That night, Solar was woken up sharply with a hand over .

The only thing that stopped her from screaming and fighting was Byul’s face looking down at her.

She nodded when Byul pressed a finger to her own lips in a motion to stay quiet and the bodyguard slowly released her hand from .

“Intruders.” Was all she had to whisper for the idol to fully realise the situation. “Wake the kids, use Plan B, and take my coat. It has the car keys.”

Just as Byul pulled back, Solar frantically grabbed onto her and asked, “What about you?”

“I need to distract them.” At Solar’s panicked expression, she squeezed her hand to calm her. “Then I’ll catch up. But I need you and the kids to get to the main lodge and call the Police.”

Solar nodded and immediately but quietly got up to put on trainers and Byul’s coat. Just as Byul crept into the dark corridor and waved her hand behind her to indicate that it was safe for Solar to slip into the younger couple’s bedroom, she realised that her bodyguard was still dressed in the white shirt and black slacks she had been wearing the whole day.

That meant Byul hadn’t come to bed all night.

She first woke Wheein then Hwasa in the same way she had been roused from sleep and got them into coats and shoes before sneaking back across to the assigned bedroom window. She slid the window fully open and clambering out onto the small roof/ledge, was quick to find the ladder Byul had hidden under the snow earlier and climbed down it to the ground floor as quickly and as quietly as possible. The younger girls swiftly followed.

Gunshots suddenly cracked through the night air and echoed in the expanse around them.

The trio made a mad dash for Byul’s car and scrambling in, Solar sped off as soon as everyone was in.

Wheein immediately called the Police and Hwasa called Hyori in the hopes that she had security staff who could help.

All of them tried not to panic and tried not to think of Byul getting shot.

---

Moonbyul had sat at the top of the staircase most of the night.

She had spent the whole day feeling like they were being watched and followed, and her gut instinct told her something was just not right.

When everyone else had gone to bed, she had pulled on her military boots and had decided to sit at the staircase on self-imposed guard duty.

She had been proven right when she heard the sound of fresh snow crunching outside their front door at an ungodly hour, followed by grunts of frustration as whoever it was, tried to pick the lock. She could tell by the muted voices that there were two men on the other side of said door and quickly went to get Solar and the kids out of the lodge before things got ugly.

     By the time she had allowed Solar to dart across the landing to the other bedroom and she had returned to the staircase, she found the two only just stumbling through the door. Judging by their clumsy movements and the way they held their pistols and flashlights, she knew immediately that they were not professionally trained, but they had to be thugs for hire given their size and bulk and poorly concealed neck tattoos under their balaclavas and heavy coats. She also knew that whether or not these guys were trained, she was one lean woman going up against two heavyweight male fighters armed with handguns so she needed to try and keep as many advantages as she could, because her skills would amount to nothing if they ended up slugging it out.

     With that in mind, she silently leapt over the bannister and dangled down onto the ground floor with all the agility of a wildcat, just as the flashlights flicked towards the staircase. Knowing that she needed to prevent or redirect gunfire until she was sure the other three were well clear of the lodge, she crept around the two thugs and grabbing a wooden chopping board (they had used to serve cheese earlier in the evening) from the kitchen counter as she passed, swung it as hard as she could against the back of a skull,

Thunk!

Thug 1 dropped like a sack of large potatoes.

Thug 2 whirled around in almost comical shock at the sound and Byul just had time to hurl the board at his face before sidestepping the arm that was on its way to pointing towards her and firing the gun in the hand. She grabbed his wrist whilst simultaneously kicking him in the back of his knee, making him drop onto said knee and allowing her to throw a punch into his temple.

Her grip on his wrist meant that the shots he fired when he squeezed the trigger on reflex were directed away from the girls’ exit route and towards the front door and the forest. And just as she managed to wrench the gun out of his slightly looser grip, Thug 1 staggered to his feet and bulldozed into her.

She had not accounted for him to have such a thick skull.

Byul had just about enough time to kick the gun away from Thug 2 before she was unceremoniously slammed into the ground and a heavy boot smashed into her face. 

The world spun for a moment.

But only for a moment.

She kicked out to push back Thug 1 still lumbering towards her and rolled back and away from the threat, barely avoiding a vicious stomp to the head. 

At the cost of receiving a few hard blows to her ribs and a slash across her side, she closed in on Thug 2 (who had pulled out a knife at the loss of his gun) to headbutt him twice and knock the knife out of his dazed hands. She then leapt at Thug 1, who steadied himself and took aim only to find an elbow in his face, and Byul grabbed his pistol with both hands, pushed the slide back just enough to prevent him from being able to pull the trigger. 

In the struggle for control over the gun, Byul managed to release the magazine but Thug 1 dislocated two of her fingers in the process. Riding waves of pain, she stamped on his toes and punched him in his throat, which made him finally let go, but Byul was knocked back into the wall behind her by a boot to the chest. 

And she ended up in her worst case scenario: she was trading blows with two guys at least double her weight with her back against the wall, where she could only block some of the heavy blows landing on her and barely return a few to each; the rest she just had to take until she had an opening.

Thug 2 gave her such an opening by grabbing her by the throat and throwing her to the ground.

She immediately used the momentum to roll towards the gun she had kicked away from Thug 2 earlier and snatching it up, racked the slide and rising onto one knee, opened fire.

Byul had seen car lights stretching the shadows of the living room before disappearing earlier, alerting her to the fact that the girls had made it out to her car safely and indicating to her that she was all clear for a firefight.

The two thugs scrambled for the front door but Thug 1 had picked up his gun and magazine whilst Thug 2 had bodily picked her up to toss onto the floor and he wildly fired shots back at her over his shoulder as he ran. 

Byul dove to one side and laid low to avoid being hit and waited for the inevitable depletion of bullets before scrabbling to her feet and chasing after them through the front door and into the dense surrounding forest. 

She stopped to take aim but found that there were too many shadows and blood was now obscuring her vision.

Cursing under breath out of frustration, she dropped her stance and slumped against a nearby tree whilst catching pained breaths.

This had been messy.

She knew full well that her normal brutal efficiency had been compromised by her feelings for clients and her friends.

She had failed as a bodyguard.

She had failed as a soldier.

And she had let these amateur hitmen get away.

---

     Solar’s heart was thudding away in as they drove back to their lodge along with Police cars and Hyori’s staff cars. They all pulled up and tumbled out of the cars just in time to catch Moonbyul limping out of the forest, spitting bright red blood onto the bright white snow.

Her breath caught.

Byul had blood and bruises all over her face with a crimson patch spreading over the side of her shirt as white as snow.