Be Mine

Chapter 7

The car stopped in front of a normal-looking motel a little off the highway. Yin quickly got down and made her way towards the motel. A skinny guy who was seated in the back looked at Do Hyun. "It's her best friend that's missing, so we are having to reinvestigate this for her," Do Hyun explained, "Please don't mind." The men got out of the car and followed the girl into the motel. She had already gone up to the reception by the time they joined her. The skinny guy flashed his ID at the receptionist. "How may I help you?" she responded. "We need a detailed list of all your customers in the past three days. And while you're at it, I'd like to look at the basement," Yin answered. "Please hold on while I call the manager," the receptionist replied. The manager arrived quickly enough. Yin repeated her request as the skinny guy showed his ID to the manager. The manager obliged and Yin took Do Hyun to the basement while the skinny guy, whose name was Seo Joon, a Crime Bureau agent, collected the customer data.

Yin's eyes widened the moment she stepped into the basement. "Hyun! This is where I was kept!" she shrieked. "What?" Do Hyun looked around, amazed. "It makes sense now," Yin continued, "Chelsea must have figured out where I was being kept, but when she came here, she was taken and I released." "That's possible," Do Hyun said, "But she's not here anymore, it could be that-" "For heaven's sake, Do Hyun! She is not what they're looking for!" Yin said angrily. Do Hyun found himself losing his patience but decided to let her have her way. They were onto something new after all. "Let's see if Seo Joon has found anything," Yin got out of the basement.

Seo Joon was on a call when Yin and Do Hyun came up to the reception. "What do we know?" Yin asked. "Only 4 rooms were booked," Seo Joon replied, "And all of them are legit profiles." Yin faced Do Hyun. "See? There's noth-" he began but Yin cut him off, "Shut up."

"Criminals don't leave their names and contact details for people to pick up just like that," Yin said thoughtfully as she came out of the motel, scanning the surroundings.

All of a sudden, she darted off in a direction away from the car and towards the rear of the motel. Her companions followed her. "Yin! Where are you going?" Do Hyun called after her as she came to a stop in front of a huge pile of trash bags. "What now?" Do Hyun said, exasperated. Yin ignored him and proceeded to untie the nearest of the lot. A pamphlet fell from one of the bags and Yin picked it up. "It's some kind of luxurious hotel," she said, "Seo Joon, look at this. Would normal citizens or tourists be interested in a place like this?" Seo Joon took the pamphlet from her. "It's extremely expensive and not open to tourism," he said, googling the place, "Palace Dream Hotel." "He's there," Yin said. "It's a pamphlet! Anyone could have brought it here! How can you be so sure that it was brought here only 3 days ago?" Do Hyun protested. "It fell out from the freshest trash bag and looks new too," Seo Joon answered, "I agree with Yin. Look at the location. It's secluded and not many people seem to know about it. If I were a rich mafia, like Yin describes the kidnapper to be, this would be where I would go. I'm calling backup."

And so it happened that Yin, Do Hyun and Seo Joon arrived at Palace Dream Hotel just as Chelsea and Night Sky were entering it. Yin screamed as she recognized Chelsea and their kidnapper. The events that transpired by the time Seo Joon's backup arrived have already been described.