Sowon stayed on the ground, in a stupor. Her house was ruined, her sister kidnapped – what should she do next? Who would have known a couple of days ago that her peaceful, simple life would end up like this?

  Joonmyeon. She needed Joonmyeon. He would help her save Chaewon; he would tell her the meaning of everything.

  Sowon the amulet around her neck. She clenched it in her hand tightly, willing for the thing to work. “Yang…” she breathed out, in a choked whisper.

  Then to her surprise, she heard a clear voice in her head. “Sowon?” It was undoubtedly Joonmyeon’s voice.

  “Joonmyeon!” Sowon cried aloud, both relief and desperation coloring her tone.

  “Sowon, what’s wrong?” Joonmyeon said, urgently.

  “There was a van… and then men in black… took Chaewon… what to do…” Then Sowon broke down, crying, but still clutching the amulet.

  “Sowon! Are you alright? Where are you?” Joonmyeon's voice was tense, as though he were struggling not to panic.

  “The house is a wreck… They took Chaewon and left… Please, can’t you come and help me?” Sowon sobbed.

  The boy was silent for a moment, and Sowon feared that she had lost contact with him. She held the amulet even tighter in her trembling fist.

  “You can’t stay there – who knows when they’ll come back. We’ll meet halfway from my place. Tell me everything then. Take Train 101. I’ll be waiting for you at Jonil Station.”

  Sowon nodded, forgetting that Joonmyeon would be unable to see it. Then she grabbed a few of her intact belongings and all the money she could find into a small pack and dashed out of the house. As she ran into the driveway, she took one look back. The house was a mess – it looked like a fire or a bulldozer had taken a huge bite out it. The roof was slanted, as if the impact of the explosion had significantly weakened it. If she stayed much longer, she might be buried inside. This was the home she had lived in for nearly ten years…… She steeled herself and looked away, knowing that she may never return.

  Sowon reached the train station nearest to her house, which was a good five miles away from her old house. She stopped abruptly in front of the ticket booth, nearly losing her momentum. Waiting a few seconds to catch her breath, she glanced where she assumed was west; the sun had dipped into the horizon. Hurriedly, she shoved a few coins towards the old man behind the ticket counter. “Fastest ticket to Jonil, please. Do you know how long it takes to reach the station?” she asked, breathlessly.

“Two to three hours. It’ll be well after sundown when you reach Jonil. The next train is set to leave in ten minutes; you’d better hurry,” the man said gruffly, handing the girl the ticket.

Well after sundown…… Sowon suppressed a shiver. She never liked the dark. What if she met the men late at night? No, it would be alright if she just stayed on the train until she reached Jonil Station. There, Joonmyeon would be waiting for her. He’ll protect her, just like a big brother. And he’ll know what to do about Chaewon.

As soon as she received the ticket, she scurried onto the platform. Train 101 was right before her eyes. It seemed to be the shortest train in the station. Trying to ignore the sparse crowd around her, she leaped onboard.

“Ticket, miss?” A tall, lean man wearing sunglasses grabbed her arm, startling her. A chill ran up her spine. She turned to the man – he was wearing a conductor suit. Sowon stared at his sunglasses, which were tinted so darkly that she was unable to read the expression in his eyes. They eerily reminded her of the men, although the conductor wasn’t as burly. She bit her lip – she was becoming hypersensitive.

Wordlessly, she handed her ticket to the man. He smoothly punched a hole into it and motioned for her to enter the passenger compartments.

Sowon slid into a window seat near the front, where the conductor would be unable to see her and she would be unable to see him likewise. She the amulet nervously, and then tucked it into her shirt. It was just two to three hours, and the walk to the station had nearly taken that long. ‘It’ll be alright,’ Sowon thought, continuously trying to calm her racing heart.

The train started in a few minutes. As it picked up speed, the girl closed her eyes, weariness settling in. Only two to three hours……

 Sowon woke up with a start. Something was wrong – everything was strangely still. The train had lurched to a stop. She had no clue how much time had passed since she had fallen into a light sleep. The jolt from the stop must have awoken her. She sat up straight, looking wildly around her. A few passengers around her were murmuring amongst themselves in a worried tone.

“I’m sorry. There is slight trouble in the engine, but it is minor. We will be on our way in a few minutes. Do not panic.” A voice crackled over the loudspeaker.

Just a little incident. It was nothing to worry about. That was what Sowon hoped.

She turned to look out the window. It was pitch black outside. She shivered – she really did not like the dark.

As if to jinx her, the lights in the train suddenly flickered and went off. There was no difference from the inside of the train and the outside. Sowon could barely see a few inches in front of her face. A shriek pierced the darkness, momentarily scaring her; it was probably from one of the few passengers inside.

Sowon shrank back into her seat, willing herself to be folded into the cushions. She could feel goosebumps forming on her arms. She should just stay quiet and still.

A rough hand suddenly grabbed her shoulder. She froze, too shocked to even scream. A force pulled her upwards from her seat, dangling her with her arm held above her by a vice grip. She heard the sound of broken glass from beside her. A few shards of glass grazed her face, enough to sting. She felt herself being lifted by her waist, and then she was thrown into the open air. Sowon hit the ground hard on her back.

