Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Gangnam-gu, Seoul, South Korea

            The mutters and gasps of the surrounding people seemed to fill the air—perhaps even more than the sound of police sirens and the clicks of cameras did. A very prominent sound emitted from everyone’s mouth as they gathered—their mutters consisting of what all would have expected:

            “How could this happen?”

            “This is horrendous.”

            “She was such a sweet soul.”

            Beyond the yellow police tape that kept the gathering bystanders at a decent distance, laid the dead, mutilated body of a young woman. Bangs covering her eyes as her stark-naked body laid on the cold concrete, brain matter spread—and splattered—amongst the pavement as her intestines spilled from her abdomen completely. The pool of blood in which she was soaking within was thick—clearly coagulated—and of a deep red that glistened under the harsh streetlight that was ever-so-conveniently above her. Back towards the heavens and her neck clearly shattered from the fall in a horrendous manner—it was easy to state that there was absolutely no way that a neck should protrude in such a way, nor should her head even manage to turn in that way. Due to large e swelling due to the break, her neck had inflated in size. Her arms barely retained their form, as the impact with the ground managed to rupture the flesh, leaving her pale skin stretched along the ground. Bones protruding beyond the skin in various areas, from her forearms to her torsos to her feet. Death upon impact? For the sake of the woman, many would hope so.

            It was such a gruesome scene; one that was not for the faint of heart in the slightest. Even the most fervent lovers of gore and mutilation may have a mixed reaction upon laying eyes upon the scene. After all, such damage from the impact was not commonly seen on those cursed areas of the internet that the more—sadistic—side of society dwell. Despite being outside, henceforth the space was inevitably well ventilated, the smell of blood was thick in the air. A thick nauseating iron that even the responding officers had to turn away to attempt to gain control of their onset spew. The likelihood of violent crime responders feeling genuine sickness due to viewing a scene was very low, after all they have allegedly seen it all, which only attested to how horrid the crime scene truly was. A perfect term to describe the current sight they were graced with is none other than, ‘Nightmare Fuel’. And surely, it was the perfect time for a nightmare—ten o’clock at night.

            “Who would do such a thing?” The mouth of a first responder by the name of Taewoon began to run its course, “Clearly this isn’t a suicide, there were witnesses stating she was pushed in some way. Many of them described seeing a figure either push or throw her off. And considering the state of her body that adds to some degree.” Covering his mouth, a bit as he viewed the gruesome state of the corpse, he shook his head. The question was commonly asked, and annoyingly so the answer was always answered so simply by the general population: A psychopath. A monster. A devil. Jinseok, the partner of the latter, shrugged his shoulders as his hand found way to cover his mouth as well alongside an obvious attempt at taking as few breaths as possible, “Who knows? An ex-lover? Her boyfriend?”

            “Unless her boyfriend—or Ex-Lover—happens to be a surgeon of any sort, that is a highly unlikely situation.”

            Hearing a sudden voice from behind them, the two officers turned around slowly. The voice in which filled their ears was one that was all too familiar, so familiar that it caused light sighs to escape their lips—however whether those sighs were of relief or irritation, no one truly knew. Though it wasn’t exactly rocket science to figure it out once giving their actions more thought. Meeting a dark-haired man with an intense gaze, Jinseok spoke up, “Detective Choi.”

            A gust of slightly strong wind soon came through, ruffling the young man’s hair as he stood before the two. Hands in his jacket pockets, the expression on his face was one that could only be described as cold and stoic. A face that never failed to force the two officers to acknowledge the authority he held—even if it was his usual expression. Diagnosed with a chronic case of RBF by his unit, his seemingly serious and intense nature was one of the main topics of conversation at the precinct. However, this was not the conversational topic that came around—far from it. Detective Choi San, known primarily as San, is a ‘dangerously handsome’ twenty-three-year-old man who earned the title of ‘Detective’ at a young age with many ‘interesting’ things tied to his name. Many of these things were in high regard to his family and his social standing in both the underground and the surface. Though a man of few words outside of crime scenes and cases, his case solving prowess never goes unknown, and in turn he was quite known to the public and to the police; Highly acclaimed and uplifted for solving cases in stellar time with accuracy some praise to be deity-given.

            As if his cold demeanor wasn’t enough to cause others to dislike him—though many others found him dashing—various tattoos graced his skin, beautiful ink despite a significant lack of color creating a bodily canvas that drew the eyes of all who passed accompanied by a small garnish of a lip ring which graced the left side of his bottom lip. However, for those who knew of the notorious Ichor Dragon which starting behind his ear and leading down the side of his neck, the walking canvas held bigger threats. It was not common for police personnel to have such an appearance, in fact within the conservative way of the country, San would not have been considered for such work. Yet his skill was too valuable to pass up on. Especially when taking into consideration crimes that had gang violence written all of it in hot pink, bold bubble letters..

            “Pictures of the body are all over the internet and are trending at that. Were your attempts to contain the situation futile?” San asked, adjusting his sleeves, and pulling at his black latex gloves a bit.

            “Yes. I’m sorry, sir. She had been out here for everyone to see for at least five minutes before we got here. There was really nothing we could do,” Taewoon replied, looking at the Jinseok with eyes full of clear irritation, ones that clearly stated, “You fucking fool.’ Before averting his gaze back to the detective. “But sir, what do you mean by a ‘surgeon’? As you can see, this isn’t a murder that requires the precision a surgeon has to offer—she was pushed off a building.”

            Ignoring the question, San proceeded forward, raising the yellow police tape to get under it. Heading right for a corpse, he crouched down and immediately grasped a chunk of the large intestine, as well as a chunk of brain that had gone astray due to the impact of the fall. The faces of those close enough to witness him do something like that so effortlessly, resulted in disgusted stares and a few gags. Yes, the scene was heartbreaking to most, but to San? It was simply the scene of a case that must be solved—his lack of capacity for remorse and for excessive amounts of sympathy and empathy is exactly what made him great at his job to begin with.

            Looking at the small piece of the intestine in which he picked up, he noticed a small ‘tie’ of sorts. Upon closer inspection all signs pointed towards it being a single thing: A suture. Nodding lightly, he grabbed two of the various, small plastic bags from his jacket pocket and placed each piece into its own bag. As most would assume, they were being kept for the purpose of evidence collection. Though some may have thought he was keeping them for some odd trophy. But alas, he would never take a trophy from a kill he didn’t personally commit. Placing the bags on the ground near to him—but not so close that a single misstep from him would result in him ruining the evidence—he used both hands to carefully turn the corpse onto its back. Exposing her bare chest as he tried to additionally re-align the head. San's eyes were drawn to her exposed chest—however not for any demented reason. After all he was far from some fiend who took any chance, he could possibly have to even take in the sight of a naked woman. His attention was drawn towards the start of a perfectly centered slit, which led towards a split direct down the center of her torso. From in-between the breasts to the lower abdomen. Such a smooth line could have only been created with the precision of a scalpel—meaning his initial assumptions were true. A perfect slice along with the suture on the intestinal chunk? The evidence points to the assailant being a surgeon. An exponential increase of certainty. However, whether this person was one in the current medical field, or someone that practiced only black-market surgery was the true question.

            “I apologize.” He spoke, trailing off before placing a hand onto her chest, closing his eyes as he exhaled a light breathe. The secret behind his spectacular solve rate of crimes wasn’t linked to mere perfectly aligned evidence, it also lied within him. There are strange people that walk the earth, and San was one of them.

            Around five o’clock in the evening, the woman opened the door to her room on the tenth floor with a lack of vigor, room number 1012. Having just gotten back from the hospital through the usage of an Uber, the weakness she felt was something that she had expecting—however the amount that was overtaking her body was nothing she had experienced before. Adjusting her bag, the new medicine in which she was prescribed to assist in the healing process shuffling about, she began moving towards her kitchen with her shoes still on her feet. Doing her best to get herself a glass of water—the pain and fatigue placing large stress onto her body, she placed the glass onto the island in her kitchen with a shaky hand. The Louis Vuitton bag she wore barely clashed with the granite counter before falling right off the edge and onto the floor. “Of course…” Crouching down with the pain increasing from the pressure applied to her abdomen, the woman managed to grab her bag from the ground about forty seconds later. Grabbing the small package of her pills from her purse, she ripped open one of the packets of medication as she began to stand up, emptying the two blue pills into her hand immediately. Popping them into her mouth just as quickly, the bitterness of the pills set in the moment they contacted her tongue. The woman wasted no time in chugging the water down. As ten minutes passed, a single, almost thick heavy heartbeat developed in her chest forcing the concerning feeling of a heavy weight within to take over her body. Within an instant she knew—something was horribly wrong. As an angry wave of dizziness washed over her, a sudden knock at the door—

            “Detective Choi.”

            Opening his eyes, San cursed under his breath. Slowly removing his hand from the woman’s chest, his eye darted around as he attempted to look for the source of the voice that disrupted his reconstruction. To no one’s surprise, he soon found that it belonged to one of the officers—yet both looked at him with seemingly confused looks on their faces.

            “What is it?”

            “What are you doing…?”

            “Investigating.”

            Blinking, Taewoon raised a brow before speaking, his voice riddled with disbelief, “Yeah, sure. You weren’t just feeling a dead woman’s breast—what a perverted creep, you gangsters really aren’t human...”

            San's eye twitched at the disgusting accusation, if there was one thing that either of these two men could say to get a reaction out of him, it was this. “Her time of death was around four to five hours ago, yet this body was dropped off the building about forty-five minutes ago. After she was dead, her murderer kept her around for about four and a half hours before discarding her corpse. Now, what did he do with her body? While I wouldn’t entirely rule out sexual assault—that’s something the medical examiner must decide—I find it highly unlikely for that to be the case. If you look closely, there is something missing that I am sure you all can easily notice,” Gesturing to the open torso of the woman, he spoke further, “Spleen, Kidney, Liver, Heart, Lungs—it’s all absent. A few of her ribs have been broken—but is that due the fall, or in the attempt to remove the lungs. Maybe both. There’s no point in following safe removal protocol if the person is deceased, right? Ask yourselves this. If you look even closer, fibers from a material that is commonly used for suturing is within this pool around her—This person knew how to close such a large wound. I believe that the assailant was a person who is very skilled in what they do, and judging from the wound’s location, it is directly center, I am sure that not a drop of blood was shed—”

            “What? You must have gone crazy, no blood as you cut deeply through flesh? Are you telling me that he drained the blood first?”

            “Let me finish. Don’t interrupt me.” Tone cold as ever, he continued further, “It’s a rare occurrence—so allow me to enlighten you. Whoever did this cut the torso directly in the middle—most skilled surgeons tend to be a millimeter or so off from the center, so this is a rare phenomenon. When the body is laid on it’s back everything is perfectly balanced, meaning that the amount of blood that is within each hemisphere in the body is balanced, be slightly off and a bleed starts, but be perfect,” Looking Taewoon right in the eyes, he added on, “And not a single drop of blood sprays or sheds, blood won’t contact the skin. The only time blood makes an appearance is when this everything is truly opened. I only know of two surgeons who can do such a thing, and neither of them are in Korea. Of course, that doesn’t mean there aren’t others this skilled—if you doubt me, wait for the report from the medical examiner once the body is sent in for autopsy.”

            “Who do we look for then, detective?” Jinseok, turning into a firm believer of the prodigy’s words, asked with a slightly wavering voice.

            Search for North Korean defectors, search in the black market. If you wish, interrogate every marvelous surgeon in the world—I don’t care, that isn’t my problem. Now, is it? Do your job and I’ll do mine. Don’t ever accuse me of something so disgusting again—” As he began to speak, he was cut off by the sudden bright flash of a camera from a woman located on the other side of the yellow tape.

            “Get rid of these people!” Snapping as his gaze fell on the woman before averting two the two officers, Vegas spoke up yet again, “What kind of officers are you to even let this happen, you know well it is protocol to maintain the anonymity of the victim and to keep the spread of the tragedy contained?” Removing his black gloves and tossing them into a bin labeled for biohazardous materials, he continued to speak, “You’ve worked this job longer than I have yet you can’t seem to do a simple task. What nonsense.” Snapping at the two as he ran his fingers through his dark hair, Vegas glanced at the two one more time with a scoff before looking up at the apartment building which the woman had fallen from, setting his internal GPS to navigate towards it.

            “Taewoon, that kid is…”

            “Don’t even say it. Sure, he’s one hell of an asshole, but he’s not even wrong about anything he said. His qualifications far surpass ours on this one.”

            A smirk cracking onto his face as he neared the building entrance, San shook his head, “Tenth floor? My, my. That’s fucking brutal. But is it personal?”

学而不思 则 罔，思而不学 则 殆

            Stopping in front of the door of the deceased, San scanned the door slowly. Naturally, he scanned for any signs of forced entry or blood, or anything of the sort, but there was none. However, this is what he had expected. Both graced and cursed with a good memory, he noted the lack of forced entry, though it didn’t take long for the sound of light footsteps coming from behind him to obtain his attention. Turning his head slightly to the sound of a plastic bag crinkling with the steps, he glanced over his shoulder just to suddenly meet the gaze of a man that was only slightly shorter than him by a few inches. Dark, medium length hair styled, a dark grey button-up, a pair of black jeans and vans with clean, white soles. Just the few minor details of his appearance said a lot of what his physical appearance was.

            “This situation is pretty wild, huh, detective?” As the man began to speak, San was met with a voice that was a bit higher in tone than he had expected considering the stereotypically ‘cold and handsome’ image that entertained his imagination as the man’s face was still not within his view.

            “Making dinner?” San replied in avoidance of the question.

            “Actually, I am.” The male answered. The jingle of keys filled the cold air of the hall as the stranger began to unlock the door to the room adjacent of the victim’s. San's eyes fell onto the keys within his hands, forcing him to cock a brow. He had failed to choose the right key for the job multiple times. Going through three keys, and third key being the right one, the slightly shorter male sighed lightly. An additional entry in the mental notebook.

            “Not your place?”

            “Nope. My girlfriend’s.” Replying instantly as he pushed the door to the apartment open slightly, he placed a single foot into the doorway before turning around completely to face the detective. Blinking a few times fast despite his face remaining unchanged, San was quite taken aback by the appearance of the man. It was as he had expected. The voice failed to initially match the face so well in theory but being able to see his mouth enunciate and hear the soft voice escape his lips everything fit all too well. Without any doubt this stranger was the type of man that other men would call “pretty”. A nice appearance with slight feminine charm, though of course there was nothing wrong with that, at least not to San.

            As their gazes met, a feeling of similarity hit them, dare it be simultaneously. A darkness. Something innately sinister. It’s always so cliché, no matter how many times someone attempted to go about it. The feeling of being drawn to someone’s gaze. The idea of being able to investigate someone’s eyes and contact the soul. Faces can express many things at will and are able to deceive, but the eyes? They aren’t so easily persuaded to lie.

            The man pushed the door a bit further, “You have an interesting gaze.” Speaking without much thought as he squinted a bit, the bags in his hands hit the door.

            “So do you,” San replied.

            Without warning, a female voice which uttered three words rang out through the semi-open door, however only one word in particular peaked San's interest, “Wooyoung! Get inside!”

            ‘Wooyoung. So, that’s his name.’ Looking at the other man, who he now knew was named Wooyoung, the man sighed, “That’s my cue to leave. Stay safe, Detective…”

            “Choi.”

            “Detective Choi.”

            With a simple, and short, nod from San, Wooyoung soon disappeared into the apartment, and the door swung shut a few moments after. The detective’s gaze was stuck focused on the door for a moment as the only thing that crossed his mind was their short, bland, yet impactful interaction. Despite the confrontation being one that was relatively common—a frequent scene that tended to occur with neighbors—that seemingly lackluster interaction was far deeper than some small talk to San, a gut feeling backing this idea up.

            “Something tells me that man is going to pop up one too many times.” Muttering to himself as he grabbed a new pair of gloves from its packaging which found a permanent spot in his inner jacket pocket, San opened the door using the key given to him by the landlord of the complex. Making no hesitation in opening the door, the detective’s eyes immediately met the floor to scan the area. Making sure there was nothing he could potentially step on or break that may be evidence. After thinking for a few seconds, San decided to place disposable shoe covers onto his shoes, which happened to also be equipped within the inner jacket pocket on the parallel side. Walking further into the room and shutting the door to a barely open state—courtesy of giving the CSI unit the luxury of not having to turn the doorknob—the young detective scanned the area. The images from his initial investigation—before he was rudely interrupted—has formulated into a real scene. The apartment layout similar to that of what he had seen, it didn’t take him long to navigate the apartment to the kitchen with ease. Looking onto the island he noticed the conjoined packs of her medication—just as he had seen. Venturing towards the counter, he picked up varying packets, eyes drawn to the various blue elliptical shaped pills inside.

            “160mg Oxycodone.”

            Even without any labelling to inform San of pill type the detective knew all too well about Oxycodone—especially after seeing to its manufacture and sales through Ichor. The usage of Oxycodone was common with post-operative pain, which makes sense with what San had already concluded—meaning this being in her possession made sense. However, the dosage written on the bag was quite troubling. Four 160mg twice a day? San was far from being any sort of doctor, however there was a lack of ethical reasoning with this dosage—it was practically lethal. Especially for someone as small and petite as her. Eyeing the pills, it was possible for these to be the cause of dizziness that she fell victim to, however he was not content with such an unsure prognosis. Bringing the pill pack closer for further inspection, the detective noticed something—off. Though very similar the actual pill for 160mg of Oxycodone, the grain and number had something that was out of place. Though it was small, the way the one was engraved was different than usual. Considering, San was present for the many laced drug production with his father and with his own group, he knew the difference all too well. Sliding one of the packets into his pocket for further investigation, he moved on to observing the pill bag further.

