Chapter 4 – The Official Version

8:00 a.m.

The next morning, the university looked exactly the same.

Students hurried across the campus with coffee cups in their hands. Professors carried stacks of papers through the hallways. Conversations drifted from open classroom doors.

Everything appeared normal.

But for Jimin, nothing felt normal anymore.

As he walked through the corridors, he couldn't shake the feeling that someone was watching him. Every passing student seemed suspicious. Every whispered conversation sounded like a secret.

Or maybe it was simply because he knew one now.

A secret hidden behind locked doors, forgotten files, and carefully rehearsed lies.

In Room 204 Professor Park was explaining the foundations of social cognition.

Her voice was calm and confident, moving effortlessly through theories and examples.

Jimin wasn't listening.

Every few minutes, his eyes drifted toward Jungkook, seated two rows ahead.

Perfect.

Impeccable.

His dark hair was neatly arranged. His posture was straight. His attention appeared completely focused on the lecture.

Anyone looking at him would have seen the ideal student.

But Jimin had seen something else.

Something hidden beneath the surface.

And now, every time he looked at Jungkook, he wondered how much of that perfection was real.

At one point, Jungkook shifted slightly in his seat.

Just a small movement.

Yet Jimin felt a chill run down his spine.

For a brief second, it seemed as though Jungkook knew.

As though he knew Jimin had followed him.

As though he knew Jimin had seen everything.

The thought stayed with him long after the lecture ended.

12:30 p.m.

The archive section of the university library was almost empty.

Access required special permission, and very few students ever bothered to come there.

That was exactly why Jimin chose it.

He had one objective.

To find the official version of the story.

The incident involving Kang Sunhee.

The closure of the Experimental Psychology building.

The missing names.

The forgotten dates.

The mistakes someone had worked very hard to bury.

Dust floated through narrow beams of sunlight as he searched shelf after shelf.

Most of the documents contained nothing useful.

Routine reports.

Administrative records.

Budget requests.

But after nearly thirty minutes, he found something.

A thin folder hidden among dozens of unrelated files.

The label read:

PSY-SPX / 03-112 / Confidential

His heartbeat quickened.

Carefully, he opened it.

Inside were incomplete reports.

Photocopies with sections blacked out.

Pages covered in handwritten corrections.

Someone had edited these documents repeatedly.

Someone had wanted the original story erased.

Then Jimin found a note.

A single handwritten sheet tucked between two reports.

His eyes scanned the words.

"This was not merely an experimental error. The student's reaction was induced. Protocol 3-112 should never have been tested on unprepared subjects."

Signed:

Dr. K. Nam

Department of Experimental Psychology

Date: September 13

The day after the incident.

Jimin stopped breathing for a moment.

The room suddenly felt smaller.

Hotter.

The paper trembled slightly in his hands.

This wasn't speculation.

It wasn't a rumor.

It was evidence.

Someone inside the department had known exactly what happened.

And someone had tried to hide it.

He read the note again.

Then a third time.

The signature remained there, undeniable.

Dr. K. Nam.

A name he had never heard before.

A name that appeared nowhere in the university records he had searched.

Why?

Why had nobody mentioned him?

Why had his reports disappeared?

And most importantly...

Why had the entire incident been buried?

Jimin slowly closed the folder.

Outside, students continued moving through the campus, unaware that beneath the ordinary rhythm of university life, something much darker had been waiting all along.

And for the first time, he realized that Jungkook might not be chasing a conspiracy.

He might be uncovering one.

---

6:02 p.m. – Men’s Dormitory

Jimin knocked on Room 315.

Three short knocks.

He waited.

A moment later, the door opened.

Jungkook stood there, wearing a gray T-shirt, his hair still slightly damp.

Silence.

The two of them looked at each other for a few seconds.

Jimin was the first to speak.

“How many have you uncovered?”

Jungkook didn’t answer immediately.

Instead, he stepped aside.

“Come in.”

The room was as orderly as ever, but there was a new tension hanging in the air.

Jimin sat down on the bed.

Jungkook remained standing.

“Twenty,” he finally said.

“Seventeen documented lies. Three still being verified.”

“Kang Sunhee?”

“She was lying. The experiment was real. And she wasn’t the only one.”

Jimin pulled Dr. K. Nam’s note from his backpack.

Jungkook took it and read it carefully.

His expression revealed nothing.

Only a slight nod.

“I’ve been looking for this for months.”

Jimin watched him closely.

“What are you really searching for, Jungkook?”

For a moment, neither of them spoke.

Then Jungkook answered in a steady voice.

“The structure of the system. The mechanisms that turn truth into a lie and a lie into something normal.”

He crossed his arms and looked toward the window.

“They buried everything, Jimin. They played with people. With minds. I don’t just want to know who lied.”

His gaze hardened.

“I want to know why they were allowed to.”

The room fell silent again.

Outside, the evening light was beginning to fade.

Students laughed somewhere down the hallway, unaware of the conversation taking place behind the closed door.

Jimin slowly stood up.

“And now?”

Jungkook walked to his desk.

He opened a drawer and pulled out a single sheet of paper.

Without saying a word, he handed it to Jimin.

There were more names.

More dates.

More symbols.

A growing network of connections.

But one name stood above all the others.

Circled in red.

Professor Park.

Jimin felt his pulse quicken.

He looked up.

Jungkook’s expression was calm.

Too calm.

“The truth has been hiding behind authority for a long time,” he said quietly.

“Tomorrow, we find out what hers looks like.”

Jimin lowered his eyes to the paper once more.

For the first time, he realized that whatever happened next would change everything.

And neither of them would be able to turn back.

“Tomorrow,” Jungkook said, “her truth is put to the test.”

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