Chapter 3: Fast and Furious
“The event location will be held at the COEX Exhibition Centre. Make sure we have the lighting and sound crew standing by to make the event run smoothly. Also, have the backdrops and posters ready by the end of this week, I want to see if the colours and printing turned out alright with the lighting effects. If not, at least we’ll still have time to make necessary changes. So, have the lighting crew standby on Monday to give it a run-through,” said Sora to her staffs in the conference room as they prepare for an upcoming movie premiere and press conference.
“Oh my! Then we’ll be able to see some hot Korean actors on the day of the event!” said one of Sora’s staffs.
Sora looked at the staff and shook her head while smiling. Then said “If only you’re as enthusiastic as you are right now on your job, then we’ll be flying our way through on this project,” everyone in the room laughed to Sora’s remarks. “Anyways, that’s it for today!” as Sora closes her folder and gathers up all her belongings.
The Chairman, her father walked into the conference room as the rest of her staffs make their exits and giving him a slight bow of respect. “So is my baby princess ready for lunch?” asking Sora as he watches her pack up her things.
“Yes App ―, I mean Mr. Chairman, just let me take these back to my office,” replied Sora.
Her father looked at her and chuckled “Sora-ah, everyone here knows you’re my daughter, so there’s no need for the formalities.”
“I understand… but you are the Chairman here, and you shouldn’t give me any special treatments just because I’m your daughter. I don’t want my staff to misunderstand my capabilities with our father-daughter relationship.”
Her father was touched and proud of his daughter to be so independent and determined that he couldn’t help but to embrace her in his strong arms. “Sora-ah, you make me so proud and happy to see you like this. You wanting to prove to others that you’re capable of doing the job based on your own hard work rather than through connections makes your old man here very proud.”
Sora, who can hardly breathe from her father’s strong embrace, struggled and said “Appa! I can’t breathe…” Her father quickly let go of Sora, not wanting to suffocate his daughter. Free from his embrace, Sora continued “…but appa, why do you talk to me like this as if I’m a boy?”
Her father lightly pads Sora on the head. He looked into his daughter’s beautiful eyes, as if he saw a resemblance of himself and said “Because I’m not being a good father as I should be,” while giving Sora a warm smile as a bit of tears were forming at the side of his eyes. “Aja! Let’s go for lunch now! I’m starving here!” as her father quickly turned around so that Sora wouldn’t see him becoming emotional.
“Arasso appa! Let’s head out now. I’ll drive,” offered Sora as she gave her father a quick wink.
“You’ll drive? Are you sure? Victor can drive us there,” asked her father. Victor was Chairman Kang’s personal driver, right-hand man and bodyguard. He is older than Sora by 5 years and Sora treats him like an elder brother.
“Victor oppa?” asked Sora.
“Yes, he’s down in the lobby right now.”
“But I want to drive. Victor oppa can drive another time,” insisted Sora.
Then a young man’s voice came up from behind and said, “Are my driving skills that bad? I’m sure it’s not as bad as someone from this morning. Good afternoon Chairman.” It was Victor who was worried as to why it took Sora and her father so long to come down.
As soon as Sora saw Victor, she quickly clung her arm around his and clarified “Ani, oppa! You drive very well and as your disciple I wouldn’t say anything bad about my teacher.” Sora gave an aeygo smile, which displayed her cute dimple on the right side of her cheek.
“Arasso, arasso… No need to suck up to me like that now. Anyways, Mr. Chairman, shall I escort you both down?” asked Victor.
The Chairman laughed and said “Well then, shall we head down now? Oh and would you care to join us too, Victor?”
“Yeah! Come and join us oppa!” encouraged Sora as she shook Victor’s arm.
“Mianhe, I would love to, but I still have some matters to take care of for Mr. Chairman.”
Sora looked at her father and it took him a few seconds to recall what the task he had assigned to Victor. "Oh! Yes, that's right. I almost forgot! Make sure you thoroughly check the background details and have them on my desk when you're done."
Sora then got suspicious as to what task her father had assigned Victor. She gave her father a raised eyebrow look and asked "and exactly what kind of task did you assign oppa, my dear appa?"
Her father laughed and said "Nothing you should worry yourself with my princess. Aja! Let's go down now."
Sora glanced over at Victor, hoping to get some sort of hint and Victor just gave her a poker face. All she could do was to put down her curiosity and head out for lunch.
When they got to the underground parking, her father asked again, "Sora-ah, you sure you don't want Victor taking us there?" The look on her father's face clearly showed hesitation, especially what he has witnessed this morning.
