Joohyun opens the locker and grabs the envelope she has put inside. She waves it to the two people waiting for her a few metres away. Sangmin beckons for her to approach them, his right hand is always inside the pocket of his jacket, holding the gun. He then tells Joohyun to take the papers out, wanting to see and confirm it with his own eyes. Satisfied with what he saw, he once again commands Joohyun to step back and stand a little far away from them. He then gives Seulgi his phone and instructs her to take a picture of the report. After that's done, he takes the phone with his left hand and checks on it before tapping smoothly on his phone.

 

"I've sent it to my friend, so even if you guys call a gangster on me, the report is already out there and my friend knows what to do with it." He warns.

 

"We won't." Seulgi says, promising, taking a glance at Joohyun who looks at them curiously.

 

He looks at her intently. "You're a good person, Seulgi. I'm really sorry for putting you through all this."

 

"It's okay. I told you I'm on your side. Minus the wanting to kill my girlfriend part." She clears . "I know it's not easy but.. I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive her. Maybe not now, but.. one day."

 

Sangmin doesn't say anything to that and tells her to sit down on one of the provided benches while he goes to the other side to talk to Joohyun.

 

"Tell me, was Dr. Kim fired or did she quit?"

 

Joohyun bites her bottom lip. "She wasn't fired." She answers truthfully.

 

"She killed someone and she wasn't fired?" He asks, clearly trying hard to surpress his anger.

 

"She's a surgeon, Mr. Baek." Joohyun looks him in the eye. "If you haven't had anyone died in your hands, you just haven't done enough surgeries. I'm not trying to sound insensitive but that's the cold truth."

 

"How many people have you killed?" He challenges.

 

Now Joohyun is the one trying extremely hard to surpress the fury inside her. "Mr. Baek, with all due respect, there's a stark difference between killing people and having people died when you're doing surgery on them."

 

"Alright, whatever you say. How many?" He doesn't back down.

 

"Three, not including those who clearly had no hope surviving." Joohyun answers. "Including med school training, I've been in this field for almost two decades. I remember every single one of them. Their names, their faces, their illnesses, their causes of death. I remember what happened exactly, what went wrong, how it went wrong."

 

"When was your first time?"

 

"I was probably about Dr. Kim's age."

 

"You were also a trai-.. an intern back then?"

 

"No, I was a resident. So was Dr. Kim." She corrects and reminds him.

 

"Why does the hospital let residents running around doing surgeries?"

 

"Because that's what residents are supposed to do. If we don't let them do it, there will never be the next generations of surgeons." Joohyun takes a deep breath. "Think about it, isn't it unfair that everybody else in other professions get to make mistakes but not us?"

 

"Cause when other people make mistake they don't lose human lives."

 

"Yes, but.." She sighs frustatedly. "Again, we need the next generations of surgeons. You're just gonna let the oldest and most experienced surgeons do all the surgeries until they die and then close up the hospital?"

 

"Hospital.. is supposed to be a safe place." He says, almost like he's squeaking.

 

At this point Joohyun can only feel sympathy for him. She knows he knows that he has lost the debate but the grief of losing his wife is just eating him alive and he's just hanging onto this to have someone to blame to make him feel better.

 

The man swings the gun he's holding inside his jacket pocket, gesturing for Joohyun to step back into this poorly lit corner beside the lockers. Once she's at the position he wanted, he swings a punch to her abdomen. Luckily, Joohyun manages to react quickly and dodges, receiving a softer impact on her arm.

 

"What the !" She curses, shocked. The next second, she receives a kick on her shin, which really stings and manages to send her down to her knees.

 

He's about to attack again when he sees Joohyun shaking her head and putting her hand up, desperately telling someone behind the man to stay away from them. It's too late. When he turns around, Seulgi is already attacking him.

 

"Seul.. stop!" Joohyun watches worriedly as Seulgi slaps and punches the man.

 

It takes a good few seconds for Sangmin to overpower her. "Stop it!" He whispers at her as they're now attracting attention from other people.

 

"You ing piece of . You promised you wouldn't hurt her if she got the report." She yanks her arms away from his grasp before going to Joohyun's side, kneeling down next to her.

 

"Oh come on, she can take a little punch. I just wanted to teach her a lesson." He grumbles, fixing his stretched collar caused by the fight. He then looks around nervously, aware of the few people that have started to surround them.

