we the cursed, nct dream ✔

part thirty-six

⇉ the one with warnings.

part thirty-six

"Who's next?"

Ri-el glances up. "What do you mean?"

"That list." Reina swallows, eyes haunted. "We wrote down the names of exactly ten people on that paper. And numbers one to three have all been... eliminated."

Eliminated. The word causes Ri-el to shiver. "Yes. Song Jihyi, Yoon Jaesu, and Seo Chaewon."

It's fact now: the killer is in possession of their hit list.

"You agree now, right?" Reina sinks down onto the space beside her friend. "That some sick, sick person is twistedly going by our list to kill off people. And maybe we're as sick as they are for making it in the first place." Her expression morphs into one of worry. "Is the culprit toying with us? Do you think they know we were the ones who drafted it?"

"If they do, we're fucked." Ri-el's face is grim. "And if they somehow find a way to tell someone, then we're really, really fucked."

Reina takes a breath. "I still think we should just turn ourselves in."

"Or," Ri-el rebuts, "instead of incriminating ourselves even just a little bit by saying something, we wait it out until we find out who stole our list and find out what the hell is going on before everyone decides we're murderers."

Reina frowns. "Ri..."

Ri-el is sitting up straight now. "We need to catch them before they sell us out. Because they'll want to make us look like we're guilty. We need to know why they took our list, how they even knew about it, and we also need to find out who they are before seven more students are fucking murdered." She gazes hard at her friend. "None of this will be possible if we become suspects."

Silence. And then Reina nods slowly. "Okay. Okay. So we need to find them, and get enough proof to turn them in."

Ri-el sits back. "Exactly. Didn't you say those friends of yours are investigating?"

"Yeah."

Ri-el nods curtly. "Perfect. If they find anything at all, you will need to know. Then we confront whoever it is first to make sure of what and why they know about our list, and if they're planning to squeal. We need to turn them in before they can turn us in."

"I hate this," Reina whispers, running a hand over her face. "So much."

"Everything will be fine. We just need to be smart about this."

"But I asked, who's next?" Reina crosses and uncrosses her arms. "Jihyi was the first. Jaesu was number two and Chaewon was number three." She bites her bottom lip. "I don't quite remember who was supposed to be fourth."

Ri-el looks upward, thinking furiously. "Sun Dano," she blurts. "The fourth person on our list was Sun Dano."

"Even if we don't know who's behind all this or when next they're planning to strike, we can still try to warn him, right?" Reina trembles slightly as those excruciating memories come rushing back. "He's terrible, horrible, I know, but I don't think even he deserves to die."

"No. No, I agree." Ri-el reaches forward to take Reina's hand, a silent transmission of comfort. "We should definitely find a way to warn him without giving ourselves away."

"But how?"

▸

"Jeno, Juno. JeJu."

"Alright, then, Mark, Juno, Marno. Plus they went to the dance together."