Before this chapter starts, I'm sorry it took long for me to update (acads got me busy), but nevertheless, I still hope you continue reading and enjoying this! Thank you so much! <3

Chapter 5: Rivals 

"I'm glad you and your companion's blood test results improved from the first time I took a sample,"

Si Jin rolled his eyes and looked away while the doctor continued to narrate his test results; though the samples and check-ups all signified improvements and good things to note, Si Jin found himself being tormented hearing the voice of someone he considers a threat.

"We managed the infections with a few antibiotics, and both your blood sugar and pressure are increasing back to the normal state," Yun Gi said enthusiastically, giving the soldier a gentle pat on the shoulder. "You and Sergeant Seo are still suffering malnutrition, so you better eat your fill this lunch. Your liquid diet's finally over, soldier." He patted his shoulder to congratulate him.
 

Si Jin's eyes went agape when he felt Min Yun Gi's hands rest on his shoulder. The contact made him jolt in surprise and pull the blankets up to cover his body. Don't touch me.
 

"It's really overwhelming how you managed to get back healthy in just three weeks time, I mean, with that condition I was expecting a month and a half before you attained this kind of health," The doctor complimented, patting harder on Si Jin's shoulder which irritated him all the more, "You guys were initially diagnosed anemic but look, even with the little we got from donors, you still managed to get your hemoglobin rising."
 

"My blood pressure shot up because of your presence," Si Jin murmured underneath the blankets of his bed.
 

"I'm sorry, what was that?"
 

"Nothing. Thanks for the details," It was a voice full of sarcasm, though the ever-cheerful Yun Gi remained oblivious, not picking up anything suspicious with his patient's behavior.
 

"'No problem," He gave him the same smile that sent Si Jin cringing in disgust and despise without fail before leaving the soldier’s place, "I'll be attending to the sergeant,"
 

His eyes peered from his blanket and watched Min Yun Gi disappear from his sight as the doctor pulled the partition curtains that led to Dae Young's side of the ward. He could hear the conversation from where he lay.

With his usual bright, yet annoying, voice, he greeted Dae Young, "Ah, good morning soldier—"
 

"Ya," The stern command—which sounded like Seo Dae Young's usual 'drill-instructor's voice—pricked Si Jin's ears. "My mornings have not been well after seeing you every day of the week," The short-tempered sergeant blurted.
 

Uh-oh. The only thing Si Jin thought was missing in his hands was a bag of fresh-from-the-oven popcorn. This was going to be a hit action movie between the doctor and the soldier.
 

But despite wanting to see one blockbuster hospital action movie, Si Jin could not vividly tell what was going on beyond those curtains; however he could imagine Min Yun Gi trembling in fear, with both his hands clutched tightly on the metal tray filled with their prescription drugs and other injectables.

But if you would look at it yourself and let your eyes pan from Si Jin's side of the room to Dae Young's, you can clearly see that what the former soldier had in his mind was null and void.
 

In front of the furious Dae Young who sat on his bed, was a Min Yun Gi who was as calm and as composed as he was during his first encounter with the two soldiers; he looks fresh and neatly handsome, with his hair primly cut, and both his clothes and the white coat he wore over it were crisp and good as new. He was, in a man's perspective, the kind of man that could attract the ladies easily with that kind of face and body.

Dae Young glared at him from head to foot and noticed something: the doctor had a pretty face that of the captain Yoo Si Jin, and a well-built body (which definitely had washboard abs beneath his top clothes) that of Seo Dae Young's.

No wonder both Mo Yeon and Myung Joo appeared to be a bunch of crazies when Min Yun Gi was brought up as a topic, he remembers seeing them blurt out certain things about Min Yun Gi in unison back in their Urk base.

Yun Gi let out an uninitiated chuckle, placing his metal tray on the edge of the sergeant's bed, "Don't worry, I'm not giving you any shots today. I came to tell you about your health improvements," he paused, "Well... Unless you've heard everything while I was talking to the other soldier from behind this curtain, then I'll take my break,"

Dae Young disliked it whenever this Min Yun Gi acted as if the set of glares he would give to the doctor was not making him feel intimidated. After he and his captain found out in Urk that the women they cherished the most had been the best of rivals because of a certain Min Yun Gi—whom each of the ladies thought were being dated by this man—Seo Dae Young had come up with a list of many reasons why he should beat this man into a pulp.

He's a two-timing bastard.
 

He hit on my girlfriend.
 

He hit on my captain's girlfriend.

 

He's a two-timing bastard.
 

The way he smiles simply gets in my nerves. It's irritating.

 

...uhhh... erm....

 

...he's a two-timing bastard.


Those thoughts crowded the sergeant's mind as he glowered at the doctor with furious eyes. "I'd like to hear something else from you, other than my test results,"

Min Yun Gi however remained unaffected with whatever killing intent Dae Young's pair of eyes made, as he casually lifted his handy metal tray before walking to and disappearing from the curtains, "Nothing else is to be reported. I'll be on my way then," He gave him a slight bow and turned around to leave the sergeant but was taken aback when he bumped into someone who had entered Sergeant Seo's side of the ward.

