Chapter 4

The earth is shaking.

Wait, no, that's just Daesung. His leg is trembling at an incredible speed against the table, making the table shake as well as if it were possessed. All four of you are now sitting in the small lounge area on the third floor, the brightest of all the floors.

"The security guard isn't even here. Most of the lights are out. Our phones are gone. What the hell is going on?" Jiyong says frustratedly with his hand on one side of his face like a mask.

"Someone's here. Someone's doing this, a-all this killing..." You say faintly but with a firmness to your voice.

No Sherlock. Of course someone is here.

You look over at TOP who is still staring at the crumpled page of the comic book. It looks as if he is talking to it, his glare is way too intense.

That reminds you, the comic book. Daesung.

You shoot a glare to Daesung who is shivering out of his body. "You! You were reading a comic book! Why did she have that page in her hands?" You accuse explicitly. 

Daesung jumps a little and his small eyes open widely to the extent you never knew existed

 

 

 

 

TOP and Jiyong both look at Daesung with curiosity. Daesung clusters a bit and then looks around. "I-It wasn't me." He shakes his head and shivers violently.

"Daesung-ah, you were reading the comic book?" TOP asks kindly with his low voice. TOP's eyes are always mysterious. They look as if he is looking into your soul, not the outer you, which makes you strangely nervous.

"I...I was reading it before anything happened but when you-" Daesung points to you, "When you went downstairs, I left the comic book here and...I swear! I just...I just went to the bathroom, that's it." Daesung stutters out all with a frightened expression.

"Why did you all of sudden have to go to the bathroom?" You inquire more from him.

"I-I just had to! It's nature, you can't stop these things!" Daesung's voice increases and begins to panic.

Jeez, you just only asked a question. Why was he getting so worked up? 

Jiyong looks at you with all seriousness with his clear, dark rimmed eyes. "You know...I think I actually saw Seungri sitting around here...after I saw you." His eyes twinkle.

After he saw you? That must be...after he was making out with her? Was this some lame excuse that he was using?

"I saw Seungri too. Daesung did go to the bathroom and Seungri was talking with Jay here." TOP says firmly.

"Really? How did you know hyung?" Daesung asks with genuine confusion.

 

 

 

 

 

TOP raises his sharp eyebrows and smirks a little. "When you're in the dark, you can see many things in the light...and you were in the bathroom for quite a while."

Daesung's mouth forms into a large "O" and looks as if he remembers what has happened. "Right! And when I did come out of the bathroom, that's when I saw Seungri and Youngbae hyung standing around here." Daesung turns to you and says, "and then a little later, You came up!"

His story does make sense, and it goes chronologically as you thought. No anachronism anywhere.

TOP frowns. A frown where lines crease all over his forehead like a seismograph. "Then, Jay must have been with either Seungri or Youngbae last."

"Are you saying that the killer is one of the bigbang members?" Daesung asks in disbelief.

      TOP shakes his head, "It doesn't make sense though...Seungri and Youngbae are already dead. There must be another person inside. But if it was..." His hand grasps tighter at the comic book page.

At this moment, you look up at Kwon Jiyong, who also coincidently looks up at you. His vicious killer eyes...and those blood red lips just look so eery in the light. You quickly look away.

       "...then what about the motive?" You ask in a whisper.

       "She's right..." Top says, struggling to find the right words to bring up the idea. "Jay...she was a trainee here right?"

Jiyong nods, "Yea..she was. Was going to debut in two years but sajangnim wanted her to debut this year instead...and she was also Seungri's secret girlfriend." Jiyong glares at you as if he is trying to erase what you saw in the recording room.

 

 

 

 

"You're Seungri's cousin, do you know if he had any other girlfriends who would want to...do this to her?" TOP asks you.

"Step-cousin...and no I don't follow his personal life so much." You say, swallowing a thick lump in your throat.

