you could hear the front door clicks open, but you suppose it does not matter. the only one who knows the pin is your girlfriend, so it must have been her. to your surprise a different voice calls out your name, and you think there are a few sets of feet shuffling about. so it is definitely not your girlfriend.

"oi, you useless doc, stop moping around." yerim pretty much just barges into your bedroom, spotting you all bundled up inside your blanket on your bed.

you think it is easy for her to say that, though there is a painful truth in her words.

it has been... what? three days since you found out that you could actually have done something to save your deceased patients. but you also realise you could not have done anything about that now. so you submitted a request for a longer leave, which your department's director easily agrees to, knowing of your weakened psychological state and that you won't be able to perform up to par, so she lets you go, and you continue to wallow in self pity at your home.

how could you have possibly let doctor han jungwoo continue his murderous actions for so long? you should have known. you should have.

you feel a small weight depositing at the end of your bed, before yerim's usually gruff tones grow softer. "the hospital has contacted all of your patient's families, and we have also provided them with reparations. it's a closed case, doctor bae. you need to let it go."

after waiting for a minute to hear your reaction but not getting anything out, yerim sighs. "you need to stop doing this to yourself."

to your complete and utter shock, yerim tugs off your blanket forcefully, revealing yourself to her. "come on, get up. i need your help."

she pulls you to the living room, not minding the fact that you are still in your pajamas (you have been for the last three days) and that you had dry tears on your cheeks. there are three other men in suits settled around your living room, each one staying close to the windows and looking out, and you finally falter. "what's going on?"

yerim signals for the three men to go ahead, and they do. after they shout something that sounds like 'clear!', yerim takes your hand again, but this time rather gently. "follow me."

they drive you to a secluded area at the edge of the city, and you look around warily when you get out of the car. you rush to yerim, who is already making her way into a run down bungalow, looking like it's been abandoned for years and have seen much better days. she is starting to make you nervous, to fear for your life. and where is seulgi? shouldn't she be with yerim? "yerim, please, what is happening right now? where are you taking me?"

"just hurry." yerim urges you, going to a hallway. the path ends there, but then yerim pulls on something on the floor, and once again, you are shocked when a trap door opens up, revealing a stairway.

"what...?"

yerim pushes you in, head first. "get in, i'll close it up."

"what is this place?" you question, following the little bit of light that ends at the bottom of the stairway while making your way down the steep stairs.

"it's a safe house," yerim answers nonchalantly. "i'm sure you have a lot of questions right now, but i need you to steel yourself up a bit, 'kay? it's not going to be pretty."

"a safe house? for what purpose?" you say, finally getting to a bright room, you turn to study the place, and that is when you had to pause, cutting your sentence short. "...and what do you mean i need to steel--"

there is seulgi. she is lying down on a bed, and you think she is not moving. you rush to her, not even noticing the two men stationed next to the door to the stairway, guarding the place. "seulgi? oh my god."

there is a makeshift bandage on her shoulder, and you can see the many spots of blood that seep through the dressing. you don't really think too much about it. you cup her jaw, and then you kiss her. her lips are dry and chapped, her skin feels cold, and you can feel your heart dropping to your stomach. that is until she reciprocates, kissing you back just as gently. you retreat after, shocked, and with much difficulty, you find her eyes.

she manages a small smile, her gaze teary, relieved to see you. "i thought you weren't ready."

"i thought you were dead!" you half yell, half sob.

"i'm sorry... i didn't mean for you to find out about everything this way."

yerim comes up to them, nervous. "doctor bae, i will explain everything to you afterwards, but you need to help seulgi now. she's been bleeding for over two hours. i'm afraid she have lost too much blood."

"of course," you quickly scan your lover's body, tearing through the hastily dressed gauze. "what happened?"

"we got into a feud with some really angry people. they shot some of my men, seulgi included. she was protecting me. we barely got out of the shootout alive," yerim recounts the event that transpired just a little over two hours ago. "the bullet went through her, so now she's bleeding from two places."

"and your other men? where are they?"

"i don't know. we escaped. we're still trying to contact them, but..."

