Chapter 3 - 3: Humiliated

As what they have agreed, Kim Eunji booked a flight to Beiiing immediately and took the flight a day after Kelly left. She still had some matters to settle in Japan. For the past 4 years, she had been travelling around the world to explore and appreciate the beauty that nature could offer to mankind and capture it with the help of her camera. She also had other purposes why she travelled.

She had no problem with her finances as her parents invested her income well by buying stocks from different well-known and well-established companies all over the world under her birth name.

However, she felt guilty because of how that money was earned in the past. So she decided to never touch the income she earned from dividends. Instead, she established foundations around the world to help those deserving people to have a new chance in life. Especially those children in impoverished areas all over the world who had little to no access to quality education and healthcare. She hoped that by doing so, she could help change their lives.

She had other means of earning money. One was somewhat illegal but at least it did not require her to take a person's life. (She had been doing this when she was fourteen without the knowledge of the Union and even her parents.

This was also how she met Kelly at fifteen.)

Her other source of income was being a freelance photographer.

Photography was her hobby ever since. She even sneaked in taking pictures while on a mission. But just like the other one, she had to hide this hobby from them.

While she was inside the airplane, she could feel that a pair of malicious eyes was looking towards her direction. She didn't have to look around because she could already point out where exactly the gaze came from.

It's not the first time that she encountered something like this while she was inside the airplane.

She glanced at the direction and saw a burly man wearing a suit sitting behind her; seven seats away from her to be exact, looking at her maliciously. Excluding the man, she saw four other people wearing in a similar cut suit and pants. If she included the vacant seat beside the man, she counted a total of six people.

As long as the man and his subordinates wont make things difficult for her while she's inside the airplane or the airport, she would make this pass.

She could tell at one glance that these people were not from her world. Probably some gangsters or mafia people but not mercenaries whom she had lived or encountered with in the past.

She decided to not pay them any attention and decided to take a nap instead.

When the airplane finally landed, Kim Eunji took her duffle bag and fixed her baseball cap, face mask and the canon camera hung in her neck.

She was wearing simple white V-neck shirt underneath her denim jacket. She was wearing black jeans and black sneakers. Her hair was tied in a low ponytail. Though her face was mostly hidden, people could not dare to not look towards her direction. She had this 'peerless natural beauty' that many woman would feel insecure to stand beside her even in this get up. What more if she showed her face to them?

She heaved a sigh of relief as she could not feel those hot gazes behind her anymore.

She confidently made her way out of the airport. She hailed a cab and then went to Beijing's Queen's Paradise Resort and Casino. Kelly insisted that she should stay on her place but knowing that her best friend was already living with her husband, she didn't want to be the third-wheel.

The wedding wont be held on Beijing but on a more peaceful place in the Province of Hainan. Kelly told her that they will be moving there next week. She only had few days left to prepare.

The wedding will be private and in a resort owned by him. Kim Eunji had no idea who Kelly's husband was. But she could tell that he was no ordinary man for making the rebel Kelly well-behaved and be dumbstruck in love like a fool.

It's not the first time that Eunji had been to Beijing. In fact, she had been in this city a couple of times during her missions. This will be the third time that she's not here to take someone's life.

While she was inside the cab, she received a call from her best friend. However, she was so tired to even entertain the latter's rant towards her. She had seen the car and chauffeur that Kelly's husband probably arranged for her earlier. But she chose to not ride in that car. She knew that her actions were not only rude and impolite, she even made them lose face.

As the car came to a stop, the cab driver notified her that they had arrived. She gave the driver Chinese ¥20,000.00 as her fare and did not ask for her change. She was thankful that the driver was polite enough to not wake her up when she had a six minute nap and was even so considerate to not drive recklessly. She also handed him a form that would grant him a spot in her foundation when she found out that his wife was in the hospital and was suffering from an acute heart condition.

