Chapter one. New Moon. 

 

Most stories start with dangerous and y wolves with the innocent red riding hood running through the forest. This one though, has a humble opening with a fairly normal female, namely Reona, preparing to face the very first eventful day in all her life. 

 

As said, Reona lives in a humble house with her aunt, Kyungri, leading an ordinary, boring even, life.  Something in particular that stands out in the apartment would be … everything is really tidy and clean. Rubbish gets thrown out every morning. See, how can anything interesting happen when you live with your aunt who is basically a nanny ordered by your parents to keep a close, really close, eye on you?

 

Obviously, Reona thought so too.

 

There is this one detail that may be useful to us knowing about Reona. She is particularly fond of the night and she spends hours to look at the starry sky whenever she has the time to climb up the rooftop of the house. She has a moon calendar tracking cycles of the moon and a celestial design phone case.

 

Moving on, it was near the breaking of dawn. There was a knock on the front door. A rash and impatient one. Reona was still sound asleep, while her aunt, Kyungri had already risen and opened the door to reveal a raven with a letter in its beak.

 

“Thank you,” Kyungri mumbled, a soft yawn as she waved away the messenger and closed the door behind her.  Ravens do not visit often. Rarely die Kyungri get a letter with anonymous sender and delivering a letter through secret ways? It must be of confidential content so that even the old Jack at the post office was not to be trusted. 

 

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Kang Reona was a soft yet independent girl. Well, at least she considered herself as an independent lady that could take care of her lunches at work and not be followed by a nanny anywhere. Sadly, her parents thought otherwise. They sent Reona to aunt Kyungri’s workplace for a summer internship, hoping that her aunt would provide her with a safe and protected environment for their precious baby daughter to gain some experience.

 

“Now, now, look what we’ve got here!  A girl!”

 

Reona was honestly surprised. She had no idea there were workers aged under thirty working with her aunt. All her aunt ever told her about work was paperwork, decent office and work-life balance. Never in all her imagination could she possibly know that young handsome men exist in her aunt’s office.

 

Men in this department, are they all so stunning and equally as good looking as Adonis? She will be damned if her friends find out about the number of hot guys in here.

 

“Minhyuk…” Another guy with fiery red hair turned around swiftly in his chair, shaking his head while chuckling, looking amused, “you sound like you just gave birth.”

 

“You’re the mother hen.” The guy named Minhyuk simply retorted before retreating back to his work station.

 

“Don’t mind them, they are all a bit childish.  Couldn’t believe I actually endured two years working with these two,” another guy in suit and tie again, handsome as hell, approached her with an adorable eye smile.  He had a mug in hand, then extended the other to greet her, “nice to meet you, Kang Reona. I’m Jooheon. Ah, Changkhyun is absent today. And those two are Minhyuk and Kihyun.”

 

She did not anticipate such an interesting team and was pleasantly surprised by Aunt Kyungri’s choice.     

 

She disagreed to such an arrangement at first, for she was inexperienced and earning a job by using family ties does not sit well with her.  However, after her parents’ incessant nagging and even threatening to cut her allowance, she finally agreed.

 

She was about to return her greetings to Jooheon when another man in suit entered.  It was definitely a fashion show at this rate. 

 

It was hard to not notice this intruder.  The man who had just entered reeked of authority.  From his head to toe, he was neat and tidy. His rough dark eyes added to the air of superiority surrounding him.  In an instant, the whole room was silent and he was staring intently at her.

 

“Kang Reona, personally recommended by Lee Kyungri.” His voice deep and murky, and held certain emotion in it that she raised at an eyebrow at him, waiting impatiently for more.  He looked at her with furrowed eyebrows, his gaze concentrated on her and only her. She met his deep eyes for a second and immediately withdrew from it. It was too intense. 

 

Reona found herself drawn to him, her eyes traced his handsome features and she could not look away. There was a timid shade of pink crawling onto her cheeks but soon enough, she began to feel that he was judging her.  This was exactly why she did not want to come to her aunt’s office just to face this kind of humiliation. 

 

She bit on her lip frustrated and conflicted with the idea of fleeing like a coward that she is, but then he initiated a step towards her, and flashed her a tiny warm smile.  That alone gave her the assurance that she was welcomed to the team, even though he did not say it aloud.

 

“Here, sign your name, and you’ll be under my team for the summer.”

 

She did as she was told.  

 

Picking up the papers, she skimmed through it without paying it much attention.  This internship should be easy, easy as her aunt had assured her. And where her aunt worked, she assumed that it must be safe.  She could care less about the details of it, as long as she could get the job and get this summer internship over and done with.   

