EUN-WOO
I tried to focus on the mobile game that Woo-hyun and I have been playing for about a few hours already. I feel so sleepy now since the game is tiring my eyes.
"YES!!!" Woo-hyun cheered happily as he finally won the game for the fifth time. He's been complaining about not winning against me and even begged me to go easy on him.
What a jerk.
"Ah. It feels great to finally win against the mighty Lee Eun-woo!" He said happily.
"I can't believe you're so happy about that," I commented to him.
"Are you sad that you lost the final round?" He started to tease me.
"No. It's because I won the first four rounds," I boasted.
"Yah! We agreed that those rounds are all invalid. The last round will be the one considered!"
"Whatever." I ignored him as I got up from the bed and kept my phone hidden inside my pocket.
I got out of the room to get some fresh air and coincidentally found Mizuki together with Ji-hoon. They are actually walking around like the others.
I'm battling with my thoughts of whether to approach them or not. But, in the end, I still did.
"Oh, Eun-woo." I got Mizuki's attention.
"Where are you guys heading to?" I asked them as I put my hands inside my pockets.
"Just walk around to take some rest before going to bed. You?" Mizuki replied.
"I'm… doing the same," I said shyly. "Planning to do the same."
While walking, Mizuki couldn't help but bring up Chereen which I find already comfortable talking about with them after so many years.
"Did you guys miss Chereen?"
"Of course. Who wouldn't?" Ji-hoon asked.
"She's always in my mind. Not literally, but I tend to think about her whenever I'm sad," I explained.
"That's normal," Mizuki said.
"Eun-woo," I heard Ji-hoon call me so I glanced at him.
"What?"
"Are you really serious about Isla?"
Why would he suddenly bring that up? I'm not prepared.
"Why not? Isla is a great person," Mizuki praised. "Sadly, she doesn't feel the same way as I felt for her before."
Ji-hoon looked at him. "You don't understand, Mizuki–"
"I don't care if Isla is our stepsister, Ji-hoon." I could see the surprise in their faces. They must not have been expecting that one. "I love her."
Mizuki stopped walking and so did Ji-hoon and me.
"Wait. What's going on?" He asked us.
"You're hearing it correctly," I told him.
"Why did you guys hide the truth?"
"It's because of Chereen," I answered. "I don't want Isla to go through the suffering that Chereen went through. I've learned my lesson."
"We all did," Mizuki said. "I'm glad you did it ahead of time."
"I like her too…" Ji-hoon suddenly interfered. "More than a stepsister. But, I knew she wouldn't return the feelings I have for her after I saw how she reacted when Eun-woo got into an accident."
I shook my head, unsure. "What accident?"
"When you were stabbed by a knife," Ji-hoon said.
Mizuki nodded. "I have to agree with Ji-hoon. I also think Isla feels the same way as you feel for her, Eun-woo."
"I don't want to jump to conclusion unless I hear it directly from her," I said before walking again.
"Good luck, then." Mizuki smiled as he followed.
"Ah…" Ji-hoon followed us as well. "I'm number two again. Even in love."
I scoffed at him. "You're the only one thinking of that. Don't be too hard on yourself."
"You're right."
"LEE EUN-WOO! WHERE ARE YOU?!"
We were all startled after hearing a woman shouting. Then, Lav suddenly appeared running toward us.
"Lee Eun-woo, where have you been?!" She exclaimed.
"Why are you yelling at me?" I asked her calmly.
"You moron. Isla is missing!"
"What?" We all exclaimed.
"Wait." Mizuki approached her. "Where and when was the last time you saw her?"
"After dinner, she went for a stroll. That's all I know," she replied.
"You weren't with her during those times, were you?" Ji-hoon asked her.
"No."
"Su-bin…" The name lingers on my lips.
They looked at me as I ignored them and walked away. I started running to find Su-bin's whereabouts and saw him near their room, standing and facing Na-bi.
He was holding her in both her arms while she was crying. And before I could even completely approach them, I overheard Su-bin.
"What did you do this time, Na-bi?!"
"I'm sorry…" She continued crying.
"Moon Su-bin," I called his attention and they both looked at me.
"Isla was taken by some men wearing bonnets," Su-bin didn't hesitate to tell me.
I could hear the others arrive behind me as I continued to talk with Su-bin.
"What else happened?" I asked.
Su-bin cautiously glanced at Na-bi who was just crying silently. "Tell them."
I looked at Na-bi.
"I'm sorry. But, they threatened to kill me if I tell you the truth," she cried.
I approached her closely which made her cry more as she continued to feel scared.
"Who did?"
She shook her head.
"If you do not tell me, I will make you… and you won't even like it."
That's when she finally broke down and cried more. "Minerva and Troy took Isla! They threatened to kill me if I said a word!"
