POV: Hae Na Ri
Journalist Yoo has betrayed me.
He called me to the remote restaurant near the Seungjo Forest, and upon arriving here I was greeted by men with bulky arms and gang tattoos carved into their skins.
After all these years, I am still so naive.
But fortunately, I saw them before they could notice me. Now I am running through a dark forest. Towards a faint light in the distance.
I stumble and just avoid falling first in my face.
Upon getting closer, I realise the light is a house. And I see the back of a tall man, opening a door. Before I could call out for help, he is through the door.
Fortunately, he leaves it ajar.
I dash towards the door and fail to control my momentum; I stumble over my long skirt and fall through the door on the ground inside the house.
"Ah!" My hands have blistered, skin scratched slightly. I rub them together.
It is at this moment that I realise I am lying at a man's feet.
My gaze moves up from the shiny boots and long legs to the face of the man. Aiyo, he is tall! Too tall.
And devilishly handsome.
The man stares at me with dark eyes and a cold expression. He doesn't look like a saviour. He looks like people need saving from him.
As if to prove me right, there is rustling and a few masked men surround me. My blood runs cold as they point guns at me. The kind police officers have.
Why do they have guns?
"Hands up! Who are you?!" The man right in front of me barks.
These are not goons.
These are private guards!
I throw up my hands, at a loss for words. Out of the frying pan into fire.
"Your Majesty, are you alright?" A guard asks, addressing the man at whose feet I am still lying. I have to crane my neck up to look at him.
The position is also kind of…um weird.
I would worry about though, if so many guns were not pointed at my head.
The majesty guy doesn't answer that question. His intent gaze is still fixed on me, looking down coldly. I can hear my every single heartbeat in my ears.
"Where did you come from?" He asks. A deep husky voice that sends shivers down my spine.
"I am sorry, it was a mistake, an accident. Wrong address." I don't know what the hell I am saying. "If you will just allow me, I will go back through the same door–"
I twist my body just a little. A mistake.
Metal clicks echo as all the guns above my head are loaded at once.
"Stop, stop, stop!" I yell, my breath uneven.
But I didn't need to. The majesty guy has held up his hand. He turns it away from himself slightly. The guards put away their guns at once.
Why is he called Your Majesty? Is he a cult leader or something?
"Go back," he tells me. It's a command.
Apprehension claws inside me. "You will shoot me from the back." That's how it happens.
"I will shoot you if you don't go back," he gives a frosty reply. "Shoot her if she doesn't obey me within 5 seconds."
The guards answer in unison, "Yes, Your Majesty!"
I scramble to my feet, push open the door and go through.
But what's this? Why is that a long corridor stretches in front of me?
I get back and glance around, panicking. There is no other door. "There–there was a forest here!" I point to the corridor. "Where did it go?"
A look flits past the man's eyes. A shine that was not there before.
"What's going on here?" A tall man with a black bulletproof jacket steps forward. The sight of it gives me goosebumps. He is wearing the same mask. But it is apparent he is the leader.
While others are wearing long coats and have a buzzcut, this man is wearing a bulletproof jacket, black military jeans and his hair are longer and swept back, with a lone strand falling over his eyes.
Did I enter some forbidden military experiment place or something?
"There was an entire forest here and now its gone!" I tell him. "That's what happened here."
"Captain Kang, she's an intruder. Broke in and got too close to His Majesty." A guard explains.
"I didn't break in," I explain. "Yes, I did follow him through the door but-but I was thirsty, I didn't know the people inside would be so unwelcoming, otherwise I would have asked somewhere else for a glass of water. I am really just a harmless person."
The majesty guy exchanges an unreadable glance with Captain Kang. "You followed me?"
"Must be a stalker fangirl," a guard says.
"No! I don't even know you!" Is he someone famous?
"You expect us to believe that you don't know His Majesty." Captain Kang touches the gun strapped to his waist.
I take a tentative step back. "Sorry, I don't watch tv, if he's someone famous."
I can tell Captain Kang is scoffing from his eyes. That half upper face, it strangely looks familiar…
"What's the name of our country?" The majesty guy asks suddenly, face devoid of any emotion.
I frown in confusion. "Korea..?"
"Full name?"
"The Republic of Korea."
He exchanges another meaningful glance with Captain Kang before saying, "Take her to the white rooms. Well rested."
I step back. I don't like the sound of that.
But my like, dislike doesn't matter. Captain Kang makes a swift movement and my world dissolves into darkness.