'It's all so vile..'
A sickening loud 'thud' is heard, not once, not twice, not even three times but twenty four times.
'Is he dead?...'
Another three strong thuds can be heard, followed by with the sound of a brick hitting the ground.
Moonlight shines through the window onto the silhouette of a mid teen boy, a mans body laying below him, its head smashed in. A bloodied brick nearby on the floor, alongside a womans body, a knife left in her chest after being stabbed there multible times. The boys silhouette turns its head towards the window that's letting the moonlight in. Short black hair falling on his face, his cherry red dark eyes shine under the light, a smile creeping on the beautiful face covered in crimson blood.
"I'm so sorry, Noona.. I was too late, wasn't I?" he says with a quiet trembling voice.
'It's warm..'
Upon opening his eyes he's greeted by the morning sunlight shining through the curtains. He pulls the blanket over his head. Clearly not ready to start with the day.
The voice of an elderly woman can be heard from behind the door, shouting
"Sohyun, get up boy! How much longer are you going to sleep!? You're going to be late for work if you don't get up!!"
'Late?... Crap I'm gonna be late!' his eyes shooting open.
Sohyun clumsily hurried out from his bed, and sliped into a baggy, dark teal hoodie and black sweatpants. He took a pair of keys, that were on top of the nightstand, beside a picture of a black haired woman in a white dress, and a black haired small boy. Looks like they are having a great time making flower crowns out of the orange flowers around them.
Sohyun makes his way in the kitchen where a soft aroma of food is coming from. There stands a gray haired short grandma, wearing a light pink apron to keep her clothes clean from food stains.
Noticing the man stepping into the kitchen she speaks, "It's unlike you to oversleep. Did the whole neighbourhood make you run around for them again? That's it I'm gonna scold them all!"
Sohyun slightly flinches in surprise, and responds, "That won't be needed halmeoni! I just had too good of a sleep, and couldn't hear the alarm."
"..You aren't getting any better at lying if you keep doing it you know?"
'Ack.. She figured it out.'
"So? Was it that dream again?" Sohyun nods, and looks down on the table. The halmeoni's expression slightly softens. "The sleeping medicine isn't doing you any good, but if you don't take it you won't be able to sleep at all." She says with a frown and a sigh.
"I'll be fine, don't worry about me halmeoni, you should worry about your own health the most."
"Oh shut it! Worring about you is worring about myself. If something happens to you, who's gonna carry all the grocery bags!? Not an old woman such as me, that's for sure!"
"Right.. But still I'll be fine. My immune system is strong you know? Losing a bit of sleep isn't gonna do anything to me." He says in attempt to reassure her.
"Yea right! If you're a human being something's bound to happen. Now eat up and go to work you brat." Saying with a firm tone as she places a plate full of perfect, moon shaped dalgyal mandu with a small cup of red, spicy-sweet gochujang sauce placed in the middle.
'!..' A small smile showing on Sohyun's face, "Thanks halmeoni."
"Whatever.. Happy birthday you brat." She looked away, tousled his hair and walked out of the kitchen.
She has always been strong like that, for the past nine years I've known her. She tried not to get attached to me but failed in the first year when she realized i wasn't going anywhere.
Sohyun puts on a warm black jacket, and steps out of the small and old house, walking across the yard on the small pebble pathway that's leading to the fence as old as the house. On the right side of the yard were laying some flowerbeds, the other side had a medium sized tree with a swing attached to one of its branches, holding its beautiful and colorful leaves out in mid autumn. Sohyun opens the small gate, walks out and carefully closes it behind him as if it could break off its hinges at any time.
'It's time to go to work.'
***
Sohyun arrives at a two floored white building with a big glass window and a glass door on the bottom floor. Looking through the window you can see light orange walls, light brown wood floor, and five round tables with each one of them having chairs around them. The glass retail counter is displaying all the pastries such as croissants, Madeleines, scones, fruit tarts, cinnamon rolls, cheese bread rolls, muffins, eclairs, and chocolate chip cookies. The right wall displays some flowers, like chrysanthemums, roses, camellias, lillies, peonies, carnations, and so on, with a variety of color options. The second floor having a small balcony, where you can enter by a glass door.
'My safe place.' Sohyun thought, as he got his keys out and opened the door to the shop. He makes his way to the back takes his jacket off and puts a light brown apron on top of his dark teal hoodie. The apron has a name on the left side of the chest part, it reads 'Seo Sohyun'. He walks back to the glass door and flips the sign. "The cafe has been opened. Now I just have to wait for customers..."
