The moon hung high in the sky.
Jelena hurried home from the factory, exhausted to the bone.
The streetlamps were dim. After passing through several streets, the crowds grew thinner and thinner, until there was almost no one left...
Thinking of the serial murder case reported in the newspapers, Jelena instinctively pulled her tattered clothes tighter around herself, hoping they might ward off a trace of the cold.
—Middle-class families knew the streets were dangerous at night, and could keep their wives and daughters indoors. The upper class could even hire bodyguards and detectives to accompany and protect their children.
But for most commoners, missing a single day of work meant worrying about food for the next day. Compared to letting the whole family freeze or starve to death, considering other dangers was far too great a luxury.
Besides... there were tens of thousands of night-shift workers in all of Green Forest. Perhaps misfortune would not fall upon her!
Jelena comforted herself as she clutched the wages in her pocket. They were the source of her family's food tomorrow.
She had delicate features and a tall, slender figure. She could be considered quite a beauty.
In truth, if she became a streetwalker, or even an ignoble man's mistress, she would not have to work so hard.
But Jelena was a good girl who kept herself clean. She had always earned money through the labor of her own hands and the sweat of her brow.
"Almost there. I'll be home soon."
Jelena quickened her pace. She could almost see that shabby apartment building ahead, and the warm lamplight within...
"I hope Mother made vegetable soup tonight... It'd be even better if there were one or two pieces of salted meat..."
Without realizing it, Jelena had already turned into another, darker and