𝐒𝐔𝐂𝐊𝐄𝐑 𝐏𝐔𝐍𝐂𝐇

#.. FIFTY-EIGHT

the next days were a blur. just the next morning the principal made an announcement, asking for a minute of silence for their deceased student and talking about mental health awareness.

some people laughed at the mention of jungsu's name, as if they waited for his death. this was punished by being sent to the principal.

the announcement was how the rest of the friendgroup found out that jungsu, their beloved friend, really did kill himself.

right after that lesson they met up in the attic, it was unusually quiet if one ignored seungmin's ugly crying.

jiseok was not present that day, but the others could imagine that he was in the same state as seungmin.

the silence was heavy, marking the reason why it was even present. gunil, who was hugging seungmin in a comforting manner, was the one to break the barrier.

"this can't be real.." he stuttered, tears pooling in his eyes. despite being in the same friend group, he never really formed a bond with jungsu, feeling that the younger still hated him.

but hearing that someone so young died and in such a brutal way was making him emotional.

seungmin tried to say something, yet ended up breaking down even more. with his hands clasped together, he seemed to be praying.

gunil just pressed him closer to his own body, rubbing seungmin's back. words like "it will be okay" would not be appropriate.

he knew his friend would not believe him the slightest. nothing would ever be okay in seungmin's eyes.

jooyeon and hyeongjun tried reaching jiseok in the meantime. both their hearts felt squeezed, convulsing when they thought about how desperate jungsu must've been.

to think that the only way out was suicide...

hyeongjun's call finally went through after both of them tried a dozen of times. but it was not what they expected.

"hello?"

it was a female voice. hyeongjun and jooyeon exchanged confused looks. eventually hyeongjun was able to assign the voice to jiseok's mother.

"mrs kwak, hi... we just wanted to check on jiseok..."

"so you found out?"

a sigh emerged.

"he was the one to find jungsu..."

all of them quieted down, seungmin tried ro suppress his sobs just to listen to what mrs kwak was telling them.

"i think you know he was also the one to find his brother after he hung himself. doctors said that the sudden revelation to a similar traumatic event made him pass out.

and when he woke up, he... jiseok, he- he is tangled in a catatonic state since this morning. they don't really know when he'll snap out of it.."

all of them were shocked, though shocked was an understatement. gunil's brows furrowed.

"catatonic?" he repeated, his mother made an approving sound, almost sounding like she was holding back tears herself

"he's completely withdrawn from reality. they've tried electroconvulsive therapy... all he did was start to scratch his thighs nonstop.

my poor baby... oh, poor jungsu..."

just hearing the name again made seungmin start to cry again, burying his face in gunil's shoulder.

hyeongjun swallowed and nodded. "o-okay... thanks for telling us mrs kwak.."