Winter had come in South Korea, snow covering the street but there were a lot of passersby, warm laughters filled the air. Everyone was celebrating Christmas, a great time to be with your family and welcome the new year. However, in contrast with the holiday atmosphere, this hidden alley consisted of many homeless and drug addicts, smoking between themselves.

"Splash!"

In the middle of the smoke, they looked for the source of intrusion. There the newcomer stood at about 5'7 feet tall, only wearing faded skinny jeans and a black long sleeved dress shirt despite the freezing temperature. The person's face is hidden behind the bill of their cap, long dark hair flowed behind their back. 

- It's a girl.

They whispered among each other, sly grin made its way onto faces due to the excitement as it had been forever since they last saw any female around the corner.

- Where ya going babe? ~ - A disheveled long hair man, cigarette in his mouth, asked.

- Wearing such thin clothes in this weather, ya not cold? - Another ert boldly approached her. - Come here, I'll warm you up ~

He was about to throw her cap away but she avoided his advance with ease.Then, she calmly took out a white business card from her backpack with only the text printed in black visible: Darkness

- Know this? - Her voice was soft yet frosty.

The long haired male squinted to get a closer look at the card, surprised when he saw the phrase.

- How did you get this?

- Just answer.

- Feisty ~ - A guy stood and smirked at her. - I heard it's a underground guild. Ya know, for the fools who believe in magic and all those ridiculous stuffs?

- Many talk about them but no one knows the details. The government can't do anything because there's no proof.

- Their members are very secretive, a bunch of weirdos!

- Did you buy this at the market or receive it from someone? - The long haired man spoke up. - Maybe you're also crazy like them? Haha!!

The gang broke into laughter then resumed with their teasings.

- Anyway, ya should join us. We have cigarettes to spare ~ 

- Where is that guild? - She remained as cold as ever.

- Gawd, this chick is crazy!

- Who knows? The rumours have it that lots of them are scattered around area A.

- Right. Thanks. - Her head slightly lowered. Seemed like her Korean wasn't that good, a foreigner perhaps?

- Who said you can go?~ - One of them pulled the girl's arm then roughly pushed her against a wall, the rest stood around to block all escape routes. - Let's see how you look like.

He quickly threw her cap away to reveal an incredibly stunning beauty, perfect facial features make her look like something straight out of a painting.

- Wow...

- So pretty...

The murmurs soon died down and replaced by sinister guffaws.

- Let me go, or else.

- Haha, how cute~~

- Babe, it's your fault for wandering into our territory~

The long haired male trapped her between his filthy hands. He bared his brown teeth at her, the stinky smell from his mouth was unbearably disgusting. He dove in, wanting to have a taste of her graceful pale neck behind the thin cloth of her black shirt.

"Drip...drip..."

On the white snow carpet, drops of red appeared. He halted his movement, feeling the pain coursed through his body. He screamed his lungs out, seeing how his nose tip and chin were pierced through by cold, sharp objects, blood trickled down.

Their eyes widened in horror, looking back at the girl. If what they'd just witnessed was real, then those things were produced from her neck. Transparent, frosty, sharp icicles.

- ! HOW DARE YOU... - A big guy lunged at her, lifting her off the ground by the neck.

The most frightening thing, however, is the fact that she could keep a straight face during the entire process, even when her source of oxygen was cut off, without any trace of fear.

- Release me.

- , ya think ya good? - He roared and threw a strong punch at her face.

"Crack..."

Any normal human being, with the sheer force of his power and speed, would have fallen to the ground. Too bad, she wasn't just any normal human being. Right when his fist was 2 cm away from her face, a thick layer of ice suddenly materialized out of her cheekbones to block the hit, preventing her from getting hurt.

- ARGH!! - He dropped her, staggering back and cried out, bracing his swollen hand. -You monster.. Monster...

The rest realized how dangerous this girl really was hastily scurried away. The sound of footsteps gradually faded out. The lass stood there, leaning on the wall unperturbed. After those thugs completely disappeared from view, she picked up and dusted off her cap then wore it again.

- Cowards.

With backpack on her shoulder, she slowly left the alley to go back to the busy street of Seoul. It wasn't completely useless after all, at least she was able to gather some information that even the cops might haven't gotten. If what they said was true then now she just have to travel to area A and continue her search there.

The old watch on her wrist made a "ting" sound, its shorthand pointing at 11.

It was already noon but she hadn't eaten anything. The journey to South Korea was long, not to mention that she had to use her energy to handle those thugs. She'd need to find something for her empty stomach.

The girl stopped at a small noodle house, the delicious aroma of food filled the air. It was a Japanese restaurant, judging from the characters on the sign outside.

- Konbanwa~ How can I help you? - A young male smiled brightly upon seeing her. - You can pick your items here ~ - He pointed at menu, completed with picture and price of each dish. 

Due to her limited Korean and nonexistent knowledge of Japanese, the lass could only guess the quality based on the these tasty-looking pictures.

- This.

- Sure! - The worker's eyes followed her finger and gladly entered