Kidnapping: Like Furious Waves Crashing Against the Cliffs #3
I bound Seo Gaeul’s arms and legs, then wrapped her entire body in a blanket. Seo Gaeul kimbap, complete!
She thrashed wildly—wriggle, wriggle, wriggle—. The process was far from easy because of her violent struggling.
“Mmph! Mmph!”
But it was meaningless resistance. There was no way the weakened Seo Gaeul could oppose me, an Awakened. The difference in physical ability between non-Awakened and Awakened was like that between an elementary-schooler and a high-schooler.
“Seo Gaeul, so the full moon really was your weakness.”
“……!”
Seo Gaeul, you’re mine now!
With the Seo Gaeul kimbap slung over my shoulder, I leaped from the terrace of the building. Right before impact, I activated the Midair Leap I had luckily obtained, resetting my position and kinetic energy. The landing was ridiculously smooth.
All that remained was to vanish into the darkness. Just as planned, I sprinted at full speed toward the empty house next door.
According to my investigation, the neighboring house had a very sturdily built basement. There couldn’t be a better place to imprison Seo Gaeul.
After reaching the basement of the neighboring house, I set her down in that shabby, mold-scented space.
“……!”
Under the flickering fluorescent light, Seo Gaeul—bound tightly with tape—glared at me with crimson eyes. If a gaze could kill, I would have died at least ten times over.
“Don’t resent me too much. I wanted to act like a gentleman, you know. But Gaeul, you wouldn’t cooperate.”
Capturing her and locking her away in a place no one knew about, a place only I knew— it really felt like a dream. I actually pulled it off, Ha Namjin!
“Gaeul, I’ll remove the tape from your mouth first, so behave. I want to get along with you. If you listen well, I’ll be an angel. If you don’t, I’ll become a devil.”
“…….”
“If you understood, nod.”
Nod. Nod.
Perfect. Was this what it felt like when hearts truly connected? It genuinely felt like we were communicating.
Riiiip—.
I peeled the tape off her mouth. In that instant, Seo Gaeul sprang like a carp and sank her teeth into my ankle.
Chomp!
“Aaaargh! You fucking bitchhhhh!”
It hurt like hell! I thought my ankle was going to snap!
“Let go! Let go right now!”
Thud! Thud!
To save my leg, I had no choice but to smack her head repeatedly. After taking the hits, Seo Gaeul’s strength finally gave out and she collapsed to the floor.
“You son of a bitch! Perverted bastard! Let me goooooooooo!”
The moment I saw her screaming like a lunatic with blood streaming from her mouth and nose, I instinctively understood how absurd the request she had given me truly was. In the end, the kidnapping wasn’t the objective—it was only the process. What Seo Gaeul had commissioned me for wasn’t ‘kidnapping’ but ‘training.’
In other words, the real work started now.
“Aaaaaagh! Save me! Somebody save meee!”
Seo Gaeul screamed in every direction with her blood-smeared mouth. Extremely loudly. But I knew perfectly well that no one around here would hear her no matter how much noise she made.
“Gaeul, screaming for rescue is pointless. Besides, I’m the one saving you. Later, you’ll thank me.”
Beep-beep—.
My smartwatch alarm went off. Seven in the morning. Time to head to school. I had stayed up all night in the basement of the neighboring house where I’d locked Seo Gaeul away, from last night until morning.
I’d tried talking with her and discussing our future direction, but her attitude was extremely uncooperative. Once she realized her screams for help were useless, she clamped her mouth shut completely. It was as if her entire body was declaring, I will not exchange a single word with you.
In a normal kidnapping situation, most people would cooperate out of fear, but not Seo Gaeul. She remained perfectly dignified. It felt like a massive, thick bar of pride ran beneath that pale skin—something that would never break.
At this point her emotions should have been disturbed enough for something to show in my Emotion Perception, yet nothing appeared. Just how rock-solid was her mind? Was she a woman of steel?
As expected, training Seo Gaeul was going to take time. Could I finish the job to the satisfaction of my original client—Seo Gaeul herself—within the roughly one year remaining before the world’s destruction?
