“Alright, Nayeon, if there’s anything you need, like food, toilet paper—anything—feel free to use the card and get it delivered,” Mr. Choi says as he throws on his dusty-brown jacket. “The girls love fast food, especially during sleepovers, so they might ask to get it DoorDashed. Don’t hesitate! Also, don’t forget that Yerim gets hot very easily at night. Her room’s air vents don’t work, so we recently bought ice packs for her; they’re in the freezer.”

Nayeon stares at the credit card, then looks up at Yerim’s father. “Yessir! I remember everything from the other times I’ve babysat, including her allergies so…no need to give me the list of them again.”

He looks relieved as he shoves said list back into his pants. “Okay. Okay. Good. This is why you’re the best!” He zips up his jacket and looks at himself in the reflection of the nearest picture frame, combing his graying hair with his fingers. “Do I…look good?” He sounds insecure, so Nayeon feels compelled to answer, whether the question was actually directed at her or not.

“You look great, Mr. C. Don’t worry too much about it. After months of not dating, it’s normal to be extra nervous.” She straightens his collar and steps back, giving him a once-over. With a charming smile, a good sense of style, and pushed-back cuticles, Mr. Choi is the DILF of any person’s dreams. “Good luck!”

He thanks her and nervously shuffles to the door, but stops before opening it. “Oh, and Nayeon?”

“Yes, sir?”

“You know that’s not the only reason I’m nervous. Please, please don’t let them out. I love Yerim, and of course her friends, so much. I would hate myself if…if something…”

The deeply pained expression breaks Nayeon’s heart. “You have nothing to worry about. I’ve stayed on top of the news. The Seoul Slasher won’t get anywhere near these girls, and I will throw myself in the way if needed. Don’t feel guilty for going on a date. You deserve it. Life shouldn’t stop because of a fearmonger.”

Mr. Choi hesitates only one more time, but hides it well with a smile. “Gotta keep living, right? I’ll get going then, I suppose. My date is in thirty minutes. I’ll be back by 12, hopefully. I know that’s late—“

“—No worries! I love your daughter, and all of her friends, so it’s not a problem at all.” Nayeon has been Yerim’s babysitter since the kid was a grade schooler, and has taken care of her friends Hyeju and Yeojin plenty of times; they’re all practically her children at this point.

Mr. Choi looks like he’s about to cry. “Thank you again, Nayeon.” In a final demonstration of how much he trusts the girl, he steps out of the door, into his car and leaves.

Nayeon exhales once his car is out of sight, but feels no stress exit her body. It’s a big responsibility, what she’s doing—babysitting these kids when there’s a serial killer on the loose is a promise to place her own life second. Or fourth, in this case.

But…no biggie, right? What are the chances that out of the millions of people that live in Seoul, the Choi house will be targeted next by the Seoul Slasher?

Despite that thought, Nayeon gets to locking all doors and windows. She checks the garage door, the basement, and the bathroom windows too. Not a single opening to the outside escapes Nayeon’s scrutiny.

 

//

 

“Alright,” Nayeon puts a lock of black hair behind her ear and claps to get the girls’ attention again. “Now, from the top!”

“Make it drop! That’s some w—“

“—Yerim…” Nayeon interrupts, raising an unimpressed eyebrow. “This is serious.”

Yerim, daughter of Mr. Choi, embodiment of sunshine, throws herself onto the couch and cringes. “Yeah. Sorry. It’s a habit at this point.”

Nayeon’s frown softens and she snorts. “I know. Song’s good, right? But remember, girls. This is for your safety. These are the three signs the Seoul Slasher has targeted you! If you notice them, call for help or something!”

Hyeju, Yerim’s best friend and other half, raises a hand. “What was the last one again?”

“Let’s go over all of them, actually.” Nayeon raises a finger. “One! The lights flicker or go out!”

“Power outage!” Yeojin, the smallest in the room but the one with the biggest heart, shouts from the top of her little lungs.

