The car behind Lisa sped up as well. Lisa continued accelerating and went around the Highway in loops in an attempt to stall time. She needed some time for Bambam to get here, and then everything will be alright...
– At the Public Security Bureau –
"Quick, check the coordinates." Bambam became anxious as he answered Lisa's phone. Jungkook was out of town, and he would never be able to face his best friend if something were to happen to Lisa, especially when she directly called him for help.
"Sir, it's the south side of Gwangandaegyo Highway."
"First squad, come with me for the rescue. Second squad, loop around in case the suspects try to escape. Third squad, stand-by and provide back-up in case of an emergency."
"Yes Sir!"
"Let's go."
Then, Bambam left with the first squad and headed towards the south side of the Gwangandaegyo highway with their lights and sirens blaring to clear out the traffic.
*
"Boss, I have a feeling the girl is just wasting our time. Look, she's not heading anywhere. She's looping us around the highway, it's almost the third loop."
"Fuck, she's clearing playing us and trying to stall. She might have called the cops already. Hurry, we have to force her off the highway and onto a discreet street, or we'll have no chance."
"Boss, I know a branch road seven kilometers from here. It's a trail created purely by villagers. It's not even on the GPS."
"Great, that trail it is then. Catch up and force her into it."
Lisa thought things would be as easy as looping around the highway a couple times and waiting for Bambam. But clearly, she had oversimplified the situation a little and perhaps underestimated the mobsters...
Out of nowhere, a blue truck stopped at roughly seven kilometers in front of her and blocked her passage. The blue truck appeared to be broken and was being fixed up...
She was approaching the truck fast, so she had two choices: she could stop, but she would be caught by the people behind her; on the other hand, she could drive in reverse. The latter was very risky as she might be caught or hit other cars.
Beads of sweat appeared on Lisa's forehead as she was running out choices and time. However, in that immediate moment, a slight narrow path caught the corner of her eyes. It was a mud trail just wide enough for her to steer through, she had no better alternatives and decided to give it a shot. Lisa made a sharp left turn just in time to avoid a heavy make-out session between her car and the truck. The car shook violently as the paved road transitioned onto the mud path. She didn't know where she was headed, but there was no path other than going straight...
"Boss, she fell for it! She's on the trail now."
"Good stuff. Tell the others to loop around and block her up front. We'll follow her behind and block the back to trap her in."
"Yes Boss!"
Lisa's nerves tightened again as she watched the black Honda business van appear in her reverse mirror.
Guess they were not giving up until they caught her...
Just as she was about to accelerate again, a white van appeared 500 meters in front of her.
There were no other paths for her to take, she had the choice of either going straight or back. However, she knew the men on both ends have come with bad intentions. She was running out of time in waiting for Bambam's rescue.
Lisa took a deep breath and stepped on the gas once more. The car roared forward...
"Boss! She's coming for us!" the driver in the white van screamed, his face grew pale in merely seconds.
The people on the white van all jumped off as Lisa sped towards them.
They ran towards the side and watched, almost in slow-motion, as Lisa smashed through the van. The van instantly became almost unrecognizable.
Lisa sighed in relief. It was fortunate the van came from a lesser known and inferior brand and was made in China, therefore, the quality was more than concerning. Lisa's Sedan, on the other, was made in Germany. With years of experienced crafting and quality assurance, her car was not as heavily impacted as the van.
"Boss, she's getting away!" one of the men yelled out in the Honda business van.
"Don't worry, she won't get away."
The boss smiled coldly in the Honda, seemingly to already have something planned...
Lisa kept on driving, passing the white van, and arriving at the entrance of a village.
She could scream for help once there were people, surely the villagers would help her.
Just as she sped towards the village entrance, a small girl who looked to be five to six years old ran into the middle of the road. She wore a red sundress with her hair in a pair of piggy tails and a lollipop in her hand...
Lisa gasped and quickly stomped on the brakes, stopping the car just three inches in front of the girl.
