''So... We got one brave soul here, ehh?'' the leader grinned at his men.

''Release her.'' Jiyong glared at the man.

''Who are you to order us around? You wanna die?'' the pimply man replied.

The gorilla-looking leader paced near Dara and cupped her face, forcing her to look at him. ''Seems like you've got a knight in shining armour here, sweetheart.''

''Get your filthy hands off her!'' Jiyong snapped at the guy but he just smirked at him.

Holding onto the final thread of sanity in him, he immediately tried to send signals to Hayi and Lydia with his gaze, while pointing his head to a direction, telling them to run away. The two quickly got what he meant and stood up  and darted away.

As soon as Lydia and Hayi were out, Jiyong kicked a crate, turning it upside down, and stepped on it giving him a better view of the enemies. He mentally cursed upon seeing Dara's captors both holding a gun. He can't waste a single moment.

He immediately jumped on one of the goons in front of him, landing a punch on his face. He twisted his hand, and in no time one came after another.

Jiyong bit his lip when he felt the pain in his arm with each and every movement he made but he could just care less. His eyes quickly darted to the next man but even before he could stand up, another stood his way and was about to kick him but Jiyong was quick to roll away.

''Beat that bastard to death!'' their boss ordered before leaving, telling his two men to drag Dara along with them.

Soon, more men started to flock around Jiyong.

''Jiyong!'' Dara shieked as she stumbled over the wet and uneven tiled market floor, the two men still gripping her arms tight. Her body's starting to tremble now but this time it's not the usual fear she feels everytime she gets exposed to people and danger.

She's scared that Jiyong, now surrounded by well built men, might end up getting hurt further. It's a fear for him and his wounded arm.

A fear for his safety.

''Aisht you clumsy lady!'' the man beside her spat.

Dara could just watch how Jiyong moved swiftly to kick, punch and block all the attacks. It was her first time to witness a real life action but never did she expect, it would be Jiyong and her in this situation.

 She struggled to break loose when she saw one of the men landed a punch on his face. A punch, a kick...

He was outnumbered, yet he didn't cease to give up.

''Let me go! Let me go!'' Dara wriggled herself out from the grip of the two men as she felt herself being dragged away again.

''Jiyong!'' she cried in horror once more when she saw someone hold Jiyong by his right arm. She saw how he grimaced in pain, as he slowly limped on his side.

''Ooooh... What do we have here huh?'' one of the loan sharks squeezed Jiyong's arm some more when he noticed him  twisting in pain.

''AAAAAAAAARGHHH!!!''

''HELP! SOMEBODY HELP US!'' Dara looked at the remaining few bystanders hiding for their own safety under their stalls. ''PLEASE! HELP US!'' as she thrashed and wriggled helplessly.

''! STOP MOVING !'' the man on his left slapped her face making the other man release her from his grip as she fell on the ground.

''Aaaaaah!'' Dara cried in pain as she cupped her now swollen face, her lips bleeding with the impact.

The two men smirked and bent down to look at her.

''Learned your lesson the hard way, agassi?'' the other asked, lowering himself so that they're facing each other.

Seeing her chance now that she's free from their grip, Dara quickly banged her head to the man's forehead. She then grabbed down the other man's hair and hit his face with her knees with such a speed she never thought she was able to do it.

She turned her head to Jiyong, now being beaten by the last two men standing since he already knocked down the others. She ran her way towards them. She doesn't have any plan in mind but seeing Jiyong's case right now, the last thing she was able to do was to think.

[BANG! BANG!]

The sound of gunshots filled the air. Jiyong whipped his head towards Dara and saw her frozen to her spot halfway near them.

''Dara!'' his head alarmed. His heart hammering against his chest. He wiped away the blood on his face that was blocking his view of her. He tightened his jaw upon seeing blood on her lips and her face now swollen red.

''FREEZE! DROP YOUR WEAPONS!'' the man who fired the warning shot commanded as his men went around picking up the beaten loan sharks one by one. Some was about to run away but they were heavily surrounded by the Busan policemen. The two men behind Dara immediately dropped their guns when two cops went to them and gripped their arms from behind.

Dara looked around slowly, scanning the area. Tears erupted from her eyes when she saw Lydia and Hayi rush towards Jiyong helping him up.

Bit by bit, she walked towards them.

''Oppa! Let's take you to the hospital, neh?'' Hayi suggested.

''Jiyong you shouldn't have come! For heaven's sake look at you!'' Lydia cried in panic as Jiyong breathed unevenly.

''J-j-iyong...'' Dara called him as she allowed her hair to cover her face and adjusted her loose blouse to cover her shoulder fully. She then turned to him and ducked her head low like a child waiting for a round of scolding.

Without any word, Jiyong crashed into her, engulfing her into a tight embrace.

''What the hell Dara? Why are you so stubborn?'' he asked in between his breath.

Dara gently pulled herself from Jiyong. She tried to smile at him, still avoiding his gaze, trying to hide her face. ''I'm alright...'' she said as she stepped back. But deep inside, she felt her body is collapsing in fear and shock, in worry and pain... But she's trying hard to fight it. Jiyong has been saving her for a lot of times already. Now she needs to stay strong and stop worrying him.

''Come here.'' she heard him say weakly. Dara shook her head but Jiyong quickly closed their gap.

He held her chin up, allowing him to scan her face. Anger surged in him upon seeing her swollen left cheek and her busted lips once more. Jiyong then shut his eyes closed as he tried to calm himself.

