“Joon, the notemaker left another on the van!”

“WHAT??”

“But it’s on Sinb’s window!”

“WHAT’S WRITTEN ON THE NOTE?”

Surprise! Surprise! You didn’t think I’d change my mind, did you? But I’ve never really cared for the visual. How would the fans feel if we deface the group? How about all of the groups? It will not be long and terror will resurface. I don’t think they can hide the truth this time.

“DAMMIT!”

“Joon, Sinb is not in the dorm!”

“WHERE IS SHE?”

“One team is searching as we speak.”

“LOCATE HER! I’M COMING IN 5. SECURE THE OTHERS.”

“Copy.”

“TRACE HER! THERE’S A BUG ON HER PHONE!”

“The location says she’s inside the dorm. She might have left the phone!”

“WHAT?! Launch the aerial! Review the CCTV!”

“We already did! The CCTV is blank after the footage that caught her opening the door!”

“FIND HER!”

.

.

.

.

.

“Eonnie! She’s not here! WHY IS THERE SECURITY OUTSIDE THE DORM?? WHAT’S HAPPENING?! WHERE’S SINB??”

“YERIN-AH, STAY INSIDE. I’M COMING!”

“EONNIE! ANSWER ME! WHERE IS SHE??”

“Yerin-ah, she’s missing…”

“BUT SHE WAS JUST HERE!”

“I’M COMING. I’LL FIND HER.”

The girl in the passenger seat promptly understood what was going on but she was confused as to why Joon did not seem to be the person she thought she was. With her tone, her words, her authoritative air and her fluency, she sounded as if she had entirely a different persona. But more than her confusion about the true identity of the person she has taken romantic interest on, she was more distressed about the fact that Sinb was missing and in spite only hearing half of the conversation, the way Joon spoke suggested that something grave has happened. Sowon started weeping but she did not inquire further. She reached for Joon’s tense shoulder and squeezed it tightly as if she will never hold her again.

“Whatever is happening, please be careful.”

“I will. The moment we get to the parking lot, don’t look for me.” Her eyes were b with anger that was battling with fear but she kept a calm tenor as she focused all her attention to the road. “Keep the girls inside the dorm and DO NOT let anyone leave, especially Yerin.”

“I will. Please find her.” Her words were nearly impossible to understand because of the van’s noise and her crying.

“I promise.” Whatever it takes, she thought to herself.

The moment they’ve parked, as Sowon was looking for the button to release her seatbelt, Joon was already out of sight; only the sound of the van’s door opening and closing on the driver-side signaled her exit.

“Do not look for her. Keep everyone in the dorm.” Damn where’s the button. Sowon repeated Joon’s reminders to herself. Her cold trembling hands could not seem to find the red button. As soon as she got out, she ran to the elevator wiping her tears, trying to calm herself and maintain a level of composure that she knews she would need to handle the panicking members she will find in the dorm. “Calm down. Everything will be okay. She promised.”

Sowon reached the apartment floor swarmed with surveying security personnel, some on their phones and some were preoccupied with gadgets she has never seen before. When she entered the door, Joon was already inside trying to draw out any sense from Yerin through all the panic and chaos. Umji ran to her in tears and unable to speak. Eunha and Yuna where calling Sinb’s friends, family, SouMu staff, managers and stylists for  any information they can get about the girl’s possible whereabouts.

“Yerin-ah, you have to help me.” Joon held the girl’s shoulders firmly pushing her against the sofa’s backrest. “I cannot find her if you don’t give me a possible location.”

“EONNIE! I CAN- NOT THINK! FIND HER! LISTEN TO HER VOICE!” She was panting, almost turning blue with her incessant crying. “EON-NIE, HELP HER!”