Her reasoning caught him off-guard. He was an immigrant from the Philippines and he never expected that his small act of caring would reward him beyond his imagination. After his wife got hospitalized, he thought that the person up above did not exist but he was proven wrong. Now, he sent one of his angels to help him from his problems and struggles.

Kim Eunji was more than willing to help those people like Mr. Santos. She could tell at one glance that he was a good and kind-hearted man.

Kim Eunji knew that no matter how many times she helped other people, it would never change who she was in the past. This was her way of self-redemption and she's happy doing this.

Kim Eunji got out of the car and made her way inside the lobby of the building where the Reception was located.

Queen's Paradise Resort and Casino in Beijing was now a 7-star hotel in China and had several branches all around the world.

Inside the lobby, a huge 3-layer chandelier with diamond crystals and 24K gold.

There was no trace of Oriental in the interior of the hotel. In fact, the interiors were inspired from those Palaces found in ancient Europe but with modern touch.

The lobby itself was already overwhelming that one could tell at first glance, even at the entrance of the resort alone, that only those living in a luxurious lifestyle could afford to stay a night in this place.

The place was so grand that no one would definitely believe that this luxurious resort fit for royalties had declared bankruptcy in the past. But everything changed when a new investor came into the picture and turned things for them upside down.

A once bankrupt 3- star hotel became one of the world's 7-star hotel and resort in a short span of time. The development was so huge that a lot of businessmen and even high ranking officials were interested to meet the person.

However, due to that person's request, the top management of QPRC, Inc. politely declined their invitations. Only the COO and CFO of the Corporation knew and could meet that mysterious Chairman. It was rumored that one of them was related to that person.

It was even said that even the lowest rank employee of this resort was well-compensated with the salary relatively higher than the minimum wage.

This made the employees working at QPRC proud.

As Kim Eunji entered the security guarding by the entrance stopped her.

She looked up and saw the man giving her an awful gaze. Eunji did not back down and look at him as if saying 'seriously?' She kept her eye contact and when she saw that the man diverted his gaze, she used this opportunity to get inside.

However, the man behind him did not saw his reaction when Eunji looked at him in the eye.

Therefore he made a terrible mistake by stopping her again. "Excuse me Miss. It seems like you're lost." It was not a question but a statement. There's no politeness in it either.

His voice was loud enough to get the attention of the people around. Kim Eunji halted her steps and looked down.

Since she was still wearing a cap, a mask and her attire looked cheap, he immediately judged her status.

Though he could not clearly see the woman's face because of the baseball cap and the face mask he could tell that she's a beauty.

Eunji could tell that the people present in the area were now throwing weird gazes at her.

'Is humanity's moral character already this poor? Praising the strong, mocking and bullying the weak?'

Though the answer was already obvious to her, she still hoped that she deep inside, humanity had not lost themselves completely.

"What's going on?" A woman who looked like the floor manager came in.

"This woman here wanted to force her entrance inside our hotel. She even intimidated Eric here. Good thing I see through her tricks and stopped her immediately. Judging from her looks, she could be a paparazzi who wanted to cause trouble inside the resort."

As Kim Eunji heard his reasoning, she could not help not to gasped in disbelief. However the manager took her reaction as they had blown her cover.

"Oh Miss paparazzi. There's no place for you here. I think it's best for you to scram now or else we will call the police." The manager said with contempt evident in her tone.

Yes, she was a freelance photographer but she would never steep so low and become a paparazzi. And besides, who did they think she is for slandering her in public? How dare they doing so?!

Never in her life had she been humiliated this way.

This made Kim Eunji angry. She was no noble lady therefore, she had her temper, too. But despite the fact that she was boiling in rage deep down, she never let it show in her face.

The manager and the guard named Matt thought that they were successful in 'blowing up' her cover and arrogantly smiled to themselves.

The manager even went to the extreme as she said, "Oh, before you leave, you should apologize to them(people present in the lobby) for disrupting our operations. If this potential guests decided to leave because of the commotion you've caused, even your life is not enough to compensate the loss QPRC will incur."