Royal Pain | PJM • slow updates

Chapter 35

Eunjae was stunned for a moment as she was pulled into a hard chest and a hand was clamped over her mouth.

"Leaving the party so soon?" A gruff voice rasped in her ear.

Her eyes widened as she felt herself being dragged into an empty room—a sort of large supply closet, it seemed, as brooms and towels littered the space. Her breathing began to quicken against the culprit's hand as her eyes whisked down the corridor one final time, seeing no one around to help her.

The door was kicked shut by the unknown individual before Eunjae was thrown onto the floor. Scrambling to sit up, she faced the person, only to find a complete stranger. The man might've been around his mid-thirties, scrappy in appearance with some facial scruff along his cheeks and bags under his eyes. He didn't have a particularly buff build, either.

She'd no clue who this person was, or what they could have wanted with her. 

From the looks of it, it seemed as though the man was alone, and as Eunjae assessed his figure, she noticed no sign of a hidden weapon of any sort. Not that that would have made too big of a difference; Eunjae could handle this guy, easy, with or without a weapon.

Eunjae pushed herself to stand on her legs as she took a step back from the man, noticing the cocky expression he wore. That was good, she noted; he was underestimating her, which would make it that much easier. She extended a palm out to the man as she warned, "Stay back."

The man let out a rough chortle as he smirked, sauntering closer to her as she continued to back up until her back hit a shelf. "No can do, little miss. I've got orders."

Eunjae's eyebrows arched slightly as she subtly tried to feel behind her on the shelf for some sort of object she could use against the man. She would've opted for simple hand-to-hand combat to get out of this situation, but her dress was prohibiting her from any sort of large movements. She attempted to distract the man from her actions as she asked, "Orders? To capture me? From who?"

"You'll find out soon enough." The man replied ominously as he drew out a white cloth from the back of his pocket. Eunjae could only assume it was soaked with some sort of chemical agent to knock her unconscious. She bit the inside of her cheek as her searching palms only met soft linen, but she gripped at the towel all the same seeing as there were no other resources in reach. "Let's make this nice and easy for the both of us, okay?" The man asked through a bitter smile as he strode closer to Eunjae.

"How about no?" Eunjae responded as the man made a grab for her shoulder; at the same time, she'd dodged his advance, brought the towel before her, grabbed each end of it, and spun it within itself midair before whipping it at the man's face.

A loud, pained bellow came from the man as the cloth met his eye, causing him to stumble backwards and drop the cloth as his hand went to cover his eye. "You bitch!" He seethed, glaring daggers at her through his good eye.

Eunjae's eyes quickly scanned the room, her focus landing on a wooden pole that was detached from its mop-head leaning against a corner. Perfect. As she lunged for the makeshift weapon, however, the man, who'd quickly recovered, stomped a foot onto the skirt of Eunjae's dress. The woman fell to the floor at the momentum of the action, immediately rolling onto her back before raising her arms defensively above her.

"Clever trick." The man spat as he grabbed both of Eunjae's wrists and forcefully pulled her upper body up; Eunjae nearly gagged at his horrid breath hitting her face. "It's going to take much more than just that to save yourself, little girl." He tugged Eunjae in an attempt to turn her around and bind her hands together, but the girl simply smirked as she easily ripped an arm free and used her elbow to jab at the man's ribs, effectively knocking the wind out of him.