“Where there is no light, there is no safety. The Slasher likes to mess with their victims, instill fear in their hearts, make them stop thinking rationally. Don’t let it get to you. Two! Someone knocks on your door but no one's there!”

“Mysterious knocker!”

“It’s to make them feel unsafe in their own homes! What’s worse than your sanctuary turning into a cage? And three! You get a call from an anonymous number, but there’s no sound on the other side!”

“Mysterious caller!” All of the girls shout together.

“This final step is crucial. It’s to finally break them. It’s the Seoul Slasher’s way of saying ‘I know your number, and therefore I know about you...’ Awesome job, girls.” Nayeon gives the three middle schoolers high fives. She knows it to have to do these reminders all the time, but if adults can hammer this into kids’ brains and make them remember the three signs, it might be the key to them surviving another day.

“So, can you explain something to me?” Yeojin jumps off the couch and wraps her arms around Nayeon’s waist. She scrunches her nose in that typical Yeojin way, using it to hide the fact that she’s nervous. “What do we do if the Slasher enters the house? Like, yeah we know the signs, but how do we fight them off?”

Nayeon laughs and pulls the noodle arms off herself. “They won’t come inside this house, Yeojinnie. I’ve made sure of it.”

“But what if they do?” Hyeju leans forward in her seat on the couch. She looks scared, which marks this as the first time Nayeon’s ever seen her this way. She’s the calm and cool one of the trio, after all.

“I…don’t know.” The truth in Nayeon’s tone stuns the girl, who slowly sits back, eyes wide open. Nayeon presses her fingernails into her palm, guilt filling her stomach. “I don’t know, but, if the Seoul Slasher showed up, I’d do everything I could to make sure you three are okay.”

For now, it seems like the answer is satisfactory—Hyeju’s shoulders slump. Yerim tugs her friend into her arms and squeezes her.

“Let’s not scare ourselves! There’s no way the Slasher’s coming here! Let’s just enjoy the sleepover, Hyeju. Please?” Yerim’s big eyes are irresistibly large as she silently begs Hyeju to stop talking about the Slasher.

“I know! We’ll forget everything once we put on a movie!” Yeojin runs to her backpack and pulls out a Blu-ray case. “I wanna watch Boss Baby!”

“Yeojin,” Hyeju says as she lays her head on Yerim’s chest, “we’ve watched Boss Baby three times already. Just let it go…”

As the three friends try to find something else to watch for their slumber party, Nayeon chuckles and enters the kitchen to see what food they’ll be eating. It’s 6pm, meaning it’ll be dinner time soon, and Mr. Choi, a father that enjoys cooking for his only daughter, sometimes has leftovers they can all share. This time however, the fridge is bare save for a few things that, alone, aren’t good enough to eat and Nayeon is not setting another kitchen on fire.

She checks the freezer for Yerim’s ice packs now that she’s there and makes a mental note to remind Yerim to take one before going to bed.

“Okay, guys!” Nayeon pauses and waits for them to stop squabbling. “There’s no food in the fridge. Looks like we’ll order something today.”

She hears three sets of whoops and rolls her eyes lightheartedly. She steps back into the living room and holds up her phone. “So! What are we DoorDashing?”

 

//

 

She tried to fight it, but in the end, it was three against one in favor of getting McDonald’s. The girls stubbornly refused healthier alternatives, so now Nayeon is sitting at the window, waiting for their Dasher to arrive.

It’s already pretty dark out, especially since it’s autumn, so it’s hard to see anything through the glass, really, as everything is bathed in blues, purples and the darkest shades of black.

Nayeon hears the Boss Baby intro blasting upstairs in Yerim’s room and smiles. Looks like Yeojin won again.

She yawns, checks the time, and huffs. The Dasher said they’d arrive soon five minutes ago, but not a single car has so much as driven past this street.

Nayeon’s stomach rumbles, and she rises from her seat to check the fridge one more time. Maybe she can munch on a carrot and curb the hunger for a while.

She hums to herself as she opens the fridge, and upon seeing nothing good, checks the cupboards and pantry.

