▬ Chapter 18: Other Demands ▬

Day 3 - D-Day - First half

With JR’s request last night, the five members of INFINITE decided to talk to the other people involved in the Han Hyerin case to see what last requests they might have. They split up themselves to talk to two people each, both from the list of students and teachers. Counting the five students and four teachers, Sunggyu was deemed to be the hardest to talk to so they thought that just assigning one person to talk to him alone was enough. That’s how Woohyun, who picked the short straw, started his task to find him.

Curious about the building L mentioned last night, Woohyun found himself walking towards the direction of the pool. Even from a distance, he felt an eerie vibe coming off from the area which only intensified after being consciously aware of what happened there. After walking a few more feet, he eventually saw the warning sign etched by chains which gave small squeaking noises as it got disturbed by the light winds.

Stopping by the sign where he overlooked the patch of land down below, his body shook once, giving him goosebumps. The patch of land was bare but unlike what he saw before, there were huge barrels and a few more other things clumped to one side of where the supposed building stood.

“Is it just me or is this place colder than before?”

“Oh, it definitely is colder now,” a soft whisper breathed and replied close to his ear.

“Someone save me...!” Woohyun shrieked and clutched his pounding heart upon hearing the voice. He crouched down on reflex to shield his body from whatever might hit him next. After about twenty seconds, he heard rustling by the grass beside him and with wide, frightened eyes, he slowly turned his head a bit to see who spoke to him earlier. Determined to find a person, he looked to his side but unfortunately faced nothing in his path.

“What the heck are you doing?” Another voice spoke. Unlike the previous one, the voice coming from this person was clear.

Retreating back to his fetus crouching position with his heart still pounding vigorously, Woohyun shut his eyes tight, closed his ears using both hands, and began to mumble incoherent words.

“Hey, Nam Woohyun,” the voice said again. “I’m asking you a question.”

“Oh?” Only opening his eyes upon realization hit him that it was a voice he knew, he looked to his side but again, didn’t see anyone there. “I’m hearing voices! Am I getting cursed?!”

“My god, look behind you!”

Twisting his body following the voice’s directions, he finally saw a pair of legs. His eyes then darted upwards to see a familiar face. “Sunggyu?”

“What are you doing?” He asked again.

Hands still covering his ears, he meekly replied, “Looking for you?”

Sunggyu sighed then motioned for him to get up, “You know you’re not allowed in this area. Come, let’s talk somewhere else.”

After stretching out a hand to help Woohyun up, Woohyun could only follow Sunggyu silently to wherever he planned to talk.

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“So I’m guessing you want to know what happened?”

“No,” Woohyun spoke after he gulped down the remaining liquid in the milk carton that Sunggyu brought him. Both were now sitting outside the cafeteria terrace which overlooked the school grounds. “I just want to hear you talk, that’s all.”

“And about what?”

Woohyun shrugged. “Your life? What you want?”

“Nam Woohyun,” Sunggyu crossed his arms and leaned back on his chair, smirking. “If you want to pity me,” he then gave the man sitting on the opposite side of him a glare, “I’d rather you not.”

“Who said anything about pity?” Woohyun strategically eyed the trash can a few feet away then threw his empty milk carton. After landing the shot, he went back to looking at Sunggyu. “I just want to know if you have requests or not that you want me to do.”

A frown made its way to Sunggyu’s face. “I’m guessing JR really told you?” He scoffed then shook his head. “I knew that guy was too soft the moment he told me his plans.”

Not wanting to cause a rift between his friends, Woohyun decided to not name any names. “But from what I heard, everything happens today, right? What if it really is your last day here? Don’t you have any—”

“Alright!” Sunggyu placed both of his hands on the table and pushed his chair back. He stood up and without looking at Woohyun, resumed, “You already know too much so I’m going.”

“Wait, Sunggyu—” Woohyun jerked in his seat and was about to follow Sunggyu until the other man held up a hand to stop him.

“I suggest you just mind your own business, Woohyun.” He turned around to see a worried face looking right back at him. There was a hint of sadness in Sunggyu’s eyes yet an aura of determination engulfed him — that was what Woohyun felt. “Please, it’s for your own good.”

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Hoya was back in the restricted section of the library and seemed to be looking for something. As usual, the restricted section was dimly lit with Hoya opting not to rely on opening the little lights that could pave his way. Instead, he relied on the crevices on the wall to guide him wherever he needed to be. He was searching through one of the shelves when someone walked in on him, making sure to stay by a place where no light shone on them.

“You should really just get rid of that phone instead of worrying abou