With confidence and determination, Sora assured her father "Of course I'm sure! Why do you constantly ask me the same question?" She looked at her father for a moment and then slightly squint her eyes as she asks "Aish! Appa, you're worried because of what you saw this morning, aren't you?"
"No no no. I'm not dear. I'm just..." said her father, who was trying to defend himself when he was clearly worried about his safety in his daughter's car after what he witnessed this morning.
"Appa! I'm telling you, it was that reckless driver's fault! I hit the breaks to avoid an accident from happening. So don't worry! You'll be safe in my car!" Sora was trying to convince her father to get in the car. "Appa ppalli ppalli! Omma is waiting." Her father lets out a short sigh, thinking ‘what the heck’ and finally got into the car.
To her father’s surprise, Sora was really driving rather smoothly without any problem. Sora took a few glances at her father and with a smile said “See? I told you I’m a good driver. Smooth ride right?”
Her father finally loosened up and said “Yes, not bad. But you still have to pay close attention on the road. Always look both ways and signal when you want to merge into another lane...”
Sora got a bit irritated by her father’s nagging and said “Arasso arasso appa. I know all that. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be able to get my license now would I?”
Her father smiled and gave her a bit of slack as he saw Sora was getting a bit annoyed. Just then, they came to a red light at a large intersection and Sora gradually stopped her car. Sora was looking around, tapping her thumbs on the driving wheel; while her father was sitting relaxingly in the passenger seat next to her.
After a few minutes, the lights were about to change and Sora began to release her breaks – letting her car to slowly move forward. Meanwhile, there was a car approaching from behind and as soon as the lights hit green, the car sped up and merged into Sora’s lane by fifteen to twenty feet ahead.
Sora’s eyes widen and her jaws dropped the moment she saw the car in front of her. “…There is absolutely no way...Am I lucky or is it a day of bad luck?” she thought to herself. The car in front of her was the exact same car she saw and encountered this morning – the stratus white Aston Martin Vanquish.
Sora instantly hit the gas pedal and swore to get her revenge from this morning’s incident. Her Mercedes immediately picked up speed, so fast that her father fell back to his seat and was holding onto the door handle for his dear life. He was shocked and screamed out “SORA-AH! What are you doing? What’s going on? Why are you suddenly speeding?”
“APPA! You don’t understand! You see that car in front of us? That’s the exact same car that made an embarrassment out of me this morning! And I’m not going to let it go that easily! Fasten your seatbelt appa, you’ll see how good my driving skills are!” Sora continued to increase her speed until she was practically tailing the Vanquish, leaving only a few feet of space in between the two bumpers.
Park Jungsu looked at his rear view mirror and blurted “What the…? Is that person crazy? Why is that person tailgating me like that?” as he increased his speed, trying to distance himself from the car. Donghae was on his phone and felt his hyung’s car suddenly picking up speed. Donghae then looked at the side view mirrors and quickly turned his head around.
Donghae smiled as soon as he saw and recognized the car from behind; he then muttered “Omona! It’s her.”
Park Jungsu glanced over at Donghae and asked “It’s who? You know that crazy person behind us?”
“Ani ani…, I don’t know her know her. I mean I just met her this morning,” Donghae said with a smirk on his face and trying to act like he has nothing to do with what’s happening at the moment.
Park Jungsu took another few glances at his rear view mirror and then to Donghae, “so that’s the person you were talking about this morning? And you call that good driving? I call that mad driving! Good god, she’s not giving up is she? ” said Park Jungsu as he continued to free himself from the chase.
“Come on hyung! Show me your driving skills!” said Donghae, who was clearly enjoying the car chase.
“She’s doing this because you cut in in front of her this morning right?” concluded Park Jungsu, giving Donghae a glaring stare.
Meanwhile, Sora giving her all in the chase said out loud “I’ve got you now! This will show you not to mess with me! KANG SO-RA!”
“SORA-AH! Slow down this instance young lady! You’re going to get us both killed!” her father yelled out while holding the door handle tightly with both hands.
“Just wait appa! It’ll be quick! Don’t worry!” and she quickly dodge out to the lane beside Park Jungsu’s car. She speeds up to stay on the same pace as Park Jungsu’s car. Sora turned her head to take a look at who that reckless driver was from this morning. Park Jungsu did the same, but to see who the crazy driver was and who received compliments from Donghae.
