Author's note: "Gospodin" is a Russian term for "Lord" or "Sir". By the way, are y'all having heart attacks? Hahaha, sorry about this story.

Chapter 24

            Soyul lay flat on her stomach on top of the speeding delivery truck.  She tried desperately to keep a good view of the black van which held the Ahjussi and Seohyun, but every time she peeked over the edge of the truck, the cold wind made her eyes sting.  She took another quick look to make sure the delivery truck was still on the same path as the van, and then wearily rested her cheek on the top of the truck.

            “How did this happen?” she whispered to herself, reviewing everything that she had seen over the past ten minutes.

            Soyul had been assigned the portion of The Nine’s route next to Gummi’s assigned portion.  She had witnessed their van pass without any problems.  But as soon as the communication system went down, she knew something was wrong.  Though she tried to get to Gummi as fast as she could, she arrived only in time to see Seohyun being snatched into the Ahjussi’s black van.  She then took to the rooftops and followed the van, finally discovering the delivery truck that she rode upon now.

            They had been driving on the freeway for an hour now.  No one from Chrome Entertainment had shown up during that time, and Soyul knew that she was on her own.  Her helmet was useless with communication system still down.  No one else had a clue where Seohyun was.

            Soyul held her bag of equipment close as she felt the truck slow down.  Both the truck and the van were taking the same exit.  She stayed watchful as they both headed down a dark, empty road surrounded by tall trees.  When they both entered a small, private airport, the van began to move quickly to a tiny jet on the runway while Soyul’s truck slowed to a complete stop.  She swiftly hopped off and sneaked towards the van.

            As she approached the jet, the van stopped, and the Ahjussi exited with one of his goons.  They both reached into the van and pulled out Seohyun, who finally began to show some resistance to their violent treatment.  She struggled in their clutches, making one last attempt to free herself before they threw her into the jet.

            Soyul inched closer, finally reaching the van.  She heard the jet start up, and she immediately searched for a way in.  The main door was already closed, but she knew there was an emergency exit towards the back of these models.  She rushed over, quietly opened the latch, and climbed into the jet.

            “You must think you’re a real hero, Seo Joohyun.”  As she hid behind the emergency equipment, Soyul could hear the Ahjussi’s booming voice.  “You tried to humiliate me.  But as soon as I dump your body in Japan, I’ll come back to Korea and do away with Kim Jaejoong and all the rest of your fellow members.”

            Seohyun sat on the floor of the jet behind the two pilot seats.  Without any harnesses on, she would experience a lot of turbulence during the trip.  But Soyul knew that the Ahjussi didn’t have Seohyun’s health in mind.  He ignored her soft whimpering as he and his goon sat in the pilot seats.

            “But for those Crayon Pop members,” he started angrily.  “Oh yes, I have plans for them.  All five of them will die of old age; I’m counting on it.  I will make them live long, horrible lives in the slums of their country that was once called South Korea.  But I have even better plans for those twins.”

            The jet began to take off, and Soyul formulated a plan in her head.  Now that they were off the ground, she had to be careful with every move.  She had been trained the basics of flying a jet, and she wasn’t concerned with eventually having to land it.  But if she didn’t take out the Ahjussi and his goon at the same time, she would risk being overwhelmed and losing Seohyun’s life.

            When the plane picked up speed, Seohyun slid back to the emergency equipment.  Soyul tried to hide herself.  If Seohyun knew about her, there was a chance her cover would be blown at an inconvenient time.  But Seohyun quickly noticed her behind the bags and metal boxes of equipment, and they exchanged anxious glances.

            “Ahjussi.”  Seohyun’s voice was tense.  She scraped her eyes away from Soyul and looked towards the cockpit.  “Why do you need them?  Why can’t you just use me?  What are you planning to do?”

            “You’ll work fine,” the Ahjussi smirked.  “But this has become personal.  I was going to kill all nine of you mercifully.  But just for you, Seohyun, I’ll give your friends the most horrendous, painful deaths possible.”

            Seohyun looked back at Soyul with panic in her eyes.  Shaking her head, Soyul gave a reassuring smile.  But if she didn’t handle this situation with precision, all of the Ahjussi’s plans would come to pass.

            Soyul knew that when she attacked the Ahjussi and his goon, there would be a risk that the jet could crash.  She looked out the small window in the back of the jet to find out where they were.  Not a light could be found.  They were flying over wilderness already.  This jet was moving faster than Soyul had anticipated.  She needed to act fast, or else they’d soon be over the East Sea.

            Putting her finger up to her lips, Soyul looked over at Seohyun.  She slowly crept towards the cockpit and took a paralyzing serum from her bag of equipment.  As she got closer to the Ahjussi and his goon, her heart beat faster and faster.  Her eyes darted back and forth from the Ahjussi and the goon.  She had to do this right.  She had to save Seohyun.

            “Gospodin!”

            Soyul watched in horror as the Ahjussi’s goon looked right at her.  He leapt from his seat and jumped towards her.  She drove the syringe into his arm, but failed to inject the serum.  A helpless cry left her lungs as he threw her up against the side door of the jet.

            The Ahjussi ran past Soyul and his goon to get to Seohyun.  He grabbed her tightly and held her in the back of the plane.  Soyul’s mind raced madly as the goon pulled a gun from his belt.  Before he could prepare to fire, she pushed herself up and ran at him. 

With one push, both of them were up against the other side of the plane.  She struggled to hold his arms.  Goosebumps rose on her skin as she felt the tip of the gun touch her stomach.  She felt his arms slipping from her grasp.  As one last attempt to control him, she made a hasty grab for the gun and tried to wrestle it out of his hands.  She gave a shriek as it fired between them.  Both of them stopped moving, and she looked up to see the life slowly slip from the goon’s eyes.

