Krystal's POV

I didn't know how to react at all to whatever that I'm hearing right now. How can this even happen to someone like Eunjin? Someone who had a big heart, someone who had never had the intention to hurt anybody else. Someone that was important to me.

As my tears started to flow down rapidly, Jessica-unnie squeezed my shoulder a little more tighter.

"Soojung-ah, we're trying our best to locate where she is at the moment. Ever since we found out what had happened, Eunjin's Harabeoji had sent out a search team to LA. Uncle Park had already joined the search team after the case was settled. Even Tiffany and Taeyeon has gone there to assist him since your Fany-unnie has a lot of contacts in LA."

Yuri-unnie came back with a glass of water from the kitchen and handed it over to me. After telling me everything about what Uncle Park had informed her, she saw that I was starting to have some difficulty breathing so she went to the kitchen to get me a glass of water.

(Flashback 2hrs ago)

After making a call to Yuri-unnie, I drove my car to Jessica-unnie's apartment, reaching there at around 6.30pm. I knew that Yuri-unnie was not done with work yet and she must have forgotten to inform my unnie that I would be coming over tonight since Jessica-unnie was just lazing around on her bed when I knocked on her bedroom door and walked in.

Unnie said that I seemed to have lost weight and also asked me about my exams. Throughout the whole week, I had cut all connections with everyone as I didn't want to have any distraction within that period. Unnie told me to freshen up and that she would prepare dinner for me. I told her that Yuri-unnie would be coming to the apartment after work, surprising her since she was not informed.

Yuri-unnie was already at the dining table after I was done with my shower. We ate dinner in silence. Welll, maybe I'm the only one who was not talking since Yuri-unnie and Jessica-unnie were lost in their own conversation. Once dinner was done, Jessica-unnie volunteered to wash the dishes and clear the table while Yuri-unnie led me to the living room.

"How was your exams?" Yuri-unnie asked as I gave the same answer as what I gave to Jessica-unnie. "Were you able to concentrate well during that period?"

I nodded my head before I noticed Yuri-unnie letting out a sigh. She looked up to the ceiling momentarily before taking a deep breathe in. Looking down to face me, I could sense that whatever she was going to say next would be something I won't be happy to listen to.

"Eunjin is missing."

I frowned a little at her words since I was thinking that it was a fact that I had known a few days before. The fact that Eunjin had not returned along with Uncle Park, which I considered was an act of being missing.

"I thought that both of us already knew that she's missing. She didn't return with Uncle Park." I commented but Yuri-unnie shook her head.

"What I meant is that no one knows where she had gone to. Not even Uncle Park." Yuri-unnie explained further as my eyes widened with the news. "He did say that something bad might had happened to Eunjin from the condition of the last scene where Eunjin was assumed to be at before she disappeared."

I must have looked really stupid at that moment as I couldn't comprehend the things that Yuri-unnie was telling me. She must have known it by looking at my clueless expression as she continued talking.

"Eunjin was there when Uncle Park and Aunt Nancy came back from their cruise trip. She and Shin Hye, who is Uncle Park's daughter, had went to fetch them at the ferry terminal. Uncle Park was surprised to see Eunjin there and had only managed to talk to Eunjin a little about Harabeoji and Halmeoni before she told him that she wanted to go to the Ladies. That was the last time they saw her."

My heart started to pump rapidly as my eyes became watery. Yuri-unnie had stopped talking when she saw my teary eyes. Trying my best to remain composed, I asked Yuri-unnie to continue her story.

"They waited for Eunjin to come back for almost 20mins. While waiting for her, Uncle Park had actually asked his daughter if she knew about what happened to Harabeoji and Halmeoni. Since Eunjin had told her before, Shin Hye was able to narrate the story to Uncle Park. The moment he heard about it, Uncle Park started to suspect that something was amiss. He told Shin Hye to go to the Ladies to check on Eunjin and he affirmed his suspicion when Shin Hye came back running to him saying that she saw blood stains on the walls."

"Bl... Blo... Blood stains?" I could no longer contain my tears as they started to flow down. "What do you mean by blood stains?"

"Shin Hye told Uncle Park that the moment she opened the door to the Ladies, she was surpised to see that it was in a mess. It showed signs of struggles as Shin Hye noted that all the cubicle were empty. She saw some blood stains on the walls and on the sides of one of the wash basins. But the most important thing was that there was not sign of Eunjin around." Yuri-unnie paused to take a break from talking as Jessica-unnie appeared.

I quickly stretched out my hands to her and Jessica-unnie wrapped her arms around my shoulder, giving me a side hug. She patted my head before squeezing my shoulder a little.

