"I'm not your wife!" Minji exclaims, "Since when was I—" "Your parents made a deal with me a year ago, darling." Sung-rok explains, walking closer to her, "Would you like to hear my story?"

"My parents would never give me away to
someone as old as you." she snaps, "They wouldn't."
"Oh, but they would."
"For what?"

• • [ one year ago ] • •

"You said that you'd bring the money, Mr. Kim." Sung-rok replies, "It's been over a week now." "Please, sir." Minji's abeoji begs, "I am willing to give you anything; please don't hurt my wife and daughter."

"You have a daughter?"
"Yes, a daughter."

Sung-rok scoffs at his reponse and asks,
"And may I ask how old your daughter is?"

"Huh?"

"He asked for the age of your daughter,
old man." Jae-ha replies, "Did you not hear him?"

"She's twenty-three."
"I'll make a deal with you, Mr. Kim." Sung-rok explains,
"Would you like to hear it?"
"Yes!" Minji's abeoji exclaims, "Anything; I am willing to
do anything you say!" 

Sung-rok stands up from his seat, places his hand on his desk and replies, "I'll give you a year to find the money you owe me." "T-thank you." he replies, "Thank you so much." "However," Sung-rok adds, "if you can't, I will take your daughter as my bride-to-be." "M-my d-daughter?" "Your daughter will be the payment if you don't pay me back, understand?"

Back at Minji's home, Minji's abeoji tells everything that Shin Sung-rok had said to him to Minji's omma; all except for selling their daughter to him as the final payment. "We have a year to find the money we own him." he explains, "I'm sure if we work harder than usual, we can—"

"But will it be enough to keep them off our backs?
We owe the man more than a million won; how can we find that
amount of money within a year?"

"We need to try, yeobo."
"What about Minji?" she asks.
"Minji will not know about our debt;
we will need to keep it a secret from her until the time is right."

"Sir," Dong-ha asks, "do you even trust that he'll give you his daughter?" "Hyung," Jae-ha replies, "a man like that would never go back on his words." "Don't get too cocky about that, Jae-ha." Sung-rok retorts, "Even if he say yes now, his answer in the future will be different." "So what should we do?" Jae-hae asks, "In case he goes back on his words?" "Keep an close eye on them, Dong Ha." Sung-rok instructs, "When the time comes, we'll make them pay as our prisoners until then."

• • [ end of flashback ] • •

"That's not true!" Minji exclaims, "All of this is not true!" "Your parents owe me more than a million won!" Sung-rok explains, "With your living situation right now, how can they find money within a year?!"

"But in the end," she snaps,
"they never gave me to you."

Sung-rok scoffs at her response and immediately grabs a hold of her chin, lifting her head up at him. "Once a deal, always a deal." he replies, sternly, "That's how I work around here." Before Minji could say anything, Sung-rok attempts to steal a kiss from her; however, Se-jong comes into the room and replies, "You have a guest, sir." "Can't you see that I'm trying to pleasure myself here?" "It's your mistress." Se-jong explains, catching Minji's attention. 'He has a mistress?' Sung-rok releases his grip of Minji's chin and walks out of the room.

"It's been two weeks." replies the high-class woman, "Are you not coming back home?" "Yuri," Sung-rok replies, "I told you that I have business to deal with." "I heard from Jae-ha that you found a new toy." she retorts, ignoring his lies, "He said that she is a keeper." "Jae-ha doesn't know when to shut his mouth sometimes; please forgive him." "But will you come home tonight...for me?" Sung-rok fakes a smile at her and responds, "I will."

Returning home, Seokjin storms up to his father's office and exclaims, "WHERE DID YOU TAKE HER??!!" "That woman isn't suitable for our household, Seokjin." he replies, "Why—" "Abeoji!" Seokjin continues, "Don't you realize what you've done?"

"What I am doing is for your own good."

Seokjin shook his head at his father's reasoning and retorts, "You mean that it's for your own good, old man." "SEOKJIN!!!!" he exclaims, "WHY ARE YOU PROTECTING—"

"WE JUST FOUND OUT WE'RE HAVING A SON!!!"
"MINJI AND I ARE HAVING A SON!!!"
"A-a s-s-son?" his father stutters.

"If anything happens to my son," Seokjin explains, "I'm going to sue you for killing him." Before he could even leave, his father stood up from his seat and replies, "You're not telling the truth, are you?"

"Since when have I lied to you, abeoji?"
"I—"
"I don't have time for this." Seokjin explains,
"I have a duty to do as a father and husband to
find my family."

After that, Seokjin walks out of his father's office and continues to search for Minji throughout the night, nonstop.