Looking at the peach tulips on the display wall, 'Am I forgetting something?'
He then looks at the clock on the other wall, it shows 7:46 AM.
"..."
He holds his right wrist, there are dark cherry red slashes, exactly like the color of his eyes. The slashes that look like they were made by a sharp knife, trailing beneath the loose sleeve of his hoodie, "..Taeho?"
'I forgot Taeho at home.. I'm sure he'll be fine with halmeoni...'
I snap out of thought when i hear the door open.
"Hello, sir."
'A normal person. I should calm down for now.'
"Welcome. What can I get for you?"
"I'll get a cup of espresso and a chocolate croissant, please."
While getting started on the espresso, another customer walks in, 'A hunter, and a regular at that.'
"Good morning, Sohyun hyung! Can I get my usual?"
"Hello. A cup of americano it is then."
Finished with the cup of espresso he gets a small plate, and places a chocolate filled croissant on it. Taking the cup and the plate, he puts them on the counter, "That'll be 10,500 won in total."
The young hunter asks "Hey, Sohyun hyung? Where's your little bro?" After the man pays, Sohyun starts on the cup of americano, "Taeho's staying at home today."
'Actually I forgot to bring him along but hunter Lee doesn't need to know that.'
"Was he too tired to get out of bed this early in the morning?" Hunter Lee laughs.
"I guess."
"When I was his age I was already running around the whole neighborhood at 5 AM. He on the other hand lazies around all the time, he should play more and hang out with friends instead like a normal kid. I feel sorry for you, Sohyun."
'And I feel sorry for your parents, sounds like you were the early morning alarm for the whole neighborhood. If only Taeho was a normal kid that would be what he was doing..' Sohyun though.
"He's been helping me enough already hunter Lee Kyungho. I think it's time he took a small break from running around and doing my errands for me." He places the cup of americano on the counter. "That'll be 4,500 won."
"Oh, yeah that makes sense." Hunter Kyungho responds, keeping awkwardly silent and regretting his words. Realising he was being rude and careless with his words again, and feeling bad about it now.
'Now I'm sure he won't leave me alone tomorrow. He might not think before speaking but he's harmless and a nice person despite that. He's just young right now, he'll grow out of that habit soon.'
***
Sohyun keeps looking at the clock, and it's almost 12:00 PM, the time when his first break starts, lasting for 30 minutes. Seeing no customers he flips the sign, walks in the room in the back, where there are flowers on one side, and coffee beans on top of shelves on the other. Walking up the stairs, that are right on the left corner of the room.
'I wonder if I'll be able to see the mama cat and her kitten today too?'
He makes himself a cup of black tea, adds two tea spoons full of sugar, and pours a little bit of milk to it so that it'll have that beautiful light coffee brown color.
He walks to the balcony, sits on the chair and sips on the tea 'Perfect.' he thought to himself. As he looked down on the street where lone cars and pedestrians were moving, he saw a really expensive looking car drive past. To be precise it was a special order of the Audi A8 L Security.
"I remember driving around in one of these when I was a teenager." he takes another sip of his tea. 'At the time I was being chased by haters, and assassins who were paid to kill me.'
'The whole thing was a huge mess, all because of the accusations of the deaths of innocent people I couldn't stop.'
He looks inside the cup, 'Saying I did nothing while I watched them die, while just standing and listening to their screams and cries for help.. That old lady was annoying.'
Drinking the tea in two big gulps, 'I mean- were you even there at the time to say such things, old lady? If not, then how can you say such things to a literal child.' He placed the cup on the small glass table with wooden legs beside him making a clinking sound.
"..Even after 12 years have passed, I'm still mad over that.."
'I even got my driving license suspended for the next 9 months after that. It's funny in a way. If i think about it, the last time I drove a car was when I was 16, being chased by a bunch of people wanting to kill me.. I take it back, who would laugh at that?' His face showing a lack of enthusiasm.
"I should get back downstairs soon. The break was a failure, didn't even get to see the cats."
Being back downstairs, and on his way to flip the closed sign to open. Having opened the door to breath fresh air one last time. Just as he's about to flip the sign and close the door, he hears an unpleasant noise coming from the dark alleyway beside the cafe.
Steping outside, and into the alleyway. The horror that greets him is three seemingly high schoolers torturing the mama cat-.. who was no longer struggling as one of the teens held the cat by its throat chocking it.
