I sighed but got up from the bench and went to buy Eun-Ji a drink.
"Don't forget to buy the strawberry flavor!" a girl called after me which was followed by lots of giggles from her friends. I wanted to sigh once more but held back. It would be useless anyway. I shoved my hands in my pockets and turned around the corner of the building to the drink machines. Let the girl forget that I will go to the store for her ordinary flavored water where it will be twice as expensive. I was not her boyfriend or her slave.
I put coins in the machine when I got there and bought her the strawberry drink. I was holding her drink in my left hand and my right hand was still in my pocket. After that, I went to leave with a drink, but before I could turn the corner, I heard a scream and I stopped abruptly. I carefully and slowly peeked around the corner and my eyes opened wide in surprise and horror. Two of Eun-Ji's friends lay motionless on the ground in a pool of blood, another dark-haired girl kneeling beside them, crying. A hooded man with a bloody knife in one hand loomed above them. And in the other hand, he was holding Eun-Ji's hair. Eun-Ji had tears running down her cheeks and mumbled something under her breath. The man then put a knife to her throat and said something to her. But I was too far away to hear it.
'What the hell happened in the few minutes I was gone?' I thought, putting her drink on the ground, put my other hand in my pocket and pulled out my phone. I quickly dialed the number for the police and quickly whispered to them what was going on. Then I hung up. I didn't need the man to see me and get involved in this mess. The man then threw Eun-Ji to the ground and put his foot on her back so she couldn't breathe. Eun-Ji began to gasp and her eyes wandered to her dark haired, still alive, friend. I also saw Eun-Ji begging for help from that girl. But her dark haired friend was still in shock and just stared at the motionless bodies of the other two girls. The hooded man then started laughing loudly and finally lifted his leg from Eun-Ji's back. Eun-Ji took a deep breath and tried to crawl away from the madman. However, he did not allow her to do so and stuck her palm to the ground with a knife. Eun-Ji cried out in pain and started crying again. I gritted my teeth and thought about what to do next. I didn't know how to fight and the probability that I would end up like those two motionless bodies on the ground in a pool of my own blood was quite high. But if I wait for the police to handle it, Eun-Ji and the dark-haired girl might be dead already. And although I didn't like Eun-Ji and her friends, I didn't want them to die. And that's why I made one of the biggest mistakes of my life.
"Hey!" I shouted at the man who was currently not carrying a weapon. Well, at least I haven't seen one. The knife he had before was still stuck in Eun-Ji's palm. I came out from around the corner of the building and took a few steps towards the unknown man.
"Oh?" the man cocked his head to the side and his crazy eyes fixed on me. When I got a better look at him, I could tell that he looked a lot younger than I thought. He couldn't have been more than twenty-five. His skin was white as snow, but I could see bruises and old scars under his sleeves. His eyes were blacker than coal, his hair was the same color. He had circles under his eyes just a few shades lighter than his hair. His cheekbones were also sharp and high. He didn't look exactly Korean, maybe a mix of two races? Most likely. The man would be very handsome if only he didn't have that look of a madman in his eyes and his handsome face wasn't pulled into a grimace.
"Who are you? Their boyfriend?" he asked me, sounding disgusted, taking a step closer to me. I was cautious but I wanted to drag out the time as long as possible. If I fight him, it's end for me.
"My name is Yun Je-Chae and no, I'm not their boyfriend" I said and after a little though i added: "and what's your name sir?" I didn't want to tell him my name but I thought it would be safer if I didn't lie. The man was silent. All I could hear was the rapid beating of my heart and Eun-Ji not at all silent crying.
"Nam... Nam Ji-Young" answered the man after a while, to which I smiled softly and tried to make the least suspicious smile that I could only conjure up in the given situation.
"That's a nice name, what would you like me to call you?" I asked the man, hoping he would answer me. The longer I delay, the sooner the police and probably the ambulance will come.
"It doesn't matter... I don't care about my name..." the man replied and I was a bit confused. The name doesn't matter? But I let it float and nodded as a sign that I understood him. Even if I didn't understand him at all.
"So how about I call you Ji-Young hyung?" I asked the man, hoping he wouldn't be offended. My brain was slower than usual but that was to be expected in this situation.
