Hyeonverse The Vanishing

Author's Notes

A most sincere thank you to Decal_Last, Dr. C. Cat., and Hey All for helping me bring my story into readable form.

This tale runs in parallel with the last chapters of

Kissed By Darkness

.

It was supposed to be my Halloween submission, but life kept happening. I hope you enjoy this little nightmare before Christmas.

Hyeonverse Chronology

- The Vulture of Minsk (1975-2005)

- Kissed By Darkness (1985-2005)

-

Vanished (2005)

- A Ticket to Nevada (2008)

- Monster (2014)

- A Game For Six (2016)

- The Last of the Balagans (2016)

- Dark Reflections (2019)*

*Although Dark Reflections was the first story I ever wrote, it's actually the epilogue to this series, with Hyeon finally embracing her role as a young (and extremely unlicensed) private investigator.

All my pirate girls were born in 2000, so when I say Hyeon, Vailea, or NaDana are eight years old, that story takes place in 2008.

PHAY!

A tropical rainforest covers the mountains out here in northern Laos and it's so loud, even at night. Especially at night.

I grew up with a soundtrack of bird noises, the distant purring of nightjars and the screeching calls of white-nest swiftlets. It's such a soothing and comforting sound, like a soft blanket surrounding me with warmth and tenderness.

Its absence was the first thing I noticed. The deafening silence. How eerily quiet the jungle was when they came for me.

It's as if the green mountains knew what was about to happen and froze in horror, watching those armed men throw us out of the tuk-tuk and into the middle of the dirt road.

This had to be the clumsiest kidnap attempt in the history of kidnapping.

I recognized their leader, the one they called Loy, immediately. He was a local school bully when we were kids. Later, he became a petty thief and was eventually kicked out of our village. Rumors had it he had moved to Luang Prabang and joined a gang of equally minded small-time crooks. Why was he here, back in Ban Lan Nok?

Life in the big city had changed him, he had a horrible scar on his cheek now that seemed to have poisoned his soul. There was so much wickedness in his eyes.

Laos is a calm place, we're laid back, easy going. Hospitable. Life is simple and hassle free. We may not be as giddy as our Thai cousins to the south, but you'll always feel welcomed here. So where did all this bitterness and hatred come from?

What had happened to him there? To them?

One in particular, a short one with a limp kept eyeing me, his AK-47 trained on my chest. I remembered him from our school days as well, Kao. He used to be one bad apple, but at least he kept it to himself. Not anymore.

"On your knees, DOCTOR Phay!" he barked at me with contempt.

It was probably my suit, it rubbed him the wrong way. I had come dressed to impress, bearing presents; this was supposed to be the return of the prodigal son. I was back to my childhood village for the first time in years, after losing my wife and closing down my clinic in a bout of depression.

A self imposed exile that ended when the Boxing Day Tsunami hit Southeast Asia, killing hundreds of thousands. Helping the survivors had shifted my perspective and given me a second wind.

I was coming home with a newfound zest for life and even a new fiancée, a gleeful little firecracker who would be flying in later, once she was done saying goodbye to the Parisian lifestyle.

Man plans and God laughs, they say.

Somebody must have panicked. Memory is fuzzy, but I know someone ran and someone shouted. Suddenly, everybody was running and screaming. I lifted my arms to calm things down, surely we could find a way to reason with our bungling would-be kidnappers.

Kao didn't take kindly to my efforts to commandeer the situation. The muzzle of his rifle flashed, lighting up the night and the jungle exploded in a cacophony of bird cries.

I don't remember the pain, but the taste of iron in my mouth told me I had been shot.

What I remember was the sound filling the air all around me. The voices of a million songbirds bringing me back to my childhood. Up there, a mountain fulvetta! Oh, my God, I hadn't heard their ballads in forever. Over there, a crested finchbill! And a bamboo woodpecker, when was the last time I had heard one? I had forgotten how I had missed those beautiful melodies. This was home, my home, sweet home.

"Phay!" Someone shouted, but I was already gone.

I was smiling when my body hit the ground.

A TASTE OF LOATHING

"You're North Korean, aren't you?"

Blood drained from Gyu-ri's face.

Her eyes darted to the door, it was just two meters away, but it might as well have been on the moon. Running would only get her

shot.

She'd never make it out of the police precinct alive. Worse, she'd probably get her husband Jae and their five years old daughter Hyeon

killed.

