41 — WHISPERS OF MANY

news anchors have no chance against these people.

—

this comes from another perspective, the group of friends who did not get enough attention throughout the whole day.

or should they say; the seniors in school but not the seniors in the group.

.. but they are still considered seniors.

yohan forgot how interesting school was, that was until hangyul finally returns to finish the senior year with him, that's when he feels that school wasn't going to be much of a bore after all. hangyul has his skits of making a day more interesting, and yohan — being the mutual crackhead — never fails to bond along with him.

sure it was a great news for the two, but it was definitely not a good news for the teachers. hangyul and yohan, though they had their tension back in the tenth grade, had never exactly argued with each other ever since. they somehow end up being in the same class together for three years, the teachers are mildly concerned as to who's exactly dividing these classes because it was almost unlikely for a student to be at the same class with another student for a streak of 3 years.

hangyul and yohan were hanging out at the quite empty class, playing cards. "hehe, look." yohan shows him one of his cards.

"what?"

"the joker,"  he points at the card. "look at him, he looks exactly like eunsang."

hangyul laughs along with him, when it's suddenly his turn to choose something off yohan's deck. he gestures at him. "give it to me."

"give you what?"

"eunsang-ie."

yohan pauses, then frowns. "AH, I SHOULDN'T HAVE TOLD YOU!"

they were happily continuing their game when suddenly a familiar figure marches towards them. "yah, lee hangyul!"

hangyul turns to see the one who calls him. "ah, if it isn't shortie kim yerim."

"why won't you look at yourself, big guy?" she sits next to them without warning, hitting at the table hard. "i haven't seen you for a while. where have you been?"

"hmm, been out and about." hangyul answers shortly. "life's been a bitch, i wanted to swerve my way out of it but i end up here anyway. i guess dropping out of high school would prolly be a waste of my last 2 years spent surviving here."

yerim turns to yohan. "and how about you, bigfoot? how's life for you?"

yohan notices something is off about her, something definitely off. it wasn't quite visible, but it was quite easy for him to notice. yohan folds both of his arms in suspicion. "you're not supposed to be here."

yerim laughs in defense. "what do you mean? we're classmates."

"it's the second week of august.." yohan looks at his phone. "girlgroup twice just had a comeback merely two days ago. aren't you supposed to bail out of school to cheer for them, sweetheart? capture some pretty pictures from their comeback stage, sana fansite-nim?"

hangyul squints his eyes, nodding. "ah yeah, you have a fansite for sana-ssi, right? i almost forgot. aren't you supposed to go to the mcountdown recording today? plus the fansign?"

yerim smiles uneasily. "ah yes, i'm not supposed to be here right? hahaha. my mom didn't allow me to go for the recordings though, that's why i'm here."

yohan clicks his tongue. "dongpyo-yah, if you're planning on cosplaying kim yerim at least try to be crazier. the girl's out of her mind."

hangyul's eyes widen. "dongpyo?"

'yerim' immediately covers her face, shaking immensely. "hyung!"

yohan grins. "gotcha."

hangyul looks at the both of them confusedly. "how were you able to grasp it quickly? i even thought he did a great job at being yeri!"

"well for starters, the kid forgot to shapeshift yeri's go-to weave that i bought for her."

"it was a hard detail, i kind of forgot how it looked like." dongpyo defends himself.

"plus, i was the one who taught him every thing he knows, how can i not recognize him and his tactics?" a smirk appears on yohan's face. "now turn back to yourself, it's hard to talk to you when you're still in your yerim figure."

"i can't! i changed my appearance so that the teachers won't find out that i ran away here." dongpyo pouts. "it's not my fault that eunsang suddenly leaves me alone in class for no reason. i needed to come to one of you guys to express how much tea i would like to spill at the moment."

"if i were with the other hyungs, i would've recommended you not to skip class," hangyul chirps. "but because you guaranteed me with scorching hot tea, i couldn't resist. this must be good."

"i know right? girl, i made a right decision picking you guys." dongpyo replies sheepishly. "you guys know that the hyungs were here today as substitute teachers, right?"

hangyul nods. "i got to school today by seungyoun-hyung's car. i also passed by daniel-hyung outside the gates, it seems like the both of them came to give a lecture or something."

yohan shrugs. "well, i haven't seen any of them today, but i did beg wooseok-hyung about this 'huge' plan seungwoo-hyung made to ensure our safety. they said they forced the teachers to be unavailable by creating some sort of a local, mandatory work ethic seminar that must be attended by at least 10 teachers from each school in seoul."

"how were they able to do that?"

"first: with absolutely no shame," yohan recites. "and second: seungyoun-hyung, duh! how else are we able to provide the accommodation, speakers, and the accreditation to hold such big event in such a short amount of time?"

dongpyo widens his eyes. "ah, so that's why wooseok and seungwoo-hyung were able to teach at my class.. i really thought it was some kind of a random dare they were spontaneously participating."

"wait, so you mean all the hyungs plus daniel are here now?" hangyul raises an eyebrow. "don't know about you, but that seems like whipped culture to me."

"correction: they were here, but all of them left the building now." dongpyo clasps his hands enthusiastically. "which leads me retelling you the most exciting and juicy part. wow, better be all-ears because this isn't something you'd wanna miss."

hangyul turns to yohan. "gossip really is the fuel of this kid, i've never seen him so happy." yohan nods, agreeing to his statement.

