Night life.

Bars, clubs and all things crazy that happen only after sundown all over the world; the classy businessmen turning to drunken bastards, the preppy and classy to wild kids looking for one-night stands, and the sad, discontented husbands into cheap and cheating sleaze balls.

They are people with no direction, with no principles, just looking for a moment’s fun away from their humdrum lives. Pathetic? yes.

These were the kind of people that the 19-yr old Han Jieun gets to meet on a daily basis, not that she’s got a choice. Orphaned at the age of 1, she lived her life at the orphanage until she was adopted when she was 5. Unfortunately, it was only the husband that wanted to adopt, the wife not. When the husband died 3 years after she got adopted the newly widowed woman start beating her whenever she did something wrong.

Jieun didn’t want to leave her adoptive mother as she promised her late adoptive father that she wouldn’t leave her. Being the kind-hearted child that she is she endured everything that her mother would do to her; every insult hurled at her became an everyday ritual. The beating became a common occurrence. Neighbors knew what went on behind the closed doors of their house and treated Jieun nicely. They tried telling her they’d take her in but always she’d refuse.

One day something happened that was the last straw for everyone in the neighborhood. She was 15 and Jieun’s mother got drunk. Jieun was already asleep, thus failing to answer her mother’s call. She got infuriated at her unwanted daughter and started beating her again. When she finally dragged the sobbing girl out to the front yard she hurled a bottle to Jieun’s head. A huge gash appeared on the side of her temple to the apple of her cheeks blood oozing nonstop.

Neighbors rushed to the scene and stopped Jieun’s mother from doing anything more and called the cops.

Her mother was taken away and a neighbor offered to take her in. the scar on her temple was a reminder to her that not everything in the world has a happy ending or a happy start.

            “Jieun-ah, take this to table 5.” Lee Won the bartender handed her 5 beers and set it on a tray.

            “I got it.” She slightly shook her hair down to cover the scar the marred her beautiful face. She took the tray and eased it up.

            “be careful, Jieun, I don’t like the way those 3 guys are looking at you.” Lee Won added in a whisper sneaking a glance at 3 burly men on table 5. He had already noticed those three from 3 days ago and, like then, they were eyeing Jieun like she was a piece of tasty meat.

            “don’t worry, oppa, I will.” She gave him a small smile and walked towards the table.

The men leered at her as she set their beers on the table.

            “hey, why don’t you join us? There’s still room on this table.” The one with the loose slurred as he was already tipsy. JIeun hugged the tray and bowed in apology.

            “I’m sorry, sir, but servers are not allowed to mingle with patrons.” She bowed again and turned to leave.

But before she could walk away she felt one of the men pinched her backside and she flinched and shut her eyes as if willing everything to stop. She dropped her head and hurriedly walked away.

            “Jieun-ah, I saw what happened, are you ok?” the bar owner Nayoung stopped her on her way to the kitchen.

            “yes, unnie I’m ok.” She said and set the tray back down and walked away.

Nayoung felt bad for her. She didn’t want to give the job to her at first but Jieun convinced her. She moved out of the neighbor who took her in when she was 18 and now she was living by herself. But having gifted with beauty, she became a magnet for the sleaziest men out there as if having to go to 3 jobs wasn’t enough.

            “I really feel bad for the kid.” Nayoung heard LeeWon from behind her. Nayoung sighed.

            “I do too. She’s a good kid, cheerful at the best of times but really, she doesn’t need to be here.” She said staring at Jieun taking orders from a group of college boys with their companions for the night.

            “I heard she went to the orphanage where she was sent. What did she find out?” LeeWon asked while mixing a bloody mary cocktail to a woman who was eyeing him seductively.           

            “nothing much. They just said she was found at a park and nothing else. Her wrappings had her name on it. No details about her parents whatsoever.” She sighed again and left towards the kitchen.

LeeWon sighed and handed the drink to the woman returning her smile lazily. He caught a glance at Jieun and wished her to get the life she deserves.