            “Kang Min-Ji…” He trailed off as he read the deceased’s name off of the packet, “ I take it you knew whoever did this to you—and he gave you these right at the hospital bed.” Venturing towards the living room, he scanned the area. Similar to the door, there were yet again no signs of struggle. The kitchen was pristine, the living room was pristine—but there had to be at least one place here where it was even just a bit disheveled. Quickly, the young detective’s eyes fell upon what he believed to be her phone—a device similar to his own. Picking it up and taping the screen twice, he was met with a photo of the victim and another man—serious in looks, a birthmark on his left eye, not at all feeling the photo and irritated by the camera in his face. Yet the similarities in their faces were uncanny. Siblings? Without a doubt. “You must have been quite close for you to put a photo of you two of all things onto your lock screen.” Talking low, he added on, “But with this being locked, I’ll have to take this to the station, have them look at her call history.”

            It was up to this point that he was about to figure out what happened until San was interrupted earlier, and now it was up to him and his in-the-moment-skills to determine everything that happened next. However, unexpectedly, the door swung open from behind him—and naturally, the detective turned as soon as he heard it. Before San was able to get a word in, the officer spoke quickly, “We found a surgeon that is connected to the victim! He works at Samsung Medical Center, and we have intel that he is on the way to the hospital now due to receiving an urgent call, this is the perfect time to catch him!” With the tall officer speaking on the news, the detective could not fight the grin that began to form. What perfect timing. Seemed more than just coincidental. Heading towards the door while removing his gloves, he placed them on the countertop. Brushing past the officer while heading towards the stairs, he gestured for San to follow him.

            “Continue.”

            “The victim’s name is Kang Minji, we found this out through correlating that suture you found on that piece from the large intestine and there was only one patient that went through a partial colectomy in this area—and paced on the photo of her within her hospital records, it matches the body 99.9%.

            The suture on the dismembered part of the large intestine now had truly made even more sense. A partial colectomy—a partial removal. Exiting out the front door with increased speed, after all it was important to make haste to catch the surgeon, San made his way to his personal vehicle which was parked at the other side of the building. Slipping under the yellow tape on that side—the tall officer following suit—San reached into his pocket and grabbed his car keys.

            “She was released from the hospital today at a quarter to five—This is a nice car! How can you afford this Audi on a detective salary? It’s a coupe and everything! —” Quickly walking around the vehicle, his eyes landed on a charging port located near the hood, rather than a gas tank door by the back, “It’s ELECTRIC!”

            “Focus!” San snapped, as he opened the driver’s side door, “And get in the car.” He added as he gestured to the other side of the vehicle.

            “Get in? Sir, I have duties here, I can’t just—”

            “You have duties with me since you stalled so much while gawking about my car, I assume there are still things you must debrief me on, and I am trying to speak with him in a timely fashion. Meaning, tell me in the car. Don't make me tell you again."

           Eyes wide, the officer opened the door to the passenger’s side and hastily got into the seat, buckling up with his hands planted on his thighs, while taking occasional glances at San. Noticing this, the young detective raised a brow before buckling his seat belt and starting the car.

            “Alright Officer…” Trailing off, San took a quick glance at the name on his uniform. “Officer Jeong. What’s the name of this surgeon?”

            “It’s Yunho.”

            “Dr. Yunho?”

            “No, my name. It’s Yunho. Jeong Yunho—just call me Yunho.”

            San sighed, “Officer Jeong, tell me the name of surgeon.” Voice stern, the detective made it obvious that he wasn’t having any of the stalling regarding the intel—and acknowledging this the officer relayed more information to him.

            “Dr. Jung Wooyoung, that’s his name. Or rather, Chief Surgeon Jung Wooyoung."

Chapter Text

            The noise from the television was rather faint, so faint in fact that Wooyoung could simply tune it out altogether, whatever his girlfriend was watching was not anything fascinating in the slightest. However, there was something fascinating—or rather someone—that Detective he had met outside. The handsome man with the intense eyes and a cold gaze to partner with an appearance far from one that would be expected of a detective. ‘Detective Choi’ he thought to himself as he ran a stalk of chives under some water for a moment. The detective was far different from the ones Wooyoung had encountered before—he immediately had the impression of someone who had little cares, little worries, and little regrets. One’s eyes can say a lot about an individual, their likes and dislikes, their concerns, their age; At this rate it could be called a skill of Wooyoung's, but he truly found out someone’s character just by looking in their eyes. And the eyes on that Detective were strange. Strange for a very particular reason: He saw himself. The image of the slightly taller man was burned into his head—His face, body, eyes. All of it. The odd desire to see him again just to investigate his eyes further, to pick his brain and figure him out was somewhat overbearing

            Running the serrated knife along the stalk of chives in a vertical direction, Wooyoung began to cut the vegetables on the cutting board, his eyes darting over to the metal skillet on the stove that had yet to be turned on.

            “Jiwoo,” He began, calling out to his girlfriend who was sprawled on the couch, “Can you mix the eggs and rice together? It’ll make this process a lot faster.”

“I’m watching my show, and besides—this would already be done if you didn’t stay at work for so long and stall in the hallway talking to whoever.” She replied, her eyes glued to the television.

            With the mention of the late dinner being his fault, Wooyoung sighed, putting down the knife as he turned to her—his arms folding over his chest, “Are you serious? You’re seriously putting our late dinner on the fact I had stayed at work for ‘so long’ and stalled in the hall? Are you forgetting I am a Doctor, Jiwoo? I left work early just to even get here to make us dinner because it’s our anniversary—plus I had to go to the store first, which is something you could have done already. I wasn’t even supposed to leave work until four in the morning for fucksake, the director was upset that I left to begin with because—”

            As he spoke, his suddenly rang prompting him to stop and quickly get to his phone, and the moment he caught a glimpse of the caller ID, he let out a rather loud sigh, “Speak of the fucking devil,”

            Yes, this is Dr. Jung, why are you calling from Director Lee’s line….Hold on, you’re difficult to understand…Hold on, seriously? Didn’t Dr. Kang administer—Resident Choi did what?! Why didn’t Dr. Kang administer it like I had asked him to?!...A family emergency? Well, that’s understandable, however who in their right minds let the new resident even get near my patient? That patient is not supposed to have a Doxorubicin drip, she’s not a cancer patient—that is going to attack her organs—which could cause them to fail, and she may die. That’s a lawsuit on not only the hospital’s neck but on mine! It’s not even a drip...A direct injection through the IV catheter? You’re joking with me. I am on my way now. Relay this message, do not let anyone touch that patient. Get the director on the line and tell him to call me and tell Resident Choi to meet me in my office.”

            Hanging up the phone, he placed it down on the counter with excessive force, despite all the yelling and obvious irritation that Wooyoung was experiencing, Jiwoo was still watching her show without a care in the world; Seems that shitty reality television was enough for her to block out the world. Rolling his eyes as he scoffed as pocketed his phone and headed for the door, “You’re going to have to make the food yourself, I have to head back to work.”

            Finally looking away from the television as if the idea of cooking snapped her out of her trance, the woman met Wooyoung's eyes, it was evident in her gaze that she was shocked at the fact that she had to cook for herself. She was always this way to begin with, since day one she didn’t do anything for herself and relied on him to do every damn thing for her, luckily, she wasn’t so lazy that she needed him to wipe her ass as well.

            “What? Just finish making the food before you go, I’m hungry—"

            “God, your such a dependent airhead.” Enough was enough. This constant dynamic of ordering Wooyoung around while she sat on her ass and watched dogshit shows and shopped online was getting out of hand, and increasingly infuriating at that.

            “What the fuck, Wooyoung?! I just want you to cook the food and you’re insulting me, I am not some lazy airhead—”

            “You are! My patient has been given the wrong medicine because I left earlier that I should have not because today is our anniversary, but because you wouldn’t stop spamming me with calls and text messages complaining about how hungry you are. I need to go back to the hospital right now to fix this before this woman dies.”

            So, what you’re saying is that this female patient of yours is more important than me?” Knowing her boyfriend quite well, Jiwoo was aware that he didn’t actual care for his job, at least not for the aspect when it came to caring about his patients. He was no saint. He is no saint.

            “No. My reputation and name is. I cannot afford for either things to be tarnished.”

            “So, you’re saying that your reputation is more important than me, now? You’ve left countess times earlier before so why are you making a big ass deal of it now?!”

            There were many things going through Wooyoung's brain at this moment: One of the main things was questioning why on earth he ever got with this woman to begin with—what he even saw in her. It seemed as if the longer they were together, the more idiotic and self-centered she became, perhaps he was more superficial than he had initially thought. Her looks and body was everything, the figure of a model a perfectly natural yet seemingly sculpted face; But her intellect was nothing special, hell it had to be lower than average. There were more five-year-old children with common sense than this materialistic woman. It was also rather clear that this woman was only with him for the money and sex, even though he has known that, he never truly cared. Why would he? It wasn’t as if he loved her, she was the one who brought up the idea of dating, and the surgeon only agreed because it made his life interesting. But now? The interesting aspect was clearly dead and lost. Grabbing his coat from the stand, he stated silent for a moment, however after a short while, he locked eyes with her once more as he cocked a brow.

            “Everything is more important than you. Even some random dog’s shit on the sidewalk is more important than you. We’re done.” He spoke calmly, grabbing his wallet from his pant pocket. Removing approximately 3.5 Million Won in cash and placing it on the counter, he added further, “This should be enough to keep you off of my case and away from me, right? Sure, it isn’t a lot, but you’re not worth any more than that. Ever come near me again and I’ll kill you, you got that?” With his tone and voice calm to the point it sent shivers down Jiwoo’s spine, she watched in disbelief as Wooyoung removed her apartment key from her keychain and exited the apartment.

            As she watched the door shut, she looked down, muting the television. Her dark bangs falling into her face, she couldn’t help but sigh. Due to the fact that her boyfriend, or rather ex-Boyfriend never reacted on all of the requests before, she hadn’t thought it would have been an issue. The amount of stupidity she felt was overbearing—thinking he was so complacent was the wrong call—everything they had ended in a matter of seconds. With her man and her source of cash gone, she ran fingers through her hair, grasping onto tuffs of it in slight distress.

            “Even if I did attempt to crawl back, apologize and be smarter with my words, he’d kill me for sure. His threats aren’t empty, they never are…” She whispered to herself getting up from her seated position on the couch. Heading towards the pile of cash left on the counter, she tucked her hair behind her ear and grabbed her phone from her pocket, caressing the cash lightly. “Jung Wooyoung….you’re a scary man, did you know that…?”

学而不思 则 罔，思而不学 则 殆

            The drive to the hospital was quite tense, especially for the officer in the passenger’s seat of San's car. Mostly due to the complete, deafening silence—music wasn’t even being played at a low volume. The only for of music was the sound of the engine. Looking out of the window, Yunho watched the streetlights as they passed, one by one. Samsung Medical Center wasn’t too far, and due to a convenient lack of traffic the drive was only about thirty minutes—however he couldn’t help but anticipate their arrival as these minutes felt like hours. To distract himself from the piercing silence, Yunho took out his phone and began scrolling through his social media feed—which soon came to a halt as a text from his sister came in that resulted in the officer’s brows furrowing at the initial read of the text..

            Meanwhile, there were enough words being said within San’s mind, “Dr. Jung Wooyoung. Is he the man I saw entering that woman’s apartment? He couldn’t be, could he? Perhaps, he wasn’t the assailant. The timeline doesn’t add up regarding the moment in which we met up if that was the case. Is this truly even murder? The fact that the organs worth a pretty penny were taken makes this seem as if the main intent was to take the organs. Then why throw her body from her own apartment balcony? That’s brutal. So brutal that it seems personal, doesn’t it? Motivated by anger, perhaps even irrational thinking. In most cases when it comes to disposing of a body after removing its organs for selling, it usually ends with the body being buried, dismembered, being put through private cremation, or being dumped into Han River. That’s how we always did it. Why make such a spectacle through throwing her over a balcony? Then again, it isn’t common for these events to occur within the Victim’s home—”

            “Son of a bitch.” The voice of the officer next to whim suddenly broke the silence of the car, which ultimately broke him out of his thoughts as well, which may or may not have been a good thing. Either way, it had caught him off guard and displeased him slightly as well.

            “Is something wrong, Officer Jeong?” San asked, cocking a brow as he glanced over at him for a moment before focusing on the road yet again. Slowly pressing his foot on the break as he neared a stoplight.”

            “Nothing important, sir. It’s just—alright, so my sister’s boyfriend just broke up with her and now she’s trying to consult with me because she feels indifferent yet concerned. She claims her boyfriend just left her money and walked off but threatened to kill her if she ever crawled back. My sister—I know how she is. She only thinks about herself and chases after men for money, but the man she was with this time around was different than all the other men. This man, he’s just off-putting and cold. Just like you—” Yunho paused suddenly, glancing at the detective slowly in slight concern of what he may have said due to his comment, but his face remained blank.

            Clearing his throat, Yunho continued, “He never truly seemed interested in her, he was never all that romantic either—even though they’ve been together for almost two years, he never looked at her with love in his eyes. I can see how she feels threatened by him—because he doesn’t seem like the type to make empty threats. And out of all the men she has been with, this one made the most money. A surgeon. And money is what runs her world. She’ll crawl back to him or someone else and try to live off of their money again, and one of these days it’s going to get her hurt. I know why she believes she needs money; she honestly dates these men because she wants stability in her life. I don’t make much money myself, after all us police don’t make much money as you know—” Remembering the fact he was in an Audi E-Tron GT, he corrected his words, “Well, you don’t know, but it’s definitely not a lot. I can’t give her a life of ease with the funds I have—”

            “If you want her to stop,” San cut in, pressing down on the accelerator as the light changed, “Just lock her up, she can’t crawl back to this man, or any man, if she’s tied up.”

            Samsung Medical Center coming into view, and the vehicle crossing into its territory, Yunho’s eyes slowly began to widen as San’s words set in, ‘Is this guy for real…?” Though, he soon laughed, “You’re one funny guy, Detective Choi. I almost thought you were serious!”

            Making an immediate line for the parking garage, going up about for floors; he soon reverse-parked his car in the corner by another Audi—however it wasn’t the same model. “I am serious.” He spoke, his tone blunt as ever. “Come on, let’s go.” Pressing the ‘on/off’ switch, he cut the engine, opened his door and exited the car, adjusting the gun tucked into his waistband before brushing off his jacket a bit.

            Leaving the car, a bit late, Yunho shook his head as he watched San slowly, “Is he crazy? Crazy or not, he’s still cool.” He spoke as he opened his door and got up off of the low-riding car, before looking at San who as staring dead at him.

            “Hm. Crazy or not, I’m still cool, yeah?” He asked.

            Naturally, Yunho blinked a few times fast before cursing himself in his head, ‘Marvelous, I said that out loud, what a dumbass.’ Slowly nodding, he averted his gaze for a moment as he scanned a few cars in the area before looking back at the detective, “Yeah…you are. Not many people share the same opinion though.”

            “I’m aware.”

            Shutting the driver’s side door he moved towards the back of the car. San nodded as he lightly slid his thumb across the section of it that unlocked and opened the trunk. Meeting San at the back of the car, Yunho found his jaw dropping quickly as he first noticed the size of the trunk—it was quite spacious despite the vehicle being a luxury sports car—however his jaw was soon dropping for a different reason as the contents of the trunk. ‘Woah, woah, woah. Is this a SOU (Special Operations Unit) truck? What’s with this arsenal?’ Glancing at San from the corner of his eye, Yunho blinked a few times fast before averting his gaze altogether. There were guns upon guns in the car of the prodigy detective, and though he was no expert Yunho knew that half of the guns weren’t street legal or legal for the police to even hold—let alone use. Hell, he wasn’t even sure that any of these were actual guns—they all looked custom made and inaccessible to find on any form of black market.

            “Detective Choi, this is—”

            “If you’re going to mention the number of weapons and mention that they aren’t legal, don’t. Also, don’t even think about telling the higher-ups about them either, I’ll kill you.” He answered as he began to rummage through a bag.

            Yunho was far from being easily scared, even though he seemed like a clumsy coward, especially considering that he was a rookie, he was rather tough to shake. Most would have laughed it off instantly, but words like that coming from the mouth of San, such a notorious man who has killed before? Every fiber of his being felt attacked, and not in a pleasant way.

            Moving the bag to the side a bit, he grabbed a leather jacket from the main floor of the trunk. Brushing it off a bit before turning towards Yunho, “Lose the jacket, and the hat.”

            Taken aback, Yunho looked at the detective, “For what?”

            “If you’re going to go in there with me, you’re not going to wear this wack get-up and attract unwanted attention.”

            “But we are required to wear these—”            

            “Yunho.”

            Hearing his name, rather than the ever-so-lovely, ‘Officer Jeong’ especially in such a low tone, the officer blinked. It was a little concerning, really, how many times someone could possibly surprise him in the span of two minutes. Looking San directly in the eyes, Yunho couldn’t help but feel his hand involuntarily twitch a bit. ‘These eyes, they’re cold. Empty even. Yet, they’re dark and full. Terrifying…this man is terrifying. You can’t ever know what he’s thinking. What kind of man are you really? Detective Choi, these eyes suit you well, I really wish they didn’t.’ Sighing, Yunho removed his hat revealing his jet-black hair and went along to remove his jacket as well.

            Hand me the jacket,” Holding his hand out to San with slight hesitation—hesitation that confused even him to the core—he couldn’t help but furrow his brows. Why was he so wary? Clearly the detective wasn’t trying to harm him, so why hesitate? Despite Choi San being the epitome of danger, he wasn’t in direct danger, so why?

            “This should fit you.” Only speaking for a moment before falling silent, he gestured for the officer to hand over the removed items. Once having them in his possession, he placed them into the trunk and shut the door—and hitting the key fob to look the doors with a satisfying ‘beep’ from the vehicle to signify its locked and protected state. Walking out from behind the car and towards the main path which would lead to the entrance, Vegas took a few steps before coming to a halt. Turning around to view Yunho, who was standing in front of his car. Folding his arms against his chest, the detective watched the other man closely, scanning his body and face with a slow nod.