(End of flashback)

I had calmed down a lot after I finished up the glass of water as Yuri-unnie and Jessica-unnie silently watched over me. As I thought back to everything that had been told, my heart felt the pain again.

"Any updates so far?" I asked as Yuri-unnie shook her head. "If Eunjin went missing on the day that Uncle Park was to return from his cruise, that means it's been more than a week. She's hurt.. Bleeding.. What if... what if she's no longer....?"

I couldn't complete my own sentence since I couldn't bear to even imagine it. I ended up crying on Jessica-unnie's shoulders as she tired to give me comfort.

"Krystal, I know it's hard for you to absorb all of this at the moment. All of us had a hard time too, trying to cope with it the past one week. But we're not letting our hopes down. All of us believe that Eunjin is alive. Somewhere. We realised that she might be hurt or injured which is why we are trying our best to expedite everything. Tiffany and Taeyeon had been there since Wednesday. Hopefully we can get some news from them soon, after Tiffany contacts her friends there." Yuri-unnie tried to make me feel better as I could only manage to nod my head slowly.

"Don't lose hope, Soojung-ah." Jessica-unnie said to me before I excused myself to go back to my room since I was feeling really tired at the moment.

************************

Taeyeon's POV

I let out a sigh as I leaned back against the couch in the living room of the hotel that both me and Tiffany were currently staying in. We had arrived two days ago and were picked up by Uncle Park who was already here since Tuesday, a day before us. 

After the court case was published to have ended on Saturday afternoon, everyone was curious about the whereabouts of Eunjin. It seemed that Yuri knew something about it but she didn't informed any of us until she told us to meet-up at the Twin Towers on Sunday night. It was there that we met up with Uncle Park who told us about what happened on the day he came back from his cruise trip. Even Harabeoji was there with him.

(Flashbacks)

"After I saw the mess in the toilet, I quickly called the police while Shin Hye started to look around for Eunjin. But it seemed like she had disappeared into thin air." Uncle Park continued his story. "The police came and took some notes, some photos and left. Telling us that they will keep us updated for any progress. I was so distraught right up until we reached home. I keep asking Shin Hye if she knew something else beside the story that Eunjin had told her but my daughter shook her head. Until she saw the jacket that Eunjin had handed to her earlier."

Uncle Park told us about how he found a note in one of the pockets of the jacket. He then said that Shin Hye had told him about the exact words that Eunjin told her before leaving for the Ladies.

"Was it the threat note that Eunjin had received from someone anonymous?" Yuri's question from out of nowhere, surprised all of us as we saw Uncle Park nodding his head before he reached out his hand into his pocket to retrieve the note out.

"How did you know about the note, Unnie?" Yoona asked as Yuri took a deep breathe before she started to tell us about the conversation that she had with Eunjin a few days ago.

"Yah!! How can you keep that a secret and not tell us anything about this?" I slammed the table in anger as I felt Tiffany's hand gripping my wrist while I stood up and pointed a finger at Yuri. "If you had told us earlier, Eunjin won't have been in danger."

Yuri suddenly stood up too and slapped my finger away. "Do you think by telling all of you about this, there's something we can do? Eunjin wanted to wait for Uncle Park's return. She was more concerned about clearing Harabeoji's name than her own safety. Furthermore, Eunjin was not certain if it was a real threat at all. Do you think I wanted this to happen to Eunjin?!!!"

Both of us ended up glaring at each other with our girlfriends, holding on our arms, trying to calm us down. 

"Girls, calm down. No one expected this to happen." Harabeoji's deep voice caused both of us to look away from each other before we were pulled to sit down slowly. "I know that everyone is feeling edgy at the moment. When I heard about what happened, I had already asked Park to dispatch a search team to LA."

It was Harabeoji's turn to tell us about how Uncle Park came to the prison with Mr Kang on Thursday morning, along with the recordings from his office. It seemed that only Uncle Park had accessed to the recordings which was why Harabeoji asked Eunjin to seek for his help. 

"The search team was dispatched on Friday morning itself and the recordings was submitted to the court on the same day." Harabeoji paused to take sip of his drink. "My wife is still unconscious at the hospital and hopefully Eunjin will be back by the time she's awake. I can't imagine how devastated she would be if she's to find out about what had happened to Eunjin."

"I'll be submitting this note to a colleague of mine here in Seoul. He used to be an investigator with the police force. We need to gather as much information as we could since I suspect that our mastermind is actually someone from here." Uncle Park explained his next course of actions.

"From here?" Sooyoung asked as she pointed to the people at the table but Uncle Park shook his head.