Gyu-ri shifted on the hardwood chair, scanning the walls of the tiny room. Standing behind her, the Laotian policeman peered out through his office window blinders. Jae was in the waiting room on the other side, surrounded by cops, and playing patty cake with their little baby girl to distract her:

"Mr. Bear, where's the honey

Mrs. Tiger brought.

The honey's all in his tummy

And she's all distraught."

They had been practicing that Chinese lullaby for

weeks

.

"I... I'm s-sorry?" Gyu-ri summoned her best poker face. Her heart had been racing for

hours

.

"Your kid's Mandarin, her

accent

is off."

"Y... young man, you've d-detained my family for t-this?" She stuttered.

The policeman closed the blinders and walked back to his desk.

"You can tell she learned the language from a schoolbook," he said, plopping on his blue ergonomic chair. "If you're Chinese tourists, I'm

Captain Fantastic

."

Gyu-ri stiffened, fidgeting her fingers, too exhausted and scared to concoct an escape plan.

They had been through so much hardship, crossing the North Korean border into China, splitting from their sixty strong group to avoid drawing attention. China was everything they had hoped and feared, a magical land where the food was as plentiful as the opportunities.

Electricity ran freely there, day and

night

, it was beautiful and bright, vast and rich beyond their wildest dreams. But it was also terrifying, with uniforms lurking from every corner. Everywhere they went, invisible eyes seemed to track them.

Jae had planned to journey south through Laos, hoping to reach Thailand where they could seek asylum at the South Korean consulate. It was a dangerous plan, the Laotian authorities were notoriously hostile to North Korean defectors, and now she was experiencing it firsthand.

All because little Hyeon had dropped her toy bike and called her Dad

appa

instead of

bába

. That blasted child and her innate

talent

for ruining

everything!

And that

fucking

toy bike, why did Jae have to insist she brought it?

Two policemen had stopped them and Jae tried to bribe them, but he lacked the

malice

to pull it off. He was just a kind and honest big bear of a man trying to save his family. They had taken his money and arrested them anyway, bringing the three of them here.

Gyu-ri cursed herself for playing along, they had gambled away their lives and lost. If only she had put her foot down, but she loved her husband dearly and could never say no to him.

"L-listen, I don't know w-where you get off..." her words died when he grabbed the phone.

"You think you're the first one?" he said. "I've been doing this for over

five

years now, we catch people like you all the time trying to sneak into Thailand."

"O-officer..."

"Choose

very

carefully which bullshit you're about to sell me, my first week on the job I sent a

pregnant

woman back.

One

phone call and you'll find yourself back in

Pyongyang

faster than you can spell

kimchi

."

That was it.

It was over, they were dead. Jae's stupid fucking plan. Hyeon's stupid little mouth and her stupid plastic toy. They were going to torture and kill her and her whole family. Stupid, stupid,

stupid

.

Exhaustion took over her, maybe it was time to finally give up. Maybe it would be for the best...

In the waiting room, Jae was laughing, trying to hide his anxiety. Jae, the love of her life. Her kind and beautiful Jae. They were going to

kill him

.

She had made a promise when she was a kid starving in the streets of Hyesan. A boy had walked up to her as she leaned against a dumpster, and offered her half of his biscuit. Nobody had ever shown Gyu-ri this much compassion before, it was such a kind gesture. Such a kind boy. She was instantly smitten.

She needed that warmth, that goodness in her life. That night, she had pleaded to the starry skies, making a silent promise. If she could only have that boy all for herself, she would cherish him forever. Look after him, love him and

protect

him.

The stars had accepted the deal and delivered her his precious heart. Wasn't it about time she honored

her

side of the bargain?

Anger ignited in her chest. Anger at herself, anger at Jae's plan, anger at that stupid child and her stupid toy bike, but above all, anger at this fucking snot-nosed kid in his neatly ironed patrolman first class uniform sitting proudly in his blue ergonomic chair, all satisfied with himself and his shoebox sized office.

How old was he? Where did he get off acting this uppity in front of her? What was

his

claim to fame, an ugly badge and a stupid hat?

Mrs. Kan Gyu-ri had built herself up from abject poverty through hard work and sacrifice, earning a fucking degree in International Relations by the Kim Il-sung University.

Besides Korean, she was fluent in Mandarin, Japanese, Thai, English,

and

French.