 

There was solely one reason why Reona agreed to take up this job. 

 

She loved playing detective.  And when she discovered that aunt Kyungri’s department was actually a branch from the police department, specialized in solving criminal cases, it sparked her interest.  There was this fire burning in her, the restless spirit that made her desperate to solve a case, even if it was only taking up a very tiny part of it.

 

Squinting at the extremely small fonts though, she had no desire to look closely at the terms and conditions of this job.

 

Reona’s gaze lingered over a few lines in italics, which mentioned something about life and death situations and she read it aloud, word by word. 

 

“The department would ensure a hundred percent of the employee’s safety inside every government department building.  While outside the complex, safety insurance would be guaranteed by the department if there are any injuries or death upon the employee.”

 

Odd. Reona was quiet for a whole minute and was about to ask him about it but he was only smiling at her blankly as if he was too busy staring at her rather than to answer her.  So she kept her questions to herself. 

 

“Yes, that is our policy,” he smoothly replied with a confident tone and a charming smile.  “The department is generous enough to even protect employees outside of the working environment.  So please take it as a gift.” 

 

It did not come across as a huge issue and she could not pinpoint what was making her feel uneasy.  So she merely nodded, returning to her silent mode which earned a small sigh from the man, and signed her name on the line in beautiful cursive.

 

“Minhyuk here will lead you through the procedures of your task and if you have any questions,” he paused and stared at her with a meaningful look before leaving her with a heart beating too fast for her own good, “come to me.  I’ll be in my office.”

 

“Goosebumps.” Kihyun stealthily reached Reona and whispered into her ear which earned him a smack on his arm.  Kihyun laughed out loud at her flustered look. Realizing what she just did, she mouthed a sorry and looked apologetic.

 

“I’m sorry, you just caught me off guard there,” Reona’s mind was still on the team leader who just disappeared into his own room. 

 

“It’s no big deal. Kihyun-Hyung is just showing you his way of getting a girl,” Jooheon winked at Reona and briefly commented, “which fails ten times out of ten.”

 

Reona chuckled at the bickering that ensued.  This was the working environment that she had been dreaming about.  Harmonious and friendly colleagues mean fun experiences so she thought that she would enjoy it a lot.  Even though she felt like an outsider observing them right now, she promised herself to get close with them soon.  She will definitely thank aunt Kyungri for this.

 

By the time they were getting into the serious working mode again, she made her way to Minhyuk and asked about her task.

 

“Oh, there isn’t much to do.  File the documents in order, and help out.  Just enjoy your time here and don’t worry about the work.  It is going to be easy.” He seemed to take note of the fact that it was Reona’s first time at an office.  Not that she was disappointed with the workload, she shouldn’t complain about his thoughtfulness. Reona bowed her head slightly and begin her work.

 

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Soon, Reona was on her way back to her apartment. 

 

She did enjoy her day at the office and she liked her teammates.  The filing was finished without even breaking a sweat, which meant that she spent most of her time getting used to the premise and chatting and observing others’ work.

 

She was a bit disappointed about her team leader, which she now knew his name as Shownu, not coming out even once to check on her.  He was an attractive man and obviously, she has taken a liking towards him. 

 

Turning the corner, she was almost home.  It was autumn and dull yellow leaves were drifting down the air which she found it as a soothing sight.  Smiling softly, the street lamps were slowly and it was only then that she noticed it was already nightfall.

 

As she entered the neighbourhood, she wondered about her new neighbour.  Rumour had it that it was a handsome young man. Luck seemed to be on her side if this was proved true.

 

Reona was strolling down the road, almost skipping in her steps as she imagined the comforts of her home and the food that awaits her.  Just then, she froze in her position. Her eyes went wide and her hands turned cold.

 

In front of her was an unknown creature lying almost lifeless at the doorsteps of her apartment.   It was too huge to be a dog and Reona cautiously took tiny steps towards it. The black-furred creature was whimpering, letting out soft and low moans.  There was blood seeping out of several wounds littered on its body. 

 

She knew not what to do.  Kneeling down in front of the big lump of fur, she recalled the minimal knowledge that she had from the training at the pet shop given by her friend and took a leap of faith, gently putting her hand on its head.  But this seemed to have frightened the creature for it immediately growled and seethed with what little strength it had. Reona let out a weak squeak before trying again and it did not respond this time. She was slightly worried and knew that she had to act quickly for the creature seemed to be in agony.

 

Reona contemplated and looked around, figured that she was the only one who could help this wounded creature right now.  Biting her lip in frustration, she decided to take this creature in for a night before taking further actions.

 

There goes her peaceful night.