“You can’t even pay the interest every month, what a joke. Let’s be quiet now. It’s time for the doctor to come.”
“P-please. Let me make just one phone call. I can pay everything if you let me make one call. Please, just one call.”
The man’s leg kicked Heewoon’s head. Heewoon, whose back of the head hit the wall, closed and opened his eyes.
“Shut this brat up.”
“Yes.”
At the dropped command, one man sat in front of Heewoon. Heewoon shouted to let him make just one call, but his head was tightly captured. Despite shaking his head vigorously in strong resistance, tape was quickly applied to his mouth. The same tape that bound his wrists and ankles sealed his mouth as well, pulling his hair as it was wound around. Heewoon struggled fiercely, but the men paid no attention.
“Ummmmmph!”
Just one phone call. If he asked Seo Kangwoo for help, he would come right away.
“Oh, you wait a bit. For everything, the older brother has to go first.”
The man who was walking towards the operating table turned around and grinned.
The sight of his mother kept coming to Heewoon’s eyes. His whole body trembled like a quivering leaf. In this cold operating room, his mother, his brother, and he were about to die. When they sneaked out of the house in the middle of the night, it seemed unlikely that someone would notice their absence.
It might take days, maybe even weeks, for a report to the police to be filed, perhaps long after their bodies had been disposed of like a scene from a thriller movie.
Or maybe no one would report it. Inside the chaotic house, only traces of a hasty departure would remain. Heewoon thought that the loan sharks purposefully sent his brother home, allowing them to pack their things.
Ah, Seo Kangwoo. When morning came, he might call Heewoon. If Kangwoo couldn’t reach him, he’d get suspicious. Kangwoo would come looking for him. What time was it now?
But how would he find this place? He said he wasn’t surveilling Heewoon anymore.
The despair was so overwhelming that it dyed everything black before Heewoon’s eyes.
Really, he should have made that call earlier.
Then this wouldn’t have happened. He should have said he had debts, and asked Kangwoo to pay them off. He just needed to listen to Seo Kangwoo. What was so scary?
What was truly terrifying and frightening, Heewoon realized belatedly, was this situation where his death was imminent.
“Why isn’t Dr. Choi coming? He’ll say bullshit about not being able to go today if it’s about time for the hospital to open… ”
“He said he’s on his way an hour ago.”
“I really fucking don’t like that damn bastard. That bastard will be lecturing us again, saying the cornea was damaged. Hey. Do you think this can be used?”
“No. It looks like it can’t be used, sir.”
“Ah. Looks like we’re gonna get in deep trouble from the boss, damn.”
Standing above his brother’s head, the man and the guy next to him casually chatted. This situation seemed very natural and familiar to them.
Right now, the only one with a sane mind was Heewoon himself. No matter what, he had to somehow save his mom and brother. Heewoon breathed heavily through his nose.
It seemed like those guys were still waiting for the doctor. If the doctor started with his brother… Heewoon clenched his fist with the hand tied behind him.
“That’s why, I warned you, to be careful, right?”
Heewoon rolled his head as he watched the guy talking, slapping the head of a man who was standing at a distance.
This place seemed to be an actual hospital. If the doctor came late, the surgery might not happen. Then they would gain a day or half a day.
It felt like quite some time had passed here from the man’s words. If they started with his brother first, Heewoon and his mother might not have surgery until the hospital would be closed. It’s a bad assumption, but Heewoon and his mother might have a few more hours to live than his brother.
During those few hours, someone might notice their absence.
Heewoon closed his eyes at the sudden image of someone’s face. Don’t think about him now. He had to figure out how to save his mother and brother.
Alone by himself.
Heewoon felt breathing becoming more difficult. It felt like there was a tightness in his chest, not just because his mouth was blocked with tape. His hands, clenched into fists, trembled.
As time passed, as he thought of various ways, Heewoon became more and more desperate. He couldn’t see any sharp object around to cut the tape on his wrists and ankles. In the operating room, two men were watching him, and the rest of the men were outside the operating room. His mother and brother hadn’t come to their senses yet. His brother probably wouldn’t get up for a while. The men surrounding his brother probably anesthetized him.
They weren’t professionals, yet they administered anesthesia to him. Heewoon could see his brother’s face in the mask. His brother wasn’t dead yet, but he kept feeling like he was witnessing his brother’s death.
