Ga Eul regained consciousness with the feeling of her body falling with a thud. However, she did not open her eyes. Someone was speaking.

“Where are you now? We’ve already arrived. But Myeong Se, do we have to wait until you come? I think we can start without you.”

Ga Eul instinctively tried not to reveal that she was awake. She forcibly suppressed any groans and remained motionless. Her body was lying sideways on a sofa with her hands and feet tied. Her mouth was also sealed with tape.

“What about the bodyguard? We’ve put him in the trunk for now. What if he dies if we leave him like this? If he dies, won’t it be difficult for even your grandfather to cover it up?”

After continuing a monologue as if on a phone call, the person hung up.

As she regained consciousness, nausea and the urge to vomit came over her. It seemed she had been roughly handled on the way here. Ga Eul focused her mind to understand the situation she was in.

There seemed to be one more person in the room besides the one who was on the phone. The two began a conversation.

“Myeong Se said he’s almost here and to wait until he arrives. And to move the bodyguard inside the house. He said it would be troublesome if he dies.”

“This bastard, not lifting a finger himself. Is he planning to pin everything on us later and escape alone?”

“That won’t happen. I’ve recorded all the phone calls with that Myeong Se bastard. Let’s each keep a copy of the video we record here too. If he tries to escape alone, we can threaten him by showing it to his parents and grandfather.”

“Let’s move the bodyguard first.”

“But why does Myeong Se insist on waiting until he arrives? Is he planning to have a taste first?”

“No way, he said it’s his second cousin’s younger sister.”

“Is that bastard the type to care about such things? If he did, he wouldn’t be doing this in the first place. He’s the bastard who suggested recording a video of his second cousin’s sister being raped to blackmail his grandfather and Ki Dae Un. He’s completely insane.”

The sound of the two moved away. Ga Eul’s blood ran cold as she listened to their conversation. Her future looked bleak when she thought about what would happen soon.

Alternating between anger and fear, Ga Eul opened her eyes and looked around. Through what appeared to be a large window installed to enjoy the view, she could see a river and forest. It seemed she was somewhere outside of Seoul. Perhaps it was someone’s vacation home built in a scenic location.

She became anxious. If she was in a remote place, it would be difficult to find someone to help.

One fortunate thing was that they had carelessly tied her hands in front of her. Ga Eul quickly took out the self-defense necklace she was wearing under her clothes and pressed the blue button. It was a button to signal her location.

Even as she pressed it, she worried. What if the signal doesn’t reach because it’s too far? What if it takes too long to get here?

The cell phone she had been holding was gone, so the only thing Ga Eul could rely on was the self-defense spray in her pants pocket. If only she had the taser that Dae Un had given her. But that was in her bag, which was nowhere to be seen.

Ga Eul began to remove the tape wrapped around her ankles. It wasn’t easy with both hands tied.

Finally, she managed to tear off the tape. As blood suddenly began to circulate, she stood up on tingling legs and looked out the window to see the men returning carrying the bodyguard.

She had to hurry. The priority was to get away from this place. Since the men were outside, she thought she should first find a place to hide inside the house.

Where she was seemed to be the living room. A kitchen was connected at the end. She saw stairs leading up to the second floor but gave up on going upstairs.

In her current leg condition, she wouldn’t be able to climb all the stairs and would be caught by them. It would also be disadvantageous for escaping outside the house. She might have to jump down if things went wrong.

The men were crossing the garden. They would soon open the front door and enter. Ga Eul dragged her unresponsive legs towards the door on the opposite side from where the men were coming. At least on the first floor, it seemed she could climb out a window to get outside.

There are days when luck is against you. On such days, you break your nose even if you fall backwards. The place she entered after opening the door was not a first floor room but stairs leading down to a basement. As soon as she closed the door, she heard the men entering the house.

“Hey, where did this bitch go? Was she awake?”

“She couldn’t have escaped already, right? Let’s quickly search. Myeong Se will go crazy if he comes and finds that bitch is gone.”

“You search inside the house. I’ll check outside.”

“What about this guy? He’s awake.”

“Leave him there. He’s tied up, what can he do?”

Peeking out after slightly opening the door, she saw one man going outside and the other going upstairs.

Ga Eul quietly went out. Her legs weren’t weak anymore, so walking wasn’t difficult. First, she had to free the bodyguard. Then it would be 2 vs 2. They might have a chance.

Ga Eul quickly went to the kitchen and grabbed a kitchen knife. The bodyguard’s eyes widened when he saw Ga Eul appear with it.

Ga Eul first cut the tape binding the bodyguard’s ankles. Her movements were clumsy as she still couldn’t remove the tape binding her own hands. After freeing his ankles, she also cut off the tape around the bodyguard’s wrists.

Just as the bodyguard, now with free hands, was cutting the tape around Ga Eul’s wrists, cursing was heard from upstairs.

Ga Eul grabbed the bodyguard’s arm and lifted him up. Seeing her bag at the bodyguard’s feet, she picked that up too.

Ga Eul dragged the bodyguard, who couldn’t walk properly, back through the door she had come out of earlier. That was the only place they could go without crossing the stairs.

The two went down the stairs after locking the door they had entered.

“You’re a bodyguard, right? How did you end up here?”

“I was guarding Han Ga Eul when,”

“Guarding me?”

