Hearing Things
Project ZeloYoungjae led Yongguk into a vacant recreational room. It was slightly eerie due to the fact there was no other person around. The only sound was a reasonably new TV buzzing in the background, rebelling as it was being ignored. Youngjae opened his mouth to only be drowned out by the distorted newscaster on the television set.
"No further leads on the death of family man. There are no clues as to if it was murder or just suicide."
Yongguk flinched at the last word.
"Ah, sorry. I'm sure that's not what you wanted to hear, and it certainly won't make this conversation easier." Youngjae pulled the plug out from the main socket, not even bothering to find the remote control. That's how Youngjae worked, he didn't beat around the bush to a problem, just killed it by the most blatant and harsh method. Back in the association, Youngjae always tended to his patients in this way, which is probably why he can't work alone and always relies on his partner, Jongup.
"Yongguk-hyung." Youngjae addressed him carefully. "Are you still taking what I prescribed you?"
Yongguk nodded sharply once, evading Youngjae's gaze.
"Are you sure?" He asked again, his voice stern.
Yongguk nodded once more.
"Good. You know how illegal it was for me to even think about giving the pills to you. It's illegal and ing dangerous for you to be taking lithium without having a diagnosed illness."
"Then why did you do it?"
"I did it for you. You should've seen yourself, anyone could tell you were suffering. I wanted to try out a placebo, but I was too scared. So I gave you the real stuff. I know what happened to your mom was horrendous, so I wanted to give you a sense of normality."
"I could've just gotten over it naturally."
Youngjae stared into Yongguk's eyes coldly to stop Yongguk from beating around the bush, just as Youngjae hated.
"Yongguk. You know better than anyone that Psychotic Depression can be hereditary."
"I know the causes. I know the symptoms. I know the medications. Trust me, I know what I'm doing."
"If you get any symptoms, tell me right away. Especially delusions, they are the worst."
"I've been taking the medicine for a few years now, I'm fine. Trust me." Yongguk reminded him again.
Back in the office, Youngjae and Jongup had left early to meet with their families and with their old professors. Jongup had been teaching Himchan how to hack into systems on computers and so he was content on the computer. Himchan glanced over to the monitor, which was dimly lit.
"Yongguk-hyung. Change the lightbulb in Zelo-ah's room. I can't see a damned thing."
"You change it. Have I been demoted from genius to village idiot?" Yongguk snapped at Himchan, his statement barely making any sense whatsoever. Himchan raised his eyebrows.
"It's only changing a ing lightbulb. I'm a bit busy doing work which you will get paid for. Spare Mr. Minimum Wage for a moment, will you?"
Yongguk stormed off grumbling to Zelo's room. After getting the flimsy bulb from the caretaker's cupboard, he slowly tiptoed into the room. Zelo glared at him, but glaring was an understatement. Yongguk had come to the conclusion that Zelo hated him. Hated him for some unknown reason more than the other three assistants who were careless in their motives. Yongguk ignored the hateful boy and proceeded to unscrew the old bulb.
"Bang Yong Guk." Yongguk heard the childlike voice calling his name. He turned around and dropped the old bulb on the floor, which smashed into a million pieces. No one was in the room apart from him and Zelo. Swallowing loudly, he returned to his business and fitted the new bulb into place.
"You're doing it all wrong. You don't know anything. I thought you were smart~" The patronising voice laughed. Yongguk looked at Zelo with one eyebrow raised. Zelo stared back, burning holes into Yongguk with his disgusted look. Without further ado, Yongguk ran out of the room.
"Did you see that?" He shouted breathlessly at Himchan once he got to his office.
"See what? All you did was change a lightbulb."
"Zelo spoke!"
"Bang Yong Guk. I've been here the whole time. Neither of you said anything. You changed a lightbulb and then left."
"I dropped the old bulb on the floor. It smashed. Is the volume broken on this thing?" Yongguk tapped the monitor.
"Yongguk, the old bulb is on the table next to the lamp."
Yongguk stared wide eyed at Himchan and didn't say another word.
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