“Ah!”

I stumbled in and hit my head on something in the chaos.

I didn’t even have time to watch my step, and I twisted my ankle as I was pushed inside.

Especially since I was holding on to my bag, I had no way to protect myself from the pushing and pulling of the two attackers.

“I said it hurts! What are you doing?!”

But they ignored my screams.

One of them pulled my arms behind my back and tied them together.

The bag I’d fought so hard to hold onto rolled to the ground.

With two large men holding me down on either side, it was painful to even breathe.

My eyes filled with tears from the sheer frustration and pain.

“So he told you to rough me up?”

“He told us to rough you up just enough to keep you from getting too full of yourself. You should have watched yourself.”

“You bastard…”

Not meeting him when he called, ignoring his curses – I guess that looked like arrogance to him.

How cruel had he been to Eun-sae?

How scared and broken must she have been to submit like that?

“Drive.”

The one who was holding me gave the order.

Only then did I realize there was a fourth person in the driver’s seat.

The two men holding me in the back weren’t the only ones.

The car disappeared silently into the night.

I, still crushed under their weight, shifted my aching shoulders.

“Where are you taking me?”

“You’ll see when we get there.”

“You realize this is kidnapping, right? This is a crime.”

Even though I had lost my bag, the recording function should still be active.

I made sure to articulate each word clearly to leave a record of what happened.

“Well, that’s not really something you should tell us. We’re just here to run an errand.”

“You ripped my clothes off with a knife, threatened me like you were going to kill me, and now you call yourselves errand boys? No, legally you’re accomplices.”

“Miss, do you know what kind of people go around throwing legal terms at us like that?”

The attacker let out a mocking laugh.

“Those who cling to the law are always the ones who don’t have much. It’s the only weapon they have. No power, no money – so the only thing they can lean on is the law. They go around saying, ‘Let’s do this by the book,’ but honestly? The dirtiest, most pathetic bastard in the world is the law itself. I’ve learned that from experience.”

I glared at him.

“They say everyone is equal before the law, but I’ve never heard a bigger load of crap. People are most equal when they have power and money. Everyone hurts when they’re beaten, and everyone’s happy when they’re fed. I’ve never seen an exception to that.”

“You say that because you live like someone who tramples on the law. You don’t care about social consensus, and it’s easier for you to break the law than to obey it-just another thug…”

“We are not thugs. We’ve been out of that game for a while.”

And yet here they were – kidnapping, imprisoning, threatening.

It was almost laughable if it weren’t so heinous.

“Let’s see if you can say that in front of the police.”

“Well, then I guess I have no choice but to say this – you’re not going to get us in front of the police.”

The man whispered in my ear.

“There are people in this world who, if you mess with them, it shakes society, it shakes the economy. People like that-your average frontline cop wouldn’t dare lay a finger on them. Even if someone wanted to investigate, the higher-ups wouldn’t give the go-ahead.”

I wasn’t even surprised.

I’d heard a similar warning from Lee Seol-won before.

—”Do you really think that with dozens of people making so much noise and chaos, not a single report would come in? Even if someone did report it, nothing would come of it if no one followed up on the investigation.”

Yes. Of course.

Lee Jae-kwang was able to do all this because he truly believed that no matter what he did, nothing would ever happen to him.

The assailant smiled when he saw my expression.

“I told you, didn’t I? The people with the least to lose are the ones who live by the law.”

“It’s not about being worthless. The law was made by people who want the world to be a decent place-people who try to live by at least some basic rules.

Of course, you wouldn’t understand that if you never lived a decent day in your life.”

“Miss, you went to college, didn’t you?”

The attacker suddenly changed the subject.

“…Why do you ask?”

