Chp.30| The Snatch

Jung Sang showed upat my door around five o’clock. Hiding behind him was his niece. She poked her head out and gave me a bright smile with her flushed dimpled cheeks. “Hi, Ji Won.”

“Hi,” I said in return, finding it difficult to eye my own boyfriend after that conversation with Tae Woo from the previous night. And who could blame me? Two more hours and I’d have to go on that date with him. I was still debating on whether or not to spill it out to Jung Sang.

Jung Sang, being his blunt self, decided to ask, “Yah. What’s wrong with you? Why aren’t you looking at me?”

I ignored him while putting on my slippers, and stepped outside with them. “What’s up?”

“We’re going out for ice-cream and then we’re going to watch a movie!” Na-Na said excitedly. “Remember what you promised, Ji Won?”

I don’t remember promising anything. No doubt Na-Na had fabricated that little lie to get me to join her.

Jung Sang smiled while looking down at his niece. “She was bored. I thought I’d bring her over.”

I forced a fake smile on my face and leaned in closer to mutter in his ear. “But your match is today, Jung Sang.”

He placed both hands on his niece’s shoulders and guided her forward. “That’s why I brought her over. You’re not going to that match. I won’t allow it.”

“But---"

Jung Sang had already turned his back on me before I could anything more. “Take good care of her. And don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine.”

Fine? He knew nothing about being fine. His 'fine' was a broken arm in a cast.

There was still so much I wanted to say to him. You could also say that there was still so much was on my mind that I was left baffled and speechless.

Na-Na turned to regard me. “Don’t worry. We can still go watch him play.”

“What?” I asked, with my eyes wide.

“I know where they’re playing. I overheard Jung Sang on the phone.”

Again, I almost forgot that she was only a kid. A really smart one at that. She sounded so certain that I had no choice but to believe her. I thought back to my soon-to-be date with Tae Woo and wondered if Na-Na could help me get out of it.

“I have a problem, Na-Na.”

“What?”

“Well...”

I spilled it all to Na-Na. She had listened intently and patiently until I was finished and then finally decided to speak out. “Simple. Call him and tell him that you’re stuck baby-sitting me.”

“He’ll think it’s an excuse to get out of the date.”

“That’s why you should let him speak to me after you explain to him just to get him to believe us.”

I felt like a mindless idiot, compared to Na-Na. In fact, I didn’t like the fact that she made me feel like one. “Fine. We’ll do it.”

---

“I see. It’s okay.” There was a pause on the other end of the line. I bet Kim Tae Woo was contemplating on what to say next. “We’ll bring her along. She seems like a well-behaved kid.”

“What?!” I burst in response.

“Yeah. There’s nothing wrong with that. I know Na-Na.”

“YOU IDIOT!. YOU DON’T FIND ANYTHING WRONG WITH GOING OUT WITH YOUR BEST FRIEND’S GIRLFRIEND AND BRINGING HIS NIECE ALONG ON THE DATE? WHAT PLANET ARE YOU FROM, YOU SELFISH MORON?!!”

Na-Na tapped my hand to remind me that we weren’t at home. I almost forgot that we were seated inside the ice-cream parlor. People were eyeing us strangely. I covered the phone with my hand and apologized to everyone around us before going on the phone again. “I think it’s wrong, Tae Woo.”

He almost snorted. “Are you forgetting that your cousin is playing against Jung Sang today? I have ways to make him lose even faster.”

“You can’t do this to me, Tae Woo---"

Na-Na had already grabbed the phone from my grasp and was speaking to Tae Woo herself. “KIM TAE WOO! YOU SORE LOSER. I WILL TELL JUNG SANG ABOUT WHAT YOU’RE TRYING TO DO TO JI WON. YOU FORCE JI WON ON THIS DATE AND I WILL TELL JUNG SANG ALL ABOUT YOUR TRUE INTENTIONS TOWARDS JI WON . QUIT TRYING TO ACT LIKE A WOUNDED DOG AND GET OVER IT!!!”

And that was all it took to get us kicked out of there.

---

“We have no choice. The bastard won’t give up,” I said, placing my phone away as we strode down the street.

Na-Na was beside me, finishing the last bit of her ice cream. “Fine. We’ll go on the date. I will make his life a living hell. Just watch.”

The kid was more determined than I was. And you could say that I was grateful to have her there. I patted her head and said, “Thanks for being here, Na-Na. I don’t know what I would do if you weren’t here.”

She smiled her adorable smile at me.

Next thing I knew, a black sleek car pulled up along the side of the street and honked at us. The car window rolled down and I had to propel Na-Na to the other side of me.

A head poked out. It was a bald man wearing expensive shades and suit. “Yah! You two. Get in.”

If it was my guess, Kim Tae Woo was behind this. He was probably trying to impress me by sending a driver to pick us up.

Na-Na clamped her fingers tightly around my arm, causing me to tense up. “Let’s run, Ji Won.”

I glanced down at her and spoke softly. “Don’t worry. It’s Kim Tae Woo. He probably sent these guys to pick us up.”

The guy was too busy picking at his teeth to care. Haven’t this loser ever heard of floss?

“But what if---"

“It’s okay, Na-Na. We have to do this. We have to do this and get it over with so we can go watch Jung Sang play.”

The guy finally craned his head to acknowledge us again. “Yah! What the is wrong with you two? Get in the car. Yeesh!”

The bastard was extremely rude. I was suddenly having second thoughts about him.

