When Shadows Fall | BTS Kim Namjoon

Chapter 16: Intern

I looked around as I unlocked the apartment building door. No Creepface, no suspicious people. But I still felt like I was being watched.

You're just full of nerves because Hajun was killed. Hurrying up the stairs, I locked the apartment door as soon as I entered.

"Jisuk, I'm home," I called. To my surprise, my roommate actually answered.

"It's about time," she said from the couch. "I thought I'd have to call your boss again to send you home."

I walked over to flop next to her. "Yeah, yeah. I thought you'd be out?"

"Nah. So how are you doing today?"

"I'm fine! Stop asking with that focused look on your face like you're waiting for me to crack!"

She sighed and moved to hug me. "Sorry Chunhwa. I know it's been a while since... well, you know, but you still worry me."

Fifty-six days since the event.

Hajun's death - the event that sharply divided my life. Before, a world of potential, with hard work and deadlines that I was contented to fulfill. Now, I had been plunged into a sphere that had previously only existed in the margins of my life - a realm of darkness and violence.

"I still can't get over what the police said - that it was a random killing. It doesn't make sense. How could someone have killed Hajun for no reason?"

Jisuk sighed. "We've been over this before. Sometimes people are just in the wrong place-"

"At the wrong time, I know, I know." I tossed a couch pillow at her. "It just makes me angry, that the killer is still out there and the police can't seem to manage to make any progress."

She sighed. "Go talk to the police. Light a fire under their lazy butts. Or stop talking about it."

I thought about the police. "No thanks, I'm not going to talk to that police officer who made me feel like a twelve-year-old that had watched too many scary movies."

"Then relax and trust the police. This is their job."

I nodded. She was right, and I needed to stop drawing connections where there were none.

Jisuk stood up. "How did your finals go?"

I sighed. I had just taken my last exam of the semester, and I started the summer internship at a news outlet in Seoul tomorrow.

"I don't think I did very well."

"I'm sure you did fine. Would you read over the essay I have to submit tomorrow? I'll make something quick for dinner."

I began reading over the essay. Several minutes later, I realized that I was just staring at the page.

"I'm sorry, Jisuk, I just can't concentrate."

"Is something bothering you?"

It took me a moment to search out the cause of my restlessness. I was trying to move on from Hajun's death, I really was. And I was doing fairly well, but something nagged at me.

I had an ugly feeling that things were not fine, like the police wanted me to believe. The two roses, the feeling of being watched... I had to wonder if someone was after me.

I was afraid of the possibility that Hajun could have been killed because of his involvement with me.

"Chunhwa?"