“STOP!” Lee KyungMin shout while chasing after the guy who stole her bag. When you see the despair in KyungMin’s eyes, you would think that there’s something valuable such as documents or money in that bag, but that’s not the case.

She just moved from Incheon to Seoul. She’s originally from Seoul but moved to Incheon at the age of seven. Most of her happiest moments are in Seoul. When she had to leave, she promised herself that she would come back to relive them and maybe add some to her life. That was the dream of a little girl who wasn’t aware of how hard she would have to work to fulfil it. Even though she didn’t know if it was happiness or another feeling, she felt proud of herself for reaching her most desired goal.

The famous photographer has just moved in and was taking her boxes on the inside with the help of the men from the moving company. When she went back to grab another box, she saw that teenager grabbing the plastic back with her dreamcatcher.

Back in Incheon, it was a true dilemma to decide if she would throw that dreamcatcher away or not. She brought it with her because she decided to throw it away if it didn’t match with the interior design of her new apartment. A feeling of extreme animosity grew inside KyungMin when she saw her most precious object in a stranger’s hands. 

She didn’t know how that was possible, but she could remember perfectly how that gorgeous dreamcatcher ended up in her little hands.

“Why are you crying, little girl?” A three-years-old KyungMin looked up. There was a man who was smiling kindly at her. She stretched her arms, still pouting to make it clear that she wanted him to take her in his arms. She didn’t care if he was a stranger, she just wanted to be taken care of. He grabbed her, still smiling and she smiled through her small tears.

“Did you get hurt?”

“Ye.” She answered and pouted again.

“I know it hurts, but like the good girl you are you’ll not cry, right?” The kind man asked and it took a while for KyungMin to understand what he meant. For a toddler, she was extremely smart what actually scared the nuns because they didn’t want the little girl to discover the cruelty of the world at such a young age.

“I good big.” She clapped happily and he laughed slightly while wiping her tears away.

“That’s right and because you’re a good girl, I have something to you.” He showed her a circle with weird things on the inside and with long white things hanging.

“What is?” She asked curiously.

“Are you sometimes afraid of the night?” He asked and she nodded. Every night she had to convince a nun to let a candle ignite because she was sure that the monsters didn’t like the light. So if there was light, the monsters wouldn’t appear.

“Monsters in dark.” She dared to tell because she was always scolded when she did so. The nuns would always tell her that in the house of the Lord no bad spirit would dare to come in. It was complicated to explain who was the Lord to a toddler. KyungMIn thought they were wrong because she hasn’t met the Lord and she was sure she saw a monster behind a nun.

“Do you want to know a secret?” He asked, whispering.

“Secet?” She didn’t know what that word meant.

“A secret is something you can’t tell the others. Do you want to know?” She nodded, still not understanding what it was.

“This is a dreamcatcher. Repeat with me. Drea.”

“Di.” She still couldn’t speak the ‘r’.

“M.”

“Me.” She felt so proud to be able to say ‘m’ correctly.

“Cat.”

“Cet.”

“Cher.” He repeated a few times, seeing that she was having some trouble saying it.

“Cher.” He smiled when she managed to say it correctly.

“Now say it all together.” He ordered, kindly.

“Dimecetcher.” She tried, not sure if it was right.

“Good girl. I’m so proud.” He threw her in the air and she started laughing. It has been a while since a nun had said it to her. Because she was intellectually more advanced than the other kids of the orphanage, she wouldn’t get that much attention. Rare were the occasions when she was praised for something she had done.

“This dreamcatcher will keep the monsters away.” He said and she looked at him, surprised.

“Really?”

“Monsters know me. They are afraid of me. When they see the dreamcatcher, they will now that I’m your protector and will run away.” He explained.

“What is potetor?”

“It means that I will not let anyone hurt or scare you.” He explained simply so that she could understand.

“Really?” He nodded. “Tank u.” 

“You’re welcome.” He gave it to her and she held it tightly, making sure not to lose it.

After that, he told her to go back to the nuns who must be worried which were actually the case. Apparently, she had been gone missing for a few hours that day.

She has kept the dreamcatcher ever since and she takes it with her everywhere. Every time she was having a hard time, she would stare at the dreamcatcher and smile because at least someone in her life had really cared for her. She didn’t quite remember the man’s face, but his smile was enough to lighten up her mood. His smile showed sincerity which wasn’t a common thing in her life sadly.

Now that she thinks about the positive effect the dreamcatcher has had on her life, she wonders why she was even considering to throw it away. It is, in her opinion, really stupid to throw away something so important.

She stopped thinking about the reason for her already solved dilemma when she collided with someone. She fell to the ground to the hard impact, allowing the stealer to get an advance. 

“Are you hurt, miss?” The woman, she bumped into, asks worriedly. 

