I thought she was taking me to a local café. But she stopped in front of a red sports car, so shiny it looked unreal. She unlocked the doors with a click and slid behind the wheel with feline grace.
"Get in," she said, her smile as enigmatic as ever.
I hesitated for a second. Getting into a stranger's car... Min-Soo would have surely given me a list of ten reasons why it was a terrible idea. But the strangeness of the situation was stronger than my caution. I got into the passenger seat. The interior smelled of leather and expensive perfume.
The car started with a powerful purr and merged into the Seoul traffic with unnerving ease.
We weren't heading downtown. We were heading toward the outskirts, to neighborhoods I didn't know, where the buildings became more industrial and spread out. The most deserted corner of the city.
"So, young man with the sad face," she began, not taking her eyes off the road. "What brings you to the hospital with such a long face?"
"My mother," I answered simply. "She's sick."
"Ah. Money, I assume?" she asked. It wasn't a question full of pity. It was a guess, a fact.
I nodded.
"And those bruises on your face? That doesn't look like you fell down the stairs," she continued.
I tensed up. "A fight."
"A fight you clearly lost," she said with a small laugh. "Are you a student?"
"Apex Academy."
Her smile faded a little. She gave me a quick glance, her expression turning more serious. "Apex, huh? A small fish in a very big, and very nasty, fish tank. I see."
She was silent for a moment, then she turned into a dark alley, stopping in front of a windowless warehouse with a single metal door.
She cut the engine. Silence fell in the car.
"We're here," she said. "This is where we'll cheer you up."
I followed her out of the car, a bad feeling starting to grow in my stomach. The place was deserted.
She walked to the metal door and knocked three times, a specific rhythm. A small slot opened, revealing a pair of eyes. Then the door creaked open.
The woman gestured for me to enter.
The inside wasn't a warehouse. It was some kind of speakeasy, dark and smoky. Leather sofas, low music, and a handful of people who all looked too rich and too powerful to be there.
And in the center of the room, sitting in armchairs like kings, was the Ivory Circle.
Yoo-Na was there. Park was there. Everyone who had beaten me in the boiler room. They were holding glasses of alcohol, looking relaxed.
My blood ran cold. It was a trap. Another one.
The woman in the red dress approached them, her bright smile back on her face.
"I found him, as promised," she said.
Park laughed and handed her a thick envelope. "Good job, 'Noona'. You're the best at finding hiding rats."
Yoo-Na raised her glass in my direction, a cruel, victorious smile on her lips.
"You see, Ji-Hoon?" she said, her voice like honey. "I posted the quest and you didn't accept right away. I was getting impatient. So I asked a friend to 'run into you by accident'. We just followed your terminal's chip to the hospital. It was easy."
She took a sip from her glass.
"I told you to know your place. But you don't listen. You accepted my quest. That means you belong to me now. So, my little punching bag... we're going to start your training a little earlier than planned."
All the fear, all the caution, it all disappeared, replaced by a pure, white-hot fury. I had fallen into their trap, yes. But this time, I wasn't going to take it silently.
I looked Yoo-Na straight in the eye.
"You think you've won, bitch?" I spat, my voice full of contempt.
Yoo-Na's smile froze. The other members of the circle stopped laughing, their faces hardening.
Park stood up, his expression turning dark. "You still haven't learned your lesson, have you? You want another beating?"
He started walking toward me.
But I didn't look at him. I kept my gaze fixed on Yoo-Na. Then, slowly, I moved it to the boy who had insulted me in class. And finally, I let it rest on Park.
A small smile appeared on my face. A smile that held no joy.
"Park... how is your mother?" I asked, my voice suddenly calm.
Park stopped in his tracks, surprised. "What are you talking about? Don't talk about my family, you piece of trash."
"Oh, but I know her well," I continued, savoring his confusion. "Mrs. Park, from apartment 301, in Gwanak-gu. A nice lady. She worries a lot about her son who's at a big academy. She thinks you're a good, studious, and respectful boy."
The color drained from Park's face. He was completely stunned.
"She doesn't know about all this, does she?" I said, gesturing to the bar, the alcohol, the violence. "She doesn't know her precious son spends his time beating up weaker students with his rich friends. What would she think if she learned the truth?"
He stared at me, his mouth half-open. The question was burning in his eyes.
"How... How do you know that?"
"How do I know?" I repeated, a joyless laugh escaping my throat. "She's my neighbor. I live in apartment 302. I see her every day. She's the one who told me which hospital my mother was taken to."
Park's face was a mixture of shock and horror. The image of the arrogant bully collapsed, replaced by that of a son who had just realized his secret world and his family world had just collided head-on. For the first time, he saw me not as an F-rank, but as his neighbor.
"That's enough," a cold, sharp voice said.
Yoo-Na.
She stood up, her face an expression of icy fury. She didn't like losing control of the situation.
"You think your little neighborhood stories matter here? You think that's going to change anything?"
She walked slowly toward me, her gaze piercing me like shards of ice.
"You want to play the family game, Ji-Hoon? Fine. Let's play."
She pulled out her terminal. She pressed a button, activating a call.
"So, while you were busy following my little diversion..." she said, a cruel smile forming on her lips. "...I sent another member of our circle on a 'very special mission'."
My heart stopped beating.
"He's at Seoul National University Hospital right now. In the intensive care unit. Near a certain bed."
The blood drained from my face. I turned pale.
"And if I say just one word to him..." she continued, her voice a venomous whisper. "...he could 'accidentally' unplug the breathing mask your mother so desperately needs."
She looked up from her terminal at me. Her smile was that of a demon.
"So, tell me, trash. Do you still want to act tough?"
All my rage, all my hatred, all my strength vanished at once. Replaced by a cold, total, and absolute fear.
My mother.
She had my mother.
I looked at Yoo-Na, and for the first time, I understood what Min-Soo meant. She wasn't a bully. She was a monster. A monster wearing an angel's face.
I lowered my head. The fight left me. There was nothing I could do. I was trapped.
"Good," she said, savoring her victory. "You're finally starting to understand your place."
She put her terminal away.
"Now... for your little insult earlier, you're going to pay."
She nodded to Park and the others. "But first, let's have a little fun."
She looked at me, a look of feigned disgust on her face. "Strip."
The word hung in the air.
"What?" I whispered, not daring to believe what I had just heard.
"I said, get undressed," she repeated, her voice louder, more imperious. "Take it all off. I want to see you as the naked, pathetic rat you are."
My hands were shaking. I looked at the others' faces. They were smiling. They were waiting.
My mother's life was on the line. I had no choice.
Slowly, with tears of rage and humiliation burning my eyes, I took off my jacket. Then my shirt. Then my pants. Until I was standing in my underwear in the middle of that room, under their mocking gazes.
Yoo-Na took out her terminal and took several pictures, a triumphant smile on her face.
"There. A little collection to remind myself never to trust trash."
She put her terminal away. Her face became hard again.
"Now, finish him."
Park and the others moved in. And the beating started again. But this time, I didn't fight back. I didn't scream. I just took it, curling up into a ball on the floor.
When they were done, they dragged me outside, half-conscious. They opened a large dumpster in the alley and threw me inside, among the garbage.
The last thing I heard before the lid slammed shut, plunging the world into darkness and stench, was Yoo-Na's laughter.