10
Their Kingdom Panorama
/\_____/\
The tall man set the breakfast table on the ground and fished his keys out from his pocket. Slowly he unlocked the door wondering if he’d find the two prisoners entangled together on the ground again. As soon as the thought occurred he found himself chuckling.
“Young people these days,” he thought.
He turned the key and the door unlocked. Pushing the door open he found a deserted room inhabited by stiff golden hay that had been there for weeks. Alarmed he stepped in to find that the prisoners were no where to be seen.
“What the…” he muttered before a breeze caught his attention.
Turning he made his way toward the wall and picked up a chipped piece of wood that had been left on the hay. He observed it and knelt down to see that the wooden floorboard had been removed, tossed aside, and a hole leading to the world outside remained.
“!!” he shouted tossing the wood onto the ground and made his way out.
/\_____/\
The office walls were boarded up with bookshelves all 6 foot tall each and filled with fat and slim books. A large window extended from wall to wall behind the oak desk; the blinds closed unwelcoming the early morning sun. The grey carpet from two years ago had been replaced with a blue one and on the far right of the room resided a furniture area meant for relaxation. A black shiny table occupied the space within the two full sofas.
Upon the oak desk sat the name tag engraved with the name: Park Mung Soo.
The phone on the desk had been ringing endlessly for at least 2 minutes and at most 4. The polished wooden door decorated with squares finally opened and in walked a bald man dressed in a finely cut grey suit preordered directly from Britain. Closing the door quietly he walked toward the desk setting a portfolio down and answered the phone.
“Park Mung Soo speaking.” he answered.
“Boss, the prisoners have escaped.”
“What?!” the bald man’s eyes widened. “Where’d they go? What happened! How could they have escaped?!”
“I’m sorry, sir.”
“Go after them! You have to find them! If they report this incident to anyone it’s the end for us all!!”
“Yes, sir.” the tall man on the other end of the line replied.
“Aish!!” the words escaped his mouth as he slammed the phone down.
The door opened and his secretary entered the office.
“President Bang is waiting for you in the meeting room. The guests are already here.”
/\_____/\
Calm warming rays angled over the tree branches unmoved by the coolness of the morning air. Soft dews had been left stained upon the grass and birds scurried around in the air, squirrels jumped from tree to tree, rodents dashed from hiding places to the next in fear of being exposed to morning predators, and upon all these noises were sticks on the ground breaking one by one. A light breathing and movement of careful footsteps aroused Donghae from his sleep.
He stretched a bit before another moment’s sound of footsteps caught his ear’s attention. Because of his green jacket he was well hidden behind the bushes growing ajar in the area, however, Victoria’s red shirt would catch attention amidst this green forest. Another stick broke and echoed silently in the air under the shivering green leaves.
Donghae turned his head around and worked his eyes around the forest. Glancing back to his left he saw a figure appear from the corner of the clear cut trees. A white tee and a tan vest and something that stretched out from one hand to the next. He stepped closer and Donghae recognized his looming figure as the tall man who’d kept them imprisoned. And in his arms was a hunting gun meant for game.
He spun around alarmed when the man turned to look their way. Throwing his arms around Victoria to cover her from being seen Donghae held his breath and quietly urged the man to move on. After a count of 30 seconds Donghae slowly turned back to find that the man had disappeared.
Heaving a sigh of relief he turned back to find himself face to face with Victoria who was now awake. She stared back at him and their eyes remained at the same level for a few seconds before her eyes drifted down.
“Someone’s here,” he whispered before moving off of her.
Victoria followed his eyes and glanced out beyond the tree. No one was in sight.
A click of the gun made the both of them turn around. To their luck, however, the tall man was aiming elsewhere. Maybe a deer or some other animal had triggered his paranoia. His back was to them and he was glancing out among some bed of shrubs.
“Go, go, go, go!” Victoria urged in a whisper pushing him.
Donghae crawled forward on crouched legs and turned around the few trees to the left. Victoria followed him down the trail that did not exist and they went wherever their legs would take them.
The air was warm enough but the weather was obviously too hot for the both of them to enjoy running. However, the shades that the trees provided were a great comfort to the both of them. They stopped for a short break between to fat trees and continued after what seemed like 5 minutes.
“Have you heard any cars so far?” Donghae questioned.
“I think,” Victoria said, “we’re somewhere where beings don’t exist.”
Donghae let out a small laugh before they stepped out from the trees. A perfectly field of gold welcomed them and just maybe miles ahead was a river gleaming a beautifully blue.
“Whoa! Look at that!” Donghae exclaimed extending his arm out.
Victoria glanced at the sight and looked around for a highway, any road that existed, but there were none in sight.
“Lets keep going. We’re bound to find something up ahead,” Donghae urged.
Victoria turned and followed him.
