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“I’m also entitled to this money,” In-joo said, almost stuttering due to her nervousness. That caused Ms.Go to turn around and look at her.
“How so?” She asked.
“There are a few ways for someone to get money. You either work for it, inherit it, steal it, or just find it. You stole that money from someone, and I happened to find it. Finding and keeping it takes just as much time and effort as stealing. I kept it in a safe place, worried about it all day, and counted it again and again…” In-joo managed, pushing her fear away.
“What kind of elaborate nonsense is this?”
“Honestly speaking, two billion won was too much for me. I wondered if I could really manage this amount of money. Or if my life was even worth two billion won. But it’s different when it comes to my sister. If there’s a price tag for people, In-Hye is worth far more than two billion. I’ll get her treated first, then pay you back. My life and soul together should be worth at least 100 million, right?” She suggested, willing to do anything for her little sister. She was willing to withstand the pain of all 10 hits to save her sister, even if that meant she’d get injured on the way.
“She’s funny,” Ms.Go let out a laugh, turning to the people counting the money. “Are you a comedian or do you have a screw loose somewhere? This intrigues me. Now I’m curious about how far you would go for money,”
“Why don’t you find out?”
“We run our mouths for the small things that are right before our eyes. That’s why I like violence. Everyone is honest when they’re in the face of violence,”
Ms.Go slapped In-joo after admitting why she liked violence.
“How was that? I’ll hit you 9 more times. After all 10 hits, I’ll lend you 100 million won. Shout go after I hit you if you think you can continue. Then I’ll hit you again. But if you stop in the middle, you’ll get nothing, no matter how many hits you take. So? ” Ms.Go suggested a little deal for In-joo to take up. To see if In-joo was worth the money she was asking for.
“Go,” In-joo answered, not hesitating to get hit for her little sister.
“Get up,” Ms.Go ordered, to which In-joo followed.
Ms.Go went for her stomach first, hitting her with a punch.
“Do you get it now? You could die. Fear spreads the fastest out of all human emotions . You’re probably racking your brain for ways to avoid getting beaten,”
Unlike the people Ms.Go mentioned, In-joo would not falter in the face of violence. She couldn’t. It was for her little sister after all.
“Go,”
In-joo earned another punch, this time on her face. Groaning and moaning in pain, In-joo stumbles across the floor.
“Do you regret it yet? The hits will get harder and harder. And your fear will grow even bigger. But it gets harder to give up because of all the hits you’ve taken,”
“Go.” But she doesn’t give up.
Ms.Go took another tactic and kicked In-joo in the stomach, causing her to fall onto the floor.
Ms.Go bent down and brushed In-joo’s hair away from her face.
“Do you get it now? Isn’t now the perfect time to give up?” She tried getting In-joo to give up.
“Go,”
Upon hearing her reply, Ms.Go stretched her arm out, indicating she wanted the stick. Having it in her hands, she immediately struck In-joo on her back.
“Let me warn you. I’m going for your head next. There’s no telling what will happen. Oh, my. I think it’s our day to let loose. Should we stop? It would be a hassle if something bad were to happen. Your sister will never know that you gave up on her anyway,” Ms.Go never gave up on trying to convince her to stop.
In-joo nodded her head no.
“Five more to go. It’s a ‘Go’ no matter what,” She said, determined to get the 100 million won for her sister’s surgery.
“You asked for it. I was going to stop,”
Just as she said, Ms.Go went for her head next.
In-joo let out a painful scream, gripping her head, her eyes filling up with tears.
‘Should I just give up? No, I can’t. I need to get the money and save In-Hye. I can’t let what happened to In-Seo happen again. I won’t lose another family member just because we’re poor,’
“Go,” She whimpered out, still gripping her head.
“So you really aren’t going to give up, are you? Okay. I like this,”
4 more to go.
Ms.Go, who was starting to get annoyed, struck her back once more, harder than before.
“How was that? Was that enough for you to give up now?”
“Go,”
3 more to go.
Ms.Go was growing scared and nervous. ‘What if she gets through all 10 hits? Will I have to give her the 100 million won I promised?’ Those thoughts ran through her head as she looked down at In-joo’s body rolling around on the floor.
Ms.Go finally let loose and hit In-joo harder than ever. And she didn’t stop there. She constantly struck at In-joo’s body.
“Why won’t you give up?! Why must you go this far just for your sister?” She yelled as she lost control.
“Ms.Go, I think you should stop,” the guys tried to stop her but failed. Ms.Go just kept on hitting In-joo.
A hand from behind stopped Ms.Go by grabbing onto the stick she was using to beat In-joo up.
“What the hell?” Ms.Go said as she turned around just to see Choi Do-il.
“What do you think you’re doing?!” He screamed as he took the stick from her and threw it across the room.
