𝐔𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐋 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐄𝐍𝐃 | 𝐬𝐤𝐳 & 𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐳

𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗣𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝗙𝗢𝗨𝗥 !

"Dead?" Hongjoong stared at Jongho in disbelief.

"Beaten," Jeongin supplied. He felt a little sick, the realization that someone had just been murdered finally hitting him.

Hongjoong stood there in shock. He saw Chan enter the room. The corners of his vision seemed almost red. "You!" He screamed and shoved Chan against the wall. "You did it, didn't you! I know you always hated him!"

"What?" Chan pushed Hongjoong back and glared at him in confusion.

"Seonghwa! You killed him, didn't you?"

"Killed him? Wha- he's dead?"

Hongjoong took a deep breath. "Yes. I guess you didn't kill him then, you act too natural."

"What's going on?" Woojin ran into the room.

Hongjoong stepped aside to reveal a body on the floor, covered in a sheet that Jongho and Jeongin found. Blood stained the sides of it. "Seonghwa is dead."

Woojin took a step back, face pale. "I think I'm going to be sick." He ran out of the room.

Hongjoong raised an eyebrow.

Chan rolled his eyes. "He doesn't like messes." He looked down at the floor, searching his mind. He knew what he had to do, even if it meant giving up his dignity, and the rivalry that he enjoyed. "Hongjoong."

"Hm?"

He held out his hand. "I'll help you find whoever killed Seonghwa, I know how I would feel if it was Woojin."

Hongjoong stared at his hand warrily, tongue poking the side of his mouth in thought. "You're proposing a truce?"

"If you want it." He outstretched his hand a little more. "For Seonghwa?"

Hongjoong took his hand and shook it. "For Seonghwa."

It didn't take them long to gather the other boys, Chan keeping his group close while Hongjoong broke the news to the others. Chan glared at all of them. "Someone in this building murdered Seonghwa in cold blood. Now, we can't reach out to anyone because we had to leave our phones, and the doors are locked. Since we're locked in, that means the killer is locked in with us, be on your guard."

Felix spoke up. "We can't rule out the fact that the killer might be one of us."

Hyunjin frowned. "Seriously? You just had to say that. Now I'm going to worry for the rest of the-"

"Shut up," Chan snapped. "We need to focus. And Felix, the killer isn't one of us, that's ridiculous. Guys, I promised Hongjoong I'd help him find the killer. So, who's with me?"

"Wouldn't that put us on the killer's target list too?" Seungmin questioned.

Chan shrugged. "Probably."

"I'll help." Woojin stared at Chan. "If it helps you, then I'll do it. I'll help find the killer, and I'll help us win."

Chan nodded. "Thank you." Hesitantly, the other boys murmured their agreement. Chan sighed. "Alright boys, lets go catch ourselves a murderer."

They walked over to Ateez and flopped on the ground, each boy placing the bag that they had retrieved in the middle.

Hongjoong broke the silence first. "Stray Kids has agreed to help us find whoever killed Seonghwa, and in order to do that, we need to be sure we can trust them."

"So we decided to put our clues together and split the prize," Chan finished.

Hongjoong nodded, pulling a bag out from behind him. "In order to honor him, we'll open Seonghwa's bag first." He pulled the drawstring and unclipped the top, dumping the contents on the ground.

"Ooh." Yunho snagged a granola bar from the pile. A chorus of 'Yunho!' and 'You can't do that' echoed around the room. Hongjoong just rolled his eyes and grabbed a rolled up piece of paper from the bottom of the pile. He unrolled it, eyes scanning the paper carefully.

"Hurry up and read it," Yeosang urged him.

"A place you never dare to go, because you think you're smart. Overconfidence will be your downfall, watch out for falling logs, but make sure to find the right one? What is this, it's stupid." He threw it on the floor, dropping his face into his hands. "Useless waste of time."

Yeosang picked it up. "Joong, you do realize the bags, and therefore the clues, are personalized? There's a reason why you can't figure it out, it's made for Seonghwa. A place you never dare to go because you think you're smart."

Felix's eyes widened. "The library! Seonghwa's cocky, and he hates reading."

Jongho nodded. "We were looking for it earlier. It does make sense, but what would the rest of it be?"

Wooyoung piped up. "Maybe there are traps on the stairs, the library is on the third floor."

Everyone stared at him. "You know this, how?" Jongho asked. "You never read."

He shrugged. "Smart girls. I meet them there to get homework answers."

"Of course you do."

Jeongin waved his hand in the air. "Log is another word for a book, like a Captain's Log."

"Overconfidence!" Jongho shouted.

"What?"

"Overconfidence. It must not mean there are traps on the stairs, though there might be, but rather touches on the fact that he thinks he can do everything by himself."

"We aren't supposed to share clues though," Yeosang said.

"We aren't supposed to take them," Seungmin stated. "It never said anything about not sharing. Loopholes, suck it."

"Go fu-"

"Yeosang!"

Chan snickered. "Ok then, all in favor of going to the library?"

"Hold on, wait a second," Hongjoong said. "We shouldn't send everyone to the library. We should send Jeongin and Jongho cause they're good at finding things, and leave Felix, Seungmin, and Yeosang here to finish decoding the rest of the clues. The rest of us should go search for the killer."

Chan raised an eyebrow. "Okay," he said slowly. "Everyone ok with that?" They murmured their agreement. "Cool."

"Wait!" Jeongin jumped to his feet. "I'll be right back." He ran out the door to everyone's surprise and returned a few minutes later with a box. "Knives. Plastic, but they should give you some form of offensive weapon if you need it."

"Good thinking," Chan commented. "Let's go!"