A couple of hours passed. Eunkyung woke up. To our surprise, she wasn’t in shock or anything. She was more just confused about what happened. 

“Is everything alright?” I asked her, glancing at her hand on her head.

“Yeah, my head just hurts a little bit,” she said, avoiding my gaze. 

I was sitting on a stool near her bed. Hwan left to get her some water upstairs. 

“How much of last night do you remember?” I asked.

“Well, I remember that we were beaten up by him, and that’s where my memory ends.”

“Hmm,” I said, processing what she said. So she fell unconscious ever since the middle of the fight. 

“Where are we?” she asked, trying to look around the bed for any clues.

“Well, a friend of mine rescued us and brought us to his house for recovery. He’s the police officer who saved me when I was shot by BHK.”

“An Hwan. That’s my name. Call me Hwan if you want,” Hwan said as he entered the room with a cup of water. 

Eunkyung glanced up at him as she accepted the cup of water from his hands. She took a big gulp of the water.

Hwan pulled up a chair next to the bed.

“Youngjae and I have already discussed. Here’s the conversation in a nutshell. I get that you guys want to stop BHK and that’s the mindset we need to stop him. However, you two stopping him isn’t that easy. Worst of all, it's very dangerous. Therefore, I’ll be participating in your guys’ hunt instead of stopping you. My duty is to protect citizens.”

Eunkyung took another sip of her water and slowly nodded. 

“I know you guys don’t want me to be your babysitter, so I’m not going to make sure every time you two go out, I’ll follow you. I trust that, if you two do anything dangerous, you’ll inform me before you guys head out. Okay?”

Eunkyung nodded. The cup of water slid from her hand, but luckily, Hwan was quick and managed to clutch it. He managed to grab the cup in midair, saving the glass and preventing a mess of water. 

“I’m sorry!” Eunkyung apologized, as she realized that she had almost dropped the water. 

“It’s fine,” Hwan said, relieved that he saved the cup. “You’re probably still just tired. You should probably get some actual sleep now. We’ll be back around later.”

I nodded. “Rest up, we’ll see you in maybe a couple more hours.”

“Alright, sorry for almost causing trouble.” She crawled back into the covers.

“I’ll be out to do my night shift, call me if anything happens,” Hwan said.

“Got it..”

He nodded, before turning around and leaving the room.

As I was about to head out, Eunkyung interrupted me.

“Youngjae, could you stay for a bit?”

I flinched, surprised by her sudden words.

“Um… sure.”

I sat on a chair beside her bed.

“You’ve ever felt you’re reliving the past, but the past was a terrible event?” she quietly said.

The time when I was slowly bleeding on the floor after being shot flashed into my mind. 

“Yeah, it sucks. Makes you think the whole event will follow all over, even though who knows if the past will actually repeat itself?”

I picked up a napkin from the tissue box nearby and fiddled with it.

“You know, it was yesterday when I felt that. ”

I glanced at her.

“Yesterday? That…must’ve sucked.”

“Reminded me of when my father died. It was awfully similar to yesterday. He was killed by BHK, you know? 6 years ago. He told me everything would be okay before dying. I came to find him almost dead. There was nothing I could do except watch while BHK killed him. He sacrificed himself for me and a bunch of strangers. That’s why I initially didn’t like heroes. ”

She went silent. 

A past, similar to mine. A happy life robbed by BHK.

“Is that why you chase BHK?”

“Yes.”

I started to tear the tissue paper in half. 

“Why do you chase BHK?” Eunkyung asked.

“Let’s just say he destroyed my life as well.”

She sat up on her bed and observed my face.

“You really remind me of someone I knew younger. He looked similar to you, acted similar to you, and what happened to him was similar to you.”

I raised my eyebrow. 

“I do?” 

She nodded.

“You’re very similar.”

I glanced at her, trying to see if I could remember anything in the past about her. Although she did seem familiar, I don’t recall meeting her.

“Well, you should leave. I’m feeling tired.  My beauty sleep is important.”

She crawled back underneath her blanket.

“Alright then,” I said with a smile.

“See you in a couple of hours,” she mumbled.

“Later.”

I climbed up the stairs and laid down on my bed.

Eunkyung was reminded of her past yesterday. I was scared out of my mind. Scared of losing Eunkyung. Talking to her about her past made me realize there’s so much I don’t know about her. Like what her parents are like. Like what she does for a living. Like who I remind her of. If she died, then I’ll never be able to find out. And… I’ll lose my only chance to talk to her about my feelings. If I don’t do it now, I might not have a chance. 

You’d never have a chance. You’ll just get rejected. Then she’ll get creeped out and leave you.

Even though I couldn’t see my hands, I can tell they are trembling. Every choice leads to benefits and consequences. Is it worth chasing the benefits? Why am I such a coward? I just don’t have the guts to tell her or ask her about herself; I’m unable to think about the consequences. Is it better to leave our relationship as just friends/comrades? After the hunt is over, will we still be friends? If one day she disappears forever, will she ever know how I feel?

Questions raced through my mind as I sat in the darkness thinking. What will it look like if I confess to her one day? What will her reaction be? What should I do?

The silence was the world’s only answer, as frustrating as it may be. I sighed. I must be going delusional. Maybe I need some more sleep too. My eyelids grew heavy. Shutting my eyes, I quickly drifted off to sleep.