“Her Majesty is coming.” One of the maids told me coldly as she walked out of the room. “You should be getting ready.”

   I stood up from the couch and took a nice look around the room. Everything was in so much contrast to me. The walls were all painted white, the kind of white that will not only send a chill down your spine, but also will blind you or something like that. The curtains were all red, bloody red; and all the furnitures in the room had something made of silver on it. Nowadays, vampires can’t be killed or injured by stuffs like crosses or garlic or silver, but it still creeped me out. Queen Sandara surely had a weird state of decorating the castle.

   The door squeaked open and the Queen came in, all dressed in al white. Her long brown hair was tied into a neat ponytail behind her back. I stared at her and compared her appearance to my own –  messed up hair, the gun on my hand was still having some blood of the last prey on it, not to mention that my dirty shoes had been ruining the carpet all the time, but I still stood up and nodded at her. After all, we used to be friends for a long time.

   “Yoonjie-ssi,” She smiled. “I am pretty certain that everybody is ready. __________-ssi’s protectors have agreed. I think that you should come and see them right now.”

   “Still, are you sure that…” I halted. I sensed that something bad is going to happen to the plan, but the Queen still stayed calm. Maybe she has planned all of the possibilities that can happen.

   “I am sure about everything, Yoonjie-ssi.” She said. “If my plan works, we will not have to worry about anything else. I guarantee that this crown on my head will belong to the right person soon.” She let out a small laughter. “Of course, you and __________-ssi will be the main part of it. The future of this kingdom relies on you.”

   “You are putting too much of a pressure on me, Your Majesty.” I replied.

   “If so, I am sorry. Please just relax. I will take you to see them. The transformation is probably completed.”

   We left the room, striding across the elegant corridor.

   This is going to be interesting, I chuckled. I haven’t seen a Level One vampire for a long time. Let’s see if she inherited anything from her talented father.

♥

   The Queen knocked the door three times and walked in. My new apprentice was lying on the bed, staring at the ceiling with her amber eyes. Ooh, amber, I thought. This is exciting.

   Yang Yoseob was standing near the window, examining every centimetre on my body. Apparently, he wasn’t very happy with the fact that I was going to train the girl. So was Yong Junhyung. He looked at me threateningly with one hand was already on the gun. Only Jang Hyunseung looked a bit undifferent. He was standing right next to the girl; and as he saw me, he just nodded gently to confirm my presence. The Queen was also interested in the knights’ reaction, because I saw her covered to hide a small giggle. Yoseob left his position and walked towards me. He sticked his hand out:

   “Kim Yoonjie-ssi, right? I’m Yang Yoseob. It’s an honor to meet you.”

   “I’m very honored, too, Yoseob-ssi.” I took his hand. At that moment, he squeezed my hand tightly. He was testing my skills. Junhyung and Hyunseung was watching us nervously, trying to predict that whose hand was going to break first. I squeezed Yoseob’s hand back, looked at him and smiled. He did the same thing. Some times later, we both let go. You’re good.

   “You are too, Yoonjie-ssi,” Yoseob chuckled. “Please take good care of __________. She is all yours now.”

   “I will.”

   “__________...” Junhyung halted as the girl sat up and walked towards me. She slowly approached in silence, her face were as pale as a ghost. She stopped two steps away from me and bowed in a perfect ninety-degree angle.

   “I’ve heard that you are going to teach me everything you need to know here. I’m Yoon __________. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Yoonjie-nim.”

   That’s it? No ‘who the hell are you?’ or ‘why am I supposed to be with a stranger like you?’ Who is this girl? Is she a monster? I was shocked. Normally, if a vampire is chosen to be my apprentice, the attitude with be much more different. They often look at me like I was a kind of horrific monster. And all this girl said was “it’s a pleasure to meet you, Yoonjie-nim”. Is she even normal?

   “She knows more than what we expected, Yoonjie-ssi.” Hyunseung’s voice became rather raucous as he spoke. He stared at me for quite a long time, and I stepped back. “Okay, I know, she is different.” I mumbled as a fade smile glided past Hyunseung’s lips.

   “But however,” I gained my confidence and began to walk around __________, examining every of her outer features. “I’m afraid that your name . Apparently, your father doesn’t know a lot about naming kids.”

   __________ frowned unpleasingly and lifted her chin as I began to finger her long, curly black hair. I saw every movement on her face, but ignored. Nobody wants to scare their apprentice the first time they met. Her amber eyes kept glowing in an odd way, but her slender figure was trembling every time I touched her. The atmosphere at that time was strange and awkward. I got a feeling that one of the three knights will stab me even if I took away one hair of __________’s.

