16^th of November, 2011 – 9:39pm

Teen Top

• Rivals and friends with Infinite
• Not real rivalry – competition 
• Marks and popularity

Ahn Daniel:

• In love with Hwang Tiffany - 16-years-old
• Jealous of Sunggyu because of relationship with Tiffany
• Not friends/close with her anymore
• Love-hate relationship
• Tiffany/Sunggyu broke up 2006 Valentine’s Day
• Blames/hates Sunggyu = motive
• Unlikely that he’s the killer

16^thof November, 2011 – 9:58pm

SNSD (SoNyeoShiDae):

“I told you this was a bad idea.” Sica scowled at me across the table, where she sat with her friends. Yuri was looking a little better, with her friends still positioned protectively around her.

“Nothing’s gone wrong yet,” I replied icily. “I just need to ask you some questions, and then I’ll talk to you guys individually.”

“Well, what do you want to know?” My sister crossed her arms huffily. Taeyeon shot her a warning glance.

“Don’t be mean to your sister,” she reprimanded. “All Soomin-ssi wants to do is help.”

I felt better after hearing her say that. “Thank you, Taeyeon-ssi,” I said. “It’s just that…you guys are also suspects.”

Sunny gaped at me, looking confused and hurt. “But why?” she pleaded. “Why would we be suspects?”

“I’m just looking at all possible decisions,” I said, looking away from her sad face. “I have nothing against you – it’s just because of Yuri.” Automatically, my eyes flicked to her; everyone else did the same. “I assumed that you all knew about her relationship with Sunggyu, and the way he treated her. And I assumed that, as her friends, you would do something about it.”

They all exchanged glances before Taeyeon spoke again. “We did know about Sunggyu being a jerk,” she said carefully, “but it wasn’t right to interfere. We decided Yuri would have to do it herself. If one of us did it, we could have damaged the relationship between their families and companies.”

I directed the next question to Yuri herself. “Do you love someone else?”  

A ripple passed through the group – Yuri bit her lip anxiously and held Yoona’s hand tighter; Taeyeon, Sica and Tiffany tensed up, while Sunny and Hyoyeon looked away; Seohyun and Sooyoung both moved a little closer to Yuri. They were all waiting for her.

“I…I…You can’t tell anyone!” Yuri blurted finally. “My parents…they don’t know…and if they found out, I’d be disowned. Humiliated. Sent away. I don’t want any of that…” She trailed off, looking worried and lost.

It was all I needed to hear. “Thank you, Yuri-ssi. I’d like to talk to all of you, individually. Taeyeon-ssi?” 

“So, as the leader of SNSD, would you consider yourself overly protective of your friends?” I asked.

Her normally bright and bubbly face was solemn, but she smiled wryly at my question. “Are you asking whether I would kill Sunggyu for Yuri?”

“Yes.”

“I wouldn’t. I love my friends, and they’re like my sisters, but Yuri’s problems are her own. The most we do is comfort her,” Taeyeon said honestly.

“Isn’t that a bit harsh? Aren’t friends supposed to help each other?” I raised an eyebrow sceptically.

“Babying Yuri won’t help anything,” Taeyeon said in a no-nonsense voice. “There’s no point crying and complaining about it. You have to do something. Yuri needs to learn how to be independent.”

“And by doing something, would that include murder?”

Taeyeon gave me a dirty look. “Haven’t I already told you? I didn’t murder Sunggyu. I have no reason, no motive. Yes, Yuri is my friend but what you’re accusing me of is ridiculous, Soomin-ssi.” 

“What do you think you’re doing, Soomin-ah?” Jessica sighed angrily. “Everyone knows you want to be an investigator-journalist-whatever. But you can’t just jump in. This isn’t a game.”

I glared at her. “You know me well enough to know that I don’t do games,” I corrected. “I know how serious this is. I want to do this, and you can’t stop me.”

“Fine. But don’t say I didn’t warn you. Just get it over with.” She sighed again and slouched back in her chair.

I took a deep calming breath when I saw her inspecting her nails and blowing the stray hairs out of her face. “Jessica Jung,” I said in English. “Do you consider yourself close to Yuri?”

“We’re close, but not as close as she is to Yoong,” Sica explained. “Even so, we are all very close.”

“YoonYul, right?” I remembered their ‘couple’ nickname. “Taeyeon told me that everyone let Yuri handle her problems herself.”

“She thinks we should be independent, and that we shouldn’t rely on others too much.” Jessica nodded. “It’s tough, but true. We want to be singers and dancers and actresses. In the entertainment industry, it’s not good to be so reliant. In the news you hear stories of idols being taken advantage of by their companies. We don’t want that.”

