Woman, 63 years old, COPD, shortness of breath, chest pain. Imun-ro 43-gil.

Joonmyun looks at Chanyeol with a smile and a question in his eyes. Chanyeol returns the smile and grabs his orange coat and jumps into the ambulance. They haven’t talked about Minseok and Chanyeol has no intention of starting now. He might be able to talk when he finds the cure, but right now he’s here to work and get his mind onto other things.

An old smoker with COPD and a possible heart attack is a great way to focus on something else.

Joonmyun drives the ambulance. They arrive 15 minutes later, Chanyeol bringing the oxygen tank with him. The woman is sitting in her armchair, heaving for breath. Joonmyun is trying to talk to her, but all he gets are gasps. There’s a home oxygen tank in the corner, mask abandoned on the floor and a pack of cigarettes proudly displayed on the coffee table. Chanyeol wants to scoff, but he keeps it in.

Some people are too ignorant of their diseases to care too much. They load the woman into the ambulance and helps her with oxygen and brings her to a nearby hospital for a check-up. They have only just cleaned the ambulance when another call sounds. Chanyeol couldn’t be happier that his day is busy.

The apartment is too empty. There are no pitter-patter of feet greeting him, no welcome-home kiss, no food on the table. Just silence and cold memories. There is no boyfriend to hug and bury his face into, no warm scent to soak in. No one to ask him how his day has been and no one to force him to talk about the traffic accident that killed a father and his young son. Chanyeol sits on the couch and stares at the black television.

The sounds from outside are oddly muted and the streetlights cast shadows into the room. He can hear their neighbors grandfather clock ring 7 times, indicating 7 PM. Then he cries. He doesn’t know if it’s the trauma of the accident earlier or the entire situation without Minseok, the empty apartment and the disappearance of normalcy, but it gets to him.

Burying his face into his hands he continues crying, loud sobbing resounds in the silent apartment and no one cares. When there are no more tears to cry, he has fallen asleep.

A loud blaring sound cuts through the silence. Chanyeol reaches towards his phone and accidentally pushes it to the floor. His back is aching from the position he has slept in and his eyes are sensitive to the sunlight shining through the living room windows. It’s far too bright for a Chanyeol who has just awakened. His phone keeps ringing. He flops a hand on the floor and tries to locate it but ends up pushing it further away.

It stops ringing, only to start again a couple of seconds later. Damn it. He turns around on the couch, almost toppling over and falling onto the floor, as he squints against the light and finally gets his phone.

“Did you just wake up?” the voice on the other end asks accusingly and Chanyeol fumbles with his words. It’s unnecessary, though, because Sookyung has a purpose with her call and it isn’t making sure Chanyeol is awake.

“I have a question,” she continues and Chanyeol sits up. He ruffles his hair and tilts his head so he can hold his phone between cheek and shoulder and gets up.

“Question about what?” he asks, still not fully awake. He can hear Sookyung roll her eyes at him, but he disregards it. The kitchen feels miles away as he bumps into the coffee table and the bookcase on his way.

“What are you doing?” she asks instead of elaborating on whichever question she has. Chanyeol sighs and presses ON on the electric kettle. It starts boiling whatever water is left inside and Chanyeol rummages through the cupboard to find his favorite mug, the one Minseok gave him as a joke that says ‘World’s Best Dad’.

“Making a cup of coffee.” The kettle finishes with a pling and Chanyeol continues making his cup of instant coffee. Sookyung scoffs at him.

“It’s already 7.45, decent people have already been awake a couple of hours,” she says and Chanyeol would’ve snorted if he wasn’t exhausted and still groggy with sleep.

“Only military people wake up at 5 on their days off.” He ignores her comeback and continues, cutting off her complaint. “What was it you wanted to ask?”

There’s rustling from the other side. Sookyung isn’t really done complaining about how it’s stupid to sleep in but Baekhyun hushes her from the other side and Chanyeol hears something that sounds like a kiss to shut her up. He smiles a little and sips from his coffee.

“A friend of mine...” she says but gets silenced again by another kiss and rustling sounds as the phone is taken from her. There’s movement, like the one holding the phone is walking away, and when there’s silence in the background Baekhyun speaks instead.

“Sookyungs police friend found a blog from a person furious with the government,” he says in a conspiring low voice. Chanyeol grabs his phone with his hand and stretches his neck.

“What’s that got to do with the virus? There are probably a lot of people who hate the government.”

Baekhyun snorts.

“Blog writer mentions they want to do the perfect crime.”

Chanyeol still doesn’t get it. His silence is enough to portray his confusion.

“Chanyeol,” he starts. “The perfect crime would be to kill the government with a virus that can’t be tracked and according to her friend, the blog also contains a lot of posts that are relevant to the virus. I think it’s a good start to look into whoever wrote the blog if we can find them.”

It doesn’t dawn on Chanyeol how a person who hates the government could be behind an attack on Lab 32, even long after his coffee is downed.

---

The sun is shining from a blue sky and flowers are slowly starting to power through the cold soil. Small leaves begin their growth on the trees and the grass smell of life. The city is bustling and busy as always, sirens and honking in the distance from the main roads and children playing noisily around the elementary schools.

