case 143 | minsung

41

after jisung walked out of the warehouse and was preparing to leave the area to call a taxi, the tears he had tried to suppress earlier as he spoke to minho returned to his eyes.

before he can even get far from the place he heard his phone emit a ding.

bitch friends

gnabnhac
jisung, where are you?
it's almost 10pm
come home now

cute boy seungmin
yeah, we're just here outside ur aparment
waiting for u

me
okay

jisung placed his phone back in his pocket and started walking again, wiping away the tears that blurred his vision.

just as he was walking, he heard faint wailing in the distance—minho's wailing.

he did his best to ignore it, but his heart kept screaming at him to go back to minho, to wrap him in a warm embrace and assure him that everything would be alright. but he couldn't. he shouldn't.

closing his eyes in guilt, jisung attempted to drown out the noise. he softly muttered a small "sorry" before finally leaving the place.

-----

as soon as he reached his apartment, he found chan and seungmin outside his door.

'they must've waited a long time for me to come back,' he thought guiltily.

when the two noticed jisung's arrival, they also noticed his current state.

they were about to ask him what happened, but jisung told them he'd explain inside.

upon opening the door to his apartment and his friends coming inside with worried faces, he locked the door and immediately hugged them, crying on their shoulders.

the two were taken aback but nevertheless tried to comfort him.

"shh, ji, it's okay," chan said, caressing jisung's back.

"let it all out, ji," seungmin added.

the two allowed jisung to cry and waited for him to calm down. when he did, they guided him to the couch, asking him what was on their minds.

"ji, what happened? where have you been? we've been really worried, you know. even minho wouldn't reply to our messages," chan started, his tone filled with concern.

"minho is lee know," jisung flatly stated.

the two were shocked by this revelation. they remained quiet for a moment, waiting for jisung to continue. when he didn't, chan cautiously spoke up.

"ji, are you really sure about that?" he asked.

"i saw it with my own two eyes, hyung," chan didn't respond, signaling jisung to continue.

"i fucking hate this, the feeling of helplessness and pain. the overwhelming sense of just being an observer. i couldn't move my body, but i wasn't panicking; it was just pure anger and betrayal. there, in the distance, i watched as the killer harmed a person," jisung let out, his voice breaking with every word.