Agnes was engulfed in fear unlike any she'd felt before.
Although she had practiced Taekwondo since her youth, she had never encountered such immediate threat.
Outnumbered and cornered, she felt overwhelmed.
With no one nearby to assist and the likelihood of a bystander avoiding the situation, escape felt out of reach.
And there wasn't a moment to dial the police.
Still, Agnes decided to stand her ground, hoping to draw enough attention that perhaps someone would alert the authorities.
She quickly gauged how long she might be able to fend them off.
As one of the men lunged at her, she reflexively delivered a swift kick. He collapsed, groaning loudly.
The rest of the group converged around him, concernedly asking, "Mono, you okay?"
The young man known as Mono yelled, "Stop crowding me, catch that girl. She's going to pay for this. Damn, it hurts."
The others stood up, cautiously moving towards Agnes.
They hadn't expected this apparently delicate girl to pack a punch.
Even Mono, their best fighter, was no match for her.
But luckily they had numbers, what could a little girl do?
Weapons gleamed in their hands, knives and iron rods.
Agnes's fists tightened, pushing fear aside, readying for a fierce confrontation.
Seeing her out of strength, the guy lunged at her again.
But another punk grabbed his arm, "Mono, we're in deep shit, this girl is bad news."
Mono, full of rage, said, "You coward, I fear nothing in S City. She is just a regular starlet, who knows how many have had their way with her. Even if I assaulted her today, she wouldn't dare call the police. The entertainment industry is more chaotic than our world. I must punish her today."
The punk holding Mono didn’t let go, but pointed shakily at the scattered beads on the ground, "Mono, look at this..."
Mono's face was filled with rage, terrifying to behold.
But the sight of those beads drained the color from his face.
His legs gave out from fear, and he collapsed to his knees.
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