my escape • study group x reader

chapter twenty-two • episode 7

"Last evening, near Ancheon Park, a man in his 40s was found dead from a stabbing. The police have used CCTV footage to identify the killer as 18-year-old Kim. They are actively searching for him."

We all crowded around Hee-won to watch the new report intently. Jun spoke first, breaking our silence. "Isn't that obviously our school uniform?"

"Why would he murder someone in his uniform?" I asked, standing up straight and crossing my arms over my chest.

Se-hyeon leaned towards the phone. "He looks familiar, though, doesn't he?" He took the phone from Hee-won's hands. "Isn't this Kim Sun-Cheol?"

"Kim Sun-Cheol?" Ji-woo asked, Se-hyeon nodded. "Han-Yool's underling, Kim Sun Cheol?" She leaned forward to get a closer look and raised her eyebrows. "I think you're right!"

"Right? Ga-min, doesn't it look like him?" Se-hyeon moved the phone so that Ga-min could see but the boy wasn't looking. "Ga-min, what's wrong?"

I leaned forward. "Do you know him?"

Ga-min looked at us. "Uhm...no, it's nothing."

Suddenly, the study room door opened and Ms. Lee walked in with the detective we were starting to know very well. The detective only looked at Ga-min. "You met with Kim Sun-Cheol last night, didn't you?"

I almost laughed, the accusation seemed stupid at first but Ga-min quietly nodded and confirmed. My mouth fell open. "What?"

***

That night I was on the phone with Se-hyeon, discussing the events of the day. He was describing his short conversation with Ga-min when they left to go home.

"He doesn't think Sun-Cheol is guilty." Se-hyeon said, I could hear a bit of shuffling on the phone as he moved to lay down and place the phone beside his head.

"Why not? If anyone did it, it's definitely one of Pi Han-Yool's thugs, right?" I had my headphones in with my phone laying on my desk while I paced the room.

"He seemed pretty upset that Sun-Cheol was being blamed." Se-hyeon sighed. "I wonder what happened when they met at the hospital."

"I think Ga-min just has too big of a heart." I copied his sigh. "What do you think?"

"I want to look into it more," he said. "Hee-won said she'd meet up with me and go through some archives at the library."

I nodded, a pang of jealousy hitting my chest. I forced myself to ignore it and cleared my throat. "What do we do if you figure out Sun-Cheol isn't guilty?"

There was silence on his end of the call for a second. "I think we should let Ga-min decide that."

I nodded. "I'll hang up so you can talk to Hee-won." I walked over to my phone to hang up the call but Se-hyeon's voice came through my headphones again.

"Are you okay with Hee-won and I looking into this?"

I froze. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Just checking," He cleared his throat and I heard him shuffle. "I'll see you in the morning."

I nodded even though he couldn't see me and hung up the call. As soon as I was alone, my mind became contaminated. I sat on the floor with my back against my bed and pulled up my music, turning the volume all the way up so that the only thing i could possibly hear was my music. Even so, I wondered why Se-hyeon had asked if I was okay with him researching with Hee-won. Was he hoping I wouldn't be? Did I just unintentionally tell him that I didn't care if he spent time with other girls? Did I accidentally tell him that I wasn't interested in being more than friends? Did he want to be more than friends? Did he want me to be the one to help him with this? These weren't the only questions that flooded my brain, they just seemed to be the focus. I hated the silence of my room, I hated not having someone (Se-hyeon) here with me.

I sighed and dropped my head back. My brain was flooded and my life jacket was deflating. My phone dinged and vibrated in my lab. I lifted it to see the Study Group chat active.

SEHYEON: Can everyone get to school early tomorrow?

HEEWON: 🙏🏻

JUN2: How early?

SEHYEON: 5:30am?

JIWOO: What?

JUN2: 🔪

SEHYEON: 6am?

GAMIN: We'll be there.

I shut the screen off and dropped my phone onto the floor. Would they care if I wasn't there?

I shook my head and squeezed my eyes shut. They would care.

My phone buzzed again, I picked it up to see a direct message from Se-hyeon.

SEHYEON: Can you get there at 5:30?

ME: 👍

SEHYEON: Are you okay?

ME: 👍

INCOMING CALL...SEHYEON

I scoffed, but smiled and answered. "Are you lost?"

"What?" He asked.

"You just got off the phone with me like five minutes ago."

"Responding with a single emoji twice in a row just screams not okay."

I smiled. "I'm fine. What is there to be upset about right now?"

"So you'll be there at five thirty?"

"I thought you were threatened into making it six?" I held my phone in front of me and stared at his contact photo, the one we'd taken when I was in the hospital.

"I was...but you'll be there early?"

I nodded. "Fine."

I could hear the smile in his voice when he responded. "See you then." He hung up. I grinned to myself, silently wishing he'd call me again.

***

I did arrive at school earlier than the others but my energy was completely drained. I hadn't slept much the night before and the sun hadn't even began to rise when my alarm woke me. I basically had to drag myself up the stairs to get to the study room and when I finally arrived, Se-hyeon was not inside. However, at my usual seat, on the table there was an iced americano with a box of banana milk sitting beside it. The only person that really knew of my weird habit of mixing banana milk into my coffee was Se-hyeon. I smiled and dropped into my seat, dropping my bag down beside me and pulling out my phone.

SEHYEON: I forgot my homework at home and had to rush back. I'll be back in a sec.

ME: :)

I mixed the milk into the americano and snapped a photo, sending him the photo. I dropped my phone face down and laid my head down onto the table.

****

A/N

This chapter is a little short? Sorry! I wanted to get a chapter out since it's been awhile. I know that i've been straying from the show scenes a bit and idk how i feel about that or if that's something you guys like/want to see more of. Pls let me know if you like the additional scenes or if you prefer I stick to the show!

I hope you're enjoying this story so far!