Midsummer midnight, when it’s usually lively in some places, the silence falls on the other side of Seoul city. A warm zephyr blows through the window of a room on the 12th apartment floor in Jayang-dong area of Gwangjin district. People are busy during the day as night is shorter on summer. There is only a short time to sleep at the dark peaceful night. 

Kyungsoo is sleeping on his desk. He sweats profusely that his sweats drop on the acrylic-paint stains on the desk. A paintbrush falls from his stained fingers. Kyungsoo’s eyes popeyed suddenly as he is awaken from the nightmare. His heart beats fast when he remembers the fragments of his dream. 
“Damn, I overslept.”

A painting is done beside him, lies on a medium canvas in his bed room. Kyungsoo feels exhausted as he has been awake for 40 hours without sleep to finish the painting. But still, he is not really satisfied with the result. It is too bright, Kyungsoo thinks.
A glass of water on the kitchen table solemnly refreshes his dry throat. Desperately switching some channels, Kyungsoo manages to avoid sleeping by watching some late shows on TV. He throws himself on a black-leather sofa.

Painting is something Kyungsoo loves to do. He loves how he can combine the colors on the canvas. But his most favorite is the dark colors. Unfortunately, every time he paints any dark-colored paintings he will fall asleep and have a strange nightmare. He can’t use his favorite colors like Shades of Black, Midnight Blue, Dim Gray, Dark Green, or even Deep Maroon. He is constrained to paint with pastel and light colors if he wants to avoid having a nightmare. 
Dreams usually are different in every sleep. But Kyungsoo always experiences a constant typical dark nightmares for a year. Thus, lately the nightmares come rather often, even disrupting Kyungsoo’s regular daily sleep. Sometimes it makes Kyungsoo having insomnia when he is too afraid to sleep.


In the morning, after having a refreshing shower and the paint stains on his body have been removed, Kyungsoo is going to do the laundry for his stained clothes. All of sudden, the bell is ringing and the door is knocked.
Kyungsoo receives a package on his apartment door. 
It is from his mother, when he checks the letter on it.
“Dear Kyungsoo,” as he reads the words in the letter, “How are you? Do you have enough sleep? I found something that maybe useful for you. It can help you avoid nightmares.”
Kyungsoo hastily opens the package. He sees a craft in a form of a circular timber. 

It is a wooden hoop on which is woven a loose net or web. Like a large wood ring with some strings tied like a web. It is also decorated with some feathers and beads.
Kyungsoo continues reading his mother’s letter, “This thing is a Dreamcatcher. It is believed to filter and cast out the nightmares from the dream. Hang it on the wall of your bed. I hope it will prevent you to have a nightmare.”

“So,” Kyungsoo raises his right eyebrow, “A dreamcatcher, huh? Let’s see if it can work well,” as he hangs the dreamcatcher on the wall near his bed. 
“Nice. It looks artistic for my bedroom wall.”
The heat of summer sunshine is glimmering through the window and enlightening the gloomy bed room full of arts. Paintings and handicrafts are everywhere but Kyungsoo still can feel the solitude. There is emptiness in the middle of multicolored room.

Perhaps emptiness of his forlorn heart.
 

Effectively, Kyungsoo can sleep soundly and peacefully that night. No nightmares, no sweats on bed, and no uncontrollable throbbing heart.
He has enough quality sleep that he wakes too early at 5 in the morning.
“It’s still dawn,” Kyungsoo stretches up on his bed.

Kyungsoo wakes from his bed and walks to the kitchen. He checks his refrigerator to find something edible. But when he turns back, he subsequently notices a glimpse of someone walking in his living room.
“W-who? Who’s that?” asked Kyungsoo in the middle of silent dawn.
Goosebumps chill his back. There should not be anyone here beside himself, Kyungsoo thinks.

He carefully opens his apartment door and looks at the hallway. There is nobody there. 
Kyungsoo closes the door and goes back to his bedroom. 
Suddenly he sees a silhouette among the shadows in his bedroom. There is a strange silvery figure of a man with a cloak and a white mask on his face.
“Whoa! H-how can you come in? Who are you?” Kyungsoo shrieks.

Soon when Kyungsoo approaches the mysterious man, he vanishes as the sun rises.
Kyungsoo feels eerie. He is shaking and everything looks dark then he loses his consciousness.
 

Kyungsoo wakes on his bed. The clock on the wall shows it’s 7 in the morning.
“Am I dreaming? I thought I have been awaken at 5.”
Confused, he thinks he has been dreaming.
 

