Nocturnal Buddies ✩ Yang Jeongin

Chapter 72

Hyunjoo was exhausted by the time she arrived home. Stray Kids had managed to convince her to learn the new choreography. They reminded her that she was the ninth member of the group and that they were expecting her to perform with them. Of course, she couldn't disappoint them so she danced with all her energy.

The girl crashed onto her bed shortly after taking a shower, allowing her damped hair to sprawl across the plush surface. She laid there for a while, taking in the tranquility, before she grabbed her phone. Hyunjoo went onto YouTube to watch something, hoping to wind down for the night. Her exhaustion slowly took over as her heavy eyelids fell shut.

Before she fell asleep, she got up to turn off her light. A yawn escaped her as she charged her phone. She fell onto her bed shortly after, pulling her blanket over her tired body. The calmness of the night embraced her in its arms as it soothed her to sleep. Hyunjoo began to fall into a peaceful slumber, unaware of what was awaiting her in the morning.

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The vibrations of her phone had caused her to stir from her sleep. She ignored it at first, snuggling into her cozy bed, but it didn't stop. Begrudgingly, she opened her eyes to the morning light flooding her room, clearly not ready to wake up quite yet. Her hand lazily searched her desk for the device that had woken her up. Once she had secured it, she pulled it to her.

Still overcomed by her tiredness, she closed her eyes, burying half her face into the pillow. She was snapped away from falling back asleep when her phone vibrated again. A groan fell from her lips before she squeezed her eyes together, trying to muster up the energy to finally see what was going on. Her eyes fell onto the piling notifications from the "Academically Challenged" group chat.

Hyunjoo unlocked her phone before blinking a couple of times. She was too disoriented to make sense of what was going on, even though her friends were practically shouting for her attention through their text messages. The girl began to scroll up to the beginning of the chat log for the day, hoping it'll make more sense to her. Confusion visibly appeared on her face when she saw the first message sent by Jaehyun.

She completely discarded the message that he followed up with and tapped on the link. Her eyes widened when she noticed the familiar username. The tiredness that once had a firm hold on her was quickly pushed away. Hyunjoo practically scrambled up from her spot to sit up on her bed, still in disbelief of what she was seeing. With a shaking hand, she played the video attached to the tweet.

Nausea rushed over the girl as she watched in horror, chills running down her spine. She watched as the person trailed behind her and Jeongin, recording them. Their laughter traveled through the air, yet the happy moment had suddenly turned eerie. Hyunjoo felt sick to the stomach by the end of the video, unable to comprehend the fact they were being followed the entire time.

She swiped over to see the images that were taken following after. It was of her and Jeongin entering the company building, continuing where the video left off. Hyunjoo quickly returned to the group chat, trying to see what was happening.

Academically Challenged 🥴

Jaehyun
[Sent a link]
Jiyoon that bitch
Sent at 9:14

Areum
What?

Jaehyun
Just watch the video

Areum
You're fucking joking me
This has to be some sick joke

Taeyoung
She followed them?

Jaehyun
Yeah
That's fucking terrifying

Areum
This video makes me skin crawl
Why is she trailing behind them like that