When Sung-hee was little she never had a problem finding a place to hide.  In fact, she had deemed herself the queen of hide-and-seek when she was seven and up to this point she had managed to keep that title.  Now she couldn’t find a hiding place to save her life.  She managed to get up the stairs and into one of the converted rooms before Tai got in the intercom and informed her that the game had begun.  “What kind of sick bastards do this for fun anyway?”  She felt at a particular disadvantage since she had no idea where any of the good hiding places were and most of the rooms were still jail cells.  She managed to get into the dresser just as the door opened. 

She didn’t dare move and hardly breathed as she waited for the man to leave.  Though the door closed she resisted the urge to open the dresser door figuring he was still in the room.  Her suspicions were confirmed when feet shuffled right by the door.  Instinct told her to shuffle backwards but she resisted and stayed perfectly still instead.  Why does breathing have to be so loud and so necessary at the same time? 

“Come on sweetie you know if I find you I can show you a nice hiding place for the rest of the time.”

Oh please you fool I’m not stupid.

“Don’t be scared I’m not a bad man like they are.”

What do you think I am a three year old?

He tried to sweet talk her again as he got closer to the dresser having figured out that was where she was hiding.  With each step she fished around for something to use as a weapon but the most that she had was a coat.  Trying to think up the best plan of attack she waited for him to open the door and grab her.  “You know I really love this game.”  Slowly he opened the door only to get a coat thrown in his face and a kick delivered to his face.  Before he could recover Sung-hee scrambled behind him and kicked him into the closet.  He tried to lash back but she ducked and kneed him in the balls then grabbed his knee and punched it from the side.  A few seconds later he crashed to the floor and she scampered to look for something on him to help her.  “Six seconds.”  She mumbled while looking around.  He had a pair of handcuffs and brass knuckles on him.  “These will do nicely.”  Grabbing the keys she stuck them in her pocket before cuffing him behind his back and grabbed the brass knuckles.  They didn’t fit her as well as she liked but they would still come in handy. 

She pulled him behind the couch and headed for the door terror setting back in now that she was coming down for her sort adrenaline burst.  Ever so slowly she opened the door and checked for any signs of life briefly before running as fast as she could down the hall.  She made it down another corridor and was about to keep running for another hall before she heard someone in the hall she was heading.  Gasping she looked around for a room to hide in.   

As soon as she got inside she regretted it.  There were really no places to hide except for under the table and that was a terrible point of attack especially if two of them showed up.  Instead she started to look for something that could help her.  So far all she could find in the room was duct tape and scissors.  While the scissors could be used as a shank she wasn’t sure if she could attack fast enough and correctly enough for it to do any damage.  A part of her wished she could find a watch at least then she could know how much longer she was going to have to play this stupid game.  Freezing when someone started to open the door she grabbed the scissors and went to the corner of the room he wouldn’t be able to see her as soon as she opened the door. 

Scrawny, about five foot seven with a slight limp which means he probably has someone right behind him I better make this quick.  Not even bothering to hide her breathing this time she waited for him to close the door behind him before she pounced on him.  He attempted to call out for assistant but she covered his mouth hissing in pain as he bit down on her hand.  Though he flailed around trying to get her off she hung on tight with her arm around his neck.  After a minute he stopped struggling and fell to the ground passed out. 

Groaning in pain she pushed him off and checked for a pulse, she wasn’t exactly interested in getting all of them after her at the same time if she had killed one of them even though they deserved it.  Searching around once again for something that would help her she spotted his watch and smiled a bit.  He groaned as she adjusted the watch but one swift punch right above the nose and between the eyes and he was right back out again. 

“It’s only nine-thirty?”  She felt like crying after see that.  There was still eight and a half more hours to survive and she already felt her limbs getting heavy.  I’ll have to be more strategic about this.  I’ll have to stop running around if I hope to last.  As carefully as before she headed out the door but this time hugged the wall as she went down the hallway the pair of scissors still in her hand.  Times like this she wished she had taken those lessons from Kevin when he offered them. 

After about an hour she managed to hole herself in the basement of the prison with a chain and duct tape in her hand.  Her legs felt like they were about to fall off, actually her entire body felt weak even though she had only been hiding for an hour and a half.  Sung-hee hadn’t come out completely unfazed physically either.  Several cuts were on her arms and cheek, her ribs were sore and her pants leg had been tore after a rather long fight between her and two men.  They had almost managed to get her out into the open but desperation could do wonders for strength reserves.

She didn’t know how long she would have in the basement to rest but she knew that even a few minutes advantage was advantageous for her.  Especially when every hour she knew that the gang would be switching up who was going after her.  Tai liked teasing her on the intercom as well letting her know who was going after her and how he thought she was ‘surviving well’ but the mouse always lost.  “You’ve never seen that show about that cat and mouse then have you?”  She allowed herself to laugh at that while fiddling with the chain. 

Her sanctuary wasn’t invaded for about thirty more minutes and she almost let her guard down, almost.  The sudden sound of the door opening and two voices coming down the stairs was enough to make her blood run cold.  Carefully and quickly she shuffled over to the corner under the stairs and silently prayed that they would leave quickly. 

