THE THIEF

Chapter 1

In a slum on the edge of Seoul, the capital of South Korea.

Kim Bora comes home from hard work, only 10 steps left to reach the door of her family's tiny house. She heard loud noises coming from her house, crying, cursing, screaming.

She knew that something bad was about to happen. Bora ran quickly to open the door and entered, her beloved father was crying, kneeling in front of 5 men dressed in black. Bora knows them, it's her family's creditor.

- You promised me 1 more week, exactly 1 week has passed, now you say you need more time? – the head of the group raised his eyebrows and asked the elderly man kneeling in front of him.

- Please forgive me, I promise to pay as soon as possible, now I have run out of money.

- You broke your promise to me too much and I won't let you break your promise again.

- I beg you, forgive me this time.

- Goodbye.

*DANG*

Bora closed her eyes tightly, her heart throbbing painfully. Her mind went blank and she couldn't think of anything else.

From the moment she was born, she had to get used to this life of poverty. Her parents could not afford to give her proper education, she had to work from a very young age. A few years after she was born, her mother died in a road accident, since then she has lived with her father Kim. Bora has an older brother, but he left a long time ago because he couldn't stand the poverty. She lives alone with her difficult father, the two rely on each other, living day by day with meager wages.

There were times when there was no money to eat, her father had to borrow everywhere, and then gradually the debt became a huge amount of money because of the exorbitant interest. Every week she has to face creditors, experience moments of mental repression, fight to protect her own life.

And right now, she knew that everything had reached its limit and could not be saved anymore.

Bora slowly opened her eyes, the motionless corpse of her father came into view, her body trembling with fear. The creditor turned his head to see a young girl standing at the edge of the door.

- Oh, Mr. Kim's beautiful daughter is back - he said sarcastically.

- …………. - Bora did not dare to move, determined in her heart that she could not overcome this adversity anymore.

- Hurry up and clean up, next time I'll come visit you again - said the five of them, leaving without forgetting to nudge the poor girl once.

Bora fell against the doorframe, tears streaming down her thin cheeks. She looked at her father in pain, not daring to approach.

She stayed like that for a long time.

If she continued to live in this house, she would end up like her father.

She needs to get out of here.

Thinking like that, Bora turned to run away, leaving everything, including her poor father.

---

Next morning.

Bora woke up on a stone bench in a campus, the sunlight was already too high and it hit her. She rubbed her eyes and looked around. All night yesterday she walked a long distance to get out of the slum area where she has lived for more than 20 years.

She had advanced east, that is, into downtown Seoul, a magnificent, lavish and bustling city. Bora opened her phone, there were a lot of missed calls, one of them was Kim Minji, a friend who works at the same place as her.

She called Minji back.

"Bora, why don't you go to work today?"

- Minji, I won't work there anymore - Bora replied slowly, eyes absentmindedly looking ahead, where the river was flowing.

“What's wrong, Chef Choi is giving you so much trouble that you're frustrated?”

- No, it's just that I'm far away from Guryong area, I can't go back there to work anymore.

“So where are you now, why are you so far away?”

- I... I don't want to talk about this, if we have a chance to meet again, I will tell you. Please notify  manager Shin for me.

Bora finished speaking and then took the initiative to hang up the phone, ignoring Minji's remaining questions. She started to get up and walk around thinking about what to do next.

She spent the whole night walking a distance of nearly 15km, slept on a stone bench for a few hours, and now she continues to walk a long distance again. The small dilapidated house where she and father Kim lived was a place where no one came to except the creditors.

If they didn't come, no one would know there was a dead body there. Her father will still lie there alone until someone accidentally finds him. Thinking of that her heart bleeds, she has no other choice.

The money she has now is only enough for her to live for another 2 or 3 days. What would she do next, owe money to someone like her father?

In the evening, Bora stopped at a deserted river. The first time she stepped out of the Guryong area, she was very surprised, everything was new to her. She felt awkward being in such a strange place.

Suddenly she felt that life had no meaning anymore. Maybe she should go with her father.

This river is very empty, no one is there, if she just lies here and die, it will be okay, right?

Putting down the empty beer can, Bora lay on her back on the ground, lifeless looking at the bright stars in the sky. She had just eaten a dumpling and a can of beer, but she still felt hungry. But if she spends money to buy more food, she will have to fast tomorrow.