Jieun’s shift ended at 1 am. She stretched and packed her things as her replacement arrived. She bid her co-workers goodbye before exiting through the back door that led to an alley, away from the rowdy crowd on the main sidewalk.

She walked towards the deeper part of the alley which was a short cut to her apartment. The only source of light was from a dim lightbulb from the backdoor of a restaurant. The deeper she walked into the alley, the darker it got. She always walked faster whenever she reached this part being a girl and alone, she’d be defenseless if she’s going to be attacked.

No sooner as started her brisk walk when 3 silhouettes stopped her in her tracks. She squinted as 3 men started walking towards her.

Her heart pounded like drums, it felt like it was about to jump out of her chest. Her breath heavy she felt her legs moving heavily backwards. It was those men from the bar.

            “I still wasn’t over the rejection you gave me earlier.” The man slurred moving towards her.

She turned to run but the men got her after a few steps. They threw her to the wall and grabbed her wrists tightly and she squealed in pain. A hand clamped on to prevent her from screaming. They closed in on her now smelling her hair and neck. She squirmed when she felt a hand feeling her leg.

            “I’ll go first! She’s mine!” the one who clamped said gruffly and by the faint light from the moon she could see the man’s disgusting grin.

Jieun started thrashing wildly but it was all in vain as the men were all bigger than she was. She tried to shout but all that got out of her was a muffled cry. Tears were now falling on her cheeks. She didn’t have a good life growing up and now she’d have to face her end like this. On a dark, dirty alley, at the hands of good-for-nothing men.

One of the men hit her hard on the stomach and it winded her and a hard slap to her face made her dazed. She could no longer stand properly and was standing limply. If the men holding her arms were to let go, she’d fall into a crumpled heap for sure.

            “that’s a good girl.” One of the men said. She was sure it was the same man who pinched her back at the bar.

            “hurry up! So we can have our turn!” the one on her right barked.

And no sooner as the words left him she felt the man kissing her neck and felt her body. She squirmed but it did nothing. She screamed but got a hand on to again.

She felt all hope evaporate from her and felt that she should just accept her fate; that this would be her end. Just when the man was about to tear off her blouse he stopped abruptly with a yell.

            “ow! ! Who hit me!?” she opened her eyes weakly at the man defiling her. From his silhouette she could see he was holding the back of his head and stared blankly around.

Another clatter of a can and it hit him square in the face.

            “ you! Show your face you coward!” he shouted in rage. The men holding Jieun let go to face the unknown attacker. She fell onto the ground her legs shaking badly.

            “oh, coward am I?” a boy’s playful voice echoed throughout the dark alley. “I don’t know about that. Three men against one girl? Tsk! I don’t think I’m the coward here.”

Jieun followed the sound of the voice and looked up.

From the faint light she saw a boy crouching from one of the abandoned building’s window; the one right in front of them. He had a naughty glint in his eyes and his smirk says he didn’t care what the men might do to him. When he met Jieun’s eyes he puffed his already puffy cheeks and motioned a finger to his mouth as if to tell her not to say anything. She nodded weakly and he smiled. He pointed to a dark corner to her left and looked at it.

she followed his gaze and saw another silhouette of tall man leaning his back against the wall with his arms crossed. Nothing could make her recognize his as he was engulfed in darkness. She looked up at the boy again and saw him wink.

            “I’d get away from her if I were you.” the boy said standing up confidently and motioned to Jieun to go.

She started crawling away but one man grabbed her by the hair and hit her again.

            “ok that’s it.” The boy jumped off the window ledge and landed right in front of the men. He was obviously half a head shorter but his confidence didn’t waver.

The 3 men finally saw him and burst in laughter seeing the boy who just threatened them.

            “go away, kid and mind your business.” The man from the left said putting his hand on top of the boy’s head to push him away.