            Noticing this, he put the jacket, which was provided for him on quickly, averting his gaze from the detective, ‘Why the hell is he looking at me like that…?’ As San slowly began walking towards him, Yunho blinked, eyes growing wide, “Hey,” He began, his feet moving backwards involuntarily. “What’s the matter...” He asked, stepping back further.

            Despite being asked a question the detective stated silent, walking towards Yunho at a steady, slow pace. Considering he proceeded to take steps back as San got closer, the officer felt the front of the car make direct contact with his legs, and with no space to move, his legs naturally buckled slightly causing him to take a seat onto the hood of the expensive car. A panic slowly began to build as the other man got closer, his pulse increasing slightly, a sudden desire for water due to a sudden dry mouth and the twitch from his hand earlier turned into more of a tremble.

            For Yunho, this immediate reaction was uncommon, and something rather frightening to experience. Anytime he saw anything like this situation occur, especially in the dramas he loved watching, he found their reactions to be absurd and fake. Something that is nothing more than a scripted cliché; Yet here he was. His body moving involuntarily, heart racing. ‘What the fuck are you trying to do…?’ Without his own consent, Yunho sudden moved his left hand from being planted onto the warm hood of the vehicle to the detective’s chest to keep him at a distance.

            The officer averted from San's gaze as he noticed the detective’s right hand moving. Naturally observant, the officer couldn’t help but notice every detail of not only the movement of his hand, but the characteristics as well. On an instant glance, it wasn’t hard to see the tattoos that were on his hand. The bulk of what he saw resembled the agape muzzle of a dog—possibly a wolf—baring its fangs at whomever the viewer may be. Just above the knuckle, wrote the Latin phrase, “Veni Vidi Vici” in a thick black ink. Moving away from those, as attractive as they looked, he couldn’t help but view how nimble the detective’s hands were. Though smaller in comparison to his own—obviously or else it would have been a bit odd if the detective’s hands were larger than Yunho who was quite tall—beyond the ink weren’t the hands of, well, a thug. Then again, this was an initial glance, could he be entirely wrong? Very much so. Finding it difficult on focusing on anything other than the man in front of him, the allegedly observant man had lost where the hand had gone.

            Feeling a sudden pressure on top of his head, the officer looked up slightly for a moment as he blinked. San, silent as ever, ran his fingers through Yunho’s hair a bit, clutching tufts of it in his grasp to raise it slightly.

            “You have hat hair; I refuse to walk in there with someone that looks disheveled.”

            Dumfounded by the statement, Yunho asked a foolish question hair, “H...” He paused for a second, “Hat hair?”

            “Your hair has been compressed by the hates they make you wear.” Taking a step back, San surveyed him again with a nod, “You look better now, your hair has volume.”

            “I know what hat hair is—Use words next time! I thought you were going to maul me or something.”

            With that statement, San’s lips curled up in the corners forming a sly grin. “Silence boiled over shortly after, resulting in him turning away from the officer. Gesturing towards the door that led into the hospital, he shoved his hands into his pockets before looking over his should at Yunho, “Come on, we have a surgeon to question.”

            Shaking his head, Yunho sighed and got up off the hood of the car, “You could have just told me to sit on the damn car.” He muttered to himself as he combed his fingers through his hair. Looking at his trembling hand afterwards, he walked towards the entrance into the hospital as well, “It’s funny, though. I’ve only been with him for about forty minutes, and he’s not even all that bad—those other people are just delusional. It’s nice to know a man like this can actually smile.”

            Glancing at his reflection in the window of a car for a moment, and making sure he truly did look presentable enough, Yunho soon caught up with the detective who was waiting for him by the door. Without exchanging any words, they opened the double doors together and walked inside. The large and spacious interior of the conglomerate owned hospital never failed to surprise the rookie officer, but he didn’t expect anything less from such a highly reputable hospital. Considering this was his first hands on ‘investigation’ Yunho decided to let San do all of the talking—which in hindsight was the smartest move.

            Making a direct line for the reception desk, San allowed a small smile to play onto his face, as he greeted the female receptionist, “Good evening.”

           “Ah, good evening. My, aren’t you two some attractive young men. How can I assist you both today?”

           “Well, ma’am, we have some urgent business to attend to here tonight,” Reaching for his badge from his pant pocket, San soon placed the metal badge onto the desk in a discrete manner as well as the ID card in which contained San’s full name and specific affiliation in the police department. A clear sense of panic washed over the woman as she saw the badge, a light tinge of pink formulating on her cheeks, “What brings violent crime detective’s here?”

           Finally, Yunho inserted himself into the conversation, stepping forward and standing next to San, “We have some business with a Chief Surgeon by the name of Jung Wooyoung.”

           “A-Ah…I see. Well, Chief Jung is currently dealing with an urgent patient, I am afraid he cannot speak with you all right now—”

           “Then we will wait around until he’s done, what floor?” San spoke quickly, cocking a brow slightly as he noticed the receptionist’s odd dismissive nature. The reason as to why she was so awkward about their presence was something they didn’t know. Glancing over at the rookie officer who was looking right at him—he gestured to the elevators. “Actually, you know what? We will find it ourselves. Following the signs shouldn’t be too hard. Have a nice day,” Taking a second to glance down at her name tag, the detective soon looked back up at her, “Receptionist Seo.” Sending a short nod her way while turning from her, the detective dropped his smile as he placed his attention to the various elevators, “Officer Jeong, let’s get a move on.”

           Wasting no time in getting to an elevator and pressing the ‘up’ button, San then took a moment to scan the small map directory showing the various departments and their locations within all 20 stories of the hospital. Meanwhile, Yunho couldn’t help but wonder what on earth had the woman so shaken about their police presence. ‘That was more than weird, why was she like that? Was it simply because we are police? I guess that could be it, right?  After all, dealing with the ‘law’ was never exactly a calming situation—or was it because of the Detective Choi? I mean, he’s practically a celebrity to the general public for two—and only two reasons. His detective work and…his looks. After all, the fact he is the Ichor heir isn’t mainstream news.’

           “Floor 12, Critical Care Center. That’s where he has to be, he’s a surgeon and most post-operative and ICU patients are in that center and on that floor,” San finally stated aloud, which tore Yunho from his thoughts and resulted in him nodding in agreement with his conclusion. Conveniently the elevator doors began to open just as he finished speaking. Waiting a few seconds for the doors to open completely—which soon unveiled a perfectly empty elevator—the two rushed into the space.

            Pressing the button for the twelfth floor, San leaned against the back wall of the elevator, Yunho following suit next to him. With the doors shutting and the elevator beginning its ascension, the rookie officer decided to speak on the matter of the receptionist once more.”

            “Hey, Detective Choi.”

            “ Yes?”

            “I think I figured out why receptionist Seo was acting so odd with us—well you.”

            “Oh?” San cocked a brow, “What do you conclude?”

            “She thought you were sexy, especially once realizing who you were.” Yunho spoke without hesitation.

            “….What?”

            “Oh, come on, don’t act surprised! You know various men and women ogle over you daily, the Gangnam Police Department ought to be thankful to you for why the public treats us so well. ‘For the smart and sexy detective with the bad boy appearance’, that’s what a lot of the gifts that get sent to the department say on them.”

            “Wait they do?”

            “I- Do you not read any of the gifts before you take them home or eat them?”

            “I didn’t even realize I got gifts from people—That’s what all the clutter on my desk was? Maybe I shouldn’t have thrown them away.”

            “You just THREW them AWAY? How can you be so smart YET SO STUPID?”

Chapter Text

            The drive in which the surgeon made to the hospital was quite the reckless one—it was both a surprise to him and the others that shared the space with him that he was not pulled over by any means. Windows down to calm whatever nerves were plaguing him, the cool breeze created from the speed in which he traveled did well to tone down the several emotions he was experiencing at once. While there was little to say—or feel—regarding the materialistic woman of the hour, there was enough to throw a moderate fit about when it came to his patient and his reputation—and not even his patient’s life, but the organs he would exploit from the patient. No one wants organs attacked by damage due to something so carless as providing the wrong medication. It was fact, all that the self-centered bitch said. Wooyoung had no true care for his patients, he never had the aspiration of helping people through the kindness of his heart. It was simply what his true motivation was, and still is: Money.

            Ah yes. Money, dinero, livelihood, the root of all sin within the world—and the root of Wooyoung’s sins without a single doubt. The sin in which the young surgeon developed and maintains lands him a position of being the vessel in which ‘Greed’ would take over to personify itself. However, there were questions that remained. If Wooyoung is such an esteemed surgeon with a hefty salary, why would he still want more money? The proper answer is simply: Why wouldn’t he want more money? A large debt? Materialistic Tendencies? No, no. Neither would be enough of a motive for him to desire more money, but what would? Power. With money comes power, and with power—the young surgeon’s opportunities were endless.

            While entering the hospital after parking his vehicle in a clearly rushed state—within the lines of the parking space but horribly crooked—Wooyoung made no hesitation in bursting into a light sprint towards the elevator. Managing to shoot Receptionist Seo a short nod out of obligation while trekking towards an opening elevator, he eyed the internal capacity of it. A couple, consistent of a woman and another woman, exited promptly, leaving the surgeon a wonderful amount of space all to himself—that is until he saw the very Resident that fucked up his patient entering the elevator ahead of him. Choi Jongho, a usually outstanding resident that stood taller than Wooyoung despite being three years younger than him, was loved by all staff of the hospital. Minimal errors in his work ethic and a high generosity—despite his stern looks—until this monstrosity. ‘The deities are fucking with me.’ He thought to himself as he slowed down his pace from a light sprint to a hasty walk. Entering the elevator with the resident, he shot quite a feisty glare into his direction before turning and leaning onto the right wall of the elevator. Back to the wall while facing resident Choi, Wooyoung took a small glance at the floor buttons offered, and as he expected the one for floor 12 was illuminated. A mere five seconds later, the elevator began its ascension—and so did the interrogation.

            “What on earth were you thinking giving the patient Doxorubicin, Resident Choi?” Breaking the silence, he stared at younger profusely, the gaze clearly unwavering in any manner.

            Knowing he would be questioned the moment he saw the Doctor enter the elevator with him—fully knowing that Wooyoung had clocked out early, he mumbled to himself for a few seconds as his gaze was glued to the floor. Finally speaking after a few more, he tore his eyes from the floor and met the sharp gaze in which Wooyoung wore, “It earnestly isn’t my fault, Chief Jung! Really!”

            “It isn’t your fault? Several staff members saw you injecting the Doxorubicin into the catheter. A ghost didn’t come along and do such a thing.”

            “I know what they saw! I know what I did, but the patient file truly stated they were a cancer patient that needed Doxorubicin. I still have the file behind the desk, and you can check it yourself! I wouldn’t have given her such medication if it didn’t say so—you know that I am not that careless, Chief Jung.”

            A bit taken aback due to his words—mostly due to the realization and recollection of the young resident’s work ethic and overall mannerisms. Unlike many of the other residents that were training at the Samsung Medical Center, Choi Jongho is of the few—or perhaps he is the only one—that graduated the top of his class and managed to join the medical school program while in his second year of university. Very intelligent and quite the mood setter, he was the youngest individual working within the hospital in a doctoral role. These achievements weren’t given to the clumsy and errored of society—blaming him for such a thing was an insult entirely. Falling silent, he became lost in thought for a few seconds before folding his arms across his chest.

            “You’re right. I apologize. I let my emotions get the best of me. You’re too attentive to detail to make a mistake like this,” Afterall, he never failed to follow everything requested of him, and he knew more than well how to read a patient’s file. It simply wasn’t likely for someone to graduate top of their class just to suddenly forget how to read a file properly.

            “However, I know what I wrote on that file. And I trust your eyes…”

            “Do you think someone tampered with it, Chief Jung?

            “I think it’s likely.”

            “Who would do such a thing? I mean—that’s a potential manslaughter charge for whoever changed it, isn’t it?”

            “I suppose so…”

            “Do you think it’s….”

            Glancing at the numbers counting in the elevator nearing ‘12’, Wooyoung couldn’t help but allow himself to become lost in thought yet again. Who would do such a thing? Who would purposefully try to damage his patient—his reputation? Jongho? Well, he looked up to the young surgeon—and he knew that quite well—therefore that was an unlikely scenario. While damaging his perfect reputation would be a good motive for such methods of tampering—Wooyoung couldn’t help but wonder if it was the right motive.

            “…Because, Chief Jung. Aren’t her organs supposed to….”

            ‘Organs.’ Is it plausible that the person how changed her file knew of his endeavors? Damaging them purposefully so that he simply couldn’t profit off them eventually? ‘No, no. That’s simply bogus. No one knows about that other than—Yeosang.”

            Dr. Kang Yeosang, a very secretive man—but not to the extent of Wooyoung. Not only was he a beyond skillful doctor that spent an extensive amount of time in the critical care center due to being an Emergency Room doctor, but he is Wooyoung’s best friend and confidant. He assisted him in targeting patients and deciding whether all organs could be taken from a patient and ultimately kill them, or whether only a few could be taken thus granting the patient their lives. 50% of the revenue from the purchasing process also went to Dr. Kang. So why? ‘Why would he betray me? Though it’s only speculation, he takes over for my work when I leave—and today he left at a convenient enough time to leave resident Choi to do his job. No. Jung Wooyoung, stop it. You’re delusional. There’s no way that a man who has been at your side can suddenly betray—’

            “…Chief Jung!”

            Looking up as his name was suddenly called, he laid his eyes upon Jongho who was standing outside of the elevator while placing his hand at the door so the doors wouldn’t shut and bring the surgeon back down—or up—to whatever floor the elevator is called to next. Without saying anything, Wooyoung got off the wall, standing properly once more as he exited the elevator. Shooting a short nod to the resident before heading down the corridor, the young surgeon made the smart decision of pushing his thoughts out of the forefront for now—however a conversation with Yeosang was going to be needed regardless.

            “Resident Choi check up on the patient and report back to me anything—if she’s alert or not and so forth. I’ll head to the room in less than a minute.” Earning a glance full of concern from Minjun for a moment, Wooyoung soon patted the younger man’s shoulder a few times before heading down the corridor and to the left—where is office was.

            Entering the space, the surgeon ran his fingers through his chestnut brown hair as he placed his wallet, keys, and phone onto his desk. Scanning his lab coat as it hung on a coat rack at the corner of his office, Wooyoung couldn’t help but click his tongue, ‘Just who would do such a thing?’ While to most it seemed like a small mishap—maybe even a medium scale one due to the fact the mishap could harm the patient—to him this was huge. Not only since his reputation could be tarnished if anything happens to the patient while she was under his care, but since there was a chance that someone in the hospital other than Yeosang knew about his other line of work—and that would pose a large threat within itself.

            If anyone were to find out about not only the fact he has removed organs from people without a medical reason—let alone his own patients—it was more than just mere jail time, it was consistent of mockery.

            And that simply just won’t do.

            Grabbing his white lab coat, the surgeon began to exit his office as he pulled one arm into the white sleeve. Shutting his door behind him before putting his other arm into the sleeve of the coat, Wooyoung ran his fingers through his soft chestnut hair once more. Stopping at the main desk to grab the file of patient, a smile played onto his lips as he greeted at the seated nurses, “Nurse Park,” looking over at the other woman seated next to her he added on. “Nurse Yang.”

            “Ah! Chief Jung, I am so glad you’ve returned! I assume you know the situation.” Nurse Yang she replied happily, “Yena, grab the file for him.”

            “Yes, I do know. Has the patient been alright so far, I came here as fast as I could, but that was still almost an hour—” Stopping for a second as the other nurse handed him the file, Wooyoung nodded a bit as he accepted the file, taking it from her hands gently, “Thank you, Nurse Park.”

            “Yes, she’s been stable and alert, nothing seems to be wrong. I can’t believe Resident Choi gave her that medication, he’s usually quite good at following instructions.” Nurse Park answered, her shifting to one with slight irritation as the word, ‘Resident’ came out of her mouth.

            “I trust Resident Choi and his ability to read these files, he told me that the file clearly stated to give the patient Doxorubicin,” Opening the file and flipping through a few pages before landing his eyes onto the medical chart for the patient, he scanned quickly until he viewed the daily plan for the post-operative patient. Right there in bold were the words, ‘Doxorubicin 20mg/m² intravenously once a week, to be started immediately.’ As Wooyoung had already expected, Jongho didn’t lie—not for a moment. Truthfully so, the file stated what the patient ‘needed’ and being the good resident he was, he followed. “And as he told me, it says it right here in the file. Please do not slander Resident Choi, alright?” Saying these words with a lovely and kind tone, he allowed the smile he allowed to play onto his face to stay around a bit longer before turning away from them and heading towards the room of the patient.

            While heading down the corridor, the smile on Wooyoung’s llips faded away, his face morphing back to a simply bland expression, not a sign of any emotion—or life for that matter. “What the hell?” He muttered aloud to himself as he eyed the number signs are the numbers onto them grew larger.

            Entering the room of the patient, he looked at Jongho who was striking up small conversation with the patient, who didn’t seem to look at the resident with any disdain despite acknowledging the situation.

            Knowing quite well to address the patient with kindness, Wooyoung smiled lightly at her as he began to speak, “Greetings, Ms. Hwang. How are you doing, tonight?”

            “Oh wow…You are very handsome.” She stated for a moment as he looked at Wooyoung, before shaking her head and continuing on, “Ah—I’m doing well. I was told that I was given the wrong medication, is that true?”

            “Why thank you, Ms. Hwang. And, yes. That is true. I deeply apologize about that, it seems there was a mix up in the files, something on yours stated that you needed this specific medication, however, you’re not a cancer patient, are you?”

            “No, not at all.”

            “That’s what I thought,” Glancing, and gesturing, over at Jongho, Wooyoung continued on, “Please don’t dislike our Resident Choi too much. He wouldn’t have given you that medication if it weren’t stated.”

            “No, no. It’s alright, really! I could never be mad at such a handsome man!”

            With Jongho and Wooyoung locking eyes, they seemingly thought of the same thing, speaking with one another through their gazes, ‘Just how down bad is she?

