"Chilly night, tonight, ain't it." The driver shivered from the front.

Mark shivered wildly, "Y-you got that r-right."

The driver chuckled and shook his head. He drove them out of the station car park and entered the main stream of cars on the central country road, which wasn't that wide at all. They were, in fact, in the middle of the countryside. The road that they were on didn't bend or fork, but just continued going straight and had nothing but fields stretching for miles either side of it.

"So what're you folks heading' to? Old friends of Jeno are we?" He asked.

Jaemin nodded, "Yeah - I take it he's gotten rather popular around here."

The taxi driver laughed, "You could say that. He only crash-landed one of his new planes into Mrs. Kwon's front garden. I'm not sure if you know 'err, but she's one uh' the richest girls around here, know what I'm sayin'?"

Jaemin smirked, "Yeah... that's the reason he's not in business anymore."

Tara glanced over at Jaemin nervously, "You know, I'm not so sure I like the sound of this 'Jeno'..."

Jaemin waved his hand carelessly, "Ah, don't let it get to you. Jeno is the best flyer around here - he just isn't liked very much."

Tara looked away and sneered with sarcasm, "I can't imagine why."

"He doesn't really get out much no more. Just hides away in his Manor. People go in, n' they come out, but he don't." The driver explained.

Jaemin snickered and shook his head.

Mark looked back and forth from Jaemin and the driver with a fair expression on his face, "Oh, I don't know' though. I mean, come to think of it, if you had enough money for the alcohol, and had a huge house like Jeno did, what would be the point in going out? You could just... party inside all the time!"

Tara smiled weakly at Mark's silliness and glanced over at Jaemin, "I take it the two of them get on rather well."

Jaemin smiled faintly and shook his head, looking up front at the road ahead "Jeno doesn't really 'get on well' with anyone... but I suppose you could say he and Mark have certain... similarities."

"Where've you folks come in from then?" The driver asked.

"Seoul." Henry shivered.

"Holy  - you should uh' been 'ere hours back. What time d'you leave?" He exclaimed.

Tara opened to reply but Jaemin squeezed her arm and she looked up at him in both surprise and confusion. He was staring intensely at the driver. As though something was wrong.

"Ah, you know... the morning time, nice n' early." He replied mysteriously.

The driver nodded, "Seven-ish, ey?"

Jaemin looked out the window casually, "You know, I think it's slipped my memory now. But yeah, early like that."

Tara narrowed her eyes at Jaemin inquisitively. Why was he acting so oddly towards the driver all of a sudden? And... why was he still holding onto her arm? Tara tugged it away irritably and folded her arms across her chest. Jaemin glanced down at her and shifted uncomfortably. He was more embarrassed with himself, however. Tara turned her head away from Jaemin and looked out of Henry's window at the black night outside with him. They really were in the middle of nowhere, in the freezing cold, with a taxi driver who was being treated like he was the suspect of a murder.

Typical.

Tara took a deep breath in and released it, sending white mist into the air until it disappeared. She noticed a few spots of light in the distance, obviously from houses tucked away in the hills and fields. It was all very misty to Tara. She was still so tired, after all. She felt another shiver crawl down her spine, despite having the warm gloves on her pale hands, and she sank down in her seat with a small, breathless sigh. Jaemin glanced around at her, as did Mark, but Mark was the one to comfort her. He slipped an arm around her shoulder and she leant into his side to rest her cold cheek on his warm shoulder.

"How you hanging in there, babe?" He asked her.

Tara nodded stiffly, "Just cold. I'll be fine. How about you?"

Mark scoffed and looked out of the black window again, "...Starving."

Tara attempted a light smile of amusement, but only ended up giving another shiver. She snuggled tightly into Mark's embrace and watched the spots of light from the other side of the window glide by hypnotically.

Meanwhile, back in Seoul...

A man dressed in black walked along a short hallway in determined, harsh strides. Although the hallway was short, it was very regal and charming. A red carpet covered the floor and the walls were of maroon and gold exotic patterns. The man came to the end of the hallway and bit his bottom lip anxiously behind his black mask. With a bubble of weak confidence, he knocked on the shiny, pine door.

"Enter." A strong woman's voice commanded from the other side.

The man swallowed down his sense of nerves and turned the handle. He slowly stepped inside and closed the door behind him. The room was wide, but short, and also had royal red carpeting. The walls were the same as the hallway, except they had a cream dado rails running along them in the very center so that the gold and red patterns were separated. Two flower pots sat either side of the doorway with tall plants in them each, and around the room were random bookshelves and accessories such as globes and telescopes. Highly interesting and geographical tools. At the opposite end of the room to the nervous man was a wide, tidy desk. The wall behind it had four windows revealing the busy Seoul City outside, but the ruby-red curtains had been drawn to prevent anyone from seeing in.

And there, behind the desk, was a brown antique armchair. It had its back facing to the man, but there was definitely somebody sitting in it.

"Come." The woman demanded.

The man walked towards the desk and stopped a few feet away from it, "My lady - news from the troops that you had follow the Emerald Heart's possessors."

There was a tense pause. The man stood silently and waited for something to happen. He didn't know whether to speak, or to wait. Finally, after what seemed to be an eternity of nothing happening, a figure stood up and turned round from the chair to face the man. She had straight, black hair that came down to her sides and wore tight black trousers, boots and a shirt. She had a golden belt around her waist and wore a number of golden rings on her fingers, and upon her head was a flat black hat that had a thin, grey veil hanging over her face which had small black spots here and there. A black snake was resting calmly around her neck and flicking its peach tongue at her cheek; she smiled.

"What do you have for me, my loyal servant? What enlightening news have you come to sooth my anxious heart with?" She asked with a playful pout, her snake.

The man gulped behind the black material he had wrapped around his neck and chest, "F-forgive me, my queen, b-but"-

Hyorin's eyes tore away from the snake and snapped onto him, "Spit it out, you fool!"

He jumped and closed his eyes, "They escaped the troops you sent after them, your worship, your grace, your eminence!"

Hyorin's eyes filled with cold fury and her nostrils flared, "...Again?"

The man nodded apologetically, "Y-yes, again..." He bravely looked up at her and held his hands out innocently, "But believe me, Hyorin, my most beautiful - we shall not fail you again. We had one of our men waiting at every station that the train would stop off at. They departed at D