In her youth, she was almost drafted to the

Kippunjo

, to provide sex and entertainment to high ranking party officials, and even now at age 28 and after three... no,

two

stillbirths, men still ogled her on the streets.

Who the

fuck

was he?

Gyu-ri was a pragmatic woman who loved her husband more than anything in the world, but she also knew when the jig was up. Jae had played his cards and lost. It was all on her now, life or death depended on what she would do in the next minutes.

Her and her lightning fast and nearly infallible

nunchi

.

Back home,

nunchi,

or the art of being able to read the room and guess what others are thinking or feeling was crucial to one's survival, especially living under a strict regime where the slightest

faux-pas

could be met with the cruellest of consequences.

'

Improvise, adapt, and overcome,

' she had once heard in a movie.

She had only

one

last asset left and she needed to play it

expertly

.

It was a shot in the dark, but taking a deep breath, Gyu-ri crossed her legs and her skirt rose up. That cursed skirt that she had hated at first for showing her knees.

Now, she wished it was shorter.

It didn't matter, it produced the desired effect. The young officer glanced down and finally noticed her splendid legs.

Disgust crawled up her stomach and Gyu-ri felt her bowels turn. No, she couldn't

afford

to be squeamish now. This was it, her last gamble,

their

only chance.

"O-officer... Inthara, is it? Vien?"

She conjured a smile from the depths of despair.

This was a role, just a

character

she was playing, Gyu-ri told herself. Just like in the

movies.

"A-are you an

ambitious

y-young man, officer Vien?"

His gaze navigated her body, climbing from her long legs to her generous hips, negotiating her firm breasts all the way up to her succulent lips.

"Do you h-have a good

imagination

?" Gyu-ri licked her pouty lips, fluttering her eyelashes as she draped herself in a temptress character.

"Mrs. Zhou, you..." the young officer stammered and in his hesitation, her

nunchi

pierced through the boy's entire life history.

An overachiever who had worked hard to get to where he was, he had denied himself all the little pleasures life had to offer in order to rise through the ranks and out of destitution.

His sexual inexperience screamed through the way his fingertips burrowed into the chair's armrests.

"Yes, I am Mrs. Zhou," she purred in perfect Thai, letting the language's musical staccato rhythm flow seductively through each curling of her tongue. She was gorgeous and her confidence in her beauty made her twice as stunning.

Slowly, she unbuttoned her shirt. His eyes lingered on her cleavage as she got up, swaying her hips toward him like a

femme fatale

in a

noir

film.

"You've got me," She winked as she sat on his desk with regal poise.

"Boss, the kid..." A younger police officer barged into his office.

"Get the fuck

out!

" Vien roared. The stupefied colleague beat a retreat.

"So rude, isn't he?" Mrs. Zhou smiled at Officer Vien.

She might not be Maggie Cheung or Gong Li, but she knew she was

all

woman, a love goddess standing before a little boy role playing

cops and robbers

. Her knee slid between his legs, brushing his erection.

"Just when we were about to get to know each other better."

"This... Mrs. Zhou, this..." Now,

he

was the one stuttering. "We-we can't..."

"Shhh, hold your breath," her index finger traced the contour of his young chest. "Make a wish and count. To. Three."

"Mrs. Zhou..."

"Come with me." Her lips touched his. "And you'll be in a world of pure imagination."

'It's just

theater,

' Gyu-ri repeated to herself. 'This is not me, this is a role. I'm a

character

in a play. I'm Mrs. Zhou.'

Her breasts pressed against his chest and her mind traveled to her Jae. Beautiful Jae, nervous Jae,

kind

Jae laughing through his fear in the next room. Could she betray the love of her life and the only man she had ever slept with?

Then, she pictured him back in Pyongyang being tortured before being hanged or beheaded before a hostile audience while loudspeakers jeered insults at him.

Of course

she could. Hadn't she promised to the stars she'd always protect him?

Anything

for her Mr. Bear!

Her tongue brushed against Vien's while her hand caressed his manhood, releasing it. Almost as big as her husband's.

"Wait," she said.

He wasn't a good kisser. Touching his chin, Mrs. Zhou inserted her digit in his mouth and showed him the technique Jae had taught her.

"Move it. Like. This."

She pulled the young patrolman down his chair and climbed on top of him, her mouth never offering his a respite. Removing her panties, Mrs. Zhou cursed her dry womanhood. Jae could get her wet within seconds, sometimes with but a naughty wink. Wetting her fingers, she moistened her nether lips before inserting Vien's virginal mast in her.