Daesung shifts uncomfortably, "Besides no girl could ever do this kind of murder..it's too brutal-"

"Love can drive people to do crazy things. It blinds them and them of all human senses." TOP says darkly with a lost expression on his face...almost as if he was the one who killed her. Brutally stabbing her over and over without a sense of judgement.

And now...silence. No one speaks for about ten minutes. There is still shock and horror written on everyone's face. Violet blue veins seem to be almost appear through on foreheads and eyes are bloodshot red. You wonder if you look as bad as they do.

Thoughts swivel around your head like airplanes for the next few silent minutes. You look at the small clock on the wall, it's 1:13 a.m.

Time goes by fast. 

Out of the blue, Daesung speaks up, "I have to go to the bathroom, really bad." 

Again? Daesung's face looks completely out of it, as if he has seen a ghost. But really, this night had been full of "ghosts".

"I'll go with you." TOP says deeply, uncrossing his elegantly long legs and standing up. 

 

 

 

 

 

Something is always suspicious with those two. They're always together now that you think about it. TOP always knows what Daesung is doing and they're always seen at the same place. Is this a coincidence...or something planned?

But you realize that you had to go to the bathroom too. So you say that you'll go along. But then what about Jiyong?

"Are you staying here?" You ask in a quiet whisper, careful not to damage the already dead atmosphere.

Jiyong looks up at you with a blank face and then nods slowly, "I'll stay here."

The three of you start your way up the stairs and the journey is not a fun one. Outside of the wall, you can hear drumming thunder noises as they clash in the rain. The sound is almost deafening.

You hear teeth chattering...it's Daesung.

       "Why does Jiyong-ie hyung want to be alone on that floor?" Daesung says as we continue up the steps. The thunder echoes the sound of our footsteps as our shoes hit the solid cold floor.

       "Something about Jiyong.." Top says quietly. 

We finally end up on the next floor after about what seems like a century. The lightening flashes harshly and everything filters in a white and blue negative. You almost see something that is hiding out behind one of the large decor plants...or is it someone?

"Hurry up oppa, I really don't want to stay on this floor." You say looking around. You don't really need to go to the bathroom anymore, in fact you just wanted to with these two so you didn't have to be with Jiyong alone. The harsh droplets of rain hitting against the building seem to be hitting against all your nerves. Something feels strange on this floor. You don't like it. 

  Then you hear it, TOP does too because he moves his robotic neck towards the sound. It's some sort of heavy beat, like dubstep. It's coming from the stairs, the floor that Jiyong is on! 

 

 

 

 

"Jiyong!" TOP says out loud for the first time. And the both of you race downstairs. The thunder barks loudly in your ear and the faint music is not faint anymore. When you reach the floor, something is definitely wrong. Jiyong isn't sitting on the couch. He's not there. One of the recording studio rooms are left wide open and the music seems to be coming from there.

The closer you get, the more ridiculously loud it gets.

You realize that it's one of his songs...from his coup d'état album. 

       Sliding on the hard floor, you finally reach the recording room. The room is pitch black dark yet the heavy beats fill up the air in the room...as if someone is there. And then the song stops like someone had cut off it's throat.

"Jiyong...oppa?" You ask into the now empty air. It's too dark, you can't see anything. TOP just stands there in a kind of trance. So you feel around...for any source of light. 

The computers! They're sure to turn on, right?

You feel around the computer area to look for a power button.

Ah! The smooth groove underneath the slim screen, you found it! You push on it and it beeps quietly. You feel the screen vibrate a little to start up. And then the screen bursts alive with radiant light that fills up the room in a creepy manner. Just like how the lightening let out it's ice blue streaks across the air.

But you notice something strange...something dark is in the chair beside you. Someone.

You back away immediately, falling on the floor on your bottom as you push the swivel chairs away. 

You found Jiyong....like a mannequin on perfect display, he is posing on the chair, with the microphone wire wrapped tightly around his neck and arms. His face looks pale as if all the blood has been drained from his face and his neck is limp with death.

Bang. Another one off the list.