As I heard those words, I couldn't avoid myself from heating up in anger as I clenched my fists.
"Seo Na-bi, no one will ever lay a hand on you. I promise you that," I told her, assuring.
Exactly that time, we heard someone's phone ringing. And it was Na-bi's phone. It was a call from Minerva's number. Na-bi gave me the phone and I was the one to pick it up.
The only sounds I could hear were the background noise of a woman screaming, then I heard next was the sound of mirrors breaking. There are also men's voices.
"Minerva, it's Eun-woo."
"That bitch," Minerva said. "I swear to g–"
"You better swear to your fuckin' life not to let yourself get caught by me or I'll rip your throat just like how I would rip your brother's," I confronted her.
Without a response, she hung up.
I decided to go on my own, ignoring the rest after that phone call. But, they followed me while repeatedly asking where I was going.
"What is going on? Talk to us, Eun-woo!" Mizuki raised his voice at me.
"Something happened to Isla. I heard voices of men and it seems like they've really kidnapped her," I said while walking.
"Who were they?" Ji-hoon asked.
"I think it's Troy and his gang."
Then, the reality of not knowing where to look for Miharu came to me, so I stopped walking. They did the same.
"Why are we stopping?" Su-bin asked.
"Eun-woo doesn't know where to look for her," Mizuki said.
We noticed Na-bi running toward us and she showed me her phone. It was a locator application.
"They're in this area of Gangwon-do. I managed to track Minerva's phone," she said.
"Can I borrow your phone?" I asked her.
She nodded as I took it from her.
"Call 112 and give them the address. Do you remember it?" I asked her.
"Yes."
"Good. Mizuki will remain in contact with you," I said. Mizuki nodded at Na-bi in acknowledgement.
Together with Mizuki and Ji-hoon, we left the camp to save Isla. No matter what happens, I will not let her get hurt, now that I know where to find her.
It was an abandoned building. The area is quiet because there are not many residents living in houses near it. I noticed a white van, and there were men smoking cigarettes in the front of the van.
"They don't seem like Troy's gang," Mizuki whispered.
"Do you think you can handle them?" I asked.
"I think so… hopefully," Ji-hoon replied.
"Alright. Let's surround them. Let's try to avoid them from seeing us so that they will not alert the others inside. Once we are found, silence them. If one cannot take the person in front of them, the others should help. Okay?" I cleared the plan for them.
They signaled OK.
Since there are six guards, each of us will take two. On my way to the door, I found something useful, which is a gate chain. I need to keep this up just in case something goes wrong.
I easily got inside the abandoned area and in so much silence, I could hear my own breathing. I had no trouble finding Isla because the place where she was is the only area where the lights are on... but dim.
With my immediate spotting of Isla's whereabouts, I could clearly see her situation. And I think she was tied up on a chair with her hands also tied up behind her.
I need to get close to her and release her, and we will make a run for it. So, I quietly approached her while looking around to see if anyone was there.
"Isla…" I whispered as I got beside her.
Her eyes widened and got into tears easily. "Eun-woo?"
"Shh..."
She couldn't hold back the tears so she avoided crying out loud. I understand how much this incident affected her and all I can do is to make her calm down and tell her that everything's going to be fine.
I gently stroked her cheeks and she didn't avoid them.
"Did you... came here to save me?" She was sobbing quietly.
"Yes. And we need to act fast. Let me see your hands." I went behind her and she showed me her hands being tied up with duct tape.
I needed something that I could use to cut the tape so I searched around. I need to hurry so we can escape before the kidnappers return.
Later, I heard the men's voice.
"Eun-woo, I could hear them…" Isla's voice was shaking in fear.
As soon as I found something I could use to cut off the duct tape, I immediately approached her again and hurriedly went to cut the tape bound to her hands.
"Hurry," she told me.
"I'm trying," I said as I hurried, two times faster than my usual speed until the tape was cut off.
"Yah. Lee Eun-woo!"
Minerva arrived together with Troy and his gang just in time after I immediately pulled Isla up from the chair and got her behind me.
"Why are you doing this? What for?" I asked them. "Why does it have to be Isla?!"
Troy started laughing at me. "You just made the biggest mistake of your life, Lee Eun-woo."
"I warned you before. Whatever you have against me, better stay Isla out of it!" I raised my voice at them angrily.
The sound of solo applause coming from the same place caught our attention and I couldn't believe my eyes at who I was seeing.
"No way…" I heard Isla from behind.
"Taek-woon." His name lingered on my lips as I could only stare at him in surprise.
"I'm not the person you think I am, Eun-woo. The Taek-woon you know doesn't exist in the first place," he said.
"What is going on?" The words I could only ask them.
"I'm Chet Horayangkura. Chereen's older brother," he said. "And I'm here to avenge her death that was caused by you."