It has been a week since Kyungsoo uses the dreamcatcher, he never has a nightmare anymore. Even now he can paint using some dark colors. However, he is still wondering the mysterious silvery figure with a mask that he saw last week. 
One night, when Kyungsoo is half asleep and half awake, he is almost swallowed in the darkness of his dream. Sometimes Kyungsoo feels like he can’t wake from his sleep. As if something presses his chest so he can’t wake up. His eyes are half opened but his body is paralyzed. The room is almost like a hallucination when Kyungsoo sees dark mist swirls in the air. The dark mist flows and into something, a figure of a man, the mysterious man with a mask on his face. Kyungsoo feels hard to breathe.

It feels like forever until Kyungsoo can control his paralyzed body. Kyungsoo is awake from his sleep, but his body is still helplessly lying on the bed. He tilts his head as he stares to the silvery figure of a mysterious man that is still standing in the corner of his room. Kyungsoo manages to move his mouth. 
“H-hey... W-who are you? What are you doing here?” asked Kyungsoo.
The mysterious figure walks closer.
“I am Kai. I am a nightmare-eater,” said Kai as he pulls away the dark mist from Kyungsoo’s dream. He has strange deep voice that sounds like whispering.

Kyungsoo realizes that the dark mist is his own nightmare. As the dark mist is being pulled, the silvery figure absorbs it until nothing left. Soon after the dark mist disappears, Kyungsoo can control his body again. However, he feels like losing energy after the sleep paralysis.
“Thank you.” The corner of Kyungsoo’s lips is shaking. He is between amazed and afraid, yet he is relieved.

Looking at the silvery figure with a mask, Kyungsoo still cannot believe he is talking with the nightmare-eater. 
“You are not afraid with me?” asked Kai. 
The mysterious man keeps a distance between them. 

“Now I know that it’s you who save me from my nightmare every night,” said Kyungsoo with a low breath.
Kyungsoo is still staring at the man even though his heart is throbbing and his adrenaline rushes because he can’t deny that he is a bit afraid. Despite that, he is so thankful with the mysterious existence that casts away the nightmare. He doesn’t feel he struggles the nightmare alone anymore. 
“Now go back to your sleep,” said Kai as his ethereal hands swift the air and makes Kyungsoo asleep.
 

Another night, after Kyungsoo attacked by the sleep-paralysis, he meets Kai again.
Kyungsoo is dazzled when he sees the dark mist from his nightmare is absorbed by Kai’s silvery hands. He sees a pair of beautiful misty grey eyes behind Kai’s mask.
“Are you coming from the dreamcatcher?”Kyungsoo is curious.
Kai is not answering.
“Are you a ghost? Or are you alive?” Kyungsoo is asking again.

Kai looks down to the curious Kyungsoo on the bed.
“I am the spirit of the dreamcatcher,” answered Kai.
Still curious, Kyungsoo wants to know the face behind Kai’s mask.
“Why are you eating nightmare? Why are you wearing mask?”

Kai walks closer to the corner of Kyungsoo’s bed. He has that mysterious cold face. Unexpectedly, Kai is smiling to Kyungsoo. “I was created to protect dreams. Nightmares are my energy.” 
Kyungsoo tries to touch Kai’s arm. Too late, the sun is rising and Kai vanishes into the glittering air.
 

The smell of oil paint melts with the smell of summer. The air-conditioner is turned off. The floor is messy as the paint stains are everywhere. Kyungsoo brushes another black and blue on the canvas. He doesn’t use any light colors. It’s dark on every corner of his canvas, contrasts with the summer.
“I need to meet him again. I need to have nightmares again,” muttered Kyungsoo between his focus.

Kyungsoo invites his own sorrow. He opens the darkness in his heart as he draws each dark-colored paint with his paintbrush. It is not usual that Kyungsoo wishes to have nightmare just to summon the mysterious spirit of dreamcatcher. His curiosity defeats everything. Sometimes he thinks that he is pathetic but that is how he through his life for a year. 
The presence of Kai makes Kyungsoo feels like he sees a light of hope. 

At night, the painting is done. It shows a drawing of a black hole asteroids and dead planets. Kyungsoo is very tired. The sweats and the stains are melting together on his milky skin. Kyungsoo falls asleep on the wooden floor.
He knows the nightmare is coming.
He knows he has evoked the nightmare even though he is never ready for this. 

