Am I Even Insured?

It was a boring day for Mina.

There were piles of insurance papers in front of her and she knew that sooner or later she had to deal with them. They needed to be reviewed, filed and sent to the office for her supervisor to double check again. It was hard for her, seeing many faces every day, begging her to be given life insurance even if they didn’t have the money to afford any. It was heartbreaking for her. On good days, she would secretly find ways for some of them to avail of it but would end up getting caught by her boss and would get reprimanded relentlessly for it. Saying that it wasn’t a good investment if they just handed out life insurance like that.

It made her think that maybe she should have taken the medical course her father had been bugging her to take when she was still in college. But all of that was in the past, maybe her business track could lead her somewhere despite ending up as a slave to the corporate world.

Once the clock struck five in the afternoon, she let herself sink on her swivel chair. She put her hair up in a lazy ponytail and started packing her things so she could head home. Before leaving her table, Mina sent a quick text to her roommate.

[Mina, 5:02 PM]: Hey Sana, are you making dinner tonight?

[Sana, 5:03 PM]: MITANG.

[Sana, 5:04 PM]: Yeah I could, I have leftover beans in the fridge, maybe we can make soup or something. I’ll see you at home? <3

[Mina, 5:04 PM]: Can’t wait :) be there in an hour or so.

She pocketed her phone, secured it in her hand bag and left her table to clock out for the day.

Mina always looked forward to Sana’s cooking. As much as she wanted to do it herself, she knew it would take an extra trip to the market if she wanted to make a decent meal for them and she confessed that she had no time or energy to do that on a daily basis. Which made her very thankful for Sana.

The two had been friends since college. They started out as classmates in their minor subjects, but Sana was taking a different course, so once they took their majors, they saw less of each other. It was that one faithful day where the other Japanese woman asked—well, more of her begged Mina to be her roommate instead. Sana mentioned that her previous roommate moved out without any notice, and she hated being alone. Plus, she loved having Mina around, so it made sense to her if they became roommates instead.

It was a hard decision to make since Mina enjoyed the comfort of her solitude, most of her life as a student, she was always alone. So having Sana around for the majority of the time was very new to her but eventually the bubbly Japanese girl won her heart, and she instantly sank into this type of comfort and companionship. Even after college they still decided to rent out an apartment in the depths of Busan together.

This was one of the things Mina always looked forward to in her day. She hated her work, her boss and her coworkers; but the stable pay and the fact they needed a roof over their heads made her stay. But at the end of the day, she would go home, escape the concrete jungle to retreat happily in their little apartment. One that she called her sanctuary. Sana knew how much Mina loved her alone time and Mina knew when to let Sana in when the latter wanted to have quality time.

So, for that day—and every other work day, she was excited to go home.

Mina stepped out to the busy streets, basking in the small amounts of fresh air as quickly as she could before it was filled with the carbons fuming with it. God, she hated the city sometimes. People come and go, all but a vague blur passing her by without stopping to even look at where they were going.

Before getting a ride home, she decided to stop by a small pastry shop nearby to buy bread for Sana. She knew how much her roommate loved fresh toast in the morning before they both head out to their respective jobs. She looked through the assortment of bread and biscuits displayed, picking out the ones she wanted for Sana and a small croquette for her to munch on as she traveled home.

After making her purchases, she walked over to the taxi stop, thinking she could skip the multiple travels home that day and take the easiest and quickest way home. Mina felt her shoulders slump when there was only one taxi left on the line but with no driver inside. Mina carefully approached the vehicle, checking if maybe the driver was just behind it or lying down inside. To her dismay, the cab was empty. Before she walked away to look for another taxi stop, a man rushed out from nowhere, telling her to hop in. Without thinking she turned back and entered in the car.

“Sorry, I took a bathroom break,” the driver said as he fastened his seatbelt, sweat covering his forehead. The scent filled the car, and it took a lot in Mina to not gag at the sour smell.

She covered her mouth subtly. “It’s okay. To Hansung apartments please,” she said as she relaxed in her seat. The driver simply looked at her through the rear-view mirror and nodded. Not uttering a word after. Mina found it a bit odd, but she shrugged it off. She just couldn’t wait to get into her apartment, remove her heels and take a nice long bath.

Before she sunk in again, she sent another message to Sana.

[Mina, 5:37 PM]: I’m taking a cab. 3433, white sedan. The driver is kinda creepy and he stinks.

[Sana, 5:38 PM]: Gross. Maybe lower the windows or something?

[Sana, 5:38 PM]: BUT BE CAREFUL. I’m still on my way home. If you take too long to get home then I’ll call the police immediately.

