Shin-Woo left his backpack on the dining table yet again. I had to ride my bike to Ye Ran High School. I had enough time before my first class of the day to go to his school then bike to my school. I was a fourth-year graphic design student at my college, living with my cousin. I was glad this opportunity had presented itself. After graduating from high school in California, I decided to move to Korea and get in touch with my Korean roots. I found out my aunt and uncle were moving abroad, but they wanted Shin-Woo to keep studying at Ye Ran High School since it was one of the best high schools in the country. I applied to some of the colleges nearby and was accepted to one of them. That's how I ended up living with Shin-Woo. One thing I noted about him was his forgetfulness. This was the second time that he had gotten to school without his backpack. Most other days, he would make it down one block before coming back. I got to the gate just as the guard was about to close the gate.

"Wait! Don't close yet!" I shouted after him.

"You are extremely late! And why are you not wearing your uniform! Are you a transfer student?" The harsh-looking man at the gate said.

"Sir. Do I look like a high school student to you?"

"If you're not a student, is there something you need?"

"My cousin forgot his backpack yet again. I need to give it to him."

"I'll take it to him. Let me guess. Han. Shin-Woo?"

"Of course, he has a reputation. But no, I would like to drop it off personally. I owe him a slap for having to bike uphill." I replied to him.

"At least he has someone with sense watching him. Go ahead to the Director's office. I just sent him there to escort a new student. I assume you know where it is?"

"Unfortunately, yes. It's not my first time here. Thank you, sir!" I rode my bike into the school and walked straight to the Director's office. The Director did not have an assistant because he preferred to deal with visitors directly. I knocked on the door.

"Come in." He responded from the other side of the door. I walked into the office.

"Good Morning, Mr. Frankenstein! Nice to see you again. I'd like to stay and talk, but I just need to drop this off to Shin-Woo, and I'll be out!" This was my second time meeting the Director. The first time I met him, I managed to talk his head off. I then noticed a black-haired student already in the office.

"Good Morning, Mi-Sun. I was hoping to run into you again. Do you have a moment?"

"I suppose I can spare a minute."

"Shin-Woo mentioned you were an English tutor?"

"Yeah. Well, trying to be. I'm not getting any traffic on my site at all."

"Would you like to tutor some of our students here?"

"Yes! When?!"

"Would you be able to stop by later today to discuss it?"

"Gladly!"

"Since you are heading the same direction, would you mind escorting this student to that class?"

"No problem." I turned to the student. "Hi! I'm Mi-Sun. I prefer Sunny. And you are…." The student had a quiet sophistication in his demeanor.

"That's Cadis Etrama Di Raizel."

"Riiiiight. I won't remember all that. I'll call you Raizel. That's the only part I caught. Anyway, I guess you're a bit shy. Don't worry. I talk enough for both of us. Feel free to follow me right this way." I led him to Shin-Woo's class. The front door was open, and the teacher called us into the class.

"That's Shin-Woo's hot cousin! Who is that she's with?" I heard someone whisper while the rest of the class was abuzz.

"Hello. You're the girl with some sense. He is right back there. And who is this?"

"Oh! Mr. Frankenstein had me bring this new student in since I know my way here. He's a bit shy, and the only part of his name I caught was Raizel, but once he gets over his shyness, I'm sure he'll tell you his full name." I turned to Raizel. "My apologies for that name. Hope you have a nice first day." I walked to the back of the class, where Shin-Woo was sleeping. I squatted next to him. "Shin. Make me bike up that hill one more time, and you don't wanna know what will happen. Remember, you're not the only one who knows how to fight. Because of you, I have hormonal teenagers looking at me, and your teacher over there thought I was one of you." I handed him the backpack and smacked him upside his head.

"Thank you, Sunny. I'll try to be more careful. Sorry!"

"I highly doubt it. Raizel, good luck. Looks like you'll need it. Hi and Bye, Ik-Han!" I waved at the three of them. "Thank you, sir!" I told the teacher as I walked out of the class.

After my classes, I went back to Ye Ran to speak to Mr. Frankenstein.

"Mi-Sun. Thank you for coming back."

"It's a job, so I'm definitely interested."

"Yes. I'm looking for someone to help tutor the students taking English after school. I'll pay six hundred thousand won per week."

