The loud screaming continued as Kwon Yuri ran straight to the first person she saw, who happened to be L. Joe. She sobbed incoherently into his shirt, soaking it with her tears. The DJ turned the music down, and everyone started to murmur and whisper and point at her.

I grabbed the chair we fought over, and dragged it behind Yuri. L. Joe understood, and carefully sat her down.

“What happened?” Jessica rushed over, accompanied by the rest of SNSD. They formed a barrier of sorts, shielding her from the gossiping eyes of other students.

“Are you okay?” Im Yoona said gently, pushing strands of Yuri’s hair back from her face. The other girls whispered comfortingly to her, but Yuri didn’t stop crying.

Kim Taeyeon, the leader, took charge. “What happened? Are you hurt?”

There was more sobbing, and Yuri tried to speak, but she could only manage gasps and hiccups, shaking her head.

“Tell us what happened? Did someone else get hurt?” Jessica guessed.

Yuri nodded frantically, rubbing her eyes and smearing her tears and makeup all over her face.

“Who got hurt?” Yoona asked.

“S…Sung…Sung….” Yuri stammered, trying to speak, but she burst into fresh sobs as she tried. Apparently deciding that it was too much to speak, she pointed to her left hand, wiggling her fingers.

The youngest of the 9 understood. “Sunggyu-oppa?” Seohyun clarified?

“Sunggyu’s hurt?” Hwang Tiffany repeated.

Yuri nodded wildly, sniffing.

“Is he hurt badly?” Tiffany said, sounding worried.

Yuri opened again, but nothing intelligible came out. Fortunately, L. Joe reappeared with a cup of water. She drank it gratefully and wiped her tears, taking deep breaths to calm herself down.

“Sunggyu…isn’t hurt,” Yuri said slowly. “He…He’s dead.”

We all froze, shocked, until Yuri broke the silence with more loud sobs. I couldn’t believe it – the reality of one of us being dead was unthinkable, but I knew Kwon Yuri hardly lied. Even then, this was something that she wouldn’t lie about.

It was Sooyoung who voiced my thoughts. “That’s impossible,” she blurted, looking confused. “How can this be? He can’t just randomly die!”

“I-I know what I saw!” Yuri said furiously. “You think I’m lying? You think this is a joke?! Kim Sunggyu isn’t just dead – he was murdered.”

We all stared at her, until Taeyeon exhaled sharply. “Hyoyeon, Jessica, Tiffany and Sunny, find Infinite, and bring them here.” The girls obeyed. “The rest of you, we need to help Yuri. Let’s get her to the bathroom, okay?” Taeyeon turned to me with a serious face.

“I’ll…I’ll go see if Sunggyu…I mean, I’ll go find Sunggyu,” I said quickly, backing out the door.

“Yah! Soomin-ssi!” Taeyeon called. It was too late.  

The lights bathed the hallways in a bright, steady glow as I made my way to the nearest door.  Had this been a horror movie, the lights would have been flickering and whatnot. I took a deep breath. This is real life, I reminded myself. Not a horror movie. My life. I control it.

I walked down the hallway, and headed to the first door. I turned the door knob and pushed. Locked. The second was also locked. The third one swung open easily. I flicked the lights on – empty. I rattled the doorknob of the next one. Locked.

I hesitated before the next one. Instinct, intuition, a sixth sense – whatever it was, I knew something was very, very wrong. I opened the door and turned the lights on. I slapped my hands over my mouth to muffle my horrified scream.

Sunggyu was lying on his back. His shirt had been torn off and bundled up to support his neck and head, his arms and feet bound and his mouth gagged. There were small cuts everywhere on his upper body – his face, his arms, his chest and worst of all, his neck. They ranged from shallow and irritating to cuts so deep he had practically been stabbed.

His pale face was smeared with red, plastered with expressions of fear and pain; his usually arrogant eyes empty of emotion, empty of life. Worst of all, his throat had been slit and all the blood had soaked into his shirt.  His blood was everywhere.  

I started to hyperventilate when I saw the knife – dark handle and silver blade, coated with blood – Sunggyu’s blood. I could picture everything: Sunggyu, terrified and in pain as his killer brandished the blade that would end his life; valuable blood dripping from the cuts as the killer dragged the sharp knife across his bared and exposed throat in a torrent of red–

I tasted bile in my mouth as I stumbled out the room, tears blurring my vision. All I knew was that I had to get away from Sunggyu’s body and its gruesome story. Desperately, I thought of anything that didn’t have to do with Sunggyu – unicorns, my finished assignment for uni – uni, university, Sunggyu, dead with so much blood–

“Yah!” Someone yelped. I stumbled backwards.