“YERIN-AH…” Joon forcefully pulled out the titanium ring which was not even on her forefinger that it dropped on the floor, hoping its complete absence could heighten her hearing more, but it didn’t. Joon has been trying to use her senses to locate the missing girl even when she was on the road driving, but she could not catch Sinb’s voice or scent. “Please calm down. You’re hyperventilating. You might lose consciousness. I need you to help me! YEWON-AH! GET ME A GROCERY BAG!”

“EON-NIE. SHE WAS JUST WITH ME!”

“What were you talking about before she left? HEY! Look at me!”

“I don’t re-mem-ber.” She breathed in and out of the brown bag that Joon held up to her face. “We were up there. I was rea-ding.” The paper bag was getting soaked with her tears.

“What did she say before she went down?”

Yerin cried even more recalling Sinb’s last words before she descended the ladder. I love you. “EON-NIE! FIND HER, PLEASE!” Even when Umji was on the brink of panicking herself, she sat beside her and hugged her hoping to simmer down her distress.

“Eonnie, everything will be alright. Calm yourself down.” Umji’s tears fell on Yerin’s shoulder.

“Yerin-ah, I need you to tell me what you know she did after she left the room. Focus on me.”

“HER PHONE! CHARGE! She said she will charge! And she ne-ver came back!” The three quickly looked at the phone but it was not attached to the charger that was not even in the living room.

“EVERYONE!” Feeling the futility of her efforts to extract information from Yerin, Joon called out and all the girls ran to where she was. “Give me a possible location. Where would she go at this hour??”

“I called, she’s not with her brother. Not with any family member.”

“Convenience store??”

Joon jumped to the door. In spite the intuition that Sinb was not there, she knew she had to do something aside from waiting, tracking the girl’s scent might give her a clue. She ran to the convenience store but did not find her. She was back in the dorm after two seconds catching her breath.

“She’s not there.”

None of them asked how she knew or if she went there herself. Only Yerin was aware that Joon saw for herself that Sinb did not go to the store.

“Company?”

“No. I called the building security, she did not go there!” In spite Yuna’s assertion, Joon stepped out again but this time, she did not run. She disappeared though thin air. She came back after three seconds.

“Not there.” She was looking at Yerin, shaking her head.

“Eon-nie.” Yerin’s face was already drained of color but now she was more worried by the fact that she knew Joon was using her other skill to search.

“The staff did not hear from her.”

“Wait, I’ll check her inbox!” Umji ran to the phone.

“Where else could she be?? She won’t leave at this hour if it wasn’t important!”

“Call Eunseo!” Sowon suggested.

“EONNIE! Passcode!”

“I called her already, she did not talk to her today.” Eunha replied.

“TRY 03-19!” Yerin yelled.

“Eunha-yah, check if there’s anything unusual in your room.” Joon’s breathing was heavy. “Something missing. Something gone. Anything!”

“IT’S 1903!” Umji switched the couple’s birthdays after the first attempt failed.

“The jacket and coat she’s currently using are here!” Eunha’s shaking voice was muffled while she peeked into the closets.

Joon was certain that the girl did not have intentions of going far from the dorm as it was chilly outside and she would have don her coat at least to keep herself warm. “Anyone you think might have gone here and picked her up??” Even in the appearance of another grim note, Joon could not be certain if she was taken by the notemaker, but it was hard to make herself believe that Sinb’s disappearance, the CCTV’s disconnection and the note were all just coincidental.

“She didn’t text anyone the whole day except us!” Umji exclaimed while scanning the girl’s phone.

“The oppa! No. It’s Impossible.” Sowon refuted her own claim.

Joon knew it was farfetched that Yerin’s suitor was involved but she did not have any lead to continue her search. “Yerin-ah, I’ll try. But I can’t go to places I’ve not seen before. Give me a landmark that I’ve seen that’s close to his company building or his house, anywhere!” Joon did not care if the other girls could hear her as much as she didn’t care that she ceased speaking in English.

“Eonnie, the tall yel-low con-do.”

Recalling immediately, she went out and disappeared.

“Joon-eonnie!” Eunha ran out of their room. “Where did she go?!”