Both their heads turned and both gave each other glaring stares, but all they saw was black tinted windows on each other’s car windows.
“I’ll show you not to mess with me next time!” said Sora as she quickly increased her speed further, then cutting in right in front of Park Jungsu’s car and drove ahead passing the traffic lights at the intersection.
Park Jungsu quickly hits the brakes, which caused his car to make a harsh stop and this time was his turn to hit his head on the driving wheel. He looked up and thought to himself that what just happened was unbelievable. “Jinjja (for real)? You called that good driving Donghae?” as he looked at Donghae with a painful expression.
Donghae, who was in the passenger seat next to Park Jungsu, had his Ray Ban sunglasses out of place. He then fixes his sunglasses back into place and responded, “Hyung! That was such an awesome chase! Man, I would like to meet that girl now!” Park Jungsu rolled his eyes, not believing what Donghae had just said.
Meanwhile, Sora with a victorious smirk on her face kept on driving and then turned to take a look at her father who almost had a heart attack from the car chase. He looked at Sora furiously. She quickly took back her smirk and looks away. Suddenly, they both heard a siren from behind and she looked at her rear view mirror to find a police car tailing her car. The police car signaled her to stop her car on the side of the road. As soon as she stopped, the officer got out and knocks on her window.
“Mame…I.D. and driver’s license please,” the officer demanded Sora.
Sora handed her documents to the officer. The officer looked at her documents and said “Miss Kang Sora, did you know you were driving over the speed limit and that you also ran a red light too?”
Sora with her hand in a saluting gesture said to the officer “Mianhe, I didn’t know…and didn’t see…” and she thought to herself ‘Why is this happening to me? What is with today? Being an embarrassment because of the stupid driver was bad enough and now being caught by the police was even worst.”
“Alright Miss Kang, I’ll have to give you a ticket for reckless driving and speeding. So I’ll have to deduct some points from your driver’s license. By the way, are you alright sir?” said the officer, who took a look at Sora’s father.
“Yes, I’m fine. Thank you for your concern,” replied her father who was more furious inside.
“Alright then, please drive carefully next time Miss Kang. Also, please think about your passengers too, it seems like your father, I believe, is too old for this,” the officer said to Sora as he handed her ID and driver’s license back. Sora nods to show that she understands and then looks at her father.
Her father gave her the most fearsome look and said “KANG SORA! From today onwards, Victor will be your driver and you are to be nowhere near your or any other person’s car! You understand me, young lady?”
“But App ―”
“No buts! This is an order!”
“Oh my! Then we’ll be able to see some hot Korean actors on the day of the event!” said one of Sora’s staffs.
Sora looked at the staff and shook her head while smiling. Then said “If only you’re as enthusiastic as you are right now on your job, then we’ll be flying our way through on this project,” everyone in the room laughed to Sora’s remarks. “Anyways, that’s it for today!” as Sora closes her folder and gathers up all her belongings.
The Chairman, her father walked into the conference room as the rest of her staffs make their exits and giving him a slight bow of respect. “So is my baby princess ready for lunch?” asking Sora as he watches her pack up her things.
“Yes App ―, I mean Mr. Chairman, just let me take these back to my office,” replied Sora.
Her father looked at her and chuckled “Sora-ah, everyone here knows you’re my daughter, so there’s no need for the formalities.”
“I understand… but you are the Chairman here, and you shouldn’t give me any special treatments just because I’m your daughter. I don’t want my staff to misunderstand my capabilities with our father-daughter relationship.”
Her father was touched and proud of his daughter to be so independent and determined that he couldn’t help but to embrace her in his strong arms. “Sora-ah, you make me so proud and happy to see you like this. You wanting to prove to others that you’re capable of doing the job based on your own hard work rather than through connections makes your old man here very proud.”
Sora, who can hardly breathe from her father’s strong embrace, struggled and said “Appa! I can’t breathe…” Her father quickly let go of Sora, not wanting to suffocate his daughter. Free from his embrace, Sora continued “…but appa, why do you talk to me like this as if I’m a boy?”
Her father lightly pads Sora on the head. He looked into his daughter’s beautiful eyes, as if he saw a resemblance of himself and said “Because I’m not being a good father as I should be,” while giving Sora a warm smile as a bit of tears were forming at the side of his eyes. “Aja! Let’s go for lunch now! I’m starving here!” as her father quickly turned around so that Sora wouldn’t see him becoming emotional.
“Arasso appa! Let’s head out now. I’ll drive,” offered Sora as she gave her father a quick wink.