The explosion that had slammed her against the wall of her house was nothing compared to this. The pain in her back was so severe that she felt nothing at all, as if she were floating on air. She felt like she couldn’t breathe. Later, she would wonder if that was how it felt to be struck by lightning. The impact left her still, unable to move the slightest. She fought to bring oxygen into her lungs. Her sight swam, her mind blanked, her eyelids fluttered close.

No, she couldn’t afford to pass out right now; she had to reach Joonmyeon. Sowon slowly opened her eyes. She was in a pit a couple of feet tall. Above her, a dark-shaped, tall figure towered. The crescent moon peeked from behind a cloud behind the figure, giving off some dim light yet keeping the person’s face in the darkness.

Who was this person? The shape didn’t seem to be one of the burly men who came and took her sister away. It couldn’t be Joonmyeon… Joonmyeon wouldn’t be silently staring at her, saying nothing.

Sowon tried to sit up, ignoring the wave of pain that racked her body. Her body felt like a battered shell from all the mistreatment it took today. “Wh-who are you?”

The figure said nothing, but reached out towards her. Sowon flinched. The figure did not touch her, but had his hand stay outstretched a few inches away from her, as if offering her a hand to get up.

“Come.” The voice was deep, masculine. It wasn’t Joonmyeon’s, but the voice of a man she had never met before.

Sowon hesitated. Before she could do anything else, a bright, blue light pierced the darkness. It looked like a fireball. It sizzled through the air and disappeared with a poof beside her. From the short time of light, she could deduct that the tall figure wore a mask on his face, making her unable to detect his facial features.

“Sowon!” The girl heard a clear, familiar voice from several feet away.

“Joonmyeon!” Sowon shouted. She tried to scramble away from the stranger, yet met the edge of the pit.

“Sowon!” Joonmyeon’s voice faded as a bunch of blue flames rose from the ground, surrounding Sowon. The heat of it startled her, but she was unable to move. Squinting, for tears brought on by the heat clouding her vision, she could see red fire blazing behind the blue flames. The flames were so close that she could’ve touched them if she outstretched a hand. She curled up into a ball, trying to prevent her skin or clothes from being scorched.

After what seemed like several minutes, the blue flames subsided along with the red ones, leaving the surroundings to go back into darkness. Sowon’s eyes were blinded, and it took a while to get accustomed to the darkness again. She blinked. In front of her, instead of the tall dark figure, was the outline of Joonmyeon. A blinding silvery-white mark on his right cheek shined in the darkness.

“Sowon!” The boy rushed over and hugged Sowon. Relieved, the girl put her own arms around her old friend.

“Joonmyeon! Who was that person?” she whispered.

Joonmyeon froze, and then gently backed away from her, enough to see her face stricken with fear and worry. “I’ll tell you later, I promise. Now we should go to my place.”

He flashed her a comforting smile. Despite the adrenaline and fear running in her veins due to the shock of the day’s incidents, at that very moment, Sowon felt like everything was going to be okay. A strange feeling of warmth spread in her chest.

The boy gently but firmly pulled Sowon up to her feet. She wobbled for a bit, and then slowly walked with him for a few yards, with his arm under her to support her. Nothing in her body seemed to be broken, but everything seemed so painful.

Sowon chanced to look behind her. What she saw would’ve made her collapse onto her knees if her friend hadn’t been there supporting her up. The small train she had been in a few minutes ago was overturned and covered in red flames.

“What… what happened?” Sowon gasped.

“It’s his fault.” Joonmyeon’s voice was grim. He didn’t stop half-dragging Sowon forward.

“How about the passengers?” A sense of dread filled her and she already knew the answer before he told her.

“There isn’t anything we can help them now.” The sight of the burning train behind Sowon’s made her mind go numb. The dread turned into horror. So this was the work of the Masked Man?

Joonmyeon’s motorcycle was lying on the ground in front of them. He pulled it up and then turned to her. “Ride behind me.” He slung one leg over the motorcycle. Sowon uncertainly lifted her leg likewise, and then cried out in pain. The boy jumped out of his seat to help the girl, but she gritted her teeth and managed to get on the motorcycle by herself.

Joonmyeon started the motorcycle with a low roar. “Put your arms tightly around me or you’ll fall off,” he cried over the sound of the engine. Sowon hesitated, and then complied. The warmth of his back comforted her.

“How did you know…?” she asked. She had lifted her voice over the sound of the wind rushing against them as the motorcycle sped on. She realized that her teeth were chattering, yet she didn’t know if it was because of the icy night wind or what she had just seen.

“I had a premonition, so I decided to meet you on the train halfway since I reached Jonil Station so early. I would’ve made you jump off the train midway and onto my bike. But then I saw the train stop and…” Joonmyeon’s voice faded, and Sowon could feel him stiffen. “That guy appeared.”

He was talking about the Masked Man, who obviously was an ominous presence, judging from Joonmyeon's reaction. Sowon involuntarily tightened her arms around Joonmyeon. What did that man want from her? Was he evil, considering that he had disposed of the train in the worst way possible? Why did he want her to go with him? Was he related to the men who took her sister?

“It’s alright.” She heard her friend's voice over the wind. “You’re going to be safe.” Sowon knew that the same didn’t apply for her sister.

The motorcycle sped on in the middle of the night into the pitch black ahead.

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