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Chapter 5
“That is… the room was just…… way too messy.”
“…….”
Just as Cheong-ah said, Yu-shin’s office was in a truly severe state.
“It’s my first time seeing books piled up like a mountain on top of a desk like that. Uh, um. I mean, those potted plants on the window sill look like they’ve turned into dried snacks.”
Right next to where Cheong-ah sat on the sofa, a suit jacket—looking as though it had been taken off and tossed aside—was piled high.
“The reason you’re sitting on the edge of the table instead of the sofa, Professor…… is because there’s no room to sit, right……?”
As she continued speaking, Yu-shin’s expression crumpled further and further.
She wanted to stop talking now, but her loose tongue kept running away with her. She wondered if this was happening because she had bumped her head. Otherwise, there was no way she would be spouting such nonsense.
“Is it an occupational disease, I wonder……? Whenever I look anywhere else…… my mind gets all noisy……. The only thing in this room that’s neatly put together is your face, Professor…….”
It was right at the moment Cheong-ah’s voice trailed off.
Smack!
“Agh!”
If she hadn’t let her guard down, there was no way she would have taken a direct hit like this.
Yu-shin’s palm had already slapped onto her forehead with a sharp thwack and pulled away.
Unconsciously, Cheong-ah reflexively raised her hand to clutch her forehead.
What she felt beneath her touch was the smooth, neatly applied shape of a adhesive bandage. Having received emergency treatment countless times while working in the Violent Crimes Unit, she could tell at a glance that Yu-shin’s handiwork was exceptionally skilled.
“We’re done here, so off you go.”
Yu-shin flicked his chin upward and stood up from the table.
“It won’t leave a scar. Avoid getting it wet for a while. And if you feel like you’ve gotten dumber, it’s probably just your imagination, but let me know anyway.”
Unable to offer much of a reply, Cheong-ah bowed her head deeply in polite farewell before stepping out of the room.
However, the moment the door closed behind her, she found herself coming to a sudden halt in front of it.
It was only after Yu-shin’s face moved out of her sight that a strange feeling washed over her.
‘He’s an internal medicine physician. How is he this good at emergency first aid?’
The definitive tone declaring that it wouldn’t scar.
The sheer proficiency in his process.
It was a bit strange for an internal medicine specialist to perform such a swift, flawless dressing.
Cheong-ah narrowed her eyes and glanced suspicious sideways at the door.
‘Suspicious. No matter how I look at it, something smells fishy.’
Scanning the room earlier, nothing in particular had caught her eye.
It was simply messy, nothing more.
Yet, that was precisely why it felt even more suspicious.
“Ah, seriously, what is it? I don’t know. I just don’t know……. I’ve never had such a baffling feeling before. What on earth is this?”
She didn’t have much time to deliberate, though.
Checking her watch, she had to rush back quickly to finish the remaining cleaning tasks.
After Cheong-ah left the room, Yu-shin leaned against the table, motionless for a long while.
He had opened the door abruptly to check on the presence he sensed outside. He hadn’t expected that, by sheer bad luck, Cheong-ah would take the full impact of the opening door right to her forehead.
The heavy thud transmitted through the doorknob still felt vivid in his senses.
And what had met his eyes was the image of Cheong-ah knocking backward after crashing into the steel door.
Yu-shin had moved to help her without hesitation…… but in the end, there had been no need.
At the exact instant her back-head was about to hit the floor, she snapped back to her senses in a flash and executed a breakfall (ukemi), landing safely.
Instinct? Absolutely not.
That was a movement far more flawless than that of most athletes. It was unquestionably the result of grueling, repetitive training.
Yu-shin’s fingertips tapped lightly against the edge of the table.
Tapping. Tapping.
A breakfall.
‘A woman who pulls off a breakfall at a moment when her senses shouldn’t even be intact.’
It didn’t take long for his suspicion to turn into certainty.
Yu-shin pulled out his phone and dialed a number. After a lengthy dial tone, the person on the other end answered with a drowsy voice.
[Ugh…… Scalpel.]
“Still sleeping? Get up. Put in some work.”
[What the… what time is it……? Wow, I literally just fell asleep a moment ago. You’re terrible, man.]
“Stop talking nonsense and earn your keep. Run a background check on the cleaner here.”
Yu-shin provided the man with the name Park Bok-sun and the date she had first started working. Beyond the earphone, the sound of a yawn was followed by the clicking noise of a keyboard.
[Alright, first off, the hospital where our Professor Scalpel is staying…… Boksan University’s Incheon branch. The sub-contracted agency is Sejeong Power Clean. Ah, it’s BG Labs. Mm-hmm.]
“…….”
[Park Bok-sun. Age 42. Married for 10 years. Ooh, she must have a great relationship with her husband. She’s a mother of multiple kids.]
