𝐈 𝐍𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐃𝐈𝐄 • 𝐍𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 𝐇𝐀𝐒 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐄

𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗡𝗶𝗻𝗲

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Discussions for who to vote for continued until eventually majority of the students gave up and dispersed, going their separate ways. Junhee was irritated, they had not come to a conclusion about who to vote for.

Jiwoo was one of the students to leave, telling her brother that she would vote for whoever he voted for. She needed air after this conflict and she also needed a moment to clear her head, away from all the endless bickering and decisions that awaited her.

Just as she sat down on the stairs, she felt a presence at her side, looking to see Kyungjun silently beside her. He said nothing for a few seconds and Jiwoo seethed quietly, she was still annoyed with him for his comments regarding her brother.

It also was confusing her, she was conflicted between trusting the boy and voting for him.

Why were things never easy and self explanatory for her?

"You were a dick earlier," Jiwoo commented, being the one to break the silence that fell over the two — it was odd, they were never usually this quiet and harsh when it was just them, "what is your obsession with blaming my brother for everything?"

When she turned to look at him, she found he was already looking at her. He blinked slowly, as if trying to formulate the correct words. "It was his fault, he came up with the idea." Kyungjun defended and Jiwoo rolled her eyes, snapping her eyes away from his, why had she even bothered? "But, I suppose, he may not be Mafia, I was wrong."

The girl paused, turning to look at him once again, her lips curling in amusement. "Who knew that the great Kyungjun could ever be wrong." Jiwoo fake gasped and he nudged her with his shoulder as she chuckled.

"I'm sorry, I was wrong about your brother being Mafia, but I am certain that Wooram is, everything just makes sense." Kyungjun insisted and the girl sighed, knowing that she had agreed to vote for whoever her brother had voted for.

Jiwoo placed her phone on the step at her side and looked at Kyungjun once again, conflicted and slightly perplexed. It was just the same as before, he was a dick in front of others but when it was just them, it was as that had not happened and they were just in their own bubble, drifting out of reality.

Pausing for a second, she tapped her fingers against her thigh. "I told Junhee that whoever he voted for, I'd just do the same. It's not me you need to convince."

"All the evidence so far points towards him though." Kyungjun continued and the girl could only shrug. "Can you not convince him?"

The girl laughed and his own lips turned upwards for a second from the sound. "I can't convince my brother anything, he knows his own mind. I'm sure he'll eventually realise, he's smart but focused on seeing the good in everyone unless proven otherwise." Jiwoo explained, hesitantly reaching out to place her hand on Kyungjun's shoulder.

It had been an act of reassurance and for a moment Kyungjun forgot the entire reason he had even approached the girl, caught up in the small smile she gave him.

Reality snapped back into him as they heard the speakers announce that another student had voted for Wooram, reminding Kyungjun that he did not have long to convince the other students of who to vote for.

So, with a halfhearted mumble of a goodbye, he was on his feet and walking down the hallway, leaving Jiwoo to frown as she watched him leave. As soon as he was out of sight, she allowed her mind to repeat the encounter over and over, memorising every detail of it to check that she had not misinterpreted anything.

Jiwoo remained there, sat on those steps, for ten minutes after Kyungjun had left, staring blankly at the entrance door at the bottom of the lobby. She rested her head on the banister and frowned, wondering how their lives had changed so suddenly. One second they were excitedly voting for who was going to be Class President and then the next they were less excitedly voting for who they were going to sentence to death.

It just was not fair and Jiwoo hated the pressure that came with deciding.

A notification buzz made her snap out of her train of thought, grabbing the phone from where it sat on the step next to her. Glancing down at her phone in her hand, she noticed that the notifications told her that Wooram, Yoonseo, Nahee, Somi, Junhee and Jungwon had all voted for Kyungjun.

Her last conversation with her brother flashed in her mind and she grimaced, realising that she needed to follow through with the agreement but she hesitated when pressing his name.

She glanced between Wooram and Kyungjun, her finger pausing as it hesitated between the two names.

Instead of pressing vote, she decided now was the time to use her Police abilities and pressed onto her chosen name. Pressing accept, she bit her lip as she awaited the role to be revealed.

There was the obvious choice, checking if Kyungjun had been correct in his accusations towards Wooram, offering confirmation that he was a liar.

However, Jiwoo knew that she could not allow herself to be so conflicted with her own emotions if he was a Mafia, she had to know for her own peace of mind, as well as survival.

Glancing down at her phone screen, she read the contents of her notification and let out a shallow breath. Taking a moment, she moved her finger along the voting menu and pressed onto her chosen person. When the confirmation box appeared she paused and looked around at the empty lobby, realising nobody was around to see her.

Jiwoo just hoped that her brother would understand why she had done this, although she doubted that she would be able to explain herself.

"Kim Jiwoo voted for Park Wooram."

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Words~1011.
{edited:no}