Chapter Forty-Seven

Yuri sat on one of the benches outside the operation theater, with her face buried deeply into her palms. Her mind couldn’t stop replaying the scene where she found Sooyoung. It kept on playing… over and over again, reminding her that her friend might not be coming back to them anymore.

*

“SOOYOUNG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Yuri scurried towards her friend and dropped her knees right next to the stiffened body. Sooyoung… Her eyes were widely opened, staring blankly into space above her. And her lips… they weren’t the usual rosy lips Sooyoung always wore, they were as pale as white sheet that it became an obvious contrast to her dark skin.

“Sooyoung…” Yuri nudged the stiffed body with fear. “Sooyoung, can you hear me? I’m Yuri… I’m here already… Can you answer me? Please?”

Sooyoung remained as she was, her eyes never blinked nor did her lips moved.

“Sooyoung…”

No way… She is Choi Sooyoung! The one and only shikshin hunter in Aurales! The only person who always bickers with her day and night! How can she leave just like that!

Yuri grabbed onto Sooyoung’s collar and shook her forcefully. “This isn’t funny Choi Sooyoung! Answer me now and stop scaring me, will you?!” Tears formed in her eyes and were dripping onto the still body uncontrollably. But there was still no form of any response from the hunter, despite her clothes was getting soaked by Yuri’s tears. “I will make you breakfast everyday! I will take you to the city and buy you any foods you want! You can eat in my room! You can tease me about Tiffany and Jessica for all I care! Now tell me this is a prank will you?!”

Still, there is no response.

“DAMMIT!” Yuri punched her fist into the soil.

She will not let her go like this! Tiffany and Yoona are still waiting for their return. All the snacks which she had hid in her room are waiting for her to eat them up as well! How can she leave without saying a proper goodbye!

Yuri slid her arms under Sooyoung’s body and carried up the lifeless body in bridal style. “Don’t worry Sooyoung, we are going back home now! The doctors will know what to do! You’re going to be just fine! Everything is going to be alright!”

*

“Sooyoung…”

Yuri balled her hands into fists and clutched them tightly.

It was her fault! She shouldn’t have let Sooyoung left on her own when she said she saw someone! It must be a trick, a trap to lure either one of them so as to kill them! Damn! Why hadn’t she thought of that and allowed Sooyoung to leave by herself! Why hadn’t she go with her and left her on her own!

“Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!” Yuri rose from her seat and stopped in front of the wall on the opposite side, punching her fist madly onto it.

I was merely joking when I wished for someone to kill her last night! Why did it come true?! Dammit! Damn you Kwon Yuri! Damn you and your cursed wish! Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!

“Yuri!”

When Tiffany and Nicole arrived from the other side of the corridor, Yuri was not only punching the wall but kicking it too. Seeing how Yuri was hurting herself, Tiffany leaped forward immediately and caught the agitated hunter in her embrace within split seconds.

“Yuri, don’t!”

“It is my fault! If anything happens to Sooyoung, I am the one to be blamed!” Yuri pulled herself away from Tiffany and dropped on the bench. She wiped off the tears which were b around her eyes with the back of her hand. “I should have looked after her! I shouldn’t have let her chased after that person on her own! If I had followed her, she wouldn’t be lying in there already!”

Tiffany could feel moist in her eyes too, but this was not the right time for her to cry. Yuri was at the verge of breaking down. If she broke down at this moment too, it would only crush all of them.

She had to stay strong not only for Yuri, but for Sooyoung who was still in the operation theater too!

“Yuri, Sooyoung won’t want to see you behaving like this…” Tiffany sat next to Yuri and placed her hand on her partner’s shoulder, trying her best to comfort the guilty hunter as much as she could.

Nicole, who was standing by the side, joined Tiffany. “Yeah, Yuri… Sooyoung will be upset if she knows you’re blaming yourself. No one wanted this to happen.” Nicole nibbled her lips in worries. She had no absolute idea what exactly happened, but judging from Yuri’s agitated reaction, Sooyoung must be in a really terrible state.

Yuri buried her face into her palms once again. She couldn’t think of anything except Sooyoung and her pale face. They did not see what she saw. If they witnessed the same thing as she did, they would know how horrifying the situation was that it was impossible to stop her from blaming herself!

If only she had followed Sooyoung… “Dammit!” Yuri released her anger by punching her fist on the bench this time. Why did she leave her to chase on her own? Why had she not go with Sooyoung when the hunter said she saw someone?!

“Yuri!” Tiffany grabbed Yuri’s sore hands and held them tightly together.

She is going to cripple her hands if she keeps on hurting herself like that!

“Stop hurting yourself! Please!”

Yuri shut her eyes tightly and hugged Tiffany. “I will never forgive myself if anything happens to her…”

“Yuri…”

Just then, the door to the operation theater opened. It immediately captured the trio’s attention and Yuri released her grip around Tiffany’s waist. She turned and watched those people in white robes walked out of the room. She wanted to get up from her seat and rushed to those doctors as fast as she could, but… another part of her was stopping her to do so.

What if it was a bad news? What if Sooyoung didn’t make it through?

“Doctor! How’s Sooyoung?” Unlike Yuri, Nicole had already dashed off and approached the doctors. Tiffany chose to remain in her seat when she noticed Yuri and her hesitation.

“There’s good news and bad news.”

The trio subconsciously held their breaths in unison as they waited for the doctor’s reply.

