chapter 9: outliars and hippocrates: a fun fact about apples
“Minji,” her father is saying two days later. He’s got that edge to his voice that he only gets when she’s being disobedient , when she’s done something wrong - at least, it sounds that way over the phone. “I just don’t think it’s a good idea-”
“You don’t think it’s a good idea?” She presses her phone so far against her ear it pinches, squeezes so tight she fears she’ll break it. “Dad, this is her funeral we’re talking about.”
“I-I know.” He sounds flustered. “If there were any other circumstances, I would be paying for all of your plane tickets myself, but…”
Minji sighs. “You know we’ll wear our masks.”
“I’m not worried about the virus.”
Suddenly, he sounds serious . The shift startles her. She jumps. “Then- What’s the problem?” she asks.
“Where are you? And your friends?”
“Um…” She puts her thumbnail in her mouth. “I’m at the dorm. I think Yoobin and Gahyeon are here too, but I haven’t seen them. Siyeon’s at work, Yoohyeon’s in class... Bora was gone when I woke up this morning, but I dunno where she went…” Cautiously, she crosses her room and sits on her bed. “Is something wrong?”
Her father pauses for a long, long, long time. “For your sake - and the other girls in the dorm, just in case - I have instructed a few of the officers to check up on you. Consider yourselves under an almost lockdown of sorts.”
This time, Minji actually drops her phone. “Shit!” she sputters, and she drops off the bed to pick it up. “What do you mean, Dad?” She laughs reflexively. “Lockdown?”
“Given that this is an active investigation, I can’t say a lot, but I will say that what we have uncovered thus far has suggested a couple of things that- or rather, it’s- I can’t tell you why. It’s for your own good.” He sighs.
“Serial killer?” Minji says. She’s been watching too many crime shows. “Or like a rapist or-”
“I can’t tell you that.”
“Were you ever going to tell us this in person, or did you just expect us to figure it out on our own?” There’s two very conflicting emotions circling through her head right now. The first is anger, anger that her father’s just springing this on her now, anger that she doesn’t know what’s going on, anger that Handong’s dead. The second is fear, the kind that tells her to wrap herself in her blanket and not move ever again. Her hands are shaking.
“Officer Shiang was going to come by tonight, yes. Try not to tell anyone before then, okay?”
Minji shakes her head, despite him not being able to see her. “How is this gonna work? How long is this gonna take? What’s the deal?”
“I have to get back to work. All of your questions will be answered tonight, I promise.” He coughs. “Hey. I love you, Minji. I just wanna keep you safe.”
“Love you too, Dad,” she mumbles. “Talk to you soon.”
He hangs up. She tosses her phone on her pillow and flops back on her bed.
Lockdown. Again. It hasn’t even been six months since the last one ended.
She sits there for god knows how long, at some point picking up and hugging a pillow to her chest, until she hears the door to the dorm open. “Y’all?” calls Yoohyeon. “Anyone home?”
Minji scrambles to her feet, practically chucking the pillow across the room, and runs outside. “Oh, hey,” Yoohyeon says as she drops her bag. “Is something-”
“Hug, now ,” Minji says. She doesn’t even give her friend a chance to respond. She nearly knocks the taller girl over.
“-wrong?” Yoohyeon finishes. She coughs. “Jeez, ow. What happened?”
Minji rests her chin on Yoohyeon’s shoulder and sighs. “Dad’s not letting any of us go to the funeral, or even, like, leave the apartment, and he wouldn’t tell me why but I think there’s a serial killer on the loose and that’s who got Handongie and I wasn’t supposed to tell you any of that.” She closes her eyes. “Officer Shiang’s coming by tonight to officially tell us. It affects everyone in the building, though, so… I guess? That’s a good thing.”
“Oh, shit,” Yoohyeon says. “Oh, shit .” She wiggles away and puts her hand on Minji’s upper arm. Her eyes are wide as dinner plates. “That’s so not a good thing.”
Minji shrugs. “God, the last thing I want is to be stuck here. Everyone’s so tense, I don’t like it…” She steps back. “Let’s… Just go sit on the couch. You look tired.”
“Yoobin’s not gonna like this.”
“Bora’s not gonna like this, either.” They walk back to the couch, and Minji sits down and rubs her face. “If he wants to prevent a murder, he should let us go to the funeral. They’re gonna kill each other.”