“Not one thing, huh?” Nayeon mutters under her breath after seeing that there isn’t really anything at all. “Well, it is Friday. Guess Mr. C goes shopping during the weekends.”

From the kitchen window, Nayeon sees a car stop at the house’s drive.

“Finally. Jeez.” She stomps over to the door and waits for the doorbell to ring. She’s no dummy; she’s taking no chances by stepping out at this hour.

After about a minute, no doorbell rings. She checks her phone, just as a message from her Dasher arrives.

 

Hi, this is DoorDash connecting you to your Dasher for updates about your order.

Hello this is Kim Seungmin your order is here

 

“Cool,” Nayeon mutters, “now bring it over.”

Another minute passes, and Nayeon starts feeling sweat at her hairline. Shakily, she begins to type.

 

Hey! Everything okay? You can come to the door and give it to me there.

 

Finally, she hears a door slam shut. Nayeon relaxes, and poises herself to open the door the moment the doorbell rings.

When Nayeon expects the soft ding-dong, the lights flicker once.

She expected the doorbell, so this spooks her and she yelps. She hears screams from upstairs and feels her heart drop as she sprints up the steps and into the room where her girls are.

“Is everyone okay?” she asks, wrapping the girls into her arms.

“We’re okay! We just saw the lights flicker and—and got scared!” Yeojin buries her face into Nayeon’s shoulder.

“Hey, heyyyy. It’s okay. I think it was just a fluke. Lights don’t only flicker because of the Seoul Slasher, ya know?” Nayeon comforts the girls as she receives another text. They all watch as Nayeon reads it.

 

I have your order.

 

Nayeon looks up from the phone when the doorbell rings.

“Don’t get it,” Yeojin says as she grabs Nayeon’s arm. “That’s two signs! It’s the Slasher! They’ll kill you!”

“I know who it is, Yeojin. It’s just our food.”

“You should still be careful, though! The lights flickering and the doorbell shouldn’t be ignored.”

Nayeon bites her lip. She doesn’t want to do anything stupid, because Yeojin could absolutely be right. It could be the killer…but her reasoning reminds her it could also be the Dasher—just a regular underpaid worker who wants to hurry up and get started with the next order.

“Okay. Yerim.” Nayeon takes a deep breath and faces the girl in question. “Y-your baseball phase..?”

Yerim’s big eyes get bigger. “What about it?”

“Do you still have your baseball bat?”

Yerim yelps when she realizes what Nayeon is trying to say, hops to her feet and rummages through her closet. She comes back with a steel bat and hands it to her babysitter.

“Thank you. Stay here.” Nayeon rises to her feet and grips the baseball bat tightly. She takes a few practice swings, mostly to soothe her nerves, but if she’s being completely honest, she’s afraid of having to use it. She’s not the strongest out there, so any damage she could make would be minimal… “As soon as I walk out, lock your bedroom door. Please.”

Hyeju is the only one that nods solemnly, and she salutes her before Nayeon turns around and walks out of Yerim’s room. She carefully treads down the stairs, which are right in front of the front door. Using the windows beside the door, she sees no one outside, but this alone doesn’t mean she’s safe.

She presses her back to the door and takes a deep, long breath, then opens the door, with the chain lock still on, and peeks, but not a soul is in sight. She can feel every hair in her body rise in fear as she closes the door, removes the chain lock, and opens the door again. She peeks her head out slowly, careful to watch the walls on either side of the door, in case someone is hiding there.

But no one is. Why ring the doorbell, then?

Beyond the Choi’s front lawn is a beat up red car parked on the road, headlights yellow and bright. Nayeon raises the bat as she approaches the vehicle, turning left and right to make sure she doesn’t get ambushed.

She reaches the car’s passenger side window safe and sound and peeks inside. No one is there, but the driver’s door is open. She’s about to approach the driver’s side when someone pops out. The headlights are behind this new person, so Nayeon can barely see their face…

“Are you Seungmin, my Dasher?” she asks, trying hard to see who this person is.

The person ignores her question with one of their own. “Are you…Mr. Minho Choi?”

