Dawn of a New World - Akatsuki no Yona

Chapter 44

After being blindfolded and thrown into a cart, which we stayed in for a good hour or so, we finally felt the rickety movements cease. Yona's hand quickly tangled with my own, and we held onto each other tightly. Yoon was on the other side of me, so I also grabbed a hold of his hand, to give him some comfort as well.

The doors were swung open with a loud bang, and I felt hands grab my shoulders and roughly pull me out of the cart. I knew that the others had been as well, because I could still feel their hands wrapped around mine. The men pushed us forward before leading us somewhere. It took a while before they finally unwrapped the blindfolds.

Blinking rapidly, my eyes tried to adjust to the lights in the dimly lit hallway. There was no way to tell where we had been lead too, a part from the fact that we were surrounded by walls made of wooden planks. The men pulled us forward a few feet, before they stopped and turned to open a large door to the right of us.

As we peeked inside, we immediately saw all of the women that had been taken in the past few weeks. They were all huddled on the ground, looking utterly miserable. A few of them raised their heads to see who had opened the door and allowed a small amount of light into the almost pitch black room.

"Get Inside!" One of the men exclaimed from right behind us, before pushing the three of us into the room, all of us landing on our knees. Letting out a small sigh, I pushed myself up so that I could look at the others. Hearing a small yelp from right next to me, I spun around to see that Yona had her eyes clenched shut and was holding onto her leg. She must've twisted her ankle or something when she fell.

Luckily, Yoon appeared to be uninjured, so I shuffled over to Yona to have a look at her foot. Yoon leaned over my shoulder to look as well. "Are you okay?" Yoon mumbled as he noticed the large bruise forming on her ankle. "It's sprained. You hurt your leg when you fell." Yoon stated, gazing up at Yona with concerned eyes.

I gently rested my hand next to the bruise, taking a closer look. Yona placed her hand on top of mine, causing me to look up at her. Her lips twitched up into a small smile, reassuring me that she was okay. As worried as I was, I accepted it and attempted to focus on the plan. We needed to go through with it, no matter what.

The door started to creak, indicating that it was opening and everyone in the room looked up to see who was coming in. A large shadow loomed over us in the shape of a man. He had eyes that were almost emotionless, as though he could care less about the lot of us. I wouldn't be surprised if that were the case.

Judging by his attire, I assumed that this was the leader, Yan Kumji.

He raised a hand to scratch his chin, gazing at all of the women in the room one by one. "I see... You're all excellent." He mused. "Awa still has some value left in it." I struggled to hold in my disgust. He was such a vile man.

One of the girls leaned forward, taking a chance and speaking up. "Lord Kumji, what is the meaning of this? We came looking for work..." She rambled, her desperation showing in her voice.

Kumji crossed his arms behind his back, a smirk forming on his face as he gazed down at the girl. "There is work. Work so fun, you may not be able to handle it." As he spoke, he began walking deeper into the room. Before I could do anything, he had tangled his fingers into Yona's hair and pulled her up towards him. "Red hair? Unusual, indeed."

Just as I was about to leap forward and tackle the man for so much as laying a hand on my sister, I felt an arm wrap around my waist. Glancing to the side, I saw Yoon staring at me with desperate eyes. He was begging me not to do anything, knowing that it would only make things worse.