There was a Subway nearby that we could stop by and pick up our dinner. Eunkyung was rather lazy at that point to order us some actual food, so she picked Subway and just ordered us two sandwiches with a bag of chips. We sat in the outside dining area across from each other.

I picked up my sandwich and took a bite. The variety of flavors from the lettuce, tomatoes, and sauce filled my mouth. 

“This sandwich tastes pretty good,” I commented.

Eunkyung said nothing as she gobbled down the sandwich and her chips. I was tempted to eat faster, but I refused because I wanted to cherish the flavors.

“Wait, something doesn’t line up,” Eunkyung suddenly said, almost making me drop my sandwich.

“W-What doesn’t line up?” I asked, still a bit shocked by her sudden remark.

“I checked my areas and couldn’t find it. That means it was probably in your area,” she muttered.

“What’s in my area?” I asked, confused.

“Jin, what were the strangest things you found while searching?”

“Well…” I said, thinking hard. “In building A, I found a random poster that read BHK won’t be found ever. Building B didn’t have any traces. Building C had the useless words ‘hunt me’. Building D just had a quote that made no sense. It read  ‘People see because of light, but we see- ”

“-because of darkness,” Eunkyung finished.

I looked at her amazed. “How did you know that?”

“Where was the quote in Building D written?” she asked.

“Um, at the crime scene with the ATM.”

Her face paled.

“Just as I thought… I knew it was written somewhere.”

I scrunched my eyebrows. What was she talking about? How does she know?

“Wait, what do you mean?”

“I don’t have time to explain, we need to go back to the mall.”

She grabbed my arm and we sprinted to the mall. I gave up on trying to understand the situation and just guide her to the location of the crime scene. Just like when I checked it earlier, the quote was still written on the ground and nothing changed.

“Why didn’t you tell me about this earlier?” she asked, her hand feeling the paint it was written with.

“Well,” I said, trying to come up with something to defend myself, “I guess I just didn’t think it would be important. It made no sense.”

Eunkyung analyzed the writing for a tiny bit longer.

“Eunkyung, how’s this related to anything?” I asked.

“You see, BHK doesn’t actually mean this. Most people think this must be related to looking for darkness or trying to find something. However, in reality, this is just a trick. It’s actually to find the light.”

I stared at her, unable to comprehend the words she just said.

“In other words, the police only looked using light. That’s because our eyes see using light. But, the darkest places become the most noticeable. To find the brightest places, you must use darkness to see.”

“How’s it even possible to see using darkness?” I asked.

Eunkyung pulled something out of her pocket. She held it up. She was holding a pair of eyeglasses.

“Using this, this reverses the lighting of the area. Bright areas become darker, and darker areas become brighter. Anyways, I’ll do the search. I’ll tell you if I find anything.”

She put on the pair of eyeglasses and scanned the room. 

“There!” she exclaimed, pointing to a spot that looked like a regular tile on the floor.

I glanced at it. 

“What’s special about there?” I asked, confused.

She ignored me and ran to the area where she was pointing. I’m not sure if I was imagining things or not, but she seemed to be working with an invisible lock. 

Click. Eunkyung peeled off the tile on the ground. 

“There,” she said, exhaling. 

I walked to the hole in the ground and my mouth fell open. Inside the hole was a piece of paper that displayed a series of unrecognizable symbols and random lines everywhere. 

Eunkyung reached into the hole and took out the piece of paper. 

“I think we found some extra evidence that can help us in our hunt,” she said.

“Eunkyung, h-how did you piece everything together like this?” I asked.

She didn’t meet my eyes. “Let’s just say I’ve witnessed too many BHK cases in my life.”

I bit my lip. “I understand,” I said. Silence fell over us.

She folded the piece of paper into eighths and shoved it into her pocket. 

“Come on, Jin. Let’s go.”

We left the mall with an additional piece of information.

“It’s already 21:02. I don’t think it’s a good idea to try to be rushing home,” Eunkyung commented as we were walking out of the mall. 

I nodded. “Yeah, we should probably stay one more night at the hotel.”

“Same hotel, or should we change it up?” she asked.

“Let’s change it up. I’ve already slept in the other one for two days. It’s getting old.”

“Alright then, I feel that way too. So, let's see what hotels are there…” 

She scrolled through hotel options via her phone. “There’s a 4-star hotel near us, for about 190,000₩.” She glanced at me. “Is that alright?”

“That sounds good,” I replied.

We walked to a massive blue and gray hotel. It had two sets of doors, and a roof above the entrance decorated with lots of yellow lights. Eunkyung got us one room since the cost of the rooms was very expensive. Luckily, the bed was king-size so we didn’t have to cram in the bed.