“She’ll be back soon.” Yerin was shaking and still holding onto the brown bag.

It took half a minute before Joon came back almost stumbling to the living room, blood dripping from her nose.

“EONNIE! YOU’RE BLEEDING!” Yuna yelled that made Sowon quickly run to the kitchen and grabbed the entire roll of paper towels.

Joon knelt on the living room floor, her blood trickling down her trousers. “He’s in his com-pa-ny buil-ding, he’s not in-volved.” Her voice was too low only Yerin could hear her.

“Eonnie…” Yerin dropped the paper bag and held Joon’s clammy face. “You’re gonna hurt yourself. Yewon-ah get her water!”

“WHAT HAPPENED?” Sowon asked but did not expect an answer.

“EONNIE, YOU’RE BLEEDING A LOT!” Eunha ran closer to her. “I don’t know if it means anything, but her wallet, she keeps a few bills here all the time. But it’s gone and she left the wallet on her bed like she threw it there!”

“She only uses bills if she had to buy something from the streets!” Umji shouted as she beelined to the kitchen.

Using the remaining energy she has, Joon ran to Yerin and Sowon’s room, staggering on her way leaving a trail of blood on the floor. The girls were stunned by her speed none of them realized immediately which room she went to. As soon as she knew they couldn’t see her, she disappeared.

Sowon was about to follow her, but Yerin pulled her arm forcefully. “NO!”

“I’LL JUST CHECK ON HER! LET GO, YERIN-AH!” But her weak and trembling hands failed to prevent the tall girl who eventually escaped her grip.

The commotion and the shouting startled Umji that she dropped the glass of water onto the small dining table. This halted Sowon’s steps for a moment. The shocked maknae was motionless before she picked up the glass on the verge of rolling out of the table.

Yerin stood up quickly and grabbed Sowon again by the hand while glancing at their room and did not find Joon inside.

“LET GO!” She was about to swing off Yerin’s hands when Umji yelled.

“EONNIE! SOMETHING IS MISSING FROM THE TABLE!” Everyone looked at the direction of the panicking member.

Before the youngest girl could speak another word, Yerin saw that Joon was back and kneeling on the floor about to collapse. “EONNIE!!!” About to faint herself, she ran as fast as she could to break the foreigner’s fall.

“EONNIE! THE GIFT CARD IS MISSING!”

“WHAT GIFT CARD?!” Sowon was torn between attending to Umji or running towards Joon who was now paler from bleeding.

“THE COFFEE GIFT CARD THEY GAVE US! IT’S NOT IN THE BOWL WITH THE KEYS! CHECK HER CALL LOG!”

Sowon searched for the phone, with her hands shaking she typed in the wrong passcode thrice.

As soon as Yerin heard Umji, her eyes met with Joon’s. “EONNIE, I REMEMBER TELLING HER I WAS SLEEPY.”

“SHE CALLED THE COFFEE SHOP DELIVERY!!! JOON! THE COFFEE SHOP!”

Sowon was about to redial the number when Joon yelled out to her. “DON’T CALL THE NUMBER!!!” She knew that calling the coffee shop would only make the abductor think that they have already figured where Sinb was; this might agitate the criminal and make him act quickly to either escape or do whatever he planned with the missing member. Not contacting the suspect will help Joon buy more time and subsequently give Sinb a greater chance to survive.

“Yerin-ah… Take me outside. I need to talk to my team leader before I leave.” Using every drop of strength that was left in her, she forced herself to stand up.

Yerin looked at everyone shaking her head implying that they must not come near or even follow them to the door.

“Eonnie…” Yerin’s eyes were blurred by the downpour of tears as she carried half of Joon’s weight toward the door. “Please save her. And please comeback with her.”

“I never broke a promise, have I?” She smiled faintly before closing the door to prevent Yerin from stepping out of the apartment.

Yerin sat on the floor crying gravely. The members instantly came to her and pulled her up to transfer to the sofa.