"

Hn!

" She winced. "Vien..."

In the other room, little Hyeon was making

Vroom

noises, running around the rows of chairs with that fucking toy bike of hers. Deafening herself to the family she was now betraying, Mrs. Zhou focused on the man in front of her, desperate to rock his world. She needed to blow his mind. Their very

lives

depended on her performance.

Slowly, she rode him on his chair, in and out as the sensation of his manhood in her grew pleasant. Aroused, the young patrolman released her perky breasts and she rewarded him with her tongue on his. One day, the boy would be a great kisser.

"Yes. Like that... just like that.

Hmm!

"

Mrs. Zhou basked in the tingling sensation of his pubic hair caressing her love button.

Ah, shibal

, she was getting wet and horny now. She shouldn't be enjoying this, but it felt so good.

"Oh, Mrs. Zhou..."

What was this feeling? Like a slow, rising tide, her body was rocking toward an orgasm. Guilt wasn't enough to stymie its approach.

"

Oh!

Vien...

hmm!

" The feeling of his rough hands on her soft orbes drove her closer and closer to the peaks of pleasure.

"

Ooh, Mrs. Zhou, I'm... I'm

..." Vien exploded too soon, ejaculating deep inside her love tunnel. "

Oh, Mrs. Zhou

..."

Mrs. Zhou smiled at him, feeling the warmth of his seed flood her intimacy. A few minutes more and she too would have climaxed. Oh, well... maybe it was for the best that her betrayal hadn't been fully consummated. She kissed him softly, her hands gliding through his hair. She had

won.

She had saved her beloved Jae! Once more, her infallible

nunchi

had triumphed.

Then, her gaze met his. There was fire in patrolman first class Vien Inthara's expression. His erection never deflated. Flames of lust burned in his eyes, powered by his youthful vigor. So soon? Jae usually needed at least fifteen minutes to do it again.

Getting up, he flipped her on his blue ergonomic chair and, climbing on top of her, plunged deep into the gorgeous woman.

"Oh,

Vien

..." Mrs. Zhou giggled, surprised by the boy's strength and stamina.

Unceremoniously, he plowed her, driving his member into the farthest reaches of her, huffing at each thrust.

The wet sound of their sweaty flesh smacking filled the room.

Fap! Fap! Fap! Fap! Fap!

"Mrs. Zhou... Mrs. Zhou..."

Fap! Fap! Fap! Fap! Fap!

"

Oh!

Vien..."

"Fap! Fap! Fap! Fap! Fap!"

Her sexual arousal soared and Mrs. Zhou surrendered herself to the wonderful sensations. Her fingers caressed the hood of her clit and within moments, small spasms overwhelmed her.

"

H! Hm! Oh! H! Vien! Hn!"

she moaned through a riveting orgasm.

Shibal

, it was all so wrong and yet so

intoxicating

.

Having this little boy under her spell excited her, he was her toy, her plaything.

"

Ooh, Mrs. Zhou!

" Vien tried to last longer this time, but Mrs. Zhou was so tight and drenched.

Lust won and the officer climaxed, once more sending jets of his young and powerful sperm into her womb. It was done.

They kissed slow and passionately, holding onto each other on the blue ergonomic chair. Did he enjoy fucking her as much as she had enjoyed being fucked by him? She hoped so, their very lives depended on it.

"I'm in here now," Mrs. Zhou smiled, brushing the hair off his eyes. "This is your happy moment, wherever you go."

The young patrolman smiled with gratitude, his once precious principles now fully corrupted. Basking in the afterglow of an unbelievable orgasm, Mrs. Zhou glanced around the small cubicle, stopping on the blinders of his office window.

There was a tiny gap at the bottom.

Eyes sizzling with unbridled hatred glared at her through the hole.

Hyeon!

How much had she seen?! A strong arm yanked the girl out of there.

Horror shattered her fantasy, and guilt sank Gyu-ri's heart. Cleaning herself up, she gave the young officer a long kiss, pouring all of her acting talent into the role.

"G-goodbye, officer Inthara," her voice cracked as she exited the room. "I'll m-meet you again in y... in your dreams."

The police officers smirked when Gyu-ri joined her family in the waiting room. Her Jae was there and his transformation shocked her. He had always been so tall and strong, yet now he seemed small, hunched, and looking down at his feet under the weight of humiliation.