"What I meant is that the person is from Seoul. To be precise, Byun Joon Suk." Uncle Park answered as he explained that the only person who would benefit from the disappearance of Eunjin was him. "From the way the note was written, it was obvious the intention of it. Which was for Eunjn not to help her Harabeoji so that the company will fall to his hands. I will join my search team once everything is settled here. Hopefully we can find Eunjin as soon as possible because from the look of the mess in the toilet, it seems like she's not in a good shape."

(End of flashbacks)

"Taetae, it's your turn to shower."

I looked up and saw Tiffany walking out from the bedroom while drying her hair with the towel. She walked up to me and took a seat beside me. With a smile, she asked if I was okay since I looked a little troubled.

"I'm just worried about Eunjin." I replied honestly as she nodded her head.

"Take a long shower. You must be tired from following me around the whole day to meet up with my friends. I'll order dinner for us so take your time to freshen up." 

It was my turn to nod my head as I stood up and made my way to the bathroom but I was stopped in my track when I heard Tiffany's voice.

"Everyone is worried about her but I think the one who'll be affected the most would be Krystal. Everyone would be praying for Eunjin's safety but I think Krystal would be praying harder for her return."

Tiffany's POV

I let out a sigh as I watched Taeyeon's back disappeared behind the doors. We've been spending the whole day meeting up with my friends, passing them messages to look out for Eunjin. When we arrived on Wednesday, we were brought to the place where Eunjin was last seen by Uncle Park. The Ladies had been cleared and it didn't showed any signs that a struggle had ever happened before. But the fingerprints near the bottom of the wash basin was still there. Fingerprints that was made up of dried blood.

I remembered what Uncle Park had told us when we were there.

(Flashbacks two days ago)

"From the way that it looked when I first arrived at the scene, it seems that Eunjin did struggled a lot when the attacker came in. The blood stain on the bottom side of the wash basin suggested that she might had hit it, most probably with her head. The bloody fingerprints could be because she touched her wound before touching the wall. I believed she fainted due to the hit on her head."

"Will she be able to survive long with that injury?" Taeyeon asked as I grimaced when I looked at the fingerprints again.

"It depends on which part of the head she had hit. Hopefully it's not that bad. Since the blood stains were minimal, I believed she only had that injury with her before she was taken away." Uncle Park explained before he lead us out. "The ferry terminal is actually quite isolated expecially when there's no cruise stopping by. On the day that I had returned, there wasn't much passengers on board."

As the 3 of us walked around the area, I tried to look around for clues but there was nothing much. Uncle Park said that the police was not able to do much since the place didn't have any surveillance cameras around.

"So does that mean Eunjin's disappearance would just be treated as a missing person case instead of kidnapping or other criminal intentions?" I asked as Uncle Park let out a sigh before nodding his head slowly.

"Which is why, me and the search team are trying very hard to look out for her. Together with your help now, I hope more can be done and things would expedite."

(End of flashbacks)

As I stood up to walk to the room to hang my wet towel, I caught a glimpse of the bathroom door that was slightly ajar. Making my way towards it, I peeped inside and saw Taeyeon lying in the bathtub with her eyes closed. I saw her letting out a heavy sigh before I walked away to order room service for our dinner.

************************

I took a deep breathe and rested my body behind one of the big trees there. Looking around, all I could see were trees and more trees. The sun was disappearing, as darkness started to fill up the sky. I held my left shoulder as I grimaced in pain. I knew it was dislocated since I was the one who did it myself. There were scratches on my arms as I had been running among the tall bushes around. My throat hurts a lot since I couldn't remember the last time I had something to drink. My head was starting to spin as I touched the wound on my forehead. It was no longer bleeding but the cut could still be felt as my fingers went over it.

A rustling sound nearby put me on alert as I started to lie down lower to the ground. Hiding behind the big tree, I could see faint flashes of lights as rowdy voices of two men were heard.

"Damn it. I can't believe that she manage to escape. She saw our faces. We need to find her before she reports us to the police. This is all your fault."

"She kicked me in my balls, dude. Have you tried being kicked there? Do you know how painful it was? Do you want to have a taste of it?"

"Just shut up. I told you to check on the ropes every night but did you do that? She was able to remove the ropes because you didn't check on it like I told you so. God damn it. What if Boss finds out about this? He told us to keep her as long as possible. At least until he gets hold of the company."

"She dislocated her own shoulders to get out from the ropes after kicking me in the balls. Let's just find her quickly before it gets darker.. She shouldn't be able to go far, especially in her condition."

I could feel their heavy footsteps getting nearer as I held my breathe in fear. Deep in my heart, I kept praying for assistance.

'Omma, Appa.. If this is where my life is supposed to end, at least let my body return to Seoul as a whole.'