She was that close to running her over...
"Oh, how did you get here, honey? It's so dangerous! Come with mommy." A female villager appeared immediately, picked up the girl, and quickly walked away.
Seeing Lisa's car come to a stop, the men in the Honda said contently, "Boss, that was amazing! The villager was willing to risk her child's life for merely few bucks, haha!"
"Enough talk, go and get her."
The people from both vehicles walked up shortly, all nine of them, each with a metal bat in their hands.
"Miss Lisa, if you may." The boss walked over and politely opened Lisa's car door, gesturing his arm for Lisa to get off the car.
Lisa kept her silence and walked out. Everything looked to be previously planned since he even knew her name.
"Gentlemen, have I wronged any of you?" Lisa smiled.
"No, but you offended our friend."
"Oh? Would you care to explain who your friend is? Perhaps I can explain myself to her."
"There's no need for that. My friend has a rather nasty temper and asked us to teach you a lesson."
"Oh, well then. I know everyone here is for the money. How much did your friend give you? Let me go, and I will double it. Deal?"
"You'll double it?"
"Yes, double." Lisa nodded.
"Haha, I'm afraid you wouldn't have enough. My friend paid three million. Would you be able to afford that?"
"Three million is indeed a large sum of money." Lisa downcasted her eyes in thought, pulling up all the possible names that would have a malicious intent towards her. Dahyun, Nancy, Sooyoung, or even Taecyeon?
None of them would fit the profile. Dahyun, for one, didn't have this much money.
Nancy, on the other hand, still needed her help. This surely wouldn't provide any benefit to them, and lastly, Nancy was not a generous person that would spend three million like this. It wasn't her style.
It couldn't be Taecyeon either, he was already taken care of by Jungkook.
So the person that wanted her dead would have to be...
"Quit wasting my time. I can tell that you don't have six million just by the car you drive."
"Let's talk it out. Yes, my car is mediocre, but my boyfriend is rich. He can send me the money, really. If you guys let me go, I promise to deliver the six million to you guys, not a penny less."
"Boss, can we trust her? She doesn't look very wealthy. Her car is not that expensive, and her clothes are not branded either. Don't be fooled." One of the men chimed in.
"It's not about trust, in our business it's all about not losing trust. We will be considered traitors if we turn on our employer, and that's bad for future business. My apologies, Miss Lisa. We gotta take you."
"Wait, I don't know you and never offended you. All you want is money, if six million is not enough, I can give you more. Just let me live, I'm still young, I don't want to die yet." Lisa pretended to beg, in the hopes that it would distract them enough to cause them to let down their guards.
"Don't worry. Our employer doesn't want you dead, she just wants us to film some videos of you."
Lisa's expression became grave when she heard this...
"Boss, she's got a nice little rack. Once we bring her back, you can play with her first, and once you have enough of her, we'll have some fun too. I will promise that the video will be spectacular." One of the men smiled, his face in ecstasy as he fantasized.
"Once we're done, we'll let you go. We don't want you dead, as long as you listen to us, you won't be hurt," the boss said calmly, with a hint of arrogance.
The truth was, Banbam wouldn't be able to help her at this point. She was stranded on a trail that didn't even show up on the GPS, so she needed to find a way to save herself.
"As the saying goes, helping others will bring convenience to yourself. Let me go, and I will bring you convenience. If you force me towards a dead end, there's no doubt I will do something crazy," Lisa sneered.
"Haha, why are you talking like I would be afraid of you? Be crazy? Once you're on my bed you can be as crazy as you like! I like women with personalities, you better not be a dead fish. It'll be boring."
All nine men burst into laughter...
There was no fear in Lisa's expression because she knew how useless fear was in a dangerous situation. She knew too well that she could only save herself when she was calm.
Lisa smiled briefly, "Fine. Luck isn't on my side today. Now that I've landed in your hands, there's no point in me putting up a fight against you. But I've injured my ankle during the collision, can you come over and give me a lift?"
