Chapter 23

            After a long day of filming their comeback stage, Girls’ Generation slipped through a massive crowd of excited fans and piled into their large black van.  Each member had a right to be exhausted, but no one was short of energy.  They were far too distracted by the thrill of their comeback to be tired.

            “I’m telling you, guys!” Seohyun exclaimed enthusiastically as she buckled her seatbelt.  “This is one of my favorite stages!  All of you were so wonderful.”

            “Aw, maknae,” Sunny grinned, her voice high and energized.  “You’re still just as lovely and encouraging as you were since we debuted.”

            “It’s almost been seven years since we debuted,” Taeyeon smiled.  She rested her head on Seohyun’s shoulder and stared out the window dreamily.  “It’s been so long.  I’m proud of you guys.”

            “Unnie…put your seatbelt on,” Seohyun requested with glimmering eyes.

            “Seohyun-ah!” everyone cried.

            “Don’t cry, Seohyun-ah,” Yoona insisted with a bright laugh.  “We still have seven more years to go!”

            Sitting in the passenger seat, Sunny took out her phone and looked through her text messages.  “Kim-ssi,” she called to the driver.  “Are we leaving soon?”

            “It looks like they just cleared the fans away,” he replied, turning on the car lights.

            The car began to move, and they were soon driving through small streets and back alleys.  Fans knew the route to their dorm far too well, and they would be overwhelmed with them if they took the main streets.  They loved seeing their fans, but they didn’t want to cause a safety hazard in the streets of Seoul.

            Sunny looked through her calls and text messages, looking for anything from Way.  Ever since Way’s call about Jaejoong, Sunny hadn’t seen or heard from her.  She didn’t want to try calling Way, knowing that their friendship wasn’t particularly ideal to Chrome Entertainment.  But she couldn’t help but worry about all of them after Gummi and Jaejoong’s strange break up.

            Suddenly the car lurched forward and came to a complete stop.  Sunny looked up to see a tall man in dark clothes standing in front of the car.  He stood still, staring at her and the driver menacingly.

            “What’s happening?” Sooyoung asked, leaning forward to look out the window.  “Why did we stop?”

            “We almost hit this man in the alley,” the driver told in confusion.  “Why is he here?”

            The driver honked his horn and flashed his lights, but the man wouldn’t move.  Just as the driver was going to back up the van, the man made a rapid dash to his door and opened it.  He pulled a gleaming gun from his belt and pointed it at the driver.  With one booming noise, the driver was slumped over in his seat, and Sunny was covered in splattered blood.

            The Nine screamed as the mysterious man pulled the dead driver out of the car and took his place in the driver’s seat.  Every member scrambled in their seats, quickly unbuckling their seatbelts.  Sunny only leaned away from the intruder silently in complete shock.  Efforts to escape proved futile as the man locked all the doors and pushed forcefully on the gas pedal.

            “Unnie!” Seohyun screamed helplessly, taking Taeyeon’s arm.  “What is happening?”

            “Stop!” Taeyeon ordered with a loud, frightened voice.  “Stop the car right now!”

            Though the new driver seemed to have no intention of stopping, low popping sounds came from outside, and the car began slow down as the tires deflated  The intruder stopped the car and looked out the windows carefully.  The driver side door opened yet again, and a blue blur hit the driver across the face.

            Gummi, sweating and breathing heavily in her blue jumpsuit and helmet, took a small syringe from her pocket and stabbed it into the driver’s arm.  He clutched at the syringe momentarily before his body became uncontrollable, and he fell unconscious.

            “Help me get him out!” Gummi commanded, grabbing the man’s arm.  Though Sunny was still motionless, Taeyeon leaned forward and helped push the man out of the car.  Gummi quickly pushed the button to unlock all the car doors.  “Everyone, jump out!  We need to go!”

            In their daze of both chaos and fear, Girls’ Generation made their way out of the van.  They crowded around Gummi, who climbed into the driver’s seat to check on Sunny.

            “Sunny-ssi, are you okay?”

            Trembling in her seat, Sunny finally looked down at her bloodstained outfit.  The blood wasn’t too noticeable on her black jacket, but she felt the sticky wetness on her hands and neck.  Her eyes filled with tears as she looked at Gummi helplessly.

            “You have to get out of the van, Sunny,” Gummi urged gently.  “It’s okay.  Everything will be fine.”

            Taeyeon ran over to the passenger side of the van and opened Sunny’s door.  “Come on, Sunny-ah,” she said with a forced smile.  “Hurry.”

            Sunny held Taeyeon’s hand tightly as she stumbled out of the van.  Each member found themselves staring back down the alley, knowing that their driver of nearly seven years was dead on the cold asphalt.

            Before Gummi could jump out of the car, a faint distortion came from the communication walkie-talkie next to the driver’s seat.  She glared at it in astonishment as a familiar voice began to speak.

