The bar had been peachy since he arrived early—the earliest he came, the more money he got—he washed the glass as usual, wiped the table as usual, tidied up the seats as usual, and had his boss called up him and the other workers as usu—no, this was the first time, was someone in trouble? He speculated because the boss was rarely here, seeing the other workers' confusion had righted his suspicion.

Taehyung sighed quietly from the back, his boss, the owner of the bar, wasn't the kindest man and certainly not one with the best morals. He was quite shady but the pay's good for bartenders job so he tried hard to maintain his job. The youngster then proceeded to stop his ministrations and instead walked to the direction of the workers' lounge where his boss's room was situated. The man with big belly and constant cigarette on his mouth looked at him skeptically as soon as he entered the room timidly. Taehyung felt uncomfortable with the swipes of stare from the top of his head to his feet, as if the boss was undressing him.

"You know," the man drawled, talking nonchalantly but eyes sharp with mirth and hidden intentions. "I've been getting requests from our frequents about a certain beautiful bartender.  Their demand is quite explicable so you must've had a gist as to why I called you here, right, Kim?"

Taehyung shuddered unceremoniously, he dreaded the fact that he knew where this was going but as usual, he pretended to be as dense as a rock. He plastered the most aloof expression his face could come up and saw his boss snorted and looked at him amusedly.

"You're a uni student, right? And you live alone," the boss said again, eyes narrowing like a carnivore scrutinizing his prey. "Aren't you interested in how much I can offer to the hosts? Ah, maybe if it's still too much for your innocent little head, a stripper performer will be a great choice for good money and no handsy-pansy. What do you say, eh?"

Taehyung was stunned when his boss finally brought the topic in the wild. He's a sicko, Taehyung thought in disgust. There was no freaking way would he ever consider those two jobs even with how much he struggled to survive.

As polite as he could, Taehyung shook his head and firmly said, "Sorry, boss. I do need money but I can still earn plenty to survive just being a bartender."

Much to Taehyung's disappointment, his boss's smirk went a little wider but the man just nodded as he accepted Taehyung's answer. Without much further, Taehyung gave his boss a small bow before leaving the room immediately.

And so the night continued. It was ten pm and the bar was packed.  It wasn't even a Friday night when people usually went out drinking to loose their weekly stress, but not like Taehyung cared since everyday was freaking stressful for him and he got no free day to let out the stream. The whole room was filled with fun, energetic atmosphere. The hosts served the customers happily, putting up flirty smiles as they brought the drinks and food to tables, while the bartenders made the drinks and talked with the customers sitting on the pub.

It was nearing eleven pm, when Taehyung was alone that he could feel the usual stare he sometimes received while making drinks. Somehow it was more uncomfortable and chilling today and he couldn't find out who had sent out those glances. The feeling usually started at this time and continued until he was already off from work and close to his place.

"Hey, pretty, gimme a glass of vodka, will ya?" a slur came out from his left, which he monotonously replied with an obedient 'yes'. The source of the voice was a half-drunk middle-aged office worker with nose too big and belly bigger than it was supposed to be with the size of his body.

A greasy hand lingered on his as he passed the drink, which was disgusting, HELP—"this is your drink, sir, hold the glass not the hand, please," he pulled out his hand fast and turned away in excuse to wash the glasses. The man laughed loudly and slurped his drink obnoxiously, the sound had turned Taehyung older by twenty years.

"That good ass—" the glass could have slipped from his hand and broken down if one of his coworker, a bodyguard, had not graciously come to help Taehyung in the pub, giving a dangerous stare-down to the drunkard man which had efficiently shut him down.

"You okay, right?" Kibun asked seriously, pulling Taehyung in the kitchen. Taehyung was always grateful for the bodyguards working here because they were all very reliable and kind to help other workers from being molested by the drunkards. Taehyung eagerly nodded and gave the elder a reassuring smile. He had gone through this and he was much stronger than to be bothered by a flimsy, disgusting, drunken hand.

"Yeah, let's just continue working," Taehyung said, still smiling. "Thanks for the help, though."

