She awoke to find herself lying on a bed in a dark room. She had no idea where she was as her eyes roamed around the unfamiliar room. The only light came from two dim magical torches—its flames flickered, casting eerie, terrifying shapes on the walls. The room was square, and about six meters in every dimension. She sat bolt upright at the sound of the clicking door latch and leapt to her feet. Her heart seemed to thud harder and louder, echoing through her body and reverberating in her ears as a young man with blonde hair—clothed in a white roll-neck sweatshirt, white pants, and white shoes—walked over to her. He was about five feet, eight inches tall with a lean build. He had a V-shaped face, and his nose was rounded at the tip. Thick bangs covered his brows.

"Who are you?" she asked, her voice strangled with fear. She could feel her legs shaking underneath her. She wanted to run but was so frightened she couldn't even move.

"Don't be afraid. I'm here for you," he said. His voice sounded exactly the same as the voice that had lingered in her ears—so sweet. Whatever the reason, she felt inexplicably soothed by the voice.

Reaching out, he captured her face in his hands. It felt cool and smooth against her skin. "I'm the voice of your heart." He smiled widely, his mouth forming a rectangular shape and his eyes creasing into crescent shapes. There was something about his smile that made it seem sweet just as his voice.

"Really?" she questioned, her tone filled with disbelief, "you're not making a fool out of me?"

He nodded. "My girl, I'll never make a fool out of you. I'm the voice of your heart." His voice was so soft, so sincere that it lured her into intimacy.

Her lips curled into a smile as he smoothed his thumbs across her cheeks. Then he leaned in until they were mere inches apart from each other's lips. Only an inch away now, she closed her eyes—anticipation of his lips touching hers made butterflies flutter in her stomach, and…

A loud shout made her eyes jerk open: "Park Jiyeon, wake up!"

"Did you have a dirty dream which made you kiss that pillow?" her mother—who was standing at the end of her bed—questioned, pointing at the bolster pillow that she was hugging tightly. Her eyebrows were drawn down, producing a horizontal wrinkle on the bridge of her nose, seemingly so furious.

Jiyeon's lips formed a sheepish smile and quickly tossed it aside before she sat up.

Her mother took a deep breath and added calmly, "You slept like a hog. Do you not have teaching today?" She pointed to the right side.

She was the youngest teacher at Daegu High School, and she had been teaching there for almost five months. Being a math teacher had been her goal since she was young—maybe it was because she admired her father who was also a math teacher. She spent most of her childhood studying mathematics. When her friends played in the fields, she studied math with her father. He'd told her: 'mathematics plays an important role in holding our daily lives, everything from the food we eat to the work we do; math is involved everywhere.'

"Like a log, Mom, not a hog," Jiyeon corrected as she tilted her head to the direction her mother indicated: the digital clock on her bedside table displaying 6:50 A.M. "Oh my God!" 

Jumping out of bed, she scurried into the bathroom and the shower. After a quick shower, she stepped out and went to her closet, putting on the first thing she spotted, a white shirt, black slacks and a black blazer. She stepped into her black flat shoes, then grabbed her bag before heading downstairs to the dining room. She spotted her mother standing in the kitchen as she took off a pink apron and threw it into a laundry basket, then started cleaning the kitchen. The smell of toast and fried egg invaded her nose and reached deep into her stomach as she walked over to the dining table and sat down. She smiled at the plate of food in front of her: a toast and two fried eggs with the circle of yellow yolks in the middle, which had been prepared by her mother. She cut and ate the whites leaving the yolks to look like eyes. She disliked yolks because they tasted very fishy and made her nauseous. After devouring the toast, she picked up her glass of orange juice and drank it in one gulp.

"I'm leaving!" Jiyeon called to her mother as she strolled towards the door, heading to the side courtyard of her house to grab her bike.

"Don't use your bicycle today," his voice whispered in her right ear as she put her bag in the bike-basket.