"I'll take it! How many students will it be?"

"I will see how many students sign up for it, then let you know."

"Do you mind not letting them know I'm the one tutoring? The last thing I need is a bunch of teenagers wasting my time because they wanted to stare at me."

"I'll do my best to filter those students out."

I left the school and rode my bike to a coffee shop nearby to study. Once the sun began setting, I decided to head home. I spotted Yuna walking home.

"Yuna! Wait up!"

"Hi, Sunny!"

"Isn't it a bit too late to be walking out alone? This street always creeps me out because they never light it up enough."

"I've walked home a bunch of times, and nothing has happened so far." We walked for a while when we heard someone groan in an alley. "That sounds like someone is hurt!" Yuna exclaimed, then ran into the alley.

"Wait! Yuna! Don't just run in there!" I dropped my bike to run after her but tripped over it. She screamed as a man began to pull her further into the alley. I picked myself up and ran into the alley, and jump-kicked the man. He stumbled back a few steps but still hadn't let go of Yuna's arm. I was about to kick him again when Shin-Woo appeared from behind me and kicked him, making him fly back and fall into a wall of garbage bags.

"Yuna! Are you ok?" Shin-Woo asked her as he helped her stand up.

"I'm fine."

"I don't know about you, but I'm getting out of this alley! Let's go." I started walking towards the street where Raizel and Ik-Han were standing. The sound of rustling garbage bags made me turn around, and I saw the man get up and angrily snarl at us. He had what looked like fangs. He just pulled a metal pipe out of his neck, his face was bleeding, and his eyes looked like they were projecting a laser beam.

"No way! He should have stayed down after I kicked him that hard."

"Run, Yuna!" I grabbed her hand and ran with her out of the alley. Shin-Woo grabbed a filled garbage bin and threw it straight at the man, knocking him down again. I grabbed my bike and started running with it as the others started following. Raizel, however, was still looking into the alley at the man. Ik-Han ran back to grab him as we all fled as far as possible from the alley. We stopped at the park to catch our breath.

"Thank you, Shin-Woo and Sunny, for saving me out there." Shin-Woo looked elated when she mentioned him. His joy was deflated when Yuna looked coyly at Raizel then said, "And Rai."

"Question. You're not in the habit of running into dark alleys anytime you hear a noise, are you?"

"I guess I just wanted to help."

"Aww…Yuna. No. If it's a dark alley, you call the emergency line for help and hope the Shin-Woo types show up. You're not helping if you end up in trouble too."

"I understand." She said somberly.

"Alternatively, if you do want to be the dark alley rescue type, maybe ask Shin-Woo for a few kicking and punching lessons before your next rescue. Anyway, that's enough excitement for me. I guess I have no choice but to go with you. Where to?"

"That's right. Where do you live, Rai?" Shin-Woo asked him. He elegantly reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a piece of paper. On it was a picture of Mr. Frankenstein with a number on the back. Ik-Han called the number and got the address which turned out to be Mr. Frankenstein's house. After everything, I left the group and biked home since I wanted to be comfortable in my own bed.

When I woke up that morning, I relaxed and put the previous day's events behind me. Mr. Frankenstein had said he would call me once he had enough students sign up for the English tutoring, so I didn't have to go to Ye Ran. I had a pretty regular day and went back home after all my classes. At some point, while I was working on my project, I happened to fall asleep. I heard the door rattle open and figured Shin-Woo had come back from wherever he was, so I ignored the noise. I also ignored the banging sound because he was always loud when he came back home. Once he got too loud, throwing stuff around, I decided to check what he was doing.

"Shin! What the hell are you doing?!" I said as I headed for his room. He wasn't in there, so I went to the living room. It wasn't Shin-Woo. Two men were trashing the living room. One was hulk sized and wore a hat on what I assumed was a bald head. The second was a younger, ruggedly handsome guy with a scar on his mouth and grey hair. I ran for my room, but the smaller of the two caught me. "What do you want?!"

"We just want to find your friend with the red hair. We brought back his bag. He dropped it in an alley yesterday. I think you remember which alley."

"Ugh. Don't tell me you're friends with that laser-eyed psycho!"

"Something like that. We didn't expect anyone to be home, so your being here is a nice little gift. We can have two hostages." I tried to twist myself out of his grip, but he was stronger. I was about to scream for help when the bigger one looked at me, and everything went black.

