Chapter – 05
“Th-that is… the room was just… too dirty.”
“……”
Just as Cheong-ah said, Yushin’s lab was in pretty bad shape.
“I’ve never seen so many books piled up like that on a desk before. Uh, um—those flowerpots on the windowsill look like they’ve dried up into jerky.”
Beside the sofa where Cheong-ah sat was a heap of lab coats that looked as though they’d been taken off and tossed there at random.
“The reason you’re sitting on the table instead of the sofa is because there’s nowhere to sit, right…?”
With every word she added, Yushin’s expression grew more and more twisted.
She wanted to stop talking even now, but once her mouth had started, it just wouldn’t shut up.
Maybe it was because she’d hit her head. Otherwise, there was no way she’d be rambling on like this.
“Is it an occupational hazard…? When I look at other places… my insides get all noisy… and the only well-organized thing in here is your face, Professor, so—”
Cheong-ah’s voice trailed off.
Thud!
“Ack!”
If she hadn’t been caught off guard, she wouldn’t have been hit so squarely.
But Yushin’s palm had already landed on her forehead with a sharp smack before pulling away.
Cheong-ah reflexively raised a hand and covered her forehead.
What she felt was the smooth, neatly applied shape of a bandage. Having received emergency treatment countless times while working in Violent Crimes, she could tell at once that Yushin was quite skilled.
“All done. Let’s go.”
Yushin jerked his chin as he got up from the table.
“It won’t scar. Avoid getting it wet for a while. And if you feel like you’ve gotten stupider—well, it’s probably just your imagination, but tell me anyway.”
Cheong-ah couldn’t bring herself to respond. She simply bowed her head briefly and left the room.
But the moment the door closed, she stopped in her tracks.
Only after Yushin’s face disappeared from view did a strange feeling surface.
He’s an internist. How is he this good at emergency treatment?
The certainty in his tone when he said it wouldn’t leave a scar.
The smoothness of his movements during the procedure.
For an internal medicine specialist to dress a wound so quickly and cleanly felt… odd.
Cheong-ah narrowed her eyes and glanced back at the door.
Suspicious. No matter how I look at it, something smells off.
Nothing particularly stood out inside the room.
It was just dirty. That was all.
But maybe that was exactly why it felt even more suspicious.
“Ah, seriously, what is it? I don’t know. I really don’t know… I’ve never had such a confusing feeling before. What is this?”
She didn’t have much time to think, though.
After checking her watch once, she hurried back to finish the rest of her cleaning.
After Cheong-ah left, Yushin remained leaning against the table for a long time, unable to move.
He’d opened the door quickly to check the presence outside. He hadn’t expected Cheong-ah to get hit squarely by it.
The heavy thump transmitted through the handle was still vivid in his hand.
And what he’d seen was Cheong-ah slamming her forehead into the metal door and falling backward.
Without hesitation, Yushin had moved to help her… but in the end, it wasn’t necessary.
Just as the back of her head was about to hit the floor, she snapped back to awareness and executed a breakfall, landing safely.
Instinct? Absolutely not.
That movement was more refined than that of most athletes. It was clearly the result of brutal, repeated training.
Yushin’s fingertips tapped the edge of the table. Tap, tap.
A breakfall.
To use a breakfall when you’re not even fully conscious…
It didn’t take long for suspicion to turn into certainty.
Yushin pulled out his phone and dialed a number. After the ring tone went on for quite a while, a groggy voice finally answered.
[Uh… Mess.]
“You still sleeping? Get up. Do some work.”
[What the hell, what time is it…? I just fell asleep. Seriously, you’re the worst.]
“Quit the nonsense and earn your keep. Look into the cleaner here.”
Yushin gave him the name Park Bok-seon and the date she’d started working. On the other end of the line came yawns and the clacking of a keyboard.
[First, the hospital our Professor Mess is at… Boksan University, Incheon. The outsourcing company is Sejeong Power Clean. Ah, BG Labs. Mm-hmm.]
“……”
[Park Bok-seon. Age forty. Married ten years. Wow, she must be really close with her husband. She’s a mom with a lot of kids.]
“Forty-two? Multiple kids?”
Forty-two. The number made no sense, and he sprang to his feet.
The chair skidded backward with a loud crash, making Chamkkae snicker.