---

"Good evening, everyone. It's 2 am in South Korea. My name is Jung Hoseok and I'm back to bring you the latest update of  The Serial Killer who has been haunting Seoul for the last two years. Last Saturday, a body was found on the river bank of Han River, burnt to death. The police could barely identify the victim from the severe burnt wounds but it was estimated that the body had decayed for three days. From the victim's clothes and belongings, they are identified to belong to a schoolgirl with initial HGY who had been reported missing for a week. There are signs of beatings and strangulation on the body. From the way of death, the police concluded that HGY is most likely one of the victim of the Serial Killer."

Taehyung sighed, his expression darkened as he saw another victim had fallen to the hands of those predators. He always turned on the television after coming home from work to watch Jung Hoseok, the famous reporter who specifically reported updates of the case of Serial Killer.

"Investigation is still continued to no avail. Police reported there is still very few clue on where to catch the serial killer, as it is clear all the killings have been done very professionally, diligently, and... cruelly."

Taehyung closed the small window as it got very cold in the middle of the night, he left it open a bit during the day to air out his small, dingy apartment. Amid his tiredness he wondered if he could somehow wake up early to university with 3 hours of sleep and went to the cramped bathroom for a little wash up. It was more than 2 in the morning, but he got a seven am class tomorrow, way for his luckiness.

"All the victims for the past two years have been young girls and boys in high school or university. The killer always burns the bodies after killing them in the most brutal way and place them next to Han River. Those signs and evidence have been reported to be the same, thus concludes the fact that the killings are mostly done by the same person, very likely a psychopath."

Taehyung brushed his teeth in front of the broken mirror, staring at his disheveled appearance—dark hair messy, dark eyebags, too long eyelashes, small face, and lithe, tired body. The work as a bartender was freaking exhausting, but since the first time he was already set for the money.

"A new discovery has just been reported by the police, that most of the victims complained that they had been stalked a few week before their ends.  Everyone who watches this please immediately seek the police when you feel like you're being stalked."

Ignoring his grumbling stomach, he surged down to his tattered mattress, uneasiness be damned caused of his exhaustion. He found the last egg inside his refrigerator. In his haziness, taehyung made a mental note to boil the egg for tomorrow's breakfast, or lunch, or whenever he was hungry.

"Psychopaths are born that way. They lack empathy and remorse. They tend to disregard or violate the rights of other people and have difficulties to distinguish between right and wrong. And most importantly... they are predators who thirst for people's blood."

Even if he was so tired, Taehyung always watched Jung Hoseok's show. The show was aired in the middle of the night because the case was way more explicitly explained than the news reported daily in the morning. It was also lucky that the show started just when taehyung went home from his work.

"I know I said this so many times already, but it doesn't mean the feelings and sincerity have ceased to nothing. This feeling of terror and despair... I feel it, too, and I sympathise with those who have lost their loved ones. Please keep being strong and know that they are in better place now. I will be back with more updates and evidences to solve this case of serial killer. And together, we will catch and stop them. I'll see you next time..."

Themain reason as to why Taehyung was so devoted on this show, was that he had toknow every single update from the investigation of the serial killer. he wasobsessed--desperate--to know every single thing. It wasn't just because ofsafety measures as he fitted the categories of most favoured people the killerchose, but he was obliged to or he would die in regret... regret of letting hisbrother die in vain, without having to take revenge to this bastard killer.

It had been years, but the memories of bloodied, disfigured face of his dear brother still remained fresh in his head. And Taehyung would be lying if he didn't play a part of the reason his brother had to face his horrible faith.

He was ten whilst his brother, Seojoon, was sixteen. It was one of those rare time he could be a bit childish and ask his brother a small gift when he won the first place in class and Seojoon just received his monthly salary. Taehyung remembered how he begged his brother to buy him the latest volume of his favourite manga. He was a bit sick so his brother refused his offer to tag along.

If only Taehyung had been adamant to follow his brother... At least he wouldn't have to be alone right now... His heart dropped the first time the police called after he had anxiously waited for so long, and it shattered when they called again so he could identify his brother's body, who had been strong and handsome laid uselessly, bloodied and twisted in wrong directions. Everything felt heavy and dark, suffocating, when they told him how his brother was scrapped, beaten, and pelted to death. How horrible and painful his brother's end could be Taehyung couldn't imagine. All that was left to him was infinite longing and guilt that brought him to his darkest memories.