Dusk soon became dawn and Minji had finally awoken from her slumber, still tied up on the chair. Jae-ha comes into the room and announces, "Boss told me to you to the master's bedroom." "That won't be necessary." she replies, looking away from the henchman, "Tell him that." "If you keep refusing," Jae-ha replies, "you won't know what he'll do to you and that baby of yours."

"What's the worse he can do? He should know that
the child isn't just an average child."
"You—"

"Let me handle her, Jae-ha." Sung-rok replies, pushing his henchman aside. "Sir..." "I want you to handle mistress Kwon for now." he explains, "Make sure she doesn't disturb us." Jae-ha follows through with his orders and heads back to find mistress Kwon; on the other hand, Sung-rok closes the door behind him, locking it in the process. "Now where did we leave off, my dear?" he asks, walking up to her. "When can I see my parents?" Minji asks, "Are they here?" "I'm afraid not." he lies, with a smirk on his face. Once reaching Minji, Sung-rok then place both of his hands on the arms of the chair and began examining Minji from top to bottom. 'What a sicko!' she thought, 'How can anyone—' "You might not like me now, sweetheart." he replies, interrupting her thoughts, "But once we get started, you'll enjoy it." Minji scoffs at his response. "What's so funny?" Sung-rok asks, in disbelief. "You already have a mistress." she replies, "Isn't she good enough?" "One isn't always enough for us men." he explains, "Especially for men who works in this industry." 'Seokjin-sshi, please hurry and find me.'

Meanwhile down another floor, Se-jong and Dong Ha are keeping a close eye on Minji's parents. "You thought that you could hide your daughter from our boss, didn't ya?" Dong Ha asks. "It's not my place to talk." her abeoji replies, "She doesn't deserve to be your boss's spouse." "But once a deal, always a deal old man." Se-jong adds, "And once he finds a way to get rid of that baby in her womb, your daughter will surely become his and your debt will be repaid." "Don't you dare do anything to my grandchild!" Minji's omma exclaims, "I will surely sue you all for harming an innocent child." "And who's gonna listen to your story, ajumma?" Dong Ha asks, "Who's gonna believe you and the old man?"

Somewhere in the middle of Seoul, an old friend receives a call from Seokjin. "Hyung," Seokjin replies, over his bluetooth earpiece, "I need your help." "What is it, Seokjin-ah?"

"Minji has gone missing and I can't seem
to find her anywhere." he explains, "I'm worried
that something bad will happen to her and our child."
"My friends and I will look upon this case." Joongki reassures,
"We'll look for Minji with you."

After that short phone call, Joongki's wife comes into the room and asks, "Who was that, yeobo?" "Kim Seokjin," Joongki explains, "he needs us on a mission."

"A mission?
"A rescue mission."

"I don't want to be a part of your game anymore, Jisoo-sshi." Seokjin's abeoji replies, over the phone, "I want to—" "It's too late now, CEO Kim." Jisoo replies, "You took the offer and there's no turning back now." "You—" "Anytime now," she continues, "that precious grandchild of yours is dead, along with its mother." "Jisoo-sshi!" he exclaims. But she had already hung up the call. 'Just the death of your grandchild isn't enough for me, CEO Kim.' Jisoo thought to herself, 'You will have to die along with it.'

Sung-rok leans in to kiss Minji's neck until she replies, "Disgusting..." "It's my duty, honey." he retorts, proceeding with his sensual desire. Minji winces as his lips touches her slender neck, leading a trail of small kisses, starting from the left side of her neck and trailing down to her collarbone. 'Stay calm, Minji.' she thought to herself, 'If you overreact, he'll kill you and the baby quicker.' "Sir," Dong-ha replies, "you have a vistor."

"Don't you guys understand that I hate—"
"It's Kim Jisoo." Jae-ha explains, "She has
come with the reward."
"What else?"

"A-and she needs another favor from you." he continues. Sung-rok moves away from Minji and replies, under his breath, "I'll be back, love." He walks out of the room, once again, and heads off to discuss with Jisoo. 'Why is Jisoo here?' Minji thought, 'Why would she need his help?'

"Why is she still alive?" Jisoo asks, looking at the security camera, "I told you to—" "I want to play with her a little bit more." Sung-rok explains, "Do you have a problem with that?" "Yes!" she exclaims, "I want you to kill her off, not have with her." "Jisoo-sshi," he continues, "you can't rush these things; unless you're willing to kill her off yourself." Jisoo scoffs at his offer and replies, "I have other important things to do."

"Like what?"
"Seducing my ex-boyfriend to come back to me."

"Where's the money?" Sung-rok asks, ignoring her, "I can't be doing this for free, you know." "I'll give you the money once you dispose her and the baby." Jisoo retorts, "If you don't do it, I won't give you the money at all." "That's not what you—" "Like I said before," she ignores, "if you don't do as I say, I won't pay you." "And if you can't pay," Sung-rok explains, "you know what you'll have to pay with." Jisoo scoffs at his remarks and heads out of the security room saying, "If you finish the job tonight, I will bill the cash to you; no excuses or else."

