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Tap. Tap. Tap. The sound of the footsteps filled the lonely street.

Drip. Drop. The sound of the rain falling on the cement road.

Tick. Tock. Time keeps running.

"Get her! Don't let her escape!" one of the masked guys cried as they continued running. They were clad in black and their faces were masked to have their identities sealed. On their hand is one gun and probably, somewhere, they kept two or three more weapons. A dagger and more bullets for the gun.

"Kill her!" one of the other mans cried. "Quickly!"

"If she lives, we die!"

"Kill her!"

Speeding footsteps.

Running silhouettes filled the ghostly streets of Seoul. Everything was dark and silent, and nothing filled the streets but the sound of the rain and the sound of footsteps.

"Where'd she go?!"

"Don't tell me you lost a ten-years old girl?!"

"She was too quick, boss!"

"Quick my ! Go get searching! Quick! No time to stop, we've gotta erase her very existence in this world!" one of them cried in anger. They came past hundreds of alleys and they went straight alone. They were driven by a great passion of killing their target for some reason. They just have to kill their target no matter what.

For some reason, they came across a pitch black alley. A cold wind passed and one of the guys shivered. "Boss, it's a bad idea to go there." he said.

"That's bull." the leader said and quickly entered the alley. He was halfway through when he noticed the tower of boxes move an inch. "There she is." the leader smiled when he felt a hand pull him back.

"Hey, someone's coming. Let's go!" one of the guys cried out loudly. Everyone panicked and began to run off, and with that, the leader sighed in annoyance and went off, running away.

"Bull!" he cried and ran along with his team. Hurried footsteps were heard until the sound completely vanished. Behind the stacks of boxes hid a small shadow, trembling.

Long black hair with a red headband on her head, keeping the slightly messed hair still and her tiny body is clad in a light blue color with a few flower designs on the end. Ebony black doll shoes were her footwear. Her fair skinned body was trembling.

Trembling in fear. She was afraid.

Ten-years old Kang Minjee is the group's target. Her parents were assassinated earlier by the same troop and luckily, the young lass managed to escape death. Her genius tactics made her run away down to the lonely alleys of Seoul for her dear life. Unfortunately, tracking down a kid like her is quite easy and she was traced down by those men.

A goal of ending her family's life, and that includes her! She doesn't want to die and never wanted to, so why should she give up? She has to hide, and she is now.

But forever not can she.

Minjee knows that one time, she'll get caught soon, and she fears that. She doesn't want to have her life ended that easily now, would she? "Mom, dad, why did you leave me?" little Minjee sobbed as she brought her little hands to her teary face. How painful was reality for the young child. "You promised me everything's going to be okay, but why?"

Her sobs turned to weeps and wails further on and that attracted quite an attraction. "Hey! I think she's there!" a loud manly voice cried out of the blue.

Oh no. Minjee thought as she heard the loud cry. She jolted up and stood up on her legs. Silently and carefully, she began walking off but unfortunately, she felt a familiar fearful noise behind. "There she is! Get her!" the troop cried out loudly and ran, heading to her. No.

Running. Minjee ran off down the streets yet again, her breathing pace increasing and her heart beating faster than usual. She began to grow tired. A small girl like her can't have an enormous endurance and speed like the men. She slowly grew weak and her feet gave away. She tripped and fell, seeing that the men were getting closer to her inch by inch.

No! Run! Minjee, run! She cried out to herself as she tried making her feet move again but alas, they refused to obey her commands. No matter how much she struggled or crawled, it wasn't enough. "Finally caught you, you slippery cod." one of the men smirked.

"Please don't hurt me, mister. I don't want to die." she begged, tears flowing down her eyes the moment she heard the frightful voices. "I don't want to die."

"Aw, that's so sad. But don't you want to see your mommy and daddy again?"

"I do! But they said to be dead is painful! It's bad to die!" she rebelled.

"Oh, too bad. You have to." one of the men said and grabbed her by the hand. "Now be a good girl and obey us!"

"Little girls like me don't obey bad guys!" she cried out in panic as she struggled free. "Please, let me go!"

"Why you little-! Hold her up!" the leader cried in anger and annoyance. Minjee, meanwhile, tried struggling free and tried everything just to escape, but with bad luck struck on her for the meantime, she failed.

Or so she thought.

Thankfully, or as she least expected, like any other fairytales, a "hero" arrived. Her hero arrived finally.

A soft growl filled the lonely place as a light push and a light jab on the men's foot was felt. They winced in pain and let Minjee go unfortunately and gave way for her to growl away. She panted and breathed deeply in relief that she at least escaped the painful grip of the bad guys. Her eyes turned around to see the reason why they winced and to her surprise, there was he. It was Minjee's hero.

