v i c t o r
OPERATION: LOVE
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AUTHOR'S NOTE: Make sure you've read the previous chapter since this one is the second update in one day. Enjoy and don't be afraid to leave comments~
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Fluttering his eyes open, Youngjae slowly adjusted his vision to the semi-bright light of the room’s ceiling. Still too spent-out to get up, the doctor stayed laying. He felt somewhat better than earlier this morning. Youngjae turned his head and looked out the window. Outside was covered in a black blanket of a winter’s night. He wondered how long has he been out.
“You’re awake.”
Turning his head slowly back to the owner of that voice, Youngjae smiled at the sight of an agent. “Yeah. How long did I slept?”
“Not sure,” Jaebum shrugged, but moved to hold Youngjae’s hand, “more than ten hours that’s for sure.”
Youngjae sighed. The doctor looked down and find himself cleaned off of blood and in a new outfit. Feeling his cheeks burning, Youngjae looked at Jaebum with timid eyes. The agent caught his boyfriend’s gaze and immediately shook his head in complete defense. “I swear I only cleaned your face and hands! Nowhere else. Nope. I didn’t touch anything and I didn’t see anything.”
Biting back a shy smile, Youngjae nodded slowly, “I know. I got it. It’s okay.”
Jaebum sank back into his seat and continue his thumb over Youngjae’s hand. “You were so tired. Do you know how worried I was?”
The doctor could only stared.
“I’ve been sitting here throughout the whole day, making sure I’ll be here when you wakes up,” Jaebum lets a hand landed on the doctor’s head, softly his hair. “Thank you.”
Youngjae squeezes Jaebum’s hand and smiled, “I did the best I could at the moment. I know how important it is. I’m sorry-“
Jaebum leaned over and softly placed his lips on top of Youngjae’s. They stayed like that for awhile, lips pressing against each others', eyes closing comfortably. Jaebum pulled away first with a calm smile. “You did great, Jae-ah. I knew you would.”
Kissing both of Youngjae’s cheeks, Jaebum whispered sweetly, “I’m so proud of you, baby.”
Tears started streaming down the doctor’s cheeks. “I-I’m sor-sorry.”
The agent got up from his seat and maneuvered himself onto the bed beside his lover. Wrapping his arms around Youngjae’s shaking form and pulling him close, Jaebum softly shushes the doctor. It wasn’t Youngjae’s fault. Youngjae really did his best despite his terrible condition at the moment. And Jaebum was grateful for that.
“You’ve done your part, Youngjae-ah,” Jaebum said, placing kisses on top of his boyfriend’s head, “now it’s Mark’s turn.”
*
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*
It hurts Jinyoung’s heart to see Mark like this. Jinyoung wasn’t allowed inside just yet, so the only option that’s opened to him was to silently watches Mark from the other side of the glass window. How badly he wanted to burst in and wraps himself against his husband. God, he misses Mark so much.
Jinyoung stood there, watching the slow rises of Mark’s chest and tracing his eyes over his husband’s figure, bandaged and all. Youngjae did a goob job, Jinyoung realized. Being able to keep someone who’s already unconscious and losing more than three liters of blood alive and breathing throughout a long procedure is something only a determined and skilled doctor could manage.
The desire to touch was unbearable. Jinyoung wanted to touch to make sure that Mark’s body was warm, telling him that he’s still alive. Just a little touch would be fine. That’s all Jinyoung needed. He’ll won’t ask for more. He just wanted to know that his husband isn’t gone.
Although looking lifeless and bandaged up, Mark was still gorgeously breathtaking. It makes Jinyoung wants to cry. There’s so much pain he could take. Turning around and sliding his back down the glass window, Jinyoung covered his mouth and let the tears fall.
“Thank God you’re all right, Mark,” Jinyoung managed to said through choked sobs, “I thought I’ll never get to see you again. Thank you for not leaving me.”
Hiding his cries behind his hands, Jinyoung couldn’t stop the mixed feelings within his heart. He’s broken to see his husband suffer, but at the same time, he’s happy that his Mark is still alive. Anything is fine as long as Mark is alive and well.
“Seriously,” an all too familiar exhausted voice made Jinyoung looked up from his hands, “you cry over anything that’s Mark-related, sad or not.”
Jaebum looked through the window and sees his best friend. His first reaction was a warm smile. “You’re a piece of , Tuan.”
Didn’t appreciate hearing his husband being called a “piece of ,” Jinyoung slapped Jaebum hard on the agent’s leg, causing said agent to jump back and let out a pained “ah.”