            “Gummi-ah,” the voice called with a Daghanian accent.  “Pick up, Gummi-ah.”

            Angrily taking the walkie-talkie, she exited the van and led the girls to the back of a flower shop within the alley.  Though the shop was closed, Gummi broke the glass of the door and hurried everyone inside.  She closed it behind them and peered into the night earnestly. 

            “Ahjussi,” she spoke into the walkie-talkie.  “We threw you into federal prison.  How are you speaking to me?”

            “Prison is a short stay when you have money, Gummi-ah,” he responded merrily.  “Do you think they even know that I’m gone yet?  Honestly, your country’s government is corrupted and incompetent.”

            “We’ll get you again.  Everything you do seems to fail, just like tonight.”

            “Who said I failed,” he snickered.  “You think that I didn’t anticipate your little stunt?  I must admit, I was surprised you could run that fast, but I wasn’t concerned in the least.”

            “I stopped your plan, Ahjussi,” she cried.  “What else do you think you can do?”

            “Ah, you’re right,” he sighed dejectedly.  “Yes, I’ll just give up now.  Why don’t you call your other members to assist you in caring for The Nine?”

            Gummi looked back into the flower shop at the nine girls she had sworn to protect.  Sunny sat in the corner of the room, rocking back and forth, still in a state of shock.  Taeyeon and Hyoyeon scrambled in and out of the back room, looking for water and towels.  Everyone else cried quietly, hugging one another, wondering what was happening.

            Pulling the visor on her helmet down, Gummi pressed the button to switch on communication.  Only a faint buzz came from her helmet, as had been the case for the last ten minutes.

            “Communication has been down for a little bit,” she admitted softly.  “As soon as it’s up again, I’ll have The Nine safe and sound.”

            “Oh yes, I’m sure it will be up again,” he smirked.  “Of course, wouldn’t it be convenient if I stopped interrupting the signal and allowed you to communicate with your members?”

            Gummi stared at the walkie-talkie anxiously.  “What?  You’re causing the system to fail?  How?”

            “Gummi-ah, it doesn’t matter how,” he assured gleefully.  “The only truth is that you’re all alone in that flower shop, completely isolated from your members.  Even K-Much can’t help you now.  And your Captain is absolutely oblivious of this whole situation.”

            He knew where she was.  He had to be just outside, watching from somewhere.  She tried to find any sign of the Ahjussi in the darkness, but nothing could be seen.  Looking back at The Nine nervously, she tested her helmet’s communication system again.

            “Way-ah,” she called.  “Soyul-ah?  Captain?  Can anyone hear me?”

            “If you’re seriously trying to weigh your chances of survival right now, Gummi-ah, you’re not as smart as I thought you were,” he told quietly.  “Besides, did I even threaten you?  Gummi-ah, I don’t want to hurt you.”

            “I don’t care about myself,” Gummi replied, her heart beating unevenly.  “I know what you want to do to The Nine.  And I won’t let you.  Soon enough, Kiu will wonder why the van hasn’t passed by his part of the route, and he’ll backtrack and find us.”

            “I’m aware of that,” he confessed.  “That’s why I’ll give you two minutes.”

            “Two minutes?  Two minutes till what?”

            “I have a friend of yours.  Kim-ssi, say hello.”

            Tired wheezing came from the walkie-talkie.  The loud breathing sent chills down Gummi’s spine, and she didn’t want to know who it was.  She couldn’t know who it was.

            “…Gummi-ah?”

            All the air left Gummi’s lungs, and she couldn’t breathe.  She had hoped she would never hear his voice again in any situation, but certainly not this one.  Jaejoong’s tone was hoarse and exhausted, and his breaths were sharper than they had been on the day she last saw him.  She looked at the walkie-talkie as tears filled her eyes.

            “Oppa?  No, oppa!”

            “Gummi-ah?  Why is this happening?”

            “Oppa!”

            “Gummi!” Hyoyeon cried, rushing over to Gummi.  “Gummi, what’s going on?  Are you okay?”

            “Let him go!” Gummi urged frantically.  “What do you want for him?  What do you want?”

            “Gummi-ah, you should know,” the Ahjussi insisted suddenly.  “I want all nine of the girls.  And if I don’t get them from you in two minutes, Kim Jaejoong will die.”

            “No!  No, please let him go!  Please!”  She pushed open the door of the flower shop and looked up and down the alley.  “Let him go!”

            “If you take one more step outside the shop, I’ll kill him right now,” the Ahjussi explained.  “Go on.  Go back inside, Gummi-ah.”

            Reluctantly, Gummi went back into the flower shop, closed the door, and looked at The Nine.  All of them stared at her with wide eyes.  They had certainly heard every bit of Gummi’s conversation with the Ahjussi, and appeared as helpless as she felt.  She tried not to see them as the bargaining chips they had become.

