A Devil’s return

Ji looked out the beautiful waters as he leaned against his motorcycle. Looming ahead of him was Jeju Island, bathed in the sun’s light as the clouds seemed to part in blessing.

He had already forgotten how beautiful it was – being away for more than a decade.

“It’s still breath taking” he thought to himself, however, as the sound of the ferry boat’s machine filled the air “And it would have been perfect too… if they aren’t all staring at me.”

The moment he removed his helmet and allowed them to see his face, a tide had seemed to ripple across all the locals in the ferry with him as hushed whispers circulated.

Yes. After twelve years they still all remembered him.

“What could he be doing here?” He heard one person close by him whisper.

He refrained from smiling. The answer would surely shock them all.

“Haissshhhh” he exclaimed inside his head “Twelve years changes nothing.”

He could be away from this place for far longer than that and it would still change nothing. Jeju might be big for the tourists who come here but for the locals, it was an island small enough for one person to know who wakes up at 3 in the morning because of loose bowel movement and whose knocking the socks off who.

People might be far off from one another but it was rare for a local not to know who he was talking to – families kept tabs on one another.

Such gossip-mongering was one thing he really hated about the island.

People always seemed to find the time to do it instead of focusing on their own goddamned lives. It wasn’t productive in the least and had caused one too many scandals.

He had been in the heart of a few of those so he knew perfectly well.

It wasn’t a very merciful place and he would rather face a thousand sadistic and irate Hajis than the people here. At least those he knew how to handle but the people here were another story all together.

He sighed in resignation. There’s no going back now, though.

And besides… he didn’t have to stay very long.

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In a rush

One of the best clinics in Jeju that catered to both the locals and the tourist alike is found near the Tangerine farms that Ji Yong’s family owned.

It was normally staffed with five doctors, a team of thirty nurses, and five of the friendliest receptionists you could find in the whole of the island.

However, with one of the doctors and one of the nurses out for a three-month honeymoon, one receptionist recovering from a drastic car accident during an excursion in the main land, and one other nurse too pregnant to fully become functional right smack in the middle of the peak of the tourists surge, everything was haywire.

Due to the number of people coming in, just one personnel’s absence affected their whole operation.

From outside, he saw that the reception was full of people with all sorts of maladies seeking immediate attention.

After parking his motorcycle, Ji walked in without preamble and went straight for the head doctor’s office at the West Wing of the Second Floor.

“Tell Mrs. Joon that I’ll be with her in fifteen minutes” his cousin, Choi Seunghyun – the Head Doctor – had his back to him and was leafing through a folder.

“Who’s Mrs. Joon? Is she pretty?” Ji asked mischievously as he walked towards the desk. Seunghyun veered to face him, a smile on his face and gave him a hug. “Ji Yong! Man! It’s good to see you!”

Ji smiled back – the first time since setting off for Jeju – as he welcomed his cousin’s gesture “It’s great to see you too big guy!”

“Have you just come in?” Seunghyun motioned for them to sit down “I’m sorry I wasn’t able to meet you. I got called up early because one of the old heads, Mr. Hechong suffered a deadly . It was a lucky thing his wife immediately rushed him here.”

Ji smiled “So that old goat will still live… too bad for him. I’d suffer a too with a wife always screaming beyond 200 decibels at you.”

Seunghyun laughed “Maybe she’ll tone it down a bit now… I told her Mr. Hechong isn’t supposed to be stressed.”

Ji was going to say something more when the door opened and in came one of his greatest friends.

“Ji Yong!” Young Bae, in a scrub suit, exclaimed. The man hugged him in welcome much like Seunghyun. “You just got in? Hyung told me you’d be here today but I told him we better keep our fingers crossed coz unless I really see you, I wasn’t going to believe you were coming back.”

Ji laughed “Seunghyun would break my balls if I didn’t show up here.”

“Good that you know” his older cousin replied and watched as the two men re-acquainted themselves with one another. The last time that all three of them had seen one another was at a conference in Seattle about five years ago.

“Ohey! For formality’s sake, I want you to go through this quickly and sign it” Seunghyun told him and handed him a pack of papers and a pen.

