Ink
Russian Roulette
“Hyung? Are you okay?” Hyuk asks softly as N enters the dorm, carefully shutting the door behind him.
N smiles while he nods briskly, “Ne, I’m fine.”
Hyuk returns his smile with a small grimace, “Okay.”
“Where’s Ken?” Ravi questions, raising an eyebrow.
“He’s still outside,” N replies as he points behind him at the door.
Only moments after the words leave his mouth the door opens and Ken steps in, his eyes red and bloodshot from crying.
“Ken? Are you okay?” Hyuk questions worryingly.
Ken simply ignores him and begins to walk towards N, looking him directly in the eye. N quickly turns away before standing up, leaving the room.
“N! Wait,” Ken calls desperately as N enters his room, locking the door behind him.
Leo stands up and places a hand on Ken’s shoulder, “What’s going on?”
Ken rolls his shoulder, pushing Leo’s hand away, “Nothing.”
“Are you su-“ Leo is interrupted by a loud knock on the door.
Ravi quickly rises from his seat and walks to the door, pulling it open slowly, “Yes?”
“May I speak to Cha Hackyeon?” A man asks as he pushes past Ravi, entering the room. He appears to be very professional looking. He takes a moment to look at each of them, studying their facial features.
“Yeah I’ll go get him,” Ravi mutters as he leaves the room.
The next few minutes are spent in an awkward silence, each of them occasionally sneaking a quick glance at the others but quickly averting their gaze. The man appears to be taking an interest in Leo, watching him carefully. After a few minutes Ravi enters the room, breaking the silence. He drags N in behind him by the wrist.
“Cha Hackyeon?” The man asks, moving further away from the door.
N glances at him and nods, “Yes, how can I help you.”
“I am here about the disappearance of Lee Hongbin,” the man says sharply, “His corpse was found in the Han river with a bullet wound in the head.”
With this one comment Hyuk bursts into tears once again, Ravi quickly moves to his side, pulling him into a tight, comforting embrace.
Leo slumps down onto the couch, his head in his hands.
They’ve found out, I knew this wouldn’t last very long. Did we seriously believe that we could get away with murder so easily?
Ken drops to his knees, sobbing violently. N hesitantly kneels beside him, pulling him closer and his hair. He expects Ken to push him away but instead he wraps his arms around N’s waist pulling him closer.
“S..so he’s dead?” N stutters, looking up at the man.
The man nods, “Yes, I’m very sorry for your loss. If you wish I can give you the contact details of one of our grief councillors.”
N sniffles, biting back his tears, “N..no it’s okay, we’ll be alright.”
“We have already started the investigation for the murder; I will contact you at a later date to schedule some interviews.”
N raises an eyebrow, “Are you sure that it was murder, maybe it was a suicide.”
“His body was found in the river, he wouldn’t have been able to kill himself and then hide his own body. Also the gun wasn’t found with him.”
“Maybe he shot himself, fell into the water and now the gun is still in there.”
“We are still looking but we highly suspect that it was a murder.”
N gives a quick nod as he lets go of Ken and stands up, showing the man to the door. Once he closes the door he leans against it, slowly sliding down till he is sitting on the ground, looking up at the others. He waits until the footsteps coming from the hall disappear before speaking, “They’ve found him.”
“So what happens now?” Leo mutters.
“They have no idea that it was us,” Ravi mumbles, his words suppressed by Hyuk’s hair.
“They will soon,” Hyuk whimpers.
“Stop it Hyuk, you’re not helping,” N snarls but his facial expression quickly softens when Ravi throws him an angry glare.
“We should throw the gun in the river, maybe then if they find it, they’ll think it was a suicide,” Ravi states.
“We can’t do it now, we would be caught. We should wait until it dies down a little,” N mumbles, looking up at the ceiling, lost in thought.
Hyuk quickly jumps to his feet, flouncing out of the room. He enters the bathroom, gently closing the door.
“What is he doing?” Leo mutters.
Ravi simply shrugs in reply. Leo pushes himself up but is quickly stopped by Ravi’s firm grip on his shoulder pulling him back down.