Nayeon sees the giant McDonald’s bag in their hand and relaxes completely. “Technically. Thank you!” She snatches the bag and runs into the house, locking the door before the Dasher can react.

Nayeon runs to the kitchen before double checking that all of the downstairs windows are fully shut; that whole interaction gave her weird vibes and she needs to double check anyway.

Once sure that everything is okay, she stands at the bottom of the stairs and calls for the girls.

“Hey! I’m fine! It really was just the DoorDash person! Come get your food!”

In no less than ten seconds, Nayeon hears rumbling from upstairs and the sound of an unlocking door, then another rumble as three sets of footsteps rush down the stairs.

“Nayeon! You’re okay!” Yeojin shrieks and runs into her arms.

“I knew she’d be okay…”

“Okay, Hyeju, you were the most nervous out of all of us,” Yerim teases as she grabs her Happy Meal. “Look, Nayeonnie. She got so scared all of the hair on her head stood straight up!”

Hyeju whines as she throws her hood on and grumbles about Yeojin messing up her hair.

“Were you scared?” Yeojin asks Nayeon as she stuffs with four whole nuggets. “I really thought you were going to die, I was already crying for you. Look! Look at my tear stains!”

Nayeon picks up her burger but answers Yeojin before taking a bite. “Of course! I was terrified. That’s why I took the bat.”

“Well, I knew you weren’t going to die. You’re not dumb.” Hyeju drowns all of her chicken nuggets in ketchup. “One whack to the head with Yerim’s steel bat and any person would get knocked out.”

“I’m glad you believed in me,” Nayeon says through a chuckle.

At that moment, the lights in the house all flicker briefly and then turn off completely.

Nayeon jumps out of her seat and runs to the girls, wrapping them all up in a hug. The poor girls are all shivering in terror. She looks behind her at the windows, which have no blinds, but no one is to be seen.

Yeojin was onto something earlier. This is already two signs of three that they’ve been targeted.

“I should check that,” Nayeon whispers into their ears. It’s the last thing she wants to do, go outside and risk her life, but she made a promise.

“No, Nayeonnie,” Yerim almost cries. Even in the dark Nayeon can see that her face is red, and her eyes are b with tears. “Don’t gooo…”

“I have to, Yerimie.” Nayeon can’t keep these girls in the dark when they’re all already on edge. With light comes the feeling of safety, and that’s all she wants for them.

“Can you at least let me give you something before you go?” Without waiting for an answer, Yerim carefully makes her way to a nearby closet, and comes back with two white devices, both about the size of a polaroid camera. Yerim twiddles her thumbs after handing one to Nayeon. “My old baby monitor set. They’re two way, so we can use them like walkie-talkies. The breaker box is outside, so, you know… We can keep talking like this.”

“Thank you, Yerim. Let’s…eat quickly, and then I’ll check the breaker box, okay?” Nayeon sees three heads nod simultaneously.

 

//

 

Nayeon deeply regrets this idea, and she’s barely out of the front porch.

She scans the ground with her phone light as she begins to wade through crunchy leaves, the way to the breaker box not yet raked by Mr. Choi. In her other hand is the baseball bat, not really ready to strike, but it calms her to have it nonetheless. The baby monitor clipped to her belt is silent, just like she asked.

Don’t use it unless I start, she’d told the girls. I’ll tell you when I get to the box, when I’m done fixing it, and when I’m inside.

She makes it to the box safely. Placing the bat against the wall, Nayeon uses her free hand to open it. She’s no electrician, but they’re labeled clearly enough for her to more or less figure out how to fix it.

“Hey, I’m here,” Nayeon announces after making sure she’s still alone. She keeps her voice low.

“What do you see?” That’s Yeojin’s voice, barely above a whisper as well.

“No...” Nayeon gives the box a good look before answering. “Every single switch is on the OFF position. Oh god. Even the main one. That’s...”

There’s a whimpering on the other side. Hyeju speaks up first. “D-do you think someone did this is purpose?”