Would I actually be able to receive the reward, malang-malang? The future was the real test.
Bzzz—.
For now, I wrapped her clenched fists tightly with black tape. Remembering how she had spread her palm in the bathroom yesterday and threatened, “Come any closer and I’ll kill you!” it was obvious her ability originated from her palms. I had to neutralize them first.
Clank.
I also fastened iron shackles connected by chains to her arms, legs, and neck. This neighboring house had originally been a dog-meat breeding facility, but after the government banned eating dogs it had been abandoned. Thanks to that, I’d obtained high-quality chains and a sturdy basement for free.
“…….”
Throughout the entire process, Seo Gaeul didn’t utter a sound. What a stubborn woman.
“Want to escape? Try awakening a new ability. You’re a multiple-ability holder, aren’t you? You’re special, right? So if you want to escape, train like your life depends on it. Do some meditation and yoga while you’re at it.”
She might become the key to stopping the coming ‘destruction.’ At least, that was what Seo Gaeul herself had believed when she gave me the request.
More importantly, I needed to get ready for school. With Seo Gaeul’s disappearance last night, both the school and the outside world had to be in an uproar. Being late on a day like this might put me on the suspect list.
“I’m leaving this PET bottle here. If you get thirsty, open it and drink. If you need to relieve yourself, handle it somehow. I’ll clean everything up. Seo Gaeul, I’m fully confident I can accept every single thing about you.”
“…….”
After roughly straightening my appearance, I headed to school. I wasn’t late, but I wasn’t early either. A few students were already in the classroom, yet one thing instantly seized my attention.
My desk mate, bread-butt.
Her hair—.
“Pink?”
How could a person’s hair be pink? She was full of surprises from the very first moment of the morning.
“D-don’t look!”
At my reaction, bread-butt Baek Yeoul covered her head with both hands.
“What flavor?”
“Eeeeek!”
She was being loud with that booming voice again. Still, seeing bread-butt’s idiotically energetic self improved my mood a little. Honestly, kidnapping Seo Gaeul had been a huge gamble for me too, so calming my racing heart hadn’t been easy.
“So, nothing special happen yesterday?”
Bread-butt asked me. Nothing special? A whole damn lot had happened.
“Nope.”
“Really? I thought Prince Hyun’s crew would definitely try something. Always be careful. They might pick a fight for no reason. Which is why…”
Baek Yeoul fidgeted.
“Can I come over to your house again today?”
“My house?”
“I said it in the group chat yesterday. We have another practical training session soon, so let’s plan some strategies—”
Had I said that in the group chat? Last night I had been busy carrying out an extremely important mission, so I hadn’t checked my phone. More importantly, her coming to my house today? Absolutely not. Because Seo Gaeul was right next door. If she screamed, it might be audible from my place.
“Today won’t work.”
“Why?”
Why? Why was she asking why? Since when was bread-butt this full of questions and curiosity! The way she stared at me felt like a detective trying to see straight through a crime.
“Hey, Baek Yeoul. Didn’t you cause an accident yesterday?”
A girl with yellow-dyed hair who looked like she lived to party walked over. It was the same one who had dumped hot chocolate on me last time.
“What’s with the hair again? Got a problem with society?”
She reached out toward Baek Yeoul’s bizarre pink head.
“Don’t touch me!”
Baek Yeoul growled like an angry raccoon. Both I and the yellow-haired delinquent were surprised; the girl actually took a step back. Since when did Baek Yeoul have this kind of courage?
But the delinquent simply laughed as if the attitude was pathetic.
“What’s she on about? Making a big fuss. What if I do touch it?”
“If you touch it… I’ll get angry! You don’t know what happens when I get angry! Want to be unlucky all day? If I write your name with this red pen, your luck will be terrible the whole day!”
Baek Yeoul brandished the red pen threateningly. Suddenly every eye in the classroom was on us.
Name: Kim Jin
Status:Embarrassed and Angry
She feels angry because it seems like she’s being ignored by Baek Yeoul. She wants to show everyone who’s boss and firmly establish the girls’ hierarchy in front of the whole class.