“What the hell? You need to stop hurting me today!” Jaebum grimaced, looking as if he’s ready to take off his jacket and use it to choke a .
“How’s Youngjae?” Jinyoung asked as he wiped his tears away and stood up, going back to looking at his husband.
“Cried himself to sleep,” Jaebum sighed, “but at least he has the energy to cry.”
Jinyoung said, “it wasn’t his fault.”
“I know. It’s Mark’s fault for not waking up. I’ll be angry if he’d stopped fighting.”
The Vice Captain glared at his Captain, jaw clenching, “I dare you to say that one more time and see if I’m being nice.”
Rolling his eyes, Jaebum scoffed, “whatever.”
Silence settled in as they both stood side-by-side, observing the way Mark’s coffee-colored hair falls over his forehead, covering parts of the bandages, or the way his long eyelashes would swayed the slightest as if he’s reacting to being stared, or, especially, the shining white gold band that’s snuggling perfectly around his long slender finger.
“You know,” Jaebum started, “as much as I wouldn’t like to, but if they allow one visitor, I’ll let you go in first without a fight.”
Scoffing, Jinyoung softly smiled, “they usually allow family to go in first, anyways, so no need to be nice and lend the spot to me.”
“You’re saying I’m not Mark’s family?”
“You are. But I’m his husband, you . Obviously, I’m more family to him than you are.”
“WOW. How MATURE, Park Jinyoung.”
“And I would go in first for Youngjae, too, since I’m his best friend, and you’re just a boyfriend.”
“Just a boyfriend?” Jaebum quirked an eyebrow. “Do you want to ing fight?”
“Gladly,” Jinyoung replied casually. “Have you not learn anything from that punch?”
“I’m so pissed right now, oh, my God.”
“Bring it on, Captain.”
“You-“
Someone cleared their throat, grabbing the attention of the bickering agents, “can you two stop? Learn how to behave in the ing hospital damnit.”
“You’re the last person I wanted to see,” Jinyoung rolled his eyes.
“Watch yourself, Jinyoung, I’m still you’re Boss,” JYP sighed, “I’m sick of your ugly attitude.”
“Excuse him, Boss. He’s very sensitive right now,” the Captain poked in to apologized for his Vice’s unnecessary manner. “You know how Jinyoung is.”
Nodding, JYP ignored Jinyoung’s petty glares. Instead, the Chief Commander focused on a peacefully sleeping Mark Tuan, “When will he be awake?”
“I don’t know,” Jinyoung answered, voice barely above a low whisper. “Today? Tomorrow? Three more days? Weeks? Months? Years?”
Jaebum looked over at his Vice. Jinyoung looks so out-of-it.
“All we know is that he’s over crisis, but now, he’s in a coma,” Jinyoung said.
JYP walked over to Jinyoung and patted his back, “at least he’s saved, Jinyoung-ah. You look like . Why don’t you go rest? Jaebum, you, too. I’m here already, so you two go and catch some sleep.”
Sighing and nodding, Jaebum dragged a reluctant Jinyoung away from the window and down the hall, shoving his Vice into some empty room and makes his way back to Youngjae’s room after. Their Boss is right. It’s been a very long period of no-sleep. They both needed a break.
Chief Commander Park pulled out his phone and called his men as soon as his two best agents were out of sight. “I need extra men in here near Mark’s room. And make sure to identify every single person that’s entering and leaving the hospital, got it? Protecting E.C.I. Captain, Mark Tuan, is now our top priority.”
*
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*
After hearing Sana’s report of Mark’s surgery, Jackson parted ways with all the others and went back to the K.N.S.S. headquarters. Right away, he sat down and went to work. Jackson pulled up Operation Baby Bird and ran through it again, not missing a single detail. He still couldn’t figure the loophole. But there has to be something, right?
Searching around a bit more, Jackson pulled up the sets of codes that Mark had stored away inside Jackson's phone’s memory as backups and advised him to not open them within presence of the Captain of E.C.I. The Vice Captain went through every single code with each one leading him to a different field of hacks. Mark, unfortunately, is too smart. It took awhile, but Jackson managed to fits the codes together just like puzzle pieces. The result was a GPS location of a USB chip.
Leaning closer to the computer’s screen, Jackson furrowed his eyebrows, “what is this?” He asked himself. Typing accurately on the keyboard, Jackson zoomed in on the coordinates of the location. It was S.K. United Hospital.
Smirking, Jackson shook his head, “Mark does know everything. He’s been keeping quiet this whole time about this?”
Clicking the last remaining codes, a file suddenly popped up. It was a video and started playing by itself. Jackson was baffled, but nonetheless, fixated his attention on the screen.