She ignores the kind lady and starts running again. She still can see the man and speeds up. What that boy didn’t know is that KyungMin did athletics in school and her category was sprints. She set her mind to think that she was back in school in a competition. The distance between them is reducing. She jumps on that boy when she’s close enough and both fall to the ground. The dreamcatcher is thrown a few meters away as a consequence of my action. The boy tries to get rid of me to get the dreamcatcher. KyungMin couldn’t understand why that stranger wants it so bad, but she wouldn’t let it happen. She punches his side strongly and gets up. She grabs her dreamcatcher and starts running. That boy has lead them to a desolate and gloomy street. KyungMin could hear his steps behind her. Her fatigue is starting to slow her, so she stops. She turns around and stands with her feet shoulder-width apart with her non-dominant leg in front. She keeps her weight centred in both feet and crouches a little in order to have more control of her body and keep her balance during the upcoming fight. She positions her hands and arms in front of her sensitive areas to protect them from a blow.

He stops and also gets in a defence position. KyungMin could see through his posture that he isn’t a trained fighter. He throws the first punch clumsily. She turns her shoulders to deflect the punch and slaps his arm away. She turns her hand sideways, then strikes his Adam’s apple to temporarily interrupt his breathing. Then, she swings her leg behind and swings up into his groin as hard as she can. The attacker falls to the ground, growling in pain. KyungMin grabs her dreamcatcher, which she left on the ground, and uses the opportunity to run away. She tries to find her way back to the crowded street, but her sense of orientation is awful, unfortunately. That inability lead her to the wrong place at the wrong time. She runs directly into a police intervention with a dangerous gang.

The police officer, who was considering the operation a success, look at her, alarm, and the remaining gang members see in her their escape. The member closest to her grabs her arms and pulls her roughly towards them. While one is grabbing her behind, another is pointing a gun to her head.

“Let her go.” One of the officers demands. The one, who seems to be the leader of the group, laughs.

“I don’t think you’re not in the position to demand anything anymore. You don’t want our little guest to get hurt, right?” Tears start streaming down when she feels the cold metal on her skin.

“The area is blocked. There’s no way for you to escape. Let the woman go and surrender.”

“I don’t think so. Tell your men to let me and my men go and I’ll release the girl.”

“How do we know that you’ll keep your word?” A scream echoes through the street. “You don’t. Either you let us go or she’ll die from blood loss.” The leader smiles mischievously. The officers’ eyes go from those men to my bleeding leg and back. They couldn’t let an innocent life be lost. The hostage’s life is their priority.

“KyungMin.” She hears her name clearly and looks up. A man is standing behind the police officers with a gun pointing to the leader. In normal circumstances, she would question how that stranger knew her name, but at the moment she’s pleading him to save her through her gaze.

“We’ll count until three together. At three, you’ll drive your head backwards as hard as you can. The pain from the head- should make him let go. Once you’re free, you’ll duck immediately.” KyungMin nods. She puts her attention back on the officers, their guns were down and they are looking at her as if asking for forgiveness. She looks back at the stranger and he nods.

“One. Two. Three.” She follows the man’s plan and drives her head backwards. Once she’s freed, she throws herself to the ground. She hears gunshots and feels a sharp pain on her back. She covers her ears to shut down the screams and the gunshots.

She starts screaming and fighting back when she feels a hand on her shoulder.

“Miss. Miss. You’re safe now.” KyungMin looks at the woman speaking and stops altogether when she sees the police uniform. “The ambulance is on its way. Please try not to move. You’ve already lost a lot of blood.” KyungMin looks around, looking for the man who saved her, but he was gone. She tries to move her right arm, but the move causes her extreme pain. “During the fire, you got hit again.” The police officer informs me.

To the paramedics’ happiness, KyungMin is still conscious when they get to the crime scene. They put her quickly on the hospital stretcher and take her in the ambulance. She closes her eyes, letting the paramedics stop her bleeding and run the preliminary test on her. A cold hand on her forehead induces her to open her eyes. Her blue eyes meet dark eyes. She gasps surprised as she recognizes the man for the crime scene. She wants to talk, but the fatigue isn’t allowing to speak up. She watches the man drink a blue liquid. He minimizes the space between us. He smirks before locking their lips, much to her surprise. She doesn’t have any strength to push him away, but even if she had, she couldn’t tell clearly if she would do so. The man bites her lips slightly and that’s enough to make KyungMin part her lips. The blue liquid, that the mysterious man didn’t swallow, runs in KyungMin’s mouth and she swallows it instinctively. Once she has drunken it all, he pulls away, leaving her astounded.

“This will help you heal.” His deep voice sends her shivers. She looks quickly around and is surprised to find herself alone with that man. “Sleep now. You need to rest.” His soothing voice is guiding her slowly, but surely to Dreamland.

“My dream catcher?” She uses her last strength to ask for her precious treasure.

“Don’t worry about it. When you wake up, it will be by your side.” KyungMin strangely trusts that man’s words and let finally her body rest, losing consciousness.