“Just leave him, he’ll be okay,” Ravi mumbles.
Leo sits back down, mumbling inaudible curses. His thoughts are immediately interrupted when he feels Ravi’s arms wrapping around his shoulders, hugging him tightly.
“Don’t worry so much,” Ravi whispers gently in his ear.
“Yeah I guess,” Leo says as he leans his head back against Ravi’s shoulder.
“Ken…?” N says, looking up at Ken who is blankly staring at a section of the wall, his face expressionless.
Ken remains silent, still staring at the wall. He flinches slightly when he feels N’s arms wrap around his waist, dragging him back on his bottom out of the room.
“Ya! What are you doing?” Ken protests, as he flails.
N chuckles, “You’re so light.”
When they reach N’s room, N lets go of him and sits beside him on the floor, crossing his legs. Their eyes lock in a deep stare which is only interrupted when N quickly turns his head away, his cheeks flushing a bright pink.
“W..We need to talk,” Ken stutters nervously.
“I’m so-“
“Why are you apologising?”
“Because I attacked you.”
“Attacked?” Ken mumbles, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion.
“Yes, I’m so sorry and it’ll never happen aga-“
He is interrupted by Ken’s lips crashing up against his own. N pulls away in surprise, only to be pulled back again. Ken gently N’s cheek as N moans softly, wrapping his arms around Ken’s neck. Ken slowly pulls away; earning a disappointed sigh from N. Ken pulls him closer again, whispering softly in his ear, “There’s no need to apologise.”
They quickly pull away from each other when the door is abruptly slammed open. Ravi stumbles into the room, tears streaming down his cheeks, blood covering his clothes.
“There’s something you really need to see,” Ravi says before leaving the room, running back to the bathroom.
Ken and N exchange a puzzled look before helping each other up and following Ravi into the bathroom.
“No…” Ken mutters, dropping his knees, his breath catching in his throat, “Hyuk…”
He looks down once again at the pale corpse before him. ‘Murderer’ carved into every visible patch of skin all over his body, his thick blood seeping out of each letter. The knife that had caused the damage lays discarded on the tiles beside him.
“Why would he do this? We all had our problems but why did he resort to this?” Ravi cries softly, kicking the knife across the cold tile floor in frustration.
“I’m sorry, I knew from the start that this would never work. I tried to stay positive about this for the rest of you but it became too much, I’m sorry for leaving this all up to you but I couldn’t bare another second of this endless torment. I’m sorry for being such a burden too you all and I know that my death will only cause more problems but I really feel that this is the only way for me. There’s nothing else left to say really, except for goodbye,” Leo speaks calmly.
The others look up at him in pure confusion.
“What are you going on about?” N questions impatiently.
Leo lifts up a small piece of paper, a message scrawled messily across it in black ink, “It’s what he left behind.”
N swiftly snatches the note out of Leo’s grip and quickly scans through it, reading it half-heartedly. He sighs deeply before releasing the note from his hand, letting it settle in a pool of blood, slowly soaking it up. In a matter of minutes the note is deemed unreadable, the words becoming a blood covered smudge.
“What do we do then?” Ken mumbles under his breath.
“Well we called the ambulance so they should be here in a few minutes,” Ravi replies.
“You what?!” N cries in pure rage.
“I called the ambulance…” Ravi whispers as he shrinks into the corner of the room in fear.
“Are you ing kidding me?! Are you really that ing stupid?!” N screams in anger as he steps closer towards the cowering younger, glaring at him threateningly. His hands curl up into tight fists as he steps closer and closer until he is close enough to see the fear in his eyes. He furiously strikes at Ravi’s face with his fists. Ken and Leo are quick to grab onto his arms pulling him back, away from Ravi who slumps to the floor, blood beginning to seep from his wounds. N fights angrily against the restraints.
“Let me go,” N growls, waiting expectantly for Ken and Leo to release him.
“NOW!” He yells and they hesitantly let go of him.
N pushes past them violently, leaving the room.
“You three can fix this yourselves, I have nothing to do with this!” N yells out before slamming the dorm door.
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