Son Ji-woo slung her bag over her shoulder in a frenzy. She wasn't dressed in her professional black pencil skirt and white shirt today. She wore a pair of jeans and a checkered shirt. She looked approachable and refreshing. The fatigue on her face was evident.
The past few days had been very difficult for her, because of Yeon Ji-a's death. Kim Seo-yeon was the kind of person who was always calm and indifferent. But after Yeon Ji-a died, she became much colder. No one in the company wanted to stand around her for too long. And it was even much worse for Son Ji-woo.
She would shred schedules drafted by Son Ji-woo if she didn't like it. She would glare at an employee until they felt like dying, if they made a single mistake, and she'd already fired two people.
Today, however, Kim Seo-yeon was nowhere to be found. The police had already come to ask her questions and now she wanted to join the search party.
…
"Fifth Brother, that woman I told you about is missing." Kang Eun-ho's voice chimed in.
Park Tae-yong was in a pair of loose grey pants and a grey cotton shirt. He was slouched on the couch watching a football game. He looked very different from the ruthless businessman everyone knew him to be.
"What's that got to do with me?" Park Tae-yong said lazily.
"Yes. Kang Eun-ho shut up and let us watch the game." Lee Joon-ki added.
They were watching a game of Chelsea vs. Liverpool. Chelsea was currently in the lead with 2 goals and Liverpool with 1. Park Tae-yong was a fan of Chelsea, while Lee Joon-ki was a fan of Liverpool.
"Sixth Brother, it seems Fifth Brother is going to win this time." Kang Eun-ho said playfully. "Haa, I wish I bet on cars as well. I would love to have Fifth Brother's new Ferrari." Kang Eun-ho sighed.
Park Tae-yong had a victorious smirk on his face. He rarely watched football, because he was always busy and couldn't spare an hour and thirty minutes of his time. But this match was an important one. It was the Champions League qualifiers and Chelsea and Liverpool were playing against each other. He couldn't miss it, especially after Lee Joon-ki had made a bet with him.
The first half was soon over and the sports analysts started analyzing the strong and weak points of the players in the match. Lee Joon-ki excused himself to the bathroom during this time.
Park Tae-yong took out a cigar and lit it.
"Kang Eun-ho, what have you found?"
"Nothing much. Fan Ye on the other side says he's got some new leads and would report to you immediately he finds something." Kang Eun-ho said seriously, a far cry from his usual playful self.
Park Tae-yong flicked the ash off the cigar as he squinted his eyes.
"How did your date go?" He asked.
"I was supposed to have another date with her yesterday, but she went missing." Kang Eun-ho said.
"Aren't you going to look for her?" Park Tae-yong asked with a smirk on his face.
"Look for her?" Kang Eun-ho asked himself and paused. It would surely be noble, but he didn't know her well enough and she didn't seem too happy on their last date. He didn't have any reason to look for her. "Forget about me. Fifth Brother, how's Yeon-jin treating you?"
"Shut up." Park Tae-yong spat out a simple cold remark.
"My God, Fifth Brother you haven't taken any liking to her despite all of her efforts?" Kang Eun-ho said and laughed unkindly. He was saying this to piss Park Tae-yong off.
"I'll feed both you and your sister to the dogs if you don't stop talking." Park Tae-yong said with closed eyes.
"I don't want our Yeon-jin to get together with a monster like you anyway. Who knows what you'll do to her?" Kang Eun-ho said and squinted his eyes as he drank from the glass in his hand. Seeing that Park Tae-yong didn't speak, he continued. "It seems I'm being afraid over nothing. My Fifth Brother is such a clean slate. He won't be able to last long..."
"Kang Eun-ho, do you want to die?" Park Tae-yong's eyes looking over at Kang Eun-ho were so dark, they looked like black holes.
Kang Eun-ho seemed to be deaf. "I'm afraid you'll... in five minutes..." Kang Eun-ho did not finish when his calf bone was kicked by a long leg. He winced in pain.
"Fifth Brother, I'm sorry. I should never have doubted your stamina. An hour wouldn't be a problem for you." Kang Eun-ho stood up, wriggling his calf around a bit to ease the pain.
After a few minutes, he lifted his lips in an evil smirk and looked down at Park Tae-yong. "But Fifth Brother, I didn't lie. When was the last time you had a woman? With your mysophobia..."
"Kang Eun-ho!" Park Tae-yong growled.
"I'm starting to believe the rumors that you're gay." Kang Eun-ho said this finally and fled like a coward to avoid being attacked.
Park Tae-yong lowered his head and narrowed his eyes.
"Kim Seo-yeon..." He muttered.
Park Tae-yong had heard of the news before Kang Eun-ho had presented it to him. Kim Seo-yeon was not on his level and he didn't know who she was, so he didn't care. But the Kim Seo-yeon thing was tied to a problem of his own.
With his status, he knew naturally who had ordered for Yeon Ji-a to be killed. That person was someone he knew too well, but he couldn't understand the motive. Was there something about Kim Seo-yeon the person knew which he didn't already know? Something that could make that person take action?
Park Tae-yong picked up his phone and called his assistant.
"Find out everything you can about the Kim family." He gave a simple order.
