When You Were Here ✅

ㅡNew Dayㅡ

"He's gone!" I slowly sat up then rubbed my eyes. Who in their warped mind would be yelling so early? "Changmin! He's gone. Youngjo's gone!" My eyes snapped open as they scanned the floor. How could he have disappeared? There was no way for anyone to get in unless they were let in or...

"An inside job." Jaehyun looked at me confused. "There's only two ways that he could've been taken. Either someone is working with the kidnapper, or an inside job..." I looked around the room at the possible suspects. Sangyeon and Chanhee weren't excluded from it either. "Did you get a text?" He shook his head. "Help me check their phones." We woke up their phones in search of a notification. Jaehyun silently motioned to Juyeon. I mouthed an "okay" then motioned for him to come back over. "What did it say?" "When you were here, honestly used to be my policy."

I watched everyone arise one by one until they were half awake. "We lost Youngjo." Everyone was on alert then looked at where Youngjo used to be. "Hey, I got a text..." I looked at Juyeon and waited for him to recite it. "'When you were here, honesty used to be my policy.' Wow..." The others seemed shaken by the turn of events. "So, I'm going to need you all to talk. Now." I had them form a line outside so I could talk to each one on one. I had Hwanwoong stand guard outside in case anyone tried anything funny.

"So Jaehyun. Tell me everything you know about Eric." He sighed then folded his arms. "Good kid. Got good grades, got close with all of us. Especially me. We didn't reach that best friend stage like K&K." I nodded. "Hm...He told me a lot of things, but I noticed he often wasn't around at times. Skipped a few club meetings. A few times his eyes were a bit dilated. Red even. Other than that he's a nice, kind guy. Except around Hwan." "What about Kevin?" "I don't know. We really weren't close. Keonhee would know everything, but..." I wondered if the others would say the same thing. "Keonhee?" "Uh, I was convinced he was head over heels for Kevin. Yet he always denied it. Oh, he used to bring cookies to club meetings. He stopped after some time. What else...Oh! He had two girlfriends, both were trash. Kevin properly disposed of them. Not sure how." The group definitely was a strange one.

"Younghoon?" "He was the treasurer of the club. Everyone loved him along with the president, vice and secretary. He and Geonhak are pretty close believe it or not. Back in high school, I caught them holding hands in an empty classroom. Imagine the surprise I felt when Geonhak and Juyeon confirmed they were official. Actually, they had a pretty big fight in their freshman year of college, Younghoon and Geonhak. Only..." "Only...?" He looked as if he'd be punished for saying it. "Only he knows..." "He who?" "Can we move on?" His eyes pleaded with me. Just who is this he they always referred to? "What about Youngjo?" "He's the one who brought us altogether, along with him...He was like the grandfather of the group while Sangyeon was the father. And he was like mom...Now that I think about it, he was acting weird around the same time Eric was. Younghoon and Kevin too. But Eric and Kevin are naturally weird, so it's nothing to worry about."

I sent him back out and Juyeon had come in. "Tell me what you know about the missing people." "Well, I'm not exactly close to the younger ones. I am close friends with Youngjo and good friends with Younghoon. I was one of the first members recruited into the club. Youngjo was always a pleasure to have around and he genuinely wanted the club to do well. They all did...Then in college, Youngjo seemed to be acting strangely. Younghoon at times too...I figured it was college stress getting to them. Gets everyone, you know?" "So, you don't know a thing about the other three?" He shook his head. I sent him out then watched Geonhak come in. "So, tell me what you know about the missing people."

"I don't know much about Keonhee and Kevin, to clarify. They weren't exactly my people. Eric was slightly hyperactive. We loved him for it. He cheered people up without really doing much. He brought a bit of the life to the club. Younghoon was like the cool stepdad of the club. Not the stepdad people shit on and all that. He was a real softie, especially towards me. We became best friends after some time. And Youngjo...the creator of this crazy group of friends. Yet he managed all of us well with the other three heads of the club. He, Eric and Younghoon hung out a lot at some point in our sophomore year...Then they suddenly went back to normal. Younghoon had also kept me at a distance then."

I blinked at the information he just gave me. Was it wise to bring up what I saw between them? I figured it wasn't. We had more pressing matters. "Geonhak, I'm trusting you to watch them outside. Swap with Hwanwoong." "Okay..." He left and Hwanwoong sauntered in not too long after.