Chapter 1: Flight Through the Lawless Forest

Her breath surged to her throat.
Her lungs burned as if they might tear, but she couldn’t stop.
She pushed through branches blocking her path, running like a madwoman.
Wet leaves from the previous day’s rain made her feet slip with every step.
She dug her toes into the ground, forcing herself forward.
Then, a protruding tree root caught her, and she crashed to the ground.

She sprang up, gasping harshly, scanning her surroundings.
A CCTV camera mounted on a nearby tree came into view.
Not long ago, Hokok Forest was classified as a restricted zone, off-limits to the public—a lawless place.
‘Maybe the Vietnamese police are watching through that camera, knowing everything happening here.’
Even so, they wouldn’t help.
If they were coming, they’d be here by now.

She had to escape.
It had been too long since she parted from her group.
She needed to find them.
‘So…’

Bang!
The woman, rising from her fall, flinched at the gunshot shaking the forest.
She knew it was a warning shot, but the sound alone stiffened her body.
They probably fired knowing it would paralyze her with fear.

She stood and ran again.
Her foot slipped on wet leaves with a whoosh.
Startled, she lost her balance, staggering.
She stepped back, only to slip again, tumbling down a slope.
She grabbed desperately at anything within reach.
Finally stopping, she panted heavily.

Her arm, scratched by branches, stung, but she barely noticed.
The men’s roars filled the forest, clawing at her mind.

[“Tim chora!”] (Go find her!)
[“Phai bât durge nó!”] (We must catch her!)

Their shouts echoed right above her.
Terror of being caught peaked.
She held her breath.
Her vision began to sway.
The trees surrounding her seemed to step closer.
The space was shrinking.

‘No. Please… stay focused!’
Against her will, her consciousness drifted.
She flailed her hands, trying to push back the encroaching trees, but it was futile.
Her vision flickered to black.

The armed men scoured the forest.
‘Catch the woman, get 1.5 million dong.’
The condition: take her alive.
It was easy money—a weak woman, nothing more.
Greedy for the bounty, the men sniffed around like wild dogs.
One spotted a trail where she’d slid down.
He turned to call his comrades but paused, thinking of the reward.
‘Catch her alone, keep it all.’

He slid down the slope.
His heavy body and sturdy boots helped him balance quickly.
Spotting the woman’s collar behind a tree, he grinned.
No one else was around—she was his.

He rushed forward, cocking his gun and aiming at her.
The woman, inspecting a wound on her leg, looked up in shock.

‘She’s pretty. Really pretty.’
His eyes locked onto her exposed thigh.
‘Look at that.’
Saliva pooled in his mouth.
If not for his scattered comrades, he’d have pinned her down right there.
But the bounty came first.

[“Đứng lên!”] (Stand up!)

She understood and slowly rose.
As she moved, her white thigh disappeared under her clothes.
But now, through her torn shirt, he glimpsed her cleavage.
His eyes blazed red.

“Save me.”
She spoke in Korean, stepping closer.
He smirked, looking at her terrified face.
‘The intel was wrong. They said she was dangerous, but she looks so weak.’

She grabbed his sleeve, pressing closer.
His gun was already lowered.

“Please… save me…”
As she pleaded again, her hand suddenly seized his gun.
With a swift kick, she struck his groin.

“Ugh!”
The man collapsed to his knees.
A cold barrel pressed against his shoulder.
He looked up, eyes wide with fear.
She smirked coldly.
Her finger moved on the trigger.

Bang!
Argh!
He fell, seeing his comrades rushing toward them.
Her gun fired again.
One shot, two shots—bullets cut through the air.
Each shot dropped a man.
Not a single bullet missed; one shot, one kill.

Laughing, she unleashed a barrage of gunfire that dominated the forest.
Bright red blood began to flow between the wet leaves.

Honk! Honk!
Rohee turned toward the sound.
A car blared its horn in front of her.
A motorcycle zipped past, grazing her with a whoosh.
The breeze whipped her hair, snapping her back to reality.

[“Get out of the way, you woman!”]
The driver leaned out, yelling with coarse curses.
Rohee stumbled back onto the sidewalk.

Honk, honk.
Horns screeched everywhere, sharp as shouts.
She grabbed a passerby and asked in halting Vietnamese,
[“Where am I?”]

The person looked at her like she was crazy but answered quickly,
[“Vung Tau.”]
They hurried off as if fleeing.

Rohee checked her watch for the date and time.
There was still time.
She scanned her surroundings.

Vung Tau’s rush hour was chaos.
Motorcycles roared like a threatening mob, clogging the roads.
Cars, desperate to move forward, added shrill horns to the mix.
The air, thick with black exhaust, choked her.
A gray sky and light rain blurred her vision further.

Rohee caught her reflection in a building’s glass window.
Her hair was disheveled, her face haggard.
A sudden chill hit her.
She pulled up the collar of her hastily found trench coat, trying to block the misty air and pollution, but it was useless.
Despite the hot, humid southern Vietnam climate, she felt cold—her body was clearly not right.

She stepped onto the road.
Honk!
A sharp horn startled her, and she quickly retreated to the sidewalk.
No gaps appeared in the traffic.
She tried several times, but the motorcycles showed no sign of stopping.
Though she’d lived in Vietnam for years, she couldn’t get used to the city’s motorcycle hordes.
Then—

“Everyone, cross when I signal! Watch me!”
A familiar Korean voice made her turn.
A guide leading tourists watched the road and shouted,
“Now! Cross!”

As if by magic, the cars and motorcycles stopped.
The tourists surged forward.
Rohee seized the moment, darting into their group.

Joining the tourists, she crossed the street and slipped into a narrow alley.
If the main road was a lawless zone packed with motorcycles, the back alleys were a dark, silent hell.
Stepping around stagnant puddles, she tripped over scattered trash.
Walking while watching the ground and her surroundings was harder than it seemed.
Shabby slate roofs on crumbling cement walls looked ready to collapse.
Grimy tarps flapped in the wind, making unsettling noises.

Fear gripped her, but Rohee kept walking.
A building with a black flag should appear soon.

Clang.
Her foot kicked a rolling bottle, making a loud noise.
Startled, she stepped back, heart racing, and turned.
Her breath caught again.
Beyond a window’s iron bars, a woman’s face looked like a ghost.
Rohee turned and ran.
She fled through the foul-smelling alley until her breath choked her, then stopped.

A black flag appeared ahead.
At the alley’s end, a gate leaned crookedly, its red paint dripping grotesquely.

Relieved, Rohee moved toward it but froze.
Someone was there.
In the darkening alley, shadowed figures loomed—more than one.

‘It’s them!’
She slowly backed away.
The shadows moved too.
Rohee spun and ran back the way she came.
In the narrow, barely two-meter-wide alley, her frantic footsteps mingled with the chaotic sounds of her pursuers.