Heewoon looked at his mother lying in a corner of the small operating room. The men casually walked past her as if she was a nuisance. It was probably a good thing his mother wasn’t conscious.
“Hey, try making that call again.”
“Yes.”
At those words, the man standing beside him took out his mobile phone. In the quiet operating room, the signal beep was clearly audible. The beep continued without interruption.
What Heewoon could hope for was that the doctor hadn’t arrived yet.
Watching the man cursing, Heewoon thought. If the doctor didn’t come, would they spend several hours in this operating room, or would they be moved somewhere else? Either way, they would have a better chance than now.
There was a phone in his mother’s coat pocket. If the men somehow leave their positions, Heewoon could somehow move to take out the phone, or if his mother regained consciousness in the meantime, he could do something with her.
Heewoon clenched his fist so tightly that his fingernails dug into his palm. He felt no sensation. His breath was gradually getting blocked.
“He’s still not answering the phone, sir. What if something really happened to Dr. Choi?”
“Ugh, fuck this.”
The man combed his hair back roughly and looked at Heehyun, who was wearing a mask. His expression showed annoyance. Heewoon realized that his brother had been given a few more hours to live.
He took a deep breath. Maybe because he had been consciously breathing, the tape covering his mouth felt slightly looser and damp. Locked in this operating room, if the hospital opened, if they just gave a slight opening, maybe Heewoon could scream for help and someone would come hearing that.
Though their lives would depend on it, it was only a faint possibility. The pressure, the loneliness, the immense fear, the death, the reality that two people’s lives depended on him. It all stifled his breath.
Then it happened. The operating room door opened slowly.
The man who noticed the sound grumbled and turned his head. Naturally, he assumed it would be the doctor.
“Why are you only here… What the hell, you guys.”
The man’s face stiffened as he turned around. So did the other men. Heewoon was in the far corner of the wall with the operating room door. He couldn’t see who was standing outside the room because he was too tied up to turn his head, but he could see the tension on the men’s faces.
“What the hell, damn.”
The man grimaced and pulled a weapon from his hip. The elongated blade flashed in the light. The air in the room cut sharply in an instant. The hairs on his body stood on end. Something was beginning.
Whatever it was, he had to use this chance. Heewoon used all his strength to move his tied legs. Moving hastily, he couldn’t balance properly, and Heewoon’s body ended up twisted. With a thud sound, he hit his forehead hard against the floor and let out a faint groan, but he immediately supported himself with his forehead and rotated his legs.
At the same time as Heewoon had his cheek against the cold floor, a person was thrown into the operating room with a whoosh.
“Ughhh….”
Heewoon almost screamed because it was so close. The middle-aged man’s face was covered in blood. The man was frozen in place, as if he had been badly beaten.
“Dr. Choi?”
A gruff voice spoke. This person must be the doctor. What would happen to us if we didn’t have a doctor to operate on us right away? Maybe the people from out there would help us.
“What the hell are you doing! Hey, call the guys from outside.”
“Yes, sir.”
As Heewoon’s upper body was tilted forward, his field of vision was low. It was when he used all his strength to raise his upper body.
“So noisy.”
A low and gentle voice cut through the crisp air and resonated sharply in Heewoon’s ears. He flinched. It couldn’t be. There’s no way.
“It’s too narrow in here, so wait outside.”
“Yes.”
Someone’s footsteps entered the operating room. One step at a time. The walking steps felt strangely familiar.
Heewoon’s heart became impatient. It was the moment when he barely raised his body and lifted his head.
His mind was white with the intricacies of survival, survival, survival. He remained frozen, with only his pupils moving.
A solid body in a dark grey suit, a smooth jawline, lips set in a straight line, bridge of the nose, cold eyes downcast.
Heewoon’s trembling eyelashes gradually rose higher. Unable to believe what he was seeing, his eyes widened.
The swaying of his fine hair, his lips more stiff than usual, the strain in his forehead when blinking. Detailed images entered Heewoon’s empty mind.
It was Seo Kangwoo.
This could be a dream. He tried biting his inner cheek, but the sensation was dull. He couldn’t hear well either. As if all other senses disappeared to focus on one person.
“If your stomach gets opened here, you’ll catch a disease.”
As Kangwoo slowly looked around the operating room, the door behind him closed smoothly. Despite facing two people who aimed a knife at him, he was nonchalant.
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