“Where are you doll?  We need to pay you back for what you did to Jonghyun.”  Sung-hee slid back further into the darkest corner clutching the chain.  “Come on baby doll you can’t run from all of us forever.  It’s a long time until times up.”  He came closer and closer to her hiding place and just when he was about to reach her his partner called out to her. 

“Let’s go check upstairs Eli said he thought he spotted her by the courtyard.” 

“Alright.” 

They ran back up the stairs and Sung-hee breathed a sigh of relief when the door opened and closed.  She stayed still for a moment or two before crawling out of the space she decided to hide in and stretched her legs.  “I’ll have to move places soon they’re already starting to catch on.”

“You’re right we are.” 

Gasping she turned to find a burly man standing at the bottom of the stairs cracking his knuckles and smirking devilishly.  With each step back she took he took two steps forward until he was right in front of her face.  Without warning he grabbed her arms and pushed her back until she was up against the wall using all his weight to keep her in place.  “Get off me!” 

“Nah I like this position.”  With one hand he started to fiddle with the hem of her shirt and as soon as his skin touched her own she turned her head and bit down as hard as she could on his arm by her head drawing a bit of blood.  A desperate fight broke out between the two resulting in ripped shirts, bruised arms and on the male’s part a broken rib and damaged organs.  With one final kick to the jaw the male finally was out for the count. 

Collapsing Sung-hee gingerly touched her bruised rib and cheek trying to calm down from another bubbling panic attack.  Only two hours had gone by and she already felt like breaking down into a fit of tears and screams.  Her now ragged appearance wasn’t helping either.  Sniffling she tried to fix her shirt the best that she could though it still hung off her shoulder.   Ripping off the now useless sleeve she tied the fabric around her deep cut on her left arm and the one on her leg.  She then grabbed the other man’s shirt and used it to wipe off the blood from the shallow cuts on her collar bone, cheek and arms.  “Okay next goal find a first aid kit.” 

It took about three rooms later before she was able to find a first aid kit and disinfect the wounds she had accumulated.  She kept the kit with her since the constant moving called for bandages to be changed out every now and then.  In one of the bedrooms she managed to find a t-shirt that somewhat fit her despite smelling like cheap perfume she felt a little more comfortable not exposing herself.

Finally around two pm she found her way into one of their holding rooms.  She pushed the closet in front of the door and after a lot of struggling and reopening of wounds she got the rather heavy desk in front of it as well.  The room was nice enough to provide her with a shot gun as well.  After she figured that she was safe enough she took a seat with the shotgun in hand and sighed.  “I should have found the kitchen first.”  Her stomach was just starting to grumble for some food and she knew by the time that eight rolled around she would be dying for some food.

The hours slowly stretched by with several attempts at the door but no one was able to get past it yet.  Some almost succeeded but quickly gave up after they heard she had a shotgun in her hands.  Some tried to shoot through the door and closet but Sung-hee wasn’t an idiot she knew to never sit in front of the door.  Singing songs quietly to herself helped to keep her sanity and pass the time though eventually she opted for silence with her voice growing hoarse.  She refused to move even when Tai called an end to the game around six-thirty.

Around eight he got on the intercom system.  “I know you’re still here little Miss Sung-hee and I see you’ve been taking good care of yourself.”  Sung-hee looked up at the camera in the room and raised her middle finger.  “And I see you’re upset but aren’t you proud of yourself for surviving?  But you have thirty minutes to get out of that room or else I’ll be forced to storm the room and let my men have their way with you.”  She made no motion to move and he sighed a bit, “Have it your way.  Thirty minutes.” 

Sung-hee used that time to redo the bandages and used what was left of her strength to push the desk away and unlocked the wheels on the closet she hadn’t noticed before and rolled it away.  Exactly thirty passed before she finally opened the door and found Tai standing there along with six other men most of whom she had fought with during the game.  “You actually came out.”  He sounded genuinely surprised and the others looked disappointed at the lack of payback.

“I’m not an idiot Tai.”   Her voice cracked and burned for something to drink anything at this point she would take it. 

“Yes well,” He wrapped an arm around her shoulder and started to head for downstairs, “I must say you did better than any of our other toys and lucky for you you’ll be all done as soon as your brother hands over the money.”

“He’ll never do that.”  She grumbled after clearing a few times.

“Oh would someone go get this girl some water you know I can’t stand hearing gravely voices!”  A few seconds later a man ran past them down the stairs and headed to where Sung-hee assumed was the kitchen.  Tai didn’t even wait for the man as he and the five other men headed for the outside where Sung-hee spotted a number of cars waiting with almost all the other men inside.  Oppa you better have a good plan set up or this is not going to end well at all. 

“Here sir!”  The man from before came running back with a large glass of water and a bag of some food.  He handed both to Sung-hee who gulped the water down greedily before opening the bag to find some kimbap inside.  “I figured you didn’t want her passing out in the car.”  The man clarified when Tai gave him an odd look.

Laughing Tai clapped him on his back, “And this, my friend is why I trust you.  Get the girl in the car I have a call to make and we’ll be on our way!”  He laughed boisterously while he pulled out Sung-hee’s cellphone and called Hyo to give him the exact location while Sung-hee was pushed into the car.  Please have a plan oppa.