＊myungsoo's story

 may ninth twenty ten 

"Did you read it?" Walking up to Jinri, I gestured to the notebook in her hand. The tall brunette glanced down at the book and nodded slowly, her expression showing that she was obviously wondering why I was so hostile towards the it, seeing as I had violently slapped it out of Jieun's hand earlier. Heaving a deep sigh, I ran my hand through my already disheveled hair and snatched it out of her grasp.

"Didn't I say not to touch this book?" I asked, a tired expression plastered on my face. However before Jinri could even reply, a dark shadow fell down from outside the window catching the attention of most people in class, including Jinri. She walked towards the window and pressed her hands against the glass of the window, her eyes peering up into the sky, then down towards the ground. Suddenly, hushed whispers and ominous chatter arose from the students. Curiousity getting the better of me, I decided to push my way past the crowding students and look outside the window. 

On the ground was a sprawled almost unrecognizable figure of a male student, face forward on the ground with his arms and legs disjointed in disturbing positions. From the head of messy black hair, red liquid began to slowly pour out from the figure's head, then from the body. Students began to crowd around it, however they left a clear distance between them and the corpse. Finally a scream was emitted, and as if on cue, everyone in the classroom stopped their whispering and went into a chaotic frenzy.

Some students immediately ran away from the window, their eyes wide with shock from seeing a suicide first hand. Other students were unable to digest the sight and had their hands covering their mouths, attempting to suppress the urge to vomit. Girls and boys both seem like they were ready to leave the school. Finally talk about Sooji and Sungyeol emerged, many people arguing about the disturbing amount of student deaths within an incrediblly short amount of time. 

I, myself, stood planted at the window, staring out at the body. Although no one had mentioned the name of the student yet, at the back of my mind I already knew who it was. My fingers were frozen stiff and numb from my fear, however I managed to feign a look of composure as I staggered over to my desk. 

Sunggyu had just committed suicide.

No.

He wasn't the type to do that.

My eyes fell on Jiyeon, only to realize that she was staring back at me, a blank expression on her face. Her eyes then slowly trailed away from me and stared at something else. Following her gaze, I noticed that her eyes were fixated on an empty desk. Jinri's desk to be specific. 

It was as if my mind was completely used to these things by now. After crying so much from Sungyeol's death, Sunggyu's suicide didn't seem to affect me at all. Jinri's disappearance didn't trigger a reaction from me. It was as if my feelings were completely numb towards death. And this was something that frightened me. Shaking my head, I attempted to focus on the matter at hand- finding Jinri. 

Unfortunately, before I could leave the class, a male teacher blocked my path, and urged me to get back in my seat. He told everyone that lunch was over and we had to continue with class as usual, only adding that the student outside was now being brought to the hospital and everyone should send positive thoughts towards him. However I knew that this was just a bad attempt in calming us down. After all, I already knew that the student was dead.

---

The class passed dreadfully slow, and it was obvious that once again, no one was paying attention. My eyes, however, were drawn towards Jinri's empty desk. Even when school was over, the girl was nowhere to be seen. Jieun seemed to notice this as well as she was walking around the class asking for Jinri's whereabouts. I noticed the countless amount of times she brought out her cellphone, only to slam it shut frustratedly and shove it back into her blazer pocket. The students began to file out of the room, everyone eager to get out of school. Finally, it was only me, Jieun and Jiyeon left in class. 

Jieun was the first to speak. "Where is Jinri?" She asked sternly, walking over towards the seated girl and throwing her bag on the girl's desk, stopping her from doing whatever she was doing. 

No response.

"Augh, you're so useless." Jieun sighed, grabbing her bag from Jiyeon's desk. She turned her attention to me.

"Oppa. I saw you talking to Jinri before the...it. Did you see where she went?" 

I shook my head, which earned me another worried huff from Jieun. 

Seeing how I had Jieun and Jiyeon alone in the room, I decided to just speak up, no matter how dumb I looked.

"Jieun, stop asking Jiyeon to write the class play. Also, don't read anything Jiyeon gives you." I said, a serious look plastered on my face. As I expected, Jieun returned my strange statement with an incredulous look. 

"Look, I know it sounds -" I began, only to be interrupted by her. 

"Oppa. You're in the Literature Club, aren't you?" Jieun asked, her voice sweet, although her tone was dark and mocking. "Are you jealous that we picked Jiyeon to write the script instead of you?" She giggled lightly.

"No. I'm trying to help you stay alive." I stated monotonously, at this point wondering why I was trying to prevent such a snide girl from dying. 

"And you think I'll die by reading Jiyeon's script?" She scoffed.

"Listen. I know it sounds crazy but -" And then I was quickly interrupted by her again.

"It sounds insane, oppa. I mean listen to yourself. You're talking about a killing notebook!" 

"Look. Sooji read Jiyeon's notebook, and then passed away strangely. I caught Sunggyu reading the book the day after Sooji died. Not to mention, Sungyeol called me the night he died, telling me he had read the book. This cannot all be a coincidence." 

"Fine, it's strange. But Jinri read the book too, and she's still alive."

"Are you sure? Where is she? You haven't been able to get in touch with her."

There was silence from the two of us. As if on cue, the door to the classroom flew open revealing a female student with puffy red eyes with her hand clasped over .

"J-Jieun!! It's Jinri...I...I found her in the girl's washroom..." The female student stammered.

Jieun stayed silent, prompting the speaker to continue.

"S-she's not breathing!!" The girl finally managed to spit out, looking like she was on the verge of choking and crying. 

"...W-what?" Jieun's bag fell from her hands. She started to run towards the door and it looked like she was about to run to the washroom. However, she stopped at the doorway and threw a glance at Jiyeon, whose eyes were now staring back at hers. Instead of screaming profanities at her, Jieun seemed unable to speak. Her eyes darted from Jiyeon, to me then to the girl outside, and finally she turned her back towards us and ran away. 

---

The next day, the teacher had informed us that Jieun had transferred to another school. 

Naively, I had taken that to mean that the deaths would stop.