✗ fountain

"the one that was supposed to... give me the information i needed to finish writing my book. so really, if you think about it-- i couldn't have killed him. how could i if i needed him--" jongin rambled, the smirk on his expression a clear sign that the rambling felt as smooth as frosting on his tongue. he had this in the bag. absolutely no suspicious behavior here. he scoffed and looked away, "that's an unfair question. of course i would like dibs. wouldn't anyone want dibs if they wanted to kill someone? not that i did-- or do--" he kicked the rocks between him, muttering to himself, "or that i was given the chance to anyway. stupid murderer." he stopped in place and glanced at dew and then back to dohyun. he shook his head, "i was with him all night," he smirked, "if you know what i mean. how could dew have killed him when he was screaming for me?" yep. his alibi was . and he'd tell anyone that listened whether they asked or not.
he looked incredulous, offended by the question, "how am i supposed to know what a killer looks like? we don't even know who it is for sure. how can you ask me that question? if i knew then i'd be able to get revenge-- i mean justice for boddy." he shook his head, "that just means that you'd have more knowledge to commit this without getting caught. and my mom says it's always the quiet ones. i bet you did it so you wouldn't have to pay back his expensive guchi shirt and so you could steal what boddy owed you. so tell us. how did you do it then? when? and who are your accomplices?"

"boddy was supposed to be the one to.... what? Go on." Dohyun pulled out his notepad and pen, making notes of whatever Jongin was confessing to. He scoffed and placed his hands on his hips. "Oh you'd like that huh? You'd like to have dibs to murder- wait what?" The journalist tripped over his tongue, peering at the notes his just made which were now null and void. "Don't try to trick I'm not stupid- Unless, your lover called dibs first." He pointed his pen between Jongin and Dew.
"Do I look like a killer to you? I'm a highly educated man- I don't need to kill anyone to get what I want. Besides, he owed me a lot of money... which is a motive to keep him alive so he can pay me back." Dohyun grumbled, folding his arms across his chest. He cringed as Mr Italian Shirt's face met the harsh fountain concrete and wiped some of the splashed water away from his face.

no. the mood wasn't that of a party. everyone looked spooked, like they'd just seen a ghost and jongin didn't know what the big deal was, not until his eyes fell onto the man he'd assumed was too drunk to stand. and then the accusations came from the man who faced his own share of suspicion, likely the first to discover the body. jongin gasped, ready for the performance of his life as he looked at dohyun, "how-- i mean-- how dare you accuse me of such a thing? i would never. my mom taught me to be a good person. besides he wasn't even the target. boddy was supposed to be the one to--" he stopped himself in his tracks and then clicked his tongue, an annoyed expression on his features, grumbling to himself, "if only they'd given me a chance. but whatever. i guess dibs isn't a thing in murder." he shook his head and crossed his arms in front of his chest, huffing like a child and taking on a similar approach to his own defense, a pout curled into his lips,
"besides. how do we know YOU didn't kill him, huh? you were coming back to the scene of the crime, i bet. test him. all you'll get is bathwater and some pennies from the fountain. it wasn't me." he leaned over and grabbed inguk's hair from behind, yanking him up and out of the water, a face of disgust again on his fractures, "he doesn't even look like he's been here that long... but we were inside. you were the only one missing, weren't you? suspicious, mr. journalist. suspicious." his eyes focused again on dew and he let inguk go, letting the body hit the fountain with a force that definitely did some damage to the face. he gestured over, huffing, "tell him, babe. tell him how guilty he looked when you stumbled out here. tell him it wasn't me. that i prefer to stay dry and make other things wet."

dohyun looked up at the first man that had entered and prepared an entire speech arguing his innocence in his mind until the woman walked over then he dropped the body back into fountain, brushing down his shirt. "I-, I didn't do anything-" He stumbled between the two, casting a glance at the third arrival. "I didn't do anything-" He repeated like a broken record. "He was dead when I got here- I- I don't know who did it. But he- he talked about poisoning someone with cyanide it has to be him!" He pointed at Jongin. "It's not a coincidence you're here to fulfil your little murder schemes. Don't worry, we'll get this body tested for cyanide too!"