"Sunny! Sunny! Wake up!" A girl's name called out to me. I struggled to try to open my eyes. It was Yuna, and she was crying.

"Yuna?"

"Sunny! Thank goodness you're awake!"

"Where are we? The last thing I remember was home." The big guy and his grey-haired friend walked towards us. The grey-haired one knelt to look at us. Yuna was clinging to my arm, scared.

"Why are you doing this? Why did you bring us here?" she asked them.

"Shut up! You're so loud I want to kill you right now." I looked defiantly at him while Yuna hid her face in her knees.

"What do you want with us? Aren't you a little too old to be messing with high school kids?" I asked him.

"It seems we have a tough one here."

"You couldn't grab my shoes while kidnapping me? You knew you were bringing me to this filthy place."

"Shut up!" He said again.

"Tch." I rolled my eyes at him, then sighed.

"Ah. They're here." The big one said. Shin-Woo and Ik-Han came running in.

"Sunny! Yuna!"

"Shin…dammit! Why did you come here?" I asked him.

"You came without a second thought at the end of our conversation. I like that. I don't see one of you, but that won't matter." The grey-haired said.

"What is your reason for doing this?" Shin-Woo asked them.

"I'm sure you know, but I'll confirm it for you, then we'll talk" The weird guy from the alley appeared from behind. "There's no need for introductions, right?"

"What's this about?" I asked.

"I have a proposal for you guys."

"A proposal?" Shin-Woo asked.

"We're giving you guys a chance. Save yourself with your power."

"What do you…." Ik-Han started.

"You have to protect yourselves from this guy. We won't interfere, so don't worry about that. Simple, right?"

"You mean if we defend ourselves from this guy, you'll leave us alone?" The two men nodded. "How do we know we can trust you?"

"We wouldn't have bothered to arrange this if we weren't serious. We could easily kill the likes of you."

"You mean I just have to beat that guy, right?" Shin-Woo asked.

"Shin! What are you doing?!"

"We don't have any other choice."

"Fine. I'll help!"

"No, Sunny! I'll do this."

"Why don't you let her join?" The grey-haired one smirked while saying. I stood up just as Shin-Woo started fighting. While I was good at taekwondo, Shin-Woo was better and more skilled than me. He was faster and more agile. He also had shoes on while I was barefoot. He managed to kick the weird guy into a pile of trash.

"Never mind. You got this." He was faring well against the other guy until he grabbed Shin-Woo's arm and flung him towards a wall. "Shin!" I ran towards the weird guy and kicked him on the back of the head, knocking him headfirst to the ground. I kicked his head again. He still wasn't staying down.

"Be careful, Sunny!" Ik-Han warned. Shin-Woo managed to get back on his feet.

"Are you ok, Shin?"

"My arm hurts, but that's all." The weird guy was back on his feet, ready to fight. The two other men said something about feeling the energy and began smiling.

"Should we accept the invite?" The big guy said. They walked away. The weird guy was still standing, waiting for us to attack.

"I have an idea. We need to get out of here. Ik-Han, go get Yuna." Ik-Han ran towards Yuna while we stood, ready to attack if he moved towards them. The weird guy suddenly snarled at us then ran off.

"What happened? Is the fight over?"

"I know you guys are curious about why he did that, but right now, it's important to take Yuna and escape this place."

"Right!" Shin-Woo and Ik-Han both ran to help Yuna. I started moving and realized that my big toe on the leg I use to kick the guy hurt.

"Yuna. Stand up slowly. Are you hurt anywhere?" Shin-Woo asked Yuna.

"Yeah. I'm not hurt, but my legs feel…."

"Hey, guys. A little help here!" I called out to them.

"Are you all alright?" we heard a voice ask.

"Principal Lee! Rai!" Ik-Han shouted.

"HEY, GUYS! A LITTLE HELP HERE!" I shouted again.

"Sunny! Are you ok?"

"Well, I don't know. I'm barefoot, and I kicked the hardheaded guy twice using my full force. Now, I haven't moved from where I was standing, and I asked for help twice. What do you think?"

"Sorry! Do you need help?" Shin-Woo asked. I clenched my jaw and glared at him.

