CAUTION: Love Ahead! | HAOBIN |

Twenty Three

There was a frightening silence after Zhang Hao made that statement. It was so silent that one could hear the sound of each other's breaths.

The boys, who had their mouths hung open and their eyes widened in terror, looked around at each other.

Yujin was the only one who was looking at the rest of them in wonder rather than fear. He was clearly not as shaken as the other boys were. He asked, "By crimes...do you mean the drug trafficking and abuse?"

Zhang Hao snapped his head towards Yujin and furrowed his eyebrows.

"What...do you mean?" Zhang Hao trailed off, unsure of what the youngest meant.

Hanbin swiftly moved his eyes to meet Yujin's and looked at him sternly, lightly shaking his head as 'no'.

If Zhang Hao wasn't referring to those crimes, he didn't have to know them.

Knowing more than you should would only bring danger.

Understanding Hanbin's gesture, Yujin pressed his lips tightly together, avoiding eye contact with Zhang Hao.

"Yujin! What do you mean by that?!" Zhang Hao exclaimed as Jiwoong sighed, sending a dissapointed look towards the youngest.

"What does he mean?" Zhang Hao asked, this time turning to Hanbin, expecting an answer.

Hanbin sighed. "Don't be worried about that, Hao hyung..." he said softly, hoping to distract the older male from the conversation that he was afraid of.

"Hanbin...please..." Zhang Hao said, his voice sounding desperate, "I...need to know...please..."

Hanbin looked around at the rest of the boys; most of them simply shrugged their shoulders, while the others agreed.

Hanbin took a deep breath before narrating, "A few days ago, we found out that Jae-Yun had a criminal record. He was guilty of committing heinous acts. He had a list of convicted crimes, including assault, drug trafficking, and murder. It was really a miracle he got out of the loophole and didn't end up in jail, even after considering the power he or his father had. Those kinds of crimes can land you in prison for years to no end."

"But don't' worry too much about it, hyung" Matthew reassured, watching Zhang Hao's face fall into gloom.

Fear and concern were evident and obvious in his face.

"But if not these, what other crimes were you referring to?" ricky

Zhang Hao cleared his throat, feeling uncomfortable, clearly shaken by the sudden news of his bully being a law-enforced criminal.

"What...does the pen drive contain, hyung?" Hanbin asked slowly, making sure the room was completely silent before speaking, not wanting to burden Zhang Hao with his own thoughts.

"He...was a complete lunatic." Zhang Hao began. "He had pictures and videos of his victims being abused and tortured to death. He said that it gave him pleasure looking at them dying from inside...the pen drive contained the recorded conversation he was having with someone." he shuddered while speaking slowly. 

"There were how many victims exactly?" Ricky asked, shock evident on his face. 

"Seemed to be a lot. But that's not the most disgusting part of it. He...had grown addicted to it." 

"What do you mean?" Hanbin asked Zhang Hao, who looked to be a bit better than his shaken self a few minutes ago. 

"Why don't you guys listen to it yourself?" Zhang Hao said, pulling out a black pen drive from his front pocket and plugging it to his phone. 

He clicked on 'play' and they heard the voice of Jae-Yun, undoubtedly clear. They could see the sides of two boys facing each other.

"It's true..." his, Jae-Yun's, voice, loud and unbothered.

"What the hell do you mean?!" said another voice, seemingly in a conversation with the bully.

"I did do it. And honestly, I have no regrets." 

"What...that's...you're crazy!" 

"Why, thank you. It was an accident if I'm being completely honest, but killing him made me-"

"Then, you can confess to your crimes and receive reduced punishment from the law, Jae-Yun!"

"No! What are you talking about? I'm not confessing to anything and don't try to make me!" he warningly said. "Anyway, I'm only telling you all this cause you wouldn't stop bugging me. You better not spill it to anyone else."

"I-I...but you know this is not right. And even if you claim it to be an accident, you're still not stopping. You're still bullying the other students and you're-"

"I can't seem to stop for some reason. Whenever I hear them begging and screaming for me to let them go, it just makes me even more hyped and willing to hurt them. It fills me with satisfaction,"

"You're-you're a crazy psycho!" the unknown male yelled, pointing an accusing finger at Jae-Yun. His facial featured could hardly be made out from the angle of the camera.

"I guess I am." 

"You better stop what you're doing, else I'll tell everything to the cops!" he threatened with an unstable voice.

"Oh!- and who do you think you are to stop me? You think you are actually someone to meddle in my affairs and get away with it" Jae-Yun said, moving forward slowly, trapping the male between his body and the wall. "The cops will find your body before you think about uttering a single word about me, and I mean it!" he uttered before raising his hand and slamming it down against the boy's throat as he chocked.

"AAHHH-"

"You better keep that pretty little mouth of yours shut if you don't want to end up like him..." 

He was interrupted with the sound of a gasp that took away his attention, his eyes shifting to now land on the spying boy and the phone in his hand. Zhang Hao took a step back, watching as Jae-Yun's eyes flared as he dropped the chocking boy and dashed towards the phone.

"You! What are you doing there?!"  he yelled, reaching towards the device but Zhang Hao was faster, turning around on his heels and sprinting away. The footage was unclear and blurred as it kept moving, losing focus.

"Get back here immediately!" Jae-Yun yelled as he began chasing the boy holding the camera. The footage from the camera was shaking and nothing was to be seen clearly, but everything was understood.

The camera flipped, now with Zhang Hao on the screen as he lightly whispered into the phone, "please help...", after which the screen cut off and it turned dead-silent.

"As soon as I cut the video, I took out my pen drive and saved the video to it while running away. I also deleted it from my phone, and thank god I did. Jae-Yun eventually caught up and snatched my phone but I was able to escape when he was checking my phone because the evidence was in my hands." Zhang Hao narrated. 

"I was running towards the rooftop, hoping he would stop chasing me, but he didn't. He soon realized that I had deleted it from my phone and thought I had it saved elsewhere." 

"He cornered me in the rooftop and questioned me but I didn't give away the fact that I had a copy of his crime in my pocket. And then...he got angry and pushed me off..." Zhang Hao said, trailing off.

"That's awful!" Jiwoong exclaimed. "But how did he not recover the pen drive from you afterward? 

You must have been putting up a fight but after you were pushed off and injured, did he not check if you had any evidence on you?"

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Its been ages and I'm sorry! Really really sorry...but I'll try to upload most of the story within the summer holidays!