Chapter 19~Kim Hyuna (1/2)
You feel disoriented when you wake up. You’re somewhere dark. Somewhere cold. Slightly wet. You hear the sound of dripping water onto concrete. You sit up and your head feels like a ton of bricks.“Ohhh.” You groan as you hold your head.Your wrist hurts. You look down to see that it’s bruised all the way around. What happened? Drinking. Lots of drinking. Guys. But who were they? Yelling. Dizziness. Van. Someone grabbing your wrist. Anger. Fright.“Ugh.” You moan. How do you get yourself into these types of situations?You look around to see that a faint light is streaming in from a small window cell at the top of a wall. Four walls surround you. One door on one of the walls, and this window on the wall opposite of it. The room is made of concrete cinder blocks. The window is only as big as one of these blocks and is so filthy that it barely lets in any light. There’s an ominous glow about the room because of this. Along the ceiling are pipes of some sort. They rattle and clink occasionally. In the far corner a pipe leaks small droplets of water down to the floor where they gather in a puddle. In the center of the room is a small drain.It’s depressing. It’s like some sort of a jail.You make yourself get up. You place a hand on the cold wall to steady your aching head. Did he drug you?! But you were right there with him! But… his back was to you while he was ordering the drink. Plenty of time to slip something into it.You groan again at your stupidity. Then you’re still. Your eyes open wide. Your hand runs down to your chest. Then to the front of your shirt. It’s a button up one. Each button is safely fastened. Then down to your jeans. Still on. Still zipped and buttoned. Besides your wrist, aching head, and sore back from sleeping on concrete… you feel okay. So nothing… inappropriate happened… to your best knowledge at least. Which at the moment… isn’t much.You go to the door. It’s some sort of steel. Colder than the walls. You pound on it once. It’s firm. Solid. The latch won’t budge. No way out. There’s a small slit opening in the middle of the door and you bend down to look through. It’s like a mail slot. You have to stick your finger in to push it open to see through to the other side. Slightly warmer air rolls in through the opening. You can see flickering lights down the hall. It’s all concrete. There are a few more doors but that’s it. Looks like the door on the far end of the hall leads either out or to a set of stairs.You sigh at your situation.“Hey!” you hear a voice and then a face pops into view.“Ah!” you scream and stumble back, landing on your butt. You groan and rub it at the pain from the hard floor.“Stay away from the door.” The voice says. A higher voice. Male voice but young. Younger than you.You squint and catch a glimpse of their eyes before the latch swings shut. They were gentle looking. Kind. Cute.“Who are you?” you whisper as you crawl back to the door.No answer.“Hello?” you ask a little louder.“No talking.” It replies. Definitely younger than you.“Where am I?” you ask.No answer.You cross your legs and stare at the door in silence. Minutes pass. You lean forward and poke the latch open again.“I said stay away from the door.” The voice whines as they shut it again.“Hmph.” You poke it open again, this time making it clatter.“Stop!” the kid demands.You sit back and cross your arms to pout.You’re about to talk to them again when they speak up. “Hey… do you know… do you know where my brother is?” the voice asks quietly.“I… I don’t know.” You say, scrambling back to the latch to hear better. “Who’s your brother?”“Nevermind.” They answer quickly. “Get away from the door.”“Wait, wait maybe I know them. Tell me their name.”
“You know him.” The kid replies.“Then why did you ask?” you counter.A few seconds of silence pass by before he answers. “I guess I was wondering if you know where he is.”“Tell me the name!” you urge.“Guk.” The kid replies.Your eyes widen and your mouth drops.“Yes! Yes I know him!” you speak excitedly.“Shhh!” the kid reprimands. “Be quiet!”
“Sorry!” you whisper.“Where is he then?” he asks hesitantly.“I… I don’t know. He left a couple days ago and I haven’t seen him since.”The kid sighs and is quiet again.“You’re his brother then?” you continue.No answer.“He mentioned he had a brother…” you say.“…What did he say?” he asks.“Uh… that he had a younger brother…” Shoot. You should have found out more about him!