Nayeon tries her hardest to stop the tremors that are climbing up her body. “I-it’s unlikely that every single switch flipped by itself.” She continues, and hopes there’s no shake in her voice. “We should call your dad, Yerim. Let me go inside and I’ll tell him to come home.”

“Okay. Be careful!” The transmission becomes silent once more, and Nayeon wishes it wasn’t. Hearing the girls made it easier to bear the fact that she’s outside in the dark, alone, exposed, with someone clearly watching and trying to scare them.

She flips all of the switches back on, hoping it doesn’t cause some kind of surge. There’s a lightbulb above her and it flickers on; it stays like that, so she assumes this means everything is okay. Nayeon closes the box, picks up the bat and starts running along the house’s exterior walls to get back inside, but stops short.

She didn’t notice earlier, but the DoorDash car is still there…

Nayeon glances at the house, wondering if maybe she should just go in, but she needs to know why the Dasher hasn’t left yet. She raises the bat over her shoulder and slowly advances. Again, no one is in the car, so Nayeon heads to the driver’s side.

The driver’s door is open. Nayeon steps fully around the corner of the car and sees that, on the ground, below the door, is a body with a pool of blood around it. Nayeon claps a hand over to stop from screaming. This isn’t at all the person she met earlier, with the McDonald’s order.

Against all of the blaring alarms going off in her head, she kneels and searches the body. She finds a wallet, and in it is a driver’s license that belongs to…

Nayeon drops the ID.

“S-Seungmin…” she stutters out.

She spins around, sensing something is behind her, but nothing is. It’s just an empty street.

Nayeon runs back to the house, locking the door behind her once she’s inside.

What the was that? Was that really a dead body? If that person was the actual Dasher, then…then who was—?

Whoever it was that gave her the DoorDash order, Nayeon has to call for help now. This is beyond her now, and deluding herself into thinking she can take care of these girls by herself will be their death sentence.

She’s debating on whether to call Mr. Choi first or if it was time to involve the police when her phone rings.

It’s an anonymous number.

“No… no. This can’t be happening.” She declines the call and rushes to find the phone app, but another call enters. It’s anonymous again.

“No! you!” She hangs up again and calls the police immediately. There’s a beep as she waits for an answer, and she knows; the anonymous number is trying to reach her again, but is being put on hold as she calls the cops.

“Hello? What’s your emergency?”

“Hey! I th-think the Slasher is here at the house I’m babysitting at. Send help quickly! I’m at…at…” No! She forgot the address! “God, hold on… Geez, it’s uh—“

She’s too nervous to remember the address. “Hold on, please. Please don’t hang up, let me find the address.” Nayeon holds the baby monitor up to her lips.

“Yerim! What’s your address? I’m calling the police!”

Silence. No one, not even Yerim’s friends, pick up the monitor.

“Yerim! Yeojin! Hyeju?” Nayeon starts speedwalking to the stairs, deciding to check on them.

When she’s halfway up, the baby monitor crackles to life. Nayeon freezes in her tracks.

“Y-Yeojin? Hello?” Nayeon listens intently for an answer, but all she hears is static. In an instant, there’s a chill that runs down her back and legs, and Nayeon can hear her heartbeat drumming in her ears.

“H-hello?” She tries once more, and this time she gets an answer.

A low, raspy voice chuckles and says,

“Someone left their bedroom window open.”

Nayeon feels sick as she finishes dashing up the stairs and down the hallway toward Yerim’s room. The lights are off, and there’s no screaming, so she’s feeling hopeful, because after all, she locked all the windows, even the ones upstairs, the moment Mr. Choi left, so there’s no way that someone scaled up the walls of the house and entered a window that was locked from the inside.

She bursts into the room, expecting to maybe see the girls peacefully asleep, the only possible explanation why none of them would answer her.

Instead her eyes strain in the dark to see all three girls against the wall, whimpering in each other’s arms as an indistinguishable figure stalks toward them. The stranger spins around when they hear Nayeon enter the room, however, and immediately goes to attack her. In their hand is a sharp knife.

