Chapter 16: In Trouble

“Oh !” One of the boys called out as he saw the black figure carrying Jung-Min’s body. He ran up the stairs, calling out to his friend.

Wendy threw Jung-Min on the ground, chasing after him. She reached the door and saw the two motorcycles parked outside, with one of the boys running into the rain, and the other dragging two more girls towards the building. She drew out a small dagger and threw it, shattering the glass through the front door and landing it directly on the runner’s leg.

“AH!” He fell into the mud as his friend looked up, inside the darkened building, seeing nothing.

“!” He cursed, dropping the two girls onto the wet floor and going over to his friend, who was grabbing his calf.

“It’s him! He killed Jung-Min!” The injured boy yelled.

His friend looked around, trying to find the predator. He pulled the small dagger out and pulled him over against a column, letting him sit up. He turned around and noticed the place where he left the two girls. His eyes shifted as he continued his search, pulling out a small pocket knife.

“Where are you!?” He cried out. 

“Right here,” Wendy whispered behind him as she dropped down.

The boy was frightened beyond reason as he felt a sharp object press against his back. He held his arms up slightly and dropped his pocket knife.

“I…I give up…don’t kill me…please…”

Wendy threw him on the ground and held the dagger up to his neck.

“Tell me why you attacked these girls.”

“J-Jung-Min told us to…h-he said it was for a j-j-job,” he muttered.

“A job?” Wendy asked.

“For Mr. Ch-choi, he told us we had to bring these girls here.”

“What does he do with them?”

The boy shook his head, “I don’t know, I swear! We just drop them off for Jung-Min and leave right after! I promise!!”

 Wendy leaned in close to his face as the rain blinded him, “Pick up your friend and get out of here. Now.”

She released him and watched him crawl towards his friend and pick him up over to his motorcycle. They drove away immediately without looking back. Wendy noticed some lights coming down the street far away.

They’re coming…

Wendy went over to the back of the parked van where she placed the two girls, who were unconscious as well. She remembered the girl downstairs and ran into the building. She opened the door and was deafened with loud yells from Jung-Min. She ran down and saw Jung-Min clutching his sides, where a large knife was sticking out.

“ YOU !!” Jung-Min yelled at the girls who were cowering in their cages.

Wendy heard a small moan from the girl on the floor and hopped down, meeting Jung-Min’s gaze.

“Who…the ARE YOU!?” Jung-Min was hysterical as the blood dripped down from the knife in his ribs.

“We’ve met before…” Wendy growled, walking towards him.

“YEAH ! WHAT ARE YOU GONNA DO HUH!?” He screamed, blood trickling down the corner of his mouth.

“You hurt these girls…and you attacked someone close to me…I should just kill you…” Wendy said, grabbing ahold of the handle protruding out of his side.

“AHH!! YOUU!!!” He screamed as Wendy moved the knife slightly.

“I don’t know what the police will do to you if they found you in a room like this…but I’m sure it’ll be more suitable than a quick death.”

Wendy let go of the handle and walked over to the girl on the floor, who had now opened her eyes.

“Wh-where am I?” She was still a bit hazy.

“It’s okay, I’m getting you out of here,” Wendy said, untying her and holding her arm around her shoulders.

“I’LL KILL YOU!! I’LL ING KILL YOU!!” Jung-Min screamed at the top of his lungs, spitting blood.

Wendy ignored him and helped the girl up the stairs as Jung-Min continued to curse loudly. Leading her to the van, she asked her to watch the two girls while they waited for the police.

“Who are you?” The girl asked.

Wendy didn’t respond, and quickly ran off before the police arrived at the scene.

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Wendy got back into the city, and was heading towards her school.

“Joy, I found out who’s behind this.”

“Who?” Joy asked.

“My principal, Mr. Choi. I confirmed it with all three of them. Apparently he asked them to kidnap those girls and trap them in that abandoned gas station…if you saw it…” Wendy clenched her fists hard and jumped over to the adjacent building.

“Oh…well I checked the school, there doesn’t seem to be anyone there right now.” Joy responded.

“I just need to get inside his office and see if I can find anything,” Wendy breathed heavily as she arrived at the large wall behind the campus.

“The security guard is at the front gates, but I’m sure they have alarms on all the doors,” Joy mentioned as she scanned through the campus cameras.

“Can you get rid of them?” Wendy asked, climbing over the wall.

“Not all at once, but if you pinpoint which door it is, I can maybe deactivate it for a short time.”

“Okay, it’s in the west building. Second to last door on the right side.” Wendy said, peeking over towards the door.”

“Alright, I got it. Go now, you have about five minutes,” Joy said, typing loudly.

Wendy got to the door and tried the handle, which had been unlocked by Joy.

Thank you technology.

Wendy crept into the dark room, remembering the location of the principal’s desk. She picked the lock at his desk and opened the drawers, looking for anything she could find that might help her. After piles of useless papers and documents later, she found an unmarked folder at the bottommost drawer. She pulled it out and found several pictures of girls that she recognized on campus.

 “What…?” Wendy whispered.

She found her own picture and Irene’s and quickly fanned through the rest of the files inside.

“Joy I’m sending you pictures right now, I need you to find out everything you can about these girls,” Wendy said, pulling out her phone.

She snapped the photos of the other six girls and hesitated as she also took a picture of Irene’s. She quickly put the file back in the drawer and went out the door back into the rain.

“Joy, did you get them?” Wendy asked as she made her way back home.

“Yeah, but are you sure about this?” Joy asked.