Sadly, he couldn’t.

''Oh my God Dara!'' Lydia cupped her face making Dara flinch at the very contact.

“I’m… I’m fine aunt… Please don’t worry.” Dara told her.

Jiyong mustered up all his remaining strength and removed Hayi and Lydia's hands off him.

''J-j-iyong... You're seriously hurt... Let's go home.'' Dara told her.

He wanted to embrace her and go home with his family for he's now feeling his wound and whole body throbbing in pain but the sight before him wasn’t helping at all.

''Jiyong... Enough!'' Lydia realized what he's planning as Jiyong's eyes were fixed to two certain gang members.

He ignored her words and allowed his eyes to scan through the bastards being dragged away by the policemen. His eyes turned into tiny slits upon recognizing the two men who were holding Dara earlier.

''Oppa!'' Hayi tried to hold him back but Jiyong darted away already.

“Excuse me…” Jiyong said as he approached the,. The two policemen gestured him a salute but Jiyong just nodded at them, signalling them to back off a bit.

''Kindly take the girls home.'' he told them, his eyes glinting with anger.

He heard the three girls calling his name, warning him to stop this madness.

But he's too enraged to even process about the word stop.

Without any further ado, Jiyong grabbed the two men by their collars. He pursed his lips when he felt a sharp pain on his wound but that's nothing compared to his brewing wrath he wanted these men to endure.

''Don't you know hitting her deserves more than your lives, huh?'' Jiyong gritted his teeth in anger.

''HE DID IT!!!'' the other one pointed at the other.

''NO IT'S HIM!!!''

''SHUT THE UP!'' he shouted at them before punching the one on his left and kicking the other.

He punched and kicked and beat the two men mercilessly as he felt his new found strength. His body turned numb. All he wanted to do is beat all the living daylights out of the two.

''I WARNED YOU TO KEEP THOSE FILTHY HANDS OF YOURS OFF HER!'' he said as he took both of the men by their hair and was about to smash their heads to the nearest table when someone behind him spoke.

''Aigoo, I bet Gen. Yang wouldn't want to know about this.''

'' man, don't you dare!'' Jiyong snapped at him before banging the two men's heads on the table making them lose consciousness.

''Stop now Jiyong! Enough.'' the man warned him.

''Well, now I think this is enough.'' Jiyong smirked when he found himself a bit satisfied with what he did. He wiped the mixed sweat and blood off his face before turning around to face the man behind him.

''Damn, man! What took you so long?'' he asked Soo Hyuk, a childhood friend who is also now a police officer in Busan PD.

''Sorry bro, we need to surround the area and make sure we capture their leader. Glad you called me up earlier.” He said before patting his left shoulder.

''Glad you came, or we're all dead now.'' Jiyong let out a lopsided smile as he gripped his arm, the pain now surging back in his system as he felt his adrenaline seeping away.

''You're bleeding bro. Let's get you to a doctor. And I won't accept no for an answer.'' Soo Hyuk said.

''Arasso, guess I've got no choice here.'' Jiyong answered.

He doesn't want to go home yet and see the girls' state, especially Dara. God knows what he could do just by seeing her face and knowing his family caused it.

''Kaja.'' Soo Hyun said as he helped him towards the car.

''The Parks' mansion is tightly guarded, sir. And each of them is now escorted by Hyun Suk's men. He also frequents the household.'' the man reported.

Dong Wong balled his fists until his knuckles turned white.

''Heighten the alert to all of our men in the casinos. We'll have a change of plan.'' Dong Won said as he squinted his eyes.

''Call Jaejoong. I need him here. Now!''

'', are you sure that we're at the right place?'' Krystal nudged Sulli.

''But this is exactly the address in the card. Look.'' Sulli handed her the card.

The two girls were invited for an audition for a clothing advertisement. Grabbing the opportunity after signing up under their new modeling agency, the two put their best clothes and makeup on.

''Why is it so... Aisht... Maybe it's a different thing inside.'' Krystal looked at the dull building before them.

''Let's go . We don't want to be late, do we?'' Sulli said as she pulled her by her arm.

The two entered the premises and immediately, two front desk personnel's greetend them pleasantly.

''Good morning agassi's. Wear these on please.'' the first girl smiled at them and handed them identification numbers. ''You may leave your belongings here. You won't need it inside.''

''But...'' Krystal tried to object but Sulli nudged her.

''Yah. You should know how to follow rules if you want to land a job.'' she told her as she took the identification cards from the front desk personnel. ''28... Yah this is yours. I think 29 is my lucky number.'' she beamed at her friend as she handed her her number and wore her own picked one.

Krystal hesitatingly wore it as she looked at the two employees before them eyeing them keenly.

''Don't worry, no one will touch your stuffs. We'll keep them safe here and give it back to you when you come back later. Use those cards to pick 'em up.'' the other girl told them.

''See? They're just like baggage counters!'' Sulli told Krystal, not being able to notice how the two girls before them twitched their lips in disgust.

''Go ahead, they're already waiting for you.'' the girl then bowed at them.

''Kamsahamnida.'' Sulli and Krystal bowed at them too.

''Ppalli ! I'm so excited!'' Sulli yanked Krystal.

''I-I-I'm sorry abeoji... I haven't seen her for a while now.'' Jaejoong explained to his father.

''WHAT?''

''I'm... I'm not seeing he