The boy’s playful grin vanished to be replaced by a nasty smirk. He grabbed the man’s hand from his head and twisted it making the man scream in pain.

            “why you little-!” the other man started towards him and the boys kicked him straight to his stomach and the man stumbled backwards.

Jieun looked up searching for that other person he saw but he wasn’t there anymore. Taking the chance she started crawling again but the pain in her stomach made it impossible for her to move for more than a few feet.

She heard scuffles and grunts of pain from the fight, she couldn’t even tell who was winning now but she did hope the boys would be all right.

A soft hand suddenly landed on her shoulder and she recoiled, afraid that it was one of the men.

            “hey…hey… don’t be afraid, I’m not going to hurt you.” The voice wasn’t from the one she heard earlier. She opened her eyes and looked up.

A boy with doe-like eyes was staring kindly down at her. His golden hair almost reached his eyes, which formed into half crescents as he smiled when he met her gaze. He looked like someone you could trust in an instant. She felt warmth from his gaze and boyish smile.

            “who…who are you?” Jieun stuttered trying to inch away from him.

            “not really important now. But we have to get you out of here.” He said and looked back to see what’s happening. “can you stand?”

            “I don’t think so.” She replied trying to heave herself up.

            “take my hand.” The boy said offering her his hand. She took it and slowly moved up. For a not so muscular boy he was strong. She could see that her weight didn’t even make a difference to him like she was just a sheet of paper.

            “may I?” he gestured to put an arm around her waist and she nodded. The boy then supported her up.

Jieun’s eyes fell on the 3 men who were on the ground, 2 of who were knocked out, all beaten up pretty badly while the puffy-cheeked boy was cracking his knuckles at them.

            “call you sister will you? Jieun needs tending to.” The boy supporting her said.

            “why? If I call her we’ll get caught. We’re not supposed to get seen after all.” He replied shoving his hands into his jacket pockets.

            “we’ll explain it to them later, we’ve got no choice but to do this. They know we can’t work healing spells.”

Spells? The word rang into Jieun’s mind. She thought she was either imagining it or she was just saved by a couple of crazy people.

            “but, the Council will bite our heads off! Leeteuk-hyung will-!” the boy called Xiumin ranted in a panic.

            “duizhang?” the doe-eyed boy said looking at someone from behind me.

Jieun heard footsteps walking towards her. She didn’t have any strength to look up but from the legs she saw appear in front of her she knew this was the person she saw leaning against the wall earlier. She forced herself to look up and met the piercing gaze of the tall man with golden hair. His stare scared the wits out of her but she couldn’t help admire the sharp contours of his face his hair just perfectly placed over his left eye.

This man studied her face, his expression unchanging.

            “call her.” He said in a low, gruff voice.

            “but duizhang, what about-?” Xiumin started to oppose again but was cut off.

            “I’ll take the blame. Call your sister.” He said in an authoritative voice and the boy ran off.

One of the men got hold of a broken bottle and started towards the person called duizhang. Jieun opened to warn him but he didn’t need it. As soon as the man was in the right distance he raised his arm so quick it was like a blur and elbowed the man. By the sound of the crack Jieun was sure his nose was broken and he was unconscious.

A few seconds later a blinding light lit the alley, Jieun squinted not being able to see properly. As the light dimmed she saw a pixie-like girl with an expression that told everyone she was not happy.

            “what have you gotten yourselves into? Your job was to guard not to interact.” Her high-pitched voice whipped at them and the puffy-cheeked boy flinched and sank back.

            “I know what our mission is, noona, but we just can’t just stay back and watch.” The doe-eyed boy reasoned. Jieun stirred from his grip and all eyes were on her.

            “who…who are you…people?” Jieun asked feebly looking at the girl that just appeared. At once the girl’s expression changed from anger to genuine concern.

            “we should get her out of here first.” She said cupping Jieun’s face in her hand. “do you know where she lives?” she looked up and asked the tall man.