"okay, so after we finished our biology class, we encountered seungyoun-hyung and daniel-ssi who just finished teaching economy for some apparent reason. daniel-ssi offered the hyungs for an early lunch as all of their shifts were done for the day, but seungyoun-hyung immediately declined because he wasn't feeling well. that made me wonder: since when does seungyoun-hyung ever get sick?"

"so you're implying that he said he's unwell so that it's easier for him to decline daniel-ssi's offer?" yohan raises an eyebrow.

".. that's a reach, but as i do have the mind of a dispatch journalist, i simply believe so." dongpyo chimes. "anyway, back to the story. seungwoo-hyung said he's going to take care of poor seungyoun-hyung, which leaves us to wooseok-hyung who hasn't found a reason to decline."

"why are these guys so indecisive for free lunch?" hangyul rolls his eyes. "and this is daniel-hyung standard free lunch, it's not something you can get easily."

yohan doesn't seem to care of the feud dongpyo was on about, he just stares at dongpyo intently. "woah, now that i think of it, i think you almost got all the details covered. you look like a fantastic kim yerim."

dongpyo looks at him strangely. "uh.. thank you?"

"but if you wanna fully pull off being kim yerim, might as well speak like one." yohan tilts his head. "you've been awfully using the 'hyung' word a lot, it's quite peculiar for you to say that in public. what if i give you a less suspicious alternative?"

dongpyo widens his eyes, then shakes his head vigorously. "no. no way."

"say it with me," yohan lean towards him. "o-ppa. oppa."

hangyul bursts out laughing.

dongpyo hides his face behind yeri's slender hands. "no, no, no, hyung!"

yohan can't stop teasing him. "yohan-oppa."

"i bet she doesn't even call you oppa."

"she calls me oppa," hangyul says. "and ahjussi, if she's mad."

"try it, yeri-yah," yohan raises the both of his hands. "seungwoo-oppa. wooseok-oppa."

dongpyo stares at him hopelessly. "are you done?"

"okay, i had my fun." yohan nods. "please do continue."

dongpyo takes a deep breath. "alright, so wooseok-hyung. he gave one of the coolest answers, one that made me want to scream 'burn!' but unfortunately i couldn't bring myself to do it because everyone looked so serious. he said something along the lines, 'no bitch, i'd rather search for 'this junior i never took care of until now but is apparently a part of my circle of friends and has gotten missing' than to have lunch with your mr. perfect arse.'"

hangyul flutters his eyes. "wooseok-hyung said that?"

"along the lines, highlight that." dongpyo huffs a sigh. "but yes, unfortunately so. i have a feeling he isn't really in good terms with daniel-ssi, alongside with the other hyungs."

hangyul looks disappointed, but he can't help but agree. "well, it's safe to say that they don't know each other very well either, that's why seungyoun-hyung's still all awkward when he interacts with daniel hyung. sometimes awkward encounters lead to misleading conceptions."

"but still, wooseok-hyung bringing up junho into the picture, the kid who claimed daniel to kill his own aunt just a few days before.." dongpyo points out. "daniel-ssi's expressions are merely just the same, but in that moment i know something's wrong. he looks clearly affected."

"daniel-ssi and junho's relation with each other is really something that needs to be dug deeper." yohan says, getting deep into the conversation. "junho sees daniel the day the murder happened. then he claims daniel to be the one convicted, suddenly he disappears afterwards. and in between all of that is the chip.." he glances at the both of them. "the chip eunsang pointed out, the one hidden underneath the junho's skin. maybe it's related to this situation along the lines."

"remember when junho suddenly blazed into fury for no reason that day when he collapsed? eunsang describes him as uncontrollable of his feelings, he wasn't even aware that eunsang was there." hangyul looks down. "and eunsang said that he lost junho for a short while before he discovered him looking like an absolute ball of lightning."

"so you're saying that junho's chip might be planted during that time?" dongpyo asks. "when eunsang had to come to search for him, that's when he got the chip?"

"perhaps. it's not reasonable for him to snap just like that without any previous occurences."

"yeah, that might as well explain his sudden temper.." yohan mutters. "the chip also explains how moody junho was throughout the funeral, he couldn't keep his emotions stable because something has been controlling him."

"eunsang had to hold his left arm throughout the whole thing, i remember." dongpyo points out. "he has the problem on his left hand, as if he wasn't able to control it as he pleased."

hangyul feels like he knows where this discussion is leading to. he decides to drop the bomb before anyone else does. "you're suspecting daniel-hyung, are you? him planting the chip that day, junho cursing at him because he feels like the latter has done something wrong yet he has no idea of what it is so he blames daniel for my mom's death instead, junho disappearing afterwards.."

dongpyo pauses. "wow, those were the exact things i was about to say, but i was scared that i'll offend you because you're closest with him."

hangyul sighs. "after the yohan case, i learn not to trust anyone."

yohan however had a different scenario. "what if the one who planted the chip wasn't daniel-ssi, but instead someone else? someone who isn't quite fond of daniel-ssi. that chip changed junho's perspective, made him feel like daniel-ssi's the bad guy, that why he keeps taunting the guy throughout the whole day. eunsang discovers the chip, and then they took junho away from him. they couldn't bare to let junho tell eunsang the actual truth, the one behind what happened during that short period of time when junho somehow disappeared out of eunsang's sight, the memory the chip is trying so hard to filter." yohan looks up. "it wouldn't be reasonable for daniel-ssi to plant a chip on someone who ends up going against him, don't you think?"

the two boys stare at him, out of words. yohan laughs.

"forget it, that's probably just a reach."

—

i just finished my midterms yay im not sure if i did a great job at it tho hehe

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