East

Chapter 3

Ye-Jin had spent the rest of the afternoon editing some photographs from a session a few days before. As she rubbed her eyes for the fifth time she decided that it might be a good idea to go home. When she looked at the clock, the time confirmed it. And some food on the way would be welcome too. Turning off the lights she headed for the door.

The rain was now coming down a little faster and a little harder. Ye-Jin opened her umbrella, its bright color illuminated by the lights from the surrounding buildings in the dim light of the evening. Holding it over her head, it failed to provide cover from the rain which came at her sideways. Resigning herself to the fact that she was going to get wet, she tilted it into the rain to get a little more protection, and started walking toward the road to try and hail a taxi. Finding a taxi might be hard in this weather, she thought. 

The weather matched her thoughts. Despite Rae-Won's forced optimism about getting the NIS to move on and out of their lives again, she wasn't convinced.

She had gone about a hundred meters when she heard a voice behind her.

"Park Ye-Jin-shi!"

She turned and saw two men coming toward her from the shadows. At the same time she heard sounds between her and the main road. Twisting her head round she saw another two men moving to block her path to the road. Turning again, Ye-Jin felt her arm grabbed and she was pulled to the side of the street as she dropped the umbrella.

***

Lee Sora tried to will herself deeper into her coat as she pulled the almost empty backpack higher on to her back. She was wet, cold, and could really use a hot drink. She had been working as a waitress at a small cafe, but the owner had let her go today. He was really sorry, he told her, but his wife's cousin had arrived in town and needed work so he had no choice. He had paid her an extra two weeks money and continually told her how sorry he was. She believed him, but that wasn't going to help pay her bills. She was staying with an acquaintance temporarily but knew that she was going to have to find somewhere else very soon.

As she passed the entrance to a lane, she heard someone calling a name. She instinctively glanced toward the sound and saw a woman with a bright umbrella facing away from her as two men walked toward her from her rear. The woman turned in each direction and was grabbed by another man, who pulled her to the edge of the lane against a pole. She watched the umbrella fall to the ground. There was no mistaking that this was not a friendly encounter. One-on-one perhaps it could have been a quarrel between lovers, but three - no, four - against one?

As the woman was held against the utility pole, the wires and cables radiating from it made the scene look as though she had been captured by a spider in its web.

Sora looked around for a policeman, but the streets were mostly deserted, of course. She took off her backpack and reached for the phone. No power. Why now? The voices from the men were muffled by rain and were unintelligible. Slipping the backpack over one shoulder, she unzipped her coat and turned in to the lane and pretended to look at her phone as if preoccupied. 

Two things could happen, she knew. One, they would see her and run. Or two, they wouldn't.

***

Ye-Jin felt the rough pole through her jacket as he pushed her against it. Everything had happened so fast that she had not looked at their faces. She looked her assailant in the eyes defiantly. She didn't recognize him.

"Yes, take a good look, I'm not afraid of you," he said. "And listen well to my message."

A message? It must be from Ryu Ji-Mun. "You couldn't write me a letter?" she asked.