It was dark by the time their car rolled to a stop where Ningning and Giselle had said Park Jiho would be, and it was made darker still by the thick of trees surrounding them. The only light came from the pale glow of the moon and the lights of the car, and even then they didn’t illuminate anything. The lights just shone bright and hot, catching the occasional silhouette of a moth when one flitted by. No matter their uselessness, Karina noted Winter seemed very reluctant to let the lights go out as she turned off the car.

“I think we’re here,” Winter said, glancing around nervously. “It definitely seems like the sort of place a murderer would live.”

Karina knew what she meant. They were quite a way out of Seoul and it looked like they had driven into a horror movie. It was unnerving. No, that wasn’t right. As much as she hated to use the word, the best way to describe it was spooky. “You still have those torches, right?”

“And I should have some spare batteries in the glove box,” nodded Winter. Karina felt around the car dash until she found a handle and pulled. From there she pulled a small Zip-loc bag of batteries. “Could I have a few?” 

Pocketing a couple, Karina handed the rest of the bag to Winter. “They’re your batteries,” she reminded Winter, who blushed. Karina sighed and nodded at the house whose silhouette somehow seemed starker than that of the surrounding trees. “Ready?”

“Yeah, Just—” Winter took a deep breath and nodded. “Yeah.” 

The trek from where Winter had parked to the house was the longest short walk of Karina’s life, and it was the longest of Winter's too, based on Winter’s constant glancing around and the look of fearful worry Karina saw whenever the torchlight caught her face. 

“Are you alright?” Karina asked after she’d jumped nearly half a foot in the air after a branch had snapped.

Winter smiled unconvincingly. “I’m fine. It’s just spoo—creepy here.”

Karina fought a fond smile at Winter catching the word before she used it. “Quite.” 

They reached the door, and Karina hesitated only briefly before knocking on the door. 

In an instant, the door was yanked violently open to reveal the broadest man Karina had ever seen. Some men looked like they'd been sculpted from marble, but Park Jiho looked sculpted from concrete: sturdy and firm, and twice as cold and unyielding. Despite only being a little taller than Karina, she seemed to glower down at the two of them. “Can I help you?”

Karina nervously adjusted her glasses, mostly to have something to do with her hands. “Actually Mr. Park Jiho, we’re here to help you.”

Park Jiho sighed. “Is this some sort of Missionary thing? Saving me with Jesus and all that nonsense?”

“I can assure you we are not missionaries. We’re from the Kwangya Institute.”

“We’re here about the werewolf,” chimed in Winter. “It’s...it’s going to strike soon. At that, Park Jiho blanched. He looked around at the dark of the woods with some of the most acute fear Karina had ever seen on someone’s face, especially someone who could so clearly handle themself. 

Park Jiho opened the door wider, letting the light from inside spill out in a golden wave, and gestured emphatically at them. “I…come in.” 

The home of Park Jiho looked like a hunter’s lodge threw up on an antique store. Wood-paneled walls, carpeted floors, roughly hewn tables covered in doilies, deer heads resting above uncomfortable looking lavender armchairs. Every time you turned your head, there was something new and garish to see. Karina wished she had more time to take the whole place in, maybe to study it and write a paper on what led someone to create such a place, but Park Jiho had started talking. With great effort, Karina forced herself to focus on his words.

“When my Suho…” Park Jiho was saying, pacing the length of a nearby poorly stained table, worrying his hands, “I had my suspicions, and then Kangmin too but...”

“Mr. Park Jiho, are you alright?” interrupted Karina.

Park Jiho whirled on her. “What do you ing think? I’m a dead man walking, and if you stick around, you two will be as well.”

“We’re not going anywhere,” Winter assured him. “We’re here to help.”

“How do you think you’re going to help, hm?” Park Jiho demanded. “Kangmin was the most terrifying person I’ve ever met. My Suho he...he was a force of nature too when he wanted to be. And now they’re dead. Ripped to shreds like they were made of paper. What can you do?” Park Jiho let out a bark of bitter laughter. “Have either of you even killed a person before?”

Winter took a step back, almost affronted. “What? No!”

Karina looked down, looked away, looked everywhere but at Winter. She couldn’t look at Winter right now. She should have had more time. “Yes,” she said in barely a whisper.

“Unnie?” Winter’s bow knitted in confusion. “What?”

Karina looked up and hoped she looked as apologetic as she felt. “I...I was going to tell you after the case, really I—”

“Unnie, who did you kill?”

