✗ study

"we should investigate in the fountain." she told the other, before she walks towards the door. minjeong touches the knob and looks at kahei, "let's go." with a reassuring nod before twisting the knob and opens the door. she looked from left to right before gesturing the other to come out before walking out of the study and into the fountain.

kahei nodded, and a few taps of her screen later, the screenshots were sent to the newly saved contact "minjeong". her finger's movement slowed as minjeong suggested against telling the others. she thought for a while before agreeing, "okay. for now." kahei received the fire poker from minjeong, examining the length of it. it would suffice as a weapon against someone unarmed. kahei's gaze shifted from yongsun's body to minjeong's salute. she tore her gaze away from the two, walking towards the door of the study without looking back. "so, where should we go to next?" she asked, not too loud in case there were other people, but still hoping her question would reach the girl behind her. "the fountain is where inguk's body was found, and i don't think a lot of people have investigated the hall, so one of the two?"

"send all those screenshots to me, in case one of us became his victims." minjeong told her, then she took the page she wrote out of the notebook before taking a picture on it, in case she lost the note. "we can't tell anyone yet, we're yet to confirm if he really is the one." she told kahei before taking back the notebook on the desk, "we should investigate around the manor together." then minjeong look around to see two fire pokers by the fireplace, good thing it wasn't lit. "grab those in case we got attacked." she told before looking back at yongsun's corpse, "we'll give you a proper burial after this." then she saluted on her before putting the written notes in her pocket.

kahei nodded, the gears in her head turning. "yeah, he did seem to think rather lightly of the whole situation," she said. pulling out her phone to open up the groupchat, she continued, "it's not incriminating, but i'll screenshot these as clues." out of the corner of her eye, kahei saw the new names on minjeong's paper, making her pause her screenshotting momentarily. "the motives do make sense. and since we were all colleagues, dew, taeyeon and i, it does make sense that he knows who had information on sir hugh."

kahei had just finished screenshotting the last of what could be suspicious messages, when minjeong announced the next course of action. "yeah, we shouldn't alert him, or we might be targeted next," kahei said, the corpse in the room serving as a good enough reminder. "i can try to bluff him; we aren't on bad terms, per se. but i'll need your help with that, because i don't think i can come up with anything smart," she sighed. "should we tell anyone else? to warn them in advance?"

"and just by lurking through the chat in our phone, i could tell he was talking much more bluntly when boddy died. i suspect that he got the idea of killing boddy because of jongin carelessly bluffed about ever killing him." she explained more before writing jongin's name on the notes, "the second person who knew sir hugh more before boddy was taeyeon, before she died she did mentioned that she's older than mr. boddy. meaning taeyeon has more knowledge about the manor and boddy, since she knows the nooks and crannies here, she knows more a lot about boddy." she wrote taeyeon's name on the notes, relating her knowledge into the murder. "maybe he was surprised too and had to take her out immediately. which he did." she explained before looking at yongsun's corpse, "on yongsun's situation, the poison has already been in her body since the banquet started and maybe it only reacted now. it might be diversion, he wants to frame someone like me since me and yongsun are the ones here before she died and you came." then she crossed her arms. "let's not make it obvious that it's him we're suspicious of, however, we should ask him tricky questions or bluff him. but in my case, i can't bluff at him since he knows i'm not one to joke on."

kahei turned her head, ever so slowly, to look at minjeong. so quickly? from the first description, kahei already had an inkling of who minjeong was referring to. after all, she had seen it with her own eyes, and the name hadn't gone unmentioned by minjeong earlier. kahei nodded along, each piece of information making the face of minjeong's suspect even clearer in her mind. "dew," she said quietly. what minjeong said did make sense. she hummed in thought for a while. "i mean he's been working with mr. boddy for quite a while, so there were probably lots of opportunties for a murder motive to develop," kahei said matter-of-factly, adding on to minjeong's reasoning. she hummed for a while before speaking up again. "should we do something about him?"

[post deleted by owner]

"i don't know why the poison took much slower than the reaction time since it could have been in their system by the time we were sleeping." minjeong looked at kahei, "i'm already suspicious of someone already." she said as she is about to conclude someone. "he served me the rubbing alcohol upon learning that i was the one who tripped him to create a commotion, i did smell the rubbing alcohol so i exchange it with another glass of water." then she noted about the rubbing alcohol incident, "the rubbing alcohol, the time taeyeon and inguk died." she noted. "first mr. boddy, then taeyeon died and he was there, and then... inguk died and he was there as well. he starts to suspect me, then dohyun. would you like to guess whoi am suspicious of?" she asked kahei.

kahei shook her head immediately. "just the usual workers, no guests showed up there." kahei almost let out a laugh, remembering the whole scene. kahei hasn't cared in the moment, too busy with the preparations to care about rich people's champagne problems. looking back at it now, it was quite the fiasco. still, she made an attempt to stifle her laughter as she looked at the lines that minjeong was jotting down. the last piece of information had kahei raising her eyebrow. "wait, so you think the killer might have done that?" she asked. she took a glance at yongsun, on the floor. "i mean, it makes sense. poisoning, sort of."

she nodded and took down some notes about her statement, "okay, do you see anyone looking suspicious when you were cooking back in the kitchen?" she asked again, like a detective. even though she already told them that crime mysteries are fiction, she only said that so no one would suspect on her or getting targeted by the murderer. then she wrote her activity during the banquet, "mine is, people are crowded by the entrance of the dining room. well, i admit i made a commotion there like tripping dew so that i could get out of the crowds and into the tables." she explained and made her own statement written in the notes. "but when serving drinks, someone served me 100% percent rubbing alcohol instead of wine or sparkling water." minjeong muttered very quietly so the killer won't eavesdrop them.