“Go ahead, try it.”
Swoosh—.
The delinquent sister ran her colorful nailed fingers through Baek Yeoul’s pink hair, messing it up completely. In an instant, bread-butt’s head became a disaster zone. And she didn’t stop there—she knocked the hand cream and pencil case off Baek Yeoul’s desk.
Clatter, clatter.
“So? What are you going to do about it?”
“Just you wait!”
Baek Yeoul refused to back down and wrote Kim Jin’s name with the red pen. That was it. Nothing happened.
Where on earth had bread-butt’s sudden confidence come from? Had her brain been corroded by hair dye?
Crash!
The sound of breaking glass rang out as a baseball flew in from somewhere and smacked Kim Jin squarely in the head.
Thwack!
“Ow!”
Since she was an Awakened, the baseball didn’t cause serious injury, but she lost her balance, stepped on the hand cream that had fallen to the floor, and—
“Whoa!”
—slipped spectacularly. The delinquent sister Kim Jin fell hard. The real problem was that her already-short skirt rode all the way up, fully exposing her pale thighs and buttocks. Her underwear was surprisingly pure and simple compared to her flashy appearance.
“What the hell are you looking at, you bastards! Avert your eyes!”
Kim Jin hurriedly pulled her skirt down and shot Baek Yeoul a murderous glare. But something in bread-butt’s eyes must have seemed off, because she quickly turned away and left.
“Not fun at all. Baek Yeoul, just wait until later!”
Yeah, even crazy dogs are best avoided out of fear. When the yellow-haired delinquent sister fled the classroom with a face as red as her name, Baek Yeoul—who had been growling fiercely—turned to me and said,
“Did you see that? Did you see? I can apply my concept now! My Bad Luck reached Level 2! I think I can control it to some degree!”
Bread-butt could apply her concept? I didn’t know what had happened yesterday, but it was impressive. Maybe the experience at the building party had caused a big shift in her mindset.
Slide—.
The door opened and Captain Kang Cheolmin entered the classroom.
“As you all know, there was an incident last night.”
What was he saying the moment he walked in? It was obviously about Seo Gaeul’s kidnapping.
“Ha Namjin, you bastard! Why are you causing trouble outside school?!”
“Who, me?”
“I’m talking about the videos on Star*. Don’t you know that students of this prestigious Awakened school have a duty to maintain dignity? As punishment, you’ll do twenty hours of school community service.”
Star*? Ah, he was talking about the time I grabbed Sama Jun’s crotch and made him apologize, plus the part where I got a good look at the model girl’s panties. Twenty hours of service for something like that? Talk about bad luck!
Still, at least he hadn’t caught on to the Seo Gaeul kidnapping. That was a relief.
After school, I was distracted the entire day because I was worried about the Seo Gaeul I had left behind. I finally understood why newlywed husbands want to rush home early.
The world is strangely quiet for the daughter of a global conglomerate being kidnapped.
It was also weird that no one was talking about her disappearance or abduction.
“Namjin, is this really you?”
“This video is insane!”
Everyone was only interested in the pointless videos from the building party. The day passed as if nothing had happened at all.
Whatever. I wanted to get back to Seo Gaeul and check on her, but unfortunately I had to do twenty hours of weekly school community service as punishment for causing trouble. Today’s task was picking up trash around campus.
That was when I ran into an unexpected person.
“You’re Yu Boreum, right?”
“Yeoreum.”
“You caused trouble too? I didn’t expect you to be doing community service.”
“I’m doing it voluntarily.”
It was Yu Yeoleum—the one who had given me the crucial tip that contributed greatly to the success of Seo Gaeul’s kidnapping. The F-class president and legendary genius. Who would have thought I’d meet such a benefactor while doing the very symbol of misfortune, community service? As expected, bad luck and good luck were only one letter apart.
Since Yu Yeoleum was in the same F-class as Seo Gaeul, I figured I’d ask.
“Yeoleum, can I ask you one thing? How was Seo Gaeul at school today?”
“Seo Gaeul? I heard she stayed home because she was sick.”
Sick and stayed home? Not missing?