CH 56

Seogeung seemed to be the de facto leader of this bunch. As soon as our eyes met, his face, red with anger, twitched.

“Why would I kill her out of the blue? Would you—yes, Seogeung—would you, perhaps, swing a knife at a random passerby for no reason?”

“Why would I?” he said.

I retorted, “So, why would I?”

Seogeung shut his mouth theatrically. He clenched his fist, and his shoulders quivered as he plopped back down in his seat. Creak, the chair hit the floor sharply. After he fell silent, the next person to speak was unsurprisingly Seoyoon.

Befitting his role as the host of the show, he inquired calmly, “Why was Goyeon’s flashlight damaged?”

“She dropped it in surprise.” I wasn’t an idiot. I knew that it would be disadvantageous for me if I told them honestly that I argued with her. I peeked at Woorim as I answered, but he looked amused but otherwise didn’t react.

The truth that Goyeon and I fought was something that only Woorim knew. He didn’t tell me that he would keep my secret, but seeing his actions so far, he didn’t seem like he would do something that would put me in a bad position. That was enough for me.

“She stepped on the curtain on the floor, but she got surprised by the squishiness under her feet and threw her flashlight,” I recounted, thinking back to the curtains scattered around the music room.

“I see…” Seoyoon didn’t look completely convinced. Nobody here had seen the lower floors properly yet. The only people who explored so far were me, Woorim, and the dead Goyeon. So even if I said that, they couldn’t know whether there were curtains or not.

But as long as they couldn’t find a motive for me as I had said, they couldn’t keep suspecting me.

Seoyoon seemed to be deep in thought. Even if someone pushed Goyeon to her death, I was the most viable suspect. Wasn’t that so? I was the one who went exploring with her, and I was the first to find her corpse. If anyone else were to be the suspect, there were more gaps to fill in the narrative.

“Then, when you were exploring, did you see anyone else other than Goyeon?”

“No.”

“Or did anyone go past you and go downstairs first?”

“I didn’t see anyone like that.”

“…” Eventually, Seoyoon’s brow furrowed into a deep crease.

That was the problem. Nobody else should have been downstairs but me and Goyeon. I was the sole suspect. That fact made Seoyoon and the others contemplate deeply.

I was also thinking along the same lines. I thought that it was strange.

“Isn’t it that, then?!” Seogeung banged the table again, this time with his fist. He punched it so hard that all the cups on the table shook. Seogeung glared at me and yelled, “You… You tried to assault her, right?!”

Now that was completely fantastical and farfetched.

“You were alone in a room with a pretty girl, so you must have gotten weird thoughts. So when you attacked her, she got so scared that she threw her flashlight!”

He was right that she threw her flashlight in anger.

“Didn’t you push her as she tried to run away?!” Seogeung pointed at me accusingly. “Didn’t you pose this as an accident to hide your attempted rape since it would be bad for people here to know?!”

After looking at Seogeung and me, Seoyoon whispered, “Seogeung, that’s going too far.” However, seeing as he didn’t try to stop him strongly, maybe he thought there was a slight possibility. It wasn’t impossible. It was easier to think that I tried to assault her than to conjure up a criminal in a space where there clearly was nobody.

But were Goyeon and I truly the only people downstairs? Wasn’t that incorrect? If they thought a bit harder, the group would have come to that conclusion. We weren’t the only people here. There were undoubtedly people who went downstairs before we did.

I was about to tell them this point.

“Excuse me,” Someone interrupted at that moment.

“Haeseo would never do that! He’s gay!” Hyehyun shouted after fidgeting nervously.

Seogeung’s red face instantly grew livid. He couldn’t bring himself to put down his accusatory finger and trembled.

“G-ga—… What?” He stared at me like he was seeing a creature of the unknown for the first time in his life.

“I’m right, aren’t I, Haeseo? Hurry up and say that I’m right.” Hyehyun looked at me. Hyehyun forced a grin on his scowling face and I stared at him quietly. Pity spread on his face; he probably thought it would be better to be seen as gay rather than a murderer. As per usual, he pretended to be a gracious and kind person.

“Haeseo, hurry up and say that you don’t get hard for women, only for Yeonseon.”