[But what does this woman do? This is interesting.]
Yushin yanked at his tie knot in irritation and waited for him to continue.
[She went to work at the hospital today, and also did grocery shopping near her house. Must have two bodies. Let’s see, let’s see. Ahh… huh? Oh, what’s this?]
“Hey! Cut the filler and get to the point!”
At Yushin’s raised voice, Chamkkae laughed again.
[This is a cover identity.]
“A cover? You mean an alias?”
[Yeah. The real Park Bok-seon is at home doing housework, and the one who entered Boksan University Hospital is… Kim Cheong-ah.]
Kim Cheong-ah!
At those words, Yushin pressed a hand to his forehead.
So that’s why she asked if I knew her name.
Only then did he realize that the conversation he’d overheard in the elevator hadn’t been “Cheonghwa, fighting,” but “Cheong-ah, fighting.”
[Oh? Mess. This is bad.]
His thoughts were cut off by Chamkkae’s suddenly urgent voice.
[She’s a magpie.]
“……What are you talking about now?”
[A cop! Police Academy grad!]
Yushin squeezed his eyes shut and let out an irritated breath.
“Ah, damn it. Why is a cop here?”
[Violent Crimes Team 2, Incheon Jungbu Station. Wow, but how did a Police Academy grad end up there? Did she screw up big time or something?]
As far as Yushin remembered, Incheon Jungbu didn’t have a separate narcotics unit. He’d heard that Violent Crimes Team 2 handled that role instead…
“Did the police catch on?”
[No. There’s no sign of that. Still, you should keep your head down. This woman’s arrest rate is insanely sexy.]
“……Stop the useless commentary and dig up more info. And blur my personal data, just in case.”
After hanging up, Yushin’s gaze shifted to the blood-stained gauze on the table. Slowly, he reached out and picked it up.
The unusually red gauze swayed at his fingertips.
“A cop, huh… What a cute little thing that’s attached itself to me.”
The gym at Incheon Jungbu Station was never popular.
The old air conditioner rattled noisily, and the equipment was in poor shape. Hardly anyone came here.
There, Cheong-ah and In-gyu circled each other slowly, eyes locked.
A knife gleamed in In-gyu’s hand. Cheong-ah raised both hands in front of her chest, tracking his movements.
Then, in an instant, In-gyu lunged forward, arm shooting out.
Cheong-ah twisted her upper body, dodging the blade. At the same time, she chopped down hard on his wrist with the edge of her hand.
“Ugh!”
The knife clattered to the floor. In-gyu caught it with his other hand and immediately drove the blade toward Cheong-ah’s side.
Thunk.
“Aah!”
Cheong-ah clutched her side and collapsed to the floor.
“Cheong-ah!”
In-gyu’s face went pale as he threw the knife aside and rushed to her.
“A-are you okay?”
“Ow, that hurts. Damn, you’re strong.”
“I told you we shouldn’t do this.”
Cheong-ah wiped at the tears welling in her eyes and shook her head.
“Better to get stabbed by a training knife than a real one in the field. That’d be unfair.”
“No, it’s just—you practice every day and still can’t dodge it even once…”
“How am I supposed to dodge someone who spent ten years in special forces practicing knife thrusts?”
She flopped onto her back on the floor and let out a long sigh.
“At HQ, there wasn’t a single guy who could stab me. You’re just ridiculous, oppa.”
“….”
At her praise, In-gyu awkwardly rubbed the tips of his ears.
“No matter who we meet in the field, no one’s better with a knife than you. So I like learning by getting hit by you.”
Pouting, Cheong-ah lifted her shirt to check her side. In-gyu hurriedly turned his head away.
“Man, I’m gonna bruise tomorrow. Still, I’ve improved a bit, right?”
At her fishing for compliments, In-gyu laughed. With his large hand, he ruffled her hair a couple of times.
“Undercover work alone is hard enough. Why do you push yourself this much?”
“Why else? There’s a suspicious smell at the hospital.”
“Find anything?”
It wasn’t a difficult question, but Cheong-ah awkwardly brushed her hair back and looked away.
The face that surfaced in her mind was Min Yushin’s.
“…Maybe?”
“What kind of answer is that?”
“There’s this insanely handsome professor at the hospital.”
