The darkness cleared. My eyes shot open. The gray tiles of the ceiling and a light bulb. I was laying in a hospital bed. How time has passed? I sat up. Sharp pain in my abdomen flared. I winced. Oh yeah, I was shot there. The memories of that afternoon came into my mind. I glanced around me, studying the room I was in. A bunch of IV tubes were in my arm, hooked up to a nearby machine. There is too much medical equipment for this to be a general ward; the room is probably an ICU ward. That means I probably had some kind of operation.

I clutched my abdomen, trying to ease the pain that was building up there. 

“Jin, you're awake now.”

I glanced up. It was a nurse entering my room. She was wearing light blue scrubs.

“How are you doing?” she asked.

“I’m feeling okay, but my abdomen hurts badly.”

She nodded. “I’m sorry about that. Hopefully, with the right treatments and ample time to heal, you will heal in no time. Would you like an ice pack?”

I shook my head. “No, I can tolerate it.”

“Is there anything else I can do for you?”

“What are today’s date and time?” I asked, glancing at the nurse. 

“Today is June 2nd. Right now it is 6:45.” 

I’ve been passed out for around 15 hours. 

I nodded. “Thank you. That’s all I need.”

The nurse nodded. “No problem. Call me if you need anything else.” 

She left the room.

I sighed and laid back down. Who knew I would get in so much trouble? I’m going to get a massive hospital bill. I’ll be back to eating ramen in no time. My parents aren’t there to help me pay my bill. That reminds me… my parent’s death was also on a day like yesterday. Unexpected rain. On that day, the forecast also predicted that there would be no rain. Maybe unexpected rain is a bad omen. Still, I don’t believe in horoscopes. 

The Black-Hat Killer affects my life a second time. The first time was much more impactful to me than the second time, but I can’t feel at ease anymore. The third time will probably be even more impactful. 

Over the 8 years, Black-Hat Killer has killed over a thousand people. Every time I turn on the news, I’m afraid I’ll hear about another BHK case. How much “unexpected rain” he must’ve brought onto people’s lives. 

After another 10 minutes of thinking about yesterday, I got bored. Watching TV is probably more interesting anyway. The hospital room is S- tier, containing everything from a recliner to even a TV. I pressed the buzzer near my bed, to request a nurse. A nurse came in and helped me set up the TV, as well as passed me the remote controller. I scrolled through the channels. A kid’s cartoon, football, but something on the TV caught my eye. I recognized the person on the screen.

“A 19-year-old student of Seoul National University was shot by Black-Hat killer.”

I stopped pressing the next button. The news was already on TV?

“During a rainy day, someone attempted to rob the bank. We don’t know if this person is an accomplice of the Black-Hat killer, or if he is the Black-Hat killer himself.  Anyways, back to the story. 26-year-old, Pan Sangwook was the sole survivor of this tragedy. Everyone else, including the customers, was killed. Our sources say that the student saved the bank manager.”

More people died because of Black Hat killer. At some point, I’ll become sick of hearing it over and over again.

“After the student left with minor injuries, he was confronted by Black-Hat-Killer. The Black-Hat-Killer took out a gun and shot the student. He fled after that.”

I wanted to shut off the channel, but my body wouldn’t listen. It wanted to hear every detail of the situation.

“We have finally found our first piece of evidence of who the Black-hat killer is. Yesterday afternoon, while fleeing, told the student “don’t get in my way again”. We’ve got a slight clue to what the Black-hat killer sounds like.”

So I was right about what I heard. My heart tugged. Finally, we have a little bit of evidence and clues. After 8 years… My body unfroze. I turned off the TV. That fact makes me feel like my abdomen doesn’t hurt anymore. Although it was just a small clue, at least we have one clue. All there is to do is obtain more clues.  

Days passed. After a week, I was moved to the general ward. The general wards have two beds per room, meaning they can hold two patients each. The room is pretty big, and there’s a “wall” between the two beds so I guess they feel like separate rooms. 

I rubbed my eyes. Day 13 of my hospital journey. I’ll be discharged on Day 30. I’ve still got a long way to go. The nurse gave me a watch, it’s so much more convenient for me to check the time. 21:49. The doctors suggested that I should probably go to bed before 22:00. By today, I can walk by myself. The hospital provides walkers for me to use. I pushed open my slider and when I stepped out, I bumped into someone. 