“The good news is, we did not find any injuries on Sooyoung, except for a few bruises here and there. Her body is in a perfect condition.”

Nicole asked urgently, “And what’s the bad news?”

Tiffany held onto Yuri’s hand when she felt the tension in her.

“She is greatly traumatized. We couldn’t find a way to regain her consciousness, so we injected anesthesia into her body and she is asleep now. Hopefully when she wakes up, she will be back to normal again.”

“What if she doesn’t?”

The doctor let out an inaudible sigh. “We will have to hypnotize her to find out the cause and cure her then.”

The doctor left shortly after Nicole was done with her questions. She spun around and searched for Yuri. The guilty hunter was still in the same position as before the doctor came out, and Tiffany was still sitting next to her too. Nicole paced back and stopped when she reached them.

“The doctor said they sent Sooyoung to the ward already.”

Tiffany nodded her head as acknowledgement. She turned to Yuri who seemed to be in daze, “Yuri?” She nudged her partner.

“It must be the Satron.” Yuri said suddenly, gritting her teeth tightly together. “Sooyoung said she saw someone around us when we were killing the mutants and went to chase after him. That person must be the one who is controlling the mutant! He must be from Satron!”

“You guys met the mutants?” Nicole gulped in disbelief. It had been almost a month since the mutants last appeared and all of them were guessing that Satron was plotting a much dangerous plan which explained the disappearance of the mutants.

But now that the mutants have re-appeared again, does that mean that Satron is ready to launch an attack?

“Yes, and there are more than thirty of them––maybe fifty or even a hundred.” Yuri couldn’t remember the exact amount of mutants they met. All she knew was that she and Sooyoung had killed quite a lot of them but the number of mutants never decreased at all.

The only reason, which she thought, could explain this situation is that someone was controlling the mutants. Sooyoung mentioned she saw someone before running over to chase after him, that person must be from Satron and the one who caused her to become like this!

“Where are you going?” Tiffany grabbed onto Yuri’s hand when she saw her partner sprung up from her seat without any words.
It doesn’t seem like she is going to visit Sooyoung.

“I’m going back to the woods. I’m going to find that culprit and make him pay for it!”

“Yuri!” Tiffany stood up and pushed Yuri back to the bench by pressing her palms on her partner’s shoulder. “You are not going anywhere! I want you now to go back to the dorm and rest!”

“No! I have to revenge for Sooyoung!”

Tiffany cupped her hands around Yuri’s face and forced the agitated hunter to look at her. She stared into her eyes sternly, “I SAID I want you to return to the dormitory now! Do you understand me?”

Yuri returned her the stare. Tears were gathering around her eyes uncontrollably.

“How can I rest when Sooyoung––”

“Nothing is going to go wrong for Sooyoung!” Tiffany interrupted Yuri before she could finish her words. “I will take care of her personally and make sure everything goes right for her!” Tiffany loosened the grips on her hands gently, releasing Yuri’s face a little, but they never left as she wiped the tear which had fallen from Yuri’s eyes with her thumb. “Yuri, don’t make me worry for you too. Listen to me, go back and rest please?”

Yuri looked away stubbornly, refusing to comply with Tiffany’s instruction.

“Yuri…” One Sooyoung is enough for her, she doesn’t want to see anybody else landed in the same situation as her, especially Yuri. “If you really want to revenge for her, then let me be the one who do it!” If there is a need to sacrifice anyone, she shall be the one!

As soon as Tiffany finished her sentence, she spun around and headed for the exit.

“No!” Yuri felt as though her heart was going to jump out of her chest when she saw her partner leaving. She ran towards Tiffany and pulled her back before she managed to get away. “Tiffany, you can’t go! I don’t want the same thing to happen to you too!”

“What makes you think that I want the same thing to happen to you then?!” Tiffany spun around swiftly and shouted at her. The whole corridor was filled with the echo of her voice out of the sudden. It shocked those people who happened to pass by and they stopped in their tracks unconsciously.

Both Yuri and Nicole were dumbfounded at Tiffany’s reaction too. It was usual to see a cold Tiffany, an angry Tiffany, a pissed off Tiffany and so on. However, Tiffany never shouted whenever she was in a bad mood. The most she would do is to speak with that icy tone of hers and froze everyone. Never had she lost herself and became so agitated before.

“Yuri, I know you care for Sooyoung, but so do we.” It seemed that Tiffany was well-aware of herself too, though she had no idea why would she burst out like this (because it was so unlike her), her tone immediately softened at the next sentence. Even her gaze, it doesn’t look as intimidating as before. “Revenge is not the correct way to show your care. What if something happens to you too? How will Sooyoung feel if she finds out that you’re injured because of her?” Her voice became unstable and hoarse as it reached the end of the sentence. Both Yuri and Nicole swore Tiffany could cry any minute now.

“Tiffany, I…”

“Listen to me, go back and rest, will you?” Tears could be seen swimming in her partner’s eyes. There was no way Yuri could reject Tiffany’s request when she was so close to breaking down in front of her.

She gave in eventually, “Alright, I will go back.”

A smile was finally seen on Tiffany’s face when she heard her partner’s answer. Tiffany turned to Nicole, who was staring at her blankly, “Nicole, can you take Yuri back to our dormitory for me, please?”

“Uh… yeah, sure.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re… welcome?” Nicole answered with hesitation in her voice.

Is she dreaming now or what? Tiffany is so friendly and… emotional. That is so unlike her.