It's a cold, cold night in the small Austrian village of Hallstatt, just an hour or so away from Salzburg. With the winter snow falling down peacefully on the old cobblestone streets, it looked like one of those cheesy Hallmark movies or a picturesque post card from a fancy gift shop. As perfect as it seemed, it drove König insane.

König didn't try to be so grumpy about the upcoming holiday, but it was hard to be joyful around the holidays when he had nobody to celebrate with it. Taking over the hotel, Hallstätter Familienhütten, that his parents left behind, König finally retired from KorTac and the military, ready for some peace. He's 46 years old now, and he was getting to old for the military anyway. But it's all he's known, ever since he was 17. Running a hotel? Not so much. He's gruff, he's quiet, and his social anxiety isn't much better now, even in his older age.

König stood in the lobby of the hotel, where the check in desk and restaurant was located. It was beautiful, all wood and a huge fireplace and plush furniture. Instead of hotel rooms, each guest would have their own little cabin. For now, König worked on setting up the Christmas tree, a giant Douglas fir, adorned with all the usual baubles and ribbons. As he dragged the tree that he chopped down from outside back into the lobby, there was the usual amount of people moving around and talking, tourists visiting for the Christmas season. König was off in his own world, not paying attention to his front desk attendant, his aunt Lena talking to someone. But his ears picked up when he heard a soft voice at the desk.

"... Please tell me you have a room available? The car that I was traveling in broke down, and the driver can't get me back to Salzburg. With it so close to the holidays, there's not a lot of rooms available."

König 's back straightened up, his attention caught now. Turning around, he eyes a tourist standing next to his aunt, and the older woman has a concerned look in her eyes as she looked from the tourist to the computer screen.