It was the calm before a storm.

Since the moment the perfect Mark Tuan met Park Saemi, the liar, she had somehow revived the human in him. She taught him what it meant to care for another person, and she taught him what it felt like to have someone care for him. So when she finally disappeared from his life and reappeared once more to reject him, it only hurt twice as much. Having to face this reality, no matter how many times he's been rejected, the pain never lessens.

But he's spent an entire year looking for her, he isn't about to give up now. From the start, Saemi had placed his life as a priority over hers, and now it's his turn to return the favor. So when he refuses to let her go alone to somewhere so dangerous, he had already known Saemi would be stubborn enough to leave him behind.

He knew that she would go against his wishes, he knew that she would end up in an unfavorable situation. So he did what anyone would do to protect the ones they cared about. He followed her without her knowing.

The moment the man raised a bat to strike the one he cared about, everything flashed before his eyes. He remembers the time she lost her composure talking about her family. He remembers the time she was so proud that she finally received her first 100. He remembers the time they shared when they went stargazing with the class. He remembers the day she left him to fight for his life.

But most of all, he remembers her smile.

Once she smiles, nothing seemed to matter anymore. While he doesn't admit it, he knows that when she left him with Bambam earlier, she was pretending to be selfish. He knows that she unconsciously believes that he isn't that bad of a guy. He knows that she is afraid. When he read her essay about losing something precious, he knew that she had misconception about her past. He knows that she's scared of being wrong about him, hating him all this time for no reason.

Mark Tuan does know Park Saemi the best after all.

The moment that man picked up that deadly bat, it was already game over. Striking the only person Mark Tuan cares about in the whole world would be his last and final, most fatal mistake. She's really something, always looking straight ahead. Maybe it was time for him to look forward at what is right before his eyes now. Maybe it was time for him to leave the past behind, just a little. Even if she's a little different now, even if she's not the same girl he remembers her being, she's still the one he's been so desperately searching for. That's right, he does know. No matter what happens to him, no matter what she has to go through, no matter what happens, she's the one he wants.

She's the only one that he will ever look at.

And with that revelation, a ripple was created. To be completely honest, Mark Tuan wanted to trust Saemi. She seemed like she thought she could take care of herself. She looked like she would be able to handle the situation. And as a result, he had never intended to get himself involved because he knows that Saemi wouldn't want that. He knew she wouldn't want that, but the moment her life was threatened, it all becomes fair game.

Even if he has to hurt someone else, he will never give up on her.

He can't help it. That's just how love is. To choose who to sacrifice, to choose who to save. Mark doesn't even need a moment to think about his actions. His whole body, his whole being was so conditioned to put Park Saemi first. Park Saemi made Mark Tuan who he is today. So Mark immediately leaps out of the shadows that he was hiding in, and grabs the man's wrist, stopping his actions forcibly. It's been a long time since he's been violent with anyone. Ever since Saemi appeared in his life, he had changed to large degrees. But at that moment, he began to grow unfamiliar; not that she would have noticed anyways. She would not have noticed that he was no longer the Mark that the old Saemi once knew, that is.

"Sorry, I have no intention of playing it easy like you."

With those words, Mark immediately slams his knee into the man's abdomen. His mind has never been clearer, and he's finally made his move. And when he did, all his followers made theirs. But naturally, it doesn't throw Mark off his game. He's completely alright. He's completely calm, composed even. Besides, compared to him, all these men were so pitifully slow, and it irritates the hell out of him. Who are they to step all over his relationship with Saemi?

They will never understand what it's like to have someone on their mind all day, every day.

A man swings a fist at him, and Mark swiftly catches his fist, twisting his arm a full 360 degrees. A perfect circle. A loud sickeningly crack could be heard echoing in the room, followed by a terrifying scream. The man's bones had completely snapped, crushed at the joints. The tendons had torn, and he was in excruciating pain. Upon seeing this man suffer, his comrades had decided to get their revenge on him. Naturally, Mark expects their advances and ducks easily with each futile attack.

He reaches out to the man closest to him and grabs his throat, crushing it without a second thought. The man gasps for air, but Mark doesn't let go. His lungs are failing, he's clearly bleeding internally. He's going to drown in his own blood that's filling up in his lungs, and yet, Mark finds it strangely relaxing. He's missed acting this way. He's missed acting so freely, acting his mind.

His heart is racing, his adrenaline is pumping. All the energy in his body seemed to be magnified by a thousand times. He's no longer feeling like himself. He feels like the shell of the old Mark Tuan who had forgotten what it meant to feel, what it meant to be human. There is only one thing on his mind. He just wants to break free of these worthless societal rules. All Mark wants to do is live in the moment, and in that moment, he was feeling free.

So he smiles.

