❝Y̷̝̦͑ȍ̴̬͝u̶̦̟͆ͅr̵̠̍ ̸̤̝́͂͝d̷̦̂͊̐ë̴̛̹́á̵̦̌t̴́̄͘ͅḣ̷̩̅ ̴̼̊̐͂ẃ̸̮͕̓́i̵̤̐̅̈l̷̜̣̻̔̆l̷̗̪͔͆͒ ̶̡̗͍͛ḇ̷̍̿è̴̱͓͠ ̵̝͎̕î̴̘͓ǹ̶͇ ̶̮͌t̵͚̐̂h̵̭̭̟̀e̵̲̍̈́ ̸̧͕͖̃͋ḩ̴͔̈́͊̒ą̷͕̯́̅ń̸͈d̴̖̃͌s̵͙̳͗̐̅ ̴̡̡̖͐̀ő̶͎̒f̶̙́͂̚ ̴̗̚å̴̺͘̕ ̶͉̱̪͝m̸̱̍a̷̼͝n̷̖̓ ̸̤̱̗̈́̂i̵͉͎͈̊̇ñ̸̥͙͋ ̶͙͌̾a̵̼̚l̴̛̦͍̓ĺ̵͈̌͜ ̶̡̡͈̉̓b̷͔̝͎̃̿l̴͓͋̽̾ḁ̴̟̟̓̀͝c̸̢̬̉ķ̴̱͕͝.̷̨̥̬͛̉ ❞
——

Park Soomi

Echoing whispers. Incoherent words. It was pitch black. I couldn't see a thing, and yet the overlapping voices alone were enough to elicit a feeling of chaos and fear. I mindlessly ran around with no clue as to where I was going, searching for an escape that may not exist in a place that I couldn't visually perceive.

The voices were escalating in volume, causing my heart to beat faster. I couldn't comprehend a single word until one clear voice pierced through the jumbled noise.

"Your death will be in the hands of a man in all black." The words came out of nowhere, and then all went silent.

Until the sound of a blaring gunshot broke the eerie stillness.

My eyes snapped open, ears still ringing from the resonating crack of the bullet. Cold sweat dripped down my forehead as I clenched tightly onto the silk sheets beneath me, attempting to calm my pounding heart. The world around me warped back into reality, my mind coming to terms with the fact that everything had been a fabrication of my imagination.

What kind of nightmare was that? It felt so surreal, yet at the same time, it was the most authentic fear I had ever experienced.

The sun had yet to rise, but I didn't feel like going back to sleep and succumbing to the darkest depths of my mind.

Instead, I carefully got out of bed and cracked open the door, trying not to wake up my brother in the next room over.

It was going fine until my clumsy self tripped over the end table in our living room. The piece of furniture came crashing down with a resounding thud. As I scrambled in the dark to clean up the mess, the door behind me clicked open.

"Soomi? Is that you?" the voice groggily mumbled. I hastily got up as the light switched on.

"Sorry for waking you, Jimin." I saw him wipe the sleep from his eyes.

"No, it's cool. What are you doing up?"

"I'm just heading down to the café for some coffee and fresh air," I replied, leaving out the part about me being irked by a nightmare.

"At this hour? Do you want me to come with you?" His concern and protective side managed to peek through the drowsiness.

"I'll be fine. Besides, you should go back to bed since you were up so late."

"Hmm, okay, but be safe. Don't forget your phone."

"Don't worry, got it here." I waved it in the air. He nodded with half-lidded eyes before returning to his room.

A gentle, cool breeze greeted me as I walked outside. It felt nice, like an inviting blanket of comfort. It enticed me to abandon the car and walk to the café so that I could enjoy the breeze for longer, but the view of the dark sky brought me back to my senses.

After a few minutes of driving, I parked on a curb near the café.

Walking in, the aroma of freshly baked pastries and coffee filled the room. The establishment itself was void of people at this early hour other than one employee, the new barista who started working here a month or two back.

"Hi Soomi, what can I get you?" he asked. I was a bit surprised that he knew my name, but then again, it wasn't too shocking considering my frequent visits.

"Just one large cold brew, please."

"That'll be 3,000 won," he said. I combed through my wallet before handing him the money. "Coming right up."

"Thanks—" I paused to take a look at his name tag. "Yoongi."

His back was now facing me as he got busy brewing the coffee. I didn't know why I never noticed it before, but just watching him was mesmerizing. From his charming expressions down to the way he stood and moved. Maybe it was because I was never alone with him, never focusing on him.

"You're here early today," he remarked, bringing me out of my thoughts, "and you didn't order your usual—"

"Small vanilla latte," we said at the same time. I grinned at our perfectly timed coordination while he shot me a charismatic smile.

"Long workday?"

"Well, not exactly, but I guess now that I'm up might as well get busy."

"What kind of work do you do?"

"I'm a music producer. Pretty boring, right?"

"You kidding? It was my dream to be a music producer." I was quite surprised to hear this.

"Was your dream?"

"Well, you see, I decided to ditch that to pursue the ever so exhilarating job of pouring coffee." I sensed the playful humor in his voice.

"Right." I laughed.

"But in all seriousness, I would love to hear a song you're working on, or maybe even see the process?"

I was unsure of how to respond to his request, being pretty closed off when it came to sharing my work process. Still, I didn't want to come off as rude.

I'll probably never see him outside of this café anyways.

"You can count on it."

"Great, then I hope my contribution of coffee will fuel your next big hit." He grinned as he handed me the cup.

"Thanks. I'll see you around." A smile crept across my face as I walked out.

He's nice.

I couldn't believe my good fortune that I managed to meet such a kind person, especially one with similar interests as me. The conversation almost made up for the foreboding ordeal that was this whole morning.

Almost.

Abruptly, my body froze in place, every muscle tensing up.

Were there shuffling noises behind me? I internally freaked out, a million different scenarios playing out in my head. No, I'm just paranoid. The nightmare must've gotten to my head.

I recovered from my moment of paranoia and continued walking towards my car.

No. There it was again. Only this time, the shuffling became distinct footsteps. Adrenaline kicked in as I instinctively made a break for my car, mentally cursing that there weren't any spots a bit closer to park in earlier.

Though it seemed like the footsteps had ceased, I couldn't bring myself to look back and check. All I could focus on was the outline of my car growing larger, emerging in the darkness with each step I took.

Just a little more.

I fumbled with my keys as I neared the car.

Almost there.

I finally entered the vehicle and locked the door, letting out a sigh of relief.

I didn't know what came over me, but I broke down into a fit of nervous laughter. I think I've gone crazy. My mind must've been playing tricks on me.

There was no way someone was there.

Right?

* * *

Third Person

The man chuckled lightly to himself as he watched the car drive further into the distance.

"So that's Park Soomi?" he inquired to himself. The man was about to walk off when he went into high alert, sensing a presence behind him.

In one swift motion, the man twisted his body around to block an object swung towards his head. He tightened his grip on what he could only assume to be a metal pipe, struggling to remove it from his attacker's hands. Eventually, the two loosened their grips. The pipe dropped to the ground with a clang.

The two figures wrestled in the darkness, the outlines of their bodies illuminated only faintly by a streetlight in the distance. Both were highly skilled in their movements, striking and dodging without falter. It was as if the scene were a choreographed action sequence in a film.

There was no sign of their struggle coming to an end until finally, the attacker managed to bring it to a close when he threw the other's head against the brick wall behind them.

He pushed one arm into the concussed man's throat, and with his other, he pulled out his phone and flashed a light onto his face.

"Jung Hoseok? Are you trying to get killed? What the hell are you doing following around my assignment?"

——
{a/n}
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