NINE

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"the first time"

Hyungwon stares down on his screen as he sees the poll that someone sent him. 

"Hey, Hyungwon." His father calls, Hyungwon looking up. "You okay?"

Hyungwon only sighs and turns off his phone, putting it aside. "My friends are dead and everyone hates me. Other than that, perfect." He answers as he takes a sip from his drink. "Hey, did you talk to Mom? I keep trying her cell and it just goes straight to voicemail."

"Well, I don't think the ashram allows phones."

"Does she even know what's going on here?" Hyungwon says as he grabs his chopsticks.

"Hyungwon, your mom has perfected the art of avoidance. I, on the other hand, have to handle the press, the grieving parents, and a departmental screw-up of Darwin Award proportions." His father says, only making Hyungwon sigh and keep on eating.

"I'm sorry. I know you miss her. So do I. But, um, you can talk to me." Hyungwon looks at his father. "Now, what do you mean everybody hates you? You're handsome."

"Forget it."

"Yo! What's the 9-1-1?" Hoseok says as Chanyeol walks right out of the school building. 

"I got into Duke." Chanyeol reveals.

"Hell, yeah!" Hoseok congratulates.

"Huge congrats, bro." Jackson says, patting him in the back.

"Thanks." Chanyeol nods as the three keep walking towards the parking lot. "Um, but no scholarship. So, I'm gonna be paying 63 grand. Which may as well be 63 million."

"Did you tell your dad?" Jackson asks.

"Not yet. He'll never co-sign for student loans, so that's it. I'm never getting out of here." Chanyeol sighs as he throws his backpack and sports bag inside his car.

"You know, if you need fast cash for tuition, there is another option." Hoseok says. "We can finish what Baekhyun and Sehun started."

Chanyeol looks back at his friend as he was pretty shocked at what he heard him say.

"Blackmail?" Chanyeol asks. He then shook his head in disapproval. "We're finally in the clear and you want to dive back in?"

"We are still in the clear. This guy has no idea who we are." Hoseok says.

"We don't even have the video. It's on Baekhyun's laptop."

Jackson rubs his nape. "There may be another copy." He winces.

"I knew you didn't delete everything." Chanyeol sighs. He was not amused at the fact that his friends haven't erased every single damn thing. He really can get in trouble.

"We have an opportunity."

No, he shouldn't. They shouldn't. Chanyeol does not want to risk himself and his future. He clearly regrets his actions before, and he promised himself not again.

"Look, if the guy balks, then we walk. No harm, no foul." Jackson says. "But if he pays, hello, Duke."

Kihyun and Changkyun got out of Changkyun's vehicle as they arrive at the old building.

"So, what do you think?" Kihyun says as they both look up at the building.

"Uh, second thoughts are setting in."

"Look, this guy killed Minhyuk at the police station and Baekhyun at his house, and I know for a fact that he was outside my house the other night." Kihyun tells the younger. "If he wanted to kill me, he's had plenty of chances."

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