She had to endure.

Suddenly there was a noise around here, Bora jumped up. She saw a lot of people chasing a man, they were running towards where she was sitting.

Bora got up quickly and hid in a dark corner.

She watched the whole thing, there was a fight going on. The two sides fought and the lone man could not win, was stabbed a lot in the abdomen, bleeding profusely, he fell to the floor.

The others saw that the man was dead and left.

After a few minutes, the space was returned to its old state, eerily quiet. Bora poked her head out and looked around, there was really no one else, only the dead man.

So in just 2 days, she had to witness 2 people die.

Bora was about to run away out of fear when she heard the man hum. Thinking he was still alive, she approached timidly.

The man blindly saw a young girl beside him.

- Please....please help me - the man whispered.

Bora leaned closer to listen.

- Call... call.

Bora quickly took out her phone.

The man spoke a series of numbers intermittently, and she tried to listen to get it right.

"Hello"

- Ah...hello...ah...a man told me to call you, he was by a river.... - Bora wandered around looking for an inscription, she was don't know where this is.

- River... Demian - the man tried to breathe evenly and speak.

- The Demian River, he is here, come help quickly - said Bora hastily.

"Okay"

Bora hung up the phone, was about to get up to leave because she was still feeling scared when the other man grabbed her sleeve.

- Oh... what is it? - Bora panicked.

- 0810.

- Huh?

- Password to open the suitcase.

- What? - Bora frowned.

- The suitcase is at 195 Hyeonchungro Street, Namgu District, Daegu Province.

- ............ - Bora tried to remember the long address even though she didn't know why she had to remember it.

- Go get the suitcase and run away, don't let them find it.

The man finished speaking and then remained motionless, his hand sliding down from the bodice of Bora's shirt.

Bora shook him for a moment, getting no response. It seems......

She immediately ran away.

---

Daegu, the next morning.

After a few hours by train, Bora left the city of Seoul and traveled to another province with her own leftover coins. She didn't know why she had to come here and why she took her last meal money to come here. It was just the man's last words that stuck in her brain, she couldn't forget the address line and the code number.

Probably due to her excessive curiosity, she was curious to know what was inside that suitcase.

If it was nothing, then even if she starved to death right here, she would have really run out of money.

Bora went and asked the people around for the address, after a few hours she found it.

195 Hyeonchungro Road, Namgu District, Daegu Province.

It's a small abandoned house.

Bora felt wary, she looked around, the area was also deserted. She took a deep breath and went inside. The abandoned house was empty, nothing but a suitcase was placed on an old table.

Is a suitcase opened with a password. She carefully rotated the password according to the man's instructions.

- 0....8...1...0

The suitcase was opened, Bora gasped, there were piles of cash. She took out a pile to count, then mentally calculate the total amount in the suitcase.

- 5....500 million won?

Bora put her right hand on her left breast, she had never seen such a huge amount of money.

What should she do next?

---

Marriott Hotel in Daegu.

Bora plopped down on a soft bed. She didn't know why it had come to this point, but with the huge amount of money on hand, she needed to enjoy it first. Bora quickly went to buy a decent outfit to wear, then went to buy a big red handbag to hold the huge amount of money, if she kept holding that suitcase all the time, she wouldn't feel so good. Then she went to a luxurious 5-star hotel, rented the most expensive room to stay.

Bora slept soundly in her clean and warm bed. She had been sleeping hard for the past 2 days, sometimes sleeping on a stone bench in the street, sometimes sleeping on a train, on a hard wooden chair. Her joints, which were screaming in pain, were now relieved.

After waking up, Bora went down to the restaurant for dinner, she ordered the finest dishes, expensive dishes she had never tried, along with red wine.

Opposite the table Bora is sitting, 3 tables away, is a young girl, long blue hair, cold eyes, full dark red lips, sharp white nails tapping on the table. Next to the girl is her bodyguard.

- Lady Lee, why are you staring at her like that?

- Do you see...that girl is very beautiful? – the blue haired girl has not taken her eyes off the other person for a moment. The 3 tables that created a distance between her and the other girl were empty, so her straight angle of view was only captured by that girl’s image.

- That girl is very beautiful, but not the only beauty here.

- I mean... there's something very attractive about her...

