The mysterious man held Hye-Jin to prevent her weak body from falling onto the floor. His hands tranced the wounds he had inflicted on her, and if you were able to see his face expression, he would definitely be wearing a smirk.

"This was your first warning Jinnie. If you continue to try and outsmart me, I promise, the next time we meet, I won't be so nice."
-

◁ 24th December 20xx ▷
◁ 7:05▷

RING RING RING

Hye-Jin bolted into a sitting position. She was panting, hands shaking, looking like she had just seen a ghost. Her body was pale and if a stranger were to open the door, they would instantly send her to a hospital.

Her shaking hands shot up to her neck and moved across her body, where the 'knife' had been placed. She sighed out in relief when she felt no scar anywhere. Although she knew it was a nightmare, the whole sensations felt too real, the pain was too real for it to be all in her head.

Her head turned to the area where she had been standing in the nightmare. Spotless. No blood. Hye-Jin started feeling nauseous as the thought of her own blood decorating the wooden floors. She couldn't help but wonder why she had a lucid nightmare, for she didn't think she had done anything to trigger it. And why did she dream about the kill-

RING RING

Hye-Jin pushed her thoughts aside and reached for her phone, and this time it was placed exactly where she had put a few hours ago.

"H-hello," she said in a hoarse voice, "wh-who is this?"

"Hello, morning. This is Kim Namjoon speaking. I had seen this number had called my secretary multiple times so I assumed it was an urgent matter and that you may have wanted to talk to me personally."

"Ah...umm..yes uh hello Mr Kim. I'm Ahn Hye-Jin. I-I uh wanted to may-maybe speak to you about the death of you friend. You see, I'm uhm investigating the case, and I f-found out that T-Taehyung-ssi was with you and the other friends of his. Perhaps..maybe you uh could host some form of m-meeting for this matter."

'No stuttering remember. Be confident. Nothing going to harm you. You're safe, so show a good impression now'

"Alright. Though, it would be preferable for you to meet us tomorrow. I'm certain the boys are free tomorrow. I shall have my secretary call you later for the address."

"Ah yes th-thank you Mr Kim."

The line went silent and Hye-Jin clutched her phone tightly in her grasps before gently throwing it across the floor. She knew now it would have cracks and it may even be useless, but at this point she was overwhelmed with emotions: she felt worried that when she would meet the killer she would put herself in danger; she felt upset at herself at the fact that she didn't keep her calm during the dream; and she felt enraged at the man in her nightmare, she never wanted to see his disgusting figure ever again.

But she had to forget. She had to forget all that had happened so that she could continue her investigations. As she made her way to the bathroom, she stumbled on her feet, still feeling a little hazy from being jolted awake.

She splashed water on her face and looked at herself in the mirror, speaking encouraging words to herself.

"You. Are. Going. To. Solve. This. Case. No matter what.

"You have the smarts. You're the only one who has the smarts to solve it. So you're not being a disappointment and you are going to continue your research.

You've got this....you've got this...you can do it"

She maintained eye-contact with herself, yet, in the corner of her eye she could still see the blurry image of a man holding a knife. That man with that knife.

'It's...it's fake. It's all fake..all of it is fake. Don't pay attention to it. No need, no need at all, to let that get us down Hye-Jin.'

She breathed slowly and hoped that it would never happen again.

-------

◁ 25th December 20xx ▷
◁ 11:20▷

The girl took a deep breath before entering the room, the room where there were six men waiting for her.

"Ahn Hye-Jin, so nice to finally meet you. Let us introduce ourselves first and then we shall get started." Hye-Jin nodded and smiled as she realised Namjoon was really as sweet as others made him out to be.

Hye-Jin quickly made acquaintances with them and memorised their names: Kim Seokjin was the confident one, but he seemed a little 'out of it' and unable to function; Min Yoongi looked like a softie and was unbelievably good-looking but seemed to be blunt too; Jung Hoseok seemed like the brother she always wanted, even though he was a little skittish; Park Jimin was most well-known to her, being her childhood friend; and finally there was Jeon Jungkook, the youngest one with a look of pure innocence yet he held no smile, his face was covered in distraught.

One certain man standing at exactly 45 degrees clockwise to her looked strangely familiar...his figure was too similar to one she had seen a few hours ago.

Namjoon noticed her gaze and although he was confused, he decided it would be better to instantly get started.

-------

◁ 12:52▷

"And finally, how exactly were you affected by the passing one of your best friends?'

"We were devastated, obviously we were. I don't understand why you're acting like one of us would kill him. I could tell you weren't exactly a smart one when you walked in, but if you really think that you really a definite idiot."

"Yoongi! Stop being so mean to her. She's trying to give justice to Tae, and we're helping her. Don't open your mouth unless you're actually going to be helpful." Seokjin's gaze looked beyond angry as he glared at Yoongi, shuttling him up affectively.

"Sorry Hye-Jin. About your question, everyone's taken it differently. For example, Yoongi's been acting more possessive over all of us, Joonie," Hye-Jin noticed that Jin paused to give a small squeeze to Namjoon's hand, "he's been struggling with his company but is always trying to keep us connected."

"Hobi hyung seems to be a little lost too. Jin hyung barely even manages to keep his focus these days." Jimin adds as he gives a small hug to Hoseok.

"Jiminie's still trying to be bright from the outside, but I think anyone can see he's hurting a lot too. What can I say, him and Taehyung were really tight." Namjoon ruffled Jimin's head, showing that their relationship was one exactly like family. Hye-Jin knew Namjoon was saying the truth since she herself had witnessed the two's friendship during their younger days.

"But Jungkook's the one whose taken it the worst. He's gotten panic attacks, sleepless nights, hallucinations. Everything. He's definitely been most severely impacted."

-------

Jungkook sighed heavily, not really paying attention to the woman or his friends around him.

He fiddled around with his fingers, keeping his gaze fixated on the ring located on his index finger. It was nothing extraordinary, just a piece of metal worth very little, yet to Jungkook it meant a lot. The man who gave this to him was one of the best people Jungkook had ever met. That man..was Taehyung. Taehyung spent weeks upon weeks working to get the ring for Jungkook; he worked overtime, tired himself out and sometimes even excluded his social life to get that ring for Kook. He remembered being Taehyung acting all nervous while presenting him the ring. It was no engagement ring nor a promise ring, it was just a means of showing Taehyung's affection for the younger.

"Jungkook-ssi....Jeon Jungkook, are you listening?"

Jungkook broke our of his daydream and tilted his head in confusion with his doe eyes enlarged.

"I'm guessing not. Tell me, what exactly was your relationship with Taehyung to make you so affected by his passing? The others say you were most severely affected by it."

"I...I...Well he...he was my hyung. We...we got along really really well. He was really nice to me, not that the other aren't, it's just that he and I...well...connected in a sense."

"Jungkook I need you to be completely honest with me. Do you..."

Jungkook simply nodded his head, "I-I like V hyung and he... he liked me to."

He lifted his head and met the stares of the other six people in the room.

"And....we had been dating. For a year."

-------------
A/N:
I'm sorry this chapter wasn't too interesting. Writers block is annoying but you've got to just write through it.

Also...changed the cover. Any thoughts on it? Is it good? Or was the previous one better?