"i understand," you quickly say, it is unlikely that they survived, and even if they did, they might be captured, so now you need to concentrate on the one who could certainly make it out alive. tugging your wounded lover slightly by her hand, trying not to break at the sound of the pained grunt coming from her. you look at yerim next. "can you help me get her to sit? i need to take a look at the exit wound."

your eyes grow wide and a gasp leaves your lips when you see the big patch of blood on the bed. it is just far too much blood. "she's bleeding too much."

you quickly stuff the bullet hole with gauze, and wrap it with more dressing. then, you carefully set seulgi back on her bed before you eye yerim, asking a silent question.

"they're monitoring all of our properties, and that includes the hospital. i thought of bringing seulgi there, but... i just can't risk it," yerim pauses, holding onto seulgi's other hand tightly. "don't worry, i called for reinforcements."

and as fate wills it, there is a distinct shuffling sound coming from above, and soon enough there is a knock on the door to the basement. yerim hurries to the door, and asks. "what's the password?"

"kang seulgi can get the off?" the timid voice coming from behind the door is familiar to you.

your lover lets out a small groan, as if protesting. you shush her gently and press your hands on her wound, making sure it is at the right pressure to stop more bleeding. you watch yerim opens the door, and both seungwan and sooyoung emerge from behind the small woman, holding your full medical kit.

"juhyun!" they both call at the same time, shocked to see you, and they grow even more surprised to see the bedridden woman. "and holy , seulgi?"

you quickly reach for your kit in seungwan's hand. "come on, help me, we need to put her under first. do you have any painkillers?"

"on the way!" sooyoung says, quick to move and readies a syringe. she notices your fearful gaze, and understanding washes over her in just a second. any kinds of anesthesia must have reminded you of truly unpleasant memories. "you can trust me."

"i trust you, sooyoung."

"i'll sterilize the place." seungwan offers, and you nod.

"did you bring blood bags? i fear we need to keep seulgi constantly supplied as i work on her."

"yeah, i brought it."

"good, link me with her."

"huh?" sooyoung questions, taking out the needle from seulgi's arm after successfully injecting the liquid anaesthetic. "seulgi's blood is type a? then you can take mine too!"

unable to decline sooyoung's offer, what with her shooting you a determined look and all, you give her a small nod. "let's save her."

-----

"what do you think this is about?" seungwan questions after you have neatly sutured the entry wound on seulgi's shoulder. your lover is knocked out cold and pale, and your fear of losing the most important person in your life grow bigger every passing second.

"i don't know," you answer, honest. sooyoung has turned seulgi over, and you had to in a deep breath at the condition of the wound, where the bullet had made a messy exit. "seulgi, she... i don't think i suspected anything. i just thought it would be better to hear any secrets coming from her own mouth, so i never did demand her to... you know, let me know of all this."

"i have heard of them," sooyoung adds, her hands now pressing against the wound as you get your utensils cleaned and sterilized again. "or at least, what they were. when i was a kid, the president at the time... he waged a war against organized crime, as it was a major problem back then, uncontrollable, and is almost successful to eradicate them. huge clans, and small time thugs, all."

seungwan raises an intrigued eyebrow. "almost?"

"a few gangs got away at the time because they started doing legal businesses, and the government could not prove that they actually had a hand in our country's largest mobster movements to date, so until now, they exist, as legitimate companies, obviously. it was just mindless gossips, but..."

"we exist." yerim pipes in from the door, and that shuts up all three of the medical officers.

-----

"at the time of the japanese occupation..." yerim starts as you clean seulgi's body again, wiping the sweat caked to her skin, and changing her dressings. it has been almost half a day after yerim tugs you off your mourning. by this time, the two nurses have already been escorted home. "my great grandfather worked for the japanese, building railroads and cargo supply lines and was trusted to contract more local workers. this goes on until he manages to own his very own railroad company, and it became his own clan. due to the nature of his work in providing transportation, he was able to get acquainted with powerful men, politicians and businessmen alike."

"when the japanese left, and he lost both his power and sponsors, he had to look for a way to maintain the honour of his name," yerim continues, pacing around seulgi's bed, and you keep your eyes trained on her. "or the lack of it, i suppose, as he got into smuggling weaponry and supplies from the americans instead. this was when korea in general, was in a rough spot of political unrest, what with russia occupying the north and americans occupying us, so it was... it was when being mobsters seems to be the easier way to survive."

yerim makes a quick halt at the foot of seulgi's bed before continuing on her wandering.