            “Ha-ha, right. Well, good news Ms. Hwang, you don’t seem to be feeling any adverse effects from the medication, so I’ll start right away with assisting you in flushing it from your system. Alright?”

            “Alrighty.”

            “We’ll start you with a saline flush through the IV Catheter, just to make sure that there are no clogs, and then we’ll begin another saline drip. I’ll also relay to the nurses to prepare multiple pitchers of water—which you can drink at your own discretion. The only way to the flush this out of your system is for you to urinate.”

            “Ah…I understand, Doctor.”

            “Wonderful, I’ll be back. Resident Choi, continue to keep her company.”

            Exiting the room swiftly, the surgeon began his walk down the corridor yet again, cocking his neck to the side which caused the sound of a rather large crack to resonate within the hall for a moment. Getting closer to the main desk, and thus the storage space containing the saline behind it, the voices of unfamiliar chatter peaked Wooyoung’s interest.

            “See, what I mean. You’re a hot topic in Gangnam! Not just Gangnam, but for the South Korean public as a whole!”

            “Your partner here is correct! Yena and I both know about you! It’s not often someone of your appearance is in your line of your work you know, it’s very refreshing—and sexy.”

            With laughter and the voice of an unfamiliar man soon growing louder as Wooyoung navigated the corridor, he cocked a brow. However, one the voice of another man filled his ears, the surgeon found his eyes widening.

            “Ha-ha. Well of course I’m sexy, just look at me.”

            A voice he only heard for forty-five seconds, yet it was burned into his mind—branded into his brain. In a sense, it was a voice he had longed to hear. Low and cold, yet well-modulated and silky. A voice that didn’t necessarily match the appearance of the holder, but inevitably was perfect for the holder. Softer than his appearance, but rough and bitter enough to cater right to his appearance. Scanning the taller man’s body as he neared him, his eyes traveled from the sharp jaw in which the man possessed before trailing down, a dragon tattoo he knew well staring right back him. ‘The dragon of Ichor.’ He thought to himself before admiring how the man’s biceps were somewhat visibly noticeable underneath the leather jacket he wore. Despite viewing the man’s side profile, there was instant realization that the words which were spoken were anything but lies. Jet black hair styled with his forehead exposed, a few strands falling from the hair line onto his forehead. Wooyoung hadn’t noticed it initially, but the man’s hair was a bit long—which was made obvious as his hair was pulled back into a small-scale ponytail. Quite frankly, the Detective was sculpted as if he was a Greek God, the Ichor name never felt so fitting for someone.

            “Detective Choi.” Wooyoung spoke as he neared the four individuals at the desk, eyeing San specifically.

            “Groceries. We meet again.”

            Blinking once at the odd nickname of ‘groceries’, the surgeon responded. “Sooner than I had expected, what brings you here, Detective?”

            “Well, we have a few questions for you.” San scanned the shorter man for a moment—however it was anything but discrete. Slow and obvious with his actions—especially as he bit his bottom lip slightly which accompanied a smirk without a hint of shame. Once their eyes locked, San started down at him relentlessly, his gaze smoldering and thick. Why the intense check out session? It was simple, the loving dinner-making boyfriend looked quite ‘dashing’ in a white lab coat,” Do you have time right now?”

            Noticing this, Wooyoung raised his brows a bit, the corners of his lips curling upward into a grin despite his cheeks beginning to show a pink tinge, “Not at this very second, I must administer a saline drip to a patient. It shouldn’t take me long at all, you and your partner here can wait in my office. Down the corridor and to your right, the blinds are open, and the lights are on. You can’t miss it.”

            “Noted.”

            “See you soon, gentleman.”

            Making his way to the storage room located behind the desk, the young surgeon entered the code onto the door and pushed the heavily weighted door open. Grabbing a bag of 1,000mL bag of saline fluid, the IV tubing as well as a prefilled IV 12mL syringe made for IV flushing, Wooyoung stood still for a moment. the events that occurred within the last-minute replaying in his head. However, the only part that repeated in a constant cycle was, in fact, the moment in which the Detective eyed him profusely. While being a spectator was one thing, being the individual in which all of that was geared toward was another.

            The eyes that peered at and into him didn’t seem real. His dark brown eyes were piercing and deep, deep enough that they felt equivalent to a dark never-ending abyss—a black hole. Cold, dark, and malicious. Chilling and bottomless eyes that you’d inevitably fall into and forever plummet further into its venomous depth. Those eyes were like Wooyoung’s—but they were darker and more profound than his own. It became apparent to the young surgeon, that the reason as to why he wanted to see him again wasn’t because he found his eyes to be strange—but alluring. And whether Wooyoung wanted to admit it or not, he was willingly allowing himself to be drawn in—he was allowing himself to move closer and closer towards falling into the abyss in which the detective possessed. The detective didn’t just look at him as if he liked his appearance, he looked at him in the same manner an apex predator looks at a feeble rabbit.

            “Shit, Jung Wooyoung,” He began to scold himself under his breath, “It isn’t like you to become obsessive over someone you just met. But this someone is...”

            Shaking his head, he grasped the saline bag tighter and exited the storage room. Making sure the first thing he laid his eyes upon was the location in which the two men were previously, he was relived to know that they headed towards his office—the deities only knew just how much longer the Detective would have stared at him with predatory eyes again—he may have buckled to the ground which would be beyond embarrassing.

            “Chief Jung! How do you know Detective Choi?” Nurse Yang asked immediately, voice filled with curiosity and joy—it was clear she was ecstatic.

            “I met him at a crime scene. I was entering my girlfriend’s apartment—struck up some conversation—Why do you two know Detective Choi?”

            “You’re joking, right?” Nurse Park interjected, “He’s Detective Choi San! Very intelligent man known for his looks. He’s a hot topic here, one of the main topics of the country. I mean look at him—he looks like a gangster yet he’s police! He’s eye candy for every woman’s fantasy!”

            He looks like a gangster? Yeah, no shit. Feeling like a major fool, Junho had realized he had failed to put two and two together initially. Choi San was no saint, even if he were currently a part of the police force, he’d never be a saint. Choi San, heir to Ichor—the conglomerate with the most influence and power within the black market that Wooyoung personal sold organs to. The notorious murderer and businessman—the alleged Devil incarnate. The Grim Reaper. A Shinigami. The whole nine yards. If Wooyoung was ruthless, San was merciless. And to think this type of man had piqued Wooyoung’s interest unlike he had ever felt before.

            “Ah, I didn’t know he was such a celebrity, I don’t really watch TV, so I’m not up to date with anything nowadays. But I can see why he’s popular, his looks could kill,” He smiled before muttering under his breath to himself, ” He smiled before muttering under his breath to himself, “They almost killed me.”

            “By the way, are you two like—”  Pressing her two index fingers together, Nurse Park soon giggled with the other nurse smacking her arm a few times as she joined in. With both nurses now a giggling mess while imagine a sort of sexual relationship between the two men, Wooyoung’s eyes widened slightly, “What makes you think that?”

            “Please, we could sense the tension from over here while you two were talking earlier! Even Detective Choi’s partner seemed to think the tension was high too!”

            Shaking his head, Wooyoung began to turn away, “I have to start a saline drip for Ms. Hwang, don’t dwell too long on these lewd thoughts, you two. And Ms. Hwang will need several pitchers of water in her room as soon as possible.” Laughing a bit as he spoke, he waved the two women a quick farewell before heading to the room once more. Walking at a decently fast pace, Wooyoung’s ears began to bear a red tinge as they began to heave a higher temperature than the rest of his body, “Obviously I felt the tension too…” Trailing off standing outside of the patient’s room as he looked down at his free hand, and the tremble they had to it. ‘Oh, the deities help me not act like such a little bitch, this is far from being like you, Wooyoung. Snap out of it.’ After giving himself a small, and potentially ineffective pep talk, he entered Ms. Hwang’s room again, Wooyoung was pleased to see Jongho still in fervent conversation with the woman.

            “Yes, seriously! I have an Axolotl apartment, and I when I tell you it is the cutest thing.”

            “What did you end up naming him, sir?”

            “Soju.”

            Deciding not to intrude on their conversation—at least not yet—the young surgeon got to work. Removing the old saline bag from its position of hanging on the pole and replacing it with a new one. Wooyoung paused the EID before removing the protective plastic from the new IV solution tubing port. Grasping onto the old bag, he flipped it upside down and slowly removed the tubing spike from the old bag. Placing his right hand onto the underside of the new bag, he twisted the spike gently as he inserted it into the newer, and larger bag of saline.

            “I honestly don’t know why I named it Soju.”

            “I think it’s a cute name.”

            “Really? My roommate thought it was stupid.”

            Gently squeezing the drip chamber, the surgeon began to fill it up halfway. Glancing at the tubing for air bubbles, and to his luck there were none and he could easily proceed onward to doing the saline flush before turning on the EID once again.

            “Sorry to intrude on your conversation for a second, but I’m going to flush the IV catheter now, there may be a bit of discomfort, but know that you’re in good hands.” Gently moving her hand in a manner that he could access the IV without any difficult, he earned a short nod from the patient before she continued her conversation with Jongho.

            “You’re roommate has no taste then.”

            “Ha-ha, true that.”

            Using an alcohol-based gel to clean his hands, he held the needle pointing towards the ceiling. Flicking the syringe a few times to force the air bubbled to the surface, Wooyoung pushed the plunger slowly until a small drop of saline came out of the top—replacing the cap of the device, the surgeon grabbed an alcohol pad and wiped the port on the catheter for a about 15 seconds. Wasting no time, he opened the catheter clamp and uncapped the saline flush as he inserted it into the injection port. Using a pulse-like motion as he pushed the plunger slowly, he watched the as the mL depleted and right before the syringe became empty, he closed the clamp. Removing the needle and dropping in into the sharps box, he cleaned up the workspace quicky and returned to starting the drip once more. Adjusting the drip rate on the EID, he soon pressed start and the saline infusion began.

            “Alright Ms. Hwang, everything is done and all you have to do is just chill out. Continue your talk with Resident Choi if you wish.”

            “Thank you, Doctor Jung. Uh...I know it will be a struggle for me to use the restroom myself, do I just hit the call button for someone to come?”

            “You can. Or you can ask Resident Choi here, it is his job to assist patients after all—regardless of genitalia. ”

            Blinking a few times fast, Jongho looked at Wooyoung with slight panic in his eyes, after all, he hadn’t exactly dealt with female patients to this extent just yet, “Chief Jung, I wouldn’t want to make her uncomfortable...”

            “A handsome man helping me wouldn’t make me uncomfortable at all! I prefer it!”

            ‘She’s down bad for sure.’ They both though yet again simultaneously.

            “You hear that? She’s perfectly fine with it. I have business to attend to.” Making his way to the door, he looked over at Jongho over his shoulder, “Keep it professional.”

Chapter Text

            As the surgeon vanished off into a back room—one San presumed was a storage space of some sort, he finally turned towards Yunho again. Met with a playful stare from the rookie officer, the detective cocked a brow, one that clearly asked for an explanation for the expression that was painted onto his face, and without any actual words being spoken Yunho provided him with the answer.

            “What was that?”

            “What was what?”

            “That. You’ve met Chief Surgeon Jung Wooyoung before?”

            “Yeah, I have.”

            “On what? Grindr?”

            Staring at the other man in silence for a moment it took San a moment to process the ‘question’ before answering, “I’m sorry?”

            “Don’t lie to me. Even with your back to me, I could sense something happening between you two. Those two had more of a show than I did, and I’m sure they can attest to that.”

            Taking a glance at the two nurses, who nodded quickly in agreement, San let out a light exasperated sigh, “I met him an hour or so ago, at the crime scene.”

            “An hour ago? I don’t buy it.”

            “You don’t have to buy it, now move it.” Gesturing in the area in which Wooyoung had spoken of preciously, “I want to sit down.” Paying a short nod to the two nurses, San addressed them one last time before placing the palm of his hand in the center of Yunho’s back. Pushing him forward with a decent amount of force, the slightly shorter man lost his balance for a moment, stumbling forwards.

            “I’m moving, moving. You damn brute. Thanks for keeping us company, ladies."

            Disappearing further into the corridor, the corner in which they needed to turn nearing quickly. The two men moved in silence before Yunho decided to speak again—his curiosity peaked yet toned down—as it should have been earlier. Truth be told, the detective an entire mystery to the officer, even if he did seem quite accustomed to how he worked—he wasn’t. There was far too much that he didn’t know, and it a sense it bothered him. ‘How are you, actually, detective? I seriously can’t tell what you’re thinking—what’s your thought process?’ Why are you a detective anyway? Choi San, I know what you don’t truly fight for justice. So why are you here with me right now?’

            “Detective Choi. Answer me seriously.”

            “Alright.”

            “Did you really meet Chief Surgeon Jung today?”

            “Yes. While I was heading up to the victim’s apartment, he was entering his girlfriend’s apartment nearby. Carrying bags of groceries to make dinner for the two of them. I bet he didn’t even finish making dinner for them since he got called into work minutes before you came to me about the lead on the surgeon with a connection to our victim.”

            Eyes widening, Yunho began to interrupt only to be shot down immediately, “Wait—”

            “I’m not finished. Officer Jeong. Our interaction was very short, at the most about forty-five seconds. When his girlfriend called out to him a sighed, seemingly out of annoyance of her calling for him. That isn’t something a man in love with a woman does, is it? Sound familiar?”

            Of course. Dumbfounded, considering he had never met any of his sister’s boyfriend’s face to face before—all the ‘facts’ he knew were just made from speculations his sister had constantly ranted to him about, Yunho was surprised he didn’t put the pieces together sooner. “Chief Surgeon Jung was my sister’s boyfriend.”

            “I’m glad you finally caught on.” Finally coming across a wall from the office—the large glass windows with open blinds making that obvious, San turned the corner. Making a direct line to the door which lead into the office, the young detective placed his hand onto the knob before turning it towards him slightly. Applying pressure as he pushed open the door, he executed caution in making sure the door didn’t fly open. Steeping into the well-organized office, the detective went right for one of the two chairs at the desk—aside from the chair in which was meant for Wooyoung by default.

            “You knew it was Chief Surgeon Jung? How did you even find out? I didn’t even mention in my explanation to you that he didn’t finish making dinner.” Yunho asked as he followed the detective into the office, shutting the door behind him.

            “The moment you explained the situation I knew right away. Just looking at him, it’s easy to tell he isn’t the sentimental type, nor is he what you had said ‘the romantic type’ and quite frankly, he seems like the type of man that could easily become—terrifying. Your sister is smart—and so are you—he is easily the type of man that doesn’t make empty threats, he could kill you if he wanted to.”

            Taking a seat in the other chair parallel to the one in which San was sitting on, the rookie officer furrowed his brows, “With the way you’re talking about him, it sounds as if you know him well. Too well for someone you met less than two hours ago. What makes you so sure?” Hell, who was Yunho kidding? Every word that that left San’s mouth he believed instantly. Being a notorious criminal didn’t mean that he was a liar.

            “What makes me so sure? You could sense it too, couldn’t you?”

            “Sexual tension?”

            “Beyond that.”

            Beyond that? Well, aside from the evident intimate tension the two men had shared in the hall, San was right. Yunho did sense something—else. As if there were two Choi San’s in the corridor, talking and looking at one another. Their auras were both: Sinister. Was sinister even the right word? ‘They’re good people, aren’t they? A detective and a surgeon—people who gave their time to saving lives.’ No. They weren’t. Well acquainted with San’s detective story, he knew that the only reason why he was even associating himself with the police force was strictly because he had nothing better to do. As for Wooyoung, all he heard and knew of him was from his sister: Cold, uncaring in regard to here or his patients—conniving. Yet, when they found it useful, they acted sweet. Normal. Laughing and making small talk with co-workers, acting kind towards others—holding a façade is nothing difficult to them.

            “You two are like peas in pod. Only doing what you do for yourselves. Your auras are—menacing—even if you two aren’t trying to make it so. There’s this—ominousness in both of you. Truthfully so, Detective Choi, you’re frightening. I as good as anyone else in the police force know of you and your endeavors: You’re an Elite. In life, in what you do, in what you represent. And if this Chief Surgeon is the suspect in this case: He is too. Even if he’s not the suspect, that doesn’t change the fact that he’s also an Elite figure.”

            Soulmates.” Speaking suddenly, and in English as that, San folded his arms across his chest. “When I told my father of my plan to become a detective, he was very—understanding.” Switching back to his native tongue, he continued further, “I left that life behind because there was nothing for me there—it was a bore. However, I didn’t lose my title and spot as the Ichor heir because he knew I would be back. Do you know of Plato’s theory regarding soulmates, Officer Jeong?”

            “I can’t say I’m familiar with it, no.”

            “In short, Plato implies that there is one person in the universe who is your match. One person created to complete you—someone you recognize instantly. Someone who you will recognize in the flash of lightening. My father was a firm believer of this concept—and naturally I become susceptible to it as well. Call it childish—but this Jung Wooyoung has caused this odd feeling to wash over me—and I can’t understand it.”

            “What feeling? Love?”

            “No, this isn’t some fairytale, Officer Jeong.”

            “Then what’s the feeling?”

            “Like I’m a starving panther looking at a feeble, wounded rabbit.”

            “As if…you want to eat him alive.”

            “I guess you could say that,” Glancing to the right as he noticed feet walking at the clear base panel of the glass window walls, he followed them as they went on their path. Proceeding to talk, he continued onward, “However, there’s something different about this rabbit,” As the footsteps came to a halt, San noticed the doorknob of the door begin to move and moments later the white door slowly began to open up.

            “And this different aspect about the rabbit makes the panther want to play around with it for a bit…Greetings, Chief Surgeon Jung.”

