Archived:The Grand Conspiracy/Chapter 1

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When Death Calls

It's been months since the body of Christina Berne was found. However, as Christina was a mysterious girl who normally kept to herself, the only person that she talked to being a now-dead duchess, the investigation went cold. But now, a rogue investigator wants to reopen the case as he believes that there is something to uncover.

Hint: Use your character's Quest Word Bubble to roleplay. If they do not have one, make one.

Ji-yeon sauntered into the classroom, chewing bubble gum. She observed the room and the people in it for a few seconds before blowing a bubble and strolling towards Michiko. As she sat down in the desk next to hers, she popped the bubble and lifted her legs unto the desk, having no concern for the man up front.

"No shit sherlock," She muttered. "Alright, dude, let's get something straight. I'm not calling you Agent whatever your name is, because I already forgot it, and don't care either."

"I won't have to worry about dying buzzkill," she snorted. "And no, because who in the hell would have experience at solving murders at the age of 18? This isn't stuff they teach us in school."

"Witness, eh?" Ji-yeon sat, up, placing her feet on the floor. "So, this lunar elemental, Christina Berne, was found dead in a classroom, similar to the duchess that died in March. Thing is, the two are in different element classes, and found in their element classrooms. This seems extremely suspicious. There's only one witness for both cases, and on the Scarlett case, the witness was the murderer, or the *puppet*. Who's not to say the witness is the culprit's puppet?"

"But aren't there others coming?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.

"One, you pronounced Seung wrong, it's *So-un*, not *Sung*. Two, where are we supposed to find them? I barely know half of the people you just mentioned."

"Leaves me with the last three then?"

Ji-yeon rolled her eyes and blew another bubble. "You're an interesting pair. Besides, I'm just around to keep Hyuk's heart intact."

"Whatever floats ya boat Rikimaru," Ji-yeon muttered, standing up and walking past Genevieve to the door.

The three girls set out to find the others, before they were to venture out to the basement. However, some questers decided to quit.

She brushed down the hallway, unaware of her lateness.

She stopped and blinked slowly, "did I?" She asked before shrugging, "oh well," she said obviously not really caring, "what happened?"

Since Ji-yeon knew exactly where her younger brother would be at this time of the day, she lead the way, but didn't bother to check if Michiko was following her.

Seung sat in the far back if the school library behind a dusty, forgotten, collection of shelves. He wasn't reading or studying, for that matter. No, he was focusing on something not in the library, trying to sink it. His concentration was broken when Ji-yeon appeared. He glanced up, "Since when were you discharged?"

"Two days ago. Got out of that coma few hours before that." She smacked her gum a few times, "We got another murder mystery." Seung glared at her and she shrugged. "They asked for you and a bunch of other people."

"Hello to you to Rikimaru," Seung grumbled bitterly. He stood, dusting off his jeans. "I hate getting involved in these things." He gestured to Ji-yeon, "Lead the way."

Seung listened, and once she finished, groaned, holding his head in one hand. "So, we're hunting down a witness with a cold trail. Can't say that's the easiest thing I've done in my life. Can't say it's the hardest either."

"We should go find Christina and Caelum now. I'd like to get this over with."

Ji-yeon had no general idea where the water royal would be, so she wandered around the academy until she bumped into her.

"We're not going to find this Christina girl or whatever her name is, so let's turn around and find Caelum now so we can head to the basement," Ji-yeon explained, after turning around to face Michiko and Seung.

He shouldered into the classroom, a cig dangling from his mouth but it was unlit. His usual scowl was plastered onto his face.

Her eyes dragged away from Gen as she saw Nate walk in, "wonderful, the douchebag," she breathed out, "better get this over and done with." she said as a goodbye to Gen and followed Nate in.

She took a side-way glance towards Nate before looking back to him, "a murderer?" She asked before nodding, "oh I know who it is."

"You didn't even ask me who I thought who it was," she said with a pout before directing her index fingers to be level with Nate's nose, "I bet it's him. He goes around chopping kids heads off, you know?"