It was the first time she had heard that someone was guarding her.

“Yes. I’ve been guarding Han Ga Eul for a few days on Ki Dae Un’s orders. But this morning I was taken by those guys. One of them approached me pretending to ask for directions, then another hit me on the head from behind.”

Just then, voices were heard from above.

“What’s going on here? The bodyguard is gone too.”

“Uh, well. Myeong Se. It seems that bitch hid with the bodyguard. Don’t worry. We’ll find them soon. They’re not on the second floor, so there are only a few places they could hide.”

A stream of curses followed. Probably uttered by Oh Myeong Se.

Shortly after, the door at the top of the stairs rattled.

“This door is locked? Myeong Se, I think they’re hiding in the basement.”

“Great. That bitch walked into her own grave. Where was the key again?”

Ga Eul looked at the bodyguard’s face with fear. Her own grave? Just where had she entered? But since they couldn’t go out, they had no choice but to keep going down.

Going down to the basement, they came across a thick fire door. The door was locked.

“He said I walked into my own grave…”

Ga Eul muttered as she examined the door this way and that. Judging by what Oh Myeong Se said, there must be something important behind this door. Plus, there’s even a digital door lock installed.

The door at the top of the stairs clattered. It seemed the men had already brought the key.

At that moment, the bodyguard pressed the numbers on the digital door lock keypad. Ding-a-ling. The door opened.

Ga Eul stared blankly at the bodyguard in surprise. As the sound of Oh Myeong Se’s group running down the stairs was heard, the bodyguard pushed Ga Eul inside the door and closed it. Then he turned the lock on the digital door lock from the inside.

“This way they can’t open it from outside. I think we’ve bought some time.”

“Why don’t you explain first?”

Ga Eul took out the self-defense spray from her pants pocket.

“I heard it in the car on the way here. I woke up in the car and they were on the phone. It seemed Oh Myeong Se had told them to go ahead and prepare, and gave them the password. The guy on the phone told the other guy to write it down as he recited it. I tried pressing those numbers just in case, and it opened.”

Still looking at the bodyguard suspiciously, Ga Eul only let go of her doubting gaze when she saw the bloodstain flowing from his head.

Outside, the sound of Oh Myeong Se’s group cursing and kicking the door could be heard.

When the bodyguard found and pressed the light switch, the room lit up and the scene inside came into view at once.

It was a large rectangular room. Its original purpose seemed to be a game room. There was a pool table and a large screen installed.

“What is all this?”

However, what caught Ga Eul and the bodyguard’s attention was not that. In the middle of the room was a huge bed surrounded by three cameras.

Ga Eul was speechless. She seemed to understand what this place was for.

Ga Eul approached the table with a projector and laptop. The monitor of the laptop showed the huge bed placed in the room. The video shot by the cameras was being transmitted to the laptop.

If so, the videos taken so far should be saved on the laptop. Ga Eul opened the files saved on the laptop. But she quickly closed them.

Ga Eul squeezed her eyes shut. Her body trembled. She understood how Oh Myeong Se had been able to walk the streets freely until now.

The women in the videos. They didn’t seem to be in their right minds. Whether drunk or drugged. They had raped such women and recorded the scenes on video. So that they couldn’t sue them.

“Trash! You should rot in prison for life!”

Now all that remained was to escape from this trash den. But how? Without a cell phone, there was no way to contact the outside…

Ga Eul quickly checked the laptop but soon became frustrated. It wasn’t connected to the internet.

“What do we do now? We need to find a way to get out or contact the outside.”

Ga Eul asked as she slumped down in the chair in front of the table. The bodyguard couldn’t answer. Ga Eul understood too. What clever solution could he have?

At that moment, something happened that made Ga Eul jump up from her seat. The sound of drilling began.

“It seems they’re drilling through the door.”

Urgently, Ga Eul took out the taser from her bag and handed it to the bodyguard.

“You know how to use it, right? It’s fortunate those guys brought my bag. At least we got this one thing.”

She handed it over thinking the bodyguard could utilize it better than her, but the bodyguard didn’t take it.

“You keep that, Han Ga Eul.”

Then the bodyguard brought several pool cues from the cue rack. The bodyguard handed one of them to Ga Eul.

“When they come in, you hide behind the door and then run out. I’ll hold them off.”

At that moment, the drilling sound stopped. Instead, voices could be heard.

“Don’t you hear something?”

“Sounds like a car theft prevention alarm?”

“Did someone mess with your car?”

“Which bastard! Do they want to die!”

The sound of three people rushing out was heard.

“This is our chance. We need to escape now.”

The bodyguard went ahead holding pool cues in both hands. Ga Eul followed behind with the taser in her left hand and a pool cue in her right. The two climbed the stairs with grim determination.

“Hey, you crazy bastard!”

As they came up, three loud sounds assaulted their ears. The car theft prevention alarm, the sound of something being smashed, and Oh Myeong Se’s shouts.

There was clearly someone outside who wasn’t part of Oh Myeong Se’s group.

The bodyguard headed towards the door behind the kitchen, but Ga Eul grabbed his arm to stop him. The scene outside could be seen through the large window in the living room. There was someone smashing a sports car parked in one corner of the garden with a shovel.

Ga Eul recognized that person.

“Boss?”

With those words, Ga Eul rushed out the front door.