"I already told you that I don't care about being addressed," answered Ji-Young to which I nodded and bit my tongue before saying something stupid. Ji-Young then smiled at me and shivers ran down my spine. That smile was as cold as the coldest and darkest night. His eyes no longer seemed crazy, but now reflected a cold calculation in them. He looked like a completely different person now. I didn't know which of the two was worse. Some madman who wants to kill for joy, pleasure...? Or someone who is calculating and manipulative and knows exactly what he's doing? I took a deep breath and my fingers began to tremble gently. Slowly, so as not to draw attention to them, I hid them in the folds of my sweatshirt and took a deep breath to calm myself down. However, the man noticed it anyway and an amused grin appeared on his handsome but tired face. And damn, he looked hot like that! If I haven't know that he was probably a serial killer, I wouldn't be against dating him. Ji-Young was silent and measured me with his cold gaze. If I didn't already have chills before, I would definitely get them now.
"I like you" he declared after measuring me. I almost coughed from surprise, but I stopped for a moment.
'Excuse me, what??!!!...' My mouth must have been wide open in surprise and the man just started laughing at my shocked expression. His gaze shifted away from me for a moment and I quickly looked at the girls. Eun-Ji was lying motionless on the ground, but her chest was rising so she was probably just unconscious. Her two friends, who had too much blood around them were dead. And the last one, that dark-haired girl, just knelt and looked blankly. Her eyes were completely blank. Not that I'm surprised at all. She just saw two of her friends being murdered. Ji-Young chuckled and then gave me a predatory smile. I was still silent as that man was smiling.
"You've got guts, boy, for someone as young as you. Even though you don't like those girls, you still try to buy time so I don't hurt them any further. And you're doing a good job at that, if I were anyone else, you'd probably succeeded" he said and his eyes became sad. Or did it just seem to me? I wasn't sure. And I wasn't stupid, even if it didn't seem like it sometimes. I knew exactly what he was trying to say. Ji-Young hyung just told me that he saw through my plan. And that sealed my ending. Even without a weapon this man was able to kill me. I didn't know how, but I did know he could do it. He was a few centimeters taller than me and even through his clothes I could see his muscles and good figure. If he wasn't a serial killer, he would really be my type. And because I knew this would be the end of me, I let my tongue do what it wanted.
"But you're not just anyone, are you?" I asked with a raised eyebrow. The man's smile grew even bigger, reminding me a little of Park Jong Geon from Lookism. Both were handsome and dangerous. Both had crazy grins. And they were both my type.
"That's right kid, I'm not just anyone, if you want to know, I'll show you." It was an offer, and as dangerous as it sounded, some part of me wanted to damn well know what this handsome man meant. But I was quiet. I could not afford to act rashly. Because my heart was still beating in my chest and oxygen was still flowing in my blood. Although probably not for long.
"Then show me" I finally decided. This was probably an even more stupid decision than coming out from behind that corner.
"Brave boy" the man said and I braced myself for whatever was to come. But nothing could have prepared me for what Ji-Young did. I didn't even have time to blink and the man was already standing in front of me. In less than a second, he crossed the several meters that separated us. I didn't even see him move. It was simply not possible for humans. Before I could open my mouth, his hand was buried in my chest and his fingers wrapped around my beating heart. Before I process what had happened to me, blood was running down my chin and I began to stagger. But Ji-Young kept me standing and then leaned towards me.
"You're brave, but you're too weak. When you're stronger, we'll meet again, how about that, boy?" he whispered in my ear and if he didn't have his hand in my chest, around my heart and I wouldn't know that in a few seconds I will be in the same state as Eun-Ji's friend, I would say that his whispering in my ear is very attractive. And maybe even with his hand in my chest and my approaching death, I thought his whisper was hot. His hand then ripped my heart out of my chest and my body fell to the ground. For some reason, I still didn't feel the pain that I had been preparing for several minutes. Maybe it was a shock? And before my body hit the ground, I could see that the man's eyes, irises and whites were all black. His front teeth were a few millimeters longer than before (which reminded me of vampire teeth). His hands had long and sharp claws and his pale skin was covered in shadows. So I was right after all, this man was not human. And then I didn't feel or see anything anymore, only darkness and darkness.