            Through the door came the surgeon, clad in white despite the black clothing underneath the lab coat, the shorter man locked eyes with San. As their gazes pierced into each other’s the young detective couldn’t help but feel captivated by the presence of the man. Similar to what he had felt at back at the crime scene, he found himself not wanting to look away from the man. As if everything in the room faded to black other than Wooyoung, who seemingly had a spotlight right on him. A bright white light on the surgeon. ‘How odd.’ San thought to himself, ‘Father. Is this what you mean? I’ve never felt so—bewitched—by anyone before, and yet this surgeon comes out of the blue and just…’

            “Greetings Detective Choi and…”

            Turning towards the surgeon, Yunho answered quickly, “Jeong Yunho. Officer Jeong Yunho. You can just call me Yunho.”

            “And Officer Jeong.”

            ‘What’s with these too and being so formal. Neither of them just want to call me by my name. I’m older than them after all—this is a luxury...’ Looking between the two, Yunho huffed a bit before turning back around, his back to Wooyoung.

            Now then...” Wooyoung began as he made his way to his desk, eyes still locked onto San’s as he soon walked past him. Finally tearing his eyes away from the other man’s—with much difficulty—he placed his hands on top of his desk, hands clasped together. “What brings the both of you here? I assume it has something to do with today’s case.”

            “And you’d be right about that,” San answered, tilting his head to the left a bit as he scanned the surgeon’s mannerisms for a moment, “The victim is Kang Minji. Ring any bells?”

            Eyes widening slightly, Wooyoung fell silent for a few seconds before responding, his gaze averting to the smooth desktop for a moment, “She was my patient—discharged earlier today, actually. I performed what is known as a partial colectomy on her in an attempt to remove the onset colon cancer she was facing.”

            Squinting his eyes slightly as he watched Wooyoung, Yunho couldn’t help but find himself doubting the somewhat shocked reaction that surgeon was providing. How could he not? Especially after hearing San speak about Wooyoung in such a manner. He only knew to look at him as if he was the suspect—after all, San deduced that the culprit may have been a surgeon. “Chief Surgeon Jung. Did you know that Kang Minji was staying in that building?” Yunho suddenly asked.

            “No, I didn’t.”

            “Then why were you there?” Despite knowing the answer, after all the detective had debriefed him only minutes prior, Yunho had decided to go with a possibility that the surgeon would lie.

            “Visiting my girlfriend. Well, Ex-Girlfriend, now.”

            “Jeong Jiwoo?” Yunho questioned, irritation clear in his voice.

            Laughing lightly to himself, Wooyoung leaned forward slightly, “Officer, I don’t see why the identity of who I was visiting has anything to do with the case.”

            Budding in, San scoffed lightly, “It has nothing to do with the case. Officer Jeong is brining personal matters into this conversation.”

            Glancing at San as he spoke, eyes fixated on the taller man’s lips before meeting his eyes. The surgeon, grinned slightly, “Ah…” he trailed off before shooting a glance at Yunho, “She’s your sister, huh?” Leaning back in his chair slightly, a light yet low chuckle escaping his lips, he pointed at the officer with a limp hand while nodding slowly, “I can see the resemblance.” Waving his hand over his face a bit, Wooyoung added further, “You both remind me of a puppy. In the least offensive way possible. But you’re the one who calls her daily, huh? What a nice brother you are.”

            “I don’t need your compliments. Breaking up with my sister is one thing, but why did you threaten her? What could she have possibly done so wrong that you’d threaten her life-“

            ‘Shit.’ Instantly regretting the personal ramble that he went on as he saw the grin that was plastered onto Wooyoung’s face disappear, his face contorting into a piercing, unwavering glare, Yunho fell silent as he looked down at the desk. ‘There it is. The same eyes that Detective Choi have. The type that caused a cold chill to run down my spine. Goddamn, why do both of you have these eyes? It’s wearing me out…’ A mere spectator to the interaction, San looked between the two before raising his brows at the detective, who managed to catch a glimpse and shake his head slowly in response.

            “Now that that little dispute is over. Former patient of yours, Kang Minji is dead. I theorize that you weren’t the one who killed her—however. The timing is off—tremendously. I reckon that if I were to ask the director, you would have probably left around here maybe and hour or two ago. Whereas, Ms. Kang was dead for about four and a half hours.”

            “The fall from her balcony, in short, splattered her—but not entirely. Her body remained intact, for the most part, though it was still a gruesome sight, nevertheless. But there was one key thing missing—her organs. You’d expect at least some sign of them being left in her body even after the gory fall: However, there was nothing other than her bowels, and even that had faced damage—a suture tied part of the large intestine was found near the body. I am assuming that’s your work, right Chief?” Changing the subject quickly and getting to business with what they were here to discuss, San folded his arms across his chest as he sat, focusing heavily on any form of mannerisms that Wooyoung displayed.

            “Very much so, that suture is the result of reconnecting the large intestine properly after the removal of a section.”

            “As I thought.”

            “And there’s no chance she can live to even leave the hospital or survive the ride home if she had no vital organs whatsoever—so it seems you’re cleared for now, Chief Surgeon Jung.” Adding his two cents in after falling silent for several seconds, Yunho looked up from the desk. Determination present on his face, as it should have been earlier.

            Despite Wooyoung being cleared for this particular murder, at least for now, it was evident to San that the surgeon was involved no less—at least in crimes similar. There’s no way that he wasn’t involved in some manner—the eyes possessed were too dark, too cold for him not to be. Even though not a single word was spoken between the men, Yunho was on the same wavelength.

            “Officer Jeong. Leave the room for a few minutes.” Suddenly taking it upon himself to speak, San glanced over at Yunho.

            “But, sir—”

            “Don’t make me tell you again. There’s something I need to speak with him about.”

            “I understand that—but I’m your partner for right now. Why can’t you take with him while I am here?”

            “I don’t trust you not to rat what is conversed in here to the chief,” Glancing over at Yunho with a major lack of expression, he continued on, “I do hope you understand.”

            ‘Ah. Whatever they have to discuss probably isn’t permitted, right? After all. Legality isn’t Detective Choi’s thing. I wouldn’t tell a soul—but I understand that we have only known each other for what, maybe an hour and a half?’ Standing up from his seat with a nod, Yunho glanced at the two men before settling his eyes on San, “I understand. Just summon me back in when you’re ready.”

            Exiting the room promptly, San watched him every step of the way, simply to make sure there was nothing out of the ordinary that Yunho was trying to pull off. Once noticing that the officer had walked off, so much so that he tracked his feet down the corridor that lead to the main desk, the detective finally turned back to the surgeon. ‘Finally, alone.’

            A grin naturally playing onto his face, the detective simply scanned him for a moment—however Wooyoung managed to get the first words in.

            “It’s an honor to meet you.”

            “We’ve meet before, Chief Jung.”

            “Yes—but I didn’t realize at the time that you’re the notorious heir of the underground, the Crown Prince of Ichor.”

            “The fact you know that says that you’re not an innocent man, Chief.”

            “But that doesn’t seem to surprise you.” Chucklingly slightly as he smiled a bit at San, Wooyoung leaned forward a bit, “You know, don’t you? There’s no way you don’t.”

            “There are many people in our market that sell organs. However, not many of them are surgeons like yourself. And among the surgeons no one has such high quality one’s as yours.” Switching up the languages, San continued further while speaking in English, “Elite Distributor Jung.”

            Laughing a bit, Wooyoung shook his head. “Is that what they call me?”

            “It’s what my father calls you, at least.”

            “Then what do you call me?”

            “I’m afraid I call you the same.”

            “I must say, I like that title a lot. But, to get down to business, I didn’t kill Kang Minji, it was true she was my patient, and it is true I didn’t know she lived there. However, I had no intent of even exploiting her for her organs. Simply because, she’s the sister of another doctor here.”

            "Kang Minji is the sister of a co-worker?” Remembering the phone in which he took from the crime scene, San reached into his jacket pocket. Removing the device quickly, and placing it onto the desk, he tapped the screen a couple times. Once the lock screen appeared, he pointed to the victim and a man with similar features, “Is this the doctor?”

            A bit baffled by the fact, the fellow doctor was on the lock screen, considering the doctor had no love for his sister at all, Wooyoung nodded. “Yes. Doctor Kang Yeosang.”

            “Where is he? Is he on duty today?”

            “He was, but apparently he left due to a family emergency—it’s somewhat the reason I was called back. I guess this situation with his sister was the reason—” Suddenly pausing, eyes widening as a realization came along. ‘How long ago did Yeosang leave? Yes, Resident Choi gave Ms. Hwang the medication at the time Yeosang was supposed to, but that time was already set in stone. There’s no proof he left within the hour.’ Grabbing onto his computer mouse, he slid it side-to-side for a second until the screen lit up. “Give me a second, Detective. I need to confirm something.”

            “Confirm what?”

            “If Doctor Kang left about an hour ago, or not.”

            A bit confused for a second—however that confusion did not last long, San his left hand onto the desk while he snapped his fingers with his right, “Right. We the victim wasn’t identified properly until the on-scene examiners called it. Family wouldn’t have been notified until about an hour or so.”

            “And Yeosang and Minji don’t have family left. Their parents are unfortunately gone, and their extended family are not in contact with them, so there isn’t any family that would have an emergency other than Minji.” Opening a desktop app connected only within the hospital to contact other doctors, specialists, residents, and other workers, Wooyoung made a quick, private message to Jongho—the only person Yeosang would have told he was leaving to. Seconds after sending the message, the surgeon got one back. ‘Oh. Yeosang-hyung? Hm. He left about six hours ago. I think. He said it was a family emergency, so he left after preparing his sister’s medication.’

            “Well, I’ll be damned. He left six hours ago. Six hours ago, Minji was still in the hospital, signing her own release forms.” Tearing his eyes away from the computer screen, Wooyoung sighed, “Well, Detective Choi. Doctor Yeosang might be your guy.”

            Scoffing and shaking his head, San nodded, “Seems like he might.” Studying Wooyoung closely, the detective cocked a brow, “However, Ms. Kang’s organs were removed, with extreme precision. Only a surgeon could do such a thing. Her chest showed evidence of it being opened, as if for open heart surgery.”

            “Well, I can explain that. Kang Minji originally came in after a car accident—though she was originally on her way her for the partial colectomy. In the accident, after severe impact after another hit hers, and after the vehicle she was in entered a shop, the force broke several of her ribs and punctured her heart. I performed surgery on her immediately, which involved opening her chest up. The wound and scar would have still been present. There is no treatment for broken ribs, so after the surgery was performed, and she was in ICU for a day and then was transferred to a regular ward for two days. After that she was sent home today—where she’s met her end.”

            “Was Doctor Kang originally training to be a surgeon of any kind?”

            “Actually, yes. In fact, he’s still in training.”

            “So, it’s plausible that he re-opened the incisions you made here and removed his sister’s organs on his own.”

            “I would say that it’s likely, yes.”

            “I’ll take note of this. However, is there a reason you’re telling me all of this without hesitation?

            ‘Shit. He’s still a cop. Why did I till him all of this? Aren’t we both screwed now?’ Blinking a few times, Wooyoung sighed, “I…I’m not sure. I guess it’s because, I’m curious as to if Yeosang truly did this. I’m sure you have already figured it out, but he knows of everything I do—assists me. But he’s never acted on his own before. But. Now that you know I’m involved with the underground market, don’t you have to take me in?”

            “Of course not, between you, Officer Jeong and I. You aren’t the murderer in this case. This Kang Yeosang most likely is. But even then, Officer Jeong doesn’t know that fact, and what he doesn’t know won’t hurt him. When I debrief him later, I’ll only bring up the possibility of Doctor Kang being a suspect, nothing more. If he’s brought in for questioning and is found guilty, I can pull some strings. However, between you and I, whatever we talk about here is our little secret.” Hushing his voice, a bit while bring his index finger to his lips in a ‘silencing’ motion, San smirked beneath his finger. “Tell me anything you want, and it won’t leave this room. Criminal’s honor.”

            “Criminal’s honor? But you’re a Detective, San.”

               “I’m a criminal and the the ‘crown prince’ of the underground before I’m a detective. If anything, my status as law enforcement is working in Ichor’s benefit. I have access to more files than we ever had before. Easy locations, sums, and so forth. Dirt on companies, we now have access to because of my detective standing—and in this position I’ve made acquaintanceship the prosecution and several law firms to dig Ichor out of graves we’ve been placed in.”

            “So, you joined to benefit Ichor?”

            “No. Not at all. I joined for my own benefit, Ichor just happens to be a part of my everyday life, naturally they also get assisted.”

            “Ah…your own benefit, huh? How so?”

            “Well. You see, I got bored of all of that criminal nonsense. You can only beat so many people to a pulp and kill so many families before it gets boring. When you’ve been doing something your whole life because it’s asked of you, it gets bland.”

            “So, the people you killed, you never wanted to do it?”

            “It’s not that. Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing more invigorating than watching the life of a man leave their eyes by your own hand.” Beginning to laugh, San, locked eyes with Wooyoung, a grin still on his face, “But damn. It would have been even more rewarding if I didn’t have my father breathing down my neck.”

            ‘Psychopath.’ Wooyoung thought for a moment, as he stared back at San, “You’re crazy, Choi San. But that’s where your charm lies. You’re as the rumors say: Ruthless, Cold and a-“

            “Lunatic?”

            “Precisely. However, as I said, that’s where you charm lies. Others may not see it, but I do. You’re a dangerous man, but I’m sure you already know that. You like to see people suffer—to witness them die—I’m sure you’re a torture fiend as well, the type to play around with people from the moment you hunt them down to the moment you kill them. Even with this, you became a detective. Why is that?”

            “Two reasons,” He began, “One.” Speaking in English when stating the number, he added on, “It feels like I’m playing a game. Someone that’s on your side, or you believe to be on your side, truly isn’t. The ultimate act of betrayal comes from people you’re supposed to trust.” Leaning back a bit, he exhaled a bit, “Two. It makes me feel like a God. Don’t get it twisted, I don’t believe I am a God. But Gods enjoys making people suffer; relishing the moments where people lose their minds. The feeling of toying with people is empowering. And what better way is there to toy with people than acting like a detective with a call to ‘justice’ only to fuck everyone in the end. Power? and grasping onto that power is all I want.” Chuckling lowly, San shot Wooyoung a genuine smile. “I already had a status and power, but now being a detective—a skilled one at that—I have more power than ever. Add this to the moment I inherit my father’s empire? I’ll rule the underground and the surface.”

            ‘Perfection. This man is perfect..’Listening attentively to his words, Wooyoung became increasingly infatuated with the man in front of him. While thinking he was an awful person would have been the normal response, Wooyoung’s response was anything but. A smile of utter bliss, from hearing what the detective had to say, plastered on his face, the surgeon had unintentionally leaned over the desk, his face close to San’s. “Out of both of those reasons, I love the second one the most. I also want to play God.”

Chapter Text

           As Wooyoung grew increasingly closer to San’s face, the detective found himself far too distracted by the surgeon’s features to reply to his words immediately. Captivated by the male’s small face from such a close distance, San’s eyes found themselves wandering away from the tense eye contact they had with one another. Studying Wooyoung closely, the detective studied the sculpted nose the man possessed, down to the size in proportion in relation to the rest of his face. However, the real kicker were the surgeon’s lips. Fixated on them as if he’d never seen a pair of lips in his goddamn life, San unintentionally allowed a lip bite to slip.

           As the right side of his bottom lip began to slide past the grasp his teeth held onto it, the detective snapped his gaze back into the other man’s. Staring at eachother once more, San finally spoke, his tone a bit hushed, “You want to play God?” He re-stated, “Why?”

           Taken aback by the indiscrete check-out session, a tinge of pink coating his cheeks very lightly—especially as he realized he had been returning the same treatment towards the detective for a split second—Wooyoung blinked for a moment as he leaned back a bit, sitting properly in his chair as he should have been. Not once as anyone been so blatantly obvious with their obvious attraction towards him, at least not like this. Nevertheless, he began to speak, “I… wasn’t provided with the luxury of being, wealthy, growing up. Between my parents, there was a power struggle, between my classmates and I, there was a power struggle. An evident struggle for power is very…distasteful. It quite literally leaves a bitter taste in your mouth. It was embarrassing and shameful when the power and money my family didn’t have—that I didn’t have—was obvious. The pity I was constantly thrown was disgusting. Who the hell made it a ‘necessity’ to help the poor? To pity them? Whoever it was, they can rot in hell. I’d rather be beaten to pulp than deal with kind gestures from the more fortunate. I’m sure you’re well aware of this Detective, but money is the root of everything—the core—what makes the world actually revolve. I didn’t become a surgeon because I have a kind heart that wants to help people,” Snapping his fingers, the surgeon continued further, “It’s because of the salary. I make six figures—but that’s not enough at all. So, while going to school to be a surgeon—I realized that there is a way to maximize the amount of money I bring in. And that’s when it clicked: Organs. What easier way is there to make millions on the side than to exploit my own patients?”

           Realizing he went on a bit of a tangent, Wooyoung shook his head for a moment, “Sorry, that was a little off topic. I want to play simply becayse a God is a being with extreme power. Hell, the Christian God is said to be a being that possesses the ultimate power—the top of the top—the elite level. The only way to truly obtain power in this world is through fear and terror. Exertion of power to levels that force people to bow to you. Even if I didn’t—or don’t—have the means to possess groups of my own to bring terror onto the world, if I have money, it doesn’t matter. Money can buy anything—including happiness contrary to popular belief, it just depends on what /your/ form of happiness is. No God is an innocent God—all of them have blood on their hands in one way or another. You can’t rule the world as a mere human—you must become a demon, a monster—a God.”

           Listening attentively, the somewhat eloquent ramble sounding like complete bliss to the detective’s ears, San smiled. In contrast to his common acts of smirking and grinning, the smile plastered onto his face was one of genuine nature. Was he pleased by the man’s reasoning? Yes, beyond anyone’s comprehension. “Nothing’s hotter than a man that has rationale for wanting to become a supreme. Typically, when people say they want to be a God, the can never provide a good reason. It's always they just want to rule the world, point blank period. But give them the power and even they succumb to it.”