            “yes.”

            “alright. Take my hand.” Jieun assumed that he did as he was told coz it became quiet until the blinding light was back again.

            “get in everyone.” The girl said.

            “I’m sorry about this.” The boy supporting Jieun said before picking her up off the floor and started walking. She thought she was about to be taken to a hospital so she was quite happy.

She looked up as soon as the light faded but she wasn’t at a hospital. She was in her room; in her apartment. The lamp on her desk was switched on and the one carrying her set her down on her bed. She had no idea how she got there so quickly or how these people knew where she lived but at that moment she didn’t care. All she cared was the fact that she was in the safety of her home.

The three boys now lined the side of her bed; her barely opened eyes landed on the doe-eyes boy who carried her just now. With brighter lighting she could see his face clearly now and his boyish looks were focused into sharper view.

He gave her the smile he gave her earlier and it gave her comfort. The puffy boy from beside him had black spiky hair he smirked and winked at her; his black leather jacket made him look like the neighborhood thug more than anything else. Her gaze moved on in search of the tall man with the scary eyes. She saw him leaning on the wall beside the doe-eyed boy, his hands tucked in his long trench coat. But before her eyes could land on his face the girl from before stood in front of her.

            “now, stay still, this will only take a second.” The girl said rolling up the sleeves of her cream sweater.

Jieun thought she wouldn’t let her refuse anyway so she just let her be.

The girl put a hand on her forehead and closed her eyes, instant warmth radiated from her forehead and it spread like a blanket throughout her body. The pain that throbbed in her stomach slowly ebbed away, the stinging on her face faded. Now she just felt like being tired after a long day of running, her legs and body felt heavy and her eyes droopy.

She heard the girl let out a deep sigh and took her hand from her forehead. She started dozing off now and was barely listening to the strangers’ conversation.

            “she’ll be ok now.”

            “great! So can we go home now? I’m so hungry I could drink a case of blood!” said the guy Jieun assumed as the puffy-cheeked boy.

But the word ‘blood’ rang in her ears. Did she really hear him right?

            “you and your appetite. Hyorin just bottled up some blood, you can ask her.” The girl said dryly as the boy did a whooping gesture.

            “noona, can you do something with her memory?” the kind voice of the other boy said.

            “no, I am a healer and it takes a greater spell to do it, I might make it worse if I try.” she said flatly. “of course if you wanted her memory gone too you could’ve asked SaeMi unnie.”

            “but if we asked her, Heechul hyung would definitely find out and then it would kind of snowball.” Said the hungry boy.

            “oh fine! Let’s just go home and get this over with. But I’m telling you the Council might already know what happened. Sora unnie is gifted with knowing about things that are happening.”

            “ugh! There goes our necks then.” The boy groaned. “no pun intended.”

Jieun got even more and more confused at where the conversation was leading and decided to reopen her heavy eyes and saw the glow of an oval opening, like a huge mirror with silver wave-like swirls. She saw the girl and the smirking boy stepped and disappeared through it. The doe-eyed boy saw her looking and smiled kindly at her.

            “when the right time comes, we’ll see each other again.” He said and stepped through the portal.

Lastly, the tall man started to walk towards the portal. With her weak hand, she reached up and caught the sleeve of his coat. He looked down at her with the same poker face he had worn at the alleyway, but that didn’t keep her from admiring his face.

            “can you…tell me your…name?” she asked sleepily and her hand dropped.

The man sighed. Picked up her hand and put it on top of her stomach. He pulled the blanket with one hand and carelessly put it over her. He turned his back again and started towards the fading portal.

            “your…name!” she tried to shout but her voice cracked.

            “Yi Fan.” It was all he said before he disappeared into the portal.

Jieun did not know whether she was dreaming the whole time or if she was beaten up so badly that she was having delusions of strange people. But one thing is for sure; she’d rather have the delusions and escape her nightmares than be back to the hellhole that is her life.