Seoul City

Ch. 6 - Second Encounter

Jungkook couldn't believe how early he'd been forced to get up that morning. Although he wasn't known for his punctuality, he had – grudgingly – woken up at 5:00 am that day. He was supposed to attend a meeting with the Chinese buyers at an undisclosed location in the early morning. They were closing the deal for a highly valued property the Jeons had bought in Taiwan more than a decade ago. Over the years, the value of the land had increased substantially, reaching its peak last year. The Jeons had no use for it since most of their business affiliates were in Korea and Japan, which is why they were selling it. This was Jungkook's first solo project for his father's company and he'd invested 3 months of work into it, so he couldn't let anything – not even his beloved sleep – get in the way of closing this deal. It also happened to be worth 2 million dollars.

At around 6:00 am, the encryption code with the location of the meeting was sent to him via text. He cracked the code within minutes to reveal the specific address for the meeting: an abandoned building in the heart of West Seoul's slums.

Since the weather was nice and he needed to wake himself up, Jungkook decided to take his sleek, black motorcycle. As he rode through the grungy, narrow alleyways, he couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt. His family owned half of Seoul city, and yet the residents of this area had nothing. He revved the engine of his motorcycle and increased his speed, trying to shake off this feeling. It was easier to ignore things that made him feel something rather than to allow it to consume him.

He found the building of interest after a couple more minutes and parked his motorcycle on the side, quietly placing a 50-dollar bill underneath a homeless man's cardboard pillow before walking in. The meeting was uneventful and boring. Jungkook, of course, closed the deal successfully within an hour. After exchanging handshakes and polite smiles with all the attendees, he was free to leave.

As he climbed on his motorcycle seat and grabbed his black helmet, he caught a glimpse of a familiar, slim figure in scrubs walking quickly down a narrow street a couple metres in front of him. She was carrying a large, pink shopping bag that was half the size of her. When she glanced back to cross the road, Jungkook was genuinely surprised. He didn't expect to see Park Chaeyoung again on the West side so soon after last night's events. 'This day just got a lot more interesting'  he thought, grinning.

Just as he put his helmet on and started his engine, a large group of drunk men stumbled out of a nearby bar. Jungkook recognized them as an infamous group of middle-aged men on the West side, known as "The Drunken Tigers". They claimed to be a high-class gang but all they ever did was hop from bar-to-bar all night and harass women. Jungkook was parked close enough that he could hear the vulgar things they were yelling at Chaeyoung.

"Where you going, sexy?"

"Don't be frightened, we'll take real good care of you, baby."

"Wooo the things I'd like to do with that body, damn."

He unconsciously clenched his jaw in anger before realizing what he was doing. Why was he angry? Park Chaeyoung was no one to him. Even worse than no one, she was the enemy.

He started his engine and began driving away in the opposite direction of the path Chaeyoung had taken. 'It's not my problem' Jungkook told himself. 'She's a big girl. She can take care of herself.' But, as images of last night flashed in his head – her feisty glares, her innocence, her fearlessness, the way her small hand had felt on his chest – a heavy feeling stirred in his stomach.

"Fuck," he cursed aloud and turned his motorcycle around abruptly towards the crowd of men that were chasing after her.

"Is there a problem here, boys?" he asked when he finally reached them, flashing a casual smirk. The shock on the faces of the Drunken Tigers was subpar compared to the disbelief and terror that formed on Chaeyoung's face. He had to suppress his laugh with a fake cough.