I watched Daehyun from across the bar, doing his job. I didn’t notice myself clenching and unclenching my hands from the unsettling feeling. This has got to be a joke or the person in front of me wasn’t Daehyun.

“Another drink.” The person sitting at the bar counter slid his glass over to be refilled. I avoided eye contact and went to work. This placed was filled with sick pigs and just thinking about what they were doing to these girls made me sick to my stomach. But, I couldn’t do anything yet. I needed to heed Jae Ho’s warning and avoid attracting negative attention to myself. I needed to survive and wait for Yong Guk.

I slid the drink over to the man, thankfully he had his eyes away from me. But unfortunately, his eyes were instead on the girls passing by on skimpy clothing they were forced to wear. Compared to what they were wearing, I got away easy. A t-shirt and shorts was something I was thankful for.

“Get me a drink.”

The voice sounded familiar and I looked up to see his face. A smirk plastered on it without a hint of regret. Daehyun, I didn’t know you were capable of this. I turned around and grabbed a beer to give to him.

“Stop acting like that and get used to it. This is where you are staying.”

“It’s sad to see how much you discredit Yong Guk, he will come.” Like he had always done. He will come and get me without fail.

Daehyun chuckled and brought the bottle up to his lips. “I guess we will see.” I bit my lip. There was no playfulness or harmless jokes. I watched his figure walk away and I felt so angry at the sight. How could he turn away so easily? How could he betray without feeling any guilt?

“So you’re Na Ri huh?” A man slid into the chair in front of me, he stared at me with intense eyes that showed every disgusting thought he held. He took out a wad of cash and tossed it on the counter. “How about you give me yourself for the night?”

Being seen as a material good irked me and it still does. “They should have already told you. I’m not for sale.”

Even with the loud music, I could still hear his rowdy laughter. “There’s no way Gi Bum would hold out on a girl if he was getting money.”

“Well he is.” I said through gritted teeth. I took a deep breath, I needed to behave. His movements were quick and suddenly, his upper body was over the counter and his hand gripped the back of my neck pulling me forward.

His cigarette infused breath hit my nose and lips. Both of my hands held the edge of the counter to push away from him.

“Don’t think they will keep you off limits forever. Soon, you will be just like the other girls in this place.”

He released me with a slight shove and stalked away. My hands were trembling and the feeling of vulnerability spread throughout my body. I hated this. I hated this feeling of not being able to do anything. I hated it more when I saw all the wrongdoings and I am powerless to do anything about it. And I hated them. I hated the people who were carelessly playing with people’s lives.

I looked over and saw men dragging girls away with them and my eyes catch Jae Ho in the corner. He nodded his head, telling me that it was the end of my shift. I was glad, I couldn’t stay there anymore. I rushed to the back and into the bathroom.

All the feelings of suffocation and frustration were released all at once. I threw up into the toilet, my stomach painfully lurching each time. I sat back against the door and wiped my mouth. I didn’t feel like moving from there, there was no place I could run to anyways. I chanted Yong Guk’s name over and over again in my mind, wishing that he would hear it and come for me.

How much longer did I need to live in this hell?

I couldn’t