"No. I'll manage on my own," I replied through clenched teeth. I began limping towards Mr. Frankenstein, walking on my heel with my injured foot. I was frustrated with the whole situation. "Mr. Frankenstein, do you mind helping me get to somewhere I can have my foot checked? I think it's a sprain or bruised bone. I would just like to get this fixed and go home."

"I don't believe it's advisable to go back to your home at this time. Weren't you kidnapped from there?"

"This is just awesome! Just the best! I have a sprained foot, my apartment was trashed, but I can't go back, I have nowhere to go, I have some psycho guys after me, and I'm barefoot." I walked past everyone towards the exit.

"Where are you going, Sunny?" Shin-Woo asked.

"Oh. I was just going to walk out there and hoping I get kidnapped again. Everything is already shitty anyways!" I walked to the exit and sat on the other side of the door. I took a few minutes to cool off then walked back in. "Is there any way I can go collect a few things from our apartment? My phone, laptop, shoes, and a few clothes. I need my phone to call my friend that I can stay with until this thing is over."

"I'm sure you would be able to do that. The police will escort you. The rest of them will be staying with Yuna."

Once I got home, I managed to grab everything I needed and called my friend, Haru, asking to crash at her place. She lived on the other side of town and was welcoming, especially after telling her about my house getting trashed. I made sure to tell Shin-Woo he had to check in every day to be sure he was still good. He was fine for about two days. On the third day, I called in to check on him, and a different voice answered.

"Shin, you better be staying out of trouble," I said into the phone as soon as he answered.

"You must be the fourth one in the group." A strange voice spoke into the phone. I had to remain calm and not let Haru see any panic on my face.

"Oh, hi! Did you need something?"

"I'm going to send you a location. You will come here alone. If you don't, I will kill your friends here. I'm not patient so hurry up."

He hung up, and a few seconds later, I got a text with the address.

"Hey, Haru. I'll be back. My cousin got in trouble at his new friend's place, and I have to take care of it. I'll try to be back later."

"Sure. Do you need me to come along?"

"No need. It's not major, but he was insistent."

"Ok. I might be out for a bit today so text me before you leave to see if I'll be home."

"I will."

I followed the directions to the address, and it turned out to be an old office building. I texted Shin-Woo's phone and asked where I was supposed to go. After a few minutes, a blue-haired woman showed up then walked me into an elevator where she pushed an unmarked button to one of the underground floors. Once the elevator stopped, I walked through a tunnel and into a vast, empty event hall. Shin-Woo, Yuna, and Ik-Han were already there. Our captors were the big guy from before, the weird guy we had fought, and a third man who looked a bit more sadistic than the rest.

"Shin! Are you ok?" I ran towards them.

"Here's another one. Now we just need the last one to show up, and we can begin." The sadistic guy said. He then looked at Shin-Woo and me. "I heard you put up quite a fight the other day. How about we do this. I'll give you one chance to attack me anytime you want. I won't do anything. You can land one blow anywhere, and your friends might be saved." He told Shin-Woo. Shin-Woo stood up and faced him, then hesitated. The sadistic guy started talking again, and Shin-Woo punched him on the stomach, and it seemed to have no effect.

"You said I could attack whenever I want," Shin-Woo said mockingly. His fist looked like it took more damage than where he had punched and was now bleeding.

The sadistic guy smirked at him then punched him, sending him flying towards a wall. He then punched the weird guy towards another wall. Yuna and Ik-Han started panicking.

"Shut up!" I hissed at them. "I need you both to run whenever you get the chance. Both of you acting like that is not helping this situation because that dumbass is going to keep fighting as long as he feels you're in danger. Now, shut up, and figure it out. I'll figure out how to get him out of this and distract the other guy." They both nodded at me. Shin-Woo recovered from the first hit and approached the sadistic guy again.

"Oh. I have to test your skills. You were able to get up before he did. This might be interesting." He then punched and kicked Shin-Woo again. Instead of staying down, Shin-Woo kept going back, so I decided to step in.

"Leave him alone. Haven't you done enough! He's just a kid!" I shouted at him.

"Did you want to join the fight too? You seem a bit too small to have fought him." He asked me, then pointed to the weird guy. As I was ready to attack, Shin-Woo grabbed his legs and clung on.