"Yuzai, help her get in the car," the Boss ordered.
"Yes, Boss."
"No, I don't want him to lift me up, I want you." Lisa pointed to the boss as she spoke with a hint of flirtation in her voice.
"Me?" The man looked slightly surprised.
"Yes, I don't like these subordinates of yours. I know you're their boss. So, come, pick me up." Lisa puckered her lips as she opened up her arms for an embrace.
"Oh, Boss. You're quite good with the ladies! Of course all the women would fall for you, Boss."
The ass-kissing was strong with these subordinates...
The boss picked at his ear for a moment, and smiled, "Sure. I'm having a good day. You got me three million, so I'll give you a lift. But when we're in bed later, make sure I have a good time." He then walked towards Lisa.
Lisa smiled sweetly, completely deceiving the men. Some of them have even turned around and begun walking towards the car.
"AHH!" Right before the boss made contact with Lisa, his scream ringed through everyone's ears, the other men snapped their heads back in shock...
Lisa held a long silver needle against the man's neck...
"Wh-wh-what are you doing?"
"If you want to live, then let me go. Or else, next year today will be your Memorial Day," Lisa said slowly, making sure each word was clearly heard, driving them toward extreme tension.
Lisa pushed a little harder and the needle immediately penetrated the skin of the man's neck. In an instant, his body felt numb...
"Wh-wh-what's happening to me?"
"Does your body feel stiff and your tongue feel numb?" Lisa asked gently.
The man nodded repeatedly...
"I must have forgotten to mention, but I work at a hospital and I have the opportunity to come into contact with lots of drugs. A woman needs to learn to protect herself, so I always carry deadly poisons on me. The silver needle contained a new type of poison developed by my hospital, which means that you will die within an hour without any antidote."
"You damn bitch, let our Boss go!" the other men said anxiously, their faces looking grave.
"The poison prevents him from speaking if you guys want him to die fast, keep holding me up."
"....." The subordinates didn't know what to do.
"If you want him to live, then send someone with me and drive me out of here, or I will kill him off first so he goes down with me." Lisa pushed the needle into their Boss's neck slightly further, causing blood to begin to spill through the wound...
"What do we do? Boss's face is turning purple, he's clearly poisoned. We should let her go, or Boss is going to die."
"Okay, don't move. We'll drive you out."
The subordinates reluctantly agreed...
The corner of Lisa's lip lifted into a slight smile. Ever since she was almost held up by Taecyeon at Seductive Fox last time, she knew she might be unsafe when she was on her own. From then on, to be prepared, she had been wearing a button-like brooch on her sleeves, with a needle underneath.
The button-like brooch itself carried a small amount of purple liquid that she invented, but it wasn't deadly to the human body. It would simply paralyze the victim for a brief amount of time.
It turned people's skin purple, but it wasn't as scary as it looked.
Lisa pointed to one of the men and ordered, "You drive. The others will stay here."
In merely minutes, the man drove Lisa's Sedan back onto the highway with his boss and her sitting in the back. The boss' skin was completely purple and he was unable to mutter a single word.
"Is my boss going to be okay? Can you give us the antidote first?"
"I will give it to you when you drop me off at the right place," Lisa said slowly with her eyes closed.
To be honest, he was very impressed by the woman in front of him. In the face of danger, she was as calm as a clam. There were nine of them, yet not only did she get away unscratched, but she also played them all...
– Twenty minutes later in a busy downtown street –
"Park there," Lisa ordered.
"And the antidote?"
"Answer my question and I will give it to you," said Lisa.
"What is it?"
"Who's behind this?"
"I can't tell you, it's against the rules." The man tilted his head up slightly in pride.
"Is that so? Sorry, no antidote then, off you go."
"Are you playing us, bitch?" The man looked like he was going to lash out on her.