I closed my eyes as I could imagine the two men walking nearer to where I was hiding until I heard an eerie howling sound from nowhere. The sound was loud and it sounded as if it was in anger. The two men stopped walking momentarily a sthey looked around. The sun was already gone as the forest was engulfed in total darkness.

"Should we.. just.. go.. go back and wait for sunlight?" One of the voices sounded a little shaky before the other voice gave his agreement. "I heard that this forest is filled with wild beasts."

The footsteps left as quickly as they had arrived. I leaned against the big tree and stared up at the sky. A tear trickled down my cheek as I tried to calm myself down. Even though the forest was not an enclosed area, but because of the darkness, I felt like I was in a small room. My chest started to feel tighter as I realised that I didn't have my medications with me.

The howling sound was heard again and suddenly, it reminded me of the time when I was inside the haunted house with Krystal.

'Krystal.' I mumbled out her name as I tried to think back of the times that we had spent together but the pain in my head and shoulder was getting in the way.

"I shouldn't stop right now. I need to move forward." I told myself before looking around to ensure that it was safe for me to stand up. "There must be a way out from this forest."

I placed my hands on the tree trunk and pulled myself up. I didn't know how long I have been running or where I was exactly but I knew I had to run as far away as possible. As I started to walk away, I heard a deep growling sound. It didn't sound like it was coming from a human. As I turned behind slowly, I saw a pair of green eyes coming out from the darkness along with the sound of animalistic breathing. I could barely figure out the shape of the animal that had appeared behind the bushes when it suddenly flashed it's sharp fangs at me.

Without thinking any further, I sprinted forward with whatever strength that I was left with but it was difficult to run properly since I was holding on to my dislocated shoulder while running. My legs were starting to tire out as my running speed decreased gradually. As the breathing of the animal became louder behind my back, I tripped over a tree root. Another surge of pain shot up to my head as my left ankle got twisted when my foot got entangled with the root.

I tried to stand up to run but it was too painful and I ended up falling to the ground again. As I scrambled backwards shifting my in a sitting position, I had the shock of my life when something jumped onto my right leg and bite on my pants. I didn't even cared if the two men could hear my voice as I shouted in fear while the thing tried to drag me away.

Tilting my body sideways and trying to grab whatever I could, it was then that I realised that I was actually on the edge of a cliff. 

Meanwhile, during the same time, at a hospital in Seoul.

Harabeoji was sitting beside the bed where Halmeoni was while Doctor Ahn was busy doing her routine checks. He held her hands and rubbed it softly as he observed everything that Doctor Ahn was doing. 

"Is she alright?"

Doctor Ahn looked up and nodded her head to Harabeoji. "So far her vital organs are working properly. Since she 's unconscious, we are able to inject medications into her through the tubes which is why she seemed to be doing well. The only thing left to do is to pray for her to wake up."

"Did she tell you that she hated me?" Harabeoji's question shocked Doctor Ahn who shook her head. "She should have hated me for everything that I had done to the people that she loved. I took her son and daughter-in-law away from her. Then I took Park and Nancy away from her. And now, Eunjin."

Harabeoji let out a deep sigh as he closed his eyes and brought Halmeoni's hand to his forehead. 

"I'm sorry, dear. I should have listened to you 25yrs ago. If I had did that, Jin Taek might still be alive. But now... because of me, we might even lose Eunjin."

Just after he finished his sentence, Halmeoni's body started to jerk around again. Doctor Ahn ran out to seek for help while Harabeoji held Halmeoni's shoulders to control her movement. When Doctor Ahn was about to enter, Halmeoni sat up straight with her eyes wide opened.

"Eunjin!!!"

An hour later, the hospital room was filled with people as Aunt Nancy, the Kwon siblings and the Jung siblings arrived after Harabeoji informed them that Halmeoni had woken up. While Aunt Nancy was helping Halmeoni to sit up properly with Krystal's help, Halmeoni kept looking around the room before her eyes stopped at Harabeoji.

"Where's Eunjin? Didn't you tell her that I had woken up? What is taking her so long?"

No one dared to say anything as they just waited for Harabeoji to answer Halmeoni's question. The elderly man held his wife's hand and started to cry. Puzzled by his actions, Halmeoni turned to face Aunt Nancy who didn't dare to have any eye-contact with her.

"Krystal, you're the only one whom I trust that can answer my questions."

"Dear..." Before Krystal could say anything, Harabeoji's deep voice called out to his wife as Halmeoni turned to face him. "Something had happened to Eunjin."

Halmeoni had a shocked expression as she placed her right palm over her chest where her heart was.

"Don't tell me that what I had dreamt earlier was real?" Halmeoni's sentence caused everyone to look at her. "I dreamt that... that.... Eunjin..."