It is such a bizarre view of a surreal city. 
Kyungsoo is running on the street, among the crowds of people. The sky is dark, the moonlight hides. Everything is red. A drop of blood falls from the sky and touches his white cheek. 
“No… Don’t… Please not again…,” Kyungsoo cringes.
The landscape is distorted. A flood of blood is coming to Kyungsoo, ready to drown him away.
Kyungsoo screams, but everyone disappears. Nobody saves him.


Kyungsoo is wide awake. His eyes are getting wider. He sees a dark mist is being pulled out from his head. A silvery man with a cloak and a mask the dark mist with his hands.
“Sad memories, unconsciously stimulate the nightmares,” said the man.

Kyungsoo tries to sit properly. He feels a bit dizzy.
“Kai,” Kyungsoo holds his own head, “you’re coming.”

When Kai has done his business with the dark mist. He approaches Kyungsoo.
“Why are you having bad memories?”

Such an unexpected question, Kyungsoo thinks.
“Everyone has their own bad memories,” answered Kyungsoo.

“Then what is yours? Why does it affect you to have nightmares?” asked Kai.
Kyungsoo exhales his breath. “Someone died.”
“Who?” asked Kai again.
Kyungsoo silences. He tries to hold a tear drop from his eyes.
“My best friend,” he replies.

That time Kai does not reply, as if he understands the sorrow of Kyungsoo’s heart. 
“Hey.” Kyungsoo deeply looks at Kai. “Why are you wearing a mask?”
Kai steps back. “I can’t answer this.”
Confused, Kyungsoo winces. “I’ve told you my secret, why don’t you tell me your secret?”
“I can’t reveal myself to humans. I am just a spirit of a dreamcatcher,” said Kai.
“Alright. Don’t be offended. I’m just asking. You can stay mysterious as you want,” Kyungsoo pouts.
Kai smiles a little, “Just don’t worry about my mask. Don’t worry about anything. Don’t stimulate the nightmare in your mind.”

Kyungsoo starts to feel comfortable with the presence of the nightmare-eater.
“Please stay. Don’t leave me alone.”
Kai stands still. “I always stay. I never leave. You just cannot see me around.”
Kyungsoo holds his breath. “Then don’t disappear.”

Kai looks at the window. The dawn is coming. The dark sky is turning violet. 
“The daylight disguises me, the reality erases me.”
Kai’s figure slowly blurs with the shadows of the dawn. 
 

Another night, another dream Kyungsoo has to experience.

It is not a nightmare that Kyungsoo is familiar with. This dream is quite peculiar that it is almost feels like real.

Kyungsoo steps on a green grass. The heat of summer touches his skin. He brings a basket full of sandwiches on his left hand and a canvas on his right hand. Someone is waiting for him. A man who is taller than him. He sits on a checkered blanket on the grass. The man also has a canvas stands in front of him. He is painting something.

“There you are,” said the man. The man whom Kyungsoo always feel excited with. 

This man wears a checkered shirt, which is match with the picnic blanket, as its sleeves are rolled up to his arm. He holds a paintbrush and a palette. He looks artistic as he is the art itself.

Kyungsoo grins. “Lunch time!” he shouts. Kyungsoo stands his canvas on the ground and he prepares the meal.
The man opens Kyungsoo’s basket. “Sandwich! I love it!” He looks happy and hungry that he stops his painting work and put his paintbrush on a palette. 

“Summer picnic at the riverside. Such a great idea,” Kyungsoo smiles the brightest. “Enjoy the meal. You look so hungry, don’t forget to eat your kimchi.”

“I always have great ideas,” mumbled the man as he munches the sandwich and kimchi’s cabbage.
Kyungsoo eats his sandwich too. In a while, he looks at the painting in front of him.

“Is that Han river?” asked Kyungsoo.

The man nods. “Bingo! That’s why I bring you here. Let’s feel the nature and draw it on a canvas. Summer time is perfect,” he explains.

Kyungsoo stares at the painting. He is amazed with the impressive technique that expresses the spirit of summer. 

“I wonder. Will the view look better at night?” Kyungsoo shares his opinion.

“Then I should paint it darker,” the man chuckles. “You’re too obsessed with dark colors. But well, why not giving it a try?” He pats Kyungsoo’s shoulder.

“I know you paint better than me,” Kyungsoo snorts.

“And you cook better than me,” the man smirks as he takes his paintbrush and continues to paint.

Kyungsoo joins him to paint, while his eyes stare at the man secretly. How he wishes his best friend will consider his true feelings. 

He treasures his own warm feelings for himself. Kyungsoo doesn’t want to risk this friendship.