Dead Can't Talk (Seventeen x OC Gang Au)

Chapter 3

Joshua yawned as he pressed the replay button. Jihoon was knocked out beside him, exhausted from looking at the monitor screen for hours. He rubbed his bleary eyes as he leaned back on his leather chair, thoughts running through his head like a never-ending spinning top. He analysed every possible way the girl could have entered the room and escaped without them noticing. And how the girl felt so familiar to him.

With a sigh, he paused the video and head out of Jihoon's office, bumping into Minghao along the way. "How's the video watching going?" the lanky boy asked, holding up two cups of hot coffee. Joshua smiled gratefully as he took one.

"We couldn't get much from the videos," Joshua gave a defeated sigh.

Minghao raised an eyebrow. "Really? Let me see. Maybe we can get a new perspective?" he suggested. Joshua stepped to the side to let the younger enter Jihoon's office. Minghao looked around the office with slight curiosity before dropping onto the chair Joshua occupied a few moments before.

Minghao pulled the video back to the beginning and watched the whole thing again. His sharp eyes registered every tiny details until the end. The video stopped at where Seventeen escaped and the smoke continued to emit from somewhere in the room. Minghao hummed as he watched the ending again.

"Hyung, do you have the one at least half an hour after we escaped?" Minghao asked. Joshua shook his head. Minghao sighed and poke Jihoon's cheek in attempt to wake him up. To say the least, Jihoon didn't like being forced awake but it was work (not really since they were only trying to search up the mystery girl).

Jihoon did his job and the trio watched the new videos. As the smoke cleared and everything had seem calmer, the wooden pedestal that held up the glass case seemed to move. A hidden door swung open as the girl carefully stepped out from the tiny space and gave a small sigh, holding up the gem. Jihoon gritted his teeth as she tucked it into her pocket and strolled up to the safe room door casually.

She peeked out of the room and deeming it safe, she made her way out of the building, side-stepping over the guards on the floor. She crouched down beside one unconscious body and felt his pulse. Satisfied, she patted the guard's head before dragging him to the wall and left him there, head resting comfortably against the wall.

Minghao strained to at least catch the person's face but she kept her head down, the stupid baseball cap and face mask covering her face. Suddenly the girl stopped and the trio could see one of the guards that they hadn't managed to knock out approaching her quickly.

Jihoon groaned as he realised that they couldn't hear what was being said but there was a sort of agitation on the guards face. The girl shook her head and the trio watched in anticipation as the much larger male reached out, probably to pull the cap away. But before he could do so, the girl gripped his wrist and kicked his guts. The man doubled in pain as the mysterious girl lifted a leg and slammed his head down with her foot, effectively sending him unconscious.

Brushing her gloved hands, she turned and left through the main entrance of the building as if she hadn't sneaked in, stole the loot that was supposed to be theirs and smashed a guard down like it was the easiest thing on earth. Joshua could feel his jaw drop as he watched the whole thing.

"Ugh, we still have no clue how she got in," Jihoon threw up his hand in frustration. While Jihoon grumbled, Minghao's attention seemed to be on something else. He replayed the part where the girl effortlessly got rid of her obstacle to escape. The move seemed way too familiar.

"Hyung, can you call Hoshi-hyung here?" Minghao mumbled as he cropped the section into a clip. Joshua did as Minghao told and fetched Soonyoung. Minutes later, the hamster faced boy stepped into Jihoon's room with a good natured smile.

"What's the emergency?" he joked as he stood behind Jihoon's chair, leaning casually on it. Jihoon pushed his chair closer to the table, nearly making his friend stumble slightly. He smiled sheepishly at the shorter one before turning his attention to the clip Minghao had cut. His smile seemed to slide off when he watched Mystery Girl slam the guard down, almost mercilessly.

"What do you think, hyung?" Minghao asked quietly. Joshua and Jihoon exchanged confused glances as Hoshi's eyebrows furrowed together.

"What's going on?" Jihoon demanded as Soonyoung replayed the clip again. Soonyoung said nothing except to ask Joshua to call everyone into Jihoon's office, much to the hacker's displeasure.

Everyone had questioning glances as they squeezed into the tiny office. By then, Soonyoung had moved the clip to one of the bigger monitors for everyone to see. The members watched silently. Hoshi and Minghao can hear the gasp from the field members. There was a sort of tense silence.

"Hyung, I thought that's one of our signature moves," Chan spoke up in disbelief. Soonyoung nodded solemnly. "But how is it possible?"

Soonyoung sighed. "It may be a signature move but anyone can do it. But for someone with that physique against someone much larger and stronger looking, it's almost impossible to create that much force to knock out someone unless specific technique is applied. In fact, I taught this technique around seven years ago to...," he trailed off. The tension grew as the name hung over their heads.

"Jeonghui," Jeonghan whispered but everyone heard him. It had been four years but her name left an uncomfortable feel in their hearts. Soonyoung nodded slowly. When they couldn't find her body in the fire, almost everyone assumed that she was dead. It hit them hard, losing one of the most important friend and member to them. Jeonghan, the hardest. "But that's impossible. She died in the fire."

"Do you think... she never died in the fire at all?" it was Seungkwan who spoke up, unusually quiet during the whole 15 minutes of the unexpected meeting. "There wasn't any body found so... it would make sense, right? What if she took the chance and ran away?"

No answer.

Except for the sniffling from Jeonghan. "It's all my fault," he almost whimpered. Everyone turned to him. "If I truly understood what she meant that night instead of brushing it off, we wouldn't have lost her," he rubbed his eyes to prevent the tears that threatened to spill out from falling. "Doesn't matter if she's dead or alive, we lost her."

No one said anything. They knew the close relationship Jeonghan and Jeonghui had. When she first joined, an injured orphan with nowhere to go, the first person she found comfort in was Jeonghan. Like a baby duckling and its mother. After the fire and the whole ordeal of not being able to find her body, he locked himself in one of the hotel rooms for day, refusing to eat until Seungcheol and Joshua had to forcefully feed him. It took him almost a year to recover and finally prepare a funeral. There was no body but they held it anyways, at least for her memories.

Seungcheol reached for Jeonghan's shoulder and gave a soft pat. "No, it was my fault. If I had asked her what was on her mind. What problems and concerns she had been facing instead of snapping at her and creating an uproar... I should have been a better leader. She was only a kid," he mumbled solemnly.

The silence returned. "It wasn't any of your fault," Vernon spoke up. The attention fell on the second youngest. There was a sad look in his eyes but he shrugged it off. "If anything, it's those bastards who set fire to our home."

Everyone agreed. But there was still an uncomfortable feel. Everyone blamed themselves. It was Joshua who sighed and stood up, telling all of them to get some rest. "Well, we can't confirm if it's Jeonghui or not but we need to rest. Maybe we had mistaken. Hoshi did say that anyone can learn the move," he smiled softly at them. His friends nodded and quietly filed out of the room, except Jeonghan.

"Is it alright if I look at the clip again?" Jeonghan asked. Jihoon gave a nod and left the room, quietly shutting the door behind him. Jeonghan sighed as he replayed the clip, watching the girl take out the large guard. The tears he tried to hide dripped down his face as he sobbed quietly in the dark room. "I'm so sorry, my baby. I should have been a better friend and brother," he sniffed as he replayed the clip all over again.

Jeonghan hopped that wherever Jeonghui was, either 5 feet under or being somewhere out there, she would forgive him.