The video started out with a person tied to a chair. It was a young man dressed in camouflages of the Republic of Korea Marine Corps. His eyes were covered with a black cloth. His hair was long and unkept, dirty with filth. Jackson gasped, “oh, my God, Choi Youngjae.”
Someone was speaking in Russian and a cart was pushed to position next to Youngjae. Some more Russian speaking. Then, someone whose face was covered by a piece of black cloth appeared on-screen. Youngjae was still sitting there, hands tied back, but he didn’t even utter a single word since the video had started playing. The unknown man, a member of the Russian’s mafia, Jackson assumed, picked up what looked like a ragged edge knife from the little cart and twirled it around his fingers. The Russian took a ball of rag and stuffed inside Youngjae’s mouth with ease. It seemed like Youngjae was in complete submission. The man tore at Youngjae’s military pants, exposing the flesh of his left thigh.
Jackson gulped as his hands gripped tightly onto the chair handles. He could foresee that what he’s about to witness isn’t going to be all sunshine and rainbows.
It wasn’t.
Without even a warning, the Russian stabbed the doctor’s thigh with the knife. Youngjae’s scream was muffled by the balled rag, but Jackson could clearly see the doctor’s attempt to wiggle out of the instinct of getting rid of the stinging pain. The man dragged the knife across as it was still stuck into Youngjae’s skin. Blood was seeping through the cut and oozing out everywhere. For a moment, Youngjae was fighting it, but after a couple of seconds, the doctor’s head started swaying and dropping low, his body relaxes as it goes limp. Jackson wondered how long is the video because he can’t stand watching it any longer.
The Russian, in a swift and careless movement, removed the knife from sticking itself into Youngjae’s thigh. He reached into the cart again with his gloved hands and took out what looked like a small petri dish. He opened it and, using a tweezer, picked up a tiny chip. The man carefully pushed the chip into the open cut on Youngjae’s thigh. Once it was hidden within the doctor’s flesh and muscles, the Russian took a needle with a long string of thick thread attached and stitched Youngjae’s wound. Jackson cringed but didn’t looked away.
After the stitching was done, the man said something in Russian and grabbed a fist full of Youngjae’s hair and slapped the doctor really hard across his face that Jackson had to think twice if he wanted to share this video to Jaebum and Jinyoung.
Then, the video cuts off.
Jackson sighed as he leaned back in his seat, “Mark Tuan, you sly motherer.”
*
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*
Easily passing through the tight security, the agent hid himself in an empty room. On his way here, he had knocked out a doctor and stole their clothes and ID. His disguise worked wonders. Of course, he still had to be extra careful, but it was helpful to took the form of a doctor. The agent continued down the hall, heading to a specific room. It wasn’t as smooth since the place near that room was literally packed with guards. If anyone of them recognized him, he’ll be dead meat.
Quietly slipping through a couple more rooms, the agent was starting to feel anxious. There’s too many agents. He can’t possibly do this all alone.
His mission was to sneak in and kill the most important person, E.C.I. Captain. It’s the perfect time right now since Mark is still unconscious and completely defenseless, except obviously, JYP had suspected better.
Making the decision to call his Boss to inform that the mission cannot be carried out, the agent opened the door to a random room and stepped inside. It was dark, but that’s fine, he was only just making a phone call.
“Hello, sir-“
Somewhere in the darkness, someone grabbed the agent and pushed him harshly against the door. The agent was about to react but stopped when he heard the cocking of the gun and felt the muzzle pressed against the side of his head. He froze against the door, didn’t even dared to move even one centimeter; his life was on the line.
“You’ve got big balls, I see,” the voice was raspy and dripping with poison.
The agent kept quiet.
“That’s cute,” it was definitely the voice of a man, “you don’t have to talk because I know Gabsoo sent you here.”
Again, silence was the answer.
“I can’t even get a decent sleep when roaches like you keep crawling around,” the man grind the tip of the gun harder against the agent’s head. “Do you know whose room you’ve just entered?”
The agent’s eyes were slowly adjusting to the darkness. And with the help of the low moonlight from the small crack of the curtains hung on the windows, the agent could make out a young face with handsome, yet terrifyingly sharp, features of a powerful King.
“Vice Cap-Captain Pa-Park,” the agent whimpered out the answer as the gun continued to dug deeper.
“No,” the man whispered dangerously, “Chairman Park, you mean.”
Gulping loudly, the agent was ready to accept his fate. There’s no way he’ll make it out alive. With someone else, he might. But with Chairman Park, even the highest of the Gods wouldn’t be able to help him rid of this terrible destiny.