The Slasher swings down, aiming for Nayeon’s shoulder, but somehow Nayeon is quicker and she moves away as the knife slices empty air.

Now behind the Slasher, Nayeon raises the bat and desperately swings as hard as she can. She strikes true and the Slasher falls onto their stomach.

“Don’t talk! Just move!” Nayeon grabs all of the girls and pushes them out of the room while the Slasher is still down.

“Yerim, the police are on the call, tell them where we are, and then run to Hyeju’s house,” Nayeon orders urgently as she shoves her phone into the little girl’s hands. Hyeju only lives one block away, and they’ll be safer the brief moments they’ll spend on the streets than in this defiled home.

Yeojin tugs her two best friends down the stairs before either of the older girls can protest. Nayeon watches them run to the kitchen, turns on the hallway lights, then staggers back toward the serial killer.

The dark figure refuses to step into the light, deciding instead to make a break for the open window, but they’re hurt, and their sprinting is much slower than Nayeon’s, so she catches up easily and tackles the figure to the ground. It’s too late when she realizes she dropped the bat sometime between batting the Slasher and now, and the Slasher notices too, because they struggle onto their back and start wildly stabbing at her.

Only two of those stabs are successful, getting Nayeon on her right shoulder, but they’re both so shallow that Nayeon can power through them. She grips the Slasher’s wrists firmly, but it’s time to admit it: The Slasher is much bigger than Nayeon, and might soon easily overpower her, even in their sorry state, if she doesn’t think of something to do. She can’t let go of their wrists to wrestle the knife out of their hand—that would give the Slasher a chance to grab her any way they can, and she can’t risk that. She’s in a compromising position now, and she’s destined to lose no matter what.

Or so she thought.

She should have known that kids will be rebellious in any situation, including this one, as across her vision a steel bat swings down forcefully onto the head of the Slasher. Nayeon looks up and sees the batter is Yerim, who grabs Nayeon by the collar and drags her up.

“I told you to go to Hyeju’s house!”

“I saved your life! You’re welcome!” Yerim shouts as she raises the bat and gets into position, in case the swing to the face wasn’t enough to keep the Slasher down.

“How did they get in here?” Nayeon was sure that she checked Yerim’s windows too. It’s impossible that she overlooked such an important room.

Yerim frowns, keeping her eyes on the figure on the floor. “I-it was me, I got sweaty as you went to check on the breaker box, s-so…” Her voice cracks. Nayeon straightens as it hits her, not needing Yerim to finish her thoughts. Yerim’s room gets hot, but it’s the autumn season, when you can crack open a window and enjoy a cool breeze.

“Oh, Yerim, I’m so sorry. I forgot to tell you that your dad got you—“

The Slasher stirs on the floor.

“Later. I’ll tell you later.” Nayeon puts her hand on Yerim’s chest and walks backward, keeping a close eye on the serial killer. “Yerim, you did tell the police your address, right?”

“Hyeju did… I don’t think they believed her—something about it being a prank, but they said they’re coming anyway.” Yerim’s voice is now higher pitched, and she sounds ready to cry. Nayeon wants to hold her, tell her that she was so brave for coming back and for saving her life, but it’s not the time.

“Yerimie, give me the bat and go. I’d die if something happened to you.”

“I’d die if something happened to you,” Yerim asserts, but gives her the bat anyway. She doesn’t move an inch after that, though.

“Yerim! Your dad entrusted you to me! Please!” Nayeon commands, gets into batting position just like Yerim did. If the killer tries to lunge at her or out of the window, she’ll be ready. “Go!”

From the corner of her eye, she sees Yerim hesitantly leave. She hears pounding down the stairs, and the sound of the front door slamming.

Good. They’re alone now.

A trickle of sweat glides down Nayeon’s face despite the chilly air coming in from the open window. She’s got the Seoul Slasher cornered, and she needs to keep them like that until the police arrive. She’s terrified out of her mind. Can she do this? Is this the last day of her life? Why her? Why this house of all places?