jongin heard the chaos before he saw it. like a faithful puppy, he'd noticed the disappearance of a certain raven-haired beauty and come in search of the sharp tongue. the outside was the perfect place for a debrief anyway. they hadn't a moment together yet, alone, to process what had happened and their own shock of who had beat them to it. alone may have been what he wanted, but definitely not what he got when he stumbled upon the three men and the woman now hanging around the fountain. his eyes barely noticed the body bent over the water in an unnatural form and instead he huffed, arms crossed on his chest, and an irritable pout pressed onto them, an accusatory look thrown at each, including the dead body, "is this what i think it is? are you all... having a part without me? it's middle school all over again, isn't it--? babe-- how could you?"

she was looking around the fountain as she looked hard for clues until she heard someone is dead, minjeong ran to the direction of the fountain until she saw another person died and two men was there. this is the first time, she saw a dead body, then another series of her head in throbbing pain, but only for a moment that made her eyes winced a bit before looking at the two people. "what the hell happened now?" minjeong looked at the two with a squinting look, "don't tell me one of you did it?" she asked the two with her brows meeting each other.

A walk was just what he needed to get away from the pure chaos that ensued inside the manor walls albeit there was still a killer on the loose and now a total of 4 people had died since the event started. There was no one he could trust, not even his idiot lover to keep his mouth shut. To say he was innocent wasn't completely true. He and the author planned an elaborate scheme to get the perfect story, a story that would make millions once it was published. A story to kill for. And that was what the public would feed on whether Dew was innocent or not. The maid took a slow breath in before furrowing his brows, squinting in the direction of Dohyun and Inguk's lifeless body. "Are you dumb??? Why would you touch or move a dead body? These Vultures will take it and tear you apart! Leave the Mermaid under the sea with Sabastian and Flounder-"

he lied there, still dead, even under the force of dohyun's arms

Dohyun slipped out of the library having all the evidence he needed, an eyewitness account of events after mr boddy's death. Now he needed to lay the groundwork for the article, this was much more spicy that whatever his name was. One of the men had basically confessed to the murder and now it was time for Dohyun to create a motive. But he thought about the other extremely rude man at dinner and wondered just who was involved in the cyanide scheme. It didn't really matter what the truth was, Dohyun could make anything sound believable.

He sat by the fountain and started reading his notes out to the water. "-So what I need to do is make a list of all the guests names, one of the men yelled at Jongin and that has to be the culprit. I just know it. But I need to find his last name and find out where that other guy went to... I never did catch his name at dinner..." He looked up noticing a shoe sticking out of the water. With a quick glance over his shoulder he tucked his notepad away and tugged on the shoe, gradually pulling Inguk's lifeless body out of the fountain. He checked for the man's pulse, shaking his shoulders, nervous hands trembling as he slapped the obviously dead man's cheek. "No! You can't be dead! You were supposed to be the killer! Mr Italian Shirt wake up! Jerk... This isn't funny!"

inguk couldn't have said when he started to feel the effects if whatever was in his system. he'd been feeling ill since hed arrived at the mansion. the chaos was too much and the migraines and aches that followed were of stress he was sure. until, at the edge of the fountain, an escape for some peace in the cool air, away from the accusation ms and the death of one of his dearest friends, he felt his chest constrict in a most sickening way and his mouth foam over cherry lips. then, he was in the water, the fluid in his lungs inconsequential, but taken in nonetheless until his final breath.

In the silence of all the happening of the chaos inside the manor, if one stepped outside or looked out the window, they would see Inguk lying face down in the fountain.

after the work from the manor, taeyeon takes a little break from her frequent fixing of the grandfather clock and takes a walk outside. then she stayed by the fountain and gets box of cigarette then ligjts it up, she inhaled the smoke of the cigar and exhaled a few moments . she starts to relive the time she was a kid and her mother taking her a walk around the fountain. oh the memories.