“Do I really need to read all these?” Ji asked in pretend disgust “Why don’t you just tell me what it says?”

“Just the usual and a clause that states that you’re not supposed to bring in women in the clinic for unless they have friends as equally hot as themselves” Young Bae answered smugly.

Ji flipped to the back of the papers and casually signed the document.

“You’re really not going to read what you just signed?” his older cousin asked with a raised brow.

“No” he answered “I suppose its loads of rules and regulations.”

“And knowing that you’re still signing?” Seunghyun prodded “I thought you hated rules and regulations.”

“I do” he confirmed “but I trust you and admire what you’ve done out here. I’ll try my best but don’t expect me to not bend the rules when they need to be bent.”

The two other men smiled and Young Bae answered “That’s ok. We do the same coz that’s pretty much the only way you can get things moving around here.”

In the middle of Seunghyun asking how Ji’s flight was, a soft knock came at the door before it opened again.

This time it was a petite nurse with chocolate brown hair, white-rimmed glasses, holding a black clipboard she had her eyes on who came in.

Ji’s left eyebrow raised as he struggled to recognize who this was. She looked like someone he knew from way before but…

“Seunghyun, I’ve already looked at Mrs. Joon. It’s her leg again that she’s complaining about. She thought she tore her ligament but it’s a false alarm” the nurse said, still looking at her clipboard “However, the crowd outside is particularly bigger than average because a few tourists tried to scale one of the cliffs without safety harnesses and almost killed themselves. I’ve had them immediately rushed to ER. There are six of them and you and Young Bae might need to go.”

Finally lifting her head, her eyes widened when she noted that that the two doctors had company.

“Dara” Seunghyun called her attention from staring at the third man in the room “I think you already know my cousin Ji Yong?”

“Oh!” Dara exclaimed “Uhmmm… ahhhh…” obviously at a loss for words, she looked so surprised that all three men looked at her in concerned curiosity “Yes… He was above me right?”

Ji exhaled a breath at that answer and smiled sardonically “I don’t remember ever being above you or under you Ms. Park.”

Blushing to the roots of her hair, Dara frowned at his statement and turned to face him. “I meant at school Mr. Kwon” she replied firmly “You were ahead of me by a year in high school.”

Enjoying her discomfort, Ji laughed out loud. Hell yeah, she was indeed that girl who was their High School Principal’s grandchild. “Yes. Yes… I believe I was.”

“Ji, Dara is our head nurse here” Seunghyun informed him.

“Good for you guys” Ji commented, not taking his eyes off the topic of introduction. She looked different now. He couldn’t particularly put his finger to it but there was indeed something about the girl he remembered and the woman she was now that was different.

Gathering her composure, she turned to face Seunghyun again though and seemed to dismiss him “Well… I think you and Young Bae better hurry now. We have so much to do. And where is the doctor you told me was coming in today? You guys can’t very well handle all these people just on your own. I’ve already advised Dae and Teddy to leave and take time off to sleep.”

“You heard the woman Ji” Seunghyun turned to his cousin as he got up to his feet “Get to work.”

“What?!?!” Dara cried out.

Obviously feeling guilty at having kept this secret, Seunghyun smiled apologetically and explained “Ji is the Doctor I’ve told you about, Dara.”

“He’s a doctor?!?” Dara asked unbelievingly, almost dropping her clipboard “He was a… a….  Seunghyun! How are people going to agree to come in and be taken a look at by him? We’re already having a lot of problems and the people might  -“

“Dara!” Seunghyun cut her off.

“He has served as a Doctor for the –“ Young Bae was beginning to explain when Ji raised his hand to stop him.

“Do go on Ms. Park. I’m curious as to what people will say about me” Ji told her, another sarcastic smile painting his face, belying his words.The Head Nurse breathed in really deeply and ticked at her glasses.

With what looked like a Herculian effort, she met Ji’s eyes and looked straight back at him “I apologize for that outburst” she began, though Ji did not detect any hint of regret in her tone “If you are indeed the doctor Seunghyun has told me about, I’ll have you escorted to your office” she then faced both Seunghyun and Young Bae, almost brushing off Ji “We need to get going now. There are a lot of people coming in.”