Silence.“Where am I?” you ask again.Silence.
“Does Guk know you’re here?” you ask.“Yes.” He replies.Good! He knows where this is!“Does he know you’re with me?” you ask quickly.“No.”Shit!
Then sound. A door bangs open at the end of the hall. Footsteps. Strong footsteps.“Hey, kid, get upstairs.” A voice demands.“Why?” the kid asks.“Boss wants you to.” It answers. “I’ll feed her. Go.”“Okay.” The kid mumbles and you hear him get up. His quiet footsteps disappear down the hall and the sound of the door shutting returns.“Okay, girl.” The voice says to you. “Get against the far wall.” The mail slot pops open and two eyes stare back at you. “Go.” They demand again. “If you want to eat something, get to that wall!”You crawl back and sit under the window. The door creaks open and a taller guy that you haven’t seen yet places a plate of food down right in the entrance of the door. Then the door shuts.You go to the plate and find that you’re starving. There’s bread and ramen but that’s it. You eat it all. Ten minutes later the voice returns.
“Back against the wall. Put everything back on the plate. If anything’s missing, you’re not going to be happy.”You put the bowl and chopsticks back. Which is all you had anyways. The door opens once you’re back at the wall and the man takes out the tray. Then he tosses a plastic water bottle to you. You guzzle it down.“Pssst.” You sound to the guard.”What if I have to… tend to some womanly issues?”“You have a drain!” the guard answers as if it’s obvious.“I’d rather burst from the inside out.” You retort.“Have it your way.” He answers.More minutes of silence pass by. You don’t want to talk to this man. You know he won’t talk to you. But soon you hear the far door open again and footsteps.“Ugh.” Another voice says. “These BAP boys are so annoying. They won’t do anything without Guk’s permission. And the guy’s missing.”
“Yeah, well he’ll turn up soon enough. Then we’ll make an example out of him for the rest of them.” The first guy replies.
The sound of the door opens at the end of the hall and then lighter footsteps echo as they approach.“DaeSung, TaeYang, he says I’m back on duty.” The kid’s voice says.“Okay.” The others reply.You hear the older guys leave and then the sound of the kid sitting up against your door.Yong Guk was involved with these men in some way. They had brought her here for some reason. He was expected to come back? Why did he know men like this? Why didn’t you let him speak when you had the chance!?You sigh and quickly crawl back to the door.“What’s your name?” you whisper to him.He’s quiet.
“Why won’t you talk to me?” you ask.“You’re a prisoner.” He replies simply.“Why?” you ask.“Don’t know.” He says and you believe him.More silence. This time it’s a long one.“Zelo.” The kid says after awhile.“What?” you ask, sitting up and going to the door.“My name. It’s Zelo. Did Yong Guk hyung tell you that?” he asks.“No. But I didn’t get to speak to him much…” you mumble. You regret not letting him talk.“Oh.”“Have you seen him recently?” you ask Zelo.“No, not for awhile.” He replies.You sigh.“Do you… do you like hyung?” Zelo asks.Your heart aches.“Yes.” You say quietly. “We became good friends.”“Oh.”
“Why are you here, Zelo?” you ask.“You’re a prisoner.” He replies automatically.“Right. Whatever. But I mean… I don’t think you should be in a place like this. I don’t think Guk would like it.”“He doesn’t.” Zelo replies, seeming more talkative. “He doesn’t like me around here which is why he keeps me at school so long. I have to do extra-curricular activities and stuff like that.”“Well those are fun to do.” You smile at the conversation.“I guess so.”“But… I don’t think this is a good place. Those other men… they’re not good. They were talking badly about your brother.”“How do you know?” the kid asks quickly.
“I heard them. They’re going to make an example out of him for… for the BAB boys?”