Chapter 3
The Art Of Kidnapping
It felt like a ghost town; not a single living thing in sight except for the occasional creepy crawlies and small animals skittering around the open area. It was difficult to believe that a small town like this in the middle of nowhere could once be populated, but now its people have already moved out to a more prosperous metropolis filled with endless opportunities, long forgotten about the memories and experiences they’ve had in this deserted place.
If only those countrymen and women knew how difficult it is to begin a new life in a thriving city, in a competitive dog-eats-dog world.
The houses have been demolished by government officials, leaving a row of mercilessly destroyed land of rubbles and debris in their wake.
However, only a lone warehouse, painted in an already washed-out pale of grey and barricaded around with a tall metal fence, stood unscathed among its fallen comrades… Why it was not demolished as well was a mystery people have yet to find out.
A bunch of convertibles were parked at the side of the huge building, making it all the more suspicious as to what would anyone be doing in there.
Inside, all sorts of boxes were stacked on the towering shelves. Huge shipping containers were placed at all corners of the warehouse, as dusty as ever. In the middle of it all was a long table, the ones that were mostly used in meeting or conference rooms. Several men sat at the table, looking patiently at their leader at the end who was in a middle of a conversation on his phone.
“Good…I’ll be waiting.” Their charismatic leader loosened the suffocating tie around his neck. That one gesture meant that he was pleased with something. Most probably that the plan was going along well. “Your payment will be given to your agent once the girl is transferred here, in full cash. I hope your agent is someone whom you can trust. A hundred million dollars is not an amount accumulated in just a day, you know. It would be such a waste if your agent suddenly runs off with it.” The conversation ended without another word.
He placed his phone gently on the table. That was odd… Usually, he would just slam it down. Hard… His men sat up attentively; anticipating their leader’s news. This change of attitude was a surprise for them.
“They’ve got the girl”, he smirked,” We’ll be getting her soon. In the meantime, we should prepare for the ransom and blackmail. Let’s see how Park is going to like it once he sees that we have her daughter with us."
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The driver of the black Subaru Impreza flung her phone onto the passenger seat beside her while making her way out of the city via the main expressway. Just great… She had to take care of this Park Sunyoung woman all the way until she could make it towards her objective.
‘Why the hell can’t the meeting point be somewhere nearer so I can get this over with?!’ Sunny cursed in her mind.
Now that twilight has already loomed over the bustling metropolis, rush hour traffic was one of the last things in the brown-haired woman’s mind. The urge to bang her forehead in frustration on the steering wheel was tempting, but she stayed as cool-headed as ever throughout the painfully slow traffic.
Her discarded phone blinked and flashed to get her attention. A message from the boss. It must have been the directions and location of the meeting point as promised. She reached out for it while glaring at the vehicles ahead of her to hurry up. The GPS application in her gadget appeared on the screen, showing her a satellite map of the area she needed to go. It was quite far but along the way, there were some motels and an isolated cabin marked on the map. Sunny raised one of her eyebrows. The cabin must have been one of the safe houses that her headquarters listed around Korea if their agents happen to have a mission such as this.
‘Safeguarding the victim until he/she has been successfully given to the client.’
A car’s horn honked behind her.
Sunny, startled by the unexpected sound, flung her poor phone once again onto the neighbouring seat to move her car forward. Fortunately, traffic was sailing smoothly once again, much to Sunny’s relieve. She was already out of the dreaded expressway, and was now officially out of the capital.
She needed to get to any one of these safe houses fast. It was a matter of time before her captive regains her consciousness again, and finds herself in the hands of the girl who supposedly lost her couple ring.
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‘Wha…? W-where am I…?’
Darkness engulfed her surroundings the moment she opened her heavy eyes. Hyomin blinked them to get rid of her blurry vision. It was still dark, but bright enough for her to see that she was inside something. The low humming sound of a car’s engine accelerating can be heard by her sensitive ears. The occasional bumping movement of it moving on the cracked road. Hyomin realized what kind of predicament she was in…
‘…!’
The panicked university student struggled around in the cramped space, but to no avail, as her arms and legs were tightly tied up. Every inch of her body was starting to get numb. What an uncomfortable position she was in…
‘Crap… I can barely breathe in here.’
Her oxygen level in here was draining. She needed to open up the compartment and fast! Getting into position, she used all her might to kick the door with her tied-up legs
Twice.
Trice.
Still not working.
Hyomin used her last resort. Something that almost all females would do if they’re in this kind of situation…
She screamed her lungs out.
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‘She’s awake already!?’
Sunny was definitely sure that the amount of anesthetic she used was enough to knock out the woman for a few hours… only an hour had past.
The kidnapper dreaded to hear the loud bumping noises from behind and a muffled scream after that. She knew she should have gagged the woman with a balled-up sock or something.
She looked at her rear-view mirror. Good, no witnesses around.
Sunny parked the car at the side of the empty road. Night has fallen. Millions of stars twinkled up the dark sky, shining brightly with the full moon accompanying them. It was beautiful. It could have been romantic, but the environment did not suit the situation happening on the ground AT ALL… Sunny opened the back of her car, frustratingly.
“SHUT UP!”
The palm of her free hand met with the flawless face of the screaming victim. Thanks to Sunny, the victim’s face already has a flaw.
Sometimes physical violence was necessary at times like this, even though the petite woman hated herself for doing that. What is she to do when the woman in the compartment literally deafened her hearing the moment she opened it?
Park Sunyoung moaned in pain after she was struck by her kidnapper’s surprisingly strong slap on her face. Who knew this cute girl could pack a punch.
The blinding light from Sunny’s torch made it difficult for Hyomin to see exactly where in the world she was. Not to mention due to the newly acquired bruise she got.
The kidnapper went to the back seat of the car to get her suitcase. She needed to use something to cover up her captive’s big mouth. Luckily, there was. Sunny pulled out a roll of duct tape and went back to where her clueless victim was. Hyomin’s eyes bulged out once she saw the object her captive’s hands. She felt the strands of her hair at the back of her head being forcefully pulled when she tried to turn her face away from the oncoming piece of tape.
“NO!! LET ME GO!!! WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM M-!?” she didn’t time have time to finish her sentence before was finally covered up.
Sunny blocked the flurry of kicks from the struggling woman, while she tried to calm down her panicked victim by grabbing onto her shoulders. She ignored the jabbing to her stomach from the continuous kicking, and proceeded to hug her.
‘A fearful victim is difficult to handle. Make your victim at ease at your very presence so that the mission goes on smoothly.’
Hyomin stopped her kicking the moment she felt the warmth of the person hugging her. She felt a hand smoothing her brown locks of hair. It was strangely soothing. If only she wasn’t tied up and that the girl in front of her was not her kidnapper… Hyomin would have returned the hug just the same, considering how nice it felt.
Sunny moved back an inch to look at the woman straight in the eyes. Her sharp eyes stared back into a pair of slightly fearful brown beautiful eyes. She could see an image of herself reflected on her captive’s pupils. They were so close to each other, until they could practically feel each others’ breaths on their faces.
“I’m sorry.”
Hyomin felt a sharp pain on the side of her neck.
Her world out yet again.
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Sunny felt guilty for knocking her out again, but this time with brutal force. To lessen her guilt, she lifted the unconscious woman from the cramped compartment and laid her down onto the passenger seat in the car. Once that was done, she went back into the driver’s seat, started the vehicle, and continued her drive towards the safe house.She didn’t know why, but something about the way her victim looked at her made her regret slapping her beautiful face.
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