The Party That Killed || Hyunlix

77 🕸️

3rd person pov.
Minho sat down on the creaky chair, resting his elbows on the wooden table covered with piles of documents and sketches. He let out a heavy sigh, breaking the silence.

"Changbin, have you ever wondered…", he began, glancing at the paper with a distinct symbol. "…what these signs might mean if you look at them more intuitively? No documents, no explanations, just… you know, logically?"

Changbin, who was flipping through another folder, lifted his head.

"Intuitively?", he repeated, leaning his back against the wall. "Not really. I preferred sticking to facts. But…", He furrowed his brows and looked at the sketch Minho slid in front of him. "That’s not a bad idea."

"Exactly!", Minho stood up from the chair, reaching out toward the symbol. "Look at this. This triangle with an eye… Does it remind you of anything?"

Changbin leaned in, staring at the drawing.

"A triangle can symbolize harmony or hierarchy. The eye?" He fell silent for a moment before looking at Minho. "Maybe observation? Control?"

"Exactly", Minho replied, pointing at the next elements. "And this here? A crown with bull horns?"

"Power and strength," Changbin answered without hesitation. "But together with that eye… It looks more like some powerful entity that controls others."

Minho narrowed his eyes as if something had suddenly clicked.

"That would match their goals. A cult believing in something greater than humans. Something meant to guide them. But the real question is: is this symbol just their fantasy, or is there actually something bigger behind it?"

Changbin nodded, pulling out another document from the folder.

"If we want to figure this out, we need to look at all the symbols together. Maybe they form something more…" he said, arranging the sketches in a line before him.

Minho observed the layout, trying to spot something they might have missed. The central symbol—the triangle with an eye—seemed to dominate the rest, while the crown with bull horns was placed in a corner, appearing less important yet crucial to understanding the whole picture.

"You know what’s bothering me?" Minho spoke after a moment of silence. "Why are these symbols scattered so chaotically? Don’t you think there’s an order here that we just don’t see yet?"

Changbin raised an eyebrow, shuffling through more sketches until he stopped at a particularly detailed one.

"Maybe it’s not chaos," he muttered, pointing at faint lines in the background of one of the symbols. "Look at these lines. It’s like…" He frowned. "…a map?"

Minho leaned over the drawing, squinting to see the details.

"A map?", he repeated, disbelief evident in his voice. "You’re saying they hid something more in these symbols?"

"Maybe not a map, but clues," Changbin replied, pulling the sketch to the center of the table. "Look. These lines intersect exactly where the eye is. And the other symbols… Maybe they’re points connecting something?"

Minho placed his hands on the table, trying to gather his thoughts.

"If you’re right, we need to figure this out," he said, scratching the back of his neck. "But what are these points? And why is the eye at the center?"

Changbin stared at the sketch for a moment before grabbing his notebook.

"Let’s do this," he said, quickly sketching a simplified version of the symbol. "We’ll redraw it and try to find similar patterns in other documents. Maybe we can piece together a bigger picture."

Minho nodded, a shadow of determination crossing his face.

"We need to solve this before something happens," he muttered, more to himself than to Changbin. "Because if we don’t, we might miss something that’s already right at our doorstep."

Minho reached for the desk lamp, directing the light onto the drawing. The glow revealed more details within the seemingly simple lines. Changbin leaned closer, furrowing his brows.

"Wait, wait…" he said, holding his breath.  "These lines… they look like topography."

Minho looked at him in disbelief.

"You mean this is some kind of terrain map?"

Changbin nodded, pulling out his phone.

"If it really is topography, maybe we can compare these lines with a map of the area", he murmured, opening a mapping app.

Minho raised an eyebrow.

"Seriously? You think it’ll be that easy?"

"It doesn’t hurt to try", Changbin replied, ignoring his friend’s sarcasm.

A few minutes later, after zooming in and comparing sections of the map to the sketch, Changbin suddenly inhaled sharply.

"Got it!" he nearly jumped from his chair.

Minho stepped closer, staring at the phone screen.

"That’s… the forest area outside the city", he said, recognizing the familiar lines on the map. "What’s there?"

Changbin put down his phone and looked at Minho with a serious expression.

"Nothing. At least nothing officially registered."

Minho pondered this, placing his hands on his hips.

"So you’re saying someone deliberately marked this place with these symbols?"

Changbin shrugged, but his eyes glowed with determination.

"I don’t know, but it looks like we need to check it out."

Minho hesitated for a moment, then nodded.

"Alright. But this time, we prepare for anything", he said firmly. "Something tells me this place isn’t random."

Changbin gathered the sketches and notes into his bag, while Minho turned off the lamp. As they stepped out of the room, both had a feeling that what they had uncovered could be the key to solving the mystery—or leading them straight into a trap.

≈🎃≈

Jeongin stepped into the police station, feeling the weight of the officers’ gazes on him. Some had already recognized him from the missing persons case, but no one said a word. He could feel their eyes on him, hear the muffled conversations and the rustling of papers, but he forced himself to ignore it. He had to stay focused.

He walked through the hallway, passing rows of desks, until he finally stopped in front of Minho’s office door. Taking a deep breath, he tried to calm the pounding in his chest. His hand clenched into a fist, but instead of knocking, he simply grabbed the handle and walked in.

Minho looked up from his documents, his gaze landing on Jeongin.

"I need your help", Jeongin said, his voice filled with determination.

Silence fell over the room, as if his words had frozen in the air, forewarning something no one was ready to hear.

🕸️🕸️🕸️

Sorry for such a long absence