“You’ll drive? Are you sure? Victor can drive us there,” asked her father. Victor was Chairman Kang’s personal driver, right-hand man and bodyguard. He is older than Sora by 5 years and Sora treats him like an elder brother.
“Victor oppa?” asked Sora.
“Yes, he’s down in the lobby right now.”
“But I want to drive. Victor oppa can drive another time,” insisted Sora.
Then a young man’s voice came up from behind and said, “Are my driving skills that bad? I’m sure it’s not as bad as someone from this morning. Good afternoon Chairman.” It was Victor who was worried as to why it took Sora and her father so long to come down.
As soon as Sora saw Victor, she quickly clung her arm around his and clarified “Ani, oppa! You drive very well and as your disciple I wouldn’t say anything bad about my teacher.” Sora gave an aeygo smile, which displayed her cute dimple on the right side of her cheek.
“Arasso, arasso… No need to suck up to me like that now. Anyways, Mr. Chairman, shall I escort you both down?” asked Victor.
The Chairman laughed and said “Well then, shall we head down now? Oh and would you care to join us too, Victor?”
“Yeah! Come and join us oppa!” encouraged Sora as she shook Victor’s arm.
“Mianhe, I would love to, but I still have some matters to take care of for Mr. Chairman.”
Sora looked at her father and it took him a few seconds to recall what the task he had assigned to Victor. "Oh! Yes, that's right. I almost forgot! Make sure you thoroughly check the background details and have them on my desk when you're done."
Sora then got suspicious as to what task her father had assigned Victor. She gave her father a raised eyebrow look and asked "and exactly what kind of task did you assign oppa, my dear appa?"
Her father laughed and said "Nothing you should worry yourself with my princess. Aja! Let's go down now."
Sora glanced over at Victor, hoping to get some sort of hint and Victor just gave her a poker face. All she could do was to put down her curiosity and head out for lunch.
When they got to the underground parking, her father asked again, "Sora-ah, you sure you don't want Victor taking us there?" The look on her father's face clearly showed hesitation, especially what he has witnessed this morning.
With confidence and determination, Sora assured her father "Of course I'm sure! Why do you constantly ask me the same question?" She looked at her father for a moment and then slightly squint her eyes as she asks "Aish! Appa, you're worried because of what you saw this morning, aren't you?"
"No no no. I'm not dear. I'm just..." said her father, who was trying to defend himself when he was clearly worried about his safety in his daughter's car after what he witnessed this morning.
"Appa! I'm telling you, it was that reckless driver's fault! I hit the breaks to avoid an accident from happening. So don't worry! You'll be safe in my car!" Sora was trying to convince her father to get in the car. "Appa ppalli ppalli! Omma is waiting." Her father lets out a short sigh, thinking ‘what the heck’ and finally got into the car.
To her father’s surprise, Sora was really driving rather smoothly without any problem. Sora took a few glances at her father and with a smile said “See? I told you I’m a good driver. Smooth ride right?”
Her father finally loosened up and said “Yes, not bad. But you still have to pay close attention on the road. Always look both ways and signal when you want to merge into another lane...”
Sora got a bit irritated by her father’s nagging and said “Arasso arasso appa. I know all that. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be able to get my license now would I?”
Her father smiled and gave her a bit of slack as he saw Sora was getting a bit annoyed. Just then, they came to a red light at a large intersection and Sora gradually stopped her car. Sora was looking around, tapping her thumbs on the driving wheel; while her father was sitting relaxingly in the passenger seat next to her.
After a few minutes, the lights were about to change and Sora began to release her breaks – letting her car to slowly move forward. Meanwhile, there was a car approaching from behind and as soon as the lights hit green, the car sped up and merged into Sora’s lane by fifteen to twenty feet ahead.
Sora’s eyes widen and her jaws dropped the moment she saw the car in front of her. “…There is absolutely no way...Am I lucky or is it a day of bad luck?” she thought to herself. The car in front of her was the exact same car she saw and encountered this morning – the stratus white Aston Martin Vanquish.
Sora instantly hit the gas pedal and swore to get her revenge from this morning’s incident. Her Mercedes immediately picked up speed, so fast that her father fell back to his seat and was holding onto the door handle for his dear life. He was shocked and screamed out “SORA-AH! What are you doing? What’s going on? Why are you suddenly speeding?”
