Chapter – 17
Yushin decided he needed to wrap this situation up quickly.
He immediately slipped a hand into his pocket and pulled out a piece of hemostatic gauze, tearing open the sterile packaging roughly. Then—thud—he kicked Yang Dongjun’s ankle hard.
“Ghk!”
With a short cry, Yang Dongjun’s body toppled over, and the syringe embedded in his neck was pulled free.
Before blood could even splatter, Yushin grabbed the back of his neck with the hand holding the gauze. At the same time, he braced Dongjun’s body with his foot, preventing him from collapsing straight to the floor.
If there was too much noise, Kim Cheonga, who was standing outside the door, might try to check what was going on. And if that happened, Yang Dongjun could call for help.
Variables and risks had to be minimized.
Yushin clutched Dongjun’s nape and whispered in a very low voice.
“I’ve sent quite a few people off with this, so I know. If you try to get up right now, you’re dead.”
“Huu… hhh… hng…”
Clatter.
The bloodstained syringe fell to the floor.
“You clean this up yourself. If word gets out, it won’t be good for either of us. Right?”
“……”
Yang Dongjun rolled his eyes around wildly, scanning the floor before finally looking up at Yushin.
“Oh, wondering how rumors would get out? You know the lady who cleans your room?”
“Uh?”
“She’s a cop.”
“Ah…! Hng!”
Yang Dongjun looked startled, but he couldn’t get any real words out.
Yushin’s long eyes curved into a crescent as he looked down at him.
“So keep your mouth shut and clean this up properly.”
He nudged the syringe rolling on the floor toward Dongjun’s face with the tip of his foot, then quickly turned and headed for the door.
Once he opened it, there was no avoiding running into Cheonga.
Yushin paused in front of the door, thinking.
Could I win?
The person outside was an elite detective, a police academy graduate. The kind rumored to beat down most criminals barehanded.
She’d even won the National Police Chief’s Shooting Competition, or so he’d heard.
No matter how he ran through the possibilities, the odds were stacked against him.
To subdue her, he’d have to rely purely on brute force. But if things got loud, that would only make things worse for him.
Yushin slipped his hand into his pocket, searching for something that might help. What he pulled out was a scalpel handle—without a blade attached.
“…Ah. I really don’t feel confident about this.”
The thought of charging a violent crimes detective with nothing but a bladeless scalpel made him want to laugh bitterly.
He had several silver-wrapped blades in his pocket, but attaching one to the handle was out of the question.
If he got into a bloody altercation with the police, the aftermath would be impossible to deal with.
And if Meerkat got hurt…
Yeah. This is bad.
In the end, the best option was to get out without fighting.
There was no time to hesitate further.
Before Yang Dongjun could get back on his feet, Yushin had to leave.
He made his decision and violently threw the door open.
Maybe, somewhere in his mind, he was hoping for another stroke of luck.
But there was no bang this time.
Yushin slipped through the opening—and in the next instant, Cheonga grabbed his wrist.
Her eyes were wide and round like a rabbit’s, fixed on him.
Despite that expression, the grip on his wrist showed no mercy.
Crack.
A dull sound rang out from his trapped wrist.
“…Min Yushin!”
He’d thought his disguise was decent, but she identified him instantly.
Yushin snapped his head around and swung the bladeless scalpel.
Whoosh.
It sliced through the air.
“Eek?!”
Cheonga recoiled in shock, dodging the unknown object, and Yushin used the opening to wrench his wrist free.
The very next moment, his ankle was caught by Cheonga’s extended leg.
He grit his teeth and endured it, grabbing her and slamming her back against the hallway wall. In an instant, their bodies were pressed together.
But only for a moment. Cheonga quickly regained the upper hand.
Her movements were anything but amateur. They flowed naturally, like someone who’d been through situations like this dozens—no, hundreds—of times.
Yushin resisted with raw strength, throwing his weight in an attempt to break her balance.
“Agh!”
A short cry escaped her lips as his solid weight bore down on her slender wrist.
Yushin unconsciously flicked his gaze to both ends of the hallway.
Fortunately, no one was passing by.
In that brief moment, Cheonga found an opening, redirected his force, and used his own momentum against him. With his wrist twisted behind his back, Yushin let out a dry laugh.
“Ha. You fight way too well. Damn sexy, actually.”
“Do you take me for a joke? I’m a violent crimes detective, you bastard.”
“Wow… so our cleaning lady was a detective?”
Realizing she’d exposed herself, Cheonga bit her lip hard.
“So all that crying about getting fired was bullshit?”
Yushin mocked her openly.
Her face drained of color in real time, which was quite the sight.
“Oh, what a disappointment. You were so cute it made my heart tingle—I wanted to treat you well.”
“Shut up!”
She tightened her grip on his wrist, and Yushin swung his other arm wildly, the scalpel flashing again.
Their bodies tangled once more.
They struggled along the wall, grappling, trying to restrain each other.
During the scuffle, Cheonga struck Yushin’s wrist with the edge of her hand. The impact sent the bladeless scalpel flying.
Clang.
It hit the floor and rolled away.
Cheonga glanced down and frowned.
Only then did she notice there was no blade.
“You fucking psycho.”
“Ah. You caught me.”
“You tried to fake me out? With a cop?”
Yushin laughed it off.
“What was I supposed to do? You’re… way too strong. I’m just some doctor who only studied, you know.”
“You think this is funny?”
“You attacked because you thought it was a weapon, right? Now that you know it isn’t, let me go.”
“Don’t make me laugh.”
Suddenly, Yushin twisted his body and wrapped his arms tightly around her waist. Cheonga’s much lighter body lifted off the ground.
“Huh?”
At some point, they’d moved all the way to the doctors’ on-call room.
With one hand, Yushin slid the door open and tossed Cheonga inside.
She’d be fine.
She was more than capable of breaking a fall.
“Sorry?”
But before his bright, apologetic smile could land, Cheonga’s hand shot out.
She grabbed his collar roughly. Even as she fell backward, a huge grin spread across her face.
“You think I’d let you go?”
Her smile—stretched almost to her ears—looked like that of a predator refusing to lose its prey.
She yanked on his collar.
In an instant, Yushin lost his balance and was dragged down with her, both of them rolling into the on-call room.
“Huh?”
Crash!
The loud noise echoed through the room.
Once again, Cheonga was the first to recover and move.
She brushed the floor with her toes, twisted her body, and caught Yushin’s arm, wrenching it aside. She raised her knee, about to drive it hard into his groin—
—when it happened.
Is it… still that swollen…?
Suddenly.
Unfortunately.
Cheonga remembered.
She remembered Yushin’s that place, which had been grotesquely swollen for days.
Guilt crashed over her like a tidal wave.
Her knee faltered midair.
And that split-second hesitation handed Yushin his chance.
He quickly grabbed her side and twisted. Their bodies rolled again, and this time, Cheonga was the one pinned to the floor.
“Hoo.”
Yushin straddled her, locking her body firmly between his knees, and seized both her arms. No matter how she twisted or struggled, overcoming the strength of his thighs was nearly impossible.
“Ugh—let go!”
Their heavy breathing filled the on-call room.
Yushin shifted, holding both her wrists in one hand. With the other, he tugged his mask down, revealing a tightly furrowed face as hot breath spilled out.
“You were going for my balls again, weren’t you?”
At his words, Cheonga’s face turned bright red.
“If you do that twice, I’m seriously screwed.”
Yushin’s sweat-soaked hair hung close enough to brush her cheek.
“I’m still unmarried, you know.”
