Even though Mayu said that she will only help till they reach the exit, she somehow found herself in a dimly lit and scarcely populated parking lot along with the woman. Her hands were full with both her and the woman’s luggage.
“Shit,” she cursed in her thoughts, but managed to maintain a cheerful smile on her face, “I ended up following her to a sketchy parking lot.”
The woman was walking in front of her, now completely fine. She had been fine since the moment Mayu agreed on helping her out. She was frantically calling someone on her phone, purposefully speaking in low toes and murmurs, making Mayu unable to hear the conversation.
The whole situation was irritating as well as intimidating for Mayu. She couldn’t decide whether she was in grave danger of getting kidnapped and mugged, or was she just being taken advantage of by a rich, sly woman who didn’t feel like carrying her own bags.
She hoped it was the second case.
“Excuse me, Ma’am,” Mayu said, “But can you tell me—”
Before Mayu could finish her sentence, in a flash, a black van pulled up directly behind her. She flinched and dropped the bags, but without giving her any time to recover, the doors of the van flung open and she was yanked into the vehicle while a thick hand covered her mouth preventing her voice from being let out.
Her vision seeped into the darkness as the last ounce of light became invisible with the door closing on her face. The car started moving at full speed and she was gently settled onto a seat next to the door.
Mayu had tears in her eyes.
It was dark inside the car because of the heavy tinted windows which allowed only a fraction of light to escape. While her vision slowly adjusted to the blackness, Mayu’s brain did the exact opposite. She couldn’t comprehend how she should act in that situation.
Her mind was flooded with thousands of cursed thoughts. Being trafficked and sold or being cut open in someone’s basement for her organs to be sold, or being forced to become the goddess of a cult group, Mayu couldn’t decide which fate will she be facing. She felt dizzy and short of breath. Her body began to tremble and sweat at the same time.
“I need fresh air,” the tiny voice in Mayu’s brain said.
“Fresh air is outside the door,” it said a little louder.
“The door is beside me! I should open and escape,” this time the voice was the loudest.
Without analysing her surroundings or looking outside the window, Mayu turned and tried to open the door of the van which was now moving at a speed of around 130 km/h on an expressway. But of-course it was locked, since the kidnappers knew not to let their victim sit by an unlocked door. She panicked more and started banging on the window, in the hope that someone from outside would hear her and stop the fast-moving car.
“HELP!” Mayu shouted, “Somebody! Help me!”
Before she could continue, somebody grabbed onto her arms and turned her around. Suddenly she realized that the van was now brighter than what she remembered and she could clearly figure out her surroundings. She could now see that the person holding her arm was none-other than the sly woman, who had her kidnapped. She was relaxed and composed, with the same expression on her face, seated right next to Mayu who was having a panic attack.
“Miss,” the woman said in a relaxing tone, “Please calm down and listen to me.”
Seeing the woman again made Mayu regain some of the brain cells back which she had lost due to the sudden discomposure she faced not long ago. Her breathing was stable now and she didn’t feel dizzy anymore. But hearing the woman talk about keeping her calm, filled Mayu with rage. With what kind of audacity did the woman dare to ask for calmness, was a subject Mayu was angrily confused about. She slapped the woman’s hand off her.
“Don’t touch me,” Mayu said.
The woman squinted her face. She looked irritated. She then turned away from Mayu and faced the front. She reached for the inside pocket of her coat and pulled out a piece of paper, which looked like a business card and directed it towards Mayu without looking at her.
“Read it,” the woman said in a rather rude tone.
Mayu was hesitant but took the paper since she didn’t see any other option left for her. It was indeed a business card; the paper was black in colour with words printed in golden. The back of the card had a bird-like emblem engraved on it.
“I am Oh Eun-ae,” the woman said, “I am a senior manager from Phoenix Entertainment,” she added.
Mayu started to slowly read the details in the card while paying attention to what her kidnapper had to say.
“I want to recruit you for an audition,” Miss Oh concluded.
The words were so far-fetched that it took Mayu some time to process the information. Her eyes widened and her mind went into a state of chaos, again. She wondered if she had heard the right words or was she just hallucinating due to shock. She looked up to Ms Oh who now had a gleaming hopefulness in her eyes.
“Umm… you don’t need to make up such lies,” Mayu said with concern, “If you’re going to sell me in the black market just say so. I want to be mentally prepared, atleast.”
“Miss!” Miss Oh exclaimed, “Do you think I have the time to be joking around?”
Her eyes weren’t gleaming with hope anymore.
“If you don’t believe it, just google my and the company’s name. Then you can see it for yourself,” Miss Oh said in a slightly harsher tone.
Mayu nodded, a little out of fear.
She took out her phone from her cute little black fanny-bag which was gifted to her by her best-friend on her birthday. The random memory made her wish that her best friend was there with her. He was a smart person and there was no way she could have gotten into any kind of trouble if he had been there with her. She wanted to call him at that moment rather than searching up some random woman’s name.
Suddenly she remembered that her phone number hadn't been registered on the network yet.
She froze in network error.
“What’s wrong?” Ms Oh asked, noticing her zoning out.
“Aah…” Mayu hesitated, “My network isn’t registered yet. May I use your phone?”
Miss Oh looked at her in disbelief. She sighed and turned to the back seat. There, for the first time, Mayu noticed two men and a woman dressed in black suits seated in silence. Miss Oh gestured to the woman for her phone to which the woman implied. Ms Oh took the phone and passed it on to Mayu.
After searching through google for a few minutes, Mayu realised that the woman who called herself Ms Oh was indeed some big-shot manager of a big shot entertainment company. She looked at the photo of Ms Oh displayed in the website and back at the woman seated beside her. She also went through the company’s social media site which had a verified mark with some thousand of followers following it.
“Miss?” Ms Oh said, “Now do you believe me?”
Mayu nodded.
“Good,” Ms Oh smiled. She then borrowed an ipad from the guy, again noticed by Mayu for the first time, seated in the passenger seat also clothed in a black suit along with the driver.
“Let’s get to business then,” Ms Oh said.
“Wait,” Mayu interrupted.
“I cannot participate in any audition for you,” she said, “I am here to study in a university. My classes start next week.”
“Please don’t say that,” Ms Oh gently held Mayu’s hand in the warmth of her soft palms. Her voice which was harsh a few minutes ago was now subtle and motherly. She had a sorrowful expression on her face and teary eyes glittering with tranquillity.
“I do not ask you to compete in any kind of competition,” she continued, “I just want you to help me not lose my job.” She looked Mayu in the eyes and tightened the hold of her hands, “You will be easily eliminated, since you are not even prepared as such. So just play a part for the audition,” her lips made a small smirk for a millisecond, but went back to her tender expression again.
"Please?" she said.
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