"What nonsense are you talking about?" YiJeong's heart skipped beats at those words he just heard.

"We found our men unconscious. Sedative darts in their necks." A man wearing black suit stated. Anxiety clearly displayed on his face.

The room around YiJeong froze for a few long seconds before it erupted into movements, yet he found himself unable to move, while slowly being engulfed  by the feeling of wrath.

YiJeong wouldn't classify himself as a person full of patience but he couldn’t remember if he has ever been this angry before in his life. He could literally feel his heart sizzling with violent bursts, his sanity  almost went out of his head while his lips tremble and his teeth clenched.

"What are you still doing here then?" his voice sounded heavily suppressed. "GET EVERYONE OUT THERE TO FIND HER! NOW! " he eventually failed to contain his anger and his shout boomed across the almost empty hall.

While watching his Head of Security scurrying out of the hall, YiJeong's shuddering hand then took out his phone from his right pocket, dialled GaEul's number and almost threw the phone the moment he heard the operator's notification on her network's unreachable state.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

GaEul’s eyes were closed until she felt herself fell to her side and her right arm hits a surface. The surface felt cold against her right arm which made her eyes flung open.

A dim, wide hall greeted her view as soon as she could see. She blinked her eyes in agony as her head was still heavy from the previous interference. While she hadn't quite regained consciousness, GaEul began to feel an acute awareness of what was going on around her.

There was movement, sound of voices.

Slowly, light poured into her eyes and her vision returned to focus. She saw something stirred infront of her, two figures with heads covered by uncanny looking masks. One of them wore a rabbit mask while the other wearing a scary looking lion mask.

Two seconds after GaEul managed to register the situation in her mind, a rush of sudden panic hit her. She finally realized that her hands we tied infront of her while the cable was connected to a chain locked around one of the pillar at the horrifying looking warehouse. She tried to make a sound only to be stopped by the foil tape secured on . She tried to open again but only pain striked as a result. Tears fell down her cheeks as she wriggled for freedom. Frenetic panic attack was an understatement to describe her current mental condition.

“Hey, calm down.” The rabbit mask kneeled down, placing his right hand on her shoulder. “We ain’t going to hurt you” GaEul stopped her frantic movement for a second to catch her breath.

“Is it necessary to do it this way?” the rabbit turned to the lion to ask.

“No other choice. This is the easiest way” the lion who has a deep voice replied.

“Relax, Miss GaEul. You’re safe” he then turned to GaEul and patted her shoulder.

Both their words brought not a single ounce of comfort to GaEul’s mind. Her mind was filled with fear and the need to escape hence it was almost involuntary that she kept wringling with all her strength.

“Stop. You’ll only hurt yourself if you continue” the rabbit tried to persuade her.

GaEul only stopped as she almost lost all of her energy. Her wrists were super sore after all the writhing and all she could do was stare at the two masked persons helplessly.

••••••••••••

“She’ll be fine. Our men will definitely find her. They have checked most of the highway’s cctv. We are going somewhere with the search” WooBin who was placing his hand on YiJeong’s shoulder tried to calm his best friend.

YiJeong was going to open his mouth when a ring on his phone caught his attention.

“Hello” YiJeong responded to the unknown number.

“Chu Ga Eul is in Pohang. Come and get her before I change my mind” an almost robotic voice uttered before hanging up, which immediately caused YiJeong’s face to turn almost scarlet.

“What? Is that them?” WooBin asked.

YiJeong could not open his mouth as he was on the verge of exploding. He held his fist so hard his nails almost stabbed his own palm.

“Young master, we detected Miss GaEul’s phone” WooBin’s most trusted men reported into the museum’s security room.

“Where?” YiJeong yelped, he stood up.

“Somewhere in Pohang” he replied.

“Bring me there” YiJeong responded without giving himself even a second of thinking.

He brought everyone with him. The more, the safer. He could not afford to risk GaEul’s safety. He needed to get to her, by hook or by crook as fast as he could.

The journey was one of longest in YiJeong’s history of going anywhere. Taking a helicopter felt like walking-speed to him. Tough the weather was good that night, his head was hit by storm. The thought of GaEul and only Chu Ga Eul swirled in his mind that no other thought could fit in.

He almost jumped out of the heli to go to the supposent location while the two helicopters were trying to land on the helipad but thankfully was stopped by WooBin who was still sane.

“Jeong! Get your sense together” WooBin strictly uttered.

Getting to the abandoned warehouse took almost 10 minutes from the helipad. It was located on a steep hill, a typical-looking kidnap scene premise that was repeatedly shown on movies . WooBin made sure their men set their guard up high. The situation seemed too easy to be real. The kidnapper did not set any ransom nor seemed to hold any motives. However, YiJeong clearly did not get the note as he tried to run into the warehouse as soon as the car stopped moving.

“Wait. Let them clear the area” WooBin placed his arm infront of YiJeong to prevent him from getting out of the car.

“Something’s not right” WooBin verbalized his concern on the current situation. He needed his men to make sure there was no sniper waiting for them or anything before letting YiJeong emerge out of the bulletproof car.

YiJeong quickly charged into the building followed by the many men in black suits. He strode accross the hall until a silhouette of woman curling on the floor stopped him. He swore he felt his blood drained out of his body at the sight before him.

Disheveled hair covered the face of the woman while the white tunic worn was covered with patches of dirt. Her arm extended towards her knees as her two wrist were tied together with a cable while the cable was connected to a length of chain that was locked to a pillar.

YiJeong’s legs felt affixed to the ground. Fear him like a lightning that there were no strength left to help him move. That was when WooBin traversed pass him to get to the motionless body.

“Chu Ga Eul” WooBin kneeled next to her and gave her body a shake. “GaEul ah. Hey” he swept her hair away from her face to get a good look on her face. WooBin too, was dead worried.

YiJeong’s knees grew weaker as he thought she would have never responded but a slight movement from her changed everything. In a flash he was already kneeling by her side, his palms cupping her face.

YiJeong urged his men to unbuckle the cable tying her hands. He sighed as he realized the scarlet lines formed on her wrists. GaEul’s eyes were already opened, while was still covered by the silver foil tape.

“Chu Ga Eul” He then pulled the foil tape off as carefully as he could, slowly revealing her extremely pale lips.

“You’re okay right?” YiJeong asked, as silly as it might seem, he couldn’t help but asked. Tears escaped GaEul’s reddened eyes instead of a verbal reply. She couldn’t stop the wail from breaking loose, she even bit her lower lip to make them stop, but the effort had failed her.

YiJeong shut his eyes before pulling his girlfriend into a long hug. Relief flooded his mind as he heaved another breath of sigh, relieved that he could feel the warmth of her body again, relieved that those horrible imagination he had did not come true.

“Let’s get out of here” WooBin intercepted out of pure concern. He tried to help YiJeong getting GaEul back on her feet but she refused, her face flushing red from all the tears shed. She was trying to get words out of but her cries prevented her from doing so.

“It’s okay. You’re safe now honey” YiJeong ran his thumb under her eye to wipe off the abundant tears gracing the puffy area of her face. GaEul shook her head, biting onto her lower lip again. She gulped down hard before finally getting her voice out of .

“They” she uttered before taking a deep breath.

“They were using me.” Tears still ran down her cheeks.

“They are stealing the national treasure” GaEul uttered. She then fell into another wave of wailing.