“Look, Winter, I…” Karina ran a hand through her hair. “Lucas wasn’t going to let you out. And I couldn’t just let you die, I couldn't leave you in there, in that place. So I told Lucas to let you out. Then I demanded, and I begged, and when that didn’t work I offered myself. I told him to take me instead of you.”

“You what? ”

“But he said no,” Karina continued, trying to ignore the look on Winter’s face. “He wouldn’t let me take your place, but he...he said he’d take someone else. ‘A meal for a meal.’”

Winter’s face fell as realization dawned on her. “Ms. Kim Boyoung.”

Karina nodded slowly. “Yes. I didn’t know then who he was going to take but I believe so.” Winter was quiet, face inscrutable. She hated Karina, of course she did. Karina would hate Karina if she was in Winter's place. She hated herself enough now. She wished Winter didn’t though. And she wished that inscrutable look of what Karina could only guess was loathing and disgust didn’t hurt so much.

Park Jiho cleared his throat uncomfortably. “That’s all well and good, but that’s not the type of murder I was talking about. I’m talking about a weapon in hand watching the life bleed out of someone. And I take it neither of you has done that sort of thing.” Karina and Winter shook their heads. “Of course not. Then I don’t see what use you two will be. You should leave before it gets here.”

“We're not going anywhere," said Karina, tearing her eyes away from Winter and her unreadability. "Three heads are better than one. We stand more of a chance of getting you out of here alive if there are more of us than there are of it.”

“It won’t matter.”

“But it might,” Karina urged. “And I can’t let anyone else die.”

Park Jiho studied the pair of them for a moment. “You two really won’t go?” There was a resolute beat. “Fine. I don’t suppose either of you came with a plan?” Another beat, far more awkward. Park Jiho laughed again, and just as bitterly as before. “Excellent.”

Karina paused, and then took a step forward. “One of us should stay inside with Park Jiho—”

“Just Jiho, please,” Park Jiho said, holding a hand up. “If you insist on us dying together, we might as well be on a first-name basis.”

Winter smiled at Jiho and held out a hand he didn’t take. “Winter.”

Karina didn’t extend a hand or a smile. “Karina.”

“I kind of picked up on that while you were arguing,” said Jiho, an inkling of a grin tugging at the corners of his mouth.

Karina clapped her hands together. “Right. Well, like I was saying, one of us should probably stay inside with Jiho while the other keeps watch.”

“What happened to safety in numbers?” argued Jiho. 

“The werewolf isn’t hunting me or Winter, it’s hunting you. I doubt it will try and attack either of us unprovoked.” Karina took a deep breath before continuing, making extra sure not to look at Winter. “Even still, the person keeping watch will be in a lot of danger, and that’s why it’ll be me.”

“What?” Winter exclaimed at once. “No! Unnie! Don't be ridiculous.”

Karina kept her head down. “I’m not.”

“You are,” Winter snapped. “You’re throwing your life away for what? Some idiotic recompense? You’re not a killer unnie, and you certainly don’t deserve to die.” 

“That’s not what this is!” shouted Karina, finally meeting Winter’s gaze.

“What is it then?”

“I don’t want you to get hurt, Winter!”

Winter’s face sagged. “And you think I don’t want the same for you?” 

Karina bit her lip. “I…” They were quiet a moment before the silence was broken by a small chuckle from Jiho.

“What?” snapped Karina, glaring at him.

“Oh, nothing,” said Jiho, waving his hand at her. “Just memories. Go back to your lover's quarrel.”

“It’s not—” Karina sighed and turned her head back to Winter. “Winter I...you’re my partner. I can’t lose you, not when there’s something I can do to save you.”

“You’re not going to lose me, unnie,” breathed Winter, placing a hand on Karina's shoulder. When had they gotten close enough to each other to touch? Karina wasn’t complaining. A touch from Winter was always grounding. “And as for stopping me from getting hurt, we’re still fighting a werewolf. We’re going to get a little hurt no matter what we do. I’ll go outside.”

“Winter!”

“I’m not arguing this with you, unnie,” said Winter, giving her shoulder a squeeze. “We’re in danger either way, but I’m not going to let you kill yourself for me.”

Karina glared up at Winter. Winter was being stupid, she had to know that. Karina was...she was fine. Expendable. There were a million know—it—all pricks in the word, but not nearly enough people like Winter, kind and caring and understanding and soft. For Christ’s sake, she’d just learned Karina was a murderer and she was