“Using DoorDash to disguise yourself,” she sniffles. “You’re so sick. I’m just a ing babysitter. I don’t know what I did to make you think I deserve this.”

The Slasher says nothing, choosing to instead hold their nose as it bleeds profusely. It’s probably for the best, as Nayeon suddenly feels stupid for talking to a serial killer.

The sound of police sirens slowly fades in, and Nayeon’s heart leaps into . She’s won!

The Slasher flinches and shakily rises to their feet in a final attempt to escape but they stumble forward. Yerim is no joke when it comes to batting; the damage is far too great for the Slasher to regain full control of their body. Nayeon poises herself for a swing.

The Slasher trips and falls on their stomach in the middle of the room, near Yerim’s bed. Just in case, Nayeon bats the killer’s back again, just enough to knock the wind out of them. The knife falls out of their hand, too.

The knife! She’d completely forgotten to grab it earlier, which could have been a grave mistake. Nayeon reaches for it now, but quick as lightning, the Seoul Slasher reaches behind and pulls Nayeon down by her blouse, making her lose her balance. She trips over the Slasher and bangs her head on the floor.

The entire room spins. Nayeon can’t remember anything for a moment, and only sees blue spots wherever she looks, but then she’s pulled up by her hair and it all becomes clear again.

There’s labored breathing in her ear, and she’s vaguely aware of droplets of warm blood on her collarbone. “If I die today, you’ll be my last victim,” the voice rasps, and Nayeon feels the knife press against her neck. It penetrates and glides across . She reaches up and grabs at the Slasher, but they have such a tight grip on her that nothing she does elicits a reaction. Beyond shaking in fear, Nayeon can’t really move at all anyway. If she thrashes around, she’ll only make things worse for herself. Her eyes flit wildly in every direction, looking for anything that can save her in this moment.

And she sees it.

Yeojin is silently climbing through the window, Hyeju right behind her. Both look terrified but determined, and they don’t make a sound as they enter; not a single floorboard betrays their presence.

They motion for her to stay quiet, and Nayeon does, but the sight of her girls must have calmed her enough for the Slasher to take notice.

“What—“

The Slasher doesn’t finish their sentence as the sound of vibrating steel fills the room. The heavy body slumps over Nayeon.

“Nayeon, we’re so sorry,” Yeojin cries as she rolls the Slasher off of her. “We know you said to leave but we couldn’t. We just couldn’t!”

Red and blue lights flash on the walls of Yerim’s room as the police and ambulance arrive.

Hyeju drops the bloodied bat and falls to her knees next to Nayeon. “We’re so sorry,” Hyeju whispers, too tired from scaling the wall and hitting the Slasher to speak any louder than that. “We’re so sorry.”

Nayeon doesn’t answer and searches for the knife, then sinks it into the Slasher’s leg just for good measure, but The Slasher makes no sound and does not move.

She moves her shaky hands to ; it’s not a waterfall of blood, but enough of it drips out through the cracks between her fingers for her to worry about blood loss.

“Ah! Hyeju! !” Yeojin runs to Yerim’s bed and grabs the first blanket she can find. Nayeon cries as Yeojin holds it up to the slice on her neck; she recognizes it as Yerim’s baby blanket, a handmade light-pink blanket that’s been in pristine condition for nearly 14 years.

Yerim runs into view, a first aid kit in her arms, and cries out when she sees Nayeon. “Oh my god!”

“‘M really s-ssorry about your blanket,” Nayeon manages to say before fearing that she’ll choke. She holds out the ruined blanket to Yerim, who pushes it back onto her neck.

“Dummy! I don’t care about the blanket!” She places Nayeon’s head on Hyeju’s lap and wipes down her neck with alcohol. All three of them get to work on Nayeon’s neck and the shallower stab wounds on her shoulder, using the blanket to apply pressure when they’re done. “I care that you’re okay.”

“Thank you.” Nayeon dares say no more.

When the police file in, they find three girls caring for their babysitter, who is wide awake, and the body of the killer they’ve been hunting for months.