Ignoring his voice, she pedaled her bike so fast, dodging people and yelling apologies. She had started hearing his voice when she had brought her students to study on a tour to Japan. At that time, she took them to a cave, which was located in Okinawa. The cave had small streams, waterfalls, stalactites and stalagmites that had been forming over the past three hundred thousand years. It also had good lighting. As they walked to scour the aisles to enjoy the beauty of the cave, the lights suddenly went out, which made both her students and the other visitors cry out in fear. She couldn't see anything; she could only hear the roar of the flowing river and the water droplets falling from the Stalactites that were wetting her shirt. Then she felt something enter her body, making her shiver. And when the lights came back on, she caught a glimpse of a blonde man on the riverbank facing the river. 

The first time she heard his voice, she was so frightened because there was no one around her. However, the voice sounded so soft and sweet, and it told her that it was the voice of her heart. Truthfully, just hearing the voice made her calm; it calmed her stressed mind due to her students who were recalcitrant, but the voice also made a lot of people think that she was crazy because she'd often respond to the voice.

She had to admit that the blond-haired man in her dream was so handsome and charming—from the tone of his voice, he seemed like a caring good person. All the young girls would love him. She wished she could meet a man like him in the waking life because she would definitely marry him. She shook her head, trying to erase the thought from her mind. Finally, she arrived at her destination. She chained her bike in the parking lot and ran down the hallway to the classroom, since she had to give her students a test.

"Good morning, kids," Jiyeon greeted, panting.

They didn't pay attention. They were too busy with their own affairs—chatting and joking. Some of them even sat on the tables. Letting out a sigh, she glanced at her watch. It turned out she was ten minutes late.

"Good morning, kids!" she repeated, raising her voice as she banged her hand against her desk to get their attention. They all looked at her, sat back in their seats and greeted her, all except for the most unmanageable student.

"Yeonyeon, why are you mad at us?" the most unmanageable student said, a horrid look spreading over his face. "You know, you came late."

"Yeah, Jiyeon. You usually come on time," the other students added in agreement.

It seemed like none of them respected her as a teacher. Yeonyeon! God, she hated it so much. It sounded like she was being mocked. This really made her blood boil. She clenched her hand into a tight fist, and then she took a deep breath, trying to stay calm. "I'm sorry, but please be prepared for your test now," she responded. 

"What!" all students shouted at the same time.

She shook her head and opened her bag to take out the math test papers and then walked around the class to give them out one by one. After doing this, she sat on her desk to supervise them.

"My girl, look at the boy who is sitting in the back row near the window," his voice echoed softly in her right ear.

Curious, she approached the stubborn student. He didn't notice her, who was standing beside him. He was too busy copying another student's answers from a small note that he was hiding under the table. 

"Have you finished working, Lee Taeyong?" Jiyeon whispered, bending over near his ear. Her student became startled and dropped his pen on the floor.

He glanced up at her. "Oh-oh, it's you, Yeonyeon," Taeyong stuttered, scratching his head.

"Don't expect that you'll pass the exam this time," she told him through gritted teeth as she took the paper and went back to her place. She sat back on the desk with arms crossed.

The silence was almost unbearable. The only thing that could be heard was the ticking of the clock as the whole class was busy working on their tests. She noticed that Taeyong kept staring at her. His upper eyelid was tightened to hold his eyes open; his upper lip was pulled up to expose his upper teeth, and his lower lip was slightly pulled down, seemingly so angry at her. She sent him a death glare, and he quickly looked away.

She gazed down at the watch on her left wrist. Clapping her hands, she announced, "Alright, class. The testing period is over. Now hand in your tests."

A few seconds later, they walked up to her desk and put their tests on the pile. The bell rang not too long, indicating the change of period. Smiling, she gathered up her things and strode out of the room. She walked briskly into the staff room and greeted the other teachers, who were busy preparing for their classes, photocopying, looking through books.

"I thought you were absent today," Mrs. Kim said as Jiyeon pulled out her chair from under her desk and without looking, sat down.

