Chapter 10 : Kidnapping (2)

“Ugh…”

Assessing—

I turned around and threw myself towards Chaeyoung.

Four large men rushed at me to grab me.

The space was narrow, but I narrowly avoided their hands and carried Chaeyoung.

“Huh?!”

“You don’t mean you can’t hang on, right!”

And again, I started running towards the exit.

They rushed to stop me.

“What the hell, this little bastard—?!”

Without friction, escaping became impossible.

I moved swiftly, grabbing Chaeyoung with one hand and smashing the groin of the man right in front of me with my free hand.

If I were taller, I would have aimed for his neck. But at my height, this was as far as my hand could reach.

Of course, it was still effective.

“What, what the hell! Why is this bastard like this! Hey! Go catch him!”

“Yes, yes!”

Two clumsy-looking guys rushed at me.

Both had small knives in their hands.

They call that gear?

I scoffed and jumped up.

Wham—

“Ahhh!”

“Eh?!”

In an instant, the two had their knives taken from them.

I bit one of them and held the other in my right hand, while carrying Chaeyoung with my left.

They bent down to grab me.

Instead, I got closer to them and swung the knife in a flash.

Swoosh—

“Ahhhhh!”

“Ahhhhh! You bastard! You baaaastard!”

Thud.

I sliced the tendons in their ankles.

Unable to stand, they collapsed onto the ground, and I started running again.

The last one was still fine, but a guy with a belly like that would be easily outrun.

“How is this kid so fast?!”

One man rushed at me, breathless.

With the difference in leg lengths between an adult and a 7-year-old, there was bound to be a speed difference.

But I was Nameless.

Thanks to the techniques I had already perfected, dodging this ragtag bunch was no challenge.

“What, what is he doing here!”

Had I delayed too much?

While running away, I ran into the two who had just turned back.

Without hesitation, I changed direction and started climbing the stairs.

This was also their mistake.

Since they hadn’t obscured my vision on the way, I could roughly tell where I was.

This was a high-rise abandoned building somewhere. And I had climbed pretty high.

If I went up just a little more, there might be a rooftop.

And around it, there were many similar or slightly shorter buildings.

“What the hell are these guys doing? What is that?!”

“S-Sorry. What kind of kid…”

“If you go to the rooftop, there won’t be anywhere else to run.”

I could hear the voices of those chasing me up.

Their words were laughable.

Whistling—

When I reached the rooftop, the cool wind brushed my cheek.

The dust in the abandoned building, which had been suffocating, felt a little purer.

As usual, countless cars were rushing somewhere down below.

“Whoo… Whoo… Kid, what are you doing? If you don’t want to fall to your death, come here. Your mom’s waiting.”

“Stop talking nonsense and go catch her!”

The guys who had followed me were panting, rushing toward me.

They were struggling to climb these stairs. It seemed like they hadn’t trained properly.

I scoffed and climbed onto the railing.

“Ahhhhh! S-S-S-S-Siiiii—!”

Chaeyoung, who was slung over my shoulder, started kicking and screaming.

She must have looked down, seeing the building below.

It was indeed high. It had been a while since I had been at such a height.

Buildings in this world were often this tall, almost touching the sky.

In my past life, the tallest I had known was a magic tower.

But that didn’t bother me.

I had once jumped from a magic tower and survived.

Moreover, there was a building right next to me, perfect for landing.

“Uh, uhh…”

“What, what’s that?”

“Hey! Catch her!”

I wasn’t scared.

I had erased such feelings long ago.

In fact, it was one of the rare moments I enjoyed.

Thwack—

I kicked off the railing and threw myself toward the opposite building.

The feeling of flying in the air always gave me a strange sense of liberation.

“Ahhhhhhh!”

Chaeyoung’s scream pierced my ears.

It was disappointing. She was just being carried, yet couldn’t even endure this level of fear.

The fact that there was still fear left in her meant she wasn’t cut out to be one of my crew.

“Shut up!”

“H-H-Haa—ahhhh!”

The falling speed began to increase, and my legs started to numb.

It felt like my organs were floating, pulled by the acceleration of gravity.

The cool wind rushed past me in an instant.

I felt as if I were a bird soaring in the clear sky, free.

Looking down, the people on the ground, who had looked like ants, quickly grew larger.

But this wasn’t a fall.

I had merely jumped to the opposite building.

Before the real fall began, my body collided with the window of the opposite building.

Crash—

I smashed through the window and threw myself into the building.

To minimize the shock, I curled up and rolled when I hit the floor.

“Ahhhhh!”

“What, what was that?”

“Suddenly, the kid is falling from the sky!”

The inside of the building I jumped into was a space with desks arranged in a unique way.

The people who were sitting at their desks, typing on their keyboards, screamed when they saw me.

It seemed like this was a building used by ordinary people.

It reminded me of my dad’s office that I visited before.

It seemed like it would be safe here.

“LH24.”

“Ugh, ugh… ughhh…”

Squeak—

When I set Chaeyoung down on the floor, she wet her pants.

A yellow liquid quickly soaked into the floor.

Thud—

While she was in shock, Chaeyoung passed out.

You’re completely disqualified as a crew member.

But at least you didn’t wet yourself while hanging on to me, so that’s a relief.