           Wooyoung, a man that has always had a thing for women—and only women—found himself increasingly flustered today. The initial reunion in the hallway, the fact San had indiscreetly checked him out only minutes prior and now this. Blatant and to the point, yet he didn’t look intimidating in the slightest: A sweet and lusty gaze, a sweet smile. While men have made many attempted advances towards Wooyoung in the past—and all the advances were rightfully shot down by the surgeon—the man in front of him felt as if he was an exception, and the fact he wasn’t opposed to being with a man in anyway didn’t help the situation either. The tinge of pink only turning into a light red, Wooyoung couldn’t hide his flustered nature, which only became more obvious as the tips of his ears began to burn red. ‘Saying that shit with a straight face, what the hell Choi San? Seems you’re dangerous in more than one way.’ Leaning forward yet again, leaning over his desk somewhat impulsively, the surgeon had a reasoning for this sudden action, one that seemed to make sense to him, ‘Maybe my eyes are deceiving me, perhaps he is being smug again—’

           As the feeling of a warmth rushed over both of his cheeks, all thoughts within Wooyoung’s mind ceased. While he was lost in thought, San had placed his hands onto the surgeon’s cheeks. Brushing his thumb across his bottom slowly, the detective yet again was fixated onto the man’s lips, however, he managed to lock gazes with him once more. “While you may have the money to buy power, you don’t have a 'battalion' of evil of your own to command. You could buy yourself some manpower, but there’s no assurance they won’t betray you.” Pulling down his lip using his thumb, the detective continued speaking, “But, it’s your lucky day, Mr. Jung Wooyoung. A man that commands an empire is right in front of you.” Allowing his lip to recoil, San slid his hand down from the man’s face to his neck, before planting his hand onto his shoulder. “Services aren’t free, however. But I’m not interested in money. As you can assume, I have enough of that. But I am interested in something: You. What do you say? You’re payment enough.”

           While San began his response to everything Wooyoung said prior, the sudden sensation of a thumb caressing his lip had shot shivers down his spine, which in turn radiated through his body. The fact the detective had said his name in full only added the overwhelming feeling of stimulation San was providing for him. Perhaps it was the fact that Wooyoung was aware of how much power and influence the detective had, maybe that was the reason he was so enchanted by him in this moment. Or rather, was it because San was exceeding all expectations, he had for the detective the moment they met? Was it possibly since he was genuinely that attractive? Upon hearing that he could have the manpower he desired so long as he used himself as payment, Wooyoung’s eyes widened, “I…I’m sorry, what?”

           Knowing it wouldn’t be that simple to get the surgeon to accept his offer, San shook his head, yet smiled. Removing his hands off of the other, he intertwined his fingers as he placed his hands on top of the desk once more, “Loyalty is a key principle with not only Ichor, but with me. As I said, you may have the money to buy manpower, but the power you purchase may betray you. I will never betray you, and in turn neither will my men—because they know the fate they face if they do. Choose to accept my offer, your payment will be you not your money.”

           “Me? You don’t mean like…me me?”

           “I do.” Answering immediately, the detective chuckled for a moment before continuing on. “Look Wooyoung, I don’t usually make decisions like these because they’re so rash. But, I’m willing to make a gamble, just for you because I believe we can both help each other out. I put a momentary pause on my life of crime due to the fact it was a bore. However, know that I know of these activities and your overall goals, I have no reason to pause that life any further because of you. You have made the idea of crime appealing again, you have made me want to inherit Ichor more now than ever. You give me a reason to return and move forward and I give you the manpower and backing needed to make your goals a reality.”

           While the offer was to die for, Wooyoung couldn’t help but feel hesitant—for obvious reasons. For most, the answer would have been easy, however for someone as prideful as him, it was difficult. Though, his pridefulness aside, there was another issue. One he couldn’t shake off of his mind. ‘The moment I let him in its over, I know it will be. I’ll be attached—this man is a temptation. However…’

           “Detective. Is it possible for me to accept your offer now, but not fully. I just, don’t think I can—"

           “I understand.” Cutting him off, San leaned onto his forearm a bit, “I’ll give you a free trial period for now. After all, I won’t force you to do anything you’re not comfortable with. I may be a 'monster', but I have morals.”

           “I appreciate your understanding, Detective.” Feeling quite tense, considering the last few minutes have been a mental rollercoaster for Wooyoung, and his face was still burning as imagery brought upon him due to San’s straightforward words. Getting up from his desk slowly, the man soon made his way to the water dispenser in his room. Grabbing one of the white paper cups, Wooyoung somewhat shakily placed the cup beneath the cold water option. Once pressing the button, Wooyoung couldn’t help but watch the water closely, after all he didn’t want to look back at the other—who he was sure was watching him.

           A correct he was. From the moment he got up, San had been observing him closely. Narrowing his eyes, a bit as he stared at him, he spoke suddenly, “Can I ask you something?”

           Taken aback, as Wooyoung was getting used to the silence, he nodded. “I suppose. Go ahead.”

           “If I were to make an advancement towards you right now, what kind of an advancement would you be okay with?”

           Those words made Wooyoung freeze where he stood, the shock of the words forced him to blink a few times fast, “Come again?”

           “Turn around first.”

           Darting his eyes around between the floor, cup, and water dispenser for a moment, Wooyoung soon turned around, looking at San who was standing up by his chair, a hand on the back of the chair while the other rested in his pant pocket.

           “If right at this moment, I was to advance towards you, what would you be comfortable with?”

           ‘What the hell? Why would you ask me that? You know the answer is embarrassing to say.’ Drinking the water in the cup completely before tossing it into the nearby garbage can, Wooyoung stared right into San’s eyes. “Well, I wouldn’t mind you kissing me.” He spoke with a slight chuckle after he finished the sentence. Folding his arms across his chest as he leaned against the side of his desk. ‘Oh fucking hell, end me.’

           Once hearing those words, San began to walk towards the surgeon while maintaining eye contact. With ever step that the detective grew closer, Wooyoung felt his heart beginning to race, arms dropping to the sides. Grasping onto the edge of the desk with his hands, the surgeon leaned back a bit as he grew even closer, “It’s not a free trial if you can’t test the product first.” Speak at a low, deep, and whispered tone, San reached out and lifted Wooyoung’s head.

           With San moving closer, Wooyoung could feel heat rising from his stomach and into his chest. Becoming increasingly overwhelmed by the detective’s scent—his cologne soft in contrast to everything the man was about—the surgeon found himself hypnotized. Once the taller man’s lips made contact onto his own, a static surged within him, chills running down his spine which resulted in a shiver that made his body tremble a bit. The initial contact had done well into shocking Wooyoung, but not for long. Eyes fluttering closed, the surgeon returned the kiss, parting his lips and allowing a melting sensation to wash over him. Though the gentleness of the kiss was appreciated, it wasn’t desired by the young surgeon. Grabbing at San’s jacket, Wooyoung pulled him closer and harder towards him, eventually allowing a low groan to escape the detective’s lips. Slipping his tongue into Wooyoung’s mouth in a demanding and authoritative manner evident with the extensive exploration of his mouth, the surgeon couldn’t fight the weakening of his knees, and as they buckled, he managed to sit himself onto his desk, his legs spreading slightly to allow the other space to move in closer proximity. Snaking his left arm around the shorter male’s waist, San pulled him closer to his body, in turn Wooyoung managed to take down the bun in which san’s hair was tied into before grasping onto the other’s dark hair. The action causing another low groan to leave the detective right into the kiss. Prompting him to move his hand from his waist to gripping his thigh from the inner area, San practically forced out a light moan from Wooyoung. The heat his body was incased in was becoming close to torture as the desire to remove his own clothing in order cool down increased by the millisecond. When a tingling sensation resonated throughout his body along with the increased temperature, Wooyoung felt as if he was both drifting in space and floating weightlessly—however it also called for an immense craving for more of the man’s taste, touch, all of it. Letting out a light moan into the other man’s mouth, the heat his body was incased in was becoming close to torture, wanting to remove his own clothing to cool down—but the deep and heavily addicting kiss was hard to separate from. Yet a short air supply made maintain the kiss quite difficult and only moments later he broke the kiss out of desperation for a breather. Released the grip he had onto San’s hair as he took sharp breaths, Wooyoung looked up at the detective who shared the heavy breathing.

           Despite being so close to one another, the attractiveness the man possessed hadn’t diminished, in fact, Wooyoung being red-lipped, sweaty, and breathing heavily only added extra flavor to the entrée. Turned on to an unimaginable degree, San bit his lip yet again. Out of his mind for the time being, the surgeon met eyed the leather jacket that San wore. Reach up slightly, he grasped both sides at the collar and began to slide the jacket off of him—though what he saw while doing so was eye opening. Wearing a mere black sleeveless shirt underneath his jacket, it was inevitable to view the various tattoos that covered his arms. Inked immensely with only black and red, Wooyoung was met with a full dragon sleeve, wrapping around his left bicep and forearm—the face of the dragon assumed to be on his left breast. On the other arm was a female demon among various skulls, another full sleeve. Removing the jacket completely, the fabric fell to the ground and Wooyoung was astonished—though he should have expected such—San was muscular. Well defined arms, veins, all of it. Without the jacket, his shoulders seemed to be broader. Sure, he wasn’t the size of a bodybuilder—but the lean and muscular physique was all too fitting for the man. Cocking a brow as he allowed Wooyoung to remove his jacket, San let out a single chuckle.

           “You know, for someone who said they were only comfortable with a kiss, you’re awfully adamant about getting me out of my clothes.”

           While reaching for the sleeveless shirt he wore in order to pull it out from its tucked position into San’s pants, the reality of the situation smacked Wooyoung immediately. And that’s when it hit. ‘What the hell am I doing?!’ Despite having grasped onto the fabric, the surgeon let go immediately, looking away from San when doing so. “Sorry about that, I got carried away.”

           “No worries. I almost got carried away myself, the moment you removed my shirt would have been the moment I fucked you relentlessly, with your consent of course. So, it’s good that everything got halted, I know you want time to think things over.” Running his fingers through his hair, San looked at Wooyoung who was staring at him with an expression that he couldn’t decipher.

           “Do you always say things just blatant and straightforward?”

           Stopping to think for a moment, he narrowed his eyes before nodding, “Yeah. What about it?”

           “It just throws me off sometimes, yet you never seem to be phased by anything you say.” Adjusting his lab coat, Wooyoung placed his feet on the ground only to be surprised by the fact his legs still felt like gelatin—granted his mental rewind of the past events were not helping him regain his strength.

           “Why should it phase me if it’s just truth? Like how I’m hard as a fucking rock right now.” Speaking with a straight face and shrug, San once again spoke in a very nonchalant manner.

           Upon hearing those words, Wooyoung was both startled and curious. Curious as to what? If he was a hung like a goddamn horse, of course. Which was far from his chracter. Granted, Wooyoung himself was well-endowed, however if this man were also well-endowed—it would be clear that the Gods have a fucking favorite. Catching a glimpse at Wooyoung thinking, a sudden furrowing of his brows making it evident, San spoke up suddenly pointing his index finger right in the surgeon’s face, “Try to look at it and I’m taking it as if you’re trying to cancel your free trial and pay for premium immediately, it's in the terms and conditions.”

'Honestly, if anyone else were to say something this...cheesy. I would have socked them in the face by now. But since it's coming from him..."

           Eyes widening, as he stared at the finger, the man quickly looked away, staring at the door. In the time Wooyoung looked away, San grabbed his jacket from off the ground. Holding it in his right hand, while brushing his bangs out of his face, the detective shook his head with a smile. Both men were clearly unsure of what to make of the last several minutes—granted San didn’t come here to embark in a make-out session with a man he had just met and Wooyoung didn’t even plan to be at the hospital regardless, and even if he did plan to be here, the interaction between himself and the Ichor heir was not on the schedule.

           “As much as I hate to leave, I should probably go. I have the information I need so I should file it in, and the information I wanted about you as well. Besides, Officer Jeong is probably suspicious at this point—as if he weren’t already.” Glancing around at the desk behind him, gestured to the phone that was on his desk, “Give me your phone.”

           Turning around and grabbing his phone, he held it out to the detective, “For what?”

           Taking the phone from his hand, San smiled a bit while cocking a brow, “Shouldn’t you ask that before you hand me your phone? Weirdo.”

           Despite saying that, San stared at the lock screen photo, which happened to be nothing but a black image, before swiping up considering Wooyoung had already—intentionally or not—unlocked his phone with facial recognition. Heading to the phone and putting in his number, he made is contact name, ‘Prince’ and hit the call button. Instantly, San’s phone began to vibrate in his pocket. Ending the call on Wooyoung’s phone he soon handed it back, “My contact is in your phone, if you make your discussion let me know—it’s not hard to find which one is me.”

           Taking the phone back and instantly scrolling through his contacts, the surgeon settled his eyes on the contact named, ‘Prince’. “Prince, huh? Fitting.” Finally obtaining the strength and sturdiness to stand up and walk around again, Wooyoung, returned to the water dispenser and got another cup of water to drink, adjusting his clothes—his pants mostly—as he poured the water.

           Examining the surgeon as he got off of the desk, San grinned to himself, as he turned towards the door. Walking towards the exit, but stopping with his hand on the doorknob, he looked over his shoulder. “I’ll work on your contact later on. I look forward to whenever we meet again.”

           Before taking a drink, he responded with a quick nod, “Same here.”

           “Oh, and Wooyoung?”

           “Hm?”

           “You should probably take care of that,” He spoke in reference to the erection that he caught a glimpse of only seconds prior, “Or should I stay a bit longer and help you with it?” Raising his brows playfully at Wooyoung, who became wide-eyed the moment the words he spoke registered, he blinked a few times before sighing.

           “I will take care of it, but you should worry about yourself first. Leave, I have work to do.”

           Though it wasn’t the reaction he wanted out of the man—which was evident as he glared profusely at him, he soon cracked a grin and opened the door. Making his way out, jacket in hand somewhat covering his own erection, he stepped back out into the corridor, reaching out to grab the door pull it shut, he looked back inside for a moment. Before making a final comment.

           “Don’t forget to think of me!” Using his free hand to mimic a jerking motion in the air, he shot a final smile at the other man before shutting it completely with a click.

           “Don’t forget to think of you? You act like I can think of anyone else right now. I couldn’t even if I tried. ” Mumbling to himself as he watched the detective’s feet vanish down the corridor. Wooyoung let out a heavy sigh as he drank his water finally, grabbing his phone yet again and opening up the contacts, he scrolled to the one belonging to San and edited the contact’s name, ‘Horny Prince’. Staring at the door, a realization hit Wooyoung like a ton of bricks: Perhaps judging someone based on their first encounter was false thing—after all initially meeting the detective at the crime scene had led Wooyoung to believe he was a hardcore, law abiding detective. Yet all of that was proven false in a matter of seconds. More so, the rumors about the Ichor heir, the Prince of the Underground and devil incarnate Choi San, were that he was entirely cold hearted, cruel, bloodthirsty, and downright evil—yet what he saw was far from it. Looking back down at his phone, re-reading the contact’s name over and over, he began to mumble to himself once more.

           “Choi San. You’re far from what I had expected—but of course I know that I haven’t seen all of you today. You may very well be cruel, cold hearted and evil. But for right now, you’re just sarcastic, playful, and perverted. I know your reputation precedes you, I don’t doubt it for a second…”

           Removing his coat and hanging it on the coat rack, Wooyoung sat down in his chair, the kiss from earlier replaying unwillingly in his head again. Recalling the sensation that flooded his body, the scent of soft scented cologne that emitted from the detective, the inked arms, broad shoulders, clearly built arms ‘If I had managed to remove his shirt, what would have been underneath? Six? Eight? What other ink did he get done? What if he has piercings underneath?’

‘           …the moment you removed my shirt would have been the moment I fucked you relentlessly…’

           Face instantly reddening again, Wooyoung covered his mouth, brows middle-raised, he first sat flustered in having those words stated towards him so nonchalant, then obviously due to his thoughts running rampant. To think someone could make him this way, not in his twenty-one years of life has he ever had anyone affect him in this way; No woman, and definitely no man. Yet, here he was. ‘If I took of his shirt, then right now…Would we be on the desk? In the chair? On the...floor…? No, no knowing him we’d be against the one of the windows…right?’ Sighing out of irritation, he placed his head down onto the desk with a light thud.

           “Get a grip Wooyoung. Sure he left a /strong/ impression but you can’t just—Oh who am I kidding? I can’t shake off this feeling of…of what? Fuck, I don’t know. You’re just being irrational because you’re still turned on…take care of it and you’ll get your rationale back, easy shit Wooyoung. Easy shit.”

           Lifting his head up from off the table, the surgeon unbuttoned his shirt and removed it from his body entirely, the material falling onto the ground to his right. Running his right hand down his chest, to the waistband of his jeans, he touched himself over his jeans, palming his dick slowly, only to result in irritation for himself—as if he hadn’t been longing for touch for almost the entire time. Impatiently unbuttoning his jeans, he unzipped the fly and slid his pants down a bit—his boxer briefs following suit. With the resistance removed, and his dick no longer in a tucked state, Wooyoung wrapped his hand around it. Rubbing it up and down, his foreskin moving along. Fighting back any form of a potential outburst of a moan, it was almost pitiable—at least in Wooyoung’s opinion—how heavily aroused he was, so much so that even the thought of San being in the room with him now was enough fuel to make this session significantly shorter:

           As if unable to contain himself at all, San pushed Wooyoung down onto the desk. Sliding him back further into the desk, papers pouring off of the sides, out of respect he removed the man’s shoes—and socks. Instinctively, Wooyoung planted the soles of his feet down onto the top of his desk, his knees bent towards the ceiling. Unbuttoning the surgeon’s shirt as if that end of the world was currently undergoing extinction. Moving away from the shirt for the time being, he unbuttoned the surgeon’s pants with ease, removing them from his body along with the boxer briefs he wore beneath. Freed from the constraints, a faint moan escaped his lips. Returning to fiddling with the shirt, the frustration  setting as the button’s didn’t cooperate with San in the slightest, he found that ripping it apart seemed to suffice more. Once the shirt was out of his way, San viewed the bare unblemished chest of the surgeon as blank, pristine canvas. Pressing his lips onto the sensitive skin at Wooyoung’s neck, San trailed various kisses down from neck to his chest, all the way to this lower abdomen. Shuttering at the sensitive and almost ticklish sensation that began to radiate from his abdomen, the surgeon couldn’t help but feel his dick twitch, entering a slightly throbbing sensation.

