[CONTENTID1]okay[/CONTENTID1]

[CONTENTID2]Chapter Twenty Nine[/CONTENTID2]

[CONTENTID3]

Threatening phone calls weren’t anything new to Jakyung. The frequency with which she was receiving them, however, was definitely new.

Normally, she would have ignored the unidentified numbers calling her phone. She didn’t care to speak on the phone more than she needed to, so less was more in her opinion. Yet, when she picked up the phone without looking this time, she instantly regretted it.

“Park Jakyung. Currently snacking on baby carrots while walking through Hongdae. It’s quite a nice day isn’t it?” Jakyung didn’t break her stride.

“Quite. Mind telling me who you are and how you got this number?” She asked through a mouth of carrot. The person on the other line chuckled.

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” the voice teased. It was low, smooth and would have been playful if under different circumstances.

“I would. You called me after all,” she retorted. Once again, the mystery caller chuckled. “Are you going to tell me that I should watch my back? That I’m not safe? Clearly you’re doing a bang up job at locating me. I wouldn’t be surprised if I turned around and found you at my back with a knife drawn.”

She turned before she finished the sentence, and even though the crowd swarmed around her, she spotted the mystery man immediately. He was a few meters away, clad in a navy blue jogging suit and a matching ball cap. He had on sunglasses (typical, Jakyung thought) and the Bluetooth device stuck in his ear made him look like any other person out for a run.

“The only problem with your disguse, Mysterio, is that you forgot that no one goes jogging in the middle of Hongdae during rush hour,” she told him. She watched and listened for that telltale chuckle.

“How smart of you and how careless of me. My name is Seunghyun,” he told her. Jakyung nodded and shoved the unfinished bag of carrots in her pocket. “You’re an interesting person, Park Jakyung.”

“Thank you. However, this talking around the matter of your call is starting to bore me.” She started taking steps forward at the same time as the man named Seunghyun.

“Ah, yes, that. Tell me, Park Jakyung. Do you know a man name Yang Hyunsuk?”

“I can’t say that I do.”

They were drawing ever closer, but Jakyung had no intentions of reaching him.

“He’s my… employer. He would very much like to meet you.”

“I see. And what, pray tell, would be the purpose of this meeting?”

“Unfinished business.”

At that moment, Jakyung ducked into the storefront of a lingerie store, using Seunghyun’s momentary surprise to race through the racks and tables of underwear. A few seconds later she could hear the startled cries of store assistants and shoppers alike as Seunghyun chased after her, smashing through and destroying displays in his wake. Jakyung burst through the shop’s back exit and made a beeline for the end of the alley the door opened into. She knocked over trash cans, boxes, bikes – anything that would slow her pursuer down.

She led him through a series of twists and turns, not daring to stop for fear of him catching up with her. It briefly occurred to her that she had no idea why Seunghyun – if that even was his real name – was chasing after her, but she didn’t dwell on it too long; anyone chasing after her was bound to be trouble.

She managed to lose him by hopping on bus that was just about to pull away from the stop. It was close, but she saw Seunghyun standing at the stop, looking both disgruntled and rightly impressed that she had managed to escape. She hadn’t taken her car, as she had wanted to get a bit of exercise and see the city, but she resolved that next time, she would drive – if only to have a getaway vehicle when being chased by mysterious men.

She settled into her seat at the back of the bus, and dialed the first person in her contacts: Kai. He picked up on the third ring, which was unusual for him, but she soon found out why.

“I’m kind of in the middle of yanking someone’s fingernails out. Can you call back in--” he paused and Jakyung held the phone away from her ear as a bloodcurdling scream sounded. A few other passengers glanced back in curiosity, but she just gave them a -eating grin and waved. There was a rustling and Kai came back on the line. “Noona? Can you call back in, like, twenty minutes?”

“Sure. Make sure you tell them to eat plenty of beef liver; it helps with nail growth,” she chuckled as she ended the call. She moved on to the second contact in her phone.

“If you’re hearing this message then it means that I’m suffering from a massive hangover and won’t be functional until 4PM. Leave a message or whatever.” A beep sounded and Jakyung just laughed into the speaker before telling Suho that it was already past 4PM and he needed to get better hangover remedies. She moved onto the next person.

“Baekhyun?”

“Not if I owe you money,” he joked. Jakyung sighed.

“Your humor needs work. And you do owe me. Approximately four dollars and 32 cents for the muffin I so graciously brought you for breakfast this morning.”

“Speaking of which; why are you calling me if you just saw me this morning? I like drinking as much as the next person, but I’m trying to maintain my trim figure, unlike you,” he retorted.

“Trim figure? About as trim as a well fed boar. Get over yourself,” she scoffed. She continued before he could retort with another insult. “As much as I like trading insults, I was just chased around Hongdae by a man named Seunghyun working for someone named—”

“Yang Hyunsuk,” Baekhyun finished, his voice now serious. “Where are you? I’ll come get you.”

“I’m on a bus headed towards Gangnam. I’ll get off at the next stop.”

Several minutes later, she got off the bus and messaged Baekhyun her location. She waited in a small café for him, putting her research skills to good use with their free Wi-Fi. Twenty minutes later, Baekhyun picked her up.

“Are you okay?” was the first thing he asked her as she got into the car.

“Well, I didn’t get caught, so I guess,” she told him. He frowned.

“I’m serious. Seunghyun is ruthle