He had to do something, but Taehyung was still useless now. He had no money, no power, no support, nor knowledge to help him avenge his brother's death. Now, Kim Taehyung was only a nineteen-year-old boy who lived alone in a small, run down apartment. His parents had left him and his brother so long he didn't remember their faces anymore and since no one wanted to take care of him, it was natural for him to live alone. He had no relatives, nor caring neighbours he could rely on, so he learnt it the hard way, surviving through his poverty teenager life alone with little money his brother left him. Becoming independent was hard but Taehyung was naturally hard-willed, there was also no other excuse for him to take it easy as life had always been hard for him, this was meant for him to happen.

A few weeks after Seojoon's death, during his lowest moment in life, a kind, rich old man had been very kindly employed him to attend the flowers in his garden when he saw Taehyung scraping leftovers in the garbage. The man was like his grandfather and Taehyung felt forever indebted to him. He worked his hardest to distract himself from grieve and continued his life. He worked there for six years until the old man passed away recently and Taehyung started to work as a bartender at night and convenient store worker at day.

He almost tried to drop off from school before but because of the stubbornness of the old man who encouraged Taehyung and made him remember how hard his brother worked just to provide his studies, he made it his goal to study hard and get a job where he could be paid well to bury his brother properly. Taehyung then received full scholarship for middle school, high school, and university because of his hard work in studying, but he still needed money for his daily necessities like food. Ramen was delicious, bread was fulfilling, fishcakes were cheap, and sometimes with eggs when he got a little bit more money; those were his only options, not that he was complaining. He didn't expect to survive until now, so he got plenty of things to be grateful for. A tiny bit optimism was what's needed in this crazy, ugly, corrupted world.

Now he was a freshman in university, majoring aerospace engineering because math and physic were his good forte. He truly loved his major but there were some things that hated like how many his university's fuck boys were from his faculty, ninety percent of students in his major were males, and that the midterms and exams were always held at seven pm sharp in the faculty classrooms. He had to skip work when he got exams and that meant sacrificing a day without food. His recent concern was contemplating the pros and cons working at that otaku café a few blocks from the bar where the waiters and waitress had to cosplay as maids and whatnots.

Overall, his life had been pretty much mundane since the beginning. The only differences now were harder educations, different works, and different people—maybe also improving his night-owl capabilities. The more works and studies he had to do, the more distracted he became, and the less empty he felt.

"Welcome back to OBN World News with me, Joo Haejoon and good morning, everyone. The research of electric aircraft which is conducted by the renowned researchers of South Korea has finished its manufacturing stage and now it's ready for mass produces. The leads researchers of this successful projects, Mr Jeon Jeongguk and Mr Kim Namjoon, are MIT graduates who currently teach at the prestigious Bangtan Universities. Their accomplishments have brought such success to the aerospace industry in this country--"

Oh, the TV was still on because Taehyung forgot to switch it off after Jung Hoseok finished his show. He proceeded to grab the remote before he turned at the mention of his university. He saw the TV showing pictures of two men who looked like in their last twenties and impossibly attractive--most likely the so called renowned researchers of South Korea.

So.. they're gonna teach me, huh, Taehyung said inwardly. He was in his third semester and he hadn't had Mr Kim nor Mr Jeon as his lecturer. It was really such a coincidence, though, something related to his major would be reported in daily news program, especially at 3 am in the morning. At least, Mr Kim and Mr Jeon were reaaaaallyyy handsome that Taehyung wouldn't mind his sleepy ass to ogle for a few minutes before finally sleeping with ease. 

On the contrary, university life wasn't always rainbows like most people expected. There were mountains of homework, projects, presentations, lab reports, and exams. The lecturers were much kinder than school teachers but their subjects were way harder to understand that they intimidated the students. Not everyone was as kind as you hoped for, and Taehyung knew this best. It was so embarrassing because Taehyung never thought of being bullied after graduating school but he really had one (1) loyal tormentor who was as shitty as dog's poo.

It was a story for another time, but Taehyung never forgot to pray before sleep that tomorrow would become a better day without having to meet any horrible people and to have Seojoon happy in his afterlife. And thus, Taehyung did his routine before finally falling asleep as a flash of black ebony hair came to his mind and he was brought to a dreamless rest.

To be Continued