“I shouldn’t have told her I was sleepy.”

“Eonnie, it’s not your fault! Stop it!”

“I shouldn’t have let her leave my side.”

“Yerin-ah, you wouldn’t have known.” Sowon continuously wiped off the tears on Yerin’s face before she hugged her tightly.

“We were going to stay late to wait for her birthday. Eonnie! She didn’t come back!”

“Please don’t do this to yourself.”

---

“JOON!” SEC02 team leader caught Joon before she fell on her knees on the apartment floor hallway. “YOU’RE GONNA DIE IF YOU TELEPORT MORE!”

“One last. Send teams to the co-ffee shop! Warn the other com-pa-nies, fa-ces of the groups are the tar-gets.” Realizing what deface meant in the note they discovered earlier. “Follow me to the shop.”

“JOON! YOU’RE BLEEDING PROFUSELY. YOU WON’T BE ABLE TO SAVE HER IN YOUR CONDITION.”

“I HAVE TO!”

The team leader reached for Joon’s pocket and discreetly dropped something heavy. “Don’t expect yourself to survive a fistfight. Take this.”

“I CAN’T USE THAT!”

“JOON! LET GO! IF YOU WANT TO SAVE HER, YOU HAVE TO LET GO.”

Before her friend could utter another word, Joon disappeared.

“SEC01 SECURE APARTMENT LOCKDOWN! SEC 2, 3 AND 4, TO THE COFFEE SHOP THE FASTEST WAY POSSIBLE! Dammit Joon! Don’t be stupid!” The team leader shouted through the radio that was connected to all the team members’ earpieces including Joon’s.

<<<

“WHO ARE YOU?? WHERE DID YOU TAKE ME??” Sinb yelled as soon as she has awoken from a momentary unconsciousness; she found herself in the spacious storage room behind the coffee shop with several cameras propped on tripods focused at her. She was at the middle of the room at the center of four large metal hooks that were bolted into the floor.

The man did not respond. He pulled down his hood and smirked at the teary-eyed girl whose hands were tied down to her feet.

“KOPI OPPA??” Sinb recognized the guy who always served them in the coffee shop. He was the same guy who has spilled drinks on Joon a few times, and the same delivery boy she knew worked for many coffee shops and delivered coffee to them countless times to filming locations, radio shows and even to the company building.

“I’m surprised you recognized me.” His tone was vicious and maniacal. “But I don’t suppose you recognize them. It’s funny we all look alike they thought they were chasing after one person.” He turned his gaze toward the dark walls that concealed other men who dressed exactly the same as him. “It’s just sad I had to kill one of them after we wasted time drawing countless faces of your girlfriend on his skin. And that’s all because your bodyguard ran so fast. And speaking of, I don’t think she figured out yet where you are. I can just imagine everyone’s panic! The terror in their faces excites me! HAHA!”

Sinb couldn’t process a single word uttered by the familiar man who was slowly lowering his body to squat in front of her while she struggled to loosen the chains that bound her. “LET ME GO!” She started crying but kept a brave face.

“Oh! But I’m not stupid to have taken you here just to let you run away! HAHA! We’ve been waiting for this chance for a long time. What an opportune time that you called for coffee, you didn’t know you were the one delivering yourself to me. It was so nice of you to cut my struggles short at the most perfect time and day! I guess you really have the most impeccable timing.”

“GO AWAY!”

He leaned toward her and spoke agonizingly slow. “See those cameras? There are exactly 20 of them, all ready to roll and go live on every TV channel and streaming site. Every. Angle. Of. Your death. Will be. Captured. Every single flinch you make, every drop of blood, every word, every scream.” He leaned closer and inhaled deeply the scent of Sinb’s hair.

“STAY AWAY FROM ME!”

“It’s a pity that your girlfriend will only smell blood the next time she sees you. If she ever will. Haha! What a waste, you smell so nice even when you’re all scared and sweaty.”