“You dare sneak in here to kill Captain Tuan? Should I praise you for being brave? Or should I ridicule you for being so stupid?” The Chairman sneered and the agent could felt chills running down his spine.
“Sir-“
“Either way, it was nice knowing you.”
The trigger was pulled and the agent’s brain was blown off. Blood splattered all over the door. His body was let go and it dropped pathetically against the cold hospital’s ground. Upon hearing the gunshot, two agents from the outside came rushing in.
“Vice Captain Park? What’s going on? Are you okay?” They asked worriedly.
“Yeah,” Jinyoung replied sleepily and yawned, “just killed a roach. Everything’s fine.”
The lights were and the body by the door scared the two agents. They looked at each other, a bit taken back.
“Take care of the mess for me, will you? I gotta sleep just in case Mark decided to wake up tomorrow,” Jinyoung requested, more like commanded, as he climbed on the bed again and tucked himself underneath the cozy blanket.
“Y-yes, sir.”
*
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*
Something wet was pressing against Jaebum’s thigh, stirring awake the Captain. He opened his eyes and was greeted by pure darkness. He looked down and Youngjae was still sounded asleep. The sticky wetness was still there. Bothered by it, Jaebum removed the blanket they were sharing and looked down. His hand traveled to his thigh and felt the wet spot. Jaebum knows what blood feels like.
Shooting himself up, Jaebum was certain that the blood wasn’t his, which means…
With careful hand, Jaebum reached over and ran his fingertips along his boyfriend’s thigh. He stopped at mid-thigh when he felt the soaking of pouring blood through the fabric of the hospital gown. Letting out a soft gasp, Jaebum moved out of the bed and went to turn on the lights. With the lights, Jaebum can confirm that Youngjae was bleeding from his left thigh.
However, the doctor was still asleep, so Jaebum decided to take things into his own hands. He carefully pushed the hem of the gown from Youngjae’s knees up to his thighs. Gulping at the sight of too much revealed skin, Jaebum calmed himself down and told himself that he was just going to tend the wound.
On Youngjae’s left thigh was a long scar that etched across his pale skin. The blood was pouring from the opening of the wound, which was strange because it looked like an old wound, so why is it opening…
Grabbing a handful of napkins nearby, Jaebum carefully wipes off the blood. But the bleeding doesn’t seem to be stopping. Unknowingly, Jaebum’s fingers wrapped around the inner thigh of Youngjae’s, jolting the doctor’s awake.
“What-Jae-Jaebum?”
“Oh, sorry, babe, did I wake you?” Jaebum looked up and found his boyfriend’s brown orbs widened in surprise. “It’s just you’re bleeding and I was going to-“
“Jaebum,” Youngjae said as he sat himself up, “could you hand me a scalpel from that cabinet over there?”
“A what?”
“Scalpel, over there, inside the cabinet,” Youngjae directed as he stretched his arm out and pointed towards the cabinet. “Hurry, baby, please.”
Confused, but didn’t question it further, Jaebum got up and went to get a what Youngjae wanted from the cabinet. He returned back to his lover’s side and handed him the tool. “What are you going to-“
“Jaebum, your mission,” Youngjae looked at Jaebum, eyes serious and unwavering.
“What mission-“
“The reason why you came to me.”
Jaebum knitted his eyebrows together and sighed, “Youngjae, we’ve been over this, remember? I’m not doing that stupid mission anymore-“
“No, Jaebum, you were supposed to retrieve something from me,” Youngjae reminded his boyfriend.
“Well, yeah, but I don’t care about that anymore-“
“Jaebum, listen,” Youngjae insisted.
The Captain stopped talking and listened.
“This,” Youngjae pointed to his left thigh, “this was what you’re supposed to get out from me. This is what makes me a walking target.”
Looking down at Youngjae’s bloodied thigh, Jaebum quirked an eyebrow, “baby, I don’t know what you’re trying to say?”
“All this time I’ve tried hard to hide it, but it’s only this year that they've all managed to find out about this, so they all decided it’ll be the best idea to hunt me down.”
“Youngjae-“
“Your mission,” Youngjae said calmly, “was to make me trust you enough to let you in on my biggest secret, because only I can remove it without endangering my own life.”
And it clicked. Jaebum immediately grabbed Youngjae’s hands, “no, Youngjae, no. Don’t do it. I have no such mission now. I don’t care about it. I don’t want you to hurt yourself. Youngjae, don’t do it, babe, please. Don’t-“
“No, I have to. It’s already came to this point,” Youngjae breaks free from Jaebum’s grip. “Jaebum, let me help you complete your mission.”
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