“Youngjae, the last couple of days were relatively safe,” Eunkyung noted, as she observed a planner she made.

“Saying something like that will jinx us,” I replied, “That’s what always happens in shows. They say they’ve been safe and then something bad happens.”

We were discussing inside a coffee shop, where she would tediously keep suggesting we stop ‘hiding’ and go out and do something. However, it's still only been a couple of days after BHK made his remark.

“He could’ve only left that message to scare us away, like how a scarecrow scares birds, ” Eunkyung said, who keeps on suggesting.

“And what if he wasn’t? If it was actually the case and we went out to hunt for him, he would have all the advantages. Then we’d be screwed.”

“Fine,” she said. She took a sip of her coffee. I guess she decided to stop pushing since it was hard to keep pushing in her direction. 

To be fair though, she was kind of right. After we returned to Seoul, we didn’t encounter anything out of the ordinary. It’s possible that BHK just decided to leave a message.

Wait… now that I think about it, I don’t recall any BHK cases after I got hospitalized and I check the news often. 

“Eunkyung, do you remember seeing any BHK cases recently?” I asked.

Eunkyung put down her coffee and thought for a second.  

“Now that I think about it, I don’t recall any BHK cases recently. Like, the latest one was yours. I may be wrong though since I don’t check the news every day.”

I nodded. “Well, I don’t think you're wrong. I haven’t seen him either.”

It is possible BHK is planning something big for us…

A surge of panic filled my chest. I ignored it because otherwise, Eunkyung would probably panic too.

“That’s strange, you’d think he’d be a bit more active,” she commented. Her smile quickly disappeared as she realized what that could mean.

“You don’t think he’s…” she said, trailing off.

“It’s fine. If he couldn’t find us, he can’t do anything about it. Just, be extra careful from now on,  alright?”

“Okay,” she muttered, clearly still lost in thought. I sighed. It looks like BHK isn’t so easy to deal with after all.

 …

Laying low wasn’t all that difficult. Time seemed to fly significantly faster though, which was weird. Before I knew it, school started again. Eunkyung took a temporary break from her job, due to our situation. She didn’t want me to go to school, but we were able to negotiate it. We would call me each other twice a day, once during the middle of the day, and once in the afternoon. We kept at this for a week.

As time continued to pass by, I started to doubt myself. Maybe I pieced the pieces together incorrectly or something because BHK never showed up. Eunkyung’s hypothesis about the message being a scarecrow might be right. Speaking of Eunkyung, she didn’t answer my calls or texts all day.  It made me quite anxious today and I found it a bit hard to concentrate in class. What my professor told me went in one ear and out the other.  Luckily, I was able to remember what project he assigned to me.

“Jin, are you almost done with your section?” my partner for a project asked.

I scribbled down a few more details of the area and closed my notebook.

“Yeah, I’ve got all the details of the plants written.”

I was in Nakseongdae park with one of my classmates We were here to gather plant samples as well as identify the plant for a biology project.

“Alright, maybe I guess we should return?” he suggested.

I checked my phone. 20:31, the sun setting. Eunkyung still hasn’t responded yet to any of my calls or texts. I swallowed my uneasiness.

“Yeah, sure. You should probably go on ahead without me. I’ll be staying here for a while.”

“Huh?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. 

“I have something I need to do,” I said, trying to persuade him.

“Okaay, I guess. See you…”

“Alright then, see you tomorrow!” I shoved my notebook in my backpack and sprinted off. 

I tried to dial her phone number again, but to no avail, she didn’t pick up. 

“That girl! She told me she’d call me several times a day and now she’s calling me none! She doesn’t even pick up the phone when I call her!”

I set my backpack near a street lamp and walked in circles around it, trying to think of a solution, or any way to contact her. 

If she didn’t respond to any of the ways I try to contact her digitally, then the only way to contact her is via in-person! The problem was… I have no idea where she could potentially be. 

I clutched my head to try to remember if she said anything important to me before she disappeared. If I remember correctly, the only thing she told me was that she was going out for a while. 

It’s also a possibility that she is safe, but unless I can confirm that, the uneasiness in my stomach won’t go away. I took out my phone and googled up “how to find someone when you don’t know their whereabouts”.

I scrolled through the results. A lot of the results were irrelevant because she never told me anything about where she would be. As I continued to scroll through, I found a useful answer. Locate them via their phone. 

