Glancing around the office one last time to make sure it was empty, Haneul flicked the light switch and watched the office disappear into darkness. She clutched her handbag close to her stomach as she made her way to the desk at reception, turning lights off as she went. The only person still in the building was the security officer, who already had his feet up on the desk, eating doughnuts from the packet noisily.

“Night,” Haneul smiled. “Have a good one.”

“You too, lovely,” the security officer smiled. Haneul was one of those people who could brighten someone's day in a matter of seconds, but once you gave her someone who was upset or in distress, would be completely lost. Her heels clicked along the pavement as she walked the few blocks home. She'd chosen her new apartment because of the short commute. A fog was descending over the city, and Haneul pulled her coat tighter around herself as the wind tried to chill her to the bone.

Haneul was only a block away from home when she heard something very strange. Howls, in the distance. Having lived in the city all her life, she couldn't even identify what creature the noises could be coming from, but something told her these creatures were not to be messed with. She quickened her pace as the howls got louder. Maybe they weren't getting louder, maybe her ears were tuning themselves to the howls. Either way, she was nearly running by the time she finally reached her apartment block. She gladly let herself in the front door and calmly walked up the stairs until she arrived at her own front door, four floors up. She let herself into her apartment and slammed the door behind her, locking it, then checking it, then pulling the chain across. Only when that was done did she turn the light on.

She almost expected the creatures to be waiting for her in her apartment, but all she saw were the usual pieces of furniture in their usual places. Haneul let out a sigh of relief before asking herself how she could be so jumpy. She was perfectly safe here.

Settling down a few hours later after a meal and a hot shower, Haneul curled up on her sofa with a steaming mug of hot chocolate and the TV remote in her hand. She began flicking through the channels and sipping her hot chocolate until she finally found something decent to watch. It was a show she had watched as a teenager, about werewolves and vampires, as well as wizards and faeries. Haneul smiled to herself and was just about to sip her hot chocolate again when she heard a howl again. There was no mistaking it; this one was definitely closer than it had been earlier. Without missing a beat, Haneul turned the TV off and ran to her bedroom, leaving the still steaming mug on the countertop in the kitchen. She jumped into bed and covered herself with her duvets, regretting moving away from her parents. They'd know what to do. Haneul was only just 25; she'd graduated from university with a degree in accounting, and that was what she spent all her time doing. It was a well paid job, and luckily Haneul enjoyed maths, but it was so repetitive. The same calculations, day in, day out. Haneul craved something new in her life- just not something like those creatures. As she hid under the covers, Haneul was sure she'd never sleep, but around midnight, sleep pulled her under and she slept soundly until her alarm went off the next morning.

“Morning!” Haneul smiled brightly at the receptionist as she entered the building her office was located in, holding a rapidly cooling cup of coffee in one hand, her handbag on the other arm.

“Morning,” the receptionist smiled. “Cold today, isn't it?”
“Freezing!” Haneul laughed. She never failed to have a conversation with the people the public usually ignored. When she was at university she worked as a waitress, and she knew how it felt to only be talked to when people wanted things. “Let's hope for snow soon!”

“I've been hoping for snow since I came back on Monday morning,” the receptionist laughed.

“Haven't we all,” Haneul smiled, before giving a small wave and carrying on to her office.

Haneul took her seat at the table she shared with a young man called Sehyuk. He was serious and organised when he needed to be, but had a great sense of humour, which made work bearable for Haneul. He was already seated when Haneul opened the door, and she closed it quietly, dropping her bag on the floor and setting down her coffee on the table.

“Morning,” Haneul sighed, unwrapping her scarf from around her neck and pulling her coat off, hanging them both on the hook on the back of the door.

“Good morning,” Sehyuk smiled. “You look cold.”
“I don't know if you noticed, Sehyuk,” Haneul said, “But it is cold.”
“You got me there,” Sehyuk chuckled, turning his eyes back to his computer screen.

“Anything interesting today?” Haneul asked, sifting through the paperwork that had been placed on the desk between them.

“Nope. Same stuff as yesterday,” Sehyuk shook his head, still looking at the screen and typing rapidly.

“Better get started, then,” Haneul said, more to herself than Sehyuk, and settled into her chair.

A few hours passed in silence; the only sound being Haneul and Sehyuk's keyboards and the occasional door slamming somewhere in the building. The hours stretched by painfully slowly; but Haneul carried on working diligently. After what felt like days, Haneul glanced up at the clock and realised it was finally their lunch break. She pushed her chair back and picked up her purse in record time, and waited for Sehyuk to realise.

“One... Second... Let me... Finish this...” Sehyuk said in short bursts, concentrating immensely hard on his work. “Done. Let's go.”

Haneul picked up a sandwich, a bag of crisps, a chocolate bar and a bottle of water as they moved through the office canteen. Her reasoning was that the water would counteract the unhealthy crisps and chocolate, and Sehyuk just laughed while shaking his head. He had picked up a salad, and Haneul watched him eat the limp leaves despairingly.

“Sehyuk. Give up. Just get some crisps,” Haneul said finally.

Sehyuk shook his head. “I want to stay healthy.”
“Loser,” Haneul whispered, earning a playful punch from Sehyuk. Unfortunately, that was all they had time to talk about, because the clock struck two and they had to return to their desks.

The rest of the day passed quicker than the morning, but still slowly. Finally, lights outside the office started coming on as darkness fell, and Haneul took that as her cue to leave. She shut down her computer and filed everything away carefully before pulling on her coat and scarf.

“I'll see you tomorrow, then,” she smiled at Sehyuk, who was staying late that night, instead of her.

“Have a good night,” Sehyuk sighed. “I won't be.”

“You'll be fine,” Haneul assured him. “Bye, Sehyuk.”

“Bye, Haneul.”

Haneul bid goodbye to the receptionist and walked briskly out of the door into the chilly November air. She had made it halfway home when she heard the howls again. Hoping desperately that it was her tired imagination playing tricks on her again, she sped up a little, but didn't run. She was nearly three quarters of the way home when she heard another howl. Last night they had seemed far away, but now they seemed too close for comfort. Giving up on staying calm, Haneul pulled off her heels and ran the rest of the way back to her apartment, not stopping until she had locked the door behind her and pulled the chain across. She decided to ask Sehyuk tomorrow if he'd heard the howls.