"Ah, kkamjjagiya—Yoo daewinim?" Min Yun Gi almost dropped his tray when the other man in the room blocked the doctor from going out. "I'd rather go back on the bed before the medication side-effects kick in if I were you,"

"Aww, how dare you talk about something interesting without me joining in? I would like to be part of the fun too," Si Jin smirked as he limped his way inside, pulling his IV stand along, "I bet me and Sergeant Seo here would like to hear the same thing?"

Dae Young nodded from his position on the bed in reply. "Ya, Min Yun Gi,"
 

The doctor raised a brow, "Min Yun Gi..?"
 

"Let's leave out the formalities here, shall we?" Yoo Si Jin suggested as he moved forward, making the puzzled Min Yun Gi step back until he was made to sit on Dae Young's bed.
 

"What's up? What do you want, the both of you?"
 

Si Jin rested his hand on his waist and sighed, "Hmm... We just want to talk to you,"
 

Dae Young nodded, "Geurae. Man to man,"
 

"Man to men," The captain corrected his second-in-command, "Aish, you're really bad with numbers aren't you?"
 

While the two were busy bantering about grammar and numbers, Yun Gi chuckled out of the blue, making the two soldiers gaze back at the doctor, "What's funny?" Dae Young was getting even more chafed at the man.

Yun Gi looked up with an amused face, and then back at Dae Young, "Ah. You wanted to hear about Yoon Myung Joo, don't you?"
 

Dae Young stiffened at the mention of the woman’s name. "Ya—"
 

"And you," Yun Gi turned towards the displeased captain in front of him, "You wanted to hear about Kang Mo Yeon, am I right?"

"You sly doctor—"

"There's nothing to tell you about them, other than the fact they’re both beautiful. Now if you will excuse me," Min Yun Gi concluded as he stood up from his seat but was pushed back down by Si Jin.
 

"Listen up," Looking at Yun Gi with a deadly, stern expression in his face, he leaned forward to meet his eyes, "You better not think of laying a hand on those two women. Or else,"

"You'll be dealing with the deadliest men in the military," Dae Young added, glaring at the doctor.

"Wow. I'm scared," Yun Gi deadpanned, "Two terribly injured men are threatening me. I don't care whatever notch you have attained in the military, but if you even think of threatening a doctor and the only person who can help you out here, you're going the wrong way,"

"Oh we've been through worse than this," Si Jin pointed at his contused, swollen eyelid. "I suggest we both do our respective jobs as a patient and as a doctor, but when it comes to Kang-seonsaeng and Yoon Myung Joo, you back off,"

Yun Gi smirked, "I can't believe it. I did not step back for either of them to date a dangerous man,"

'Did not step back', Si Jin and Dae Young's eyes widened when they heard that. So he did date both of them?
 

"You're far more dangerous, to be a man who kept them enemies for so long," Dae Young murmured.
 

"Excuse me?" Yun Gi had likewise lost his previously friendly demeanor and had begun to look completely pissed in the heat of the men's conversation. "Then that isn't my fault if they've been arguing the whole time,"
 

Two-timing bastard, Dae Young said in his mind as his hands involuntarily clenched in frustration. Yun Gi shot a smirk to the sergeant, with the implied expression of someone saying 'don't hate me just because I'm way ahead of you'
 

"Don't hate me just because I'm way ahead of you," Yun Gi chuckled, leaving Dae Young appalled at how the doctor's words corresponded to his own actions, "If you're too worried about me, then you better leave this place and go back to Korea as soon as possible. Right, Yoo Si Jin-ssi?"
 

"We're not worried about you. We're worried about them, ending up meeting you again," Si Jin crossed his arms.
 

"Ah," Yun Gi stood up to face the soldier, "So you're saying that you can trust a North Korean soldier as a friend, and you consider a South Korean doctor like me as a threat?"

"Geuraeyo. You're not just a South Korean doctor. You're a rival," Si Jin stated in a serious, threatening voice, "Anyone who dares take Kang-seonsaeng from me is a threat,"
 

"Correction: I came before you did," The doctor replied.
 

"I am her current boyfriend," Si Jin rasped, "Current,"
 

Yun Gi chuckled, pushing his way out of the soldier blocking his front, "Then I'm challenging you. If you're too worried about Kang Mo Yeon-ssi, then you better go back to Korea. Simple as that, right?"

"You know me and Sergeant Seo can't do that. We're still in hiding," the captain reasoned out.
 

"Then if that's the case, you follow my orders," He faced Si Jin and Dae Young once again, with his arms crossed, "I know this place better than you do. And I know where to keep you safe from the militia who is currently searching for you,"
 

Si Jin frowned, while Dae Young can't help but mutter a few words in his frustration. "I can't believe I'm dealing with t