I slapped myself on the head. I’m so stupid, how could I forget that I could probably locate her via her phone? The anxiety must’ve got into my head and screwed up my thinking. 

I opened up my phone app. As I scrolled past my phone and to Eunkyung. We set up the system a couple of weeks ago, in case something like today happens. 

“Please locate her, please locate her,” I muttered as a loading wheel whirled in front of me. 

The map zoomed in on a parking lot, about half a mile away. So lucky, she was so nearby. 

I sprinted north, towards the direction my map was telling me to go. After around five minutes, I was able to sprint to my destination. My hopes deflated as I realized Eunkyung wasn’t in the parking lot. Her phone was also nowhere to be seen.

“This makes no sense,” I angrily muttered, tempted to stomp my feet like a 7-year-old. “How could she not be here? Find My Phone is never wrong.”

I scanned the area several times before concluding that she wasn’t in the parking lot. I sighed. If she wasn’t here, then where could she be?

Wait…could she be underground? If she wasn't, how could the Find My Device app be incorrect? I decided to do another search to see if I could locate any potential entrances. 

The sun was already setting and I kind of wanted to call it a day. There wasn't anybody nearby. Still, I had to find her. Something could’ve happened to her. As I approached a corner, there was a dimly lit staircase that led underground.

“Wait, that wasn’t here a minute ago,” I muttered. 

It seemed super suspicious, but I had no choice but to go underneath the ground. It was probably not the best choice, but I swallowed my fears and bravely went down the stairs. No, just kidding. I went down the stairs like a complete coward. Every little sound made me jump.

As I approached the bottom level, there was another dimly lit passageway that led forward, giving off ancient vibes. The walls were made of Egyptian bricks, light and yellow. Barely lit torches hung from the sides. Very creepy. At this point, there’s only one person on my mind who could’ve done this. 

I gathered all my courage and strode down the path. Not long after I started to walk, I accidentally triggered a trap. My foot accidentally hit a stone that was on a sensor. The ceiling above me began to rumble. A big boulder fell behind me, blocking my path of escape.

“What the heck!!” I shouted, scared to death.

At first, tiny rocks fell from the ceiling. That’s when I knew the ceiling was going to collapse. Adrenaline kicked in, and I decided to sprint through the falling ceiling since there was no other way. Boom! A rock almost crashed into me, but I managed to sidestep it. Ignoring my lungs and legs yelling at me to stop, I continued running. A sharp rock hit my left hand.

“Ow!” I exclaimed.

 The rock threw me off my balance. I was tempted to stop, but if I did, I’d most likely die.

 I noticed an area with the ceiling above it being metal. That must’ve been the safe zone. 

“Go! Go! Go!!!” I shouted, trying to tell my body to shut up and stop complaining.

As I approached the area, bigger chunks of rocks started to fall behind me. If I ever get clipped in the head by one of those rocks, I’m dead. I dived for the area and barely made it.

I rolled to the floor and laid flat on my back. 

“Oh my goddess,” I gasped, in between my breaths. 

I glanced at where I had just run through. The rest of the ceiling collapsed behind me, and it was as if I approached a dead end. Except for the way to the dead-end goes even deeper into the ground.

“I’m so dead,” I gasped, sitting up. 

What kind of situation did I get myself in? I checked my phone and just as I predicted, there was no cellular service. After catching my breath, I stood up and assessed the situation. My left hand was bleeding from being hit by a rock earlier, I didn't have much food and water, and the passage continued in front of me. 

I shook my head and decided to trudge forward since there wasn’t that much to do left. I don’t expect that much could be in front of me; it probably just leads to a dead end. Then I’m dead.

Yet for some reason, the tunnel seemed to get brighter and brighter. At the end of the tunnel, instead of a dead-end, was a bedroom.

I squinted my eyes. What the heck is going on? I must be hallucinating. A bedroom at the end of an underground tunnel? That is the most absurd thing in the world. 

“This has to be an absurd dream,” I said, out loud, unable to believe what was happening right now.

I shook my head and decided to scavenge the bedroom because I didn’t have many options left. The light brown dusty cabinets stood on the sides of the walls. The room wasn’t that big; it was the size of the average bedroom. In between the cabinets was a bed with white sheets. Wait… there’s a lump in the bed. Is there somebody lying in there? I carefully approached the bed, and with a quick swipe, threw off the bed sheet. 

