KHronicleS

Checkmate

Bhoog!

I jumped out of the worn out bed after hearing a horrendous sound that resonated through the walls of the shabby motel room I was staying at. 

My heartbeat paced uncontrollably as I got nervous of what I would be facing when I opened the door.

No, it's impossible. They couldn't have found me this quickly. I was very careful to hide my tracks. I put a jacket over my pajama top and slowly tiptoed my way to peek through the front door's peephole. Nothing. I breathed a sigh of relief. I have just turned my back to return to slumber when a loud kick broke the entire rectangular hardwood that had been protecting me from the outside world for the past two days. I turned around and an excruciating pain made its way to my left jaw. 

"Argh!" I groaned as I slumped to the floor.

"Bitch! Do you think you can get away?!"

I spit and was not surprised to see blood. I rubbed off the rest of the dripping dark red liquid from my mouth and stretched my lower jaw as much as I could to compose myself. This was not the time to dwell on the pain. I slowly got up from my pathetic position and looked up at Kang Ho. He was with two other men who were on standby looking ready to corner me, sweet. I smirked. Kang Ho, the bastard of a man lunged at me to grip my neck with his hand but before he could reach me, I dodged and threw a liver punch. I followed it quickly with a knee-smash to his groin. Before the other two could come at me, I ran as fast as I could to the back and out the window. I was somehow anticipating this so I kept a pair of running shoes  hanging beside the windowpane when I checked in here. I got them and jumped from the second floor of the building. Adrenaline relieved me of the pain as I landed hard on the grainy pavement. I continued running while wearing my shoes hastily, one at a time. I didn't look back and focused on sprinting. I heard them cursing and shouting behind me.They were all bulky so I used it to my advantage. They might have been stronger but I was faster. I made a turn to a dark alley. I could feel that they were getting closer. I saw a hiding spot and stopped abruptly. I slipped behind a brick wall that was missed by the street light. I crouched down panting, slapped my knees and caught my breath. That son of a bitch wouldn't let me live. We were cousins but we were no ordinary family. My father was the head of the Kwon family. We were no saints as we had been marked as one of the two largest organized crime groups in South Korea. The other one was led by a woman. I was an only child so my father bestowed me with a will saying I would be inheriting his position and everything that came with it. I grew up watching my family do what they had to in order to survive the life chosen by their ancestors so I was trained and prepared at a young age, regardless of my gender. Kang Ho was my oldest first cousin and would have gotten what was mine if I was out of the picture.We were never close and I chose not to give our familial pact a chance because I smelled his greed long before. I knew he killed my father. His father who was my father's younger brother and right hand was in on it. The lawyer who was supposed to protect me had also been killed, his death staged as suicide. I would never be able to enforce the will without him. Kang Ho and his group made sure everything got sorted to their favor. All I had left was my life. I was stubborn to surrender my position to Kang Ho and I showed that by defying him in any way I could. I had to run away at my earliest opportunity a week after my father's burial and a day after my lawyer "mysteriously" died because the fortress that I had been staying at all my life was not safe anymore.If I had slept there for another night, I could have been rotting six feet under now or worse, I could have been a missing person's case already. 

A noise made me look sideways for any threat. One wrong move and I was dead. It was too dark to check for anything I could use to help me fight them. I couldn't risk making any sound at this point because even if we were both trained to kill if and only if our lives were threatened, he was too desperate to live up to our family's principle. He wouldn't compromise because as long as I walk on earth, he would never feel the complete possession of our family's power.