A small, gray-furred pup. It was actually no pup, but a little wolf. A baby wolf to be exact. Its red eyes gleamed in the dark and its small legs carried itself towards Minjee, growling bravely at the group as if it was protecting the young lassie. "Aw, how cute, a little puppy's being the hero of this drama!" one of the guys mocked.

"How lucky is it for you, little Kang! Your hero arrived!" another joked.

"A pup! Are you for real?" they laughed. Minjee had no idea what they laughed for as for her young eyes, she saw the little wolf pup to be a sign of hope... or maybe it was just her incredible positiveness.

Can this puppy save me? Can he help me? "Puppy... please save me." she whispered, hoping the little creature can hear her words. And as if the wolf pup understood her, it looked back at her and nodded before tackling the men. It hardly did anything but the effort the young pup gave out was clearly seen.

But unfortunately, that little creature that tried to be a hero had not the enough strength to defend Minjee. The poor creature was easily pushed away and pinned to the ground, kicked and hurt. Minjee broke down to the tears, tears of sorrow and fear. She knew that time's running out, now that her "sign of luck" was falling apart.

A howl filled the place. The hurt wolf pup howled with all its might and within a second, gleaming eyes were all around the place. Blue eyes, red eyes, yellow eyes. Silver, brown and black furred beasts came out of the shadows, sharp teeth shown. Some were big, and two were the same size as the young wolf pup. They growled.

Wolves. Minjee knew what those beasts were called as she saw them often in movies and heard them in some stories. Her mommy and daddy made them look like bad guys but in this situation, Minjee knew that they were the good guys that'll save her.

Yet to her astonishment, the way these wolves saved her was gruesome. They tackled the men and not even gun shots killed them! They were hit, yes, but as if those were just a bite of an insect, they shook it off just like that. They pinned the men on the ground and literally devoured them.

They bloodily killed them.

And for her young mind, Minjee was terribly shocked. She was shaking more than ever in fear and shock. The bloody sight of those men lately chasing her made her want to black out. "Wolves are bad." she mumbled to herself before feeling her body give away. The next thing she knew was that there was a cold feeling on her cheek.

A whimper.

A soft, nearly faint whimper woke Minjee from her slumber. She felt a warm touch on her cheek, learning later that it was nothing but the same little puppy that she saw lately. It was the same gray wolf puppy that saved her first. The little creature's little, pink muscle found its way to her soft cheeks, making her giggle within the ticklish sensation. "Stop it." she giggled. She found herself on the bench, and no longer on the hard cement floor. She looked around and it was the park she and her parents used to go.

"Did you take me here?" she asked the wolf pup, and seemingly, it nodded. "Thank you. You aren't that bad as what mommy and daddy used to say. You aren't bad." she giggled, carrying the puppy on her arms.

"I guess I'm all alone now." she sighed. The little creature looked at her, and that made her smile faintly. "Okay, I'm not. I've got you, don't I?". The wolf nodded yet again. She smiled in content but soon, she began to worry once again. "So... where do I have to go now? I've got no sisters or brothers, and now mommy and daddy are gone... ugh." she sighed.

To her confusion, she felt the pup sniff her clothes out then looked around, seemingly trying to sort things out in the air. She knew what it was doing. It was looking for a similar scent that matches the scent she wields, but that might seem quite difficult now. "I don't have any known relatives here in Seoul. Don't tire yourself."

But, as if the pup was deaf, it jumped off Minjee's arms and pulled her dress, leading her somewhere. She grew curious and followed the pup's way. The two ran down the streets of Seoul with no particular destination. They turned left, right, went straight and at some time, stopped to catch their breath.

They went and passed several houses and buildings, even bumping to some crowds of people. But thankfully, they arrived in front of a peach-colored house with a fence pained with brown. The gate was tinted with silver and beautiful roses and flowers grew around the building. Minjee carried the pup around her arms and gulped before entering the said residence.

With shaky hands, she rang the doorbell and waited for someone to answer the door. She waited patiently and heard someone say "coming!". A lady came out of the door, confused upon seeing the young girl. "Hello? What may I help you with?" the lady asked.

Oh! She's my-. "A-are you... Lim Soonmi?" she asked with her soft voice.

"I am, why?"

"... S-step mom?" she quivered by the sight of the familiar face, while the lady, addressed with the name Lim Soonmi, had her eyes wide open as a young boy, by the age of fourteen, came out as well.

"Mom? Who's at the door?" the young boy asked.

