Bakha

“Looking good. Want a smoke? Or maybe something else instead?”

At the onset of the summer monsoon, I met him. Yoon Seoh, having just been released after serving nearly six years—five years and ten months to be exact—on an attempted murder charge, is trying to rebuild her life. Thanks to Minyoung, a friend she met in prison, Seoh has a place to stay. One day, a stranger knocks on her door—the very neighbor Minyoung had warned her about. “There’s this guy. All he does is chase after women and sleep around. Be careful.”

This man, with no shame in showing his intentions, somehow becomes Seoh’s only solace, the one person who helps her momentarily forget the horrors of her past. “Should we keep seeing each other?” he asks. “Why?” “You said you only feel alive when someone else’s warmth is close.” “…” “I’m just trying to keep you going, pretty girl. What do you think?” “Do whatever you want.”

Her once cold and empty life gradually fills with him, but there’s something unsettling lurking beneath his charm. Something doesn’t add up.