…
Kim Jae-jun had already joined the search teams to look for his daughter. It had been six days since she went missing. Kim Ye-sol was in low spirits and she was easily offended. She would throw the kitchenware at servants if her meals were not done properly. And she would scream until her voice was gone if any little mistake was made.
She even started attending her shooting classes again, with renewed determination and a mother's rage. One of her daughters was dead, and the other one was missing. How could she be happy by any measure?
Today, she was sitting in her studio painting a sipjangsaengdo. She was wearing traditional Korean attire and had invited some performers to play light Korean music as she painted.
At this time, everyone in the Kim mansion knew to not bother her, as it was her relaxation time.
Kim Ye-sol left light brush strokes on the paper as she took deep breaths.
Frantic knocks on the door disturbed the atmosphere. Kim Ye-sol frowned.
"Open the door." Kim Ye-sol said to the servant standing by the door.
The door opened and a servant ran in and bowed slightly.
"Madam, Master says that you should come quickly."
Kim Ye-sol dropped her paintbrush immediately and the ink smeared all over the almost finished painting, but she didn't care. She stood up and stormed out of the room.
…
Kim Jae-jun was in the police car when he got a phone call from an unknown number. He took the call and heard Kim Seo-yeon's voice on the other end of the call.
"Daddy, I miss you."
Kim Jae-jun jumped and immediately started speaking into the phone with a hushed tone. "Seo-yeon, where are you? Do you know where you are? Tell us, so we'll come get you."
"Daddy, I miss you." Kim Seo-yeon cried into the phone.
Kim Jae-jun comforted her and tried to get her to name her location, but no matter what he said, she would only reply that she missed him and wanted to see him.
"Seo-yeon, please tell me where you are, so I'll come get you." Kim Jae-jun said, trying to sound as calm as possible, but his hand holding onto the phone was trembling.
His daughter was a strong woman. She wouldn't be broken so easily by kidnappers, and the fact that she got her hands on a phone and called him, showed she was still willing to survive. He couldn't figure out why she was refusing to say her location over the phone.
"Puppy, tell Daddy where you are." Kim Jae-jun said one last time.
A trigger seemed to have been pulled in Kim Seo-yeon's mind as soon as she heard the word 'puppy'
"Daddy, can you hear me? I'm not sure where I'm at, but the last place I can remember is Hangdae." Kim Seo-yeon whispered into the phone.
"Okay, good puppy. We're coming right now." Kim Jae-jun said and signalled the officer to start the car.
Hangdae was in the neighboring city.
That afternoon, Kim Jae-jun and Kim Ye-sol flew to Harang city and started searching for Kim Seo-yeon in Hangdae.
By nighttime, the police apprehended the kidnappers and Kim Seo-yeon was found.
"Umma! Abeoji!" Kim Seo-yeon ran into their arms.
They hugged her tightly, despite how rough and disheveled she looked.
…
In the VIP ward of Jangsu hospital.
The doctor gave one last instruction to the nurse before he turned to Kim Jae-jun and Kim Ye-sol.
"She wasn't raped, but we found an amphetamine-class drug in her system. She appears to have been forced awake for days and tortured mentally with no food, which explains her current fragile mental state. It's good you found her on time or she would have had a complete mental collapse and gone insane." The doctor explained and sighed.
"We have administered required dosages. Prepare some nourishing food for her and if she appears to have amnesia, we would recommend preparing food that she likes, so she can remember. She'll be awake soon. Please when she wakes up, don't speak to her too much. She needs plenty of rest. And in the future, she should keep away from caffeine so she doesn't become dependent on it." The doctor said in a professional voice and left with the nurses.
Kim Jae-jun gave all the orders of the food to the servants immediately, as he and Kim Ye-sol went and sat by the bed.
Kim Seo-yeon looked more haggard and thinner than before. Her eyes were closed and her bare face had bruises and scratches on it. Her fair wrist was red from having being tied up and she looked weak and vulnerable.
Kim Jae-jun and Kim Ye-sol didn't look much better either. They were fatigued and Kim Ye-sol's eyes were swollen from crying. But they did not care and were overjoyed that their daughter had returned to them.
"We need to give a testimony at church." Kim Ye-sol said and laughed, overjoyed.
Kim Jae-jun nodded and pulled her to lie on his chest.
There was a sudden knock on the door and the door was opened from outside.
A middle aged man walked in. He was slim and was of average height.
"Ye-sol, I heard Seo-yeon's been found. God, I was so worried." Koo Cheol-seo, Kim Ye-sol's half-brother said.
Kim Jae-jun put a finger on his lips to signal him to quieten down and not wake Kim Seo-yeon up.
They both stood up and went up to him.
"Jae-jun." Koo Cheol-seo nodded at Kim Jae-jun.
"How is she? I hope she's okay?" Koo Cheol-seo turned to Kim Ye-sol and asked.
"She's okay." Kim Ye-sol squeezed out.
"Thank God. I was so worried, I went to the temple and kowtowed ten times." Koo Cheol-seo said and patted his chest.
"Let's talk outside, so we don't wake Seo-yeon up." Kim Jae-jun said.
The three of them filed out.
Kim Seo-yeon who seemed to have been unconscious, opened her eyes and looked weakly at the door. A shaky smirk graced her face, as she closed her eyes again.