“APPA! You don’t understand! You see that car in front of us? That’s the exact same car that made an embarrassment out of me this morning! And I’m not going to let it go that easily! Fasten your seatbelt appa, you’ll see how good my driving skills are!” Sora continued to increase her speed until she was practically tailing the Vanquish, leaving only a few feet of space in between the two bumpers.
Park Jungsu looked at his rear view mirror and blurted “What the…? Is that person crazy? Why is that person tailgating me like that?” as he increased his speed, trying to distance himself from the car. Donghae was on his phone and felt his hyung’s car suddenly picking up speed. Donghae then looked at the side view mirrors and quickly turned his head around.
Donghae smiled as soon as he saw and recognized the car from behind; he then muttered “Omona! It’s her.”
Park Jungsu glanced over at Donghae and asked “It’s who? You know that crazy person behind us?”
“Ani ani…, I don’t know her know her. I mean I just met her this morning,” Donghae said with a smirk on his face and trying to act like he has nothing to do with what’s happening at the moment.
Park Jungsu took another few glances at his rear view mirror and then to Donghae, “so that’s the person you were talking about this morning? And you call that good driving? I call that mad driving! Good god, she’s not giving up is she? ” said Park Jungsu as he continued to free himself from the chase.
“Come on hyung! Show me your driving skills!” said Donghae, who was clearly enjoying the car chase.
“She’s doing this because you cut in in front of her this morning right?” concluded Park Jungsu, giving Donghae a glaring stare.
Meanwhile, Sora giving her all in the chase said out loud “I’ve got you now! This will show you not to mess with me! KANG SO-RA!”
“SORA-AH! Slow down this instance young lady! You’re going to get us both killed!” her father yelled out while holding the door handle tightly with both hands.
“Just wait appa! It’ll be quick! Don’t worry!” and she quickly dodge out to the lane beside Park Jungsu’s car. She speeds up to stay on the same pace as Park Jungsu’s car. Sora turned her head to take a look at who that reckless driver was from this morning. Park Jungsu did the same, but to see who the crazy driver was and who received compliments from Donghae.
Both their heads turned and both gave each other glaring stares, but all they saw was black tinted windows on each other’s car windows.
“I’ll show you not to mess with me next time!” said Sora as she quickly increased her speed further, then cutting in right in front of Park Jungsu’s car and drove ahead passing the traffic lights at the intersection.
Park Jungsu quickly hits the brakes, which caused his car to make a harsh stop and this time was his turn to hit his head on the driving wheel. He looked up and thought to himself that what just happened was unbelievable. “Jinjja (for real)? You called that good driving Donghae?” as he looked at Donghae with a painful expression.
Donghae, who was in the passenger seat next to Park Jungsu, had his Ray Ban sunglasses out of place. He then fixes his sunglasses back into place and responded, “Hyung! That was such an awesome chase! Man, I would like to meet that girl now!” Park Jungsu rolled his eyes, not believing what Donghae had just said.
Meanwhile, Sora with a victorious smirk on her face kept on driving and then turned to take a look at her father who almost had a heart attack from the car chase. He looked at Sora furiously. She quickly took back her smirk and looks away. Suddenly, they both heard a siren from behind and she looked at her rear view mirror to find a police car tailing her car. The police car signaled her to stop her car on the side of the road. As soon as she stopped, the officer got out and knocks on her window.
“Mame…I.D. and driver’s license please,” the officer demanded Sora.
Sora handed her documents to the officer. The officer looked at her documents and said “Miss Kang Sora, did you know you were driving over the speed limit and that you also ran a red light too?”
Sora with her hand in a saluting gesture said to the officer “Mianhe, I didn’t know…and didn’t see…” and she thought to herself ‘Why is this happening to me? What is with today? Being an embarrassment because of the stupid driver was bad enough and now being caught by the police was even worst.”
“Alright Miss Kang, I’ll have to give you a ticket for reckless driving and speeding. So I’ll have to deduct some points from your driver’s license. By the way, are you alright sir?” said the officer, who took a look at Sora’s father.
“Yes, I’m fine. Thank you for your concern,” replied her father who was more furious inside.
“Alright then, please drive carefully next time Miss Kang. Also, please think about your passengers too, it seems like your father, I believe, is too old for this,” the officer said to Sora as he handed her ID and driver’s license back. Sora nods to show that she understands and then looks at her father.
Her father gave her the most fearsome look and said “KANG SORA! From today onwards, Victor will be your driver and you are to be nowhere near your or any other person’s car! You understand me, young lady?”
“But App ―”
“No buts! This is an order!”