"I woke up a little late this morning," Jiyeon responded, "I ended up ten minutes late."

Mrs. Kim just nodded as she looked through the books stacked beside her table. Jiyeon left her things in a locked drawer, picked up her keys and walked through the corridor to another classroom, carrying a pile of exam papers. Students stood up for Jiyeon and greeted her as soon as she entered the classroom. She greeted them back with a smiling face from her desk in the front right corner of the room, and they sat back down on their seats. Students in this class were so different from the previous class. They respected her as a teacher.

"Are you guys ready for the test today?" Jiyeon asked her students.

Some of the students nodded while others said in unison, "Yes."

"Nothing on your table. Everything in your table, except your pen. No wandering eyes," Jiyeon added and looked at a petite girl, sitting at the front. With her head down, her long, dark-brown hair flowing over her arms, she looked uncomfortable. "Jung Chaeyeon, come here," Jiyeon told her. With a blank expression fixed on her face, Chaeyeon nodded then rose slowly from her seat and walked over to her. 

"Give them this." She handed Chaeyeon a pile of exam papers as she pointed up her chin at her students.

"O-okay, Teacher Park," Chaeyeon said, her lips quivering, and her voice was so faint. Jiyeon noticed her hands trembling when she took the pile.

"Why do you ask her to do so?" his voice whispered in her left ear. "Stop being so lazy."

She rolled her eyes at the voice's words. "I'm not being lazy. I just tried to help her become active in class. I've rarely seen her interacting with her classmates," Jiyeon muttered in response to the voice.

Jiyeon watched her walk around the class with her head down. She's nervous? Jiyeon noticed Chaeyeon's hand shaking as she handed out an exam-paper to each of her classmates. A moment later, Chaeyeon walked back to the front of the room, carrying the rest of the papers with her.

"Thank you," Jiyeon said, smiling as Chaeyeon laid the rest of papers on her desk. She slightly nodded with an awkward smile and sat back down on her seat.

Everyone bent their heads and started. The classroom was silent. Jiyeon strolled around the room, monitoring them. She caught a glimpse of Jaehyun, who sat right next to the door, studying his hand. Shocked, she observed him a bit more closely and saw that he was cheating by looking at something written on his hand. She went up to him and took his test away.

"My girl, look at the girl who's sitting next to Chaeyeon," his voice echoed softly in her right ear.

Jiyeon heaved a big sigh as she noticed Sohyun keep glancing at Chaeyeon's paper. She was too busy looking at Chaeyeon's paper, and she didn't hear her as she walked silently up to her table. Sohyun looked up, surprised. Jiyeon didn't say anything; she just picked up her exam paper. She swallowed back the urge to tear it in half and point to the door, to tell her to leave the room. She didn't have the heart to do so. With clasped hands behind her back, she continued strolling around the classroom until the bell for recess rang.

"Oh no, I haven't answered two of the questions. I'm going to fail again," one of her students who sat two rows behind Sohyun, said while scratching her head.

"Stop writing and put your pens down," Jiyeon said as she started to collect the exam papers. She heard some of her students whisper how difficult the test was as they walked out of the classroom. 

Once she finished collecting her students' exam papers, she went to her desk. "You're not going to the canteen, Chaeyeon?" Jiyeon asked as Chaeyeon put her bag on the table and pulled out her Physics book.

She shook her head, and her lips were moving, but Jiyeon couldn't hear what she was saying. She felt a tug of sympathy for her—Chaeyeon always seemed to be alone. She was a smart student. She almost always got perfect scores on tests—not only in math but other subjects as well. Jiyeon let out a silent sigh, her lips forming a smile. "Pardon me, I can't hear you."

Chaeyeon took a deep breath. "I-I'm not hungry," she said in a very low voice, looking down at her book.

"Oh." Jiyeon took the rest of papers from her desk. "See you next time." Carrying the stack of papers in her arms, Jiyeon walked out of the classroom and headed back to the staff room, leaving Chaeyeon there alone.