   “Okay, I’m done.” I stepped back and stared my apprentice’s fragile body once again to make sure that there wasn’t anything wrong with my conclusion. “Agility.” I announced.

   “Pardon me?” __________ lifted her eyebrows. I chuckled. She knows a lot, but she knows nothing.

   “Your advantage is agility. You have the ability to move fast, but easily. This will help you a lot in hand-to-hand combar using a dagger or a sword; but also will only take a lot of damage in single combat. To become an elite hunter, you must rely more on a wide-range weapon, such as a gun or a bow. So don’t be so satisfied with yourself yet.”

   “Yes, madam.” She nodded respectfully.

   “Call me Yoonjie, or Jiejie, or unnie, whatever,” I shrugged. “Something that sounds young. But I need to call you something else to avoid danger for you, as the Queen here has said. Besides, I’m not very fond of your ridiculous name.”

   “Mysterie.” Yoseob said, his eyes were still glued to the darkness outside. I turned back. “Excuse me?”

   “Call her Mysterie.” He turned around and looked into my eyes. A spark of yellow glided through his black eyes as he chuckled. I relaxed myself to try not to punch his arrogant face right in front of the Queen. Smiling, I bowed at him and said:

   “Excellent choice, Yoseob-ssi.”

   The sound of a ringing bell echoed inside the room. The Queen pressed her hand against her cheek and smiled:

   “Oh dear. They have finished the Judgement, but I am afraid that I cannot be here with you any longer. So long, everybody; and good luck, Mysterie-ssi.”

   “Your Majesty.” Everyone bowed at her as she left the room. As the door closed, Junhyung stood up and looked at me threateningly while Mysterie touched the bite on her neck in confusion. Before anyone could say a word, the bell rang again and an old man stepped inside, holding a bag on his hands.

   “Ah, Taeyoung-sunbae.” Hyunseung got up from his seat and bowed. “I haven’t seen you in quite a long time.”

   “Yes, hoobae.” The man called Taeyoung smiled. “Anyway, this is the Judgement for… I believe… Mysterie-ssi of the Agilities?”

    “Yes.” I approached him and received the bag. “Thank you, Taeyoung-ssi.”

   “Good luck, young lady.” Taeyoung winked at Mysterie and left. The cold silence drowned out everything again, as I threw Mysterie the bag and said:

   “Go on, quickly. We don’t have much time.”

   She froze there, holding the bag in her arms as if she was afraid that everything inside could break anytime. “What am I supposed to do?”

   “Of course I told you to change your outfit!” I thundered. “What else can you do with those things?”  

   “Yes, I’m on it.” She rushed into the bathroom and closed the door behind our back. Junhyung glared at me, annoyed. “Do you need to scare the crap out of her like that?” He asked. “She knows some stuff, but she’s not a know-it-all person, is she?”

   “Oh, you are having the attitude of a big brother already.” I smirked. “But she is my apprentice, and I can do anything to her to train her properly. Any other ideas?”

   Junhyung opened his mouth, ready to talk back, but…

   “Argh!” Mysterie jumped out of the bathroom. Her clothes changed into the color of black. I gaped at her while Hyunseung stood up, mumbling: “A Class? That is impossible!”

   “What is happening to you?” I grabbed her shoulder and pushed her down a chair. “Why are you screaming like that?”

   “My clothes!” She gasped. “It was white at first… but…”

   “Listen close, Ms. Idiot!” I thundered. “You have to be glad that your clothes changed its color! Legal hunters in this kingdom are divided into different classes and levels, based on their strength and experience. Now we’re talking about classes. There are five classes, and they can be distinguished based on the colors they wear in combat. I will sort it out for you from the strongest to the weakest. People who belong in E Class, the extreme class which only consists of royal knights and the ruler, wear bloody-red clothes. People in A Class, like you, wear black clothes. B Class people wear dark green clothes; the C Class wear grey clothes and the D Class wear white clothes. Did you get it?”

   Mysterie nodded.

   “But there are still exceptions. Some hunters, like I am, don’t belong to any levels, and we are called the free hunters. Normally, a new hunter will belong in C Class or D Class, sometimes B Class; but there are only four people that made it to the A Class at the very first try. One of them is Yang Yoseob-ssi here, and another one is you. I hope that there is something wrong with the Judgement, but nothing can go wrong when Taeyoung-ssi is in charge. I have to admit that you are an A Class hunter no matter if I want so or not. But you are still my apprentice. The training session begins right now.” I grabbed Mysterie’s wrist violently and pulled her out of the room. The three knights followed us. Junhyung closed the door gently behind his back.

♥

Author's words: The division of hunters into classes are inspired from Cho Jungman's Witch Hunter. You can Google it. It is a quite interesting series of manhwa, and Tasha is so damn handsome <3<3<3