CHAPTER ONE

Someone needs saving again, she thought as she ended the phone call that cancelled all the plans she had set up to herself for the night. With a few minutes to prepare for an uneventful emergency, if she can even call it one, she could only grab a jacket and a pair of warm shoes before running out of the safe and quiet haven of her bedroom.

She mentally cursed as she saw her mother enter the house just in time for her to leave. Following was her father, who looked as tired as always. Even at twenty years old, she had a curfew. She found that lame, but there was no harm in playing good daughter, or so she thought.

"Soojung." The way her name rolled in her mother's tongue always made her freeze. Getting rid of her coat, she then briefly glanced at her watch and raised a brow at her daughter. "It's 11 in the evening, Jung Soojung. Where are you going?"

She could smell trouble and she had every urge to flight but there's no way she'd leave her best friend just like that. Yes, she was up for some heroic deed again, as always. She had a wild and drunk friend somewhere in a wilder and drunker classmate's party and there was no way she could just sit in her bedroom and drown in her books.

A white lie could not do much harm, she mentally justified herself. "To Amber's." She replied immediately, trying her best to keep her composure. "I kind of forgot to bring her back her notebook. You know, I borrowed it for the class I missed when I was sick. We have this long exam tomorrow and--"

"And where is the notebook you're talking about?" Her father, being always observant and detailed, asked. 

She mentally slapped herself for not seeing that pressing question coming. "In the car. It's already in the car. I just forgot my jacket and I-"

They never let her finish, she thought as her mother cut her off. "Okay then, let the driver come with you. A young girl like you could not go out alone at night."

That was another thing she found absurd. More than half of her colleagues were at a typical wet and wild party.The statement, she thought, should be "Soojung could not go out alone at night."

"Okay." She said anyway.

- - - - - 

Another girl, same age as Soojung was, had her eyes locked at the wet street of the rainy evening. She was one of those out at night, but not to attend a party with peers. She was coming home. 

"Seoul has changed." She voiced out as she looked out of the window of the cab. "For the better."

"Why, where have you been, miss?" The driver asked with a smile.

She did not answer but smiled back and locked her eyes on the outside.

The cab stopped with traffic in front of a small neon-labeled building with flickering colorful lights and a pack of people around. She could not help but stare at a pair of girls who seemed to be her age where one was puking her guts off while one could not even stand still, patting the other's back.

"Children these days." She heard the cab driver speak. "Their parents will be furious when they see this corner of the city."

By the building's big glass door stood a young man, leaning his back on the concrete of the wall. His arms were on the pocket of his black sweater and his head was tilted on the side. Written on his face was impassiveness yet for a moment, she saw a flicker of amusement in his eyes.

It was weird, she thought. It was unlikely for a man to just stand there and look at two girls unable to get a hold of themselves. Worse, he had a hint of what she assumed to be either fascination or more like mockery in his face.

Just as the cab started moving slowly along with the traffic, she catched a glimpse of another girl getting out of a luxurious car. She looked elegant even in simplicity and moved with grace despite running. She was heading towards the bar yet was stopped by two big men guarding the glass entrance.

She did not know why exactly, but she could not turn her sight away form the girl. She seemed to be talking to the guards, but one of the big-armed men grabbed the girl's arm. It seemed tight and... harsh.

The last thing she saw was the mysterious man she saw earlier by the wall, approaching the two men. The scary arm let go of the elegant girl.

The next thing was unknown to her as the cab started moving faster and turned to a left in an intersection.

Heat coming from nowhere seemed to eminate internally into her. As to what the sensation was or why she felt such way was unwelcomes yet not all unknown. The feeling was definitely not so novel to her and it dominated her for a while. That is, until the cab stopped on a dark and almost deserted alley which contrasted the crowded street she just saw.

"Was it 29C, young miss?" The cab driver asked.

The flickering street light made it difficult to catch what was writted on an almost rusted label by the gate. She narrowed her eyes and sighed deeply before nodding. "Yes. 29C."

She handed her fare and got off the suffocating cab. It was time for reality to sink in. This was her reality now. Seoul.

Before she could knock, a soft familiar voice came behind her. "You're finally here, Seo Joohyun."  
 

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