They raced down to the courtyard below the terrace, panting and panicked. Sunggyu looked at his teacher, horrified. Kyuhyun pointed back towards the building. “Go get the principal and bring him back here!” He watched the boy run off.

Kyuhyun pulled out his phone, calling Jungmo as he chased the trail of flattened grass. It was quickly fading and he wasn’t about to lose their only lead. The sooner they got out of the school, the better. Missions were always complicated when they were extended beyond need. “Follow the tracker,” Kyuhyun stated before hanging up and picking up the pace.

He rounded a building, ducking as a metal pole swung overhead. “What the ?” Kyuhyun looked up, but the figure was dark as the shadows, face obscured by a mask. The person drove the weapon down, but Kyuhyun dove out of the way.

A swift kick knocked the air out of him and he rolled over, clutching his stomach as he watched the person dart off through the night. Cursing again, Kyuhyun forced himself up, limping after the quickly receding dark.

Jungmo appeared just moments later, breathless and wild-eyed. “What? What happened?” he questioned.

“He got away,” Kyuhyun shook his head, frowning and straightening up as the pain in his gut became a dull ache.

“Did you see his face?”

“No,” he responded, “It could’ve been a girl, I guess. I’m not sure. Whoever it was is lethal.”

Jungmo nodded, “I bet. They got you.”

“Shut up,” Kyuhyun snapped, grunting. “Well at least now we know a little bit about the situation. It’s probably not suicide after all.” He bit his bottom lip, thinking. “We need to talk to the principal. Something isn’t right.”

Quickly, they ventured back into the main building, Jungmo breaking off to talk to students and Kyuhyun going off to find the principal. It didn’t take long as he saw Sunggyu rushing down the hall with the older fellow in tow.

“What’s going on?” the principal demanded.

“Let’s talk in your office, sir,” Kyuhyun ground out. He watched the man struggle with listening, but then all of them were on their way. Sunggyu trailed a few steps behind as if he wasn’t quite part of the adult conversation – which, in a way, he wasn’t.

The door slammed shut and the three figures faced one another. Before the principal could once again demand anything, Kyuhyun was in his face, talking in a low, calm voice. “Someone or something was attacked and dragged away tonight. I’m sure as well that these aren’t teen suicides you’ve been feeding to the press or whoever the hell it is that you report to on student scandals.”

His face reddened but he stayed silent.

Kyuhyun scoffed, leaning back. “Why would you lie to the media and on official reports about the suicide levels? Students are going missing, aren’t they? That’s the real issue.”

“That’s…,” the principal trailed off, growing redder with every passing second. “You’re…You are absolutely out of line, Mr. Cho—”

“—maybe if you weren’t such a stupid administrator I wouldn’t have to be out of line,” he cut in. Kyuhyun shook his head. He turned to the door, yanking it open and stalking out. Right behind him, Sunggyu raced to keep up with the brisk pace.

“You’re leaving just like that?” he asked, out of breath.

“That won’t be of any help. I’m not gonna sit around doing nothing.”

“But you were barely in there! You didn’t get to hear his side—”

“—I don’t work like that,” Kyuhyun interrupted, “There’s no excuse for hiding something like missing students. He’s just trying to save his own and I don’t plan on talking to someone like that.”

Sunggyu stared at him in awe before shaking his head slowly. “You’re really cool, Mr. Cho…”

“Not really,” Kyuhyun smirked, “I just have a conscience. That’s not so weird.” He nodded towards the dormitory. “Go back to your room. It’s getting late and you probably haven’t done your homework.”

The boy flushed. “Ah…I guess that’s true.” He smiled slightly, waving to his teacher. “I’ll see you tomorrow morning then. Tell me if anything happens, please! Good night, Mr. Cho!” He bowed once and then shuffled off.

Kyuhyun watched him go for a short moment before pulling out his phone and sending a text to Jungmo.

To: Jungmo

I’m checking out the trail tonight. Meet me after midnight.

The reply never came, but Kyuhyun knew that what the answer was.

***

Sunggyu stepped into the dormitory, frowning when he saw a commotion in the commons. “What’s going on?” he asked, making his way through the crowd of boys.

In the center of the group was a crying Henry. His small body was shaking, eyes wet and red and puffy. Both cheeks were streaked and his lip was cut. When their gazes locked, Henry’s face crumpled all over again and Sunggyu was falling to his knees, hugging the boy quickly.

“Are you okay?” he questioned, stunned. Sunggyu looked around at the group, “Go to your rooms! It’s almost lights out.” There were some protests, but soon enough they were all dispersing as well.

Henry finally spoke once the last onlooker vanished around the corner. “I-I…I don’t know what happened,” he whispered, clutching the other boy’s shirt, “w-we were walking back from private music p-practice and he s-said he needed to go back for a s-second…,” the boy choked on a sob, covering his face.

“Ssh…it’s okay. Take your time. I’m listening,” Sunggyu murmured gently, rubbing the younger one’s backside.

Nodding, Henry took a deep breath, continuing, “I g-got worried about him being in the d-dark alone…so I went b-back fast. H-He was hit by s-someone and when they s-saw me they punched me and r-ran off with him.” He cried harder there, unable to finish the story.

Sunggyu didn’t need to hear anymore though. He knew how that story ended. There was only one way. “Get to sleep,” he whispered, “Do you want to sleep in my bed tonight…? I don’t mind. That was really traumatic.”

Henry just nodded, holding onto the older boy for dear life.