"Do you remember her kidnapper?" Joong-ki asks, in Seokjin's halmeoni's living room. "When I came back," Seokjin explains, "she was already gone."

"She didn't leave anything behind at all?"
"Nothing was left behind at all."

Joongki sit back in his chair and began to ponder on where she would be. 'Who in the world would kidnap someone in broad daylight?' he thought to himself, 'This doesn't add up.' "I've been wondering about this." Hye-Kyo replies, "But does your wife have any family members?" "Her parents had disappeared many weeks ago.." Seokjin explains, "They never told us where they're settling or why they ran away."

"Loan sharks." Joongki replies.
"Loan sharks?" they both asked.
"There's has been a few cases about one
specific loan shark." he explains, pulling out his cellphone,
"I've been trying to hunt him down for a year now."

Just then, the main landline phone began to ring; Seokjin rushes to answer the call. "Hello?" he asks. "Kim Seokjin...Crown Prince of South Korea and only heir to Kim Corporation." Sung-rok replies, on the other line.

"Who is this?"
"I am giving you less than twelve hours to give me
all your riches." he explains, "Or else."

"Or else what?" Joongki asks, taking the phone
away from Seokjin.
"His wife and child will die; it's your choice."
"Who are you?"

However, Sung-rok had already hung up. "Damn it!" Joongki exclaims. "What did he say?" Hye-kyo asks. "Either Seokjin pay up or Minji and the baby are harmed in exchange." he explains. In shock, Seokjin falls back into his chair and lets out a heavy sigh. 'What are we going to do?' Seokjin thought, 'We don't have enough information of her whereabouts.'

Later that evening, Dong-ha began to untie Minji from the chair and replies, "You'll be eating dinner with boss." "I'm not hungry." she replies, "You should tell him that."

"He said that if you refuse," he explains, "he'll just take you
straight to the bedroom."
"He knows that he can't touch me."

"No one can protect you here, princess; did you forget about that?" Jae-ha replies, standing in the entrance, "If he doesn't want you, boss will give you to us." Once getting escorted to the tiny dining hall, Minji sits across from Sung-rok and glances at the dinner in front of them. 'You shouldn't consume anything, Minji.' she thought, 'You don't know if they'll harm your child with their food.' "What are you waiting for?" Sung-rok asks, "Aren't you hungry?"

"I already told your servants that I'm
not hungry." Minji replies, "And you can't
force me to eat anything here."

"But you know what's happens if you
don't eat, right?"

Sung-rok gets up from his seat, walks over to the other side, places both of his hands on Minji's shoulders, leans into her ears and whispers, "We'll be together in the bedroom all night." 'Endure it, Minji. Once you're in the bedroom, you'll find yourself an escape route and find your parents soon.' "Jae-ha," Sung-rok replies, standing upright, "take her to the master's bedroom; I'll be there when I finish dinner." Being excused from dinner, Jae-ha escorts Minji to the master's bedroom. "Now be a good girl and stay here." Jae-ha replies, pushing Minji into the bedroom, "He'll be done with dinner in no time for dessert." He then eventually closes the door behind him, locking it in the process. Minji began looking around the room, especially in the nightstands and closets, hoping to find something to defend herself. "Damn it." she replies, under her breath, "He must've knew what I was going to do; I guess I have to find my way out of here."

"If my friends and I are able to track down that phone call," Joongki replies, "then we'll be able to find Minji's location." "Is that even possible?" Seokjin asks. "It's possible." Hye-kyo replies, "That's one of the reasons why I married him." "It will take awhile, though." he explains, dialing the landline, "I hope they're still at the site." After being able to get through the military landline, Joongki quickly explained his situation and asked for a specific person for the job. "Jin Goo," he replies, "sorry to interrupt but I have a special mission that I need you to do." "Special mission?" Jin Goo asks, "What kind?" "A royal rescue mission; I managed to track down this anonymous phone number from Madam Kim's landline and hope that you could give us a direct location."

"It'll take a while, my good friend." Jin Goo explains,
"But go ahead and give me it; I'll ask Ji-won for assisstance."
"When you find it, just call me back." Joongki replies.
"Got it; we'll keep you on hold." 

