It was a cold night of December. The air is crisp and cold as the sun slowly sets from the horizon. 

The smell winter air burned through her lungs. The buzz of festivity hung in streets, houses and districts. Seoul's night life bustling as the sky turns dark, making way for the stars to twinkle faintly in the sky.

Byulyi kicks off her hoverboard. The engine responding with a hum as it gains speed. 

She heads straight to Gangnam district. The bright lights illuminate her uniquely dark blue hair. The harsh wind greets her as she leans forward, her balance adjusting to the shifting speed of her board.

She pulls her jacket closer, adjusting the straps of her backpack that contained her precious laptop. She checks her phone with her right hand, the other preoccupied with carrying a box, and sees the digital display: 21:17

She grins, although it is hidden by a face mask, before pocketing her phone back.

Byulyi goes back to focusing on her journey. The bright neon led-billboards pass over her. Holographic displays of models advertising designer clothes, jewelry and bags. Promotional videos of newly released immersive games and music blares from speakers. A loud sound reaches her ears, coming from the nearby elite club.

Once the familiar district came to sight she slowly leans back, allowing the speed of her board to shift slowly. She slows down as she approach the side of a commercial building - which is displaying a dancing holographic new k-pop artist, and makes a sharp right to a more secluded street. She spots the tall building and shifts her weight backwards to stop the board, angling sideways before stopping completely.

Byulyi picks up her board, clutching the sturdy metal with her fingers. She taps a button on the back and it shrinks into a compact disk-shape object. She then steps into the building.

"Hello and Good Evening. Welcome to Dolce Hotel and Casino. How may I help you?" The attendant in the front desk asks her. Her smile reserved and practiced.

Byulyi walks forward. Smiles and presents a fake ID card. "Hi. I would like to go up."

The attendant examines her well manicured hand. "Aren't you young to go upstairs yet?" 

"Nah." Byulyi takes her phone and waves her hand. Subtly presenting information on her screen display. The attendant looks at her, smirks before nodding.

She pushes a button under her desk as she gestures for Byulyi to enter the space inside her grand desk. 

The wall behind the attendant shifts. At normal glance, no noticable change has happened to the wall but actually, the center of the wall slid back - the design retaining through normal point of view - and opened up paths left and right, that led inside.

She takes her to the back, where a hidden motion-sensitive-mirrored elevator is installed. Byulyi sees her reflection against the mirrors and quickly redos her ponytail, she adjusts her face masks and pulls up her red hoodie.

"Have a nice night." The attendant gestures for her to board inside and smiles.

The sliding doors closes and the elevator goes up. Byulyi looks at the mirror, seeing through the wall of the upper floors. She steps forward, observing unsuspecting people gambling at the floors. She stepped in close that if a person bumped into the one way mirror they may catch a glimpse of the hidden elevator.

She sighs and stands in the middle of the elevator compartment, staring at all the illegal promotions, job hiring, gun trades and government stolen information.

Dolce Hotel and Casino - a mere a cover up for an entertainment building. But among the dark net it is most commonly known as Dolce Dungeon. The Dungeon operates through the black market, providing a neutral territory for market trade offs and gang negotiations. It also provides as a Hive for information brokers and hackers alike. To put it simply, its special place for fun and exciting - illegal, things to hapen.

And tonight, Byulyi was up to something very fun.

The elevator dings, doors opening as Byulyi steps foot to a familiar dark place. 

'Dungeon' A sign says. Written in wicked red letters.

Byulyi steps inside. The cool air of a blasting air conditioner welcoming her. Dimmed techno lights illuminate the spacious room, she could vaguely see familiar figures- dressed as she was, taking up computer slots or renting diving visors. There's a small bar on the right in which you can grab a drink, but its main purpose is to host discussions and exchange information or, hacker hiring.

She heads to the bar and sees Joey wiping his wine glasses. She greets him with a nod as she puts down her neatly tied box and takes a seat on a stool. He puts down his glass and offers a small smile.

"Good evening." He greets.

Byulyi brings out her phone and quickly types her response.

"It's too cold. It's negative degrees outside and the AC is blasting. Do you want me to die of hypothermia?"

He laughs as he reads and double taps on the surface of the bar table to bring up a control panel, he taps the aircondition controls and cranks it down.

"Better?"

"Yes. Thank you very much." She rolls her eyes which earned another laugh. Joey was this half-korean, half-american bartender/manager of the club. Byulyi once tried to dig up his files but it was tightly protected, she could do it (probably) but she didn't want to risk being banned from the dungeon. From what she managed to scour from encrypted codes is that he operates the Dungeon together with few unnamed acquintances in the dark net. 

"So, what brings you here tonight?" He asks as he picks up another glass and starts cleaning it.

Byulyi was a frequent visitor in the Dungeon. Done some errand for gangs, hacked a few security database, stolen a government files. Nothing too serious, really. (not dangerous by her standards.) Only the small stuff, nothing too risky that could possibly tarnish her perfectly pristine records or lead a tracker to her client and to herself. Her crafted name's known for completing and accepting only very few request, and not in exchange for money, but for favors.

"It's a special day." She types. Most hackers often use voice changers inside the Dungeon to talk and negotiate with each other but Byulyi doesn't fully trust these voice changers, mainly because it only overlays your voice with tons of effects and reverb. It may take time but with enough diminished effects, your true voice can be heard. And Byulyi knows how terrifying it is to have your information leaked in the dark net - though not from personal experience, but she could only imagine how it's like to have every bit of your information fall victim to hungry info breakers, who'll track your adress, hack your accouts and use it for blackmail.

So even with Joey or clients, she communicates with them through text, sign language if needed.

Joey raises a brow, blue eyes staring at her.

"Special day? You spending early Christmas?"

Byulyi shrugs. "Maybe." She then rises up from the stool. Picking up her box. "I'm going to the rooftop. Can I borrow a sattelite?."

"What are you going to do with the sattelite? Someone hired you?" 

She shook her head, walking back to the elevator. Before stepping inside, she types a text and holds it up for Joey to see.

"I told you. Special day." She steps in and the sliding doors closes.

Joey just sighs. "Youngsters these days."

At the top, Gangnam's neon skyline unfold before her. From the tallest skyscrapers to small commercial buildings.

She sits down by the ledge, dangling her feet twenty feet off the ground before placing her box beside her. She then takes out her precious laptop and sets it down, she also takes out her headphones and plays an orchestra. Byulyi turns her laptop on and immediately runs her program. She grins evilly. This will be, by far, the most dangerous challenge she had set herself upon to, and she's freaking excited. 

She cracks her knuckles, resting her fingers on the keyboard, anticipating the beat.

Byulyi enters her hacking system cloak and double checks her security before accessing the Hive's VPN, making quick work in typing codes to control the closest sattelite in the city. Her program works, and she quickly scans her received codes. Her fingers hitting each button like she was playing a grand piano, before typing new ones in order to intercept and hijack every data server in the city.

The music slowly enters it's , the violin performing a dramatic rift. 

It took no less of a second for her to gain conplete access. Byulyi dutifully made sure to delete her tracks, erase her glitches and be fully invisible from company trackers that could've sensed something wrong with their systems.

Byulyi's smile widen as she typed.

Finally, the music reaches it's end with a powerful three-part harmony just as letters started to take over every single led-billboards, holograms and televisions within 300 km.

The bold letters hover in front of Byulyi, the whole city witnessing an amazing phenomenon.

"Miracle three days before Chrismas! Happy Birthday, Winter child!"

Byulyi beams proudly, her nose scrunching. She picks up her box and reveals her very own cake.

"Happy Birthday to me indeed."