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"Are you sure you know where he's taken her?" he knew they needed to be as quick as they possibly could be. Get to the place he had her and grab her and get the hell out of there. He prayed for the lunatic to stay knocked out while Jan Di got found, though he doubted it for some reason.
"I don't know exactly where, but it's very narrowed down. It's the place where he keeps all the fresh meat in storage. He's taken girls down there before and…" Su-Min became choked up, "neither of us have ever seen any of them again." Li-Na held onto her arm like a child waiting to get caught doing something naughty.
They were paced at two steps at a time, wasting no time.
"How many has he brought here?" Jun Pyo brought it up so that he would know Jan Di's chances of being okay. The larger the number of girls, the lesser of a chance Jan Di had. It made him walk faster, though he had no idea where he was going.
"There was one before me, three before Li-Na, and two more after her. Six total. If Jan Di…" she stopped, and planned out her words more carefully, "She'd be number seven."
"I hope she's okay, I feel really bad." Li-Na said quiet as a mouse, "We didn't believe her when she was talking about escaping and that someone would come. We got irritated and got louder than we should've been. We thought he was gone, but he heard everything. He came in and grabbed her and dragged her downstairs." She paused, "It's our fault she's down there." She stated guiltily and kept her eyes glued on the ground as they marched.
"I don't care right now, let's just find her." There would be time for guilt later; right now it was the last thing on his mind. Su-Min led them to a sharp turn and into the stairway to the basement. Skipping steps, they ambled down the intricately carved stairs.
"It's that door, the one on the middle, but they're all locked." Su-Min pointed at the door which was right in the middle of the room, two doors on both sides of it, "I remember sneaking to see which door he uses one time and it's always that one." Jun Pyo fumbled for the key as they approached it. The door had an ominous feel to it and seemed very heavy with strong emotions. It made him tense and jumpy.
The victorious sound of the lock clunking sent chills through his body. Yet another hallway this door led to.
What a surprise. He thought sarcastically.
It was so horribly cold that he almost hoped that Jan Di wasn't in this hallway, just so that she wouldn't have to be enduring such cold.
"Got any idea which door she's behind?" he eyed three more doors as Su-Min shook her head, "Well, I guess they're all coming open then."
He began with the one to the right of him. It opened to nothing but emptiness and waste of space and time that could've been used to actually find Jan Di.
The next one was filled to its limits with deer, rabbits, and other animals that could be eaten. No point looking in there, it was too stuffed to hide anyone.
One more door, and if she wasn't behind this one then it was over. No more ideas at where she could be and they would have to start the search from scratch, probably kicking the maniac one more quick blow to the head before they continued to ensure that he stayed asleep.
He exhaled loudly and his heart pumped against his chest, anxiety set it. One last door, that was it. His hand shook as he held out the key.
Gripping the key so tightly, it could've left marks, he unlocked that one last door. To utter disappointment and stressing confusion, it was also empty all except for a small table and a typewriter with stacks of paper piled next to it.
"Dammit! Are you sure he goes into this door?" he turned to the two girls, who were also completely confused.
"Yes, absolutely. I don't understand…" Su-Min furrowed her eyebrows and thought. This was the one, she was sure. She'd seen him use it many times more than the other doors and… well there just wasn't any way possible that he would use these rooms for those other girls and a different one for Jan Di.
Jun Pyo remembered what the officer had said before he knocked him out.
Secret doors that I wouldn't be able to find…? I bet anything that Jan Di is behind one of them.
"He said something about hidden doors and that I wouldn't be able to find her. She has to be behind one." he began to spin his little light around the dark hall, searching for strange markings or indentations, cracks that he might be able to open.
He felt along the walls, pounding his fist against them to see if he could hear anything that sounded hallow.
Knocking on the wall at the very end of the hall, he stopped. It sounded different from the others, he thought. He knocked on the wall beside it and then that one again. Yes, this one had to have something behind it.
"We haven't found anything," he heard them call from a small distance, "there's nothing over here." They concluded. They came up behind him and waited patiently for him to say the same. These walls looked to have nothing odd about them at all and as much as they wanted to believe that Jan Di was hidden behind one of them, it sounded kind of crazy and to top it off, they'd found nothing special. They thought it wise to just continue with the other halls and quickly, at that.
"Wait a minute," he said to them, "I think this wall is hallow." He knocked on it once more. Then he gathered up all of the strength he had and pushed on it. It was resisting, but he could tell that this was a door. He felt around the edges and corners for creases in the dirt, and he found them, almost undetectable and fine as they were. He pushed at the edges and felt that the nudge had achieved a small movement, but a small amount wouldn't get him very far if he was to get inside.
"Stand back, I'm going to kick it in," he announced as he took stance to strike.
With the energy of a raging bull, he continuously kicked at it until he felt it giving way. When once more he went up beside the wall or door or whatever to call it, he didn't even know, he pushed on it again. The sound it made as it opened was that of nails clawing at a chalkboard.
Behind it was indeed a small and dark room and what was in that room made Jun Pyo relieved and enraged all the same.
Two thick metal hoops planted into the walls, ropes tied tightly onto them. Dangling from them, half-standing from being held up by the ropes, she was bloody and battered. Dirty and unconscious, she hung. She was in front of him, right in front of him! He wasn't dreaming or hallucinating and she wasn't just a figment of his imagination, for once.
"Guem Jan Di," forgetting everyone else's existence, he rushed over to her side and struggled with the ropes that bound her hands to the wall.
"Come on, Jan Di. Open your eyes." He said to her frantically and began to fear that she wouldn't.
Freeing one hand and starting on the next he whispered to her, "Please,"
With both hands now unbound from the wall, he picked her up and cradled her in his arms. She was his precious moon, and this man would pay for hurting Jan Di this badly. So badly that blood dripped from her head and one of her arms was black and blue, and that she wouldn't wake. With determination and anger, he marched back the way he'd come.
Note: YAY! She has been found, but she has not yet woken up. Next two chapters, I think I'll post together. Chapter 11 will basically be a description of what happened to make Jan Di get dragged down to that hellhole and what happened afterward, but it'll be kind of like she's dreaming it, so in a way it's a continuation of this chapter. Chapter 12 will make up for anything :) Hope you're liking and keep reading. RayaLoe