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nArticle 23. Aren’t Female Protagonists Always Getting Kidnapped? (Part 2)

nI woke up from the loud noise of countless, overlapping pieces of wood collapsing.

n‘What’s going on?’ Blinking swiftly, I lifted my head.

nMy head hurt and even my vision was blurry, so I couldn’t see anything. I tried to touch my forehead but then realized that my hands were tied. The situation that took place before I opened my eyes, at last, came crashing into my head like a dream last night.

nAs if I had woken up from a nightmare, my eyes opened wide. My heart was throbbing and I felt tingling arising from my fingertips. Soon, I was catching a chill. ‘Yeah, that’s what happened,’ I murmured.

nBan Yeo Ryung and I had been kidnapped right after attending Hanwool Group’s anniversary party hosted by Eun Jiho’s family.

nI mean, I did anticipate this would happen someday. Wasn’t abduction almost like an annual event to female protagonists in web novels? I, however, never expected it would occur at Hanwool Group’s party where it was swarming with securities and bodyguards.

nBut as I thought it over again, this plot seemed more dramatic. Committing abduction at a party hosted by the male protagonist’s enterprise… No incident would make the male lead feel guiltier than this one.

nI should have not relaxed my attention just because there were bodyguards all over! I tore my hair out. How could I make such a mistake when I was proud of myself being the master of web novels?!

nAnyway, I still had a chance to make up, so I decided to keep myself together as much as possible from now on. They said, drive gently over the stones; therefore, the key, for now, was to take a cautious and delicate approach in this situation. Besides, the kidnap incidents in web novels often didn’t have a bad ending.

nWhy?

nSince the majority of web novel readers were students, these stories had to go for all ages admitted!

nHowever, when thinking about a few happenings in the past, I couldn’t help but heave a sigh again. Regarding the car accident, which I nearly got killed by a truck in front of Eun Hyung, or other incidents that took place earlier, I couldn’t just rest assured that this novel was of all ages.

nThinking further to that point, I grimaced and fetched a deep sigh. That was because I came up with Eun Hyung having a difficult time upon myself getting hit by a car right in front of him.

nAnyway, Eun Jiho… I wished he wouldn’t experience any inner struggles as harsh as Eun Hyung did in the past with that incident. Eun Jiho and Yoo Chun Young would definitely think that it was their fault for this to happen.

n‘Please guys… this is taking place since you guys are male leads in a web novel; there isn’t anything else than that.’

nWhile I rambled those thoughts that didn’t help me improve this situation, my vision began to return. Nice, maybe it wasn’t a permanent visual impairment, huh? I got to lessen my concern for the age-appropriateness of this novel. Letting out a sigh of relief, I slowly raised my head to glance around.

nIt was a warehouse that was common anywhere near the highway without any special features. The cement floor was covered with dust and the top was a slate roof.

nThe place had a high ceiling, which was piled with a bunch of empty beer boxes from floor to ceiling. One of the boxes was lying on the floor facing down; between the boxes and the floor, broken bottles were rolling around. Thus, the sound of beer bottles breaking down from the collapsing boxes might have wakened me up.

nI turned my head again. Ban Yeo Ryung was right beside me lying down on the floor while breathing evenly.

nAs soon as I found her, I crawled on my knees to get closer to Ban Yeo Ryung. My knees were stinging from getting scraped on the cement floor, but I felt still bearable.

n“Ban Yeo Ryung?”

nLowering my body to her, I called her name quietly. She didn’t move an inch. I lifted my head again to observe her overall condition. Her face seen through her disheveled hair looked more pale than usual. There wasn’t anything changed in her outfit; she was still wearing the same black mini dress that she wore at the party.

nPerhaps Ban Yeo Ryung would also have a blurry vision once she wakes up. I roughly guessed what had happened before we came here. As we made all kinds of attempts to escape from the back seat, the driver sprayed something to us, which forced us to lose consciousness immediately.