            “They have Jaejoong oppa?” Taeyeon asked feebly.

            “Gummi!  Why do they want us?”  Hyoyeon stole the walkie-talkie from Gummi’s shaking hands.  “Hey!  Why do you want us so bad?  Why have you been after us?  Why did Crayon Pop need to protect us?”

            The walkie-talkie was silent.  Gummi’s whole body ached.  She moved like a zombie towards the front desk of the flower shop, unaware of The Nine’s frenzied conversations behind her.  She spotted a red rose behind the desk and stared at it as tears poured down her face.

            “I thought I had fixed everything,” she whispered.  “I thought I had saved you, oppa.  Why is this happening?”

            I would do anything for you…I’ll never break my promise, oppa.

            Her own words boomed in her mind as she began to sob hysterically.  “Oppa…if I save you, so many people will die…I…I don’t know if I can save you.”

            “Gummi.”  Hyoyeon grabbed Gummi’s shoulder and turned her towards her.  “Isn’t there something we can do to save him?  Aren’t the rest of you around here?”

            Gummi yanked off her helmet and threw it to the ground.  “There’s nothing we can do!  I don’t know…I don’t know what to do.”

            “They’re going to kill him!” Taeyeon cried.  “We can’t let that happen!”

            “Don’t you think I want to save him?”  Gummi could hardly speak as devastation overwhelmed her.  “I love him!  I don’t want him to die!  But he wants all of you in order to save him.  He wants to kill you!”

            “Ten.”  Gummi’s heart stopped as the Ahjussi’s voice came from the walkie-talkie again.  “Nine.  Eight.”

            “Oppa!” Gummi screamed, grabbing the walkie-talkie from Hyoyeon.  No matter what she said, nothing would be heard over the one-way communication setting.  “Ahjussi!  Please!  Please don’t do this!  Oppa!  Oppa, I love you!  No!”

            “Five.  Four.  Three-”

            “Seohyun!”

            At the sound of Sunny’s frantic shout, the Ahjussi stopped his countdown.  Gummi looked in terror as the flower shop back door swung closed after Seohyun.  She dashed over to the door as the other members began to run after her.

            “Seohyun!” Gummi called, holding back the members.  As the members pushed behind her, the door opened, but she wouldn’t let them pass.  “Seohyun!  Come back!”

            When Seohyun turned to face Gummi and The Eight, a large black van drove up behind her.  The side door rolled open, and the Ahjussi pulled Seohyun in.

            “I suppose one will do,” he growled, tightening his grip on Seohyun.  “Take your pathetic man.”

            Another Daghanian threw Jaejoong out the back door of the van and onto the ground.  Tied up and bleeding all over his body, Jaejoong curled up on the jagged road and let out a weak cry.

            “Oppa!” Gummi called.  She looked back at Seohyun, who didn’t fight the Ahjussi’s painful grasp.  “Seohyun!  Why did you do this?”

            “Don’t worry, Gummi-ssi.”  Seohyun forced a grin on her teary face.  “This was my choice.  I couldn’t let someone else die for me.”

            “Seohyun-ah!” Taeyeon sobbed.  “Seohyun-ah!”

            “I love you, unnies.”

            The van door slammed shut, cutting off Seohyun’s last words, and they sped away.  Unable to comprehend what had just happened, Gummi weakly stumbled to the side of the door, allowing The Eight to run out into the alley.  Some of them stared after the van, some of them attempted to follow it.  But it was already too far off to pursue. 

            “Seohyun-ah!” Tiffany wept powerlessly, falling to the ground.

            Gummi finally ran over to Jaejoong and carefully untied his binds.  “Oppa, are you okay?  What did they do to you?”

            “Unnie!”  Sunny walked over to Gummi and sat down beside Jaejoong.  “Unnie, aren’t you going to go after her?  Can’t the other members do anything?”

            Rising up from Jaejoong’s side, Gummi looked down the alley in the direction of the van.  She wiped the tears from her face and tried to look hopeful.  “If Kiu spots the van on his motorcycle, he’ll go after it.  But if he doesn’t suspect anything…I have to try to find him.  I have to try to communicate with the other members.”

            “I’ll go with you,” Hyoyeon insisted, walking up behind Gummi.  “I can run fast.  Let’s go.”

            Though Gummi could see the hope in The Eight’s eyes, she failed to have it for herself.  It was possible that the Ahjussi had already cut Seohyun’s throat.  She may have already been dead for minutes now.  But Gummi nodded at Hyoyeon enthusiastically.

            “Alright,” she said.  “We have to go now.  Sunny, will you take care of Jaejoong?”

            “We all will,” Sunny promised.  “Please, go!  You have to save her.”

            “Okay.”  Gummi peered into Hyoyeon’s optimistic eyes and felt tears fill her own.  “Let’s go.”