6 CHAPTER 5

It was around four PM when we made it to Gwangjan market, a local market in Seoul that was filled with authentic Korean cuisine and lots of fresh produce.

Everything around was so colorful and so beautiful, so many stalls selling the most appetizing looking foods, stalls with huge piles of fresh sea foods and fresh meat. There were some stalls also selling clothing and some traditional handicrafts.

I wasn’t going to be spending on clothes because well I couldn’t really afford to with the budget I had, but the food I was going to devour with all my might.

An hour later with our bellies extremely full and an air of satisfaction surrounding us, the closing time of the market was fast approaching and we made a beeline for the exit. Just as we were about to enter a lane that led to one of the exits someone bumped into me and snatched my carry bag and made a run for it.

I was stunned for moment, rooted to my spot trying to process what had just happened before the adrenaline kicked in and I ran after the guy.

That bag was my everything at that point. My identity, passport, visa and most importantly all of my cash and card money was in that bag and I was not going to let some cheap bastard get away with what was mine.

It’s horrible really how people just commit such acts. Whatever maybe the reason its just plain wrong. To some people it might not matter, they’d just block their cards and forget about the loose cash and call it a day but people like me who had struggled for every single penny in that bag, who had fought with their own family, their own parents for that passport and visa, that bag was everything and shouldn’t be just a small payday for someone who just randomly decided this was a better way of getting quick cash.

I was beyond furious by that point, having chased the man around for a good 5 minutes before I was finally hot on his heels. I hadn’t even realized that Baek had also left everything and had followed us just as fast.

And then it happened, my life changing moment. It was right there staring at me in my face.

Catching up to the thief I jumped on his back and we both went tumbling forward and fell on the ground. Before he could run away with or without my bag I was on top of him with my knees on his chest delivering the first blow with my fist on his left cheek. The adrenaline in my system fuelling the punch, giving me much more strength than I'd usually have.

I hit him not because I was a violent person or because I wanted to.

No, I hit him because of my emotions. Only I knew the struggles I had to face, the countless hours of begging for permission for this trip and then another round of begging for the cash I had to go through.

I was furious because I had practically signed my life away just for this small amount of freedom. I was furious because in this man I saw all the other men who had looked down on me, who had cat called me, considered me just a piece of meat that could be passed around, who thought it would be fine to use me for their personal gains. This man just brought it all back, everything that I wanted to escape from on this trip.

By the time Baek was able to pull me away I had managed to bruise the mans cheeks and jaw and my own knuckles in the process.

Did I regret it?

No I actually didn’t. There was so much hatred inside of me for people like him that I felt he got what he deserved and that was that.

Surprisingly there weren’t many spectators for the scene I had just created and the thief got away the minute I was pulled off of him. Finally, after I calmed down a bit I checked my bag again and was relieved to see everything intact.

Realizing I wasn’t alone and the only reason I was standing up and not on the ground after the adrenaline had worn out was because Baek was right there holding onto me.

I was expecting different kinds of reactions from him. Maybe he would just drop me back and leave, maybe he wouldn’t even bother to drop me back just get me in a taxi and leave, maybe he’d be nice and ask if I was okay and if I needed anything but what I actually got from him was highly unexpected.

"Wow" he said, breaking the silence around us.

Then he looked me right in the eyes and said, “That was really something Rads, do you want to make money with fight like this??” he asked with a serious expression.

I remember so well how I had studied his face to find any trace of humor on it. I mean who just randomly offers paid fights to strangers who happen to be their tourism client's? No sane person I can tell you that.

He wasn’t joking. That was an actual offer, my invitation to something like a possible street fight. Something I had only read about in novels could very well become a reality for me and I would have been a fool to give it up.

“Yes.”