Yuri is in the Arts building, running from the painting studios to the music practice rooms to the performance hall. She spots a familiar face. “Jonghyun,” she wheezes, “Have you seen Suho?”

“I saw him this morning,” Jonghyun responds, chugging water from a clear plastic bottle. “He was heading to the Administration building. Suho seemed really... weird. It looked like he was in a trance.“

Yuri curses under her breath. The Administration building is on the other side of campus.

“Thanks!” she calls as she sprints away.

Kris reaches the Administration building, his face damp with sweat. “Mr. Wu! How may I help you?” Ms. Choi, the receptionist, asks.

“I was wondering if Kim Suho was here,” Kris responds. “It’s important.”

“Kim Suho? Well...,” Ms. Choi furrows her eyebrows in thought. “He was here this morning to schedule an appointment with the dean. I’m not sure where he went afterwards. Probably to one of this professor’s classrooms.”

Damn, Kris thinks. If only I was earlier.

“Thank you, Ms. Choi!” he calls as he races out the door.

“I’ve checked his first few periods,” Kyung Mi texts Hana, Kai, Yuri, Kris, and Yoojin. “He’s not there. I’m going to his last period right now.”

Kyung Mi reaches room A107, located in the E building on campus. She lightly knocks on the door.

“Come in,” a voice says, and Kyung Mi enters.

“Ah, Kyung Mi! What brings you here, sweetie?” Professor Dae says.

“Well, I was just wondering if you had seen Suho,” Kyung Mi smiles. “I’m looking for him.”

“Suho? Yes, he was in my last class. He stayed longer after the bell had rung to ask a few questions.”

Kyung Mi tilts her head. “A few questions?”

“Yes. I think he’s having trouble in Professor Oh’s class, like the rest of you students. All of his questions were about what her.” Professor Dae laughs, and then looks guilty. “I hope Suho doesn’t get mad at me for telling you.”

Kyung Mi’s suspicions are confirmed. He’s trying to get more information on Hana so he can completely reveal her, and make it more scandalous. She shakes her head. “Don’t worry, Professor Dae, I won’t tell anyone.”

“Thank you,” Professor Dae exhales, a hand on her heart. “I wouldn’t want a sweet boy like him to hate me.”

Kyung Mi nearly scoffs at the word “sweet”. “Er, Professor Dae, one last question: do you know where he went?”

Professor Dae scratches her head. “Er... I’m not sure. After class, he usually goes to the library, or someplace else. Ask one of his friends. I’m sure they’ll know!”

“Thanks, Professor!” Kyung Mi calls as she runs out the room.

Yoojin is in the sports training building. The place is nearly deserted; her footsteps make echoing clacks as she walks down the vinyl flooring. Only a few hallway lights are . The rest of the training rooms, practice rinks, and courts in the building are dark and locked.

Yoojin is in half a mind to leave; this place is creepy, and Joonmyeon is probably not here. Suddenly, however, she sees a brightly-lit room at the end of the hallway. Gym, the red plaque next to the door reads.

Yoojin tentatively peers through the window.   

Joonmyeon is inside, furiously benching weights. His torso is completely drenched with sweat, allowing Yoojin to see the hard lines of Joonmyeon’s abs through his cotton wifebeater. His breaths are heavy.

Yoojin silently texts the HSC where Joonmyeon is located. Before she steps inside, an idea sparks in Yoojin’s mind. She presses a button on her phone and tucks it away in her back pocket.

Finally, taking a deep breath, she opens the door.

“I would’ve thought you’d be at the office, or at the headquarters of The Seoul Times,” Yoojin says coolly, stepping inside the gym. “You do possess a golden picture.”

Joonmyeon sets down his dumbbell with a clunk! He remains lying down, however. “What are you doing here?” he asks Yoojin coldly.

“Trying to stop you,” Yoojin responds, walking closer towards Joonmyeon. “You realize that releasing those photos will ruin both Kai and Professor Oh’s lives, right?”

“I don’t give a damn about Professor Oh,” Joonmyeon scoffs. “But Kai? I’ve been waiting for this my entire life. Why do you care about what I do to him?”

“For starters, it’s because he’s my friend. He’s also a member of the HSC, which means if he gets expelled, we’ll have to disband. But mostly,” Yoojin says, looking Joonmyeon straight in the eyes, “he was a decent human being that stood up for me when you were making my life hell.”

