2023-05-23 08:00:32“Let me guess, you don’t have bills?”
I shook my head. I got so used to the cashless life back in Sector B that the idea of bills went out of the window.“It’s fine. It can’t be helped since you don’t have any cash. The meal, just think of it as my treat.” He said with a smile. “Follow me, it would be dangerous for you to go through the entrance. You should take the backdoor instead, it’s much safer and the people outside will not notice anything since its in the same direction of the restroom,”He led the way, and the owner noticed us and gave us a confused look.“Something came up, Mr. Kim. Please deduct her meal from my paycheck.”The owner just gave him a thumbs up.“I don’t know if you’re just visiting Sector D but make sure not to do that again. You're fortunate that you did that here in our shop otherwise things would have turned ugly. Do you know how to get home?”“Of course, I’m not a kid you know?”The look he just gave me irritated me for some reason. Is it because I flashed my card ignorantly?“Well, as long as you know how to get back safely. That’s reassuring enough. Go now and be sneaky about it.”He gave me a push and so I left. He just stood there watching over me until I walked far away and he slowly disappeared in the distance. I passed by the street where the entrance of the shop is and saw that the group of thugs were busy talking to each other, so I hurriedly walked towards the street.When I safely crossed the street, I let out a sigh of relief. I was careless. If it weren’t for him, I would be in big trouble. I can already see the roof of our building, a reassuring sight that took a weight off my shoulders. But just as I was celebrating, I heard a set of footsteps following me.At that moment, I felt my heart skip a beat and negative thoughts flooded my mind. I turned around to check and surely enough, my thoughts were right. The group of thugs were following behind me.I can immediately feel my breathing get constricted as if I was breathing through a small hole. As I picked up my pace, their footsteps got busy as well. At this point, I can definitely tell that they are trying to follow me.“I have to reach at least the corner of the street and call for help. I’m sure the guards would hear my call.” I told myself as I started to panic.Knowing that they’ll catch up to me, I started to run. And so did they.“Hey! Where are you going?!”I heard one of them call out to me. I don’t have the luxury to look back and just run as fast as I can.“Why are you running, miss? Come play with us for a bit! We don’t bite!” That’s exactly the line of people with bad intentions! Even I can understand that much! Just when I was about to reach the corner of the street, I slipped and landed on my arm and sprained my ankle. It was the worst case possible that could happen. It was impossible for me to run away anymore, they were already closing the distance between us. “Look at you trying to run away. See? If you hadn’t tried to run away from us, you wouldn’t have gotten injured~” “Help! Someone help!” I cried as they stood behind me, hoping that the guards might hear but nothing happened. Is this my karma for going out at night? No way! That’s not it- “Hey! What do you think you’re doing?” “Huh? Who is this jerk trying to play the hero?” A familiar voice reached my ears. If I remember correctly, it was the voice of the server from the shop earlier. We turned our gaze around and surely he was running towards us while hurling something with his hands. It took me long enough to realize what he was hurling until it hit one of my pursuer’s faces. Steam burst out of the plastic bag as it exploded, it was boiling hot broth. Another one landed on someone’s chest, and both of them danced in pain. It was more than enough to rattle the rest of them but they immediately recovered and attacked the server back. I managed to get back up using the streetlight as support as they tried to gang up on him. I thought he would be beaten to a pulp since the thugs have amazing physiques, but I was wrong. Instead of fighting them, he evaded their attacks until he was able to reach me. “Are you okay? Can you run?” He asked. And before I could even respond, he swept me off my feet and carried me away. I was too stunned to say anything and he ran straight towards our building. Is he perhaps aware that I live here? “Help! Please help us!” he cried on top of his lungs. I looked back and saw that the thugs had already gathered and were following us. There was a good distance between us so we might be saved since there will surely be guards stationed near the entrance of the building, but there was none. He saw it as well and as a final attempt, he opened the door of the building and gently pushed me inside. “There are scary looking misters here in the building, I’m sure you will be safer here.” He sounded like he was not going to join me, and I was right. I was just calling out to him to come inside as well, but my voice didn’t reach him as he dashed away in a hurry before the thugs could catch him. I immediately tried to open the door to see if he managed to outrun them but the sharp pain in my ankle prevented me from doing so. “Young miss?” I heard Steppen call out to me, I turned around and saw him running towards me. “What happened? You’re very pale.” Instead of telling him about my condition, I pointed outside. “Some thugs were running after a boy who helped me. Please help him.” It was only for a moment, but I seemed to have witnessed a flame lit up within Steppen’s eyes. He doesn’t seem to be the same Steppen I knew, it was like he was an entirely different person. “Bazx!” He shouted and Bazx, who is one of my father's guards, landed in front of me from the 5th floor. “Take care of the young miss, I have something I need to do.” he said coldly as his body strangely doubled in size. Even Bazx, who is bulky, showed fear in his eyes and nodded his head but it was not a time for me to think about such things, the safety of the server comes first. “Please make sure to save him, Steppen.” I pleaded and Steppen nodded his head. “Rest assured, young miss. I will fulfill your wish.” Steppen left and Bazx brought me to one of our doctors to give me first aid. Right after I received first aid, I insisted on waiting for Steppen’s return. And as if by coincidence, Steppen returned with a gloomy look on his face. I rushed towards him and he immediately apologized and handed me a notebook. I felt a sudden surge of fear enveloped me and the sudden realization of the chances he was hurt came rushing in my head. “No way. Did you find him, Steppen?” Steppen shook his head and explained briefly. “I followed the highly possible streets where they might have run to and only found this. There were traces of struggle but I failed to find anyone. I’m sorry, young miss.” I can;t help but feel shaken. If he was caught by those thugs, it was all my fault. Anyone would be exhausted carrying someone like me while running away from those thugs. To think that I brought harm to someone who did everything to help me, someone he doesn’t even know anything about, makes me feel sick and disappointed in myself.
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