            As he fell to the ground, she still held the gun in her hands.  It was cold and wet with blood.  She couldn’t believe he was dead.  The last expression left on his dead face was one of confusion and desperation.  Her shaky hands dropped the gun to the ground.  Had she really killed someone?  Did he really deserve to die?

            Suddenly, another shot echoed in the small jet, and the most painful headache Soyul had ever felt filled her head.  Her ears rang as she fell to the ground.  She weakly crawled into the cockpit and hid behind the pilot chairs.  As soon as she was safe, she pulled off her helmet and saw a fresh bullet hole on the side of it.  She felt her throbbing head, sure she had been shot.  But after careful examination, she realized the bullet had been stopped inside the helmet before reaching her head.  Holding her head in agony, she curled up on the ground of the cockpit.  She couldn’t hold in her miserable whimpers.

            “Soyul-ah,” the Ahjussi called, pointing his gun towards the cockpit.  His hoarse voice held a forced confidence.  “How in the world did you get on this jet?  I suppose I underestimated you.”

            Soyul compelled herself to get up from the ground.  Her ears were still ringing, and she could hardly hear anything the Ahjussi was saying.

            The Ahjussi suddenly pointed his gun to Seohyun’s head.  “If you try anything, I’ll kill her right now.”

            As the jet flew unevenly on autopilot, Soyul watched as the dead goon’s bloody gun glided across the metal floor towards the cockpit.  She carefully reached down and took it in her hands.  Nothing was going according to plan.  She couldn’t even think straight with the agonizing ache in her head.  It seemed like anything she did at this moment would be unsuccessful.  But she was overwhelmed with responsibility, and she knew she had to at least try.

            Feebly stepping out from the cockpit, she pointed the gun at the Ahjussi.  “Ahjussi.  Let her go.”

            “I don’t need to listen to you,” he insisted.  “I could kill her right now, and that would end everything.”

            “You’re right,” she smirked.  “That would end everything.  You see, as soon as you kill her, I’ll kill you.  Then I’ll take her body back to Korea, and Chrome Entertainment will devise a peaceful lie about her death.  I’m the one making plans now, Ahjussi.”

            “There will be a hole in her head!”

            “Isn’t South Korea known for plastic surgery?” she chuckled sinisterly.  She took a small step forward.  “And when I kill you, Ahjussi, I’ll have quite the pleasure.  After what you put my unnies through, you deserve nothing less than death.  You’ll pay for everything you’ve ever done.”

            The three of them stood in silence.  Seohyun looked at Soyul in astonishment, amazed by her lack of concern for her death.  With the cold metal point of the Ahjussi’s gun on her head, all the hope left her eyes.  The Ahjussi appeared full of dread and uncertainty.  Soyul remained calm with a cold expression.

            “Aren’t you going to do something, Ahjussi?” Soyul questioned.  “Go on.  Do something!”

            With one swift motion, the Ahjussi pointed his gun at Soyul, but she was ready.  A loud bang filled the plane, and the Ahjussi let go of Seohyun.  He looked down at his stomach and clutched it tenderly.  Blood poured from his wound, staining through his heavy layers of clothes.  As he fell to the ground, Soyul gave a triumphant smile.  But Seohyun stared at her in horror.

            “Soyul!”

            At the sound of Seohyun’s cry, Soyul realized she had forgotten about the pain in her head.  In fact, she couldn’t feel anything at all.  Her limbs felt numb and weak.  She dropped her gun and looked down at her abdomen.  Her yellow jumpsuit was stained red with blood.  She couldn’t believe it was her own.  It couldn’t be.

            She collapsed to the ground, and Seohyun rushed to her side.  “Soyul-ssi!  No!”

            “I…I’m sorry, Seohyun-ssi.”  Soyul couldn’t understand the fragility of her own voice.  It became harder to breath as the bullet wound became a dull pain in her stomach.  “I don’t think I can land the jet in this state.  I’m sorry.”

            “Don’t worry about the jet, Soyul-ssi!” Seohyun urged, taking her black blazer off and putting it on Soyul’s wound.  “We have to take care of you right now.”

            Soyul cried in pain as Seohyun put pressure on her stomach.  “Seohyun-ssi, forget about me.  You have to put on the parachute and leave the jet before it crashes.  Be sure to take my bag with you.”

            “We’ll leave together then,” Seohyun suggested quickly, rushing back towards the emergency equipment.  “Where is it?”

            “It’s that bag on top of the metal crate,” Soyul explained slowly.  “Seohyun, I can’t go with you.”

            “What?” Seohyun exclaimed, returning with the parachute.  “Of course you can!”

            “I won’t be able to hold onto you.”  Soyul felt her mind slipping into shock, and tears welled up in .  “I won’t be able to hold on…”

            “I’ll hold on to you!” Seohyun promised, quickly strapping the parachute onto herself.  “I won’t let you go!”

            Seohyun struggled to pick Soyul up from the ground.  She held her in a tight embrace and wrapped the extra strap on the parachute around the both of them.  Once they were firmly held together, Soyul began to lose consciousness.  Picking up Soyul’s equipment bag from the floor, Seohyun walked the both of them over to the jet’s side door.

            When she unlatched the door, Seohyun tightly grasped the jet’s wall.  Cold night air blew into the plane and nearly the both of them out right away.  Seohyun looked down at Soyul and wished she was still awake to guide her through this.  Closing her eyes, Seohyun took a deep breath and readied herself.  She finally found a moment of courage and took that rapid, daring leap from the jet.