Joonmyeon freezes.

After a few moments of silence, he whispers, “I need to become CEO. You- you don’t understand. I didn’t sacrifice my entire life, my sanity, everything, just so that I become a little employee in the company. I didn’t lose you to not gain the position of CEO! I despised myself for treating you like that! But I-,”

“Funny, Joonmyeon,” Yoojin says, her voice cracking just the slightest. “For a moment there, you almost had me fooled. I almost believed that you actually cared about me.”

Joonmyeon shoots up. “You think I didn’t?” he shouts. Now that Yoojin is seeing Joonmyeon up close, she can see the dark circles and heavy bags under his eyes, the unhealthy paleness of his skin. Yoojin slowly takes a step back. Joonmyeon looks demonic, psychotic, absolutely crazy.

“Then why did you bully me all throughout high school? Why did you constantly harass me both physically and mentally, by calling me names, destroying my property, and inflicting bruises on me?” Yoojin speaks clearly, enunciating every one of her words. “You can’t say that you didn’t do it.”

An unreadable emotion flickers in Joonmyeon’s eyes. “Yes. I did.”

“And you were immature as hell, too. I know what kind of things you and you friends did. Those days you stumbled into the house at 3 AM, smelling like and beer. Framing a poor butler for breaking your Father’s favorite vase: something worth hundreds of thousands. The time you and your friends hired strippers when your parents were in Bali.”

The sound of his past misdemeanors cause Joonmyeon to cringe. Truth be told, doing those things kept Joonmyeon sane. They were a temporary relief from the high stress of his life. The moment Joonmyeon graduated from high school, he swore he would never do any of those things again.

But now he was hearing them listed out for him again...

An anguished expression overtakes Joonmyeon’s features. “I did those things. I know they were horrible and disgusting and I’m ashamed of myself for committing those deeds.”

“I’ll admit it,” Joonmyeon continued, “I’m a terrible person. I treated you and so many other people like , just because they were in a lower class than me, or because of another petty reason. But Yoojin...,”

“What?” Yoojin swallows the lump building in . “Don’t say that you regret it. If you regretted it, you would have apologized. You wouldn’t have continued acting terribly towards me, even now, in university. You have no excuse for being a complete, utter piece of .”

And suddenly, Joonmyeon’s face crumples in. He staggers backwards, his back hitting the wall. Yoojin’s eyes widen in alarm. She rushes forward to aid Joonmyeon.  

“I don’t want to be CEO!” he shouts. “I never wanted to! I wanted to stay with you on the island and keep exploring! Yoojin, I wanted to be by your side forever, because I loved you. But I couldn’t let my Mother down. She would’ve suffered in shame, a forgotten figure from my father.”

“Joonmyeon,” Yoojin murmurs, sinking down next to him. But he does not stop raving.

“So I followed her orders, and soon, I got carried away in it all. Mistreating you hurt me so badly, but it hurt you even more. There’s no excuse for my actions. I feel like a robot! I do everything based on whether it benefits me or not, or what my parents tell me. I- I don’t feel alive!”

Yoojin and Joonmyeon sit in absolute silence. There are tears in Yoojin’s eyes.

Suddenly, the door to the gym slams open.

Kai, Hana, Yuri, Kris, and Kyung Mi are standing in the entrance, arms crossed.

Joonmyeon takes a long look at them, then glances back at Yoojin.

“Oh, Yoojin,” he sighs. “It's all over."

A/N: HOLY ING I CANNOT BELIEVE I AM FEATURED LIKE OH MY GOD I LITERALLY STARTED SCREAMING IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DOCTOR'S OFFICE WHEN I SAW THAT IM FEATURED OH MY GDO THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH AJFKSDFASFSDFASDFK NNSGLAKSDAS

ANYWAY SERIOUSLY I NEVER THOUGHT I'D EVER, EVER BE FEATURED. I started writing on AFF years ago, and my stories were AWFUL. But with tons and tons of practice I got so much better. (this is my new account so my old fanfics aren't on here. but trust me, unless you want your eyes to contract herpes, you DON'T want to read my old stories)

Anyway, I'm still debating what to do about Suho. HnghhHHh