It felt like an elegant exercise that had suddenly become a two day trip for him. Donghae hadn’t seen such a sight before and seeing it made him feel graciously happy. It actually inspired him to keep going on because he wouldn’t allow it to be the end for himself if he were to be caught by the tall man. There were still plenty of things he wanted to keep doing. Things like…seeing Bang So Rae again and finding out the meaning behind the jewelry box. And maybe he’d like to find out why he was targeted and by who.
As all these thoughts ran through his mind one by one Victoria’s loud shout brought him back to earth.
“The bridge! The highway! We’re here!” Victoria screamed with glee.
Donghae looked up ahead to see the tall bridge extended up in the air. Semi-trucks and cars were already busy with people making their way to work. Like any day, Seoul was always busily driven by the minds of people.
But even though he could see it, the bridge was still, yet, another hundred miles ahead. How much longer would he have to walk? His stomach was crying and grumbling by about now.
Quietly Donghae slumped down and sat on the ground to stare out at the river going by. If only he could continue on forever like it.
“What are you doing?” Victoria asked.
“Taking a break.” Donghae replied. “I can’t run forever. And I’m hungry so I’m taking a break.”
Victoria let out a quiet “Aish” before sitting down with her back next to his arm. He watched as she brought her knees up to her chest and laughed sarcastically at her. In fact, he was sure that she needed a break as much as he did. In the midst of the breeze going by he could hear her stomach growl.
“I didn’t hear that,” he stated.
“Who doesn’t get hungry in the morning?” she spouted back pressing her arm around her stomach in hopes of easing her hunger.
Donghae turned to the river and said, “So, by what you said last night…have you been locked up before?”
Victoria scrolled her eyes up from the golden wheat and stared at the bridge just ahead of her. If only she could reach out for it with her arm. If only that were possible.
Readjusting her arms around her legs she leaned her chin atop her knees.
“Yea.”
Victoria was quiet.
“The day I attacked you was,” she told, “the same day I was released from jail.”
Surprise but curiosity engulfed him and he turned back to glance at the back of her head. Her hair was half flowing freely with the small wind and lying lazily down her back and shoulders.
“During the 5 years there my grandmother refused to visit me and died while I was serving my sentence.”
She had almost expected a “Sorry” from him but instead Donghae asked, “What for?”
Victoria didn’t reply.
“What did you do to go there?”
Victoria allowed an exasperated laugh to exit her, “You can say it’s one of those moments. Being at the wrong place at the wrong time.”
“Is it?”
Victoria busied her eyes on the thumbnails she was playing with.
“Isn’t it the same for you?” Victoria asked.
Donghae felt his eyebrows twitch.
“What?” he asked.
“There’s a certain way in which everyone grows up and builds their character as an adult. For most people, the way we’ve lived our past is what we reflect most on, isn’t it?” Victoria said.
Donghae put her words into thought.
“I guess.” he nodded.
“Then you showing no motivation to escape has to do something with how you were brought up,” Victoria pointed out, “and how I wanted to escape so badly shows something, too.”
“And…”
“How we see things respectively are shaped from how we grew up. The world is the same but we’re all so different and that’s why our views don’t match.” Victoria said. “We always have our own panoramic ways.”
Donghae became slightly confused.
“So,” Victoria tilted her head up toward the morning sky, “in my world I don’t want a Heaven or Hell. I want a world in between where everything can exist together.”
“Ah…” Donghae loudly said, “like your own kingdom?”
Victoria turned to slightly look at him wondering where he’d come up with such an idea. But it didn’t sound too bad.
“Sure.” she said almost quietly.
“Is it ok to be telling me this?” his replies were catching her off guard even more. They were not the things she were expecting from him.
“Well it’s alright. It’s not like we’re going to see each other again after this,” Victoria told.
“Don’t say that,” he told. “It’s going to turn out to be another jinx.”
“Are you sure you want to say that?” Victoria asked. “If we do run into each other again then it’s your bad luck.”
“Luck doesn’t exist on my side,” Dongae said, “I rely on instinct.”
After some time passed by the two of them quietly started their way back. Once they reached the dead suburbs of Seoul Donghae watched as Victoria walked away first.
“Hey!” Donghae called taking a step forward.
Victoria turned around from the stop light in front of the pedestrian crosswalk and he had to admit that she was pretty good looking.
“I never got your name,” Donghae said.
Victoria glanced aside before looking back at him, “Victoria.”
Donghae smiled and waved in front of the BBQ shop that hadn’t opened for morning hours yet.
“Then, Victoria, if you’re ever bored and you’re looking for trouble I’m just down that way,” he pointed down to the left where the fenced shelter resided.
He watched her arch an eyebrow and raised her hand up in farewell before heading across the crosswalk.
***Sorry for the delay in updating, I've been meaning to work on 'Give Me 120 More Years' but I've been slacking on that story as well, so I decided to update what I had of this story. Anyhow, enjoy and comment if you're not lazy ;D
***Oh yes, and a reminder: Park Mung Soo is So Rae's father's right hand man, which means he is connected to the kidnapping and the murder
***And finally, the conversation that links to the title of this story :)
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