[A/N: italicized – past event]

(!) trigger warning (!)
mentions of blood, sexual harassment, human trafficking, abusive relationship, death.

(!)
this chapter contains disturbing scenes & descriptions.

please read this chapter with caution or skip the italicized scenes if necessary.

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Amber kept her stare ahead, not saying a word yet. The long silence in the car had Jiah sighing out of anxiety. She was anxious, imagining what had happened to her mother. She forced herself to look out of the window as tears pooled in her eyes.

"My mother is dead too, right?" Jiah asked, her voice shaky. The silence had failed to conceal the distressing moan that she had been trying to hold back. She closed her eyes, and her tears finally escaped. Her face twisted, whimpering.

"I'm sorry," Amber breathed. "It's difficult to tell Hoseok about his sister. It's even more difficult for me to tell you."

Jiah faced her and sobbed, "you could've just told me!"

"The hope and kindness in your eyes scare me. It makes me feel guilty to tell you sooner," Amber said, looking down at her hands. One of her arms was tattooed. "Even now."

Turning her head to shift her gaze elsewhere, Jiah allowed more tears to flow down, more sobs escaping her mouth.

One of the reasons she had been working hard was her mother. She wanted to gather as much as she could to settle the debts before flying to the States to find her mother. But now, it meant nothing. Almost nothing.

Jiah's voice came out nasally when she said, "tell me what you know."

Amber glanced at her, and another long silence surrounded them.

"Tell me!" Jiah shouted.

"Her heart was failing," Amber said calmly after exhaling a sigh. "The record said your mother died on the spot. She was the one who drove the car."

**********

Dim, red, and musty, yet there was a strong smell of sweet, enticing fragrance emitted around the place. She recognized it was a fragrant lotion. Her hands held the books tightly as she walked with her boyfriend behind. The tall man's lazy yet sharp stare bore into her back, pressuring her to keep moving.

A group of five women in bodycon dresses, short skirts barely reaching their knees, passed by. Behind them was a skinny Korean man with a cigarette bud between his index and middle finger. "Walk faster!" the man shouted, and it startled Jiwoo.

"What is this place?" Jiwoo asked Soohyuk, cowardly looking at him.

"See? I told you. You don't need your books," Soohyuk said.

Just as they reached the end of the corridor, there were two big, brown, wooden doors. One of them opened ajar, encouraging Soohyuk's arm to pass her shoulder and push the door wider. Forced to step in, her view was then greeted by a big number of women in a wide space. Most of them were in tattered and torn clothes, some only in body towels, while others were still fine in their clothes; all looking scared and nervous.

She was not fond of how the room smelled. A mix of sweat and perfume. Not to mention, something smelled like iron. Looking around, that was when she caught three women on the floor bleeding at the end of the room; bruises and fresh wounds on their faces and bodies. One of the women was only in her brassiere and underpants, a big bruise on her stomach, lying unconscious.

A quiet gasp escaped her mouth. She muttered, "what is all this?" She looked at Soohyuk.

A slow, lopsided smile drew his lips. A short, dark chuckle surfaced the spacious house followed. "Meet your new friends," Soohyuk softly cooed, his eyebrows raised as his lips showed a tight smile.

Soohyuk's dress shoes clicked slowly against the rough ground. "Oh! Which section would you like to sleep in? Organs section or–" he looked behind her as his rough hand traced down from her hair to her collarbone. Then, it slowly went down more. He continued, "–body section?"

Jiwoo thrusted his hand with the back of her hand, earning a loud laugh from the man she called 'boyfriend.'

"Have you decided, baby?" Soohyuk asked in a mocking tone. "Dang, they're right," he said, taking out a cigarette from its case. "Money blinds everyone."

"Go to hell, you!" Jiwoo shouted, trembling in anger.

Ignoring her words, Soohyuk added, pointing on the left side, "ahh, if you choose organs side, you're at risk of dying. Aww, I don't recommend that. You know I love you, right, Jung Jiwoo?"

Tears were on the brim of escaping. She looked on her left side and spotted two women on the ground, their faces pale, breathing shallow. The rest looked healthy, but she was sure some of them were going to show some symptoms soon.

Soohyuk walked closer to her. He mockingly explained, "and if you choose the body side, you might as well, going to be joining your new friends at some hotel soon. Don't worry! We don't allow clients to bring you to some cheap hotel." His eyes widened with a finger lifted as he said, "Oh, I've tasted you! I'm sure our clients gonna love you."

