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"I can't believe their manager hired a different bodyguard for them today! It should be me, right?" I cried in distress, slamming my fist onto Dr. Kim's desk. She placed her gloved hand on her desk lamp just in time to stop it from crashing to the white tiles. "I mean, I'm the one investigating this mystery killer. I have to watch out for them,"

"Yes, I agree, but we both have to obey the company. Plus, I'm glad they had you stay behind at the clinic with me. There's something interesting I'd like to show you," the brunette coroner smirked as she made her way to a long table holding a dead body covered in a white sheet. I quickly followed, curious of her findings. Anyways, she definitely knew more about the case than me since she officially examined Baekhyun herself. Dr. Kim swiftly removed the sheet, revealing to my shock, Luhan. I gripped onto the sides of the table to brace myself from falling over, my heart racing.

"Details right now," I ordered, returning to my senses of seriousness. The doctor smiled and rapidly read through the file. As she spoke, I eyed his body, which was already closed up from the postmortem and was neatly dressed in a dark suit. It was obvious that a makeup artist already came to touch him up due to the fact that his cheeks still had that adorable rosy tint and his lips were given colour once more. If you looked closely, you could see faint scarring and a reddish tint around his neck.

"Luhan, age 25. Was found dead near the Mnet studio where EXO is performing right now. He was garrotted and died within seconds, but what I found odd was that he was injected prior his death with a huge amount of morphine," she informed, pointing to a small needle mark on his neck. I inched closer, squinting my eyes as I thought of a possible explanation.

"I doubt it was the same person who injected him then garrotted him. There's either more than one person in on this or Luhan did the injecting himself perhaps half an hour before," I added, scratching the back of my head in confusion. Dr. Kim giggled and threw Luhan's file onto her clean desk.

"You get smarter everyday, huh?" The doctor stretched her arms over her head in exhaustion then plopped onto her office chair. "Plus, that was my first suspicion too. Then I looked at the evidence and texts you sent me and that changed my view on the situation. Coffee, dear?"

The coroner slid a mug of dark coffee towards me before she continued speaking. Her kind smile, so genuine, it was like a sin to turn away anything from her. I gave in and took a huge sip, cringing at the drink's burning touch on my tongue.

"Whoever's doing this is very organized and clever. He or she always leaves a sort of scorpion signature, but Luhan's murder was not like this. There was no signature and you didn't get a warning text or call. I think Luhan's fate was not supposed to be like this. I believe he was part of this somehow and so was his killer. The culprit acted on his own accord not on behalf of the ring leader. You follow?" Dr. Kim tried, smiling brightly to cheer me up with her idea. "By the way, I've got something for you. Don't worry, the force purchased it for you,"

The woman in the white lab coat suspiciously handed me a brand new handgun, even though we were the only ones in the lab. I gripped tightly then dropped it into my purse, which hung on my left shoulder.

"You might need this from now on. I can't believe they never had you armed," Dr. Kim said in disbelief, making her way to Luhan to cover him up. I ran my fingers through my dark hair before speaking.

"I'll get going then. After the show, I'm their guard no matter what," I grunted in annoyance through my hatred towards the manager as I stormed out of the lab. The doctor called 'goodbye,' which I heard once I was already half way down the hallway to the front door.

__________

The guards inside the Mnet studios greeted me, knowing who I was. A food bar was laid out backstage for the boys and workers were on standby with towels to wipe their sweat afterwards. The music boomed throughout the studio and bright lights poured out from the stage where they were performing. I neared the stairs close to the stage to watch when my phone vibrated suddenly. I pulled it out and read the anonymous text under my breath.

"E-X-O, listen! The member who says that line is so hot he could burn!"

I turned to the supervisor nearby and grabbed their arm, startling them instantly.

"Stop the performance NOW," I ordered before marching up the steps to the stage. The members took no notice of me since I halted once I saw the large audience. Chanyeol stood in the middle of the group with Sehun right behind him. Was it Sehun or Chanyeol that was next? What was with the clue they gave me and Baekhyun's phone call? I rubbed my head in stress.

"Middle C key on the piano. Baekhyun sang 'Do Re Mi,' and the rhyme. Ashes ashes," I whispered to myself, clenching my shaking hands into fists. I looked up at the group and eyed the main rapper then D.O.