Yoohyeon sits next to her and crosses her legs. “I’m… kinda worried about Bora, to be honest. She’s been the most removed of all of us, which is so… unlike her, y’know? I woulda thought that Yoobin or Siyeon would’ve pulled away, but I guess not.” She leans on her hand. “This is just… So… Wrong .”
Minji sinks into the couch. “You can say that again,” she says. She tries to reach for the TV remote, but her arms don’t stretch far enough.
“So, we’re not allowed to go to the funeral?” Yoohyeon asks, grabbing it for her.
Minji shakes her head. “Dad’s worried.”
The younger girl pushes a button and flips through the channels. She eventually stops on a movie that they’ve seen a million times and sets the phone down. “About us getting killed? Or the virus?”
“Us getting got.” Minji sighs. “We’ll learn more tonight.”
“About what?” Gahyeon asks from the hallway. They look over to the youngest girl, who’s wrapped in a blanket. She looks very small today. It’s the first time anyone but Yoobin’s seen her since Saturday night.
Minji looks at Yoohyeon, shrugs, and pushes herself upright. “Get over here,” she says. She wants to scream and wrap Gahyeon into a bear hug, but something holds her back.
“Huh?” Gahyeon says, her face twisting. “Did I do something wrong?”
"No, get over here,” Minji repeats. Gahyeon obeys and sort of waddles across the room towards the pair. She doesn’t make it to the couch before Minji grabs her around the waist and tugs her ober. She squeaks.
“Wh- Minji, hey!” She wriggles away and rolls onto the floor. “Ow.”
Yoohyeon starts giggling. “We- We were worried about you, Gahyeon,” Minji stammers, slipping off the couch to sit next to her. “You haven’t left your room.” She grins and nudges her.
Gahyeon curls up and presses her back to the cushions. She elbows Minji off of her. “Yoobin was with me,” she mumbles. “I was fine.”
Yoohyeon rubs Gahyeon’s hair. “We’re still allowed to worry,” she says. “We should be sticking together right now, anyway.”
Gahyeon swats her away. “I guess,” she says, and she pulls the blanket up around her neck. “Do we have a date for the funeral? I just…”
Minji shakes her head. “About that,” she says. She pushes herself upright and brushes her hair out of her face. “That… Things are getting complicated.” She sighs. “We’re not even allowed to go to the funeral. Or leave the dorm.”
Gahyeon’s eyes widen. “Are you serious ?” she says. “Why not?” She covers her mouth with her hand. “Are we suspects ? How are we suspects?”
“No-no-no-no!” Minji puts her hand on Gahyeon’s shoulders. “We’re not suspects. Dad just has.. other suspicions. Or… Okay, look, Officer Shiang’s coming by later to explain all of this situation.”
The younger girl makes a face, her nose scrunching up. “Why him?” she says. “Has every other officer been fired or something? It’s like he’s just conveniently everywhere … y’know, connected to… her.” She trails off and rests her chin on her knees. “And if crime shows teach you anything, it’s that anyone who like, puts their hands everywhere has something to do with this.”
Minji laughs involuntarily. “I mean, I don’t think he did it,” she says. “It’s weird, yeah.”
“Maybe you could ask for a different officer to swing by,” Yoohyeon offers. “What’s the worst that could happen?”
“He could say no,” Minji says. “Yeah, I’ll call later. He sounded busy earlier.” She pushes herself back up on the couch. “I’m surprised he hasn’t made me come home, if he wants to keep an eye on me.” She pats the cushion next to her. “You know you can sit with us, right?”
Gahyeon mumbles something and hunkers deeper into her blanket. Yoohyeon shrugs. “I dunno, dude. None of this makes sense.” She pokes the older girl’s shoulder. “Maybe it’s a de-mon,” she teases. “That would explain like, everything, right?”
“This isn’t something to joke about,” Gahyeon mutters. Yoohyeon taps her head.
“Would you rather I cried?” she says. It starts like a joke and trails off into a horrible, horrible silence.
No one says anything. Minji reaches over the girl’s head and grabs the remote. “Wonder if there’s anything new on Netflix,” she says, more to herself than anyone else, just to fill the silence, just to lighten the mood.
“That sounds good,” Yoohyeon says.
