At the crimefighting intelligence agency known as T.R.E.E Headquarters were busy monitoring the city when the power outage and total darkness enveloped them, causing a slight disturbance in the working harmony of the company.

“What just happened?” asked Agent Jay Park who, in the middle of total darkness, felt like he was walking with eyes closed.

“Power’s gone. Something fishy’s going on again!” Agent Onew said. The once subordinate of Agents Max and Yunho was now the head of the said organization. “Please call for back up!” he said as he tried to fix his necktie using his sense of touch.

“Backup please!” called one agent. Luckily for them, they had a backup generator and within a few minutes, the power was back on.

“Thank you.” said Onew. Jay Park rushed to him and worriedly asked about the current situation of the country.

“Sir, what is going on again!? Is this another world domination plan or just a really faulty electric headquarters?” Jay Park was getting worried. Onew looked at the radars on the computer, the Crime Radars as they were known.  The sounds were going off and the radars were brightly illuminating the monitors. Onew looked over to his side and pushed the radar’s button.

“Looks like this is something that doesn’t involve the electric headquarters’ clumsiness.” the head of the crimefighting squad said.

“Sir, we have a pretty bad situation here in Seoul city.” said one agent. Onew pushed him aside and began to contact all connected agencies.

“I need the cops and the federal agency, please. This could be another bizarre case.” Onew lazily and annoyingly said.

“It’s bad enough that horrible situations as such get handed to us. We always have to take care of the bigger cases.”

“Of course, we do.” said his assistant Hyuna who had just come out of the office holding a cup of coffee. It was late at night and she was feeling really sleepy and needed a sip of coffee to keep her up.

“We’re the head crime fighting agency in the country. We’re on top, Onew. Of course we are tasked to investigate the big ones. Leave the measly ones to the local cops.” Onew rubbed his forehead and stormed back to his office, remembering that he had tons of paperwork to attend to.

[MEANWHILE, IN CIVILIAN LIFE]

“Oh My God!” CL squealed as she dropped her books and her phone in fright. Her room was pitch dark and she could not see a thing. CL got down to her knees and crawled like a baby on the ground, feeling it and slowly making her way to the door. Once she felt the door, she rolled over and leaned her back onto it.

“What the hell is going on?!” she asked, scared. She reached for her phone and tried to dial her mother’s number.

“! NO SIGNAL!” her phone’s signal was dead. CL was about to throw it when it suddenly switched off. This freaked her out and prompted her to throw her phone to the ground and scream. She got to her feet and ran, jumped on her bed and buried herself underneath the sheets.

000

      Jessica Jung was in her room, dealing with the deep emotional stress that financial troubles and family separation brought. Her eyes were filled with tears, making the mascara leak down her face.

      Of all the people that this could happen to, why does it have to happen to me!!! Jessica continued to cry herself. In the middle of her weeping, the lights suddenly went out. Though her face was buried, she felt that the room just darkened. Removing her hands shakingly from her face, Jessica slowly stood up and tried to make out something from the pitch black room.

“Mom! Mom! The lights went out! Help me!” she cried. Mrs. and Mr. Jung stopped their quarrelling as the lights went out and they heard their daughter crying out for help in her room. At the spur of the moment, the parents teamed up and broke into their daughter’s bedroom, to find her walking with her hands in front of her like a zombie brought back to life.

“Mom! Dad!” Jessica spun around as she heard the door open. Her parents saw her silhouette despite the darkness and ran up to them, gave them a big hug.

“We were so worried about you.”

“Mom, Dad! I don’t know what’s going on! I’m scared.” cried Jessica as she hugged them tightly. They responded by hugging even tighter. At this time of distress, they were a family.

000

      “OH MY GOD! WHAT WAS THAT?!??!!” Sohee was in the middle of sketching her editorial cartoon for the school paper when the lights suddenly went out.

      “Sohee! Sohee! Are you okay there?!” her father asked coming from downstairs. Sohee sprang up from her bed and rushed down the stairs, calling her father repeatedly.

      “DAD! DAD! WHERE ARE YOU DADDY?!?!” cried the young scholar. Her father was at the foot of the staircase, waiting for her worriedly. In her hurry, Sohee nearly fell down the stairs.

      “AAAAHHHH!!!!” she squealed in a high pitch voice. Good thing, though, she was able to get a grip of the railings before it got ugly. Her father saw her shadow coming down and grabbed her by the wrist.

      “Where are we going?” she asked as he pulled her with him out of the house. They were about to go to the car.

      “We’re gonna get out of here!” said her dad. Sohee couldn’t be any more afraid. Her dad took her to the car and as they drove away, they were still both undecided on where they were going to go.

000

      Nicole and her mom were still in the middle of baking the cookies when all the lights went out, including the power system, halting the production of their baked sweets.

      “Mom! What just happened?” asked the worried Nicole. Her mother, who was really scared at the time, tried to be brave for her daughter. The two ran into each other and hugged as an effort to protect one another.

      “I don’t know, Nicole. But we have to be strong. Whatever happens, we always have each other.”

      “Mom, don’t talk like that, please. I’m scared.” Nicole said. Her mother let go of her for a short while, causing Nicole to frantically yelp out.

      “MOM! DON’T LEAVE ME! PLEASE! DON’T!!!!” she cried.

      “NICOLE BE QUIET!” her mother shushed her. She grabbed a knife and tightly clutched it, the blade facing away, anticipating the burglar.

      “Whoever in here’s going to taste my fury.” Mrs. Jung said. “Nobody disrupts baking time with my daughter!” Nicole remained put on the kitchen floor.

      “Mom, I don’t think there’s a robber in the house.” Nicole said as she looked around and saw red sparks outside their house. Red sparks as such were unusual and couldn’t have possibly been caused by human activity.

      “What is it then? A ghost?! Don’t be silly, Nicole!” her mother mocked, obviously very afraid.

      “Something else perhaps...” Nicole looked outside the window and noticed that the red sparks were slowly starting to come together.

000

      Gahee was in the middle of an engaging conversation with Eli who called once more to check on her and get to know her even better when the power shut off as well as the cellphone signal, causing her phone to die.

      “WHAT?! HELLO?!?!? ARRRGGHHHHHH!!!!!” she frustratingly slammed the phone down on the bed. She was having the time of her life, getting to know the guy she always had an eye for and now, because of this power shortage, their conversation was cut.

      “GODDAMMIT! WHO THE IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS?!?!?!” she screamed out loud, angry. Though it was pitch dark in her room, she seemed to not care and still know her way around, proof that her home was not the house in itself but her little room. Instead of worrying about her family, the indifferent teenager buried herself underneath the sheets and tried to sleep.

      But it was the demons that wouldn’t let her sleep.

      As Gahee was trying to fall asleep, she saw red sparks hovering from beneath her blanket.

      “What the?” her curiousity sparked as she pulled the sheets away from her face and stared at the red sparks, watching them fuse into one. It started to flare up, heat up and scare Gahee back into her sheets.

Now that the entire country was engulfed in darkness, save for TREE Headquarters which had a backup generator, they had to resort to their last hope.

“Get the girls.” said Onew.