- I've seen you looking at someone because they're beautiful, but this is the first time you’re admitted that verbally.

- Call the waiter here.

- Yes.

After ten seconds a girl approached.

- Hello Miss Lee.

- Go there and ask her name - the girl surnamed Lee jerked her chin toward the other person's table.

- Nae?

- After asking her name, lead her to the casino - After saying that, the blue-haired girl got up and left with the bodyguard.

---

Bora was eating deliciously when a girl approached.

- How do you feel about the food?

- Oh, delicious, delicious - Bora smiled brightly, looking at the uniform, it was determined that the other girl was the waitress here.

- Yes, I would like to ask for your name so that we can address you easily?

- Hmmm.... my name is Kim SuA – Bora made up a name, she felt unsafe to say her real name.

- Yes, Miss Kim SuA, there is a casino in the basement of the Marriott hotel, there are many fun things there, if Ms. Kim is interested, I would like to invite Ms. Kim to play there tonight.

- Casino?

- Yes, Miss Kim can come after dinner.

- Okay, thanks - Bora nodded, even though she didn't know what a casino was.

After dinner she was led down to the basement by an employee and entered the casino. She looked around in surprise, here everyone was playing games and using money as a means of winning or losing. She suddenly came up with some new definitions in her mind.

The casino staff led Bora to a table, where there were already 3 players, a woman and two men, one of which looked very old.

Bora gave a polite smile and introduced her name, Kim SuA. With her slightly bewildered face, the game manager understood and began to introduce the game, how to play, and the rules.

- Do you understand?

- Oh, I see - Bora nodded, she could understand this game very quickly, because it was also simple.

After the cards are dealt to the players, betting begins.

- 500 thousand won.

- 1 million won.

- 10 million won.

Bora looks at her card, is 2 very good cards, combined with 2 cards already opened in the center of the table, she can win this round. She didn't know how much money she should bet with such a good card, so what she did was to follow the bets of her opponents.

- I follow.

- 13 million won.

- 15 million won.

- 25 million won.

When it was Bora's turn, she was a little startled when she thought of the 25 million won.

It's only 1/20th of the money she has, but is it worth it to play a game and spend all that money....?

At the same time, a blue-haired girl appeared, wearing a beige dress and a round hat, looking both beautiful and mysterious. She sat down next to the middle-aged man.

Bora caught that girl’s gaze fixed on her. She immediately averted her gaze.

- Miss Kim, will you follow? – asked the manager.

- I follow - Bora replied boldly, her heart wavering slightly, her eyes still fixed on the middle-aged man sitting opposite, who had just bet 25 million won.

The man smiled and flipped his cards, 1 K card, 1 J card. At the same time, the other two also flipped their cards.

- Mr. Lee's card is 3 of a kind

Bora flips her cards, she has 2 K cards.

- Miss Kim's card is Four-of-a-kind, Miss Kim won 25 million won.

Bora sighed inwardly. Finally, she stood up because she did not want to continue. Her path was blocked by the blue haired girl. That girl was a little taller than her, causing Bora to look up at that girl as the two stood facing each other.

- Miss Kim played well, it's been a long time since my father lost so badly - The blue-haired girl smiled and behind her was a middle-aged man.

- Nothing, I'm just lucky - Bora hesitated at the other's arrow-like gaze.

- How old are you?

- My name is Kim SuA.

- I already know your name, how old are you?

- Well...I'm 25 years old.

- Oh, one year older than me

- Hmmm...how do you know my name?

- My family is the owner of this hotel as well as this casino, I know all the names of the customers here call me Sing - after the girl's words, the middle-aged man behind him burst into laughter.

- Ah...hello Sing.

- In 2 days, my family will have a dinner party, invite you to join the fun.

- Oh....... - Bora stammered.

- You just took 25 million won from my father, you should accept the offer as compensation.

- Ah....yes...it's fine.

- Someone will send you the address later, please remember.

- Yeah....so...I go now, bye Sing, bye Sir - Bora said, hurriedly leaving awkwardly, leaving behind the scornful smile of the younger girl.

- Really, you introduced her to the nickname at home, not your real name, Siyeon – the middle-aged man still has not stopped being funny.

Siyeon smirked and sighed silently, her name Sing was only called by her family when she was at home, now she brought that name to introduce to a strange girl, she herself did not understand

End of chapter 1.