“What do you mean?”

“You’re asking me to dig into Irene’s past…I don’t know if you’d be okay with that,” Joy said.

“Just do it,” Wendy said bluntly.

She stepped into her home, wetting the floor.

“Hey! At least dry yourself off first!” Joy said, throwing her a towel.

“Did you find anything yet?” Wendy asked, taking off her outfit.

“No, not yet. It’s not that easy you know.” Joy remarked, her fingers moving endlessly.

Wendy sighed and went to the shower, washing off all of the dirt and blood on her. The image of those girls was still stuck in her mind as she angrily punched the tiles in the shower.

She finished cleaning up, she went back to the living room, where Joy was waiting for her.

“So, you might not exactly like this information,” Joy said nervously.

“What is it?” Wendy asked, sitting down.

“I looked through every girl’s background, including Irene’s…there weren’t many similarities until I looked into their families.”

Joy continued.

“Every one of these girls’ parents passed away when they were young. Most of them are either living on their own, or have been taken in by friends of the family.”

Wendy sighed as she recalled her own picture.

“My picture was in there too, Joy.”

Joy gasped, “What?”

“The only question we need to ask is why Mr. Choi has photos of orphaned girls in his office,” Wendy said.

“Do you think these were the girls he told Jung-Min to kidnap?”

Wendy shook her head, “No, the girls I saw in that gas station weren’t in those photos. It’s something else…”

“Calm down Unnie,” Joy sat down next to her, “you already saved those girls.”

“I let those guys get away, Joy…” Wendy felt regret.

“If there’s anything I know it’s that you’re not a cold-blooded murderer. You knew Jung-Min and his friends were being used, that’s why you let him go, alright?” Joy rubbed Wendy’s back, reassuring her.

Wendy just nodded a bit as Joy continued to talk about the girls.

“All the girls are in your school Unnie…maybe you should keep an eye on them?”

“It’s difficult enough watching out for Irene…but six other girls…”

“I’ll try and see what else I can find out. Just go sleep okay? You look tired.” Joy walked back over to her computer.

“Thanks, Joy,” Wendy said before she went into her room and closed the door.

Irene…

Wendy quickly pulled out her phone and dialed Irene’s number. It was late, but she couldn’t sleep knowing she broke her promise to Irene.

“Hey,” Wendy said, hearing her pick up.

“Hey…” Wendy could hear Irene yawn.

“I’m so sorry…I was…busy earlier,” Wendy apologized.

“It’s okay…” Irene whispered.

“I’m really sorry...” Wendy said again.

She heard Irene’s giggle, “You’re really cute when you think you’re in trouble.”

Wendy went under her covers.

“I don’t want you to think…”

“Think what?”

“That I’m…ignoring you or something…”

Irene giggled again, “I would never think that.”

“Sorry for waking you…” Wendy felt more and more embarrassed.

“I can sleep better now, after talking to you.”

Wendy smiled, “I miss you.”

“I miss you too…” Irene whispered softly.

“I’ll come over tomorrow okay?”

“Okay…”

“I’ll let you get back to sleep then.”

“Good night…baby.”

Wendy blushed, “Good night…”

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“We’ve sent the girls to the hospital. The three that were in the van have been sent home.” the policeman told him.

Detective Yun nodded as he got back in his car.

“I’m going to the hospital to question that boy.”

 Yun drove into the city, following the ambulance in front of him. He was the first to arrive at the scene, and found Jung-Min on the floor, bleeding out. Jung-Min had made his way out of the building, crawling slowly in the mud. After a brief struggle, he found the girls downstairs and questioned Jung-Min, but didn’t get an answer before he was taken away to the hospital.

He found Jung-Min’s room and saw his parents standing outside.

“Hello Mr. and Mrs…” Yun asked.

“Woo.” The father replied.

“Hi Mr. Woo. I’m detective Yun. I apologize for the situation at hand, but there are a few questions I need to ask your son.”

“Why won’t they let us see him?” The mother cried.

“He was found at the scene of the crime, and the victims there recognized him as their attacker. I’m sorry, but we cannot allow you to speak to him at this time.”

“He’s done nothing wrong! You’ve made a mistake!” The father yelled angrily.

Yun waited patiently as the doctor came out of the room.

“He’s stable now, but I can’t allow you to speak for him for too long.” The doctor told Yun.

He nodded and walked inside, seeing Jung-Min lying on the bed.

“Hi, Woo Jung-Min? I am detective Yun.”

“I already told the cops everything…” Jung-Min’s eyes were red.

“I’d like to hear more from you, if that’s okay.”

Yun sat on a chair nearby and took out a small notepad.

“Now, first and foremost, did you kidnap those girls?”

Jung-Min nodded silently.

“Were you working alone?”

“They already found my two friends…”

Yun wrote down the names on his notepad.

“Why did you kidnap those girls?”

Jung-Min hesitated, “I was forced to…”

Yun put down his notepad.

“Can you tell me who forced you to do this?”

“It was my principal…Mr. Choi…” Jung-Min showed fear as he said the name.

“Your principal? He told you to do this?”

Jung-Min nodded.

“Now, I haven’t spoken to the girls yet, but based on what you told me, they shouldn’t appoint you as their primary attacker…should they?”

“I…I was in charge of taking them there…to the gas station…and keeping them fed…but I never hurt them…”

Yun stood up, “I think there are a lot of people who would disagree with that statement, Jung-Min.”

Yun opened the door, exiting the room, ready to speak to the girls.