I must admit, having a room all to yourself after spending years of being a renegade on the run is a refreshing change of pace. Time goes by and life goes on, but every now and then you've just got to sit back and take a deep breath. After all, human people aren't built to run for more than a couple of minutes; 8 years really takes a toll on a body.

You've got to hand it to these Kentuckians; these bastards and their southern hospitality knows no bounds. They gave me a cozy room next to the tavern, and every time I ask nice one of the bar masters brings me a tall glass of bourbon—God bless Father Elijah Craig and his sweet liquid gold. There’s even a beautiful view out of my window directly into the courtyard where the gallows stand, with the cemetery waiting placidly just beyond. Bardstown is a pretty little town, but it definitely isn't the last one I ever wanted to see in this life. Maybe Jesse—my accomplice and great teacher—will come over from his special room in Talbott Inn and have a drink with me at some point tonight. We'd split ways some years back, but even still he was still one of my best friends. He doesn't often come into town anymore on account of being so well known, but I guess he decided to make an exception. Everyone from here to Louisville loves him anyhow, so I doubt any of the laws around will make a move for him. Hell, even when I was still one of them years and years before he was kin to everyone. I do suspect the sheriff may feel some sort of way for me and that's why I'm being allowed visitors and being treated all nice like, but who really knows? The current sheriff I mean, not the one I shot.

I suppose I've got some time to talk since you're here and all, so I should probably introduce myself. I've done it for several other people today; you wouldn't believe the sheer amounts of folks pouring in to meet me today. It'd be rude of me to let all y'all hear my story while remaining completely anonymous throughout, wouldn't it? My name is Minhyuk Lee, but to most of these people who know me I'm Minnie. I've always hated that nickname myself, but it was a gift from Jesse himself and I feel I ought to wear it proudly nonetheless.

I was born in 1856 in a little town called Hodgenville, just about 25 miles from here in Bardstown. LaRue County is right up against Nelson County, so I guess in technical terms Hodgenville and Bardstown would be considered neighbors of some sort. Now I was raised Christian, so I don't really believe in all the star stuff, but I'm told I'm a Scorpio? I like fast horses, pretty boys who like to undress more than they like to talk, and I like my Mama. Mama and Daddy were immigrants, coming from Korea to escape the grasping fingers of the Meiji invaders. They came through California, and worked their way east on the railroads until they finally came to rest in the little stagecoach town of Elizabethtown. A man there offered them a claim of land in the next county over, and that's how they came to be in Hodgenville. They established themselves a little laundry, and with a handful of cows and a small flock of chickens they managed to make themselves a good little living. Daddy died just a few years after I was born in the cholera epidemic, so it was just Mama and me for most of my life.

But you don't really want to hear this David Copperfield though, do you? That isn't what you came to hear. No, you're here to hear how I came to be here in the jailhouse, waiting for my turn to be fitted for a rope necklace. Let me tell it to you the right way.