Joshua

Jiheon was next. She walks into the room twiddling her thumbs, her head down.

She’s a shy one, and the youngest contestant left. I don’t know much about her except that Saerom made a whole spectacle to save her from a creep. And the poor girl ended up with number 69, of all numbers. In hindsight, I should have made sure the 69 went to someone less… childlike.

There was nothing killer-like about her thought. She’s just a young girl that joined the game with hopes of a romance with a chaebol, and now she’s caught up in this whole thing.

“Hi, Joshua,” she says. I can hear the shakiness in her voice when she says my name. If I were on high alert with her like I am with many of the others, I would have taken that as an indicator of guilt. But with her, I know that she’s just nervous.

“Hi Jiheon, how are you doing?”

“I’m… good,” she says. “How about you?”

Well this is going to be an awkward conversation. “I’m doing fine,” I say.

I ask some questions from the safety guide, testing if she’d read it. She couldn’t answer a single one, and begins sweating like she’s nervous she’s going to get in trouble or will fail some kind of “test.” She clearly has not read the safety guide, which means she wouldn’t have known how many ticks it takes to kill.

Eventually, I just cut the interrogation with her short. Talking with her makes me feel like I’m abusing her somehow.

Next was Dino.

“Hello, Joshua,” he says as he walks in and takes a seat right in front of me. He glances at the cameras, then shifts the chair slightly. “I need them to get my good side,” he explains.

He’s one to look out for. He’s sassy and has a strength in him that even makes me nervous. I recall the last time I spoke with him, when he called me out in front of a crowd for what I was doing. He’s smart, smart enough to commit a murder and get away with it.

“How have you been?” I ask.

“Honestly, Joshua, the past few weeks were ing hell. Like I understand that we signed contracts and but if you’re going to keep us trapped on a remote island in the middle of nowhere, the least you could do is give us our phones back.”

Blunt. Something about that is comforting though. “I’ll consider getting you your phones back.”

“Well do your considering quick because there’s only so much tech detox I can take. BlackPink could have released a new song and I’d have no clue!”

“Well, I’ll keep you updated if they do.”

“Nah man, you don’t seem like the kind of guy to keep up with pop culture. It’s not just about the music. It’s about the whole scene. The gossip, the drama, the scandals. I’ve been away from that for far too long. Why are you even keeping us here anyways? Clearly you don’t intend to marry any of us.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Oh please. Are you really pretending that you didn’t have your eye on Chaeyoung? Don’t give me that bull, sir. I can detect it from miles away.”

I believe that, so I move on. I begin asking him questions from the safety guide, which he couldn’t answer, which tells me he doesn’t know how many ticks it takes to kill.

“Why the are you asking me these random questions about plants and trees and bugs and ? Do I look like an outdoorsy person to you?”

“No reason.”

“Lies. There is a reason you’re doing this. You’re just not telling me what it is. And I have a sneaking feeling it has to do with Chaeyoung.”

He’s doing it again. Reading me. Any upper hand I thought I had in this interrogation seems to get lost under his scrutiny. He makes me so uncomfortable, like I have to carefully weigh and measure every single thing I say or he’ll crack me. Which is dumb because I’m the one interrogating him!

“I know you’re not here to marry anyone anymore,” Dino continues. “This whole thing is a farce, isn’t it?”

“I am here to marry someone, and you’re not making a very good impression.”

“Then disqualify me, . I don’t want to be here any more than you do. You’re not my type anyway. Too mopey.”

As uncomfortable as he makes me, I believe him when he says I’m not his type. I believe him when he says he’s not interested in me. I believe him when he says he wants to be disqualified.

I read and studied his profile. Dino is signed with an agency. He’s an idol-in-training, and he explicitly mentioned in his answers that part of the reason he’s here is for the publicity. He wants the media frenzy and the followers. He wants the exposure that will make him a successful idol. He is also gay, and says that getting a “rich, hot husband” would be the cherry on top.

But it’s clear that I am not the reason he’s here. I’m an afterthought to him. So what motive could he possibly have for killing Chaeyoung then?

It’s not him. It can’t be. But doubt keeps me second-guessing.

What if he’s just smart? What if all this is a ruse? What if he’s making me think that he has no motive?

“I’m not disqualifying you,” I finally say.

“Why the not?”

“Because, you’re the only true male contestant there is, and I want to explore a relationship with a male.”

“Seungkwan and Mingyu?” Dino says.

“They’re not gay and you know it.”

DIno scoffs at that and crosses his arms over his chest. “Then why not disqualify them?”

“Mingyu’s good for ratings. Girls love him. Seungkwan is…” I hesitate to find an excuse for him.

“A suspect for murder?” Dino says on my behalf.

There he goes again, reading me and making me uncomfortable. I don’t want him to catch me in this though. I don’t want him to know I’m doing this in search of Chaeyoung’s murderer.

“I knew it,” Dino says. “That’s why I’m here too. That’s why we’re all here. You suspect foul play.”

“You have it all wrong. The foul play suspicions ended with the police investigation. I really am here to find someone to marry.”

“Either way, let me save you some time, then. It’s not me. Whoever it is you’re looking for: whether it’s a husband or a murder; it’s not me. So send me back to the mainland so I can get on with my life.”

“I’m sorry, but I still want to consider you. And I want you to consider me as well.”

“I swear if Beyonce announces international tour dates while I’m gone and I miss my chance to get tickets, yours will be the next dead body on this island!”

“If she does, I’ll personally buy you those tickets. I can even get you backstage passes.”

“If you do that, I might just have to marry you,” he says, but he watches my reaction carefully as he does so, like he’s waiting to see if I’d be open to the possibility.

“Well, now I know Beyonce is the way to your heart. I’ll keep that in mind in case I ever need it.”

Dino laughs at that, and it wasn’t a condescending kind of laugh. It was genuine, and that made him feel much less intimidating to me.

I dismiss him after that, because I felt like there’s nothing more I had to say to him. It’s not him. He wouldn’t kill Chaeyong. He’s too self-absorbed to care about someone else enough to kill them. He just doesn’t give me killer or vengeful vibes at all. A pop culture fan who came to this game to be a part of pop culture.

He doesn’t care much about me at all. He isn’t desperate to marry me like some others are, so he doesn’t have enough of a motive.

But the contestant who’s next in line for the interrogation, the one I feel in my bones is the person who killed Chaeyong… that’s a contestant with motive.

A/N: I apologize profusely for the lateness of this chapter. I have been SO distracted the past month for so many personal reasons. And what's going on in Palestine affects me deeply, so please pray for Gaza, pray for a ceasefire, and be thankful for all the blessings in your life...