"E-X-O Listen!" Sehun and Chanyeol hollered together happily flames shot from the borders of the stage. The large embers were meant to fly upwards, but the one on the right hand seemed to be tilted towards Kyungsoo. D.O. Do Re Mi.
My eyes wide in fear I ran towards him, my arms outstretched, ready to push him aside. In a blink of an eye, Chanyeol lunged towards Kyungsoo as the flames shot two more times. I felt like fainting. I was never in time to save any of the members. I said I'd protect them, but I guess I'm a big fat liar. The white haired rapper was on the ground motionless once the music came to a stop. His neck and upper torso was fully burned to a crisp. If you looked closely, you could see a tear falling down from his eye. The security guards of the Mnet studio rushed the audience outside hastily as we called an ambulance, Dr. Kim, and the police. Kyungsoo was breathing hard in shock of what he just witnessed while the other members mostly had their mouths gaped open. Those who were closest to him huddled together and bawled their eyes out. The smell of smoke and death filled the air and the atmosphere quickly turned from happiness and bright energy to sadness and darkness. The fun loving and puppy-like Park Chanyeol was no more. I kneeled down to examine his body visually, trying my best to hold back tears.

It seemed obvious enough to me that he was burned to death, but something odd struck me. Trailing my eyes to the floor, blood pooled around him. Within seconds, Dr. Kim arrived ready to take Chanyeol to her morgue. To me she seemed more nervous than anything else. Dr. Kim was the type that would keep calm at all costs without a single hair out of place, but this time, it was not the case. She bent down and checked his pulse even though it was completely obvious that he had passed.

"How did you get here so fast? I'm sure your office is really-" I began as I squinted my eyes towards her, focussing on her every expression and movement.

"There was no traffic darling!" She snapped as she nodded towards her team of paramedics to take him away. The brunette sauntered out the doors to complete her postmortem report, leaving myself and the remaining members of the band standing on the stage that would never be forgotten. In fact, the boys would probably never want to perform at Mnet ever again. I took a deep breath then spun around to face the group. I clapped my hands together in a preppy fashion like I was a sort of cheerleader.

"Alright, I want all of you to stand where you were standing before the.....unexpected incident," my heart felt heavy once I spoke those words, but that was the direction that my investigation wanted to go. The members all puffy eyed and red nosed, shuffled slowly to their positions. I turned my attention to the stage canons where I found the possible murder weapon. Inching closer, I noticed a piece of paper with a scorpion symbol printed on it. I picked it up and opened the note, which revealed a string of words written in red ink by a sloppy hand.

"He killed one of my men,"

I stuffed the message into my purse and turned back to the group. Suho was biting his lip, trying to hold back possible tears while Kyungsoo eyed the room nervously. I stared to the singer, imagining Chanyeol before him. Why did he bleed like that?

I stepped towards Kyungsoo with my arms crossed. He looked into my eyes blankly like he knew what I was about to say.

"You know you were the intended target, right?" I questioned, tapping my index finger on my arm. He answered with a single nod followed by a slight smirk.

"I may have killed someone, but you have no proof," the ravenette whispered softly enough, so no one could hear, but me. His smirk slowly turned into a psychotic grin, sending chills down my spine. His large eyes, his heart shaped lips, his small stature. His physical appearance was so deceiving and he knew it and always used it to his advantage. Although, no one knew his true nature, I always noticed. The way he stared at someone when they sang and the way he smiled slightly when someone got hurt. Chanyeol saw him as a saint, but I always saw Kyungsoo as the devil himself. The idol stared down at me, his face expressing satisfaction once he noticed our height difference. He loved feeling superior. "You can arrest me, but you'll never get the evidence from me. I'm sure someone will shut me up..."

His voice was smooth, calm, and threatening. To him, this was like his sort of game and we were all the pawns. Squeezing my hands into fists, I looked passed D.O to the blank screen behind them. Wandering to the cloth screen I realized that there was a distinct clue of how Chanyeol really passed. Looking closely, a fresh bullet hole was visible. Getting cold feet, I reached under the curtain-like sheet where I felt a cold piece of metal. Pulling it out to view, my suspicions were confirmed when I came face to face with a golden bullet shell of 22 caliber. Standing up once again, turned to the group and beckoned them to leave the stage. Going against my wishes, Sehun stood still with worry in his eyes. I dropped the bullet shell into a reusable plastic bag then raised an eyebrow.

"Am I a burden to you, An?" The maknae asked, his face expressionless and dull. I shook my head vigorously as my answer. "Because you don't have to watch over me. Just protect my hyungs. You're all alone and we're such a handful already,"

I walked towards him then stopped once I was close enough to see the scars on his right cheek. I placed my hand on his broad shoulder and sighed deeply.

"Listen Sehun. I was asked to take this job and I agreed to the consequences. I was not able to protect my family and I'd like to think of you all as my second family, whom I must keep safe. Got it?" I whispered, adding a gentle smile to comfort the youngest member in EXO. I adjusted my bag strap, ready to leave to the morgue.

"Yes Andrea," the blonde winked jokingly, possibly to liven up the mood. As I turned on my heels to face the exit, I rolled his eyes at his final remark.

"It's noona. Disrespectful brat," I smiled along with him as I strolled out of the studio.

Next Chapter: Black