“So, Sunny,” I began. “Can you tell me about Yuri’s relationship with Sunggyu?”

She beamed. “Sure! Yuri hated Sunggyu. Sunggyu slept with other girls, and he didn’t really like Yuri either. But they were only together for their parents.”

“Um, anything else?” I asked hesitantly.

“Why are you so interested, anyway?” Sunny sneered. “Why are you interfering with a dead man’s business? Did you like him or something? You were jealous of Yuri!” She pointed an accusing finger at me.

“What?” I blurted, completely confounded. “Don’t be ridiculous, Sunny. What are you talking about?”

She stood up angrily and leaned forwards, across the table towards me. “Don’t ‘what’ me, Soomin,” she hissed. “I know what you’re hiding.”

I was feeling unnerved by her mood swings and aggressive behaviour. “Maybe you should get a drink, or something…?” I suggested. “Maybe you’re feeling a little shocked about Sunggyu’s death.”

Sunny collapsed back into her chair, her face suddenly crestfallen. “Oh my gosh. Sunggyu’s dead,” she whispered, tears filling her eyes. Abruptly she started crying, sobbing words that I couldn’t understand.

“Hey, it’s okay,” I said gently, patting her back sympathetically. “It’s going to be okay, I’ll fix it.”

“You will?” She looked up at me with hope in her bloodshot eyes, accidentally breathing a little too close to me.

“Are you drunk?!” I asked suspiciously, recognising the scent of alcohol on her breath. “No wonder.” I sighed, and helped her to her feet.

“I heard from someone that you were Sunggyu’s ex-girlfriend,” I said.

 “That was when I was in high school, 5 years ago,” she scoffed.  “It’s old news, Soomin-ssi. Get over it.”

“Did you?” I retorted. “You haven’t been in a serious relationship since, and I’d say someone’s still in love with Kim Sunggyu.”

Tiffany glared maliciously at me. “Says the girl who’s never had a boyfriend in her whole life,” she taunted. “Don’t talk to me about love and heartbreak. You don’t know what it’s like.”

“So you’re still heartbroken?” I shot back.  “If my sources are correct, you’re not the only who was heartbroken 5 years ago.”

At the flare of rage and pain and hurt in her eyes, I wondered if she might actually attack me; her clenched fists seemed to indicate so.

“Don’t you dare talk about that to me,” she snarled. “What happened is none of your business, so out!”

“None of my business?” I repeated. “If you have – had feelings towards Sunggyu, love or hate, then it matters.” Her face was a bright pink, and her hands were curled into tight fists, the skin stretched across her knuckles. Tiffany’s eyes shining, the tears in her eyes starting to spill over.

“Just tell me everything,” I said gently. “Tell me about Sunggyu.”

“I was the happiest girl alive,” she whispered raggedly, burying her face in her hands as she cried. “6 years ago, I knew Niel was in love with me. If it hadn’t been for Sunggyu, maybe I would have accepted his confession and been happy.

“After he confessed, we had a kind of trial time – we talked, and spent time with each other. It was like we were dating, but we were just friends, looking if there was more. I enjoyed it – Niel was so nice, and he treated me like a queen.

“After a week or so, I was so confused. I liked Niel, and I loved the way he fawned over me. I was so shallow; I loved the attention. But that was all I wanted – his attention. I knew he only paid attention to me because of his crush. I was using him, and I enjoyed it.

“I was leading him on; he thought I liked him back when I didn’t, and I didn’t know how to end it. And I guess, as an escape, I found myself liking Sunggyu. He asked me out, and so naturally, I said yes.”

“So you left Niel heartbroken,” I said in a quiet statement.

“Yes. And I felt bad about it; I mean, we were friends, I guess, and I just left him like that…” She trailed off sadly. “But I forgot all about him when I was with Sunggyu. I was never happier than that – he was sweet, kind and caring; he doted on me, he gave me presents and after a month or two, he said he loved me.

“What kind of girl wouldn’t love that? But it wasn’t just the presents; I really did love him. All those nasty rumours about him – I didn’t believe a single one. I loved him. I still do. And then we broke up, only five months later. I was devastated – it was Valentine’s Day, and I had chocolates and everything for him, and I saw some random girl give him chocolates. I expected him to accept them politely, which he did, but then he kissed her! And he knew I was there, he knew I was standing there. I’d been calling his name, and he looked right into my eyes and kissed the girl.”

14^thof February, 2006 – described by Tiffany Hwang

I smiled at the imported box of European chocolates I’d ordered, imagining Sunggyu’s delight when I presented them to him. Today would be our first (out of many, I hoped) Valentine’s Day together, and I wanted my present to be extra special. Despite the fact that Sunggyu had a girlfriend, he still retained hordes of fangirls (who, I might add, were too afraid of SNSD to do anything mean to me) who still gave him chocolates and other presents on Valentine’s Day.

