NOVEL NEXT Chapter 80: Hope
The man who confiscated Miko's walkie-talkie suddenly grabbed her by the arm after the last transmission.
"Let go of me!" Miko shouted, thrashing against his grip.
"Miko! Don't touch her!" Suzune screamed, her voice cracking with desperation. But the men surrounding them only sneered, moving in closer. One grabbed Ichika, another twisted Suzune's wrist until she gasped in pain.
"You girls are coming with us," the first man said with a grin, dragging them down the corridor toward the suites.
Suzune kicked against the carpet, but the man only yanked her arm higher behind her back. "Ouch!"
He leaned down, his breath sour against her ear. "You've got low pain tolerance. That's good. You'll be moaning for me soon enough."
Her eyes widened. "What… what are you saying?"
The man holding Miko chuckled darkly, his hand snaking up her arm as she tried to twist away. "You girls are clueless. Out there? The world's gone. No laws, no cops, no families left to protect little doves like you. That means you only have one role left now—" His lips curled into a sick smile. "Pleasure-givers. That's all."
"What…?" Miko's voice cracked. The words hit her like a slap, stealing the breath from her lungs. She froze, body trembling as the meaning sank in. Images she didn't want flooded her mind—herself pinned down, stripped, her friends crying beside her. Her stomach churned, bile rising up her throat.
Ichika's eyes burned with fury. "You filthy scum—!" She tried to swing her knee into the man's groin, but he caught her easily, shoving her against the wall with a thud.
"Fiesty," he sneered, pressing her harder against the plaster. "I like the fighters. They're the ones who break the sweetest."
Suzune whimpered as another man's hand slid along her shoulder. She shook her head violently, strands of hair sticking to her tear-streaked face. "No! Don't touch me! Stay away!"
Their captors laughed, the sound cruel and hungry. The hallway, once just an ordinary hotel corridor with faded carpeting and dim chandeliers, now felt like a cage. The girls were nothing more than prey cornered by wolves.
Hana, small and silent, crouched in the corner, too terrified to move. She clutched her knees to her chest, watching as her sister's friends were dragged away. One of the men glanced at her, his grin faltering.
"Not her," he muttered, waving a dismissive hand. "Boss said the kid's off-limits. He's got plans. Come on dude, she's not legal."
Hana's chest heaved with shallow breaths, but her eyes never left her friends. She wanted to scream, to claw, to bite, to do something—but she was frozen, a trembling rabbit in the lion's den.
The men pushed Miko, Suzune, and Ichika toward a large door marked Executive Suite. The lock was already broken, the brass plate dangling. Inside, the curtains were drawn, and candles flickered on the nightstands, casting grotesque shadows across the king-sized bed.
Miko's face went pale. She dug her heels into the carpet, shaking her head.
"No… no, please… don't do this!"
Her captor only laughed, yanking her inside. "Scream all you want. No one's coming to save you."
Her knees buckled when he shoved her against the bed. The mattress sank beneath her trembling hands, the candlelight flickering across her tear-streaked face. She tried to push herself back, to crawl away, but the man caught her ankle and dragged her forward.
"Let her go!" Suzune screamed from the doorway, thrashing as another man pinned her arms behind her back. Her voice cracked, desperate, but the laughter that answered her was merciless.
Ichika kicked at her captor, her voice shaking with fury. "You disgusting bastards! You'll pay for this!"
Her words only drew a sneer. "Tch. Still mouthing off? Don't worry, princess, we'll shut you up soon enough."
Miko's captor leaned over her, his hand pressing down on her shoulder, forcing her onto the mattress. His other hand traced along her arm, fingers rough, deliberate. She sobbed, shaking her head violently.
"Stop! Please, stop!"
Her voice broke into raw screams that bounced off the walls of the suite, but no one answered them—only the sick laughter of the men who thought they ruled this lawless world.
Suzune cried out as her captor whispered something vile into her ear, and Ichika's curses turned into panicked gasps as she struggled to breathe under the weight holding her down.
Miko's chest heaved with panic, her vision blurring with tears. She thought of Hana. Of the supermarket. Of Riku. A voice in her mind screamed he'll come for us—but it was drowned by the man's mocking chuckle.
"Look at you," he taunted, gripping her chin and forcing her to meet his eyes. "Crying already. You'll break faster than I thought."
Her lips trembled, words barely spilling past them. "Riku… help me…"
The man laughed harder, bending close, his shadow swallowing her. "Riku? Whoever he is, he's not here. No one's here but us."
And then—
WHUMP-WHUMP-WHUMP.
The ceiling vibrated faintly. The glasses on the nightstand rattled. A low, heavy thrum rolled through the walls, muffled but growing louder.
The man froze mid-laugh, his brow furrowing. The others glanced toward the curtained window, confusion flickering across their faces.
"What the heck was that? Check it out!"
The man nearest the window yanked the curtains open with a violent tug—only for his smirk to vanish.
Outside, the night sky pulsed with menace. A dark silhouette hovered against the moonlight, twin rotors slicing the air with that thunderous whump-whump-whump. Its shape was sharp, angular, predatory. The red glow of its targeting optics swept across the resort façade like an unblinking eye searching for prey.
"What the hell is that…?" one of them whispered, voice cracking.
Another cursed, stumbling back a step. "Shit—it's a gunship!"
The Black Shark loomed outside the hotel, hovering steady in the air as if it had been summoned from the pits of hell itself. The faint gleam of rocket pods and missile rails lined its stub wings, the 30mm cannon mounted like a predator's jaw.
Miko's tears still streamed, but for the first time, her lips curved into a trembling smile.
"Riku…" she whispered.