PSYCHO → SEVENTEEN

TWELVE

"Son, wake up. There's been another Psycho murder," Officer Yoon said as he woke up Jeonghan. "You need to tell your friends immediately."

Jeonghan, who was rubbing sleep out of his eyes, went, "Can you repeat that?"

"There. Has. Bee. Another. Psycho. Murder," Officer Yoon leaned down and made eye contact with his son as he sounded out his sentence slowly. "Tell. Your. Friends."

"Wait, who died?" Jeonghan gasped.

"Uh, his last name is Lee," Officer Yoon thought aloud.

Jeonghan's jaw dropped. He closed it slowly and nodded at his dad. Officer Yoon left Jeonghan's room, and Jeonghan immediately started crying. Why was this happening to them?

"Seokmin's dead?" Vernon exclaimed as he entered the call.

"Yeah, I found out this morning," Jeonghan confirmed.

"No way..." Seungcheol couldn't believe it.

"Dad wants us to be under lockdown. Don't leave your house, don't let any of your family members leave the house. If you need anything, he said to tell me, and he'll send an officer over," Jeonghan instructed.

"Will that keep us safe, though? I mean, Seokmin was murdered in his own home," Mingyu's voice trembled.

"It should keep us safe. I think he also mentioned something about stationing an officer in front of your houses, so that should help," Jeonghan sighed.

The boys were quiet. Their friends were dying one after another; they knew they were being targeted at this point. The worst part was that they didn't know who the Psycho was. That was the scariest part.

"Is the Psycho one of us?" Vernon asked.

No one answered his question.

"Was there a note left this time? There were always notes," Minghao said quietly.

"I don't know. Let me ask," Jeonghan put his phone on speakerphone and texted his dad. Within seconds, he got a text back. "This is what you get for accusing the wrong person."

Silence. Although no one said anything, all the boys immediately thought of Vernon- even Vernon himself. He told Seokmin to stop talking the day before he died. It must have been his fault purely by evidence, so far.

"That's not the only thing. The piece of cloth that they sent in for examination belongs to Vernon," Jeonghan trailed off.

Vernon gaped at his phone. He checked the shirt he was wearing, but that wasn't the shirt he was wearing the day Soonyoung died. He immediately ran to his hamper and tried to remember which shirt he was wearing. He ended up finding it after seeing a corner of his shirt torn off. He started breathing heavily.

"Guys," Vernon cleared his throat. "I know it looks bad, but..."

Vernon didn't finish his sentence.

"What is it, Vernon? Have you been secretly murdering all of us? Is this a game to you?" Seungkwan lashed out.

"Seungkwan-" Chan tried to interject.

"No, Vernon. I want to know! Why does it look like you're the Psycho? Explain yourself!" Seungkwan shrieked.

"It wasn't me! I swear! I don't know how my shirt got torn! I," Vernon started sobbing into the phone. "I would never kill any of my friends. I care for you guys too much."

"Seungkwan, stop accusing Vernon. The last time someone accused another one of us, they died. You don't want to die, now do you?" Seungcheol said forcibly.

"No," Seungkwan's voice shrank.

"What is happening to us? Is the Psycho really going to tear our group apart?" Mingyu sounded angry and hurt.

"The Psycho is ruining our lives," Chan murmured. "I want this to end."

"Right now, we just need to stay calm. Nothing good comes out of panicking. If you think you see the Psycho, text Jeonghan. Do not panic," Seungcheol tried to calm the boys down.

"He's right. The more we panic, the worse we make our situation. Don't forget what I told you," Jeonghan added.

The boys hesitantly agreed and then started signing off. Minghao and Jeonghan were the last ones in the call. Just as Jeonghan was going to end the call, Minghao stopped him.

"Jeonghan, I have a question," Minghao said.

"Yeah, what is it?" Jeonghan responded.

"Do you really think we'll be safe?" Minghao asked.

For the first time, Jeonghan hear panic in Minghao's voice. Minghao was supposed to be the one who kept everyone calm- Minghao being scared also made Jeonghan scared, but he had to remain calm and help the friends in his group.

"Don't worry, Minghao. My dad is going to make sure we have the proper security to survive. He will not let the Psycho get to us," Jeonghan reassured his friend.

Minghao thanked him and lingered on the call for another couple of seconds before hanging up. Jeonghan let out a breath that he didn't know he was holding. His hands were shaking, and his mind was reeling. As much as he didn't want to admit it to his friends, the Psycho had to be one of them. How else would they know that Seokmin accused the wrong person? He didn't think the Psycho could be an outsider, because there were times that the boys talked about these things in Jeonghan's basement. Jeonghan was so deep in thought that he didn't hear his dad come into the room.

"Jeonghan?" Officer Yoon said.

"Ah! You scared me!" Jeonghan yelped.

"Sorry, you looked as if you were panicking, and I just wanted to make sure you were okay," Officer Yoon took a seat next to Jeonghan on the sofa. Jeonghan set his phone down on the coffee table in front of them and leaned back in the sofa. Officer Yoon put his arm around his son's shoulder and patted it.

"Dad, are you sure none of us will die?" Jeonghan asked.

"We have our security team completely ensuring the safety of your friends," Officer Yoon said.

"You didn't answer my question," Jeonghan said.

"Jeonghan, I can't promise anything. The Psycho has managed to get away with all of these murders so far. In order for me to tell you that none of you will die, we'll have to catch the Psycho," Officer Yoon sighed. "Don't think about it too much."

Jeonghan nodded and took a deep breath. Officer Yoon got up and shot his son a smile before heading out of the living room. Jeonghan bit his lower lip and tapped his fingers on his knee before calling out for his dad again.

"Dad?" Jeonghan called.

"Yeah?" Officer Yoon responded.

"Do you have any more information about the piece of evidence you found on the crime site?" he asked.

"Yeah. It definitely belongs to that Vernon kid, but the fabric wasn't torn by that branch," Officer Yoon explained.

"What?" Jeonghan asked.

"The piece was cut off. The edges are too square for it to have ripped off," Officer Yoon blinked.

Jeonghan stood up immediately. He grabbed his phone and tried to call his friends, but his phone wasn't letting any calls through. He ran up to his dad.

"Why can't I call my friends?" he cried.

"Oh, shit. I think we ran out of data for this month," Officer Yoon slapped his forehead.

"Dad!" Jeonghan exclaimed.

"I'll fix it! I'll fix it right now," Officer Yoon held his hands up.

"Thank you," Jeonghan sighed and crossed his arms over his chest- he had to tell his friends about this immediately before anything happened to any of them.