Eunkyung laid there, seemingly asleep. She wore a light blue t-shirt and dark blue jeans. She also had a light gray handbag sitting beside her.

I gently pushed on her shoulder, attempting to wake her up. She rolled over on the bed onto her back and rubbed her eyes.

“Eunkyung, what are you doing here?” I asked her, believing that she woke up.

She sat up quickly on the bed and saw me. Her confused expression told me that she had no idea what happened either. Her eyes paced around the room, trying to get a sense of where she was.

“I’ve got no clue,” she muttered. 

I was tempted to ask more questions, but they can wait. Plus, I was getting freaked out by the spider webs that were laying all around the room.

“Well, since this place is so creepy, we should probably start looking for a way out. I came in here through a tunnel, but I triggered something and made the entrance collapse behind me.”

She nodded, but it was still pretty clear she had no idea what was going on.

“Wait Youngjae, you’re bleeding,” she exclaimed.

I turned over my hand and glanced at my wound.

“Yeah, I already know that, but I can’t really do much about it.”

“No, not just your hand. Your left temple is also bleeding too.”

I felt around my left temple. Sticky liquid. I took a look at my red, now stained with a red liquid.

“Oh crap, I am bleeding there,” I muttered, getting a bit worried about myself. 

“Sit down,” Eunkyung ordered, gesturing towards the bed.

I walked to the bed. It was pretty dusty, so I’m not sure sitting on it was a good idea. Still, I ignored my fear of dust and sat down. The cushion immediately went down, surprising me with how soft it was. 

Eunkyung dug in her handbag and pulled out a light purple box the size of a pencil box.

“What’s in that,” I asked, curiously trying to find out what was in it.

“My emergency first-aid kit that I carry around with me,” she replied while fumbling to open the box.

She took out a bandage about the size of half my hand. 

“Is my wound that bad?” I asked. 

If my wound was that big, it was probably also pretty deep. Even worse, it’s on my head. That’s probably the worst part of it.

“No, the bandage is just big because that’s the type of bandage that I have left. I need to refill my first aid kit because a lot of what I had was already used.”

She opened the bandage.

“Sit still and try not to move.”

She kneeled next to me and stared at my wound for a bit. Her hand gently brushed my hair away from my left temple. I resisted the urge to smile because if I did, I’d probably look like a complete dork. 

She put the bandage on my head.

“There, that should help it not get infected. I can treat it more thoroughly once we get back.”

She turned around and shoved everything back into her handbag. 

“Well, now that’s taken cared of, the next question is, how do we get out of this place?” I asked.

Eunkyung zipped up her bag and faced me. 

“I have no clue so don’t ask me. I woke up in this strange room, with no memories of how I got here. All I remember is that night, I went out to run some errands but I got thirsty. I stopped by a store that offered coffee and after I drank that drink, I don’t remember anything about it.”

“After you drank the drink, you don’t remember anything?” I asked, confused by how a drink could just make you ‘lose’ your memories.

“Yup, that’s all I can remember,” she said.

Her tone and facial expression made it pretty clear that she wasn’t lying. Losing your memories and a drink… What do those two have in common? Something crossed my mind.

“You know, what you're saying right now is pretty similar to people who were drunk.”

“Drunk? How? It’s not like I was drinking any alcohol or anything,” she said, in thought. Her eyes widened.

“You don’t think somebody snuck something into my drink or something?”

“That’s kind of…” I stammered, trying to think of a word. “That’s kind of messed up.”

“Well, now that I think about it, I do remember someone constantly staring at me. At first, I thought he was a stalker. It creeped me out a little bit. After I got my drink, he looked away and pretended to be doing his own thing. It was as if he was waiting for me to drink.”

She shivered at the thought.

“Let’s discuss this later okay? Right now, let’s just think of a way out of here,” I suggested.

Eunkyung glanced around the room and saw the corridor I came down in pointing at the direction the feet of the bed was.

Her eyes widened.

“Wait… that wasn’t the direction I was brought in here. I remember a little bit of what happened. When I was brought in here, I entered the room through a passage that the head of the bed pointed to.”

“You were brought in here?” I asked, coming to realize the pieces of the puzzles were fitting together; in the same direction of my worst fears.

She nodded. “I was brought in here by…brought in here by…” She struggled to finish her sentence. Her face paled.

“Please don’t say BHK,” I begged.

“By BHK,” she finished, realizing the actual situation herself.