I almost fell, but I grabbed my walker. The other person wasn’t so lucky. She fell with a grunt but luckily landed on her butt. 

“Ow…” she muttered.

“S-Sorry! I didn’t know you were walking by. Are you okay?”

I bowed my head, hoping she would acknowledge my apology. 

“It’s fine. I shouldn’t be walking on that side of the hall anyway.” 

I looked up. She had straight black hair and sharp brown eyes. Her face seems familiar. She’s wearing the same hospital gown as me, dark blue, probably also a patient. 

“Wait… are you the student who was on the news this morning?” she asked. 

Oh wow, she recognizes me.
“Uh… yeah. That would be me.”

She stared at me. Her face seemed very familiar…

That’s when it hit me. She’s also one of the victims of BHK; she’s the one who was stabbed two weeks ago.

“Is there any chance that your name is Lee Eunkyung?” I asked. 

That question seemed to catch her off guard. She probably wasn’t expecting someone to recognize her from the news.

“Uh, yeah. That’s my name,” she mumbled.

I glanced at the area she was supposed to be stabbed in. Just as I guessed, it was bandaged. 

“You’re also a victim of BHK,” I noted.

She sighed, looking away from me for a while, before looking back at me. 

“Yeah, we’re both victims of BHK.”

A moment of silence passed, before pain flared again in my abdomen, almost causing me to fall. 

“Jeez, it’s been two weeks already. You’d think the pain would go away by now.”

Eunkyung smiled at me. “Don’t worry. I was like that too, but by the third week, it’ll go away. I would know.”

“Maybe your body is faster at healing than mine is,” I grumbled. 

She smiled. “Well, Jin, see you later. I need to brush my teeth and prepare for bed now.”

I nodded. “Later, Lee.”

We waved hands and parted ways. I finished brushing my teeth and lay in my bed. We’re both victims of BHK. How many more victims of BHK are there? Not just imagining how many he’s killed, but also how many have been hurt because of him. He still doesn’t have a place in jail yet, despite eight years of being on the run, constantly hurting and killing others. The more I think about it, the more frustrated I get. Surely there’s something I can do…

I decided not to worry about it too much and just sleep. However, I had a nightmare that would haunt me for the rest of my life.

A boy, the height of a mailbox was playing soccer with an adult. He had hair going down to the bottom of his neck and bangs going to his eyes. He wore a navy sweatshirt and black shorts. He was wearing a navy sweatshirt and black shorts.

“Dad, can you play soccer with me?”

So the other adult was his father…

His dad was tall, with hair the same length of his son, and dressed similarly, laughed, and kicked a soccer ball at his legs. The kid barely managed to kick the ball, sending it flying into the air. Instead of letting it fall to the floor and continuing to play, he caught the ball with his hands.

“Nice kick, Dad.” 

The dad smiled and laughed. “In soccer, you're not supposed to be using your hands, you know.”

The kid seemed to realize his mistake and dropped the ball. 

“My bad, I forgot.”

The grass was quite short where they were playing. They weren’t near a house, a forest. The plain, next to nature. If I were to guess, they were probably at a school, in a place that is away from the school but next to the woods. Usually, they're meant for recess. 

The dad kicked the ball through the kid’s legs and it flew into the goal. The kid glanced around in shock. 

“Chin, make sure you pay attention to where your opponent kicks the ball!” his father hollered across the field. 

The boy’s name was Chin.

“I’ll get you this time,” he boldly declared.

Chin managed to get the ball past his father but when he kicked, he missed and it flew into the woods. The grin he had on his face before he kicked the ball vanished in less than a second.

“I-I’m sorry dad.”

His father didn’t seem angry as he patted Chin’s head. “Don’t worry, I’ll get it. You stay here.”

I watched as the father ran through a trail in the woods. Five minutes later, an explosion sound filled the air.

“Dad? Dad!” Chin shouted.

He ran into the forest.

His father was trying to negotiate with someone, who was holding a bunch of people hostage. The person was easily recognizable nowadays. The Black-Hat killer. I didn’t want to continue watching, but I couldn’t do anything about it.