And as Sunggyu’s girlfriend, my present had to be the best. Striding purposely down the hallway, I spotted my friends with their various crushes or boyfriends: Yuri hugging Minho; Jessica playfully punching Jonghyun; Changmin and Yoona…almost all of them had boyfriends. They used to tease me about being single, but now I’m one of them.

I frowned a tiny bit when I noticed a girl offering her chocolates to Sunggyu with a bow. “Sunggyu-ah!” I called, reminding the girl who was in charge.

Sunggyu looked into my eyes, a hint of a smirk on his face as he leant down and kissed the random girl. That little !I thought furiously as she threw away her chocolates, responding eagerly to my boyfriend.

“Yah!” I screamed, storming towards them. Betrayal, anger, hurt, fury…all serious understatements of what I was feeling. Had he been cheating on me this whole time? Was he just playing with me this whole time? Maybe Niel was right… “What was that, oppa?” I hissed. “Kissing some random girl? And on Valentine’s Day! What the hell?! You’re my boyfriend! We’re dating! How could you?!”

Mid-rant, Sunggyu held up a hand and spoke. “About that, Fany…I have to break up with you,” he said coolly. “This isn’t working for me, you know?”

Even worse than the sea of astounded expressions was his tone – he had the air of explaining something to someone very, very stupid. And I hated it. Tears burning in my eyes, I aimed a furious glare at Sunggyu and the random girl, who had a strange resemblance to someone in SNSD, before running off.

My boyfriend of 5 months, whom I’d loved, had chosen to break up with me…on Valentine’s Day…by kissing a random girl...in front of everyone. The humiliation and heartbreak was just too much.

“After that, I didn’t talk to him…for years,” she confessed. “I was emotionally scarred. I trusted him, I loved him…and he threw it all away, just like that. I guess karma’s a , huh?”

I said nothing, reeling inside at the intensity of her heartbreak. If she had murdered Sunggyu, I would have understood why. The boy was a douchebag, through and through.

“I ignored him whenever I saw him; the others had no choice, I guess,” Tiffany continued, giving me a grimace. “But even though he hurt me, I still love him. It’s incredibly twisted, but I do. Sometimes…sometimes I wonder what it would be like if he hadn’t broken up with me, or if he’d apologised. I think about our time together all the time, but sometimes I want to hurt him, so badly.”

“Hurt him emotionally or physically?” I asked.

“Anything that would get the message through,” she said seriously. “He doesn’t understand the pain he’s caused others. So many girls have had their hearts broken because of him; he treats everything and everyone like trash and doesn’t give a damn about anyone but himself.

“If things went the way I wanted…well, we wouldn’t have broken up in the first place,” Tiffany admitted. “But it was good experience, I guess. I was too trusting, too shallow, too naïve back then. That’s changed. But if I decided how things could go…I’d break his heart. An eye for an eye, right? I wanted him to understand the pain that I went through, that others went through. And when I was done, when he was broken and hurt, when he’d learned his lesson, just like I did, I’d take him back. And we’d live happily ever after.” At my silence, she gave me a rueful smile. “I’m sick, aren’t I?”

“Well, I honestly think you should go to therapy,” I remarked. “When you talked about the others, you meant Yuri, right?”

“I know she doesn’t like him, but that doesn’t stop me from being jealous,” Tiffany said quietly. “Even though I know it’s fake, the way they act around each other, hugging, kissing, flirting and being so sweet to each other…it hurts, Soomin. It hurts.”

A few stray tears slid town her flawless face; her cold and harsh exterior had disappeared under the torrent of raw emotions.

“She’s so lucky she gets to spend time with him, even though she hates it. But when Yuri’s with us, she complains about him non-stop. I know they hate each other, but the way she treats him…” She sighed deeply. “She doesn’t care one bit about him, not at all. Everyone’s afraid of death; Yuri more than others. That’s why she was so freaked out tonight. But there was no regret, no grief, no remorse for him.”

“I know you guys are really tightly-knit and everything, but I need to ask you something,” I said seriously. “Yuri loves someone else, right?” Tiffany nodded miserably. “Could you tell me who it is?” I asked gently.

For a split-second, I saw terror flit across her face but she swallowed and nodded again. “You can’t tell anyone, though,” she whispered. “No one knows but SNSD. No one else can know.”

“I won’t,” I promised.

“It’s...it’s Sunggyu’s best friend,” she confessed. “Lee Howon…or Hoya.”