"Yes, can I help you?" Jongin's familiar voice had an unfamiliar air of uneasiness.

Kyungsoo took a deep breath. His hands were trembling, so he shoved them into his coat pockets.

"I need to speak to you about the murders that happened at Geumgok High School seven years ago." He said.

There was a long silence and then the monitor clicked off. Kyungsoo only had to stand there for a moment before the door was pulled open. The two men looked at each other. All the endless bad memories they had together bubbling up to the surface. Jongin furrowed his brow. Kyungsoo broke their tense eye contact. He opened his mouth to speak. Jongin slammed the door closed. Kyungsoo flinched a little at the sudden loud noise, taking a moment to process it. He pulled his hands out of his pockets, cursing under his breath. Kyungsoo had never been a very aggressive person, but not talking to Jongin was not an option.

"Jongin, you have to talk with me," He called out.

The monitor clicked back on.

"I'm sorry, I have a class," Jongin barely hid his irritation beneath a thin tone of being apologetic.

"No, you don't," Kyungsoo quickly countered. "I looked on your website, your next class isn't for another two hours."

There was a slight pause before Jongin answered.

"Leave. Now," All pretenses in his tone were gone.

"Jongin, you can't seriously believe I did it," Kyungsoo said, a hint of desperation being to creep into his voice.

"It doesn't matter what I believe," Jongin said. "It's over. That all happened in the past. Leave now or I'm calling the police."

The threat froze Kyungsoo. But he pushed the sickening feeling growing in his stomach out of his mind to make one final effort.

"Maybe it's in your past. But that day has been my reality for the past seven years. I can't leave that moment. I can't forget. Please, Jongin..." Kyungsoo begged.

"I will call the police," There was no hesitation or conflict in his voice.

Kyungsoo's heart sank. He stepped off the step unable to muster any kind of response. As he walked down the road, he put his head in his hands. An immediate failure. He was angry. At Jongin or, more likely, himself. He ran his hand through his hair, wondering what to do. He raised his head and looked around him, suddenly realizing he didn't know where he was. He didn't have a phone or anyone to call. And the idea of asking someone for directions was none too appealing.

Kyungsoo gazed around at the pointless street signs surrounding him and the nameless people walking past him. He wasn't scared. He was just trapped in the hollow feeling of another defeat. Then his eyes lingered on a street name that was meaningful. He knew that name. Where had he seen it? Kyungsoo pulled his notebook out of his pocket and flipped through the pages, at last landing on an address. A spark of hope fluttered in his heart.

Kyungsoo jogged down the street and up to one of the many apartment buildings. And then slowly he approached the door. He stepped inside the first set of doors. Up and down the rows and rows of buttons and room numbers he searched. Finally finding the correct one, he reached out to press it. Kyungsoo paused for a moment, letting out the air he had been unconsciously holding. He was more confident in this person, but still, he had wanted to avoid going to them first. Kyungsoo pressed the button.

"Hello?" The voice that echoed out from the monitor was so familiar it sent chills down Kyungsoo's spine.

"Chanyeol?" He asked.

There was a little gasp and then a pause. "Kyungsoo? Is that you?"

"Yeah. Look, I know it's kind of weird for me to-" Kyungsoo was cut off by the click of the other end of the monitor turning off.

Kyungsoo groaned. What was he expecting? Them to open up their houses after all these years? Just accept his word that he hadn't done it, despite the fact he was sent to prison for it? Kyungsoo stood there for a minute, defeated, but the sound of the second set of doors unlocking nearly gave him a heart attack. Kyungsoo glanced around. There wasn't anyone else coming in or out. Had Chanyeol really let him in? He didn't wait for an answer. Kyungsoo quickly stepped inside.

The lobby had a strange sour smell. The carpet was a gross shade of green with a tacky patter of red flowers dotting it. The pale-yellow walls stretched down the short hall way, completely barren of any decorations. A dead flower sat in the corner by the elevators. Killed either by lack of sunlight or over watering judging by the overabundance of watering cans placed around it. Three elevators sat on one side of the room and two on the other, serving only to add to the overall unpleasant atmosphere.

Kyungsoo shuffled around on his feet, debating whether to go to Chanyeol's apartment or wait for him there. Chanyeol had sounded neither particularly pleased to hear Kyungsoo's voice, nor immediately unhappy. And seeing as no one else was around, Kyungsoo could only assume Chanyeol let him in. One of the elevators dinged and a tall, lanky man stepped out, a cheesy grin spreading across his face when he saw Kyungsoo.

"Kyungsoo!" He said, coming up to him. "Oh, man. You look exactly the same as you did in high school."

Kyungsoo couldn't help smiling a little. It caught him off guard, and he quickly wiped it off his face. He shouldn't be smiling.

"We need to talk, if you're not busy," Kyungsoo said.

"Oh, I'm definitely not busy," Chanyeol laughed. "Why don't you come up to my apartment?"

Kyungsoo followed him into the elevator. Chanyeol babbled some nonsense about how Kyungsoo hadn't changed at all as they road it. He was wrong. Still, it amused Kyungsoo how similar Chanyeol was to the boy he had known. Then again, he hadn't really known Chanyeol in high school. He had only really known Chanyeol as a little boy, a little boy he could barely remember. Those faded playground memories pulled Kyungsoo completely away from what Chanyeol was saying. He only snapped out of them when the elevator doors opened. They walked over to one of the apartments, Chanyeol still talking away, seeming unaware of the fact Kyungsoo hadn't made any input in several minutes.