We dropped off all our stuff in the closet. Eunkyung left to take a shower. I noticed that she left the piece of paper on the table. I glanced at the map.

Weird symbols that seem to have no meaning and lines in random places. Just staring at the map gives me a headache. 

“Wait… I think there’s some kind of code,” I noted.

Eunkyung came out of the bathroom, wearing the same clothes she entered. The only thing that changed was her hair which was now soaked in water. When her hair is wet, it looks much longer than when it’s not. I guess her hair isn’t so straight.

I glanced at the time from the alarm on the cabinet. 22:09. I’ve spent nearly 10 minutes just staring at the map. 

“Code for what?” Eunkyung asked.

“Oh, I’m just thinking of the map.”

She glanced at the map. “Wait… you're right. It is a code! Why didn’t I realize it before?”

I shrugged.

“Well, I don’t have the energy to decode it right now. I’ll do it first thing in the morning. After I dry my hair, I’m going to be going to bed.”

She left and went to the bathroom. 22:09 is a pretty early time to go to bed, but given the circumstances, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it. 

A few minutes later, Eunkyung returned. She turned off the lights in our room, before realizing I was also in the room. She tried turning on the lights before I interrupted her.

“Eunkyung, it’s fine. I was planning on going to bed anyways.”

“Oh, okay then.”

She slept on the left side of the bed and I slept on the right. Of course, she decided to sleep facing me. I fixed my eyes on her face. 

“She’s so beautiful,” my brain whispered to me.

I focused on her eyes. Her eyelashes’ length was about a fingernail. 

“Especially her eyes,” I whispered back.

She opened her eyes and saw me staring into her eyes.

“You got caught! Red alert, get out now!” my brain screamed.

I turned the other way and pretend I never saw her.  

“You’ve had your fun, now go to bed,” my brain said.

I slowly fell asleep. For some reason, sleeping with Eunkyung by my side makes me feel at ease.

I woke up the next morning and found Eunkyung already awake, analyzing the map.

“Already awake Eunkyung? Have you eaten breakfast?”

She glanced at me from the table she was working on. 

“No, I was waiting for you to wake up.”

Maybe she didn’t notice me. That’s good. A smile crossed my face. “Alright then. Wait for me to get changed.”

I changed into a light orange t-shirt and light blue shorts. I also combed my hair. 

Eunkyung was waiting by the door, still wearing the light green jacket and a red shirt. She must be trying to keep reminding me of Christmas. I rolled my eyes and we went down to the breakfast lobby. The hotel had Japanese cuisine. We had some onigiri. The food was pretty delicious.

“Jin, I discovered something from the map yesterday.”

“Really?” I asked.

“Yeah. We have to do one more thing before we return to Seoul.”

“Oh,” I said, a bit upset. I kind of wanted to return to Seoul immediately. “What is that one thing?”

“While I was decoding the code this morning, I realized there was a website link. It’s better if we checked the link here than if we were to check it in Seoul.”

“That’s fine. It shouldn’t take that long anyway.”

She nodded. “Alright then, it’s settled.”

We finished our breakfast and returned to our room. Eunkyung got onto her computer and typed in a web link.

I shifted on my feet.

“What if it has a virus or something? Aren’t you not supposed to click links from strangers?”

She glanced at me before letting out a laugh.

“Only cowards believe that. True, bold people will click a random link if it has a chance for a clue.”

She had to respond with something so sassy…

“Hello, my fellow investigators,” a voice called from her computer.

I walked behind Eunkyung and noticed BHK on her computer screen. He was sitting in an office, with a desk in front of him like he was being interviewed. This is BHK. Leaving us a message.

“Don’t try to track anything. In fact, the person who’s talking to you guys could not even be BHK himself.”

He tapped his finger on his desk.

“To decode my little hint, I purposely rigged it. It can’t be the police, they don’t know what I say to survivors. Not many people survive and tell the tale. The people that did survive, most of them went crazy.”

He smiled. I fought my urge to punch the screen.

“So, whoever did find this message, congratulations! Although, it may not be the best thing. You see, as of right now, whoever replays this message sends a little packet of information to me. So, I know who is on the other side watching this.”

“Crap,” I muttered. “So was this a trap he had against detectives?”

Eunkyung didn’t hear me, or she pretended she didn’t.

“Well, I haven’t played with detectives for a while. I’ll make sure to have fun before I kill you guys. Better keep your eyes on the lookout, or else you might just regret it.”

