The man’s brow twitched for a moment, and he pulled his captured hand free. The distance that opened between them was the same distance Dohui shook his head against. He needed to say more, something, anything — but his voice kept coming out in broken, hoarse sounds. Tears had closed up his throat.
“Please…… I want to go home. If calling the police is too much, then at least let me leave on my own…… please, I have to get home. My mother…… she must be so frightened. Home……”
The words tumbled out without order, and with each trailing syllable, tears fell from the corners of Dohui’s eyes. The man exhaled through his nose. Then he glanced briefly at the slightly open door.
Dohui wiped at the irritating tears with the back of his hand.
“Just lend me your phone for a moment. One call…… here, in here, I can……”
“You can’t leave.”
The man’s voice was very small. Barely audible unless you pricked your ears up to catch it. Dohui, still sniffling, didn’t hear it, and desperately grabbed at his wrist. His fingertips were trembling.
Please, help me. They ransacked my home, left it in a mess. Left the front door wide open…… And I, here, I……
The words that followed in his mind were too terrible. Too difficult to bring out of his own mouth.
“I was kidnapped…… hk……”
Dohui pressed his palms together, rubbing them frantically. Begging — please help, and if taking me out is too much, then just look the other way while I walk out myself.
The man placed his hand over Dohui’s trembling one.
“I’m sorry. I can’t help you. Even if you searched my person, you wouldn’t find a phone. I handed it in when I came in here.”
The man carried the distinct smell of hospital disinfectant.
“I came here to keep you alive, not to save you. The sooner you accept that, the easier it gets.”
“Ah——!”
A swab soaked in alcohol touched the back of his hand. The motion that rubbed it across felt not a trace of remorse. Like a machine with only its given task programmed into it.
Dohui’s sniffling deepened. The man, who had been reaching for a fresh needle, let his shoulders drop. He looked at Dohui through eyes set deep with heavy creases.
“There’s no one here who would go against Director Gong, so you’d do well to give up. That’s the better path. No one who’s ever crossed Director Gong has walked away on two legs afterward. Not that I’ve ever seen anyone manage a proper crossing to begin with. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
“……”
“You asked if I know what’s been done to you. I do. I know it well. Anal lacerations, on top of dehydration, and the marks left all over your body. Marks, that’s the word. You get desensitized to things like that as you get older.”
The man patted the back of Dohui’s hand with something like sympathy.
At that reaction, something surged up sharply from within. A harsh voice shot out before he could stop it.
“……A doctor!”
Dohui’s pitch rose. His shredded, raw voice cut through the air of the room.
“A doctor isn’t supposed to look the other way at a crime. You have a mandatory reporting obligation — you know that, don’t you? So don’t just leave me here like this…… please, help me. Save me.”
“Dohui, shh…… calm down.”
“The police must be looking for me by now.”
“I’m not so sure. The police aren’t idle enough to go searching for a runaway adult.”
“What do you…… when did I ever……!”
The man tilted his lips slightly. As if weighing whether or not to say more. The more he hesitated, the more frantic Dohui felt. A runaway. Of all things.
“The police don’t take adult missing reports that easily. Think about it.”
“That…… that makes no sense……”
The apartment had been left in shambles, they’d said. The front door left wide open — surely someone must have seen it and called the police. How could that possibly be filed as me leaving on my own.
The strength drained out of Dohui’s shoulders.
“Even so…… if I could just make contact……”
“You’re slow to give up.”
“……”
A doctor, and yet. He too was on Gong Haejin’s side. Even the faint edge of mockery threaded through his tone made that clear enough.
And yet Dohui found it hard to grasp the reality of it. His mind, crumpled by desperation, strained with everything it had not to let go of that thin thread of hope. If he could just convince him, somehow, it might still work out.
Clap, clap.
A bright, cheerful sound of applause rang out from somewhere. Completely out of place. His head turned toward it helplessly.
“See. I told you he was smart.”
Dohui’s heart dropped straight to the floor. It was Gong Haejin. How long had he been listening. His heart hammered against his ribs, ringing in his ears as if it might break through.
Gong Haejin was dressed as neatly as ever. The hands in leather gloves clapping together made a dense, thudding sound — like something being struck.
Dohui drew a breath. Ngh, hk — even pulling in air was a struggle. The doctor clicked his tongue softly and murmured. In a completely flat, unhurried tone.
“Slowly — breathe in — and long — breathe out. That’s it, you’re doing well.”
Following his instruction, the ragged, lurching breaths gradually came back under control.
Gong Haejin walked over and settled lightly on the edge of the bed. His thick coat carried the full scent of the outside world. An urge to breathe it in rose — but he crushed it.
Even breathing was something he now had to consciously think through. Dohui’s back was soaked with cold sweat. His forehead too was slick with it, strands of hair clinging damply to his skin. When he cast his eyes downward, long lashes covered the now-pallid irises beneath. If he closed them even slightly, the tears pooled there would fall straight down.
He’d cried so much he thought the tears would run out — and yet every time he was in Gong Haejin’s presence, they filled and spilled again without end. Like an idiot.
“Do you want to run?”
“……”
“Why? Try begging me too. It was quite pleasant to hear.”
Dohui looked away. He couldn’t bring himself to look at him. He had asked so many times already. Begged, and begged again. Lowering himself to the point of degradation. Not just to Gong Haejin — he was fairly sure he’d done the same to the other men too.
A sudden cold seized him. Even buried under the thick blanket, he was freezing. His thin body shook in fine tremors.
Gong Haejin looked at him quietly for a moment, then exhaled.
“Finish up the treatment properly.”
At the brief instruction, the middle-aged man moved with efficiency.
“It’s a nutritional IV. This time, don’t pull it out — you need to take the whole thing.”
What was any of this for. Once his body recovered, the same things would happen to him again.
“You’ll feel more comfortable soon.”
The man picked up the needle. Dohui watched blankly as the sharp tip pierced through the tender skin.
The man connected the IV line with practiced ease, then gave a brief bow toward Gong Haejin.
“How is he.”
“Shall I list it out?”
“Don’t bother. I can guess. Just get him usable.”
Even at the faintly dismissive tone, the man only drew the corners of his mouth up. As if nothing Gong Haejin said could land on him. Or perhaps…… as if such treatment was simply to be expected.
“Eating properly is important. No matter how much IV you pour in, if he’s not actually consuming food, the body’s functions will slow down progressively.”
Then, as if he hadn’t heard a word Dohui had said, the man opened the door cleanly and left.
“I’ll be back.”
The door that swallowed him shut was merciless. It closed and left only Gong Haejin and Dohui behind. The space was wide, yet the fact that there was no corner to flee to was devastating. He was being dragged back, forcibly, into a cruel reality.
Dohui wiped at his eyelids with the back of the hand that hadn’t been needled. His body was growing heavier and more languid. A nutritional IV, they’d said — but something must have been added to it. Since being kidnapped, he’d come to suspect everything. The water they’d handed him during the rapes had something in it that he shouldn’t have taken. That was why he’d refused everything they offered.
Dohui’s eyelids grew very heavy. By the time it became too much to bear, his back met the bed.
In his blurring vision, there was nothing but Gong Haejin.
Truly, utterly tragic.