 

An old couple and two female high school students. 'Useless'. Joohyun thinks to herself as she turns back to Sangmin. "You've gotten the report. Just go."

 

Sangmin takes a look at them one last time before lowering his head and walks his way out of the station.

 

"Are you two okay?" The old man asks.

 

Seulgi looks at him, smiling politely. "Yeah, we're fine. Just a misunderstanding."

 

The tiny crowd disperses after that, finally leaving the two of them in peace. Joohyun exhales and sits herself down on the floor.

 

"Are you okay?" Seulgi her head gently.

 

"Y- yes. We need to leave, in case he comes back."

 

"Take it slow, baby. It's over. We're safe." Seulgi pulls Joohyun into a hug, holding the brunette's head close to her chest.

 

-

 

"Oh, come on!"

 

Yeri cursed, kicking the vending machine with her foot. It swallowed her coins and gave her nothing in return. She had no money left in her person and she needed her caffeine fix right that second.

 

"Bad day, Dr. Kim?"

 

A familiar voice came her from her right. She turned to it and gave the person a little bow.

 

"Dr. Bae." She greeted. "This damn old machine.." She pointed to it, hoping it would explain her situation.

 

Dr. Bae looked at it unsympathetically. It was Yeri's own fault coming all the way to this abandoned alley when there were new and better vending machines available everywhere else in that hospital.

 

"What was it that you were you trying to get?" Dr. Bae asked.

 

"Colombiana. Original Black." Yeri answered, pointing to the option under 'E4'.

 

Dr. Bae retrieved a crisp bill from her pocket and inserted it to the machine, pressing E4 on the keypad shortly after. It started whirring and the next second not one, but two cans of coffee dropped to the pick-up box. She gave the young doctor a smirk and cocked her head, gesturing for Yeri to retrieve the goods for them.

 

Yeri bent down to collect the coffee and gave a can to Dr. Bae. "Thank you, you're a life saver."

 

"I am, literally." Dr. Bae joked, cracking open her can while eyeing the young surgeon. "Are you perhaps.. nervous?" She asked, with a little hint of mockery in her voice.

 

Yeri snapped her head at her. "What? Me? Nervous? No way." She tried to act non-chalant.

 

Dr. Bae laughed at her. "You're gonna be fine. It's just a simple procedure. Don't be such a wuss, Dr. Kim."

 

"I'm not! I just needed caffeine." She tried to defend herself before asking timidly, "Will you.. sit at the gallery?" She shook her head right after. "Actually no, don't do that. It's only going to make me more nervous."

 

"Ha! Gotcha! You're nervous." Dr. Bae cackled while the resident grunted at her own slip up. She gave her a tap on the shoulder. "You got this, Yeri. Don't embarrass me in front of Dr. Seo, okay?"

 

There was always this small competition between Dr. Bae and Dr. Seo. Both had taken Kim Yeri and Park Sooyoung under their wings, respectively. It was less of a mentorship and more of a horse race between them at that point, which made everything more fun. It was something that the other attendings were also aware of and had tried to take part in.

 

"Oh, please. When have I ever embarrassed you? I was voted last year's best resident for a reason." Dr. Kim gave a playful yet cocky smile.

 

Dr. Bae chuckled and shrugged. "Anyway, good luck!" She said, turning around to get back to her rounds. "Remember, don't you dare call me unless.."

 

Yeri joined in on the mantra, finishing the sentence together with Dr. Bae, ".. unless the patient is dying." She smiled as she watched the attending walked away. "Roger that, Dr. Bae!"

 

-

 

Seulgi glances at Joohyun from time to time on the way home, worried at how quiet she is sitting in the passenger's seat. When they arrive home, Joohyun waits for the door to lock itself before double locking it manually and putting the latch on, which is a little extreme considering how they usually would just let the digital lock do all the work.

 

Seulgi moves to put her stuff on the counter when she feels Joohyun hugging her from behind, inhaling a deep breath. She's about to turn to her but Joohyun holds her tight, not allowing her to do so.

 

"Hyun?" She calls.

 

"You must be tired but can we sit down and talk?" Joohyun mumbles against Seulgi's shoulder.

 

Seulgi leans back, bumping her head gently on Joohyun's. "Sure, I have so many things I'd like to ask you."

 

"Ask me anything." She tightens the hug before letting her go. "Anything you want to know."

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