He eyed her with a raised eyebrow, "of all the rumours I've heard about me, that is the most ridiculous," he declared and swatted her finger away before looking at the guy, "am I not meant to be here?" He asked, as he did register the surprise, "I got the message so I assumed..."

He tilted his head to look at her with boredom, "never my intention to be, but thank, I do appreciate the sentiment," he said with a humourless smile, "he's probably passed out in a trash can. Big party last night, you know."

"Oh, that's my sister," she said, "and she's the type to cry over a lady bug that she stepped on," she said, "but I'll go...check on her," she said and made a face. She took a step to leave and gestured at her, "shoo, you're blocking my way."

At this time, Seung had now entered the classroom as well. He pushed his way past Michiko and surveyed the room, barely giving the agent a second thought.

Seung snorted, "I already knew that. Ji briefed me before I got here. I came to ask what the hell *I* get out of it for helping your sorry ass?" Unlike his usual self, he didn't seem to care about what words came out of his mouth, as shown by his expression.

He raised an eyebrow at the angered investigator. "May I also ask why you recruited a group of ragtag teens?"

"Ridiculous summary in my opinion, but whatever floats your boat." Seung spun on his foot and headed out the door, towards the basement, not checking if anyone was following him, for he simply did not care.

She stared at the investigator out of the corner of her eye, "you're a fool if you didn't think that royals being corrupt is something new. Everyone knows the royals are corrupt. Berne's isn't the first and I doubt she'll be the last. No matter who the murderer is," she pointed out before eyeing the girl, "and, as much as you'd love me to be a dumb blonde, I think I know where the basement and my sister is. So please, why bother standing in my way? The stench of this asshole is making me feel faint," she said jerking her thumb towards the investigator.

He clapped two times for the investigator, "nice," he said, "I'd have thrown in a few more insults and swear words but that was a fine scolding. And, to make it more threatening, a calmer voice too."

"Obviously referring to Gen and I, Christie, because you're neither smart nor the smartest," she said as she regarded her twin with a level of coldness that she didn't bother trying to hide. With that, she brushed past and down to the hallway and into the basement.

**Only for those who headed to the basement.**

**Ever since the previous murder investigation, access to the archives was a lot more easier.**

There were two copies of Christina's file - a copy under the Lunar Elementals section and a copy under the 'B surnames' section. One, however, contained something and the other did not.

The second file contained several, but strange information that could help the investigation: the fact that "the witness was a Lunar Royal" had been disclosed - with any traces of a name after it being erased, large portions of Christina's activity being erased and co-ordinates to Christina's belongings.

Seung tapped in the simple code to open the basement and entered, glancing around at the earlier records in disdain. He scanned the room and made a beeline for the "Lunar Elementals" section and began searching, oblivious to the Water princess in the room.

She descended down, "Gen?" She called out. "Are you down here?"

She followed the voice and eyed Gen, "you'd tell if you did find anything, yeah?"

Finally finding two files on the reported dead elemental, Seung headed out, pushing his way past Genevieve and Charlotte with no acknowledging glance or even a sorry.

Seung shrugged, "I guess. They're not exactly pleasant people, but I didn't talk to them too much. To answer your second question, no. I haven't really looked at the files yet, I have a clearer mind outside."

**For when the leads are found and any characters in the basement head back to the classroom.**

After analyzing the files a little on his own, Seung returned to the classroom to report his findings. For some reason, the erased name didn't bother him whatsoever, instead it intrigued him more about this case. "This person is clever," he muttered under his breath as he approached Gen and Agent whatever-his-name-was.

"Lesson learned eh?" Seung commented, noticing that this time the Investigator had written it on the board. "Great, now that we've established we're not mentally slow, do we have to wait for these people? And who will lead the missions?"

She walks in and scans the board and frowns, "what has Christie done to get a search, and shouldn't one of her...family members be a part of it." She pointed out.

**PROCEED TO CHAPTER 2 WHEN YOU ARE FINISHED**