A shrill scream of horror, coming from the back of the carriage, pierced through the entire compartment.
Conversations stopped dead.
Worry and shock immediately painted themselves across every student's face.
In an instant, everyone had already rushed toward the source of the commotion, obscuring the scene, pushing and shoving in growing confusion.
The atmosphere had completely changed.
The air had suddenly turned cold.
Each student's face was frozen, grim, twisted by fear and incomprehension.
The oppressive silence was filled with a palpable, almost suffocating tension.
When Hanna and Kim finally arrived at the scene, they had to push their way past several students huddled together, too shocked to move. But the sight before them made their blood run cold.
A lifeless body.
That of a first-year student.
Easily recognizable—someone popular in his class—the young man was lying there, on the floor, just behind the door of the carriage.
Motionless. Pale. Lifeless.
His eyes were wide open, completely empty, as if something had ripped away his very soul.
Hanna jumped back, bumping into the students behind her, before bending forward, one hand clamped over her mouth to stop the sudden nausea from overwhelming her.
Kim rushed to her side immediately, concern written all over his face.
"Hanna, are you okay?!"
The young girl took a deep breath, trying to regain her composure, though her face remained a little pale, marked by the horror of the moment.
With a hesitant gesture, she signaled to him to calm down, that she was fine, even though everything in her eyes said otherwise.
"I'm fine… really…" she whispered.
"I… I just didn't expect this."
She wasn't the only one.
All around them, the students were frozen in collective shock, as if time itself had stopped.
Panicked whispers rose, interspersed with nervous sobs and ragged breathing.
Some trembled, others covered their eyes, remaining still, their gaze fixed on the corpse.
Fear had seized every face, every expression.
Wide eyes, pale faces, trembling lips…
For many, it was the first time they had seen a corpse with their own eyes.
This wasn't like in their movies or dramas.
It was different seeing one in real life.
There was no dramatic music, no slow motion—just cold, silence, and the unmoving body.
It was a brutal, raw, visceral shock.
A living canvas of confusion and terror.
No one understood what was happening.
But deep down, in their guts, everyone felt that something had just shifted.
Voices rose, overlapped in the carriage, brushing against collective hysteria.
No one was listening anymore, too lost in their panic.
Everyone was just trying to survive their own fear, masking it with explanations—no matter how absurd they were.
"I-I'm telling you… There's… there's a killer on this train! We need… we need to call security!"
shouted Min-woo, one of the nerd group members, his voice trembling uncontrollably.
He struggled to articulate each word, as if his tongue had been tied by fear.
For someone who dreamed of becoming a police officer, his reaction was… let's say, rather disappointing.
"Why isn't anyone coming?!" cried Jin, the boy with glasses, his voice cracked with anguish.
He tried in vain to readjust his frames, but his hands were shaking so violently that he couldn't manage it.
"Can't they hear us screaming?! We've been shouting for minutes now!"
He turned his head in all directions, his gaze frantic.
"And… damn it… where's Mrs. Park?! Has anyone seen her?! She was supposed to be in the carriage just before… right?!"
It was total panic.
Everything had happened so fast that they were overwhelmed, submerged in fear.
They had never been taught how to deal with this kind of situation.
Not at school. And even less so in their precious textbooks.
Ken, on the other hand, was the only color standing out in that picture.
He remained in the back. He watched the scene with a stoic, cold gaze—almost inhuman. Detached.
Some would probably call him a heartless monster, an unfeeling bastard, maybe even a psychopath.
But he knew. Better than anyone.
In chaos, staying calm wasn't optional.
It was a rare privilege that few could afford.
Panic… it never leads to anything good.
And in some situations, it could be fatal.
---
A few steps from the corpse, a girl sat frozen, sobbing.
His girlfriend.
She was the one who had found him.
Worried that he hadn't come back, she had gone looking for him…
And upon opening the carriage door, she had found him.
Lying there. Lifeless.
That's when her scream had echoed through the entire train car.
Ken slowly walked forward, silently.
His cold gaze studied the corpse intently, with an almost clinical precision.
There were no visible wounds.
No blow to the face, no sign of strangulation, not a single mark of struggle.
At first glance, the body seemed intact… except for one thing.
Beneath the sleeve of his school uniform jacket, a dark stain betrayed the presence of blood.
Perhaps an injury to the arm.
But no one dared to touch him to find out for sure.
Ken didn't want to be the first to take the initiative either.
He just observed.
A bloody murder? Unlikely.
Nothing here fit the typical profile of a violent assault.
"Then maybe poisoning," he thought, finger resting under his chin.
What made him think that was simple:
The young man's skin was abnormally pale, almost grayish, as if life had been drained from his body.
Something was off in this case.
Something deeply unnatural.
"I'm just a high schooler, after all… It's not my job to do the police's work," Ken murmured in a weary breath, letting out a long sigh.
A tall, imposing student stepped forward with a confident, assured stride.
It was Do-wan.
The self-proclaimed leader of the school's bullies.
Always flanked by his four lackeys, he didn't even need to speak to command attention—a single look was enough.
At his appearance, the panicked conversations were snuffed out, like smothered under his shadow.
Everyone knew:
You were better off not crossing his path—let alone becoming his target.
His reputation as a violent brute was well established. And he knew exactly how to use it.
"Stop your useless whining," he said loudly.
He spread his arms wide, placing himself front and center in the middle of the carriage.
"If there's a killer, he can't be far. I already sent some guys to alert security in the rear cars.
The problem will be dealt with quickly he won't lay another finger on any of you."
He sounded rather reassuring, with an almost fatherly tone, and accompanied his words with a quick glance at Hanna, then placed a hand on his chest with theatrical flair.
"Trust me. Everything is under control. My father won't let this matter go unpunished.
If there's a killer on board, he'll pay."
Wow… What eloquence. Pretty impressive for someone who spends his life hiding behind daddy's skirts, thought Ken, listening to his speech.
A subtle, sly smile curled at the edge of Do-wan's lips.
His gaze, filled with mischief, quickly slid toward Ken.
"And what if… the culprit was already among us?" he said in a falsely calm, almost playful tone.
D.H