“Weren’t you warned that you’d be fired if you used violence again?”
“She asked for it. She agreed to get hit 10 times to get money for her stupid little sister’s surgery,”
“That doesn’t mean you have to hit her until she dies!”
Do-il looked down at In-joo’s body, concern written all over him.
“We’ll talk about this later,” He said as he bent down to pick In-joo, who had passed out after getting hit that many times.
“She has bruises all over her stomach, back, and face. She would’ve died if she got hit any more than she already did. She needs to be treated for a few days before she could get discharged,” The doctor informed Do-il about In-joo’s current condition.
“I already treated the bruises, and now she’s asleep. She might feel uncomfortable sleeping on her back because of her injuries so I suggest having her sleep on her side for a while,”
“Thank you, Dr.Kim,”
Do-il sat outside of her room, thinking about what would’ve happened had he arrived any later.
‘You idiot. How could you let her get this injured?’ He scolded himself, slightly hitting himself on the head.
Just then, a distraught-looking woman walked into the hallway and looked as if she were searching for a room. She immediately caught Do-il’s attention.
“Are you perhaps, Oh In-joo’s sister, Oh In-kyung?” Do-il asked the woman.
“Yes, I am. I’m her younger sister, Oh In-kyung. Do you know where my sister is? No, do you know why she’s here? What happened?” She asked him in a panicked voice,
“Please take a seat. I’ll tell you everything,” He asked her, trying to calm her down.
In-kyung took a seat and Do-il followed.
“So, I’m sure you know about the 2 billion won your sister had. I think she was trying to use a bit of it for your sister’s surgery but she got caught trying to get the money. In-joo- ssi then agreed to get hit 10 times to get 100 million won for the surgery. But the hits got worse each time and she ended up passing out. I brought her to the hospital right after I found her and she’s asleep right now after getting treated,”
“Why would she do that?” Ink-kyung asked herself, still worried about her sister.
“By the way, who may you be?” She asked him when she realized she had never seen this man before.
“I’m Choi Do-il. I recently started working with In-joo- ssi, ” He answered, handing her his business card.
“I’m Reporter Oh In-kyung. I’m her younger sister,” She handed him her business card and bowed. “Thank you so much for bringing her here,”
“No, it’s fine. I was also very worried about her,”
“You can go back now. I’m here to tak-” She was cut off by the ringing of her phone.
“Hello? What?!” was all Do-il could hear but he could tell that something bad happened due to her facial expression.
“I’m so sorry but can you stay with her until I come back? Our younger sister is in a really bad state and they said they needed to talk to her guardians and I’m the only one who can go,”
“It’s fine. Go to your younger sister. I’ll stay by her side,”
“Thank you so much. I’ll never forget this,” And then she left in a hurry to get to her other sister.
Do-il stayed by her side for a few hours before she finally woke up.
“In-joo- ssi , are you awake? Are you in pain? Do you need anything?” He asked once he saw that work up.
“I’m fine,” She tried to reassure him while trying to get up.
He got closer and lent her a hand. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
She just nodded while grabbing onto her stomach.
“Why would you do something so reckless and dangerous like that? What if I never came? What if you got injured way worse than you are now?” He bombarded her with questions, expressing his concern.
“Oh. Oh! What about the money? Where's the 100 million won?”
“Now’s not the time to talk about money. You’re badly injured. You aren’t in a state to move around,”
“No. You don’t understand I need that money,” She said, getting off the bed to go find her 100 million won. The 100 million won she got by getting hit to the point of death.
“Oh In-joo- ssi ! Please just stay here. I need you here,” His hands on her arms, he held her in place while begging her to stay and not go anywhere.
“I will get you that money, so please just don’t go anywhere in this state. It’s dangerous for you,”
In-joo nodded and sat back down.
“Your sister will be here in a few minutes so I’ll take my leave now. Stay here for a few days until you feel better and don’t worry about the hospital bill. I’ll take care of it,”
Do-il left and In-kyung came in a few minutes just like he had said.
“ Unnie ! Are you okay? I heard from that Choi Do-il man about what happened. You should’ve told me if you couldn’t get the money anymore. Why would you put yourself in that dangerous situation?”
“I’m fine. It looks bad but I feel perfectly fine,”
“What’s your relationship with that man? He said you started working with each other but it looks like he really cares for you. I think I heard him yell “I need you here” or something. But anyway, I think he likes you and he seems like a good guy so maybe try dating him,”
“He doesn’t like me..” In-joo said in a low voice as if she was trying to convince herself that.
“I need you here” That line kept on repeating itself in her head.
“He doesn’t like me,” She told herself once more, trying to get rid of the thoughts that said otherwise.
But does he really not like her?