The first time Jung Taekwoon dreamed, he dreamt of his parents dying.

 

It was not a tragic accident such as a car collision. Rather, they had been jumped during their nightly walk around the neighborhood. His mother had sustained a crushed skull and bled out onto the concrete. His father had been stabbed twelve times in the face.

 

They never caught the killer.

 

Thus, Taekwoon had been orphaned at the little tender age of six.

 

With relatives unwilling to take him in, due to his surrounding stigma, he had landed in a caring, yet unloving orphanage.

 

 

The second time Jung Taekwoon dreamed, he dreamt of the caretaker dying.

 

When the children had awoken from their sleep, they found the old woman nailed into the dining table, a machete protruding from her stomach. The woman's daughter had ushered them into the backyard as serious men in uniforms placed a blanket over her and carried her out.

 

Taekwoon missed the old woman. Her daughter was far too strict and yelled at them about the smallest detail. She often hit Taekwoon for not talking as much as she liked.

 

Taekwoon often wished she had died instead.

 

 

The third time Jung Taekwoon dreamed, he dreamt of his friend dying.

 

In the morning, Cha Hakyeon was missing from his bed. It was speculated that he had run away, as all disobedient orphans did at that age. It was proven wrong when his bloody parts were found stuffed into a suitcase, half submerged in the local canal.

 

Taekwoon often spent his time curled up on Hakyeon's bed, missing the suffocating affection his friend often directed towards him, until a new boy was assigned to it. Thus, Taekwoon lost his last connection to Hakyeon and soon, even he drifted from his mind.

 

 

The fourth time Jung Taekwoon dreamed, he dreamt of stillness and calm.

 

When Taekwoon woke from his dream in the middle of the night, he spotted a figure next to his bed. The malicious grin it bore reminded Taekwoon of the man he had been seeing on the television recently, the one that reporters had been saying was bad. The person known to all as Lee Hongbin.

 

Taekwoon did not know how he got in.

 

Taekwoon felt as if his very soul had shrunk, as if the man standing before him could read the pages of his psyche, analyzing every passing emotion and thought that went through him.

 

It was like Hongbin could read his dreams.

 

Hongbin merely continued to smirk, that clownish smile nearly splitting his face, almost as if he was simply enjoying a game. Taekwoon watched as Hongbin leaned forward and placed a hand over his eyes, his vision going dark. High-pitched, maniacle cackling filled his ears as the switchblade went over his throat.

 

And so, Jung Taekwoon dreamt no more.