“Jong Hyun-ah, don’t forget to come tomorrow night. 8 pm sharp! Or I won’t give you your bonus.” Boom hyung shouted from behind his throne, the cashier table. He was still counting the money he earned from his beloved coffee shop in Shinchon area, where I get to play guitar and sing every other night.

“Arasseoyo, hyung. I’ll be here even before 8 so I can set up my guitar first.” I replied while putting my adorable Yamaha inside its case. My performance just finished half an hour ago, just right at the time this café closed up. It was not as good as before because I was about to catch a cold. But it was surely more crowded and the audience seemed to be more excited. I saw the amount of money that they put inside my guitar case and I was shocked. There were a lot 1,000 wons, but some threw a few of 5,000s too. That would really help me pay my tuition for this semester. Or else, the school dean might kick me out of the faculty. And I would never let that happen to me.

Boom hyung was my big brother’s best friend back in Busan. They shared a dream to make it big in Seoul. That was why both of them decided to move out from Busan and applied for universities in Seoul. However, luck was not on their side. My brother, being one of the top students in Busan, got into Business and Economics Faculty in Yonsei University. But Boom hyung, whose real name is Lee Min Ho, did not get the chance to study in college.

After accepting his fate, he started to study more about coffee since he loves coffee more than love himself. He wanted to make something out of his favorite drink. He joined workshops about coffee-making. He read books and even talked to other coffee shop owners on how to manage your own coffee shop. Then two years later, he successfully opened this coffee shop: Coffee Cliché.

But my brother could not see his best friend achieved the prize of his struggle. My hyung died in a car crash a few months before Boom hyung officially opened Coffee Cliché. He was walking from his campus to meet Boom hyung who was still preparing for his café opening, even though it was already pass midnight. The campus was also in Shinchon area that’s why my hyung decided to walk because it was only a few blocks away. But suddenly, a car came out of nowhere. The driver was drunk and did not see my brother who was walking. She was losing control of the car and crashed her car to the sidewalk on which my brother was walking. He died in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. Leaving Boom hyung feeling guilty through all his life because my brother died on his way to see him. And he did not even finish his college yet.

That was why Boom hyung was so nice to me, like my own big brother. He made sure that I could go to college and actually finish it, an opportunity that he and my brother never had.

“I’m closing up.” He said suddenly. As I finished packing, Boom hyung had also finished cleaning up. We walked to the door together right before he shut off the lights.

“You’re going straight home?” Boom hyung asked me after he locked the doors. We lived on the opposite side of Seoul from each other. I lived at the north side of Han River at my campus dorm. Meanwhile, he rent an apartment at the south side of Han River.

“Ne. I have a class tomorrow morning.” I grabbed my guitar case and carried it on my shoulder.

“How do you get home? I think the subway has stopped. It’s 1 in the morning.”

I looked at my watch and realized the truth in his words, “You’re right. The last train left at 11:52 from Shinchon Station.” I hummed for a little bit while thinking on how to get home safely, “Well, I think I can walk. It’s not that far from here. Only takes 45 minutes of walking.”

The second he heard the word ‘walking’, Boom hyung’s face become stern. He definitely did not like the idea of me walking alone in the middle of the night and I knew exactly why, “No way. I’m not letting you walk alone at night. Let me drive you to your dorm.”

“Come on, hyung. I can walk alone at night. It’s okay.” I chuckled. I knew he was only being paranoid and I tried to understand. He felt really traumatic about what happened with my big brother. But it did not mean that it would happen to me too.

“You know what happens with drunk drivers or thief these days. Walking alone at night is dangerous.”

“Hyung.. I’m a grown up man. I don’t know about drunk drivers. But I think I can take care of the thief, if there’s any. I have a black belt in judo, remember?”

Boom hyung smirked as he heard my answer, “And what would you do about the drunk drivers?”

“As I cannot control what and how much people drink, I will pray to God the whole time during my walk so that He will protect me and not letting some stupid drunk guy come into my way.” I assured him. Then I smiled. He really treated me like I’m his own blood. And I thank God every day for that.

“Good boy.” He patted my shoulder, “Now go. It’s getting colder. It’s only October but why the wind blows so much.”

“The world has gotten weird, I guess.” I gave him a short response before went on my way, “I’m going, hyung. Drive safely.”