“Mianhamnida,” I said hurriedly, bowing quickly before trying to push my way past. “I-I-I really have to go and do something and unicorns and–”

“Soomin?” At the sound of my name, I stopped and looked back.

“I was right!” the boy who I had bumped into smiled. “Jung Soomin, Jessica and Krystal’s sister.”

Even in my bewildered state-of-mind, it irked me that I was simply known as Sica and Krystal’s sister. “What do you want…Yong Junhyung?!”

Yong Junhyung belonged to BEAST, another group the same age as me.

“Well, you bumped into me,” he pointed out before taking a closer look at my face. “Why are you crying, Soomin-ah?”

“That’s Soomin-sshi,” I correct sharply before making my way to the hall.

“Yah! Wait for me! I was just trying to be nice!” Junhyung easily caught up with me. I glared.  

“I’m just going back to the hall,” I snapped. “Leave me alone.”

“What happened to you? Boyfriend dump you? Someone reject your confession?” he taunted.

“Shut up!” I screamed, feeling more sensitive than usual.

Junhyung raised an eyebrow. “Touchy much?”

Frustrated and furious, I stopped and kicked him…between his legs. Immediately, he collapsed onto the ground and started groaning. “Touché,” he whimpered.

I stormed off into the hall, slamming the doors open as a way of expressing my emotions.

“Soomin-ah!” Jessica cried out when she saw me. “Gwenchana?”

“I-I’m okay,” I said, brushing her off. I took a deep breath. “Sunggyu is dead. I saw it.”

Jessica paled. “You sure?” she whispered, already knowing the answer.

“Call the police,” I ordered.

Yoona dialled and I caught snatches of her conversation. “Kim Sunggyu…murdered…girlfriend, Yuri…Soomin-ah? They want to talk to you,” the pretty girl said.

“Yobeseyo?” I answered.

“Tell me everything.”

“Um, Kwon Yuri was screaming and she told everyone that Sunggyu was dead. I went to investigate and found–” I paused, trying to ignore the image of Sunggyu’s dead body, “– Sunggyu. His throat was slit, his chest, arms and face cut and he had been gagged and bound.”

“Ok,” the policeman said. “I’m sorry to say this, but we will take at least an hour for someone to come. You see, the nearest police station is half an hour away from your university, and they’re already busy with gangs.”

“What? You can’t come for an hour?”

“Miss, I’m sorry. But for now, everyone must remain in the hall. Make sure no one else goes near the victim. We’re coming as soon as we can.”

“Aish,” I sighed. “Thank you very much.” I hung up.

“What did they say?” Taeyeon demanded. “Are they coming?”

I shook my head wearily. “Not for an hour, at least,” I said. “But for now, we have to keep everyone in this hall.”

Yuri, who had stopped crying, looked anguished. “We’re too late!” she cried. “Whoever murdered Sunggyu could have escaped by now!”

I smoothed back my hair and tied it into a bun. “Yuri-ah, there’s always a chance that  the killer or killers are still here, in this room.” I gazed directly into her eyes. At the sight of her terror, I made a mad decision. “And I will find them.”

“Soomin-ah!” Jessica grabbed my arm. “This isn’t a novel. This is real life, Soomin, and you could get hurt! The police said to wait, right? You could be interfering in the investigation!”

I shook her free. “Are you implying that I murdered Sunggyu?” I said in disbelief.

“No!” my twin hissed. “For once, taking this into your own hands will not help us. Just listen to me, for once!”

I stared into her eyes. “I’m not backing down,” I said calmly. “I will find the murderer, Sica, whether you like it or not.”

“You’re being an idiot,” she warned before stalking off to speak to Taeyeon.  Triumphantly, I headed towards the sound system and grabbed a microphone.

“Excuse me!” I said. The students in the room turned towards me. “My name is Jung Soomin. As of tonight, a student was murdered. The police will not be here for a while, so we will have to stay in this hall until they do. No one can come or go, arasso?” I took a breath. “I will be investigating to the best of my abilities until the police arrive.”

“Who was murdered?” someone yelled.

“Kim Sunggyu.” Murmurs and gasps filled the room, rumours and speculation already being passed around. “Like I said, I will investigate, and I will try as hard as I can to find the murderer,” I said confidently. “I will need to talk to some people first. Remember, stay here. No one leaves.”

I put the microphone down and headed back to SNSD. They were all staring at me – Jessica with worry and anger; Taeyeon with concern; Yuri with hope.

“Yuri-ah,” I said softly. “I need to talk to you first.”