He passes a small restaurant and a photo on the newspaper in the window catches his eyes. Chanyeol doesn’t get to read the title, though, because the door opens and startles him. To avoid questions, he hurries along the road. He forgets the newspaper photo and convinces himself it was nothing important. When he reaches Shinsegae mall, he stops and stares at the large TV.

In the bottom flashes a yellow line with the words BREAKING on it.

Attack on Lab 32, South Korea’s leading research facility. It has come to our attention that many of the employees have fallen deathly ill with an unknown man-made disease. Some have already passed away. The government is on the case but says it’s unlikely to affect the rest of the population. They don’t have any further comments. Stay with us as we follow the case as it develops.

Chanyeol stares at the reporter on the screen, standing in front of the iconic glass doors that says Lab 32. A woman bumps into him and complains loudly but Chanyeol doesn’t say anything. He’s just looking at the news that is looping. There is nothing new to add to the story. It has been two and a half weeks, and nothing has happened.

His phone is ringing but it takes Chanyeol a minute before he registers and by then he has 3 unanswered calls.

“Did you see the news?” is the first thing Baekhyun asks and Chanyeol can only nod to confirm. “I take your silence as a yes,” he continues. “Do you think the CDC is going to take the case more serious now that this is followed by the media?”

Chanyeol grimaces and turns his back to the TV and stares at the front of an Etude House.

“I don’t know Baekhyun. Why did they wait two weeks if it has any importance to them? I don’t trust them. How did the media even get this information?”

They talk for a couple of minutes. Chanyeol feels a little conflicted. Baekhyun is begging him to let it go for a short while, see if the government is going to take the virus serious now that there is potentially public panic and more victims. Chanyeol doesn’t trust the CDC to get on with the case when he knows how long they’ve spent not caring about his boyfriend. He wants to continue looking for the terrorist and the creator of the virus even though the task may seem impossible in a country of 52 million people.

Their best lead is the blogger who’s furious with the government and even though Chanyeol wasn’t initially seeing the connection, it’s all he has to go with. They end up compromising. Baekhyun promises he will help Chanyeol continuously search for the blogger and if the CDC manages to take the case serious and come up with a solution, they’ll stop their search.

When Chanyeol hangs up, the TV news has changed to a new story about a celebrity couple who’re getting a divorce and he continues on, long strides quickly removing him from the scene.

---

Baekhyun has sent him a link to the blog and Chanyeol has spent the good two-thirds of the day reading blogpost after blogpost trashing the government. The blogger sounds furious and absolutely capable of hurting people. There is no background story on the blog as to why the blogger hates the government as much as they do.

The blogger calls themselves Chen but when Chanyeol googles the name he learns it’s a common Chinese name. Finding a South Korean who’s hiding under a common Chinese name isn’t going to be very easy. The more Chanyeol reads, however, the more curious he grows. Even if this doesn’t lead to the terrorist, there is definitely an angry person behind the blog, and he wants to know what made them so angry.

He listens to the silence around him, only disturbed by his computer battling all the dust it has collected and refocuses on the computer screen. The sun has set long ago, and he hasn’t bothered turning on the light. The blue light from the screen is straining his eyes but Chanyeol continues on.

When he wakes up, he regrets reading until late at night and with a heavy sigh, he drags his slim body off of the bed he has gotten used to without Minseok. It hurts to think like that, but it’s been three weeks with Minseok in the hospital and at one point, Chanyeol got used to the cold bed and the extra space. He grabs the sink when he enters the bathroom and stares at his reflection in the mirror.

There are the beginning of dark circles under his eyes and his hair is messily standing in every direction. He also looks a little pale, but he disregards that. When he turns away from the mirror, he deliberately forgets how he looks.

Joonmyun isn’t late to remind him that he looks awful. He questions Chanyeol’s ability to work and his sanity within 2 minutes but Chanyeol tells him only the bare necessities. He needs the daily schedule that comes with work and he doesn’t want to go back to sick leave and forget himself in his quest to find the cure.

They don’t talk about Minseok and Chanyeol ignores the worried glances Joonmyun sends him every now during the shift. He doesn’t need the pity and he doesn’t want to involve his partner in his slightly illegal search for the cure and how little he trusts the government to come up with an answer.

Towards the end of their shift, they get busy with an epileptic child in seizures and both of them forget their personal life to remain professional.

“Guess who?” says Baekhyun when he sneaks up behind Chanyeol. They’re in front of the ER where Chanyeol has just gotten off his shift. He turns around and raises an eyebrow at Baekhyun who just smiles widely, mischief shining in his eyes.

“Wasn’t difficult,” Chanyeol answers and Baekhyun rolls his eyes but the smile stays in place. “What are you doing at the hospital?”

Baekhyun wraps his arm around Chanyeol and drags him towards the parking lot and his car.

“Fetching my best friend. It’s Thursday and Thursday dinners are still a thing. Also I was visiting my friend in the ICU, asking him to wake up.”