"and he was right. he got wealthy enough that my grandfather took over his operations easily, without much worries on the financing part. that was when the great industrialization starts. policing was not as effective back then, unfortunately. the government did not have much power, and public safety was still in tatters. so some of the emerging manufacturers needed the extra protection a gang could provide that the police couldn't. that is how we got connected to some of the biggest family conglomerate you can see today. my grandfather provided protection to them, or well, extortion is more like it, what with how he demanded a bit of their company shares. but we still kept them safe."

you could only nod, still waiting for more.

"when he had much riches, my father was the one who advised my grandfather to set up a legitimate company," yerim stops her pacing, turning towards you with an exhausted smile on her face. "this was the move that saved us from getting jailed or deported, as that is what happened to most mobsters who got caught. we would then pay all of our taxes, do our businesses legally and provide community support as a part of our corporate responsibilities. we became korea's biggest security firm and private military company, the first of its kind to be listed on the stock exchange."

"so it is a front?"

"a multi billion won front, sure," with that, yerim collapses on a chair next to seulgi's bed, sighing. "but there are still things we do behind the blinds. seulgi was pursuing a lead, something about spycams scattered all over these days."

"spycams?"

"yeah, hidden cameras spying on women in dressing rooms, toilets, women's universities, and all that... it's got a huge market of its own," yerim scoffs in disgust. "the police won't do anything about it, the most they can do with the current laws is fine the offenders, and even then it is such a small amount, less than what they would have spent on those disgusting cameras. it is such a normalised issue and consumed so widely, no one seems to have a problem with it. the police have always treated violence against women as something trivial and insignificant. being a patriarchal country in essence, no one would..."

you sigh, exasperated, but in your very own way, loving. of course that is the case, it seems very likely that your lover would do such a thing. "except seulgi."

"except seulgi," yerim agrees. "she stopped the distribution of the hidden cameras footage, closed down multiple websites and had some of my men ransack several physical stores selling them."

"and...?"

"seems like it is the wrong thing to do," chuckling tiredly, yerim leans back on the chair. "who knew the yakuzas had something to do with it?"

"yakuza? like, the japanese yakuzas?"

"yeah, and they never did really like us koreans, mobster or civilian alike... i guess the hidden cameras is one of their major money maker. the fact that they'd turn violent over this..."

"what is going to happen now?" you ask, feeling the same fear clawing through your skin all over again.

"what do you mean?"

"when... when i know of this... secret of yours... are you going to silence me?"

"yeah, of course. you'd need to keep it a secret."

"no, i mean..." you pause, unsure of what you really mean anymore. your hand moves to clasp on seulgi's weak grip.

"if you mean i'm going to silence you by killing you, then, no. are you crazy? why would i bring you here to save seulgi only to kill you afterwards?"

you shrug.

"you've watched too many movies," yerim waves your worries away. "but if the movies you've watched had some retaliation and revenge and what not... yeah, i guess i can see that happening. we won't just stay quiet when they've already killed some of my men... blood for blood... it's only right."

"what about her? what will happen to seulgi?"

"i think even this place isn't going to be safe soon. they will track us down here," yerim taps her foot as she mulls it over. "it's a crazy idea, but can you look after seulgi at your flat?"

you scrunch up your eyebrows together. "won't that be too dangerous?"

"if there's one thing that seulgi is extremely careful about is that she ensures none of our enemies or members of the clan alike except the ones closest to her know of her relationship with you. i need to lie low, and she can't be seen with me. i'm afraid that my organization could have been compromised too, because no one should have known where we were, and yet we were attacked there."

"could there be a mole?"

"guess so. i need to liaise with my father and find a way to solve this... and seulgi needs to rest. for now, i can only trust you and those two idiot nurses. i know she's going to be a pain in the to have around when she is like this, but you love her, don't you?"

"i do," you say, tightening your fingers around hers, never quite willing to let go. your words are breaking slightly, but you think yerim already hears you enough. "i l-love her. so much."

"looks like you'll be using up all of your annual leave this time around, doc." yerim says with a small grin.

-----