 

//

 

Nayeon rings the doorbell.

As she waits for someone to get the door, she checks out her scar in the glass window. It’s pretty gnarly, meaning it’ll be noticeable, and Nayeon hates that. People already call her ‘The Seoul Slasher Slasher,’ an incredibly dumb nickname that she doesn’t deserve, so this scar is about to make things worse.

The door before her opens and Nayeon is met with a blast of Yerim’s pure smile. “Nayeonnie!! Come in!”

She’s pulled into the kitchen, where Yeojin and Hyeju are squabbling about whether to light candles on some chicken nuggets now or to wait for Nayeon.

“Do it now! They’ll look prettier like that! It’ll be memorable for her and it’ll cheer her up after getting all those stitches,” Yeojin defends, already tearing up from not getting her way.

“But then we’ll get wax on her nuggets, dummy,” Hyeju counters. “That would taste so nasty. Then they’ll really be memorable.”

“Hey! She’s here!” Yerim announces, tilting her head in Nayeon’s direction. Yeojin jumps in front of the nuggets Nayeon definitely already saw.

“You—you didn’t see anything!”

“See what?” Nayeon asks with a wink.

“Exactly!”

“So what’s this about?” Nayeon has to wonder, because she woke up to twenty missed calls from Mr. Choi’s phone, all from Yerim trying to invite her over today, and because every girl refused to tell her what they were up to.

Yeojin steps to the side, presents the chicken nuggets and does jazz hands as the other two yell “Surprise!”

“Wow! Never seen those nuggets before in my life!” Nayeon teases as she leans to look at them closely. “What are the candles for?”

Hyeju pulls out a matchstick and lights all three mismatched candles stabbed into the nuggets. “It’s to celebrate! Now blow them out quickly, or else you’ll get wax on your food.”

“Uh, I really appreciate this, girls,” Nayeon half-chuckles as she scratches her new scar, “but my birthday was last month..?”

“This isn’t for your birthday, silly,” Yeojin says as she leans forward on the counter earnestly. “It’s our way of saying thanks for saving our lives!”

Nayeon feels a wave of emotions overcome her as she looks to the other girls, who nod along to Yeojin’s words.

“We got you the most expensive thing ever!” Yerim says excitedly.

“Wooow, and where is it?” Nayeon asks, looking around for the most expensive item the group with an average age of 13 could have possibly afforded. “Are you giving it to me later?”

Hyeju frowns like the answer is obvious. “It’s the nuggets..?”

“Oh! Right!” Nayeon nods and gives them all an impressed thumbs up. “Expensive as hell. Why, this must have been half of your allowance!”

Yerim sniffles. “I’m pretty broke right now, but it’s for you, our hero! You’re the bestest, Nayeonnie!”

Nayeon blows out the candles and takes a nugget, but pushes the plate closer to all of her girls. When they’re all opening their mouths to protest, she raises a hand to stop them. “You deserve to eat these too. I get all the credit when I go out, and get called a hero for killing the Seoul Slasher, but you girls all came to my rescue in the end, and even kept me from bleeding out. You three are my heroes.”

There’s a stunned silence as the girls process that information, but Nayeon knows she’s right. Yerim batted the Slasher when they could have overpowered her; Yeojin and Hyeju kept the Slasher from doing worse damage to and finished him off. Nayeon wishes she could remove those memories from their minds; she’ll always feel guilty that the girls had to resort to violence, and that this will not be easy on them as they grow up. But Nayeon knows it’s impossible to erase that. All she can do is spend the rest of her life thanking them and being there for them.

Nayeon breaks the silence. “To us?” She raises a nugget, and watches as each of the girls grab one too.

“To us, then!”

As they chew and talk about how crazy what happened two weeks ago was, Yeojin slams her free hand down on the counter.

“Important question: can we watch Boss Baby to celebrate?”

 

---

 

spare validation? was this any good? tell me in the comments! if yes, feel free to read my other works! if not, then i guess follow me on twitter instead :D @ANTAGONISTIC <3