[Mina, 5:38 PM]: I hope that won’t be necessary. But it’s okay, I’ll be home before you know it. I also bought you bread.

[Sana, 5:39 PM]: Yay!! Thank you, I loaf you! <3

[Mina, 5:40 PM]: <3

A smile crept on her face. She loved Sana’s horrible puns, but she made it cute, so Mina didn’t mind it at all. She the kept her phone inside her bag and looked up. She closed her eyes for a bit, knowing it wasn't good to be staring at screens the whole day and she had enough of looking at numbers and random names for that day. She just wanted to be confined in her room at that moment.

If Mina didn’t need the stable job, she would have made a career for herself at being a hermit. She would rather be in pajamas the whole day and play video games than wear an uncomfortable pencil skirt and three-inch heels five times a week.

She opened her eyes again, trying to fixate on the moving buildings they were passing by. But something felt wrong. She sat up slowly, realizing she didn’t recognize the area they were driving in.

“I don’t think this is the way to my apartment,” she tried to tell the driver. But when she looked at him, she noticed that his hands were gripping the steering wheel so tight it would snap at any moment. His eyes were bolting from left to right and the sweat on his forehead was already dripping on the side of his face. He was drenched in sweat.

“Hello?” Mina tried her best to not show any fear in her voice. But she knew something was wrong. She grabbed her phone from her bag and tried to dial Sana’a number by instinct. Suddenly, the car started to pick up speed, which made her lose her balance. The velocity threw her back in her seat. Luckily, she had a tight grip on her phone, preventing it from falling off her hands.

She wasn’t sure what was happening, but she knew that she was in trouble. She didn't know how to deal with this. There were several things going through her head at that moment. Either she was going to be murdered by this crazy person behind the wheel, or he was actually crazy, and they were gonna plummet to their death or he was going to kidnap her and do horrible and unmentionable things to her. Mina’s heart was beating faster than earlier, tears were forming in her eyes.

Mina thought of grabbing the door and just jumping out. But seeing how fast they were going she might fall to her death before she knew it. But then again, that felt like a better idea than allowing this man to kidnap her.

“Fuck! Fuck, fuck fuck!” The driver shouted, his eyes still darting from side to side. He looked back, which made Mina look back as well. Feeling shocked would be an understatement, but if she wasn’t mistaken, there were about four black sedans right behind them, catching up with their speed.

The first thing Mina thought of was to duck, she needed to brace herself before anything happened. She heard a screech from outside and it made the driver swerve to the right and suddenly the car came to an abrupt and gruesome stop, making her and the driver be thrown from their seats.

That was the last thing she remembered.

“Mitang.”

“Sana?” Mina tried to look around, but she couldn’t see anything. She was surrounded by nothing but the darkness. Her body felt like it was floating in thin air.

“Mitang, wake up.”

“But I am awake? What’s going on?” suddenly there was a blunt pain circling her arms.

“Hey, wake up.”

“What?” Then she felt her body being thrown again.

She woke up suddenly, eyes shooting open. A dark figure was looming over her, and it made her scream. She curled up in a ball and covered her head with her hands. “Don’t hurt me, please!”

“W-what? No, I’m not going to hurt you,” the person frantically said. Mina looked up when she realized it was a woman talking to her. The woman was tall, blonde and... in a black suit? The red button up and the tiger paw tattooed on her neck stood out for her.

“W-who are you? Where am I?” Mina asked, still in a fetal position. She felt too scared to expose her body to the stranger. Her fingers left gaps wide enough for her to see through, hesitantly watching the person in front of her.

The woman adjusted her tie and looked down at Mina. Her confused expression was obvious. “Well, I can’t say you’re in a safe place per say. But since you seem to be caught up in our little mess, you won’t be harmed here.”

Mina wasn’t sure she should believe that, but she watched the stranger offer a hand to help her, and Mina hesitated at first but she still took it, slowly untangling herself from her defensive position. The stranger helped her sit up on the floor and knelt in front of her. Offering her hand again, but for a greeting.

“I’m Jeongyeon,” she introduced herself with a smile.

Mina was taken aback with how calm and friendly this person was. Her eyebrows were knitted and hesitated again. But she took the hand again and shook it. “Mina,” she said and that made Jeongyeon smile once more and immediately stood up.

“Well, Mina,” she started wiping her knees clean from the dirt and fixed her blazer. “I know you have a lot of questions about where you are and why you’re here. But everything has to go through our boss first, and I can’t let you go unless we explain your little situation with our hyungnim. After that, I promise, we can bring you home.”