Arkhan stood silently in front of a grave, eyes fixed on the headstone before him.
Before coming here, he had returned to the café and the house by the forest, yet once again, found no clues.
Countless questions swirled in his mind. He even began to wonder—what if this grave didn't belong to Joan at all?
"If Joan was the one who kidnapped someone, why is he the one who disappeared? Did he go into hiding because he was afraid of getting caught by the police?"
Arkhan placed the flower he had been holding onto the grave.
"Why were Joan and Nero even interested in investigating Jeongin's case? And who was Jeongin's close relative?"
He looked up at the sky, a bright blue canvas with no clouds in sight.
"Levan's comment about that 'Unknown' person destroying evidence keeps nagging me. Could Sandy be involved?"
Just as Arkhan turned to leave the cemetery, he was surprised to find someone behind him — Sena.
Sena had just come from school. He was still dressed in his white karate uniform, a backpack slung over his shoulder. With his eyes closed and hands clasped in front of him, he appeared to be praying.
Arkhan waited silently until his friend finished.
Moments later, Sena opened his eyes and turned toward him.
"Sorry, didn't mean to startle you," he said with a grin.
"No problem. You just got back?"
"Yeah, our extracurricular's been intense lately."
"I heard you're entering a competition, right? Makes sense you're training more."
"Yeah, something like that."
They walked side by side out of the cemetery.
"Heading back by train?"
"Yup."
"Come with me. I've got the car."
"No need, I'm stopping by the police station first."
"Any updates?"
"Not sure yet. That's why I'm going."
"What if there's no new info?"
"How far have you investigated? As far as the police?"
"Not really, haha. Besides, if there's anything new, they'll inform us anyway. Might as well just wait at home."
"Hmm, true. Alright, I'll go with you then."
"Cool."
The two of them walked to the parking lot where Arkhan's car was parked.
"Almost forgot—I wanted to thank you," Sena suddenly said.
"Thank me for what?"
"Jio told me you helped him fix my broken window yesterday. I was planning to do it myself."
"Oh, that. I thought you didn't even notice it was broken."
"I knew. Just hadn't had time to fix it."
Arkhan nodded in understanding.
******
That afternoon, everyone was gathered in the kitchen, preparing dinner together.
"Feels like something's missing," Arkhan said, glancing toward the dining room and counting his friends.
"Levan's still in his room," said Jio.
"I'll go get him," said Sandy.
But before Sandy could move, Levan appeared. Seeing everyone busy, he instinctively joined in to help.
"Hey San, I saw you bought a knife earlier. What's that about?" he suddenly asked.
Sandy paused, giving Levan a flat stare — as if silently warning him that he'd said something he shouldn't have.
"I accidentally broke the one we had here. So I bought a replacement," Sandy replied calmly.
In truth, the knife he bought was a replica — earlier that day, he had discreetly replaced a blood-stained murder weapon.
"Oh… I thought it was something else..." Levan looked uneasy under Sandy's gaze. He realized he had forgotten something important about Sandy's job.
"You should've told me, San. I could've replaced it for you," said Jio.
"Nah, it's fine. I broke it, so I should be the one to replace it," Sandy replied.
Sena glanced at Levan, who looked a bit pale. He suspected Levan was starting to grow suspicious of Sandy.
"Hey, don't start getting weird ideas. You're not seriously thinking of suspecting your own friend, are you?" Sena teased.
"N-No, of course not. You're just imagining things," Levan replied quickly.
They continued cooking until the meal was ready, and finally sat down to eat together at the table — each of them carrying unspoken thoughts behind their smile.