As they had agreed, Kim Eunji booked a flight to Beijing 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 traveling around the world to explore and appreciate the beauty that nature could offer to mankind and capture it through her camera. She also had other purposes for her travel.
She had no problem with her finances as her parents invested the money she earned while she was still an active member of their faction in buying stocks from different well-known and well-established companies all over the world under her birth name.
However, she still 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 services. 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 faction 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 to take 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 were looking in her direction. She didn't have to look around because she could already point out where exactly the gaze came from.
It was not the first time that she encountered something like this while she was inside the airplane.
She glanced in that direction and saw a burly man wearing a suit sitting seven seats away from her and looking at her maliciously. Excluding the man, she saw four other people wearing similar-cut suits 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 would not make things difficult for her while she was 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 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 hanging around her neck.
She was wearing a 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 in her direction. She had this 'peerless natural beauty that many women would feel insecure standing beside her even in this getup. 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 or QPRC for short.
Kelly insisted that she should stay in her apartment but knowing that her best friend was already living with her husband, she didn't want to be their third wheel.
The wedding would not be held in Beijing but in a more peaceful place in the Province of Hainan. Kelly told her that they will be moving there next week. She only had a few days left to prepare.
The wedding will be private and in a resort owned by him and his family. The Mo Family's ancestral house was located there.
Kim Eunji had no idea who Kelly's husband was. But she could tell that he was not an ordinary man for making the rebel Kelly well-behaved and dumbstruck in love like a fool.
It's not the first time that Eunji had been to Beijing. 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 toward her.
She had seen the car and chauffeur that Kelly's husband probably arranged for her earlier. But she chose to not approach and not come with them. She knew that her actions were not only rude, she even made her best friend 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 back. 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 care and being sensible 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 with his problems and struggles.
Kim Eunji was more than willing to help those people like Mr. Santos. She could tell at first glance that he was a good and kind-hearted man.
Mr. Santos thanked him with all his heart and even gave their company's business card and told her that if he needed a drive next time, he would be willing to be his driver for free.
He would just ask his boss to deduct the fare from his paycheck.
Eunji didn't decline the card to not make him upset but of course, she won't abuse his gratitude.
Kim Eunji sighed deep down knowing 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 was happy doing this.
Kim Eunji got out of the cab 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 was hanging on top.
There was no trace of orientalism in the interior of the hotel. The interiors were inspired by those Palaces found in ancient Europe but with a modern touch.
The lobby itself was already overwhelming that one could tell at first glance that only those living with a luxurious lifestyle could afford to stay a night in this place.
The place was so grand that no one would 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 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 very well-compensated with a salary relatively higher than the minimum wage.
This made the employees working at QPRC very proud of their job.
As Kim Eunji entered, one of the security guards guarding the entrance stopped her.
She looked up and saw the man giving her an awful gaze. Eunji did not back down and looked at him as if saying 'seriously?'. She kept eye contact and when she saw that the man diverted his gaze, she used this opportunity to evade him and get inside.
However, the man behind him did not see his reaction when Eunji looked him in the eye.
Therefore he made a terrible mistake by calling her out when she was already in. "Excuse me, Miss! It seems like you're lost." It was not a question but a statement. There's no politeness in his tone either.
His voice was loud enough to get the attention of the people around him.
Kim Eunji halted her steps and looked down.
Since she was still wearing a cap, and a mask and her attire looked cheap, he immediately judged her social status from the way she dressed.
Though he could not see the woman's face because of the baseball cap and the face mask, he could tell that she was a beauty.
Eunji could tell that everyone's attention was now on her as she could feel their gazes coming from every direction.
'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 deep inside, the human race had not lost the only thing that distinguished their rationality and sensibility.
"What's going on?" A woman who looked like one of the hotel managers came forward.
"Manager, 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 or someone from the media who wanted to cause trouble inside the resort." The guard explained cockily.
As Kim Eunji heard how he explained the situation to his superior, she could not help not to gasp 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.
She didn't know that what she was doing was slowly awakening the sleeping tiger inside Kim Eunji.
Yes, she was a freelance photographer but she would never stoop so low and become a paparazzi. And besides, who did they think she is for slandering her in public? How dare they do 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 even though she was boiling in rage deep down, she never let it show on 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 and their vacation stay. If these potential guests decided to leave because of the commotion you've caused, even your life is not enough to compensate for the loss QPRC will incur."
***