“Forty-two? Multiple kids?”
Forty-two? At an answer that made zero sense, he sprang up from his seat.
At the clattering sound of the chair sliding backward, Sesame let out a chuckle over the line.
[By the way, who is this woman? She’s interesting.]
Yu-shin tugged loose his tie knot out of frustration, waiting for Sesame’s next words.
[Looking at her records, she clocked in at the hospital today, but she also went grocery shopping at the supermarket in front of her house. Does she have two bodies? Let’s see, let’s see. Ah, mm. Oh, what’s this?]
“Hey! Cut out the useless commentary and just give me the conclusion!”
At Yu-shin’s booming voice, Sesame chuckled again.
[Geez, what a terrible temper. She constructed a cover.]
“A cover? A fake identity?”
[Yeah. The real Park Bok-sun is at home doing housework, and the person who entered Boksan University Hospital is…… Kim Cheong-ah? It’s Kim Cheong-ah.]
Kim Cheong-ah!
At Sesame’s words, Yu-shin pressed a hand to his forehead with a thud.
‘So that’s why she asked why I called her by her real name.’
Only then did he realize that the phone conversation he had overheard in the elevator wasn’t “Cheong-hwa, fighting!” but rather “Cheong-ah, fighting!”
[Huh? Scalpel! We’ve got a big problem.]
Yu-shin’s lingering thoughts were cut short by Sesame’s urgent voice.
[This sister is a magpie?]
“……What kind of nonsense is that now?”
[She’s a cop straight out of the Police University!]
Yu-shin squeezed his eyes shut and let out an annoyed breath.
“Ah, damn it. Why is a cop doing here?”
[Assigned to Incheon Mid-District Station, Violent Crimes Team 2. Wow, but how did someone from Police University end up transferred down there? Did she commit some huge offense or something?]
Incheon Mid-District Station. As far as Yu-shin remembered, they didn’t have a separate Narcotics Investigation Team there. He had heard that Violent Crimes Team 2 usually handled that role instead…….
“Did the police catch on to us?”
[No. There’s no sign of that. Still, you’d better lay low so you don’t get caught. This girl’s arrest rate is insanely impressive.]
“……Stop talking trash and gather more information. Just in case, throw up a fog over my personal profile.”
Hanging up the call, Yu-shin’s gaze drifted toward the blood-stained gauze sitting on top of the table. Slowly extending his hand, he picked it up.
The unusually vivid red gauze fluttered lightly between his fingertips.
“A cop, huh…… Quite a cute little bug attached itself to me.”
The training facility at Incheon Mid-District Station was generally unpopular.
The dilapidated air conditioner clattered noisily, and the facilities were poor. Naturally, few people ever visited.
Inside, Cheong-ah and In-gyu stood facing each other, circling around slowly.
The knife held in In-gyu’s hand gleamed with a cold glint. Cheong-ah kept her hands raised in front of her chest, her gaze locked onto his movements.
In an instant, In-gyu’s body shot forward as his arm thrust out.
Cheong-ah twisted her upper body to dodge the blade. Simultaneously, she brought the ridge of her hand crashing down hard against In-gyu’s wrist.
“Ugh!”
In-gyu caught the falling knife with his opposite hand and seamlessly lunged the blade straight toward Cheong-ah’s flank.
Stab.
“Aaargh!”
Cheong-ah clutched her side and collapsed onto the floor.
“Cheong-ah!”
His face instantly turning pale, In-gyu tossed the knife aside and rushed over to her.
“A-Are you alright?”
“Ow, that really hurts. Wow, your force is insanely strong.”
“That’s why I told you we shouldn’t do this.”
Wiping away a stray tear that had gathered in her eye, Cheong-ah shook her head.
“It’s better to get poked by a training knife than to get stabbed by a real knife on the job and feel cheated.”
“No, I mean…… you practice every single day, yet you can’t dodge it even once…….”
“How is anyone supposed to dodge the moves of someone who spent 10 years in the Special Forces practicing how to stab people with knives?”
Cheong-ah lay flat on her back with a deep sigh.
“Back at Headquarters, not a single guy was able to stab me. You’re just absurd, Hyung.”
“…….”
At her praising words, In-gyu awkwardly rubbed the tip of his ear.
“Undercover operations are tough enough as it is. Why are you working yourself so hard?”
“Why else? Because there’s a suspicious smell coming from that hospital.”
“Did you find something?”
It wasn’t a difficult question, yet Cheong-ah awkwardly brushed back her hair and avoided his gaze.
The face that surfaced in her mind was Min Yu-shin’s.
“……Maybe?”
“What’s with that ambiguous answer?”
“There’s an insanely handsome professor at the hospital.”
