the death bell | na jaemin √

八

_rule 8
no student is permitted to leave the campus unless given permission from a certified staff member, and one most sign out and wear a tracker at all times if left the campus. i'd tracker signal turns off, the school will invest in searching for you and carrying immediate extermination

—-

"that's it" jangmi slammed her spoon down onto the table, causing jaemin to jump out of his seat

"geez what?" jaemin almost stuck his chopsticks into her face

"what? you've been ranting on and on and on about what clues you've seen to lead to that anonymous guy who, mind you, is rumoured to be gone at this point" she groaned, throwing her head back

"key word: rumoured" he was planning to win this argument

"it's been 2 hours and we're still not allowed to leave this building. if anything, he's outside, not in this specific building. have you ever thought of why they kept us in this building and not the dorm one?"

"if just doesn't seem right" he pressed

"what makes it not seem right" she was so done

"my instincts" he almost said too confidently

she only scoffed in reply

for some context, there's a building with all of the classrooms and the lunch cafeteria and a building for all the dorms and the dinner and breakfast cafeteria, an iron gate separating the two buildings. they are currently locked inside in the classroom building since the figure still hasn't been cleared.

"you know what, let go find him if it'll make you shut up" she stood up and grabbed her try

"really? you'd help?" jaemin followed her actions, walking behind her with ecstasy

"as long it doesn't be in the way of my study sessions. you have precisely half an hour" she placed her tray down in the other discarded pile of trays. though she was harsh with her words, jaemin couldn't help but let his heart flutter at her willingness to help

—-

"i've looking for a while, and luckily i've watched enough crime dramas to know a bit about how to search for hints to lead to the suspect" he lead her to the vent again

"you keep giving me reasons to trust you less than i already do" she sighed, coming closer to the vent

"i managed to open it when the teachers were having lunch" he pulled open the vent door carefully "and this is the place where i found the suspect and somehow he managed to escape without leaving any traces"

"you cant just look at something and draw a conclusion, you need to search deeper than what comes to the eye" she joined jaemin in sticking her head into the vent slightly, her cheeks almost brushing against his at their close proximity. jaemin swallowed, trying to keep his eyes in the vent but he knew it was impossible

"like any normal vent, they were have dust in it, correct?" she didn't even wait for his answer for continuing "but if you shine a torch into the vent..." she grabbed his phone from his hand and opened the torch, pointing it in the inside of the vent "...there is no dust, which means someone has been here recent-" she turned to face jaemin

his eyes were wide and his jaw slightly fallen down. jangmi looked at him confused and waved a hand in front of his face "are you even listening? i'm trying to help you here"

"uh ye-yeah..." he immediately snapped his head back towards the vent

"as i was saying, if we follow the areas with no dust inside the vent, then we should have a lead in which direction he went. although it's been 2 hours, he really could have moved anywhere at this point and dust could have built up again, so i'm not sure how reliable this is" she pulled her head out, raising an eyebrow