nBan Yeo Ryung’s hands were also tied behind her back. Even if she woke up, it wouldn’t be that helpful; however, I would rather make her recover consciousness and explain the situation before other bastards get back to this place. I was aware that this world was existing inside a web novel; therefore, I already had in mind that we could get kidnapped someday. Unlike me, Yeo Ryung had no idea about it.

nHaving got my hands tied behind my back, I had to use my legs randomly to shake Yeo Ryung.

n“Yeo Ryung, wake up. Yeo Ryung?”

nDid I call her name about a dozen times? Yeo Ryung’s thin eyebrows waggled at last. Soon, her black pupils appeared through her fluttering eyelashes. The always shining jet-black eyes were out of focus, unlike usual. It was just what I had expected.

nShe couldn’t see anything at all right now, so how frightening would she be? That was when I quickly opened my mouth. Suddenly, she bounced up to her upper body, so I shuddered and pulled back myself defensively.

nSweeping down my pounding heart, I murmured, ‘Gosh, we almost hit each other hard.’

nAt that moment, as if she heard me breathing even though she was currently blind, Ban Yeo Ryung spun her head and looked in my direction.

nWhen our eyes met, I gasped with surprise. I had to say, ‘I’m Ham Donnie! Don’t worry,’ but those words hardly came out of my mouth. My head was blanked out as if it was bleached to white.

nThe violent temper inside her eyes was that much overwhelming.

nShe might be blind right now, but her eyes were fastened on me unwaveringly. As if I encountered a tiger or lion in a jungle, I didn’t dare to budge.

nA few seconds, which seemed like minutes, passed like that. Yeo Ryung finally let out her sweet and cheerful voice through her lips. What she said, however, didn’t match that beautiful voice at all.

n“You guys are dead meat. I’m gonna break all your bones into pieces.”

nComing to my senses, I first turned around hesitantly to check if somebody had come into the warehouse before I even knew. Still, there was only me inside here.

nHmm… Did she change her mind? Maybe… She might suddenly feel like killing me. Rambling those thoughts in my mind, I nodded my head as composedly as possible.

nMeanwhile, Ban Yeo Ryung’s relentless remark continued.

n“Do you guys know that kidnapping conviction is sentenced to three years’ imprisonment? But I don’t want you guys to be judged by the law. Why? You’ve committed a too serious felony to let justice take its course.”

nOnly then did I realize that Ban Yeo Ryung wasn’t referring to me. I carefully opened my mouth.

n“Um, Yeo Ryung.”

n“I’m gonna fold your spines like a flip phone!”

n“Excuse me… Yeo Ryung.”

n“And wring your intestines out like a towel.”

n“Um, sir…”

nAround that time, my way of speaking was turning very polite.

n“How dare you touch Donnie?!”

n“Sir Ban Yeo Ryung.”

n“I’m fine. I’m totally fine, but how dare you do this to Donnie?! Huh? You guys are getting on my nerves since last year. Y’all dead meat now! You think I’m an idiot because I’m not doing anything? I’ll kill you until you die from it!”

nAt that moment, I carefully flung a question.

n“Um, am I also included?”

n“Of course, you are! None of you will be…”

nShe then paused to strike a retort and suddenly loosened up the corners of her strained lips. It looked like she had realized something. Holding back for a second, she then asked cautiously.

n“Is it… you… Donnie?”

n“Yes, sir.”

nI still replied as politely as possible. If my hands weren’t tied behind my back, I might have put both hands on my knees with courtesy.

nStaying still for quite a while, Yeo Ryung then smiled awkwardly out of the blue.

n“Donnie, were you here until now?” she carefully asked in a voice that suddenly turned sweet.

n“Uh… yeah…”

n“You know that those weren’t said to you, right?”

n“Yeah… of course.”

nYeo Ryung then smiled like a blooming flower and answered back.

n“Haha, I was afraid if you got me wrong. Thank goodness, you didn’t.”

n“No…”

n“Hahaha, sounds cool!”

n‘Is that something a kidnapped person can say?’ I thought while staring at Ban Yeo Ryung with an overwhelmed, pale face.

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