“Is, is that a person?”

“Is this a dream, manager? This can’t be real, right?”

“…Huh? But that kid… you’re Jihyun’s niece… you’re Siyeon, right? I’m sure your name is Siyeon!”

One of the adults who had been whispering approached me.

When they looked closer, it seemed we knew each other.

It was definitely Jiyoung’s mom. Was she Jihyun’s manager?

She was the woman who often came to pick up Jiyoung instead of her.

And she was also with Jihyun when she introduced me to the filming set before.

“Hello, I’m Kim Siyeon.”

Since I had met someone I knew, I had to continue acting like a 7-year-old.

I greeted them politely.

“Uh, uh. Right. Uh…”

“Manager, why aren’t you coming… huh? Siyeon? Chaeyoung…?”

While the manager was fumbling, Jihyun appeared.

Jihyun froze when she saw Chaeyoung, who was lying on the floor, wet and unconscious.

“W-What is this…?”

“S-So, you jumped out of there, broke the window, and came in like this?”

“Yes.”

Jihyun helped take care of Chaeyoung.

She changed Chaeyoung’s soiled clothes and laid her down on the sofa.

My clothes were slightly torn, but I said it was fine. However, the manager went to buy me new clothes.

They also gave me some food.

Chaeyoung was still unconscious.

“Y-You expect me to believe that right now… No, I just can’t believe it…”

“I’m telling you, I really jumped through the window, and then I rolled on the floor like this.”

The manager, who had bought the clothes and food, mimicked my landing while explaining.

Even this kind of landing was causing such a fuss.

Now that I thought about it, Jiyoung’s mom, Jihyun, was also just a clown. It seemed like they were people with no connection to the underground world.

“They said the building was supposed to be demolished, but it’s still standing. It must have been used because it was abandoned for so long. I guess those suspicious people were coming in and out of there.”

“A-Ah, I understand, but this still doesn’t make sense. How could a 7-year-old kid…”

It seemed like this was Jihyun’s agency.

The place I had been earlier was an office of some sort, but this building had several other spaces.

I heard that this was a place where actors like Jihyun could rest.

Jihyun said she called my mom, and now both Siyeon’s mom and Chaeyoung’s mom were on their way here.

“Don’t worry, Siyeon. Our company building has security at the entrance, so no one can get in. This place is safe.”

“Yes.”

“You were so scared, right? Really… wow. Siyeon.”

Jihyun gave me a tight hug.

Chaeyoung was still unconscious.

“But how did you even think of doing that? Jumping over a building…”

To me, that was nothing.

But they were people of the bright world.

It seemed better to keep acting like a 7-year-old here.

“I did it just like I did in that ad.”

“Ah… the filler ad. Wow, Siyeon, you could be an action star.”

Since I had a similar experience, I was able to explain it smoothly.

Fortunately, Jihyun seemed to buy it and laughed it off.

A little while later, our moms and the police arrived.

“Siyeon!!”

“Chaeyoung! Cha, Chaeyoung!”

Both moms rushed over in a hurry.

My mom hugged me tightly, and Chaeyoung’s mom, Hye-won, rushed to Chaeyoung, who was lying down, and knelt beside her.

“Chaeyoung just fainted. She’s not dead.”

When she looked like she was about to cry, I told Hye-won that Chaeyoung was still alive.

Hye-won, with a puzzled look, stared at me.

“Hye-won, senior.”

“Jihyun, what the hell is going on? What’s happening? Why are the kids here?”

Jihyun explained the situation to Hye-won and my mom.

She just repeated exactly what I told her.

The eyes of the people listening went wide.

The police, after hearing the story, rushed to the opposite building.

“…Is this really true, Siyeon?”

“Yes.”

Thud—

Mom collapsed in shock.

Hye-won did the same.

It seemed like she was more timid since she was Chaeyoung’s mom.

None of them were fit to be my crew members.

There were more events that followed, but it was just a series of similar situations.

I explained everything to the police, who looked at me as if they didn’t believe me.

An uncle from Jihyun’s company came and asked about it, and he also seemed to find it hard to believe.

I went home and explained to my dad, and he, too, gave me an expression of disbelief.

People in this world were really strange.

Still, it seemed like everything went over smoothly.

I heard that thanks to the police’s quick pursuit, they were able to arrest the kidnappers.

Apparently, they were criminals with a history, and they were caught this time.

I felt quite satisfied that the ones who dared to touch me were arrested.

But that wasn’t the end of the case.

Something I hadn’t wanted.

A bothersome matter.

[The 7-year-old kid who escaped from her captors. Jumped from the rooftop of a high-rise building?] Kidnapping case of [The global kidnapping escape show. The star of the show is a 7-year-old?]

[The shocking identity of the protagonist of the sensational kidnapping case. A kids’ model who caused a stir in the peninsula two years ago.]

[‘7-year-old girl kidnapping escape case’. The shocking CCTV footage that went viral among netizens.]

[7-year-old girl’s kidnapping escape case’ CCTV footage. Seeing it in person… ‘Unbelievable.’]

[7-year-old girl’s kidnapping escape case’ protagonist. Still growing well. Popular among netizens.]

The video of me jumping over the building spread all over the world.