Meanwhile, Minji began looking around the room once more before heading into the master's bathroom, looking for an escape; but there were no windows or secret passages for her. 'Hiding won't do anything either.' Minji thought, 'He'll surely find me in no time.' As she walks out of the bathroom, Minji hears the door knob, rattling to open, and she quickly heads back in the bathroom, locking the door without any hesitations. Sung-rok walks into the room with one hand holding a glass cup and the other with a bottle of whisky, as he makes his way to the right side of the bed, sitting down and facing the bathroom door. "I know you're hiding in there, honey." he replies, before taking a sip of whisky, "You can't hide from me forever." Her eyes widen when he already proclaimed her in the bathroom, giving her chills down her spine. 'I need to get out of here now.'

"Jin Goo and I found the location." Jiwon answers, "We'll send you the address and meet you guys there." "Remember to not expose yourself." Joongki reminds, "We don't want them to know that we're coming." "Roger that." she replies, "Just a side note, though, we'll be bringing backup if needed." "Great; thanks." Once ending the phone call, Hye-kyo asks, "What did they say?" "They found the location." Joongki explains, looking at his wife and Seokjin, "We'll have to hurry and get on the road now before anything else happens to Minji." "I should come too." Hoseok replies, rushing into the room.

"No, I need you to stay here and wait
for us." Seokjin explains, "I can't risk having you
go and get yourself injured."

"Seokjin is right," Joongki adds, "Besides,
who will be here to protect Halmoni?"

Hoseok gives in and agrees to stay behind with Hye-kyo while Joongki and Seokjin heads out for the location.

In capivity, Minji's parents began discussing about their past actions. "We should've told Minji, yeobo." her omma replies, "Then none of this would've happened to us and her." "It's all my fault." her abeoji replies, "I was desperate for money in the end; I caused our family to fall apart." "Yeobo—" "Besides, I should be the one to handle our problems, not our daughter." he continues, "I didn't think of the consquences that would lead up to this and now she has to pay it with her body." Minji's omma began to break down into tears, realizing the sin they had brought upon their only daughter and grandchild.

"Don't make me come and get you." Sung-rok replies, "I hate wasting time." Minji still doesn't move from her spot, afraid of what's going to happen if she walks out of the bathroom. "If you don't come out in the next ten seconds," he provokes, "I will have Se-jong and Dong-ha murder your parents under my commands." She still doesn't budge and so, Sung-rok began counting down:

"Ten."

"Nine."

"Eight."

"Seven."

"Six."

"Five."

"Four."

"Three."

"Two."

"O—" The bathroom door is eventually unlocked and Minji slowly comes out, shaking in fear. Sung-rok smirks and replies, "Now that's a good girl."

Moments later, Joongki and Seokjin finally arrive to Sung-rok's hideout. "Seems like the place." Joongki replies, "Ji-won and Jin Goo should be here any moment now." "What do you know about this guy?" Seokjin asks, "Besides being a loan shark." "We're in location, Joongki." Jin Goo replies, over cellphone, "We're ready when you're ready." "Stay behind at all time, your Highness." Seokjin nods and follows Joongki as they prepare for an upcoming battle.

He walks up to Minji and immediately grabs her arm, pulling her towards his body. "Let go of me!" Minji exclaims, squirming, "I said to let me go!" Before she knew it, Sung-rok punches her solar plexus, resulting Minji to black out. "So naive." Sung-rok replies, "Just like your parents." He carries her, bridal style, walks back to the bed, and gently places Minji in the middle of the bed. Sung-rok leans in towards Minji's neck, smelling her sweet aroma. 'Such a wonderful smell.' he thought, 'No wonder that old man didn't want to give her to me.' Sung-rok then proceeds with loosening his tie and ing his white button-up shirt, slightly revealing his stellar body; from there, Sung-rok grasps onto Minji's blouse and slowly rips it with his bare hands, teasing himself to see her pale, white skin.

"That should do it." Seokjin replies, finishing tying up Dongha and Se-jong. "Jae-ha," Dongha replies, "out of all the places to hide, you come down here."

"I had no other options." he explains,
"I didn't have anything on me."

Se-jong scoffs at Jae-ha's excuse and retorts, "I'm surprised that Leader Shin picked you out of all the others."

"You're no better, Se-jong."

"Enough!" Joongki exclaims, "Tell us where he took Minji!" "They're probably having fun right now." Dongha explains, "He already took her straight to the bedroom." Just as Seokjin was ready to punch Dongha, Jin Goo comes into basement with Ji-won and replies, "There's no need to attack someone like him, your Highness." "About time you two showed up in here." Joongki replies, "Where did you go?" "We had to release some prisoners." Ji-won explains, as Minji's parents come out from the shadows. "Mr. and Mrs. Kim?!" Seokjin exclaims, rushing to his in-laws, "How are you two here?" "We'll explain later." Minji's omma replies, "But Shin Sung-rok—" "Don't worry, we'll rescue Minji from him." he reassures, "I can promise you that."

• • [ end of chapter sixteen ] • •