IMTS 17

Chapter 17

Yushin decided he needed to wrap this situation up quickly.

He immediately reached into his pocket and pulled out a pack of gauze for stopping bleeding, roughly tearing open the sterile wrapping. Then—thud—he kicked Yang Dongjun’s ankle hard.

“Ghk!”

With a short cry, Yang Dongjun’s body toppled over, and the syringe that had been stuck in his neck was yanked free.

Before any blood could spray, Yushin grabbed the back of his neck with the hand holding the gauze. At the same time, he used his foot to brace Yang Dongjun’s body, preventing him from crashing straight to the floor.

If there was a loud noise, Kim Cheonga, who was standing outside the door, might try to check what was going on. And if that happened, Yang Dongjun could call for help.

Variables and risks had to be minimized.

Still gripping the back of Yang Dongjun’s neck, Yushin whispered in an extremely low voice.

“I’ve sent plenty of people off with this. If you try to get up right now, you’re dead.”

“Hh… hng… hh…”

Tuk.
The blood-stained syringe fell to the floor.

“Clean this up yourself. If rumors get out, it won’t be good for either of us. Right?”

“……”

Yang Dongjun rolled his eyes around wildly, scanning the floor, then shifted his gaze to Yushin.

“Oh, wondering why rumors would spread? You know the cleaning lady who used to tidy your room.”

“Uh?”

“She’s a cop.”

“Ah…! Hng!”

Yang Dongjun looked startled, but he couldn’t manage to say anything else.

Yushin’s long eyes curved into a thin arc as he looked down at him.

“So keep your mouth shut and clean this up properly.”

He nudged the syringe rolling on the floor with the tip of his shoe, kicking it right in front of Yang Dongjun’s nose. Then he quickly turned and headed for the exit.

Once he opened the door, there was no avoiding running into Cheonga.

Yushin paused in front of the door, thinking.

Can I win this?

The person waiting outside was an elite detective, a graduate of the police academy—someone rumored to take down most criminals bare-handed.

She’d even won the National Police Agency shooting competition, or so he’d heard.

No matter how he ran through the scenarios, the odds of him being at a disadvantage were high.

To subdue her, he’d have to rely on brute force. And if things got loud, that would only put him in a worse position.

Yushin reached into his pocket and searched for something—anything—that might help. What he found was a scalpel handle, without a blade attached.

Ah… I don’t feel confident at all.

The thought of charging a violent-crimes detective with nothing but a bladeless scalpel made him let out a hollow chuckle.

There were several foil-wrapped blades in his pocket, but attaching one to the handle was out of the question.

Getting into a bloody altercation with a police officer would bring consequences he couldn’t afford.

And if Meerkat got hurt on top of that…

Hng. This is bad.

In the end, escaping without fighting was the best option.

There was no time left to overthink it.

Before Yang Dongjun could get back on his feet, he had to get out.

Having made his decision, Yushin yanked the door open roughly.

Maybe, somewhere inside, he’d been hoping for another stroke of luck like before.

But there was no bang this time.

Yushin slipped through the opening—and in that very instant, Cheonga grabbed his wrist.

Her eyes, round like a startled rabbit’s, were fixed on him.

Her expression looked innocent enough, but there was no mercy in the grip around his wrist.

Crack.
A sharp sound echoed from the bones.

“…Min Yushin!”

He’d even thought his disguise was decent, but she’d identified him instantly.

Yushin whipped his head around and swung the bladeless scalpel.

Whoosh.
It sliced through the air.

“Eek?!”

Cheonga recoiled in shock, dodging whatever she thought it was, and Yushin used the opening to yank his wrist free.

The next moment, his ankle was caught by Cheonga’s fully extended leg.

Grinding his teeth, he endured it, grabbed her body, and slammed her back against the corridor wall. Their bodies pressed together in an instant.

But only for a moment—Cheonga quickly regained the upper hand.

Her movements were far from ordinary. They flowed naturally, as if she’d been through situations like this dozens—no, hundreds—of times.

