Song Areum stared at the stack of papers that sat atop the convenience store counter as if glaring at them would make them disappear. If they disappeared then she would be able to straight home after her work shift instead. As the worker who was taking over walked in the store and the papers were still there, she knew that her bed would have to wait.

"Hey, Areum," the man greeted as he stepped behind the counter, tying his lime green apron around his body. 

She nodded to the man, hanging her own apron up. "Hi, Seunghyun."

Seunghyun was in his mid-twenties and worked 3 part-time jobs to support his young wife and son. He was nice, but never very talkative. Areum grabbed the stack of papers off the counter and packed them into her worn black backpack. She bowed to Seunghyun as she passed, setting out onto the dark streets. Her classmate lived in a bad neighborhood, but in this city, those were in abundance. Through her earbuds, her phone was feeding her the directions to his house and with street lamps dotted few and far apart it was hard to see much of anything. She was on guard, taking extra precautions on checking her surroundings to stay out of danger, but even with the extra care she was taking into making sure she was safe, Areum failed to see the man standing in the alley, wearing dark clothes that blended in with the lack of lighting.

"Hey there, pretty," the man slurred, coming out of the alley. Areum jumped in shock and stared at the man for just a seconds before sprinting away in the opposite direction. She didn't get very far, even drunk this man was fast. He was much stronger than her, his body towered over her small frame as he slammed the young girl into the brick wall of a building. "Didn't your mama ever tell you to listen when your elders are talking to you?"

"Help!" Areum shouted, continuing to loudly shout and flail. The man slapped a hand over and slammed her head back into the wall. She lost herself for a moment, feeling extremely dizzy.

"You really are quite the cutie, aren't you?" his hands made her way to the button on her jeans, and she bit into his hand. Hard.

As he pulled his hand away, cursing, she screamed loudly. The man slammed her back into the wall, knocking her breath away.

"God dammit," he looked at his bloody hand. "you'd be cuter if you weren't trying to get away."

She was trying to catch her breath, trying to fight back. She was too dizzy to land anything on the man, too out of breath to scream for help. His hands found their way back on the waistband of her jeans but before he could get any further the man was knocked to the ground. 

"What th-" someone was on top of the man, laying fist and fist into his face. Another hand reached out a touched Areum's arm, making her flinch away in fear. Illuminated by the lamp she could see a boy not much older than her standing there, looking at her with a pitiful look. She couldn't figure out what was happening, it was like her mind wasn't functioning. 

"Hoseok-hyung, you're going to kill the guy," the boy called out to the other, who stood up from the unconscious man he was previously beating on. He picked his limp wrist up and pressing two fingers into it.

"He's still alive," the man- Hoseok?- told the other before dropping the arm. "Doesn't deserve to be, the piece of trash he is."

Areum fell to the ground, back against the wall and knees pulled to her chest. The two looked over at her as she sat shaking with tears falling from her eyes. 

Hoseok approached her and crouched down to her level on the ground. "Kiddo, you okay?"

His voice was much softer than how he had spoken before. Areum nodded into her knees, keeping her arms wrapped around her legs. 

"Can we take you to your home?" the other boy asked, now at her level too. She shook her head.

"I'll be okay," she muttered between intakes of air. She pulled her head from her knees, wiping her eyes with her sleeves.She shakily stood, the two boys standing with her.

"Let's call a taxi to take you home then, I'll pay," Hoseok offered.

She couldn't reject that. There was no way she'd make it anywhere by walking in the state she was. 

"Can I use your phone?" Areum carefully handing Hoseok her phone to let him call a taxi.

"Why were you going to this address?" he asked her, examining her face carefully.

On the phone screen laid the directions to her classmate's home along with his address.

"I had to deliver his missed school work."

"Jeon Jungkook?" the other boy asked.

"You know him?" her voice was still shaky and hard to hear.

They both nodded. "We're his brothers. We can take the papers to him so you can get home."

Areum nodded, silently taking the papers out as Hoseok called a taxi. She handed the stack to the other boy, taking her phone back for Hoseok.

"Someone was driving around this area, they'll be here in a moment."