BHK reached over to turn off the video, before stopping.

“Oh, by the way. I have a little bit of suspicion on who would find this. And, I guess I was right. Later, Jin Youngjae and Lee Eunkyung. Watch your backs. You could wake up and find the other dead.”

The window exited out of itself. That’s when I realized that it wasn’t just a video; it was an actual meeting.

I looked and Eunkyung for her reaction. Her face was emotionless. 

“Eunkyung?” I asked, trying to get her attention.

She sat there, not moving a millimeter. She must’ve been scared by his death threat.

“Alright, I’ll leave you alone. Call me once you're ready to leave.”

I walked over to my packed baggage and took out my phone. I opened the door of the hotel and left. The whole time though, I was expecting Eunkyung to say a word to me.

I made sure my phone would ring if she ever called and walked to the bridge that we crossed on our ferry trip.

The view from the bridge was amazing, with the river right underneath me. It was quite similar to when I passed it on the boat.

As I was staring at the view, my hand trembled beside me. I am pretty scared of what’s going to happen next too. I took a deep breath. I’m putting up a front. When being chased by someone who hasn’t failed to kill and always gets away, it’s not easy to not be scared. In the beginning, I thought I could make a difference. I thought I could help stop BHK. 

“Take a deep breath, Youngjae,” I muttered, trying to calm myself down.

I inhaled, filling my belly full of air. I let out all of the air from my stomach. Yet, for some reason, my hand was still trembling as if I had seen a ghost.

“T-”

“Take a deep breath, Youngjae,” Eunkyung’s voice echoed behind me.

I turned around to find Eunkyung right behind me, her hair in a mess.

“Eunkyung, what are you doing here?” I asked, still shocked by her sudden appearance.

“I’m sorry for not being a good example,” she muttered. “Maybe if I hadn’t freaked out first, then you wouldn’t be like this.”

I stared at her face. Her eyes were pleading for me to forgive her.

Bu-dum. My heart seemed to be going at its own speed.

I took a deep breath. 

“No, it’s my fault for being so weak,” I said loud and clear to her.

She stared into my eyes. “Always taking the blame, that’s something heroes do. Like it’s some kind of obligation to do so. Even if it’s not their fault. They try to save people, even if it costs their life. They even try to save evil people’s lives.”

I recalled the moment when my father lured Black Hat Killer away from me. When I came out, he was laying on the floor, slowly dying.

I shook my head. “Heroes try to save people’s lives not because it’s their duty to. It’s because they are selfless and want to save the people they love.”

There was a moment of silence as I let my words settle in.

Eunkyung walked over to the railing of the bridge and gazed into the horizon, which was made of the slowly rising sun and the light blue ocean.

“You know, there was a certain someone in my life who sacrificed himself to save me. In a way, I sort of resent him for making such a choice. Seems disgusting, doesn’t it?”

She laughed, her body trembling a bit.

“I didn’t really understand him, didn’t I? I simply thought, oh he was a hero. The noble knight rushes in and saves people, even if it costs his life. He was the man I looked up to. The one I went to for complaints, advice, and support. Maybe, what I failed to see was how much he loved me when he sacrificed his life for me.”

Eunkyung turned around and pushed her hair asides.

“Do you think you could be a hero because you love people and not because you want to be called a hero?” she asked.

I shook my head.

“I don’t think I could.”

She turned around and stared at me.

“Nah, I don’t believe that. Your motivation to hunt Black Hat Killer says otherwise.”

“We’ll see if I am in the future.”

She smiled.

“We’ll definitely see.”

We gazed at each other’s eyes for a bit, before I cleared my throat and looked at something else. 

“I recently realized that you started calling me by my first name. I didn’t even notice for a couple of weeks. Don’t you think it’s a bit unfair if you’re calling me by my first name while I’m still referring to you by your last?”

I smiled to match her smile.

“Feel free too.”

“Alright then, Youngjae. I’ll just call you that.”

Whenever she said my first name, for some reason, triggered a hazy memory I can’t process.

I turned back to the ocean slowly moving underneath me.

“So, what do we do about BHK? Should we get the police involved or something?” I asked.

“No, it’s probably not a good idea to involve the police. BHK said he wanted to fight us alone, not with the police by our side. He might resort to a more severe method.”

“That sounds logical,” I commented.

“Let’s not worry too much about it. There’s not much we can do about it. We should lay low for a couple of days.”

I nodded.

“The heat is killing me. Let’s go back to the hotel and go home.”

“Alright, Eunkyung. Let’s go home!”

We returned to our hotel and packed up our stuff.