Yushin tried to overpower her, throwing his weight in to break her balance.

“Agh!”

A short cry escaped as his solid weight bore down on her slender wrist.

Without thinking, Yushin swept his gaze down both ends of the hallway.

Thankfully, no one was passing by.

In that brief window, Cheonga redirected his force, riding his momentum and countering it. With his wrist twisted behind his back, Yushin let out a dry laugh.

“Ha. You fight insanely well. Kinda sexy, actually.”

“You bastard. Do you think a violent-crimes detective is some kind of joke?”

“Wow… our cleaning lady was a detective?”

Realizing she’d exposed herself, Cheonga bit her lip hard.

“So all that crying about getting fired was bullshit?”

Yushin’s voice dripped with sarcasm.

Her face, turning stark white in real time at the blatant provocation, was honestly quite a sight.

“Ah, what a letdown. You were so cute it made my heart flutter—I wanted to be nice to you.”

“Shut up!”

As Cheonga tightened her grip on his wrist, Yushin swung his other arm—the one holding the scalpel—wide.

Once again, their bodies tangled violently.

They moved along the wall, grappling for a long while, each trying to restrain the other.

Bodies collided, arms crossed—and in the chaos, Cheonga chopped sharply at Yushin’s wrist with the edge of her hand. With the impact, the bladeless scalpel clattered to the floor, rolling away with a clang.

Cheonga flicked her eyes down, then frowned deeply.

Only then did she realize there was no blade attached.

“You crazy bastard.”

“Ah. Busted.”

“You trying to bluff a cop?”

Yushin laughed lightly.

“What can I say? You’re… way too strong. I’m just a doctor who only studied.”

“Are you kidding me?”

“You attacked because you thought it was a weapon, right? Now that you know it’s not, let me go.”

“Yeah, right.”

In that instant, Yushin twisted sharply and wrapped his arms around Cheonga’s waist. Her body—much lighter than his—lifted straight off the ground.

“Ugh?!”

At some point, they had moved far from the department office, all the way to the doctors’ on-call room.

With one hand, Yushin yanked open the sliding door and tossed Cheonga inside.

It should be fine.

She was the kind of woman who could land safely without issue.

“Sorry?”

But faster than his apology—complete with a bright, innocent smile—was Cheonga’s hand.

She grabbed Yushin’s collar roughly. A wide grin spread across her face as she fell backward.

“Like hell I’d let you go.”

The expression on her face, smiling ear to ear, was like that of a predator refusing to lose its prey.

She yanked hard on his collar.

In an instant, Yushin lost his balance and was dragged down with her, the two of them rolling into the on-call room together.

“Huh?”

Crash!

A loud noise echoed through the room.

And once again, the first to recover and move was Cheonga.

Her toes brushed the floor, she twisted with the momentum, and wrenched Yushin’s arm behind him. Raising her knee, she was just about to slam it hard into the groin of the Yushin sprawled beneath her—

—

Is it still… swollen like that?

Suddenly.

Unfortunately.

Cheonga remembered.

For days on end, how badly swollen that part of Yushin had been.

A tidal wave of guilt washed over her in an instant.

Her knee, aimed at his groin, hesitated midair.

And that split-second opening handed the opportunity straight to Yushin.

He quickly grabbed her side and twisted. Their bodies rolled, and in the end, it was Cheonga who was pinned to the floor.

“Hoo.”

Yushin locked her body firmly between his knees and seized both her arms. No matter how much she twisted or struggled, overpowering the strength of his thighs was nearly impossible.

“Ugh—let go of me!”

Their heavy breathing filled the on-call room.

Yushin shifted, gripping both of Cheonga’s wrists with one hand. As he pulled her mask down, a deeply furrowed face appeared, along with his hot breath.

“You were aiming for my balls again, weren’t you?”

At his words, Cheonga’s face flushed bright red.

“If you do that twice, I’m seriously screwed.”

His sweat-soaked hair was so close it nearly brushed her cheek.

“I’m still unmarried, you know.”