kahei watched minjeong, wondering if she was going to leave the study, only for her to shut the doors instead. then, it was the windows next. kahei nodded in understanding. minjeong was a meticulous one. "no, it's alright, i understand," kahei said, still thankful for the clarification. "well, as the cook, i was making trips in between the kitchen and the dining room, preparing and serving the food out for everybody," she said without having to think much. "is this information helpful?" she asked, unsure what other details she could give.

she walked to the door of the study, she locked it in case anyone would come in, then she looked at the windows and closed it shut in case the murderer would peek on them. "we have to recall everything that night when mr. boddy invited us on a banquet." minjeong told kahei before walking back to her with a notebook and a pen, she starts to write from where it all began. "kahei where were you when mr. boddy invited us to go to the dining room? i'm not suspecting you, i'm trying to retrace back before hell broke loose." she told her.

kahei flinched, even if minjeong's outburst wasn't completely unexpected. the older girl slowly drew back her hand. it seemed like minjeong wouldn't be easy to convince. "i understand," kahei said. "we can continue investigating, i'll follow you," she continued, giving in to the younger's wishes. "but i'm not too sure where we can look."

[post deleted by owner]

"i can't just rest there and do nothing!" she exclaimed, looking at the other girl. she stood up from the floor, "what if some of us will die when we rest? we can't rest until we found the one who did this." as stubborn as she is, minjeong cannot let this slide since some of them are dead and she cannot lay low because of it.

kahei nodded solemnly, feeling bad for the younger girl, for having to go through all this. "we can go back to your room, if you'd like," she suggested, minjeong's slightly red eyes not going unnoticed. "i think you should get some rest." kahei sighed. "after all, i think some of the others might have given up investigating already."

she gritted her teeth before closing yongsun's eyes, minjeong looked back at kahei with a stinging glare. "i hate it... getting into this situation." she muttered, before looking down at yongsun's body. she looked at her once she placed her hand on minjeong's shoulder, "where should we go?" she asked kahei.

kahei traversed the mansion to get to the little study. taking a deep breath, she pushed the door open and was faced with the scene she had expected. yongsun in minjeong's arms, lifeless. minjeong, desperately trying to do something, anything. kahei ran over to minjeong's side, observing yongsun's body. "i'm sorry, minjeong," kahei said softly, coming to a conclusion from yongsun's breathing, or lack thereof. "she's dead, there's nothing else we can do." kahei carefully put a hand on the younger girl's shoulder. "we should go."

"ah, the tape is here..." minjeong took the tape in oen of the drawers before hearing a loud thud, she turned around quickly. her eyes widen at the sight of a former astronaut lying on the floor, she gasped and ran to yongsun. "yah! you can't serious?!" her heart starts racing as she couldn't hear her breathing, "don't you ing die on me! get up!" minjeong frantically shouted as she tries to shake yongsun's lifeless body, "dammit! kim yongsun! wake the up!" her tears starts to build up before letting go of her. "damn it. ing damn it." she whispered and clenched her fist, toughening up herself upon witnessing the death of another victim with her.

Maybe she got up too quickly... but Yongsun had suddenly felt light headed. She had been getting spurts randomly throughout her stay here, but had thought it was just her getting used to Earth's gravity. She turned to look at the others in the room, "do oyu ahv.." her words were slurred, before her body collapsed beneath her. she lied on the study floor, lifeless.

"hm, tape it is." minjeong looked around the room and starts looking for a tape, careful not to touch anything that is deemed to be one of the clues or evidences.

"you never know, it could be something?" she sighed standing up after looking around for a moment. she sees minjeong rummaging through the desk, and she looks back at the lock, pointing at it. "is there any tape on the desk?" she asked turning back to minjeong. "i wonder if we could get some finger prints off the knob to see who had broke the lock?"

she scoffed at the crumpled text, a clue. "so someone is jokingly want to kill mr. boddy and guess what mr. boddy is dead." minjeong rolls her eyes and starts rummaging at the desk to find some clues there.

yongsun looked at the crumbled text print out before holding it up above her head. "it looks like we have some sort of evidence?" she sighed, not really sure how much she could take that as anything. "i don't know how concrete it is, but it's a start."

In the trash you find a crumbled up print out of a text messages

https://i.imgur.com/Am8ZOb5.jpg

she looked at the male looking also for some clues too, "the reality of murder mysteries is that they never get solved." she rolled her eyes and rummages on mr. boddy's papers to look at some clues here.

With slight hesitation Taehyung stepped into the room, already the air was suffocating and he'd only been there for a moment, the added matter of a whole dead body just made everything even worse too. His eyes scanned the broken lock for a moment before his gaze moved about the room slowly, lower lip tugged up into his lip as he chewed nervously, "You know.. I love those murder mystery novels.. now sure how I feel about being in one for reals though..."

minjeong walked inside the study with the others, upon witnessing mr. boddy's body. she sighed and looked at the cabinets and drawers, "what exactly are we looking for?" minjeong asked yongsun as she looked at her, "we don't have a clue yet and i barely know mr. boddy." she told and rolled her eyes.

"Obviously, Mr. Boddy was hiding something in here, otherwise the lock wouldn't be broken." Yongsun said observing the lock lightly, her eyes dancing over the room. If she was gonna be looking for clues of who did the murder she wanted to get it done as quickly as possible so she didn't have to stay in a smaller closed area with the people she despised the most. The obvious place to look was the desk, but Yongsun saw herself looking curiously at the trash and the few pieces of crumbled up paper inside.

@kim yongsun. @kim taehyung. @kim minjeong. @cha hakyeon. Your group has decided to take on another are of investigation where you will find the lock on the door broken in the study, papers scattered all over the desk, a small trash can dumped over, and files all over the place.

[at least 4 posts have to be made to have the clue posted!]