Rebirth: King to Superstar

*Few Hours Back In Loshin Town* 

Jung-hwa was helping out her mom back at home, shopping at the local grocery store. As she was going through the shelf filled with ice creams and contemplating over which ice cream she should go for, her phone received a notification. 

She moved her eyes away from the shelf after a long time and took out her phone. She noticed it was from Joon-won and opened the chat to see what it was about. Joon-won rarely sent her texts and so she knew this might be about the help he asked before coming. 

Just like he expected, Joon-won's message was straight to the point, asking her if she had a free evening. After replying she was, he explained what he needed from her, and hearing what he had to say she immediately understood what he was worried about and agreed to check out what his sister Yun-hee was doing. 

She received the girl's school address along with a picture and decided to go at 4:45 just to be on the safe side. She also felt slightly worried about things. It was human nature to think about bad outcomes and she was thinking the same as Joon-won. 

The day went by and she went by the school he informed and waited from a distance, checking the gate for Yun-hee. After waiting for 20 more minutes, he finally saw a girl coming out of the school with a few of her friends. After talking for a few more minutes at the gate, she waved her hand at her friends and walked the opposite way. 

Jung-hwa quickly followed her from a distance, not trying to lose sight of her. She felt like a detective from the movies, following the criminal to find their den. She shook her head and removed all the unnecessary thoughts, and continued to follow her. After walking a few streets, she finally saw her walking into a shady alleyway. 

She quickly followed her and saw her going into a store while looking around to check if anyone was there. Jung-hwa hid for a second and went into the alleyway before entering the store. The store was a pub, an illegal pub. She looked around and saw only a few people, as it was still early for people to come in. Taking a seat, she looked around and couldn't find Yun-hee anymore. She panicked a little.

A waitress came by after seeing her taking a seat and asked what she wanted. Jung-hwa went for a beer and got it within a few seconds as she was thinking about Yun-hee.

She was contemplating whether to ask one of the people working for the girl but knew the only thing she would get from places like that was denial. It was illegal to hire high schoolers in the country and on top of hiring one; it was an illegal business. They will deny it completely and it was risky for her as the people weren't exactly friendly to people they didn't like. 

Luckily she didn't need to take any risks as she saw Yun-hee come out into the bar once again, but this time she wasn't in her school uniform but rather in a waitress dress. The dress was very revealing with the short skirt. The girl went around the bar, talking with people with the best smile she could muster, taking orders. 

Jung-hwa could easily see through the facade the young girl was keeping up with. The girl was extremely uncomfortable and did not like what she did one bit, but something was forcing her to do it. She wanted to go there, grab the girl by her shoulders and scream what is making her do this, find out her problems and try to help her the best she could do. 

But she couldn't do any of that, especially looking at how scary the people in the bar were. She saw a few guns in the men's pockets and on the table like they were showcasing trophies. It was illegal to own guns without a license and getting one is easy if they don't have any criminal history and take some courses issued by the government. 

She pondered over whether or not to call Joon-won but decided to do it after knowing a little more about the situation. She didn't want to jump the gun and make any misunderstandings. She looked around and found another waitress. She waved her hand and called her over before taking out a few notes from her bag. 

She placed the notes folded on the table as the waitress came over and asked, "This money is yours if you answer a few questions. Don't worry, I ain't with the police." Assuring the girl in front of her. The girl looked at the money on the table for a few seconds before looking at Jung-hwa, then back to the table, and nodded. 

"You don't look smart enough to be a police anyway, so shoot." She commented before snatching the money and counted on how much it was. 

Jung-hwa's face twitched when she heard the girl's diss but didn't flip and asked, "I want to know about the girl over there. Tell me what you know about her." She held the beer glass and pointed at Yun-hee, who was tending to a customer before taking a sip and making a regretful face later. 

"Oh, that high school girl. Yeah, she came over here a month ago, I think. She got recommended by another high school girl who works in the restricted section. She begged for a job and the boss took a bit of pity on her and gave it to her." 

Jung-hwa frowned when she heard 'restricted section'. She understood what the waitress meant by the restricted section. Her face was covered by disgust and asked slowly, "Does that girl work in the restricted section?" 

The waitress smiled as if she anticipated that question and replied, "The money you gave isn't worth that answer. Even if you give more, I won't tell. I don't want my head separated from my body because of a stranger. So, see ya." And walked away before Jung-hwa could stop her. 

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