The girl of the group notices Sohyun in the corner of her eye, her face painted with horror as she sees him looking at them with a look so horrifying it could kill. The girl freezed in place, probably terrified out of her mind, the other two high schoolers notice her behaviour right away and turn to look what their friend is staring at. The high schoolers freeze in terror when they see the stranger staring down at them, "...What do you think you're doing?" Sohyun finally says something when they all notice his presence. "L-look man we were just-" The girl cuts the boy off "-searching for my cat!" She takes the limp cat from the other boy's hand and holds it tightly in her embrace. Probably to hide the fact that the cat is dead.. It's already too late for that thought. Sohyun knew it the moment he stepped in the alleyway. There were only three living beings left there beside himself. And the number was going to decrease by three more.. At least it would've been like that if he could've had it his own way. The kids would have been long dead already, but since the security and the number of hunters with useful abilities has increased with time, he can't risk getting caught, he has to be careful with his murders. "..Put the cat down and scram." He doesn't raise his voice. He doesn't need to. The three high schoolers run out of the alleyway together, after the girl carefully places the corpse of the mama cat down. Tears were dripping down her cheeks to her chin, 'She was crying out of fear that she was going in jail for killing an animal, not because she actually killed one.'
Sohyun hears a small meow in a hidden corner near the pile of boxes. He walks out of the alleyway, a small box in his hands. Inside the box was a single kitten that the mama cat had birthed almost two months ago now. Seemingly unscratched and healthy if judged by the energetic movement inside the box. "Let's hope halmeoni doesn't mind a little companion back at home." He spoke in a quiet tone, knowing that the black kitten can't understand his words anyways.
***
"It's almost closing time." Sohyun's eyes are glued to the clock on the wall, right as the clock ticks 8:00PM he flips the sign, finishes cleaning up, puts his apron away in the room at the back, takes the box where the kitten is currently sleeping in, turns off the lights, walks out and locks the door. Slowly making his way back home, 'I wonder how halmeoni's and Taeho's day went.. I can say that my day was full of surprises. I feel horrible about what happened to the mama cat.' He looks into the box where the kitten is sleeping, wrapped in a clean soft white cloth that Sohyun was able to find in the cafe's backroom to keep the kitten warm, "You shouldn't have lost your mother while being this young. Why didn't I report them.." he looks ahead on the sidewalk again. 'They would have found me at least suspicious, I have to avoid the police and familiar faces as much as I can. Like I have been doing for the past 9 years. I can't allow myself to make any mistakes.' After a while of walking Sohyun arrives at the street where the place he can call his home is at. Opening and closing the small front gate with one hand wasn't hard at all, unlocking and opening the front door to the house and locking it again behind him he takes off his white sneakers with dark blue edges.
A child's steps can be heard from the living room, a young boy steps into the hallway. "Never. Again. Forget me at home, or I'll-! Who's in there?" The boy asks while pointing at the box that Sohyun is holding.
"Inky." Sohyun says that's followed by a small meow from inside the box.
"What's Milkshakes kitten doing here? And where's Milkshake herself??"
'I really don't want Taeho to find out about what happened to Milkshake..'
"Inky is gonna live with us from now on. Here why don't you let him sleep in your room from now on, Taeho?" Sohyun gives the box to the kid and walks past him to his own room.
Taeho looks after Sohyun, a blank expression on his face before he looks down at Inky who's looking back at him from the box, "Milkshake's dead isn't she?.. Come on, I'm gonna show you where you're gonna sleep from now on." Taeho makes his way to his room that's right in the opposite side from Sohyun's room.
A knock is heard on Sohyun's door, it opens, and standing in the doorway is halmeoni. "..Wanna tell me what happened during the day?"
"..No, not really."
'I don't want to worry her any more than she already is because of me and Taeho.'
"You sure?"
"Yeah, thanks anyways."
'I can't possibly tell her that I saw some high schoolers killing Milkshake right beside the shop. Wish I could have killed them in return.'
"Alright then. I put your food in the fridge, heat it up if you're hungry. And get some rest. Goodnight brat." She closes the door before I can say 'goodnight' back.
"..okay." Sohyun quietly exhales as he gets under his planket, and turns off his bedside light.
'Don't worry Milkshake, Taeho will take good care of your kitten so you can rest peacefully..' The darkness of the night takes over, and ephialtes begin to seep back in.