Gahyeon says absolutely nothing at all.
“Minji,” her father is saying two days later. He’s got that edge to his voice that he only gets when she’s being disobedient , when she’s done something wrong - at least, it sounds that way over the phone. “I just don’t think it’s a good idea-”
“You don’t think it’s a good idea?” She presses her phone so far against her ear it pinches, squeezes so tight she fears she’ll break it. “Dad, this is her funeral we’re talking about.”
“I-I know.” He sounds flustered. “If there were any other circumstances, I would be paying for all of your plane tickets myself, but…”
Minji sighs. “You know we’ll wear our masks.”
“I’m not worried about the virus.”
Suddenly, he sounds serious . The shift startles her. She jumps. “Then- What’s the problem?” she asks.
“Where are you? And your friends?”
“Um…” She puts her thumbnail in her mouth. “I’m at the dorm. I think Yoobin and Gahyeon are here too, but I haven’t seen them. Siyeon’s at work, Yoohyeon’s in class... Bora was gone when I woke up this morning, but I dunno where she went…” Cautiously, she crosses her room and sits on her bed. “Is something wrong?”
Her father pauses for a long, long, long time. “For your sake - and the other girls in the dorm, just in case - I have instructed a few of the officers to check up on you. Consider yourselves under an almost lockdown of sorts.”
This time, Minji actually drops her phone. “Shit!” she sputters, and she drops off the bed to pick it up. “What do you mean, Dad?” She laughs reflexively. “Lockdown?”
“Given that this is an active investigation, I can’t say a lot, but I will say that what we have uncovered thus far has suggested a couple of things that- or rather, it’s- I can’t tell you why. It’s for your own good.” He sighs.
“Serial killer?” Minji says. She’s been watching too many crime shows. “Or like a rapist or-”
“I can’t tell you that.”
“Were you ever going to tell us this in person, or did you just expect us to figure it out on our own?” There’s two very conflicting emotions circling through her head right now. The first is anger, anger that her father’s just springing this on her now, anger that she doesn’t know what’s going on, anger that Handong’s dead. The second is fear, the kind that tells her to wrap herself in her blanket and not move ever again. Her hands are shaking.
“Officer Shiang was going to come by tonight, yes. Try not to tell anyone before then, okay?”
Minji shakes her head, despite him not being able to see her. “How is this gonna work? How long is this gonna take? What’s the deal?”
“I have to get back to work. All of your questions will be answered tonight, I promise.” He coughs. “Hey. I love you, Minji. I just wanna keep you safe.”
“Love you too, Dad,” she mumbles. “Talk to you soon.”
He hangs up. She tosses her phone on her pillow and flops back on her bed.
Lockdown. Again. It hasn’t even been six months since the last one ended.
She sits there for god knows how long, at some point picking up and hugging a pillow to her chest, until she hears the door to the dorm open. “Y’all?” calls Yoohyeon. “Anyone home?”
Minji scrambles to her feet, practically chucking the pillow across the room, and runs outside. “Oh, hey,” Yoohyeon says as she drops her bag. “Is something-”
“Hug, now ,” Minji says. She doesn’t even give her friend a chance to respond. She nearly knocks the taller girl over.
“-wrong?” Yoohyeon finishes. She coughs. “Jeez, ow. What happened?”
Minji rests her chin on Yoohyeon’s shoulder and sighs. “Dad’s not letting any of us go to the funeral, or even, like, leave the apartment, and he wouldn’t tell me why but I think there’s a serial killer on the loose and that’s who got Handongie and I wasn’t supposed to tell you any of that.” She closes her eyes. “Officer Shiang’s coming by tonight to officially tell us. It affects everyone in the building, though, so… I guess? That’s a good thing.”
“Oh, shit,” Yoohyeon says. “Oh, shit .” She wiggles away and puts her hand on Minji’s upper arm. Her eyes are wide as dinner plates. “That’s so not a good thing.”
Minji shrugs. “God, the last thing I want is to be stuck here. Everyone’s so tense, I don’t like it…” She steps back. “Let’s… Just go sit on the couch. You look tired.”
“Yoobin’s not gonna like this.”
“Bora’s not gonna like this, either.” They walk back to the couch, and Minji sits down and rubs her face. “If he wants to prevent a murder, he should let us go to the funeral. They’re gonna kill each other.”