"Caused by me? I know I became irresponsible as her friend, but I didn't cause her death."
"LIAR!!!" Chet raised his voice at me before coming forward to punch me in the face.
I remained in my stance even though I was surprised that I got punched so hard for the first time.
"Let go of Isla and deal with me," I told them.
"That's not going to happen," Chet said. "Tie them up again. We will finish this once and for all."
My immediate action was to push Isla away from them so she wouldn't get hurt. "GO! RUN!"
"Just give up already, Eun-woo. You're being outnumbered by us," Troy told me and the others started laughing.
Minerva, unfortunately, got a grip of Isla and she obviously could handle her alone.
Since I realized that I'll be getting into a serious fight, I decided to bring out the chains I got on my way inside the building and wrapped them around my fists.
"There are many of you... and I don't care."
"You are very proud to speak. Let's see where you will be picked up after beating you," Troy said.
I let out a sigh. "Too bad, you're not making this fun for me."
"Do you want to have fun?" Chet asked me.
I just laughed and approached them a little. "Less talk, more action."
"This guy!"
They started attacking me and I immediately avoided them. I hit Troy on the stomach with my knee and threw him around to hit the one coming from the other side.
At once, the three of them rushed at me and I retaliated with full punches for each person. The two people that were left charged at me as I kicked one in the stomach, at the same time strangling the other one with my arm. I couldn't throw off the person I was choking with until I decided to punch him and then push him towards his other colleagues.
Suddenly someone choked me from my back and at the same time, someone punched me in the face. It was only then that I felt the painful and solid hit for the first time from all the trouble I went through. They all started beating me up and I was left defending myself. I was left lying on the floor when they stopped beating me, almost vomiting blood.
"How does it feel now, Eun-woo?" Chet asked me.
They started approaching Isla as my vision faded. I can also hear her constantly calling me even though the men are threatening him.
"No... don't touch her!" I try to get up even though my eyes are still shut but the wounds I got were aching, making me a lot weaker.
"EUN-WOO!!!" The way she screams my name was different. It's full of fright.
I suddenly felt someone hug me while crying. I opened up my eyes and saw Isla approach me as she hugged me very tightly, even though she would suffer because of what she was doing.
"Enough drama! End it now, Chet!" Troy raised his voice even though he was far from us. "Hit them until they die."
I could only hear someone dragging the chair and I knew we would soon be hit by it. So, I wrapped my arms around Isla just in case they do something, so she wouldn't be too affected by it.
"Eun-woo... if this would be my last time with you, I just want to tell you how happy I am to have met you," Isla was already talking nonsense.
"What are you talking about?"
"I love you. Even though we always fight..." She was continuously sobbing.
I tried to open my eyes and saw the chair was lifted while being held by Chet, ready to use it to hit us.
"Any last words?" He asked.
"I have been suffering my whole life, taking the blame for Chereen's death. And before I could even die in the hands of her beloved brother, I'm telling you the truth," I said. "I have loved her with my whole heart. And this time, I chose to let go of our memories and move on from her."
With that being said, Chet became angrier as he shouted almost midway hitting us with a chair. Until there was this loud sound of the door being smashed and the fallen woods and pipes.
That's when I saw Mizuki and Ji-hoon come to our rescue, immediately charging toward Chet.
The men lost their attention to us and charged toward our two allies. Mizuki grabs one of them behind the head with both hands. He used his elbows to create distance before doing knee strikes continuously on the man until he passed out.
Ji-hoon went for the other where he did a hook punch and an uppercut thrown to the right side of the man, giving the man a painful and debilitating condition.
There were only two men left not attacking all who charged towards Ji-hoon and Mizuki, one of whom was Troy. Mizuki approached me while Ji-hoon held Isla.
"What took–" I grunted because of the pain.
"Don't talk anymore," Mizuki told me. "We will get you out of here."
Chet unbelievably recovered from the punches he received. "No one's going anywhere."
"Taek-woon?" Ji-hoon questioned upon seeing him up close. "What are you–"
"MY NAME IS NOT TAEK-WOON!!!"
I glanced at Ji-hoon. "He is Chereen's older brother."
Mizuki suddenly approached him and gave him a hard punch on the face that made him fall to the ground.
"It's you!" Mizuki shouted at him before gripping his collar. "You're the main reason Chereen died!"
"Mizuki, what are you saying?" I asked him confusedly.
"You killed her…" Mizuki gritted his teeth in anger while staring at Chet.
Our silence broke as soon as Chet laughed maniacally.
Later, we heard the sound of police sirens signaling that we would be rescued from the area. Troy's gang started running to escape, leaving him.
And when Troy tried to run away, Ji-hoon immediately stopped him with the threat of breaking his hands after he twisted them behind his back.