It takes a few seconds before Chanyeol pieces together that Baekhyun is talking about Minseok. He doesn’t get to react much, however, because by then they have reached the car and Baekhyun is letting go of him to unlock it.

“Climb aboard,” he says happily and swings the key twice on his finger before he opens the door to the driver’s seat and climbs inside. Chanyeol lets his fingers drum the roof of the car before he climbs in.

They’re exiting the parking lot in silence before Baekhyun breaks it again.

“I asked for help with tracking the blogger. Remember Sookyungs friend Byulyi in the police who found the blog and started investigation?” he asks and Chanyeol wrecks his brain and comes up with nothing. He shakes his head and Baekhyun sighs. “Doesn’t matter then. She found an address they are going to investigate but I was thinking, let’s be faster than the police.”

Chanyeol stares at him dumbfounded.

“This is not some stupid cartoon where the heroes are faster than the police. You’re literally giving away police information,” he says and Baekhyun rolls his eyes and turns onto the main road.

“Byulyi gave Sookyung the information herself. It’s not like I hacked the police database to get it.”

“And Byulyi probably thinks Sookyung is a reliable friend,” Chanyeol counters, not wanting to say anything about Baekhyun’s abilities as a hacker.

“Too bad for Byulyi that Sookyung is also worried about Minseok and annoyed with the CDC not doing anything. I honestly also think Byulyi doesn’t like how long it’s taking, especially with the media coverage nowadays. Anyway, take it or leave it.”

And Chanyeol doesn’t say more, just leans back in the seat and lets Baekhyun carry out his dreams of being police for a day.

The address leads them to a house in Bukchon. Neither of them have spent a lot of time in the neighborhood and it takes them a few tries to find the right address, even with Baekhyun’s GPS. The sky is eerily grey, threatening to pour rain as they stand in front of the door, waiting for someone to respond to their knocking.

An elderly man peeks out of the door when it opens 2 minutes later. Chanyeol immediately feels strong doubt. This was a bad idea. Baekhyun doesn’t feel deterred by the man’s appearance and proudly presents himself and asks if he lives alone in the house.

The man shakes his head and opens the door enough to gesture towards his wife standing behind him. She raises an eyebrow suspiciously towards them and before Baekhyun gets to say anything more, Chanyeol interrupts.

“I’m sorry to disturb, sir. I think we might have the wrong address.”

Baekhyun protests loudly, but Chanyeol is both bigger and stronger and grabs his wrist and firmly but politely drags his friend away with a bow to the elderly couple. Out of earshot, Baekhyun turns towards his best friend in anger.

“Why did you do that? You could’ve had Chen!” he whispers angrily. Chanyeol almost chokes on his own saliva.

“You don’t seriously think that’s Chen?” he asks. Baekhyun rolls his eyes and crosses his arms in front of his chest.

“Who knows?! Old people these days know a lot more than you’d think.”

Chanyeol starts laughing and Baekhyun glares at him, mumbling angry profanities.

---

Byulyi sits in front of a computer, the blackboard behind her full of numbers and lines and stuff Chanyeol doesn’t understand. Her long brown hair is straight down her back and a pair of black-framed glasses sits on top of her small nose. She looks deeply concentrated with whatever is on the computer. Chanyeol feels extremely out of place. Baekhyun is dressed in a brown-striped suit, expensive briefcase in hand and hair styled messy. He jumps onto the table next to Byulyis computer and she glares at him without removing her fingers from the keyboard.

“What do you want Professor Byun?” she asks, voice deeper than Chanyeol had expected.

“Call me Baekhyun,” Baekhyun says and Chanyeol is positive it’s not the first time he has said that. “This is my friend, Chanyeol. The one who is also looking for that government-hating blogger.”

She looks up and Chanyeol feels himself shrink a little. She’s intimidating. Why are all the women in Baekhyun’s company so intimidating when he’s the least intimidating person on Earth?

“Ah, the one doing police work,” she says and returns to whatever she’s doing on the computer.

“Uhm, I’m Park Chanyeol,” he greets her, and she frowns. Chanyeol guesses that’s her only response. “I was thinking … do you think it’s possible there are more addresses connected to the blog?”

The noise from around them seems to drown in the tension in the small police computer room. The wall clock keeps ticking away over the door. Then Buylyi hands over a piece of paper without looking at the two men. She urges Chanyeol to take it silently and he does so.

“I knew you’d come back,” she says and sends another glare towards Baekhyun. “Now shush, I have work to do and you don’t have this information from me.”

Her eyes are back on the computer screen. Baekhyun jumps off the table, takes the paper from Chanyeol and skips out the room. Chanyeol is just staring at the police officer. He doesn’t notice Baekhyun has left the room and he doesn’t care that Byulyi is sending him less-than-subtle glares. How could she possibly know he would come back? He’s trying to find an answer when he feels a hand grab his wrist and pull him along towards the entrance. Chanyeol barely gets to ask before Baekhyun has answered his question.

“I texted her,” he says and Chanyeol stops walking in the middle of the hallway to stare at him.

“What are you waiting for?” Baekhyun shouts back towards him when he realizes Chanyeol isn’t following.