“You too!” He waved his hand then walked to where his car is parked.

*

Boom hyung was right. It was getting colder. I checked the weather on the internet and it said that tonight’s temperature had dropped to 8 degrees celcius. Aish! Jinjja, I only bring one thin jacket with me and it definitely did not help with the wind.

I put both of my hands into my jeans pocket and kept walking, passing a few blocks before I had to turn into a smaller alley for a short cut. Suddenly, right before I walked into the alley, I heard a girl screamed her lungs out, threatening somebody, “Ya! Jugulle?!!”

I stopped right away. Her voice came from inside the alley. She was near. After she shouted, I heard another voice. It was deep and a bit rusty, as if he was drunk, “You’re brave for talking back at me like that, miss.”

“Don’t you dare touch me!” She shouted again.

I knew I supposed to do something. She obviously needed help but I could not move my legs. I was frozen right at where I was standing.

“You were asking for it.” I heard the man’s voice again. Then a few seconds later, she screamed even louder than before. That was when I knew that I had to come and help her. I was not trying to be a hero but another people’s life was at stake.

“STOP..!” I came right on time because when I walked into the alley, that man’s hand was already on her thigh. Tears were flowing down her cheek as she begged to be let go. She would be if I was not around.

As I saw her, I knew why that bandit said that she was asking for it. In the middle of the night like this, she was wearing a mini skirt and a kind-of see through shirt. I did not understand why she wore thin clothes like that on a cold night like this. Crazy.

But my concern was not her clothes. It was her life. And I had to do something about it if I did not want her to be killed by this man, or worse, she might kill herself after being .

“Who the heck are you?”

“Nobody.” Before I took a step closer, I put down my guitar. It seemed like I have to fight my way out of this mess and I could not lose my guitar because of this.

“That’s right. You’re nobody. So why don’t you go? You’re interrupting my business with this girl.”

“Let her go.” I did not respond to his threat as I took another step closer. Now we were only about 5 meters from each other.

“What would you do to me if I don’t let her go?”

“You don’t want to know about that.” I curled my fist, preparing myself for a battle between an ex Judo athlete and an actual gang member.

“Maybe I do.”

He let go of the girl and ran to me with all his power. Stupid decision. He did not know that I was already on position to grab his collar and threw him down. I felt like winning when I saw him lying on the road. But I did not expect him to get up so fast and threw a punch on my stomach.

That punch had started the battle as I threw on back at him, right on his face. He kicked me and I kicked him back. He punched my face, I punched his jaws. His nose started to bleed and I realized that he was starting to lose consciousness. I got my chance and pinned him right under my arms before throwing him over my shoulder, right on to the gray asphalt. That guy stayed still, maybe he passed out.

After checking his condition, I got up and walked towards that girl. She sat on the corner of the alley in silence. Her tears had stopped but the fear was still there in her eyes. I decided to squat down, leveling our eyes so that she would not feel intimidated by my presence.

“It’s okay. I knocked him out.” I told her. But she still did not say anything. “I’m Jong Hyun. What’s your name?”

She blinked her eyes a few times before answering me, “Yoona. Im Yoona.”

“Yoona-ssi, can you stand up? We should go from here before he gained consciousness.”

Then I saw her eyes grew bigger. She saw something was coming behind me. My guess, it was the bandit. But before I could do or say anything, I felt something sharp and cold went through my back. It did not hurt at first but little by little, it was starting to get painful.

That bastard ran away after stabbing me with his knife. And Yoona, the girl, was frantic.

“Andwaeee..!!” I heard her scream after the bandit left. She tried to hold me as I broke down on her lap. “You can’t die here. Not right now. Okay? Can you hear me, Jong Hyun-ssi? You can’t die.”

Her tears started to fall again. And I did not know what had gotten into me, but in the midst of panic and fear, she was the most beautiful girl that I had ever seen. Even if I had to die today, I would die happily because I had met the prettiest girl in the world. My life was complete.

But in the middle of my imagination, I started to feel dizzy. I knew I was losing a lot of blood.

I tried to grab the girl’s hand and told her to get my cell phone from my jeans pocket. I could only think of one name, “Call Boom hyung.” That was my last sentence before I passed out.

***