Swinging the bat that was dropped earlier, he approaches the leader with a chilling confidence. The confidence allowed him to easily annihilate any of the men who tried to stop him in his tracks. With a life-threatening kick to their knees, they all collapsed unwillingly, grabbing their joints in horror. With a intense strike to the back, they all became paralyzed due to spinal injuries. But of course, it's not like Mark cares. Mark Tuan is too happy to be released from the societal chains that bind him.

Instead, he finds himself more interested in how many bones he's snapped that day.

There was no point in trying to feel sorry for anything he had done that day. There was no point in feeling like he did something wrong, because every single person there had deserved to die. They were people who killed without reason. They were people who killed for fun. So if Mark was going to make them suffer, then he was going to go all out. He wasn't going to hold back one bit.

When he finally approaches the leader, he doesn't say anything, and neither does his target. The man can't say anything as he realizes that he was alone. He can't give an order to have someone take out Mark. He can hardly stand up to Mark's killer blow to the stomach. All his men had either fled the scene or collapsed on the ground dead, unconscious if they were really lucky. All he can do is await his death.

And Mark was gladly going to give it to him. He was going to swiftly take this bat and pierce it through this man's body. But the end was blunt, and he knew it wasn't going to be easy. But what does that matter? He is Mark Tuan. Mark Tuan would never turn down a challenge like this. Of course, Mark was going to do it repeatedly until it went through. The blood spatters that would result sent a chill down his spine.

He raises the bat, and he's so excited, "Don't worry. This will be over before in awhile."

But Mark was forgetting something important. He was forgetting who was watching on the sidelines. He was forgetting that there was a girl who understand how he could act like this, and she was watching. She's trying so hard to act normal. She's trying so hard to justify his actions. She's trying so hard not to be scared of him.

It's a joke.

She keeps trying to tell herself that. There is no way that this was the Mark Tuan that she had met when he transferred to her school. The boy who was showing these unfamiliar expressions in front of her must be fooling around with her. If he really cared about her, then he wouldn't be acting this way. His actions now only remind Saemi of a cold-blooded killer. The Mark Tuan who stood up for her, embraced her would not be able to hurt, injure, kill so easily. He would doubt the morality of his actions, the morality of himself.

But he's so indifferent.

Saemi's eyes widened in horror as Mark raises the bat with full intention of killing the man in front of her. She's still doubting he will go through it. She's still holding onto that small glimmer of hope that Mark Tuan isn't someone who would do something like this. For some reason, she still believes in him. Her heart is thudding wildly. It's telling her to trust him even though her mind is screaming no.

But when Mark began to lower the bat at an unreasonable speed, her lights when out. That small beacon of hope within her had died. The sunrise that rose within her immediately fell. The night clouded her vision.

And she screams.

She screams so loudly that it sends the room into complete silence. She screams so loudly that Mark freezes in his tracks. She screams so loudly that the man who kidnapped her was spared a life. Her eyes are wet from tears. Her hands are shaking with fear. Her body has completely tensed up. Her mind was finally clear.

Just as she thought, Mark is not a good guy.

That's why she doesn't feel relief from seeing him. Every time he did something that threw her into confusion, it was all intentional. He had planned it all. Everything that she knows about him is fake. The only thing she can trust is the actions he had just gone through now. The only thing she knows for a fact is that Mark will and can easily kill someone. The only thing she knows for a fact is that Mark can also smile when doing so.

Mark is a killer.

And she suddenly remembers the news that she had seen in the café. She remembers the news in which they had explained that there was a serial killer going around the neighborhood that had been targetting local teenagers. Saemi is slowly growing even more scared.

Not everyone is brave. Not everyone can say what they want. Sometimes, people just need to hide how they really feel. Sometimes, people are placed in circumstances where they have no choice but to give up and let go. Saemi finally understood. There was no way she could call Mark out on something like being a killer. That was too dangerous. If she really was right, then her life would end right here. The warm Mark Tuan she had saw for a few seconds prior to this moment did not exist. She had to let such a ridiculous fantasy go.

"I wish I've never met you, Mark Tuan."

She suddenly regrets wishing he would save her, and Mark sees it. Mark sees it, and he knows too. It's clearer than daylight. She's said those words to him before during a time when he still had his abilities. He knows these words to be true, and he knows that he really made a huge mistake. He should have never allowed his psychopathic tendencies to take over. He should have never allowed himself to lose control.

But he also knows that while he did lose himself, Saemi was the one who was able to bring him back. It's always her. Saemi was the only person in the world that prevents him from falling into the depths of eternal darkness. She his tower of hope, his pillar of strength.

And he so desperately needs her.

But the look in her eyes was unmistakable. She doesn't want anything to do with him. He's adding space to the gap that separates the two of them. They were even more like strangers than when they first met, and it's all his fault. It's his mistake. Mark suddenly wishes he still has his ability. He suddenly wishes that he could tell what she was really thinking. He wants to have his ability prove him wrong. But that's just another wish of his that can't come true.

So he does the only thing he can do.

He decides to grant hers instead. He'll disappear just like she wishes.