Chapter 11

Chapter 11 — (The Last Witness)

Saturday — 5:00 p.m. — Seo-jun's House

The four friends were still sitting around Seo-jun's desk.

Nobody spoke.

The deleted message was still on their minds.

STUDENT: Actually… I think I remember who she was talking to.

And then—

Message deleted.

Miho stared at the screen.

“He was about to tell us something.”

Seo-jun nodded.

“But now we can't even ask him.”

Han-seok frowned.

“Why not?”

Miho looked at him.

“Because we don't know who he was talking about.”

Seo-jun looked at the student's profile.

“We should message him again.”

Miho nodded.

She typed:

MIHO: Are you there? We need to ask you something.

They waited.

No reply.

A few minutes passed.

Still nothing.

Han-seok looked at the phone.

“Maybe he's busy.”

Seo-jun nodded.

“Let's wait.”

5:30 p.m.

Miho checked her phone again.

Nothing.

She sent another message.

MIHO: Please reply when you see this.

Still no answer.

Seo-jun looked worried.

“He was talking to us just a while ago.”

Han-seok shrugged.

“Maybe something came up.”

Me-yongi stayed quiet.

She didn't say anything.

5:45 p.m.

Seo-jun's phone suddenly rang.

It was a classmate.

He answered.

“Hello?”

The voice on the other end sounded nervous.

“Seo-jun… did you hear about him?”

Seo-jun frowned.

“About who?”

“The student who lives near Soo-ah's house.”

Seo-jun immediately sat up.

“What happened?”

There was a pause.

“He died.”

Seo-jun froze.

“What?”

“It happened suddenly.”

The call ended.

Seo-jun slowly lowered his phone.

Miho looked at him.

“What happened?”

Seo-jun stared at the others.

“The student…”

He paused.

“He's dead.”

Miho's face fell.

“The one who was messaging us?”

Seo-jun nodded.

Han-seok stood up.

“But he was just talking to us.”

Miho looked at the conversation.

“He was going to tell us something.”

Seo-jun opened the chat again.

The last visible message was:

STUDENT: I saw Soo-ah before the party.

Miho looked at it.

“He told us he lived near her house.”

Seo-jun nodded.

“And he saw Soo-ah that day.”

Han-seok remembered the earlier messages.

“He said she looked depressed.”

Miho's eyes filled with concern.

“So he knew how she was feeling before the party.”

Seo-jun looked at the deleted message.

Actually… I think I remember who she was talking to.

He whispered,

“He was about to tell us who she was talking to.”

Han-seok's expression hardened.

“And then his message was deleted.”

Miho looked at him.

“You think someone did it?”

Han-seok nodded.

“Who else would delete it?”

Nobody answered.

Seo-jun looked at the timestamps.

The message had disappeared while they were waiting for the student's reply.

Then, not long afterward, they learned that he had died.

Miho slowly put her phone down.

“This can't be a coincidence.”

Seo-jun looked at her.

“I don't think it is.”

Han-seok clenched his hands.

“Someone knew what he was about to tell us.”

The room became silent.

The student had lived close to Soo-ah.

He had seen her before the party.

He had noticed that she looked depressed.

And he had been about to reveal something about the person she was talking to.

But now—

They would never hear it from him.

Miho looked at the others.

“We need to be careful.”

Seo-jun nodded.

“Yeah.”

Han-seok looked toward the window.

“Someone really doesn't want us to find out what happened to Soo-ah.”

Me-yongi remained silent.

She simply looked down at the table.

Nobody noticed.

And the mystery surrounding Soo-ah became even darker.

To be continued…