Jiwoo's chest rose up and down, her breath shaky, and eyes glaring at him. She whispered, "fuck you."

The man bent down at her height, smirking. "You wanna save Bejiwoo? Then, you have two choices. Left side, immediate big money. Right side, well... how much have the clients–"

As Soohyuk turned around to look at the women, Jiwoo turned her heels and ran. She was almost at the exit when two men–one buff, the other chubby–appeared at the door. She gasped as they had their eyes wide at her presence. Slowly, she backed away while looking left and right to find another escape. But there were no ways.

At the corridor, she heard Soohyuk calmly said, "bring her." The door of the store slammed as his dress shoes clicked furiously against the tiled corridor.

The buff guy threw her over his shoulder and walked. Jiwoo struggled, shouting to let her go. She scratched and hit the man until he put her down with Soohyuk in front.

Soohyuk curled his fist and immediately gave her a punch. Another punch, and she stumbled to the ground. One more punch, he gritted his teeth and said, "you love to get on my nerves, huh!" Then, another punch, she lay on the ground, almost unconscious.

Through her blurry vision, Soohyuk bent down and grabbed a fistful of her hair. It forced her back to consciousness. He dragged her all the way down the corridor. Her cries, beggings, and struggles echoed until they entered the room again.

The door was slammed shut after Soohyuk threw her to the ground. Striding to her, he sent another blow. It darkened her world immediately.

**********

"Jung Jiwoo," a soft feminine voice reached her eardrums. A soft, slender hand slowly shook her body to wake.

Jiwoo blinked her eyes, still groggy and dizzy. Turning her head left and right at a snail's pace, she recognized a woman she had seen from the left side of the room.

"She's awake," the woman who woke her said. A fast, soft patting of feet against the floor approached her. The other woman hooked her arms under her neck and carefully lifted her to sit.

"You need water," the woman who held her said.

Without a doubt, Jiwoo gulped down the water as the woman lifted a bottle. Feeling enough, Jiwoo pushed it away by raising her chin, and the woman got the message.

The woman who held her asked, "are you okay now?"

Making a brief look at her, Jiwoo nodded her head. The woman then helped her sit up. When she finally sat up, everyone was looking at her. She did not know why their stares were scaring her.

"We heard," the woman who woke her said. "You're... the boss's girlfriend."

That title did not feel right at the moment, and Jiwoo didn't know how to explain that. But she managed to say, "it's complicated."

No one had anything to say on that, but the women on both of her sides looked at each other. As if to shrug it off, the one who had held her said, "I'm Alexa." Alexa showed her palm to her, and Jiwoo reached out, shaking it.

"Are you Korean?" Jiwoo asked.

"I am. I've been living in this country, though."

"Oh," Jiwoo whispered. That explained why there was something peculiar in her accent.

"Well," Alexa muttered, sighing and looking at the women around the room. Jiwoo scanned the room as well. Then, Alexa added, "You have more people to meet. That lady beside you, I'm sure she looks like she's around your mother's age."

Jiwoo turned her head to look at the middle-aged woman. It was hard to believe that she was around her mother's age at first. She looked younger than her age.

A pair of doe eyes, unadorned with makeup. Her eyelashes were naturally long. Her cheeks formed two small rounds as her natural pink, full lips stretched to a light smile. Her straight eyebrows enhanced her femininity. One of her cheeks was bruised. Her hair was straight and long, slightly shaggy.

"I'm Song Yoon-ah," Yoon-ah said gently.

**********

Days became months, months turned into years. Jiwoo started to get a hang of the women and goons in the house; their habits, their way of talking, and their names. Every month, new women joined them. Unlike the chance Soohyuk had given her, they didn't have the chance to choose which side.

Jiwoo had tried to escape many times and always failed. If Soohyuk wasn't there to hit her immediately, then it would be his underlings catching her and tying her to a chair until he returned. Sometimes, Soohyuk would force her to consume a powerful drug and send her out to a client. She was always unconscious when 'that' happened and woke up to a stranger beside her.

On her 'safe' days, she learned how everyone was 'sold.' Soohyuk wasn't lying when he said the left side sold organs. Many of them were barely alive, and Song Yoon-ah was one of them. They took her heart and implanted someone else's heart inside her to keep her alive. Illegally. Others had shown withdrawals within a year. Surprisingly, she looked well.

