What feels complicated?" 

"Everything. The killer, the victims, school and everyone."

From my peripheral vision I see Taehyung face me with a sad look. He reached for my back and patted me. 

"Don't worry, Jungkook... Everything will be fine... I promise..."

I faced him, and for the first time I felt my heart thump fast yet loudly. I looked at his face as if he is a shining star in front of me. He's just beautiful, memzmerizing, and Enchanted. Taehyung reached for my cheeks and slowly, our face were inches away from each other. I stared at his eyes and he stared at mine. As if everything was slow motion, our lips connected with each other enveloping a comforting and warm contact in our hearts.

Taehyung parted his lips from mine. His cheeks were red, probably because of being flustered. Same as mine. We stared at each other like showing how we long for each other. "I love you... Jungkook..." Taehyung said, making me breathless and attached. I gave him the eye smile that he always liked from me. "I love you too." I connected our lips once again.

Suddenly our moment was disturbed by my phone ringing. I let go of Taehyung and took my phone to my ears. "Hello?" 

"Jungkook?"

"Oh, Yugyeom? What made you call?"

"Can we meet at my dorm? I need to tell this to you. It may help us identify  the killer from the last case."

"Roger that."

I ended the call and faced Taehyung. "Come, we should meet Yugyeom, he has something that could lead us to the killer's whereabouts."

Taehyung pouted and muttered a 'fine'. We both ran to our way to Yugyeoms dorm. I suddenly bumped into someone making me fall. I looked up and saw the 'Johnny' guy that Taehyung told me before. "Sorry." He said as he smirk at me. Is this guy up into something? Nah, he probably just have that smirk resting face. I bowed at him as I mutter an apology and continue to make my way to Yugyeom's dorm.

"Jungkook! Taehyung! Thank God you're here now."

Taehyung and I sat on the couch with Yugyeom in front of us. "What do you need to tell us?" Taehyung asked. Yugyeom looks distressed.

"A while ago at 3pm, somebody called me. It was an unregistered number. It keep on calling me so I answered it. On the line was someone..." Yugyeom stopped midways.

"Was it Bambam?" Taehyung asked in concern. "No, it was someone who claimed himself as the famous killer. He was telling me that he isn't the one who killed the recent victim."

So Taehyung's theory were correct all along? Then I refused to believe him? I faced Taehyung who looks as baffled as I am. 

"The person said the there was someone posing as him to get his attention. He wants us to find who that is. So in short, we have to find the enemy of our enemy." Yugyeom continued.

"So I was right..." Taehyung said. Yugyeom looked at him cluelessly. "I said this a while ago to Jungkook. The recent case has a different suspect. If we compare it to the other cases of the killer. There's no similar to that rather than killing someone."

"Then, what do you think is that person's motive?" I asked.

"That's where the second phone call goes." Both Taehyung and I looked at Yugyeom. "Someone called me once again. But this time it wasn't just someone... Bambam's phone number was registered. I answered it but it wasn't Bambam. It was someone telling us to look for Bambam's whereabouts."

Taehyung and I glanced at each other once again. "We should waste no time, let's find him now. Did he leave any message or clues?"

"No, he just said flashlight and ended the call. I tried calling back but I was blocked. Unfortunately the call was deleted as well as the first one." Yugyeom said.

The three of us stood up and went out of Yugyeoms's dorm. We parted ways and went on our own. We need to find Bambam as soon as possible. He might be on danger. Flashlight. Flashlight. Flashlight. What does that guy mean?

I ran and ran. Then I reached the location where Taehyung and was standing a while ago. I blushed at the thought of what happened. Ah, Jungkook! Don't carried away! We need to find Bambam.

I looked at the abandoned building once again, examining it. The flickering lights were still flickering. Wait up... 

On - Off - On - Off - On - Off

The next light was on for about two seconds then turned off.

On -- Off - On -- Off - On -- Off

The next was the same as the one before the longer 'on' one.

On - Off - On - Off - On - Off

Then it goes the same pattern over and over again. 

My mind functioned and I found its meaning. It wasn't just flickering lights! I faced the flickering lights once again with eyes widened and mouth agape from shock. Why didn't I observe this earlier?!? It was an S.O.S code! 

"· · ·  − − −  · · · "

It says S.O.S in Morse Code and disguised in flickering lights. The thought of what Yugyeom said earlier came back. "Flashlight..."

Bambam was inside this abandoned building the whole time and we didn't notice. I wasted no time and dialed Yugyeom's number, "Yugyeom, go at the back of the main school building, in front of the abandoned one." Then I turned off the phone. I called Taehyung's number, "Yugyeom told me! I'm coming!" He said then turned the call off.

The two of them ran onto me, Taehyung embracing me. "Were you hurt yet?" He anxiously asked. "No... but Bambam..." I said in between breathes. Yugyeom faced the abandoned building in front of us.

"We have no time to call for back ups... Let's save Bambam before it's too late... Do you happen to know where Bambam is inside there?" Yugyeom asked.

"No, we just have to follow that flickering lights."

"S.O.S! Bambam finally used his brains." Yugyeom said and ran into the building's entrance.

"I do not know if he just insulted Bambam or complemented him..." Taehyung said. "Neither do I." We followed Yugyeom. Before we could enter a song played,

'Oh, sing sweet nightingale'