           With the imaginative scenario becoming the forefront of Wooyoung’s thoughts, the speed of his jerking increased tremendously. Arousal beyond what he had ever experienced before rushing into his body, practically smacking him. Similar to a tsunami making landfall. Light, quick pants escaping his lips alongside whiny and airy moans, Wooyoung bit his lip hard, involuntarily thrusting forward into his hand a few times, pre-seminal fluid beginning to leak from his tip.

           Teasingly, the detective proceeded to kiss his lower abdomen, his lips making their way down to the pubic area of the surgeon. Sensitivity spiking with the light feather-like contact, a whine left Wooyoung’s lips. However, as San began to kiss his left inner thigh, lips dragging across his skin between each kiss, the whines became more frequent. As lewd sounds proceeded to escape the man’s lips, San found it to sound relatively close to a symphony—so much so that he couldn’t wait around patiently to hear a fulfilled crescendo. Taking a hold of the smaller man’s dick, he lifted it and pressed his thumb against the head—which resulted in a jolt from Wooyoung and a small spasm in his cock.

           “Ngh...!” Increasing the speed a few notches, Wooyoung’s body temperature increased as well, beads of sweat forming all of his body, which caused his skin to glisten.

           Letting go of his cement level hardness of a cock, San watched as it slapped instantly against his chest, full must. Lifting it again, but this time, rather than having the feeling of a thumb pressed against its head—the tip found it’s way it to a warm, wet, and slippery cavern. The moment San placed Wooyoung’s dick into his mouth, the surgeon arched his back, hand spontaneously gripping at the other’s long hair, that was released from his bun. Tongue wrapping itself around the head and swirling in a circular motion quickly, Wooyoung’s eyes rolled into the back of his head—

           “Fuck, San!” Reaching peak stimulation, his mind fuzzy and his thoughts distorted, Wooyoung released. Sexual tension subsiding with every grunt and moan that left his mouth, as well as his semen shooting off to who knows whereas he was too occupied in his imagination to earnestly care, the pumping of his hand began to slow down until it came to a complete stop.

学而不思 则 罔，思而不学 则 殆

           It was a complete understatement to say that San was uncomfortable, after all, his sexual arousal was still peaked—and in turn so was his erection. However, his own personal needs aside, it was in his complete best interest to simply head back to the station before the Chief attempted to talk his fucking ear off all over again. That aside, San was caught in a predicament. He initially saw Wooyoung as a feeble rabbit, one that the detective was bound to devour. Yet, he compromised with himself that he’d simply play around a bit with the rabbit, play with his food before ultimately devouring him in the end—but now? He made a gamble just for him, provided him with the opportunity to have power. As if the panther saw the rabbit as his equal.

           Running his fingers through his shoulder length hair, he tightened his grasp on his jacket as he proceeded down the corridor—considering Yunho wasn’t standing around waiting, San assumed that the officer was at the desk talking with the nurses again. That assumption was soon found to be true as he recognized the man’s voice as he spoke up in the distance. Strategically positioning his jacket in a way that covered his nether region without looking odd, he listened in.

           “It’s been twenty-five minutes, what could the possibly be talking about?”

           “It must be something between them though, right? I mean if you’re not in the room. It must not be police related to.

           “I guess you’re right, but still, you saw how those two were earlier, what if they’re…you know?”

           “What if they’re what?” Speaking up as he neared them, he emerged from the corridor and immediately glanced between the three, “You three would make a nice gossip tabloid, rambling about people behind their backs.” Seriousness in his voice and mannerisms as he stood, watching the three.

           Despite entering their conversation as he usually would have, San was met with wide yes and stares with small smiles behind them. Instantaneously, the two nurses began whispering to each other while Yunho gawked in awe, his mouth somewhat agape. Scanning the detective, Yunho gestured to him, pointing his finger at San’s hair to his torsos from distance.

           “Your tats are sick, but why is your jacket off?”

           “Ah, it got hot in the room, so I took it off.” Well, he didn’t lie, did he? It did get quite hot in the room; San would even argue that it was basically a sauna. ‘Shit don’t think about it, San. Don’t think about it.’

           “Oh my god, do you see is arms?!” “Of course I see them, you can just tell he’s strong!”

           Nodding slowly, clearly unconvinced if it being the truth, “Ah. It got hot. If so, why did you take your hair down?” Questioning him, though playing it off as innocent curiosity. Yunho, tilted his head to the side a bit while cocking a brow quickly at him.

           Reminiscing over the moment Wooyoung took his hair down from the pony tail, specifically how tight he grabbed and yanked at his hair, and the spark it sent right to his dick. San licked his lip a bit as he stared at Yunho—who clearly knew he caught him in his lies, which was evident due to the grin that formed on his face. Clearing his throat, San provided an answer. “It’s not time for questions like these, Officer Jeong. If anything, I have crucial information and we need to head back to the station before Chief Gong gets his panties in a bunch.”

           ‘Ah, right. I forgot, we’re still on duty.’ Looking to the two women, who were still ogling over the detective’s rocker-like appearance, Yunho waved his hand a bit, “Ladies, we have to go. Work calls.”

           “Aw…You do? What a shame…” “But, that’s okay! We understand. Good luck gentlemen.”

           Nodding at the two women with a small smile, San made that simple gesture his farewell before making a direct line for the elevator once more. With no one around, he slung his jacket over his shoulder for a moment. Adjusting his pants, a bit, though unable to not make physical contact with his erection, he let out an exasperated sigh as he shook his head as an attempt to get himself into a mindset where shaking of his arousal entirely was a possibility. Pressing the direction button which pointed down, the detective tapped his foot, as he removed the leather jacket from his shoulder back to his hand to where he conveniently coffered his groin. Yunho came up next to him..

           “You have some explaining to do the moment we get into this elevator.”

           Staying silent, despite staring right at him, San directed his attention to the elevator as the doors opened. Entering swiftly, the officer following suit behind him, the turned towards the door—back to the wall. Stepping forward to press the button for the first floor, he took a large step back and leaned against the back wall.

           “Before I get into the information you learned, what’s with the hair and jacket being off?

           “You really want to know?”

           “Obviously.”

           “I made out with him.”

           “You what?!”

           “You know, kissed him, shoved my tongue into—”

           Covering his ears for a second, Yunho cut him off, “I don’t need the details!”

           “You’re the one who wanted to know you damn hypocrite.”

           “I know I said I wanted to know—Why didn’t you put your jacket back on.”

           “Because I’m rock hard right now—even try to look at my dick and I’ll kill you.”

           Blinking a how the man said such a thing without hesitation. It took Yunho a moment to process the words in which were spoken. More so due to the fact that the reasoning he was given was far different than any reason he was prepared for. “ Do you not get phased by anything you say?”

           “If it’s the truth why should I be? You know—the both of you asked the same question. Honestly is it even really that odd?” With the decent of the elevator being oddly delayed, the small shifting of the elevator as it was sent into gear filled the short-lived silence that came between the two. Utterly baffled by the face the detective really took his time to act sensually during work hours, Yunho found himself in deep admiration for the detective. ‘That’s actually cool? Who does shit like that? Perhaps many people, but I’m sure none of them were slick like San, right? Even if they were Whatever. Reason number 4935 for ‘Why Choi San is Cool and Above the Law’ by Jeong Yunho.’

           Breaking the silence that befell the two of them, Yunho returned to asking about business regarding the reason why they were actually here, “Well? What’s the information you’ve learned?”

           “Another doctor here by the name of Kang Yeosang, is the man in the picture with the victim. Her brother. He’s a primary suspect now.”

           “Why is that?”

           This Kang Yeosang left early from work today due to a family emergency. Come to find out there are only two members of his family that they are close with and that live in Seoul. One being himself and the other being his sister. You’d think that it would make sense, right? Him leaving after finding out about his sister. Well, that’s the exact reason why he’s a suspect. He would have gotten the call about 90 minutes ago—but he left six hours ago. But do you know what the real kicker is? Ms. Kang was waiting to get checked out here at the same time he left.”

           “But is this doctor a masterful surgeon? You said yourself that culprit was a surgeon.”

           “That was minor error. Come to find out, Kang Minji was in a pretty serious wreck while on her way here for the partial colectomy. This resulted in a wound that caused a rib to puncture her heart. Masterfully, Chief Surgeon Jung performed the surgical procedures on her and she was placed into ICU and all of that before she was sent home. However, she wasn’t permanently healed—considering broken ribs are the type to fix when sitting around and so forth. The fact she wasn’t permanently healed from her surgeries either, it was easy to re-open her, chest and close her back up. But do you know what the icing on the cake is?”

           “What?”

           “Even though Kang Yeosang is a Critical-Care doctor, he’s just begun studying to be a surgeon at this medical center, meaning he has enough knowledge to remove the organs safely without damaging them.”

           It all aligned well. Almost too well. Astounded by the amount of evidence against the second suspect, Yunho folded his arms across his chest. “The way her body was found already seemed as if it was personal and filled with disdain. Add the fact he is her sister, to the mix—it all makes sense.

           “The only question is: Why?”

Chapter Text

           As the elevator came to a halt, San and Yunho glanced at the floor number before focusing their attention on the door in front of them. Seeing as the floor had stopped on level two, not one, the conversation the were having in relation to the case ceased—any outsider input would have been far from ideal in any manner—thus concealing the information was crucial. As a woman, seemingly another doctor, came into view as the doors opened, the two stepped away from one another leaving the woman enough space to stand between them. Exchanging glances with one another, Yunho decided to see what responses the detective would give to certain facial expressions—especially ones that seemed to hold certain aspects to them—like suggestive undertones. Thinking for a moment, the officer decided to start of simple and simply grin at him, raising his brows while maintaining eye contact. Without hesitation, San ‘answered’ back, quickly winking at him while slowly biting his lip.

           Though it was an honor to see the notorious detective make a such a face, Yunho was slightly flustered for the exact reason—after not seeing San ever smile prior to today, suggestive looks from the man were enough to set Yunho into a slight panic. Though to maintain his pride, the officer didn’t allow the panic to settle on his face, instead he ran his fingers through his hair while maintaining eye contact, exposing his forehead with a wink as well. Though discrete with both of their actions, the woman who had stepped onto the elevator still manage to figure out what the two were doing. Glancing at both through her peripherals, she took a glance at the floor numbers. The moment that the floor hit ‘1’ and the elevator came to a stop, she took an immediate step forward. Impatiently, she tapped her foot until the doors began to open. The very moment there was a space big enough for her to squeeze through, the doctor made her way out of them elevator.

           Dumbfounded by the sudden actions the woman exhibited, San paid a final glance at Yunho before cracking a grin, laughing lightly. Shaking his head as he got up out of his leaning position against the wall, the detective remained his grasp on his jacket that remained at his pelvic region as he exited the elevator. Quickly exiting behind him, the officer found himself smiling though shocked; hearing a such a genuine laugh from him was also a genuine surprise. ‘I still don’t understand how the others at the department have such horrible views towards him. If anything, he’s the most enjoyable one out of all of them. His methods are different—after all who else almost literally fucks a suspect?—he doesn’t follow protocol, yet still gets his job done in the end. Efficiently at that. Once again, you’re cool as hell, Choi San.’

           Walking behind him, though still viewing him with immense admiration, Yunho studied the detective from a distance, that is until audible shrieks of surprise came yet again from the direction of reception desk. Quick to react, San looked over at the direction of the shrieks to not only find the receptionist, but a several other women gawking over him. Cursing lightly under his breath, as San himself new the reasoning this time around. With his tattoos being visible along with his hair down, the detective was aware of his own ‘Rocker’ appearance and how such an appearance tended to cause a lagoon to suddenly appear in the undergarments of many women—and men. Knowing that the attention would have been avoided if he hadn’t become so lustful—however with Wooyoung in his presence it was virtual impossible not to be aroused especially in the previous situation—the detective shot the women a short nod with a smile, fingers running through his hair just for shits and giggles before turning is attention to the entrance to parking garage yet again.

           Somewhat envious of the constant attention from the women, though not envious enough to feel any disdain towards San, whom he admired fervently—anyone at the station could attest to that as when the detective wasn’t around all Yunho could speak about was him—the officer decided to at least be respectful and acknowledge the women as well with a smile. Though to his surprise, the women seemed to enjoy his features as well, giggling amongst themselves at his small gesture as well. Filled with pride, the officer jogged a bit to walk directly next to San.

           “Have you ever realized that you are literally always the center of attention?”

           “I have,” San sighed, “That wouldn’t be the situation if I didn’t stand out so much. Hair and ink aside, I’d be an average guy.”

           Scoffing as he picked up his pace a bit, which caused Yunho to step towards the automatic doors—and thus into the parking garage first—he turned towards the detective and stopped in his tracks, “You do realize you’re still sculpted like a Greek God, right? No one with your face can ever be considered average. You’re practically destined for greatness; Like modeling shit.”

           “You sound like a friend of mine; Constantly trying to get me to model for his company while saying shit like that to feed my already large ego.” Chuckling a bit as he stepped through the doors as well, San stopped in front of Yunho for a moment as he spoke before stepping to the side, planting a hand onto the officer’s shoulder. “You two would probably get along—you’re very similar. Both of you idolize me like a God.”

           Taken aback, Yunho spoke quickly, “I do not—”

           “You do. Don’t lie to yourself, Yunho. Do you really think I don’t know of how much you’ve spoken about me at the station? Yes today was our first day meeting officially, but I’ve known of your existence for a while.” Patting his shoulder before allowing it to slide off, San soon walked towards his car shortly after, reaching into his pocket to grab his key.

           Dumbfounded yet not surprised by his own indiscrete nature, the officer blinked a few times fast as he shook his head. Cursing himself under his breath, Yunho proceeded his walk towards the passenger side. However, he was soon halted by San who was holding the fob out to him. “I could see it on your face earlier; Drive us to the station.”

           “Eh?” Shocked by the sudden gesture, the officer’s attention fell onto the keys.

           “You want to drive an Audi, don’t you? Go ahead. Take it.” Waving the key fob a bit, in the air, he soon sighed as he placed it into his hand. “Hurry up, we don’t have all day, we still have a suspect to track down, don’t we?”

           Paying a single stare at him for a moment, San soon made his way to the passenger’s side and opened the door. Quickly sliding into the seat and adjusting his pants a bit due to his still prevalent issue, he maintained the positioning of his jacket over his groin. Attention falling onto Yunho as he entered the car as well, stalling a bit to stare at the console from the outside, small sounds of amazement escaped his lips, running his hands along the steering wheel before he smiled to himself. Easing his foot onto the brake while pushing the button to start the vehicle, the seemingly eloquent light roar of the engine only caused the smile that Yunho already had plastered onto his face to widen. Switching the gear into drive, the officer began the journey back to the station. Once reaching the main road, he finally decided to speak to the detective who was sitting in silence while looking right ahead—in clear thought.

           “Why the sudden idea of letting me drive?”

           Taking a second to glance at him, San answered him quickly, “You made a scene earlier while looking at my car, I figured you’d probably like to take it for a spin.”

           Nodding with clear acceptance of the answer, a playful grin appeared onto Yunho’s face, enticing him to pry further, “Is that the only reason? Because I think there’s probably another reason.” Turning his head to look at San as they reached a red light and the vehicle hated, however he was already met with San’s piercing gaze.

           “I’m too scatterbrained at the moment to give my energy to focusing on the road, you can also thank Jung Wooyoung for why you’re driving my car right now.”

           “At this point you might as well take care of your problem.”

           San cocked a brow at the officer, “Right here right now? I didn’t think you were the type of person to enjoy being around someone else while they masturbate,” He began, “That’s hot.”

           “I—” Inevitably stuttering as an initial response, Yunho’s eyes widened, face reddening slightly, “That’s not what I meant, if anything I was just being like—considerate!”

            “Calm down, I know what you meant. I’m just playing around with you.”

           Furrowing his brows while clearing his throat, the officer calmed down slightly, “You know, I’m surprised that you’re someone who can be steered off course. Usually you get your job done and go, but today what you did was unethical. Not that I find it wrong, or anything.”

           “I’m not usually reckless unless I’m gambling in some manner. For some reason, I’ve decided to take a gamble with Jung Wooyoung. He’s a temptress, that man. I’ve never desired to have someone so much—especially when we’ve only met today. ”

           “Is this gamble high stakes?”

           “Very.”

           “You’re not going to tell me what the gamble is, are you?”

           Sighing, San took a glimpse at the stop light as it turned red, gesturing to the light before answering he made sure that Yunho began driving. “Don’t take this personally, however, I don’t know to what extent you can be trusted. I’m still wary of the fact you saw the weapons in this car already. But you have caught my interest for sure. After all, this entire time you haven’t shown any disdain or hatred towards me—unlike the rest of the precinct.”

           “I don’t understand why people dislike you. You’re the most interesting person I know and being your partner for today has only made that even more clear. Yes, you’re cold and serious, but that isn’t all you are. You still joke around and laugh and smile. People can’t handle the fact that you’re the youngest detective in the precinct, and that you’re highly intelligent.”

           “You’re avoiding the obvious elephant in the room.”

           “The fact you’re a criminal and the heir to Ichor. The notorious young man known as a ruthless murderer and a highly sadistic-torture loving fiend. A young man with high business prowess, a lack of remorse—known as the Devil Incarnate. Right?”

           “Exactly.”