Deep inside, Jiyeon had a desire to help shy students like Chaeyeon overcome shyness. "You're always so quiet!" or "You need to be less quiet" She would never say those kinds of sentences to quiet people. To her, it was just as bad as pointing out a physical flaw. They already knew they were quiet or shy. They didn't need to be reminded. It might be hurtful when someone pointed it out to them.

After a few minutes of rest, Jiyeon returned to give the exam in another class until it was time to go home. She decided to correct her students' exam papers instead.

"My girl, it's already dark," his sweet delicate voice rang through her ear like the sweet melody of the humming birds surrounding her.

She glanced at the wall clock, showing that it was seven o'clock already; she hadn't noticed because she was correcting their exams too seriously. "You're right," she responded.

"Right what?"

Jiyeon winced when she heard a male voice behind her. She turned her head to look behind her. There was a security guard standing in the doorway, a middle-aged man named Cha Seungwon. He wore the security standard uniform—a black shirt and pants, with a shiny security badge pinned to his chest. He approached her as he shone his flashlight in her face. She squinted against the bright light. 

"Teacher Park, why are you still here?" the security guard inquired.

"Uncle Cha, I was correcting my students' exam papers. But now, I am leaving soon," she replied, tidying up her stuff and putting it into her bag.

"I heard you talking, but there is no one here"—he leaned towards her—"with whom were you speaking?"

She gulped. "I-I was just talking with my mom over the phone."

His mouth formed an 'o' shape as he nodded.

"Don't be a liar," his voice whispered in her right ear.

"I'm not a liar," Jiyeon responded in a loud voice that made him give her a strange look. She flashed him a grin and darted towards the parking lot before he could say anything.

She placed her bag in the basket, unchained her bike and wrapped the chain around the handlebars. She pushed off and instantly realized her back tire was flat. Her bike was wobbling. She got off and examined the tire. She let out a long, audible sigh as she found a small gash where someone had punctured the sidewall. This puncture was no accident. Someone had deliberately stuck a sharp object into her tire. She knew who the culprit was.

"Lee Taeyong! You're such a devil. Why did you do this?" Jiyeon snarled aloud through clenched teeth.

"I've already warned you not to use your bicycle, why didn't you trust your own heart's voice!" his voice boomed in her left ear, sounding angry, which made her feel like her anger would explode.

"Shut up!" Jiyeon screamed in response to his angry voice. "Who are you actually?"

The voice was softer now as it whispered in her right ear, "I'm the voice of your heart."

Jiyeon scratched her head, frustrated before she took her bag and slung it over her shoulder. It would take her more than an hour to get home. She let her breath out slowly. She had to breathe, to calm herself down. Feeling calm, she began walking her bike home. As she walked along the deserted street with fatigue in her eyes, no sound was heard. The street was narrow and dimly lit with lamp posts far apart—the light was orange, eerie and flickering. The shops were closed. A soft breeze blew bits of newspaper from the pavements on to the street and back again. The night was cool, and an uneasy feeling struck her like she was being watched within the trees. She felt as if someone's eyes just kept staring at her every move. She thought maybe she was just being paranoid.

"Park Jiyeon, these things tend to happen when you're walking alone in the dark, so don't be scared," she told herself as she quickened her pace.

The hair on the back of her neck stood up as she heard footsteps coming up behind her, and she suddenly felt a cold chill run through the back of her spine, causing her to freeze in her tracks. It was like her whole body was paralyzed, she couldn't move at all. All she could hear was the footsteps getting louder and louder, getting closer and closer. After taking a few deep breaths, Jiyeon turned her head to look behind her, to try to catch a glimpse of who or what was chasing her. Dressed in all black—leather jacket, jeans, boots, a man with short, straight, black hair, ran towards her, his parted bangs bouncing against his forehead as he moved. Jiyeon's eyes popped open wide when she realized that in spite of the black hair, she recognized him. He was the man from her dream.