we the cursed, nct dream ✔

part fifty-four

⇉ the one at the arcade.

(note: i SWEAR this book is almost done y'all, give or take like... 13 chappies
i sincerely dk how it got this long)

part fifty-four

Juno is missing something.

Five days have passed. She's spoken to more people, made more videos about her theories, and even done some extra research into serial killers and their behavior.

Except, her subconscious seems to know something that she does not. It's like it's telling her, look, it's right here! It's so obvious, right under your nose, just see! but she has no idea what it is that she should be looking at.

Her gaze drops back down to the papers that litter her desk. Various student profiles stare back at her, files that she is definitely not authorized to possess. Hopefully, those two and a half hours she'd spent sneaking into the counselor's office and then clinic to copy them wouldn't all be for naught. And it'd have been easier if she could've just viewed them on her laptop, but it's school-issued and therefore monitored, so she'd had to spend an extra hour at the print room printing the hundreds of pages of files and make sure that nobody noticed her.

To think all that effort might just go to waste.

Juno refuses to let it. There are two kinds of student profiles currently atop her desk; one for just general information, and another listing medical details - including each person's possible mental illness. Ms. Yang had mentioned at that assembly that the culprit probably has a harrowing mental issue, but the majority of these just seem to be either depression or anxiety; terrible but commonplace disorders.

Juno misses her friends. But time is of the essence. And although she still sees them in classes and such, Juno has been largely by herself for the past few weeks, which is probably for the best. She's received more notes since that first one, and if her friends knew, they'd either encourage her to stop searching or just follow her everywhere, both of which come from a place of love but would just be immensely impractical right now.

On top of it all, Juno hasn't had a proper conversation with Haechan ever since that night.

She stops, surprised by the thought. Why does that matter? So maybe she'd woken up in the middle of the night to find herself tangled up in his arms and hadn't moved, opting to remain in there, but had awoken again in the morning... to an empty bed.

But none of that matters. Not right now.

Then somebody knocks on her door.

Periodic visits from her friends lately go like this: they ask how she is, she'll assure them that she's doing fine, is just very busy, gently turn down any invitation to hang out, and then discreetly put an end to the visit.

Speak of the devil. Juno blinks at the sight of the person at the door.

"Hey, what-" Juno hardly gets a word in as Haechan pushes his way into her room. "Come on in, I guess," she mumbles.

She watches him take in the sheets of paper and books and writing utensils strewn all over her table. Her bed is unmade. Shawty has been banished upstairs to Jisung and Chenle after scratching at Juno's pants in a bid to get attention, and the room, for once, is actually messy.

Juno recognizes the look on his face immediately. "Oh, no," she sighs heavily. "You're about to yell at me."

"What," he finally speaks, glancing around, "is all this?"

"An investigation," she answers simply.

"No." Haechan lifts his eyes to meet hers. "This is obsession."