Through The Blinds | Skz

Chapter 17 - Seungmin

TW- mention of extreme stalking and mention of murder~ otherwise it's safe 🫶 this is an info/background chapter :) I tried to make things tie together! See you at the end~ (unedited :p idk I didn't feel like it today)

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After I finished explaining to Jeongin what I had read in the messages, and listened to the voicemail together, he looked at me worriedly.

"I really didn't want anybody unnecessary to get involved in this..." he sounded extremely concerned.

"Well, it was probably a matter of time, since I am Changbin's roommate..." I explained, "I mean, what was that weird messaging about anyway?"

"Well, I don't know if I should tell you this, but..."He took a deep breath in and sat with his knees against his chest on the ground. I sat next to him criss-cross.

"My cousin, Bangchan, is actually an illegitimate child my Uncle had out of wedlock." Jeongin explained, "He was always treated well by my father, like a second child."

"We basically grew up together, I looked up to him so much," Jeongin paused, "But his own Father neglected him."

"He saw him as more of a tool for succession than anything else..." Jeongin said, "He took him from his mom, I'm not sure why, and brought him to live as his son."

"I think my uncle reveled in the fact he was superior to his wife financially, and took out more of that superiority on his son." Jeongin said, I could hear the melancholy in his voice.

"I take it something happened? You sound like you really care about Bangchan..." I asked, that voicemail definitely gave the impression that something drove them apart.

"Well, Bangchan had always been popular with women, and he had a lot of girlfriends." Jeongin got a bit red, "Including my crush."

I raised my eyebrows, this hadn't really been what I was expecting him to say. "Is that-"

"That's not why things are bad between us though!" He interrupted, "It's actually because Bangchan is in love with Changbin."

"What?" I answered simply, blinking at Jeongin.

"My cousin...I don't know why but he's completely obsessed with Changbin..." Jeongin explained.

"How does that effect your relationship?"

"I, it's just, when Bangchan is obsessed with something, he goes kind of crazy." Jeongin had a flash of fear cross his expression.

"What is that supposed to mean?" I had a hunch.

"He becomes enamored with knowing everything about them, from their daily routine, to every relationship they've ever had. And he documents everything." Jeongin explained.

"So he stalks people he's interested in?" I tried to encourage Jeongin to continue, my hunch was being confirmed.

"Basically, but, he's gets really extreme...like, breaking into houses extreme..." Jeongin said while glancing around, "he used to have me help him sneak out constantly, but I only found out where he had been going recently."

"He would go take thousands of photos, inside and outside, of everything the person did." Jeongin explained, " I saw his photo collection, when I came to visit him during senior year..."

"It's insanity, I was able to sneak photos of it while I was there a couple days ago..."Jeongin shuddered a bit, "I actually know he has killed some people too..."

"What!?" I leaned towards Jeongin, I was shocked. He had said it so casually too.

"What are you saying Jeongin!? He's killed people!?" I whisper shouted. "That's a serious accusation..."

"No, I'm not accusing him," Jeongin said quietly, "I've seen the photos, Seungmin..."

"Hundreds of photos of their bodies right after they were killed." He held his legs tighter.

"I hate him so much." He whispered as his eyes started to tear up.

I was still in shock, but I reached an arm around his shoulders to try comforting him. I held him close.

"That's insane Jeongin..." I assured him.

"And he's obsessed with my roommate now?" I asked, remembering the text messages.

"Not 'now'...he's been obsessed with Changbin for years...I'm not completely sure why or when it started...but-" Jeongin rubbed his eyes with his finger tips.

"I'll just show you." He reached under his bed and pulled out a small box, it was flat and made of cardboard. Inside were piles of photos, Jeongin picked one up. "This is his room."

The picture was slightly askew, clearly taken without permission. The room was dark, but you could clearly make out thousands of piles of photos, stacked on the ground, taped to the walls, and piled on a table. The photos were clearly of Changbin. I saw photos clearly, from ones in the college to ones of a young looking Changbin in a school uniform. I was creeped out and disgusted. A shiver ran down my spine.

"What the hell..." I muttered.

"It's insanity..." Jeongin answered me in a whisper.

"I don't want Changbin to end up dead..." Jeongin finally said, "But I know Bangchan has already made an impression on him."

"I know that if he sees my name and finds out we are related, Changbin will ask Bangchan about me, and I think Bangchan will come up with some reason why I can't be trusted." Jeongin gestured to the phone on the desk, "so I thought the best solution was to warn him anonymously...but he didn't listen to me..."

"Oh my god Jeongin... I can't believe this..." I blinked and the gears in my brain started turning.

"Do..do you want some help with this? I don't want Changbin to die either." I asked.

"Really? You'd be willing to help me?" Jeongin looked at me with slightly glossy eyes.

"Of course! Changbin isn't dumb either, I think we should be aggressive with warning him!" I pointed to the box of pictures.

"You should get a new number and message him again, this time I'll help you with the messages. And we should give him some material to help him figure things out without Bangchan getting in the way." I picked up a picture of the room from a different angle, "Wouldn't getting a box of pictures like this from an anonymous person trigger you to do some investigating? Especially if you've been hearing bad things about Bangchan lately?"

"You're right..." Jeongin stared at my hand holding the photo.

"I think we should kick things into gear, it'll be hard, but I'm not scared of Bangchan like you are." I felt angry that he was trying to corrupt Changbin, I felt compelled to do something.

"Wow...thank you so much Seungmin..." Jeongin muttered.

"Of course! This is serious!" I repeated.

"So, what should we do first?" Jeongin asked, standing up.

"First, since we don't want Bangchan to do anything impulsive or find out what we're doing, we should put some work into planting the seed of suspicion in Changbin." I explained. "If you see him, make sure to mention something about Bangchan being a bad influence."

"Ok..." Jeongin nodded.

"Also, it's probably a good idea if I don't stay at our dorm for a while, I don't want Bangchan to get suspicious of me." I thought out loud.

"I'll stay at a hotel until things are less stressful." I decided, I had more than enough funds to stay at ten hotels for the rest of my life. Money wasn't a problem.

"I'll get some stuff from our dorm, I'll leave things there too though, it'll help get Changbin suspicious. Since I'm sure Bangchan already knows I'm his roommate, it'll really sow the seeds if I'm mysteriously gone." I theorized.

"If you're alright with doing that, I think you're right." Jeongin agreed.

"Then we'll go our separate ways and I'll text you when we should meet up to plan." I concluded.

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The end! It was short but I tried to give plenty of info :) see you tomorrow! Much love ❤️