"Stay down, Shin!"

"No. I'd rather have him hurt me than hurt my friends." He managed to cough out. The sadistic guy stomped on his hand, and I heard it crunch. His hand broke. I ran towards the guy and tried to kick him, but I didn't affect him at all. He turned his attention to me, and the other two dragged Shin-Woo away.

"You do want to fight. I suppose you are the oldest in this group." I moved around him so he looked in the opposite direction, hoping they would make for the exit.

"When you say oldest, it just makes me sound ancient. I bet I'm younger than all of you. Especially you, unless life just rode you hard." I then ran towards him, hoping to land a kick on his face, but he dodged it, then pushed on my chest, and sent me flying towards a wall. My back hit the wall hard, making me hitch my breathing. I slowly stood up and readied to attack again. By now, the rest of them had made it into the tunnel towards the elevator. I ran for him again, and this time, he turned me around and punched me, sending me flying towards the other three.

"Did you think I didn't notice what you were trying to do?" My chest felt tight, and it hurt to breathe. I was still less injured than Shin-Woo, so there was no way I was letting him get to them. I stood up again.

"Keep going, idiots!" I shouted at them. I steadied myself and went back to a fighting stance. Before he could attack me again, the big guy grabbed him and threw him towards the wall on the opposite side.

"Get out of here!" He yelled at us. I started walking back towards the other three.

"I can hear the elevator!" Ik-Han shouted. I ran towards them and looked at Shin-Woo, who was barely conscious.

"I'm pretty sure in class they say don't fight when you can't win, dummy! You should have stayed down. If he was going to kill us, guess what? He would have been done with you and still went for the rest of them. When I say stay down, you stay down, get it?!" I yelled at him. He weakly nodded. The elevator door opened up, and we stepped inside.

"There's nothing on the buttons here!" Ik-Han said as Yuna, and I tended to Shin. He was rubbing his chin while trying to figure out what to push.

"Just push something! It's not a freaking restaurant menu, and we don't have time for that!" I jumped for the buttons, but before I could hit any of them, we heard a loud bang on the door. Ik-Han pushed a button, but nothing happened.

"It must be broken from that noise!" Another bang on the doors left an inwards dent. Each bang caused damage to the door and opened a hole in it.

"I wasn't done with you!" The sadistic guy shouted at us from the hole then started tearing the door open. I jumped in front of them to protect them. Shin-Woo jumped over me towards him and was tossed to the side. "You're too loud." He told Yuna then grabbed her and Ik-Han. "Why must you be so loud?" He said, then threw them back towards the empty room. He then grabbed me, and Shin-Woo then tossed us towards the other two. We crawled back into the hall as he paced towards us. Just then, the big guy grabbed him away from us and pulled him into a tussle. They managed to collapse the building on top of them.

"No way! How did they get the whole building to fall?" Ik-Han asked as the other three looked on at the rubble.

"We don't have time for that! We need to go! If the other lady doesn't show up, the building will probably collapse!" I shouted at them. As we were about to start running, the sadistic guy jumped out of the rubble unscathed.

"Now, where were we?" He said after dusting himself off. Shin-Woo jumped in front of us to block any attack. I pulled him down.

"Keep this idiot down! You better stay down, Shin!" The sadistic guy grabbed me by the neck and slowly squeezed, choking me. As I started losing consciousness, I heard a loud bang from the elevator.

"RAI! No! What are you doing here?!" Shin-Woo shouted at him.

"JAKE!" An angry voice growled from behind me. The sadistic guy let me go, and I fell to the ground, coughing and gasping. The others came to check on me.

"He's not human!" Shin-Woo said. I turned around, and the sadistic guy had claws for hands. The other two then started crying.

"We got Rai involved in this! We have to help him." Ik-Han said. They crawled up to the guy and clung to his leg.

"Run! Rai!" Shin-Woo shouted. The sadistic guy smacked them off then ran towards Rai.

"Kneel," Rai said. He knelt in front of Rai as if involuntarily. I crept backward, away from them, astounded at the scene. The guy tried standing up once again, and Rai ordered him to kneel. This time, he kneeled lower than before. His body began trembling, and his arms expanded, then he transformed into a monster.

"Move away from them," I whispered to the three teens. We were still watching Rai when he looked at us, and everything went black.