Sinb started trembling, her heart beating faster in fear as she felt the man touching her feet. She fought and tried to kick his hands only to be held back by the chains that trapped her.

“Ha! Feisty. This is why I’ve always liked you. It’s just sad you have to be the one we needed to sacrifice. Blame that to your fame!” He let go of his grip and took a few more metal chains out of his back pockets and dropped them on the concrete floor. “I thought you wouldn’t wake up soon. It’s almost your birthday. Wouldn’t it be nice to die on the day you were born? And the whole Korea watching it happen?” His long dirty nail brushed the girl’s face before he stood up.

“Tie her down! It’s almost time!”

Sinb fought and held herself tightly hunched on the floor, but the men were stronger and they did not mind pulling the chains around her limbs to hurt her and make her give up resisting.

“Oh my my… Don’t do that.” The notemaker interrupted. “It only turns me on. I am getting distracted.”

“LET ME GO! HELP ME! HELP!”

“I SAID DON’T DO THAT!” He grabbed Sinb’s face with one hand and pulled it close to his that he could feel her the breath against his skin. “No one will hear you. Don’t waste your energy, you’ll be needing it soon.” He flashed an hellborn smile and pushed her face away. “Tie her up before I do something unnecessary.” He walked quickly to the table to scan the various metal instruments and whatnots that laid on it.

“Why don’t you? Hehe… It’s fifteen minutes more before midnight anyway.”

“You’re right.”  He turned around grinning and holding what seemed like surgical scissors. By the time he reached the crying girl, her hands and feet were already bound securely to each of the four hooks on the floor. She didn’t speak as she was almost out of her consciousness because of panic, fear and frantic breathing.

“Should we film this??” He stuck his tongue out before biting it. “It sure will be entertaining.” He knelt down on her left side and slid the open scissors through her shirt’s bottom hem and started slowly cutting through the fabric. “I didn’t think these scissors wound be so sharp.” Inch by inch, the girl’s white skin was revealed to the diabolic terrorist. “My oh my, what a view…”

 As he excitedly was about to cut the cloth over her chest, the sound of tables and chairs breaking and glass shattering inside the coffee shop startled him.

“WHAT THE-”

“DON’T YOU ING LAY YOUR DIRTY HANDS ON HER!”

“I didn’t think my lovely note would lead you here.”

“LEAVE HER ALONE!”

“EONNIE…” Sinb could not see her, but the sound of her voice was unmistakable. “Eonnie…” She took a faint breath and lost consciousness.

Joon was about to faint herself but seeing Sinb in a very vulnerable and deplorable state angered her immensely that for a moment it was everything she felt.

“TAKE HER DOWN AND ROLL THE CAMERAS!”

“DON’T YOU ING DARE.” Joon’s speed was failing but her courage kept her moving, dodging every fist and foot that came attacking her that only a few grazed her skin but did not injure her. In spite being slowed down by exhaustion and the countless men that tried to topple her, she managed to knock down as much of the cameras as she could while keeping an eye on Sinb who laid at the center of the floor her shirt about to be completely ripped by the notemaker who did not care to use the scissors anymore.

Before he could tear open the last inch of her clothing, Joon’s combat boots were just a millisecond away from his face. “I SAID LEAVE HER ALONE!!!”

“GOD DAMMIT THOSE BOOTS ARE HEAVY.” He pushed back into the jaw socket his mandible that got slightly dislocated before he leisurely stood up.

Joon quickly sped to the four hooks to unravel the chains that restrained the girl but her body was slowing down drastically and her senses are becoming dull by the second. Her ears started ringing and a mixture of sweat and blood was blurring her vision that she failed to see the men closing in and brutally held her up.

“YOU’RE LEAVING ME WITHOUT A CHOICE!” With a single remote, the notemaker all the cameras, even the ones on the floor started recording. He took a gun from the table and aimed it at Sinb. “I see you’re no more Flash. Got tired?” He walked toward the unconscious girl and pulled her up forcefully by her shoulders and dragged her to a camera that was still on a tripod.