"Don't be so hasty, young one. This is downtown and 500 meters away from a police station. All I need to do is to scream, and you two will be cuffed right away. I'm assuming you two have previous criminal records, am I correct?"
The man fell silent as he heard what Lisa said because everything she said was spot on. She was good...
"Your boss is running out of time, you know what's going to happen if he doesn't take the antidote?"
"Our employer, she-" The man finally spoke up.
"Who is it?" Lisa's eyes darkened, as she asked coldly.
"Her last name is Kang and she is rich, that's all I can say." The man bit his lips and finally spilled the beans.
"Oh, I see, it's her." Lisa's expression changed with a dawning comprehension.
"The antidote?" The man reached out his hand.
He watched as Lisa pulled out a small glass bottle and fed it to his boss.
"He's good now, take him to the sauna room. He'll be fine after a warm bath."
"Why should I believe you?" the man said angrily.
"Because you have no other choice. Whether you believe me or not, good luck." As Lisa finished speaking, she pushed the boss off the car. The subordinate followed swiftly to hold him up.
Lisa got onto the driver's seat and drove away, leaving the pair to bite the dust...
Lisa took a hot shower as soon as she returned home. To be honest, she was still recovering from the shock. However, in a situation like that, she couldn't get rid of the panic within. The mobsters were like hunters, they could smell your fear from miles apart, and when they do, it'll be all over.
The so-called poison was no poison at all, it was at most anesthesia mixed with some food coloring material. The antidote was a trick too, it was just water in a bottle. However, she had to do what she did so they would believe their boss was really poisoned.
After showering, Lisa took out a piece of paper and a pen and began to sketch a portrait.
In less than twenty minutes, she finished the portrait sketch of the mobsters' boss. She had just plugged in her out-of-battery phone and immediately, Bambam's call came through.
"Lisa, are you okay?"
"I'm fine."
"Where are you now?"
"Home."
"We went after the coordinates you sent us and didn't find anything. What's going on? Who's behind all this?" Bambam sighed with relief when he heard that Lisa was alright.
"Bambam, I have his portrait sketch here, and I will send it to you through Wechat. This is their leader, he's also got some subordinates under him. I'm too tired, so I won't be sketching the others. They besieged me with two cars, one of them was a black Honda business van, license plate CX1470, and the other was a white van, license plate ER5464. It's best if you go directly after them, they are probably an abduction group and should have other criminal records."
"Okay, I'm on it."
"By the way, don't tell Jungkook what happened."
"Why not?" Bambam questioned. He would be an idiot not to tell Jungkook that something this big happened.
"I don't want to worry him. I'm fine now, so don't mention it."
"Okay. But I'm very impressed by the fact that you remembered their license plates under those circumstances. Not only that, but you also drew his portrait. You are such a genius."
"Haha, quit your nonsense and go get them." Lisa chuckled and hung up.
With Bambam's efficiency, he arrested the mobster group later that night.
It was just like Lisa had predicted, they all had previous records. Most of them were associated with abduction and rape cases within the past year.
Not only did Bambam destroy the mobsters' hideout, but he had also arrested all nine of them near a landfill in the western suburb, all thanks to Lisa's sketch, which was so realistic that it looked a photograph.
"You should quit your job at the hospital and work as a criminal sketch artist at the bureau." Bambam later joked with Lisa through Wechat.
"Can you guys really afford my monthly salary?" Lisa questioned him with a hint of arrogance.
Bambam opened his mouth but nothing came out. Other than job stability, nothing good came out of being a civil servant.
It was half past one in the morning by the time Bambam finished his casework. He pulled out his phone and excitedly dialed Chaeyoung's number.
"Hey , do you know what time it is? Shouldn't you be asleep?"
"Did you know Lisa was almost kidnapped today?"
"What? Kidnapped?" Chaeyoung woke up in an instant and sat up in her bed.
Bambam then began spilling the beans to Chaeyoung. She listened intently, her heart pounding as the story got more and more intense, and she finally let out a sigh of relief when she heard that Lisa turned out okay.