Yoon-ah told her that they gave her medicine to keep her alive, but she didn't know what medicine it was. However, there was a drawback to looking healthy. They would get offered to clients too. Yoon-ah said most of the time she threw away the medicine they gave her to purposely get sick, but sometimes that wouldn't work as the underlings watched them eat.

One night, she and Yoon-ah had a conversation while the rest slept. They had their backs leaned against the wall. Yoon-ah with her legs straight while Jiwoo with her legs bent to her belly.

Yoon-ah said, "you remind me of my daughter a lot."

Jiwoo looked at her.

Smiling, Yoon-ah added, "strong-willed, sweet, kind. She's smart too."

Jiwoo chuckled and said, "am I smart?"

Yoon-ah nodded her head.

Jiwoo chuckled again. "I dated someone like Soohyuk. I'm not smart."

Yoon-ah gently told her, "every human makes mistakes. This might be the consequence we got from trusting too much. But if we can get out of here, we can fight them, and this shall pass."

Without hesitation, Jiwoo smiled and said, "I'm planning another escape. Do you want to join me?"

Looking at her, Yoon-ah let out a breathy laugh and said, "I don't think I can run, sweetheart. Not with this heart. I don't even know if this real heart or artificial."

"No, I don't think this time requires a lot of running," Jiwoo spoke softly. She turned her head to look at the women nearby before smiling and saying, "I know their pattern now."

**********

Lucky for them and as predicted, the skinny guy had a short-term memory. He had forgotten to lock the door. As he went into the toilet, Jiwoo and Yoon-ah safely made it out.

Once again, Jiwoo predicted that most goons would guard at the back of the house. She remembered the conversation between them–excluding Soohyuk–that they assumed the girls could escape through the window and they must keep an eye on that area.

Luck sided with them when they heard the drumming of a car's engine. Turning her head, she saw a saloon car right outside of the gate. No one guarded the gate, fortunately.

Jiwoo whispered, "do you drive?"

"I do. But it's been long since I drove," Yoon-ah said.

"It doesn't matter. Just drive, okay? I'll guide the way out," Jiwoo said. "Get in quick!"

**********

When they reached a town, Yoon-ah grimaced in pain. Her hand on her chest, gripping it hard. Jiwoo told her to keep accelerating the pedal while she held the steering wheel.

Unfortunately, as Jiwoo was worrying about her, a car came honking at them loudly. Jiwoo was supposed to swerve the car to the empty lane, but she turned the steering wheel in the wrong way, causing them to crash into a restaurant, thrusting two male passersby–a Korean and an American–into it.

A loud alarm chimed through the restaurant. She tried to keep herself awake, but her eyes fluttered down.

'I'm sorry. I'm sorry...'

***********

Amber sent Jiah home, and when she entered the house, the first thing she saw was her father on the couch with a newspaper in his hand, his reading spectacles resting on his big, tall nose.

Her mother used to tell her how she and her father met. At times, Jiah had gone tired of hearing them, but it proved that Mr. Lee and Yoon-ah had always loved each other. Jiah was sure Yoon-ah's disappearance had scared Mr. Lee already. She wished she could never be telling her father that they had found her mother.

Or else, she wished there was another way to tell. But she couldn't think of a way.

Once she took off her footwear, she walked to the living room and stood there, staring at her father, taking a deep breath with subtle hiccups. "Appa..." she called softly, tears pooling on the brim of her eyes. Cold and overwhelmed, these did not help her fear of telling the news to lessen.

Mr. Lee folded the newspaper and put it aside, looking at her worrily.

Jiah sobbed, her face twisted and reddened. Gritting her teeth, she uttered, "uhmma is gone." She sobbed, trying to breathe as she told. "Uhmma is gone. Uhmma is not here with us anymore," she added, shaking her head.

She dropped to the ground, kneeling. She could not see how her father had reacted. But for sure, her father was overwhelmed by the news and frozen on the couch. A sluggish, soft pit-pattering of his footsteps approaching her before he knelt down and pulled her into an embrace.

Wetness dropped onto Jiah's shirt silently before another sniffle joined her sob.

What Seokjin had said to Amber in Singapore ruthlessly danced around her mind.

"Everyone who is part of In-Kang. I'm going to kill them all."