"Oh, Haewon." the lady cried in shock upon seeing the young boy. With her gaze averting at Minjee, she asked with a trembling voice. "Dear? Are you perhaps named Kang Minjee?"

"Y-yes, ma'am." she nodded.

"Daughter of Kang Wonwoo?"

"Yes."

Tears flooded down Soomi's eyes, confusing Haewon. "Mom? Why are you crying?"

"Haewon... this girl is no other than your step sister." she smiled and hugged Minjee. "I've been dying to meet you, Minjee. Where's your dad?"

"They're gone." she sobbed.

"Gone?"

"Dead. Some bad guys killed them." she cried as she hugged Soonmi tightly. "They were gone and I'm alone."

Silence filled the air and Soonmi was left dumbfounded. Seeing the young girl cry, she asked again. "Is your mom dead too?"

"They're both dead."

Silence. She hugged young Minjee tightly and cuddled her in her arms. "Don't worry, you can stay here from now on, okay? I'm going to take care of you."

"Really? Th-thank you, step mom." Minjee smiled faintly.

"Hey now, don't call me step mom." Soonmi giggled and held Minjee's hands. "From now on, you're a part of the family. I'll take care of you and you'll live here, okay? Call me mommy if you want, it's okay."

Joy lit up inside Minjee's crushed heart. She was glad that hope sprouted yet again. With her eyes looking at Haewon, Soonmi spoke. "And he's you're big brother, Lim Haewon. You two should get along, okay? Haewon, be good to your little sister."

"I will, mom." Haewon smiled and quickly hugged Minjee. "I'll be the best big brother to Minjee!"

Joy made the little orphan smile up and tear up in happiness. The puppy, meanwhile, was joyful as well. Minjee cuddled the little creature tightly and whispered. "Hey, thanks. You're my hero."

And yet again, the creature nodded and seemingly smiled.

Three years passed.

Things were well for Minjee since then and life was never better! She is now thirteen and Haewon, her older brother, was seventeen. Soonmi was the greatest mother for Minjee and she was surely the happiest girl existing to have such great family. She was raised well with love, and for a step mother, Soonmi cared for her kids equally.

Minjee is a growing lady now, and Haewon is slowly being a true man, caring and protective to the girls of his life.

The once small wolf pup is slowly being a true wolf. "He" was growing bigger each day physically and mentally. Devoted to protect the young girl he saved, he stayed with her for three years beside her. Minjee had blessed the creature with the nickname "Tao" and Tao seemed to be happy with such name. His eyes would glow in happiness whenever Minjee called her, and like Haewon, Tao was devoted into caring and protecting the girl.

"Tao." Minjee called out as she ran out of the house. Tao was there, looking at Minjee once he heard his name. "Come on, let's play." Minjee giggled and showed a rubber ball. Tao nodded and walked towards her. "Fetch, Tao!"

Tao obeyed and ran off. Haewon was sitting outside, seeing how Tao acted like that. "Hey, for a wolf he acts like a dog." Haewon giggled. "Are you sure that thing's a wolf?"

"Tao ain't a thing nor a dog, oppa." she smiled. "He's a growing wolf!"

"Whatever. He acts less fierce for a beast."

"He's not a beast. Tao's not a beast and never will. He saved my life, remember?"

"Yes, when he was little."

"Ugh, grow up, Haewon-oppa." she smiled and giggled as Tao brought back the ball. "Good boy, Tao! Here, play with this first, I'll get some snacks. Haewon-oppa, watch over him, okay?"

"Sure." he nodded as his little sister walked back inside the house. He watched Tao chew the ball and play with it. "You're quite a dog for a wolf, Tao." he smiled and stood up. "Stay, okay, boy? I'm just getting something over there."

Tao ignored him and continued playing. He jumped happily as that simple object gave him joy but with his jumps, the ball rolled away to the road. Tao, being attracted to it, chased the ball and ignored the rule "look left and right" which was often reminded to her by Minjee. He walked straight until...

BEEP!

The sound of crash.

"What was that?" Soonmi cried in surprise upon hearing the sound. Little Minjee ran to Haewon, who fell in astonishment.

"Oppa? What's wrong?" she asked.

"I... was just shocked." Haewon replied.

"Wait." Minjee gasped. "Wh-where's Tao?"

The siblings got up and looked around. Soonmi broke down to tears as she arrived on the gate, falling down to her knees. "Umma?"

"Minjee, I'm so sorry. Tao's gone."

"What?"

"He was bumped by the car. I'm sorry."

Minjee teared up and ran over to her mother, shocked that blood was in front of the vehicle yet no signs of body. Just a small rubber ball on the wheel side.

"No..."

"Tao, not you too."