“Aish! Don’t make me get out of this car and drag both your asses in!” the guy yelled.

I had to drag the reluctant Na-Na inside the car. Once we were seated inside, the car started to move. Na-Na clamped her hands around my arm even tighter than before. “Ji Won. You didn’t listen to me. I was going to tell you that Kim Tae Woo doesn’t have a driver.”

I went frigid, glancing at the driver and the bald guy seated next to him. The bald guy turned his head and smiled at us, revealing his two front gold teeth. Realizations washed over me like a tidal wave. How could I have been so stupid to jump to conclusions? Kim Tae Woo probably didn’t send these bastards. These bastards were probably complete strangers sent to kidnap us. For what reason? I don’t have a single damn clue.

Lee Ji Won! You stupid foolish girl. How could you let this happen?

I felt my eyes begin to water, my heart pounding out of control and beads of sweat were starting to form on my forehead. I reached out to take Na-Na’s hand and whispered, “I’m sorry for being stupid. I think we’re in big trouble.”

The only good thing that came out of this was that we had a reason to ditch this date with Kim Tae Woo. The bad side to it?

We’re probably going to die.


---

Blindfolded with both our wrists bounded behind us, we were being led to some unknown place. I kept crying the entire way there. I was told to shut up countless of times already. Na-Na was the one who kept trying to comfort me. Yeah, I was the wimp falling out of my wits to remain calm.

“Aish! Be quiet or I’ll slap your mouth!” the one guy shouted in my ear.

And yet again, I was greeted by the spittle of saliva on the side of my face. “Do you have to spit when you yell?”

I felt a smack on the side of my head. “Who told you to talk back?”

It was the other guy who said, “You’re the . If you were smart, you should have covered rather than her---oof”

Oof?

“Sh*t. The little b*tch just kicked me in the nuts!”

Na-Na was bold enough enough to do that?

“But she’s blindfolded!” the one near me, shouted. “How the does she know where your balls are?”

“You didn’t tie my blindfold tight enough, you es!” I heard Na-Na shout.

The next thing I knew, I heard footsteps running all over the place with the two guys shouting and cursing for Na-Na.

“I got her!” the one yelled.

“You assh0le. You got my leg! Now go and turn on the in’ lights. We can’t see sh*t!”

I felt Na-Na’s small grip around my arm, dragging me with her. “Let’s go!”

I ran along with her, as fast as my legs could take me. “Ji Won. Not too fast---"

WHAM! I slammed into the wall. Falling back on my behind, I felt my head spinning. For a moment I became slightly disoriented until Na-Na shook me out of it, trying to force me to stand. “Come, Ji Won. We have to hurry. They’re catching up!”

This time, I let Na-Na run ahead of me. We ran for half a minute before she told me to stop. “Do you hear that, Ji Won? It sounds like people. A lot of people. Like an arena.”

She was right. It sounded faint to my ears. “Do you think we’re in some kind of arena?” I asked.

“Wait, let me open this door.”

The sound grew louder and louder, when finally we were greeted by the sound of some announcer and the audiences’ screams, like they were watching some wrestling match.

“You have to see this, Ji Won,” Na-Na said, coming over to untie my wrists and pulled down the blindfold.

I let my eyes adjust to the sight before me. Indeed we were in some kind of arena. It was right where I wanted to be. The ping-pong match. There in the center, was Lee Yoon Tae and Park Jung Sang playing against two other people. I noticed that Yoon Tae was almost limping, like he had twisted his ankle. Jung Sang had a small cut on his under his left cheekbone. And if he was hurt elsewhere, he didn’t show it. The opposing team both had bruises all over their faces. They were in the middle of playing their match and Na-Na and myself had barged in on them unexpectedly.

A sound of a gunshot erupted into the air and the announcer shouted, “Time out!”

I held Na-Na close to me, feeling the eyes of audience closing in on us. All in all, we were the center of everyone's attention.

Both Jung Sang and Yoon Tae turned to notice us. I gave Jung Sang a desperate look.

“We found you two!” The bastards had caught up to us. I felt his hand on me, prying me apart from Na-Na I was shouting, kicking and screaming. “JUNG SANG, HELP US!!”

Jung Sang was already moving towards us when the announcer shouted, “Finish the match!!”

“ off!!” Jung Sang shouted in return.

The announcer commanded his two guys to attack Jung Sang. Yoon Tae decided to take them on by himself. Jung Sang was rushing up toward us when a dozen or more guys stood up to block his path. All at once, they began to attack him, forming a circle around him, causing me to lose sight of his body.

“JUNG SANG! NOOO!!!” I cried out with tears in my eyes, still fighting off the grip around my arms.

I quickly looked to Yoon Tae who was fighting on the table, kicking any guy who came close to him. Another guy he tried to kick, grabbed his foot and threw him off the table. Blood squirted from his mouth when he struck the ground. Three more guys began to surround him from all sides.

“YOON TAE!!!” I shouted in helplessness.

Something struck the side of my captor’s head, knocking down with full force. I turned to see Kim Tae Woo standing there with a steel bat in his hand with a crowd of ten to twenty guys behind him. “Are you okay, Ji Won?” he asked with his face full of concern.

I nodded, feeling glad that he had showed up.

He raised his bat in the air and shouted, “GET HIM GUYS!!”

What happened next, I don’t remember because I fell unconscious. However, I do remember seeing Park Jung Sang’s bloodied and bruised face staring down at me. And just being in the comfort of his arms, I knew that I was safe.