“You really give off that vibe. The way you speak so precisely – it’s like you’re trying to show how educated you are. I bet you went to a famous university. Honestly, when I first saw your photo, I thought you might be a minor celebrity or something. If I hadn’t been hired for this job, I probably would have asked for your number. I’ve seen a lot of beautiful women, but you – you’re not just pretty. You have this presence that makes a guy’s heart skip a beat. The moment I got this job, I immediately understood why someone would want to go after you. And you’re a foreigner, right? From the U.S. or the U.K. or somewhere? That’s when it clicked. Western guys – they act like they’re gonna give you everything they got when they go out, right? Real smooth talkers. So you don’t know how dangerous men can be.”

“Just get to the point.

“People like you are the easiest to ruin. Everyone keeps telling you how pretty you are, so your pride gets big – but beyond your looks, there’s not much else. And you’re a foreigner. If someone like you disappears without a trace, who’s going to notice? Out here, you are the weakest. So be a good girl and cooperate. Honestly, universities charge thousands for tuition and never bother to teach real-world knowledge like this.”

My stomach turned.

Ever since Eun-sae’s terrible disappearance, just hearing the words ‘good girl’ made me feel sick.

“Oh right, I should call him. I have to let him know that the gift is secured.”

So that’s what I was to them – a gift, neatly wrapped and hand-delivered to Lee Jae-kwang.

The way he said it made me want to scratch my skin off.

“Yes, it’s me. We have Ms. Hyun Eun-sae in the car and we’re on our way. Just as you expected, she showed up at the art hall. Don’t worry, we brought her in without anyone noticing.”

The call to Lee Jae-kwang went through almost immediately.

Within seconds of the signal going through, the attacker began to speak, glancing sideways at me as he continued the conversation.

“Ah, yes. Oh, really? I’ll check right away. She only had one bag with her… Wow, that girl really likes her luxury brands.”

“Isn’t that one of those brands that people make a run for when the department stores open? Tsk. People should support local brands, you know?”

“To her, this is local.”

“Oh, good point.”

The two men who weren’t on the phone exchanged meaningless jokes.

Meanwhile, the one who appeared to be the leader picked up my bag and shook it violently.

Two phones fell out with a thud.

“There are two phones here. Yes, Ms. Hyun Eun-sae has two phones.”

I broke out in a cold sweat, afraid that they would discover the hidden camera in the bag.

But luckily, the man didn’t search the inside thoroughly.

He must have assumed it was just an ordinary woman’s purse.

“Strange. She doesn’t have a wallet, but she has two cell phones?”

“Man, you’re so out of touch. Who carries a wallet these days? Everything’s on your phone-ID, cards, everything.”

The man on the phone glared at his companions and silently told them to shut up.

“He says, “Stop making pointless noise, you idiots.”….Right, usually when someone carries two phones, they’re hiding something. Either that or, depending on their profession, one is for work and the other is for personal use. But since this girl is a foreigner, it’s not like she needs a work phone. There must be a reason, but whatever it is, we’ll find out once we unlock it. Please wait a moment.”

Suddenly it felt like the ground was slipping out from under me.

The two phones I was carrying had become traps, ready to snap around my ankles.

If they unlocked the phones, it would only be a matter of time before they discovered that I wasn’t Eun-sae.

I had prepared myself to face Lee Jae-kwang at some point, but I never expected my identity to be exposed like this.

“No! Let go!”

The attacker tried to push my thumb against the phone’s fingerprint scanner.

I twisted my body sharply and pushed him away – a reflexive, instinctive act of resistance.

“Stay still, okay? You’ll hurt your hand if you keep struggling.”

“I said let go!”

“For someone who looks so delicate, you sure are feisty.”

The words “be a good girl” echoed in my ears again and again.

I struck harder, driven by pure anger.

“Miss, you are in no position to order us around or speak informally. You should really watch your tone.”

Bastards.

And they still had the nerve to say they weren’t thugs.

“Don’t touch me!”

“Miss, when you say things like that, it sounds like I’m going to r*pe you or something.”

The moment he twisted my thumb, a sickening crack echoed.

“Ah…!”

More than the pain, it was the shock that hit me first.

For someone like me – who didn’t even peel fruit properly for fear of cutting myself – this kind of physical trauma was completely foreign.