“Calm down. What will killing all these people do to help you?”

Chin approached them. “Dad? W-What are you doing?” His voice quivered with fear.

“Chin! Get away from here!”

The Black Hat Killer didn’t budge an inch, as if to him, the child didn’t exist.

The father glanced at the black-hat killer. “Sorry, my son doesn’t like to listen to me.”

He ran up to Chin. “Stay silent, okay? Afterward, I’ll be sure to play some soccer with you. Promise me?”

Chin nodded quietly.

The father returned to the Black Hat Killer. 

Something about the nervous tremble of his hands told me he was feeling nervous. He must’ve realized the Black Hat Killer could kill him and everyone at the same time.

There was a shack next to a nearby tree. 

“Look, I’ll give you my wallet if you let those people go okay? It has quite a lot of cash in there. It has around 12,000,000₩ in it.”

Those people… there must’ve been people locked up in the shack, which Black Hat Killer must’ve been trying to kill.

Chin’s father was trying to save everyone. 

Black Hat Killer sighed.

“That sounds like a good deal. Everyone here is useless. Money is the one thing that isn’t.”

He took out the key and opened the door, letting about five people inside of it run. He then returned to Chin’s father. 

Chin’s father handed him the wallet. 

“Do you have any more money on you?”

Chin’s father shook his head. Black Hat Killer made a face. He then smiled evilly. “I’m greedy. Most people say that. I’ve tons of experience with people like you. Of course, you have more money on you.”

Chin’s father backed off. “That money is for my family. You can’t have it.”

Black Hat Killer glanced at Chin. “You could run and get out alive, but I can’t guarantee that your son will.”

Chin’s father seemed to realize what he was implying.

“Chin, run away!” 

“What about you, father?”

His father faked a smile.

“I’ll be fine, I promised you to remember? We’ll play soccer again. I just need to resolve something first.”

Chin’s father rapidly glanced back at Black Hat Killer. His trembling hand was hidden behind his back.

Chin nodded, before turning around and sprinting away. After he almost left the woods, he stopped.
“Father isn’t coming… I can’t see him,” he whispered. His eyes widened, and he sprinted back to the area. Black Hat Killer was holding his father, his father was almost beaten to death and stabbed in multiple areas. 

“You said you would play soccer with me again!” Chin screamed. 

His father, barely alive, glanced at Chin. Black Hat Killer made no notice. 

“The rest of my money is well hidden. You’ll never get it,” Chin’s father barely managed to say. 

More blood dripped from the wounds he had. Even though I wasn’t there, I felt like I wanted to vomit. 

“67-717-9066,” Chin’s father said. 

Chin seemed to realize what the numbers meant. His eyes widened in horror.

BHK sneered at him. 

“Those are your last words? Imagine a bunch of random numbers being your final words. It’s pathetic.” 

He used the knife he was holding in his other hand and stabbed him again in the stomach. Then, with that, he tossed him over the railing and into the river. 

Chin screamed his father's name. BHK turned around and smiled, giving him an evil grin before sprinting away from the lake.

Police sirens echoed the silence. Chin sprinted and looked over the edge. Only a flowing river was there, and no signs of his father’s body. Tears leaked out of Chin’s eyes, and he called his father’s name one more time.

I woke up with a start. I sat up and tried to catch my breath. 4:33 AM. Something tells me that the dream happened in real life, during the 8 years of BHK’s period. It bears a resemblance to something in the past, but I can’t remember. It’s like a blurry cloud that I can tell its shape and acknowledge its existence, but I can’t quite understand what it is. Someone told me that same story before…

That monster. A tear trickled down my eye. I reached next to my desk and grabbed the nearest object I could find; my favorite vase and threw it on the ground. Pieces of glass flew everywhere. I couldn’t control my emotions. Before I knew it, my face was a mess of tears, and I was sobbing like when I was 12. Nurses quickly came to my room and tried to ask me what was wrong.

BHK. The killer of many. The person who has been on the run for 8 years. The person who hasn’t been punished. The person who hasn’t paid a penny for his crimes. How many lives have been broken because of him? I can’t just sit here anymore. “Don’t get in my way again”? No way’s happening. I’ll get in your way again.

BHK. I’ll make sure you get arrested and never see the sunlight again.