Chanyeol's apartment smelled like cinnamon. Probably to mask whatever that mess that was in the kitchen was. The combination of the white walls and all the sunlight pouring in the windows made the room hard to look at. But, as his eyes adjusted, Kyungsoo could tell the room was in a state of orderly disorder. Each of the piles of random junk lying around the room probably had a purpose, just an unknown one.

Chanyeol offered him a seat on the couch. They sat down next to each other, a noticeable amount of distance between them.

"It's been so long! How have you been?" Chanyeol asked.

"I... uh... just got out of prison about a month ago." Kyungsoo shifted around a little.

"Oh, right... stupid question." Chanyeol got a much more serious expression, turning away a little.

Silence. They both searched for words. Kyungsoo, unable to find anyway to segue into the reason he was there, decided to keep up the painful small talk.

"H-how have you been?" Kyungsoo stammered.

"Alright. I started a band actually." Chanyeol said, clearly relieved by the broken silence.

"Really? With who?" Kyungsoo asked.

"Some guys I met in college. We just started recently so we really haven't picked a name or an image yet." Chanyeol rambled a little before trailing off.

"Ah, I see." Kyungsoo said.

Another silence. Kyungsoo sighed a little, giving up on trying to find an easy way to transition.

"So, um, about the reason I came here," Kyungsoo broke the silence again.

"Oh, yeah. What brings you here?" Chanyeol turned back towards Kyungsoo, clearly intrigued.

"Chanyeol... I didn't do it." Kyungsoo said slowly.

Chanyeol opened his mouth slightly, clearly taken aback, his eyes shifted away slowly.

"I couldn't kill them. They were my only friends." Kyungsoo continued.

Chanyeol grimaced a little, his cheerful expression long gone.

"You were there. Weren't you?" Kyungsoo asked.

"Yeah." Chanyeol continue to avoid eye contact with him.

"I need to know... I have to know who did it." Kyungsoo said.

"Why? Do you want revenge?" Chanyeol looked up at last.

"I... don't know," Kyungsoo admitted. "I just need to know the truth. Whatever I do after that is irrelevant."

Chanyeol furrowed his brow, bothered by his answer.

"Do you believe me?"

Chanyeol stared at Kyungsoo, searching his face. He bit his lip and then gave a soft smile. He nodded.

"I never really thought you could do something like that." He said.

Kyungsoo blinked a few times.

"Then please help me." He said, inching towards Chanyeol some.

"What do you need from me?" Chanyeol asked.

"Tell me," Kyungsoo said. "Tell me everything that happened that day to the best of your abilities."

"Alright," Chanyeol nodded again. "I'll try."

Chanyeol stepped out of the teacher's office. Looking around the vacant halls and sighing a little. It was a little annoying to be the only one lectured about "thinking more about the future" but at least he got to see the school when it was all but empty. He began walking to the entrance. He absentmindedly ran his hand through his hair. Suddenly he remembered the hat he lost at school several weeks before.

"Hmmm," Chanyeol smiled to himself.

This was the perfect opportunity to search for it and the perfect excuse to explore the empty school. Chanyeol set off cheerfully down the hall. He poked his head into different classrooms, not really looking terribly hard.

When he got around to his classroom he actually went inside. He roamed around the room a little, checking under desks and inside the closet. The idea that someone stole his hat had crossed his mind. He peaked inside a few suspects desks, but they were mostly empty. Chanyeol sighed and looked out the window. It was starting to get late and he had cram school soon. He decided just to give up. The hat wasn't that expensive, and the school was not the most exciting place to explore. Every classroom was practically the same and the halls were a winding maze of never ending identical corridors, total torture for any new students.

Chanyeol stepped out of the room and made his way to the entrance again, humming a little to himself. As he neared the stair case, the unmistakable sound of a gunshot reached his ears. Chanyeol stopped dead in his tracks, confused. He knew that sound all too well. His father, the paranoid sort of cop that he was, had taught him how to shoot a gun around a year ago. But why was that sound echoing through the halls of his school? And then twice more it rang out. Chanyeol's heart began to pound. He took off down the stairs, wrapping around the school so as to avoid the area he heard the gun shots. He burst out of the front door and into the parking lot, surprised to see his classmates Baekhyun and Jongin. Baekhyun was sobbing uncontrollably, a phone in hand. Jongin was simultaneously trying to take the phone away from him and calm him down. Chanyeol ran over to them.

"Do you guys know what happened?" Chanyeol asked.

They both ignored him. A few minutes later, several police cars pulled into the parking lot...

Chanyeol trailed off.

"Thank you," Kyungsoo said. "I know how it is hard to relive that day."

"No, it's alright," Chanyeol gave a reassuring smiled. "I've known you for so long, it'd be pretty scummy of me not to even do this much for you. And honestly, if there's anything else I can do to help, please tell me."

"There is actually," Kyungsoo said. "It was very hard to find your address and Jongin's address. I don't have a clue about anyone else. Did you keep in contact with anyone after high school?"

"Yeah, actually, just one person." Chanyeol stood up and pulled his phone out of his pocket.

"Who?"

"Byun Baekhyun."