           "I’ll tell you a little secret, Detective Choi. Most of the people we work with joined for the same reason, they want to help make the streets of Seoul safer. I didn’t. The welfare of the general public doesn’t mean anything to me, I just joined because it’s better than a desk job. The pay is less than ideal, even for our unit which is paid more than the rest. I don’t have the slightest care for justice, I just want to do my job efficiently so that there is something to do, you know? Yes, I’m known for somewhat being a happy virus at the station, but my enthusiasm doesn’t come from wanting to be an image of justice, it comes from the fact that there’s something to do. Why chose the Violent Crimes Unit? Because I know the crimes that we tackle tend to have a high amount of shit to do while attempting to solve it. I’m assuming your situation is similar, after all, you’re no saint, there’s absolutely no reason for you to become a detective at all. “

           It was surprising. Everything he had said in regard to himself, as well as how similar it felt to San. Afterall, it was almost as if they completely shared a desire for something that isn’t mundane. Perhaps, this is why even he and Yunho clicked somewhat instantly as well. Even if it didn’t seem like it was the case, the detective grew quite fond of Yunho over the course of these couple hours. In fact, it was a somewhat uncomfortable idea thinking of how everything would have gone so far without his presence, “Of course my situation is similar. The story I told the Chief is still the same, but of course that wasn’t all of it. You’re right, a man like me has no reason to be a detective for the sake of good. Maybe I’ll tell you more about the gamble and plans at a later date, but for now, we need to focus on locating Kang Yeosang.”

           The idea of possibly being told about the plans the detective had was quite wonderful news for Yunho, more so it was the fact that he could be potentially trusted by a secretive man. After all, Choi San was no ordinary man, in many ways. Knowing him was a benefit but also a luxury, “I understand. But you said it yourself, you’re all scatterbrained. Are you going to be okay?”

           "Of course. Nothing’s a bigger turn off than seeing those guys at the station. All I need is a moment to reminisce, then back to work as usual.”

           Silence soon fell between the two men, though it wasn’t awkward in any light—unlike the commute to the hospital earlier where Yunho found the air and vibe between them to be intense and foreboding. Gripping the steering wheel as he pushed down the accelerator, his attention to the road was evident. Meanwhile, the detective was fiddling with his phone, a small chuckle escaping his lips for a moment before he silenced once more. Eyes darting between the rear view mirror and the road, the officer tilted his head a bit as the station came into view. Entering the right most lane and while slowing down, he turned towards the guarded gate. Noticing a single guard that made his way out of the booth, Yunho glanced over as San who was once again lost in thought, looking exactly the same as he was previously. Shaking his head, the officer focused on the guard that walked over towards the driver’s side. Lowering the window, a paying the guard a smile, Yunho’s face soon filled with confusion as the guard was looking at him wide eyed.

           Is something wrong?”

           “Not at all, it’s just…Officer Hwang said that you ran away from the scene, I didn’t expect to see you with Detective Choi.”

           “Ah, well I didn’t run away from the scene—”

           “I told him to accompany me.” Interjecting himself into the conversation instantly, after all even though the guard’s voice didn’t make it obvious, the line was complete slander.

           Instantly looking at San, then back at the guard in a slight panic, Yunho remained silent—as he should considering he was a new officer with the station. As he should? No, as he was expected to do. Taking the silence as defeat, the guard scoffed, folding his arms across his chest, "Even if you told him to accompany you, Officer Jeong should have known not to leave his partner behind.”

           "Partner? Officer Hwang is his partner? No, no. Officer Jeong is my partner.”

           Taken aback, the expression on his face evident of that, he responded quickly,” What?! Since when?”

           “Since almost three hours ago.”

           “What, you just suddenly chose him? You know that there’s extensive filing and approval from both Officer Hwang and the Chief that have to be met, and not to mention he hasn’t even been in the force long enough to qualify as a detecti—”

           “Does it look like I care?” Interrupting him quickly, San clicked his tongue, “Honestly. What makes you think that I care about the tedious little things. What’s done is done. Now are we finished? We have leads to follow and shit to do, if someone else dies because you slowed us down from catching out suspect that blood is on your hands.” Snapping at the guard instantaneously, clearly irritated, and unappreciative of this bullshit stop, San’s gaze was comparable to daggers, fixated on the man.

           Obviously upset with the detective’s words, but acknowledging the fact that they were busy men, the guard clicked his tongue before stepping away from the vehicle, nodding at the two with disdain before entering the small booth and raising the boom barrier allowing the two entry into the parking lot. Instantly removing his foot from the brake while rolling up the window, Yunho made sure the enter the space quickly, almost impatiently, as if to rub further into the man’s face the urgency of the situation. Turning right into a parking space next to squad car—one that he knew San always parked in—the officer put the vehicle into park immediately but remained looking ahead for a few seconds. Silence filling the car after the light argument, Yunho took the time to recap everything that had just happened—mostly in regard to the ‘partner’ situation. There were many things that were known around the station and within their unit, one commonly spoken about fact was that Detective Choi never had a partner for two reasons: He didn’t want one and no one was compatible. Everyone in their unit had a partner, for obvious reasons, however the young detective didn’t have one from day one—very uncommon for a new hire. It was hard to grasp, even for Yunho, the possibility of being chosen as the partner of such a man—even if he didn’t have a say in the decision, it’s not as if the officer would have objected.

           “Did you mean what you said, about the partner thing?”

           Turning to look at Yunho, San shrugged a bit, “I said it to get him off our back,” He stated bluntly.

           Saddened by the response, Yunho knew not to expect it to be reality. ' Pressing down the button which turned of the engine, the officer began leaving the car, ready to head the key back over to the detective. ‘Of course. Don’t be dumb Jeong Yunho, there wasn’t a chance you’d be able to live out your crime fighting dreams with your idol—’

           “But the offer is yours if you wish to accept it. Whether or not you are my new partner is up to you, just decide by the time we walk into those doors, it seems to me that guard Hwang has already made his way into the building to snitch on us.”

           “E-Eh?” Understanding what he said, but thoroughly surprised as he was given the luxury to be at his side practically all the time, Yunho hit his head a bit on the way out of the car out of shock.

           “I’m going to take that you understood what I said and only asked that question out of surprise. Now hurry.” Having exited the vehicle a head of the other man, San shut the passenger’s side door. Putting his arms through his jacket, putting it on properly as it was prior, he glanced at Yunho with a small grin.

Eyes widened, but a smile on his face, Yunho nodded and tossed the keys over to the detective, who caught them effortlessly. Shutting the driver’s side door, the officer made his way towards the entrance to the building, eyeing San as he put on his jacket. “You weren’t joking when you said seeing the guys at the station would be an instant turn off, were you?”

           Chuckling lightly, the detective shook his head, “Nope, I truly was being serious. That guard killed my vibe, but it was going to happen eventually, the real shit show is inside.” Locking his vehicle, a single ‘beep’ signaling it’s locked and protected state, San walked next to Yunho the short distance to the entrance, though as they approached—the officer reaching it first—he placed his hand on the door handle before stopping. A serious look on his face, Yunho looked right at the San.

“Wait. Even I’m a turn off? I’m one of the ‘guys at the station’ too.”

“Are you seriously worried about that?”

“I don’t want to be at the same level as them, that’s nasty.”

Mimicking the seriousness, though ultimately breaking out into laughter, San shook his head, “God, you’re hilarious. Of course you’re not at the same level as them: You’re sexy. You're the /only/ turn on here. ”

           With only the last six words clicking, Yunho’s face reddened automatically, “You really have no chill, do you?” Obviously trying to remain calm, his words a bit shaky, San shrugged, “Maybe not. Now open the door.”

           ‘You don’t have to tell me to do that, this situation has me heating up. Anything to get out of it.’ Pulling the door towards himself, Yunho stepped back while doing so, allowing space for San to enter ahead of him, which he did instinctively. Following right after the other man went through the door, the two men traveled through the short corridor for a moment before entering the large space covered with various desks and holding cells. As if celebrities has walked in, all eyes were on them, along with small whispers that were difficult to hear.

           “Officer Hwang, they’re here.” Speaking anything but quiet, the guard in which was stalling them outside spoke out, causing the other man of the hour to turn towards the two that were somewhat standing in the spotlight. An irritated look on his face, the officer sighed, as he folded his arms across his chest, walking towards the two younger men. Both San and Yunho were younger and newer at the station than Officer Hwang Kwanghee—therefore the idea of the two of them being defiant in regard to the rules didn’t sit right with him in the slightest. However, Hwang Kwanghee was no fool, he understood well, that despite there supposedly being equality among all officers and detectives, Choi San stood above all. With high regards from the Police chief and commander as well as the chief prosecutor and even the chief justice—he knew quite well that Choi San was untouchable—however Jeong Yunho? He wasn’t protected. At least not by the higher-ups.

           “So,” Officer Hwang began, stopping in front of the rookie officer, “You’re now partners with Detective Choi? Just like that? No making this known to me, or the chief? You just decided to partner up with someone that isn’t even at your level? All you’re going to do is weigh him down—”

           “Then who here is at my level?” Interjecting yet again, a lack of manners on display once more, San tilted his head to the right a bit as he ran his fingers through his hair. “Detective Kim? Detective Moon?” Pointing them out in at their desks, he soon pointed his finger right at Officer Hwang, “You?” Scoffing shortly after, the look within his eyes evidently being filled with disdain and belittlement, “I’m sorry to break it to you, or anyone else here. But the only one qualified to be my partner is Jeong Yunho. This level thing doesn’t mean anything to me—and it shouldn’t mean anything to you.”

           Despite having a senior in front of him, and the natural submission he faced due to respect for a senior at the station washing over him, the fact that the even younger man next to him was speaking to the man without a care in the word was—reassuring and inspiring. So much so, that Yunho found himself chuckling slightly, though with a few seconds going by the mere chuckling developed into full laughter. Heads turned instantaneously within the station, as well as the attention of Officer Hwang—fixated prior on San, his focus was now Yunho.

           “What the hell’s so funny?”

           Shaking his head as he calmed down, the laughter escaping as he prepared to speak, “It’s just, you really think you’re making a point with all of these words your saying, but you’re not.”

           “What?”

           “You’re saying that I’m not at the same level as him and that I’m going to bring him down. But how do you know? What makes you so sure that I’ll bring him down any less than any of you all will. Let’s be rational here, Kwanghee.” The moment the older man’s first name escaped his lips with a major lack of honorifics not only was the officer taken aback, but the others in the space as well. Glancing over at San, Yunho smiled, “What do you think?”

           Only looking at him for a few seconds before averting his eyes back to Officer Hwang, San shook his head, “From what I’ve seen today, and everything we’ve discussed. The likelihood of you ‘bring me down’ is so slim, it’s non-existent.”

           Gesturing to San, Yunho nodded, “See? The man himself says it won’t be so. I appreciate your ‘concern’ for San and I, however, it’s not needed. I know what I am doing, and he knows what he’s doing. With or without your permission, Kwanghee, I would have chosen Detective Choi regardless. It’s about compatibility in the end, right?” Sighing, Yunho gave a soft smile, “I respect and appreciate you and the time we have been partners; however, it was never going to be permanent. Besides, I know that you wish you had a different partner entirely, and now is your chance to have that exact thing. If we are going to talk about weighing someone down here, it’s me weighing you down. Everyone in the station knows you want to be a detective and now you can do that.”

           As a look of confusion, yet acceptance painted itself onto Officer Hwang’s face, he finally unfolded his arms from their place across his chest, “It’s surprising how much you’ve changed just by being with him for a few hours.”

           “I’m sorry?”

           “Seriously. I don’t know think you know how different you were in contrast to what’s happening now. Following the rules so closely that anyone would believe you were raised in a law enforcement family, compliant to the requests of anyone—especially me—no matter what, you even never spoke your mind, talk back—none of it. Yet upon being with Detective Choi for this short amount time, you’re being the complete opposite. I didn’t know this was something you had in you. You’re no pushover. I see that now. Perhaps, it’s good it ended up this way. Detective Choi here finally has a partner, it’s been months and he’s never had one per his own request—and no one wanted to be partners with the crime lord.” Looking over at San, he added further, “No disrespect to you and your standing in this world, but you’re not exactly police material.”

           “None taken. I know as good as anyone else here that my…reputation, should place me behind bars at a high security prison rather than a desk at this station.”

           Letting out a final sigh, Officer Hwang shook his head at the two young men, “Congratulations. You two already make a good team.”

           Hearing this, San and Yunho began to make their way towards their respective desks, that was until Officer Hwang spoke yet again, “But a word of advice, Yunho.”

           Freezing in his place immediately, the rookie officer looked over his shoulder at the other officer, “Yes?”

           “Don’t let him stray you from the path of justice. There’s no telling what could happen, especially when you’ve willingly partnered up with the devil.”

           Thinking about his words for a moment before smiling—the smile fading from innocence to depicting clear devious intent—Yunho responded quickly, “I’d hate to lie to you and say that I won’t let him do such a thing, so for now? No promises.”

           Finishing with that final statement, Yunho took a seat at his desk—the desk that was rather close to San’s. Though the distance would have been fine, as most partnered didn’t always sit next to their other half, the distance wasn’t fine with Yunho in the slightest. Looking, indiscreetly, between the two men—and single woman—that stood between him and his idol, his gaze was intense, sharp, and unsettling. Glaring profusely, at the three individuals, Yunho cleared his throat a couple of times. Though the sound wasn’t enough to grab the attention of the barriers. Scoffing, irritated by the situation, ‘Seriously? I turn the page on some papers, and you all tend to look my way, but with obvious attempts at catching your attention you don’t budge in the slightest?’ he finally got up from his seat, grabbing the papers at his desk—as well as the cactus he kept as his own personal pet—he placed them into his chair and picked it up. Walking without hesitation past the three officers before placing his chair down right by the woman. Immediately, she looked up, turning towards him while displaying her obvious confusion with the situation through her words.

           “What the hell?” Her words did well in summoning the attention of not only the two other men that sat by her, but the Detective’s as well. Deciding to stay silent and watch everything play out, San merely sat with fragments of grins appearing on his face every so often.

           “I want this desk.” Despite the heavy gaze he had earlier, Yunho’s eyes had softened, a playful, almost child-like grin, playing onto his face as he spoke somewhat pleadingly.

           “Don’t you already have a desk?” One of the male officers asked, coming to her defense automatically.

           “Well, yes. But I want this one. Come on, let me sit next to him. You know I’ve always wanted too!” Acting a bit cute, as some would argue, he began to plead as he usually would. It was a known fact that Yunho was quite social, seemingly cute and deemed to have child-like innocence, and in a way—it was the truth. Therefore the way he was acting currently, was quite normal—even after the displayed incident involving Officer Hwang. Afterall, his playfulness only went so far, when it came to work, everyone knew that he was very serious, so with such a situation being related towards work became a public display? The seriousness he displayed was both well deserved and jarring. Even so, that didn’t stop the three individuals from ultimately acknowledging their defeat.

           “Tch. Fine, fine. You finally got your beloved Choi San as a partner, doing this much for you is nothing.” Signing out of her computer and gathering the files she had opened rather quickly; she took a glance at the chair in which Yunho had set down and followed his method in carrying her desk items with her chair. Stacking the files, her stationary holder and so forth, she rolled her chair over to the desk with the vacancy.

           Without a second to wait, Yunho placed everything from his chair onto his desk and took a seat, sliding over next to San who was looking at him with a grin. Face falling from the somewhat sheepish grin that was plastered on his face while talking to the other three, he shook his head slowly before letting out a hearty chuckle. Speaking at a low, hushed tone, San finally addressed the situation, “You should be an actor with those skills.”

           Only responding with a shrug, followed with a few more chuckles, the rookie officer made sure to finally address what they should have been started on initially. “I’ll run a background check on Kang Yeosang, see if there’s anything I can pull up. I’ll also contact head of hospital security, see if they can pull up CCTV footage and have them send it in.”

           “Good. Don’t forget to get an CCTV footage from the apartment building too, even if it’s from surrounding areas.”

           “On it. What are you going to do in the meantime?”

           “Pull up the phone records on Ms. Kang’s phone, see if we can track her movements up until her death as well as locating the movement of Kang Yeosang’s phone in that time span. Locating him will be a bit difficult with only this, though.”

           “Then what else do you suggest we do? After all, I get that if he’s smart, he probably wouldn’t have allowed for much of his movements to be known—he could have used a different phone, and so forth.”

           “Well, it’s simple. I phone the bunny.” Unlocking his phone and heading right to the contact list, he turned the screen to face Yunho.

           Squinting a bit, he read the name aloud, “The bun—Jung Wooyoung?”

           “Precisely.”

学而不思 则 罔，思而不学 则 殆

           Sitting down in his chair with a hefty sigh, the last forty minutes spent checking—and cleaning—his office of any sign of his semen from ‘prior events’, Wooyoung finally had a clear head again. Sliding the keyboard and mouse back in front of him, the surgeon opened the documented file belonging to Ms. Hwang, and immediately went to the location of the error. Shaking his head, he pressed the ‘Backspace’ key and long held it, erasing the prior instructions and medication listed, changing it to what it should have been initially. ‘I still don’t know who did this, and that’s frustrating. Yeosang…he wouldn’t actually throw me under the bus, would he? There’s no way, right? If I go down, he also goes down. Everything will surface, and he’s not foolish enough to put himself at risk along with me…then what—?’

           While in thought, his phone suddenly began to buzz. Vibrations emulating a heartbeat, the sound of the vibrations hitting the desk knocked him out of his thoughts. Fixating his attention onto his cellular device, he scanned the screen—or rather the name that was plastered on it. Picking up his phone to view the name closer, somewhat out of shock due to the spontaneous call. Hovering his thumb over the ‘accept’ button, he cleared his throat before allowing his thumb to make contact with the screen.

           “Yeosang?”

           “Wooyoung-ah. Can we meet somewhere?”

Chapter Text

Hello! I haven't forgotten about this book, it has simply been placed on a back-burner. The moment Thanksgiving break and winter break hits, expect many updates!

Chapter Text

This is just an update, but after 4 years, I will be picking this back up! I've gone through trials, tribulations and obtained a university degree. Stay posted! I will be rewriting the chapters that are already out, then I will be picking up right where I left off.