He faced the camera smiling and started talking to it. “We would have enjoyed this moment more if not for some foreigner crashing the party. Everyone, on her 21^st birthday…” He forced to hold Sinb’s face up to be captured by the lenses and pointed the gun to her temple. “…this is where it ends for her and the entire money-making industry. AND THIS IS WHERE WE BEGIN!”

The sound of two gunshots reverberated in the room. Sinb plummeted to the floor before Joon could catch her. She ran to her as fast as she still could using her remaining strength and wiped the blood and dead human tissue that splattered onto her face after dropping the P380 pistol she was holding.

While pulling the unconscious girl away from the lifeless demon beside her, she could hear the rest of her security teams arriving to subdue the other men who were just an inch away to strike at her again. She held Sinb tight in her arms as she hovered over her to protect her from the few men who were able to reach them. One by one, they were tackled and captured.

“I see your impressive shooting skills aren’t rusty yet. Twice?? In the head??” SEC02 team leader was quick to check on his friend and colleague. “Go! Get her home quick!” He held Joon’s shoulder to signal her to leave. “Before they take you.” The team leader knew that the only way for Joon to not be seized immediately by their agency was if she was in the presence of the clients she protected. “Take care. You’re bleeding. Don’t you dare die. I’ll see you when I see you.”

“The cameras.”

“Don’t worry, nothing was broadcasted. Nothing went through. Sec04 blocked all signals from this area up to a 50-mile radius that’s why even our earpieces didn’t work. Go! I’ll clean up.”

Joon knelt and removed her jacket to cover Sinb. Her consciousness was fleeting but she fought against losing it. She pulled the girl up and carried her on her back. After exiting the coffee shop that was surrounded by her security detail, she alternately walked, sprinted, ran and hyperspeeded until she reached the apartment door, but she was too weak to ring the bell.

“YERIN-AH!” She could hear Yerin still crying running to the door with all the other girls trailing behind her.

“EONNIE!” Yerin was motionless for a few seconds looking at the blood on Sinb’s face and Joon’s clothes. Only Sowon was quick to help the foreigner carry Sinb further in the living room.

“Eonnie…”

Joon’s eyes were closing incessantly and she was out of breath and bleeding from her nose and ears. “Yerin-ah, they didn’t hurt-” Joon paused to resist collapsing. “-her. They did not touch her.” She ped the jacket that covered the girl. “But they did this. I just came in time. Clean her and change her clothes be-fore ta-king her to hos-pi-tal.”

Yerin immediately hugged the unconscious girlfriend and started rubbing the remaining blood off that was beginning to dry.

Yuna rushed into to their room to get clothes while Umji ran to the bathroom to wet the first towel she grabbed.

“Joon, we’ll take you to the hospital! Eunha-yah get the keys!”

Yerin let go of Sinb and turned to Joon after noticing that her hands and shirt were also drenched with blood that didn’t seem to have come out of her nose. “Eonnie, this isn’t just your blood, is it?” The girl was afraid to know her answer.

“I’m sorry. I had to…” Without letting her finish, Yerin embraced her tightly as she understood exactly what she meant.

She looked at Sowon, “Don’t let go of her. Or else we won’t see her again.”

“What do you mean?!” Sowon and Yuna were already pulling Joon up to carry her.

“Sowon-ah..” Joon spoke faintly. “Naneun…”

“STOP TALKING!” Sowon was holding in the tears and hysteria as she gave all her strength to carry the foreigner.

“Naneun neoleul johahae. I like you. I really do. I’m sorry…” All her weight was felt by the two girls when she slumped forward as she succumbed to exhaustion and unconsciousness.

“JOON!!!”

“EONNIE!!!”

 Author's Note: Nae Salangeul Guhaejwo (Save My Love)