Yoohyeon sits next to her and crosses her legs. “I’m… kinda worried about Bora, to be honest. She’s been the most removed of all of us, which is so… unlike her, y’know? I woulda thought that Yoobin or Siyeon would’ve pulled away, but I guess not.” She leans on her hand. “This is just… So… Wrong .”
Minji sinks into the couch. “You can say that again,” she says. She tries to reach for the TV remote, but her arms don’t stretch far enough.
“So, we’re not allowed to go to the funeral?” Yoohyeon asks, grabbing it for her.
Minji shakes her head. “Dad’s worried.”
The younger girl pushes a button and flips through the channels. She eventually stops on a movie that they’ve seen a million times and sets the phone down. “About us getting killed? Or the virus?”
“Us getting got.” Minji sighs. “We’ll learn more tonight.”
“About what?” Gahyeon asks from the hallway. They look over to the youngest girl, who’s wrapped in a blanket. She looks very small today. It’s the first time anyone but Yoobin’s seen her since Saturday night.
Minji looks at Yoohyeon, shrugs, and pushes herself upright. “Get over here,” she says. She wants to scream and wrap Gahyeon into a bear hug, but something holds her back.
“Huh?” Gahyeon says, her face twisting. “Did I do something wrong?”
"No, get over here,” Minji repeats. Gahyeon obeys and sort of waddles across the room towards the pair. She doesn’t make it to the couch before Minji grabs her around the waist and tugs her ober. She squeaks.
“Wh- Minji, hey!” She wriggles away and rolls onto the floor. “Ow.”
Yoohyeon starts giggling. “We- We were worried about you, Gahyeon,” Minji stammers, slipping off the couch to sit next to her. “You haven’t left your room.” She grins and nudges her.
Gahyeon curls up and presses her back to the cushions. She elbows Minji off of her. “Yoobin was with me,” she mumbles. “I was fine.”
Yoohyeon rubs Gahyeon’s hair. “We’re still allowed to worry,” she says. “We should be sticking together right now, anyway.”
Gahyeon swats her away. “I guess,” she says, and she pulls the blanket up around her neck. “Do we have a date for the funeral? I just…”
Minji shakes her head. “About that,” she says. She pushes herself upright and brushes her hair out of her face. “That… Things are getting complicated.” She sighs. “We’re not even allowed to go to the funeral. Or leave the dorm.”
Gahyeon’s eyes widen. “Are you serious ?” she says. “Why not?” She covers her mouth with her hand. “Are we suspects ? How are we suspects?”
“No-no-no-no!” Minji puts her hand on Gahyeon’s shoulders. “We’re not suspects. Dad just has.. other suspicions. Or… Okay, look, Officer Shiang’s coming by later to explain all of this situation.”
The younger girl makes a face, her nose scrunching up. “Why him?” she says. “Has every other officer been fired or something? It’s like he’s just conveniently everywhere … y’know, connected to… her.” She trails off and rests her chin on her knees. “And if crime shows teach you anything, it’s that anyone who like, puts their hands everywhere has something to do with this.”
Minji laughs involuntarily. “I mean, I don’t think he did it,” she says. “It’s weird, yeah.”
“Maybe you could ask for a different officer to swing by,” Yoohyeon offers. “What’s the worst that could happen?”
“He could say no,” Minji says. “Yeah, I’ll call later. He sounded busy earlier.” She pushes herself back up on the couch. “I’m surprised he hasn’t made me come home, if he wants to keep an eye on me.” She pats the cushion next to her. “You know you can sit with us, right?”
Gahyeon mumbles something and hunkers deeper into her blanket. Yoohyeon shrugs. “I dunno, dude. None of this makes sense.” She pokes the older girl’s shoulder. “Maybe it’s a de-mon,” she teases. “That would explain like, everything, right?”
“This isn’t something to joke about,” Gahyeon mutters. Yoohyeon taps her head.
“Would you rather I cried?” she says. It starts like a joke and trails off into a horrible, horrible silence.
No one says anything. Minji reaches over the girl’s head and grabs the remote. “Wonder if there’s anything new on Netflix,” she says, more to herself than anyone else, just to fill the silence, just to lighten the mood.
“That sounds good,” Yoohyeon says.
Gahyeon says absolutely nothing at all.