"Oh my gosh, can you just tell me the results first next time? It scared the shit out of me." Chaeyoung sighed again as she gulped down a cup of water.
"Lisa is so damn smart. It was basically one weak girl against nine strong guys."
"Haven't you heard that she's a genius? She invented her own poison, that's pretty darn incredible..."
"That wasn't poison, I checked. It was a kind of super anesthesia with some food coloring. Haha, pretty smart of her, no wonder Jungkook digs her so much."
"So what now, you're falling for her too?" Chae intentionally joked.
"Oh no. A woman like her is too much for my slow brain. She and Jungkook can exchange blows, but I'm staying out of it."
"True. How lucky are you to be able to become the police captain with a slow brain like yours? You must have stepped on some really nice dog shit."
"Hey, man, can't you say anything nice?"
"I always talk like that, you should get used to it..." Chaeyoung said in all seriousness.
"You flying tomorrow?"
"Nope, I'm off."
"Oh. Well. I heard that um, World of Warcraft is out in theaters... Do you want to go watch it?"
Back when they were still in school, Bambam remembered that he and Chaeyoung both liked playing World of Warcraft. Initially, Lisa and Jungkook played it as well. But then they leveled up too fast and was through with all the skills. They then suspended their accounts and moved onto other games, leaving him and Chaeyoung still trying to figure out the basics...
"Not really. Just because I used to play it doesn't mean I have to watch the movie. I want to go watch Finding Nemo 2 though, I really like that little fish," Chaeyoung replied casually.
"Oh. Our bureau gives really cheap gifts. They don't give money or anything, but they did give me some movie tickets. It would be a waste if I don't use it."
"You can give them to me! I will take my parents, my cousins, and my nephews."
Bambam paused for a couple seconds, not knowing what to say. "I only have two tickets left!" Suddenly, he said with spite.
"I guess I can only go and watch it with
Lisa then." Chaeyoung sighed, leaving Bambam speechless once more.
"Isn't Lisa supposed to go with Jungkook? Do you really want to be a third-wheel that badly?" Bambam's face twitched; he couldn't possibly give any more hints.
"So who should I go with? I can't possibly go with you!"
"What's wrong with going with me?" Bambam's tone dropped slightly, sounding a little hurt.
"Isn't it weird for a big man like you to watch Finding Nemo?"
"Don't worry, I will pretend to be your dad. A father taking his daughter out, how about that?"
"Screw you!" Chaeyoung yelled as she realized that she walked right into his trap. Bambam, on the other end, was dying of laughter...
"Alright, it is settled then. Call me when Finding Nemo is in theaters. Night!"
"Hey!" Bambam hung up the phone before Chaeyoung could say anything else.
Chaeyoung wanted to send Lisa a WeChat message to ask if things were okay. However, it was getting late, so Chaeyoung went back to sleep.
Lisa laid on her bed, half drifting to sleep. Bambam had already told her that all nine mobsters were arrested. They also confessed who their employer was, but Bambam was unable to make the arrest without obvious evidence, especially with the employer's special identity. A simple he-said-she-said was not enough...
Liaa only calmly replied that she would take care of it.
– Two in the Morning –
Lisa was fast asleep by the time Jungkook had washed up and was getting ready for bed. He kissed her gently on the cheek with spilling affection, pulled her close to him and went to sleep.
– In the Morning –
"When did you come home?"
"It was late, so I didn't wake you."
"Okay. Well, I won't be eating breakfast, I'm running late for work." Lisa quickly got ready and began heading out.
"Lisa, I'll drive you."
"No, I can drive myself..."
"I've already sent your car for repair. It's damaged pretty badly." Jungkook had a chance to take a look at Lisa's car as he parked in the garage. It looked rather brutal.
"Oh..."
"Did something happen yesterday?" Jungkook asked nonchalantly as he sipped his tea.