THE MEDIC ㅡ chapter 10

"LOOK HERE, BUDDY." the same guy, who was the first one he saw, ushered for inseong's attention on him.

"you're unchained now, but if you do stupid shit like trying to escape or even punching me in the face right now, the line gets cut. got it?"

inseong was too in shock to even notice that he's actually unchained and too in shock to answer the statement with a simple 'i understand'. didn't even ask why he's being unchained in the first place.

so he nodded instead.

"good." the guy immediately changed his serious expression to a genuinely smiling one. "i'm jared - well that's my codename, so call me jaeyoon instead."

"codename?"

"yeah we use codenames to call each other when we're in mission. all of us has one. the lady you met was victoria and you already know hwiyoung." jared - rather - jaeyoon calmly told him, slowly helping inseong to stand up.

so hwiyoung was just a codename.

that's when inseong noticed the pain on his back and shoulders. a slight burn on his cheekbone and hand.

"are you still dizzy? the pin victoria used on you was one of the moderate ones so it was stronger than the last time." jaeyoon told inseong nonchalantly as if talking to a confused and innocent child.

and did he just refer to what happened at the ball?

jaeyoon helped the taller guy out of the dark room to open the door to the other side.
bright ambient light greeted inseong's eyes.
in front of him is a wide red carpeted hallway.

"where.. am i?" inseong asked, unconsciously blurting the question out.

"we're in one of our headquarters. this mansion was once the vacation house of victoria's family." jaeyoon said, letting inseong take in the new surroundings for a bit before suddenly remembering his real intention. "come follow me to the clinic. we're fixing that wound on your face, it makes you look less attractive."

inseong followed jaeyoon as he walked to the room right next to the ones he was just in.

jaeyoon opened the door to reveal a wide spacious room. four hospital beds are placed next to each other with convenient spaces in between. they are leaned to the wall, facing the big window right at the opposite wall. from the clear glass window, the beautiful sight of a white sanded beach being whipped with blue ocean waves greeted inseong.

"beautiful, right?" jaeyoon asked, waking inseong from his short trance. "come sit here, i'll go grab the things i need."

inseong sat on the bed where jaeyoon gestured to. he watched as the tall man entered a connecting room which seem to be a storage of all medical stuff.
while waiting, inseong look around to see a bunch of medical achievement awards and permits. all with 'lee jaeyoon' on them.

'so he is a legit doctor or something.'

the room is clean, just not environmentally speaking but all the air and atmosphere. it's not those thick medical scented room, but a clean fresh smell is lingering in the air.

"so you're the doctor of the team?" inseong asked lowly, seeing jaeyoon walk out of the room with medical supplies and closing the door behind him.

"pretty much. it's inconvenient to go to a hospital when you're an injured assassin." jaeyoon said, sitting next to inseong and starting to work on the wound on his cheek.

"right."

well he has a point.

"you might be asking why we're being civil with you right now." jaeyoon said, dabbing the wound with a half soaked cotton ball. inseong hissed at the burning feeling of the sanitising alcohol on his open wound.

"y-yeah.."

"actually, i don't even know the answer to that. victoria didn't tell us to keep you in the white room and torture you till you rot so that only means that you'll be free to roam the residence."

"is victoria your...leader?" inseong muttered.

jaeyoon stopped dabbing on the cotton ball, surprised at what inseong has just said.

"whoa, you're really fast to catch on!" jaeyoon exclaimed, amazed at inseong's percepting skills. "well you can call her a leader, we called her that once too, but she said she's more of the coordinator of plans."

"she said not to call her a leader and to not treat her as someone who's superior."

the medic continued on his job, opening a pack of plaster.

"so you all are in.. a cult?" inseong asked, trying to understand and get more information while he still can.

"mhm." jaeyoon pointed at the small crest pin pinned on the collar of his shirt, unwrapping the plaster while inseong stared at the oddly familiar crest.

it's a snake with a crown that wrapped itself on a checked diamond with a phoenix and russian characters 'черный ирис'. a latin saying is written on the band a little over the diamond.

'oderint dum metuant'

"there you go." jaeyoon said, grabbing something from his pocket making inseong avert his eyes. "eat this, it will make you feel better."

"it's... chocolate.."

"well duh mr. obvious."

inseong hesitantly takes the trustworthy branded chocolate bar from the medic.

"come, i'll show you to your room." jaeyoon ushered him up and out of the infirmary.

the mansion was extremely spacious and sturdy. the walls are painted in white with black marble flooring and draperies parted to both sides of all the tall, mighty glass windows.

standing in the middle of the big hallway and looking up, one will be able to see the other two floors by the help of black painted railings. a humungous chandelier is handing from the barouqe painted ceiling.

"here's your room." jaeyoon told him, pointing at the door in front of them. they're on the last door of the second floor front wing after hitting the stairs with like hundred steps. "you have the most quiet roommates. i must say, you're lucky."

"where's your room?" inseong asked.

jaeyoon faced the opposite direction and pointed on the back wing. "the second one from the stairs on the other side. that's my room."

"oh," inseong said, mentally noting it as he reached for the golden doorknob of the bigblack door. "okay then.. thanks."

"no problem~!" jaeyoon was about to turn around and go back down the stairs when he suddenly remembered one last thing. "wait - inseong."

"y-yeah?"

"this room," jaeyoon pointed at the first room from the stairs. "you're not allowed to go in alright? then the other two rooms are owned by chancler and victoria, i can't remember which one's which."

"....i don't wanna figure out either." inseong mumbled under his breath. it makes him uneasy just knowing that his room is in the same side as victoria, a lethal hand-in-hand fighter who has never failed to knock him down ever since they've met.

she even greeted with him a punch instead of a handshake.

tsk.

"the kitchen is downstairs just behind the stairs and a helpful reminder," jaeyoon paused. "knock on doors before entering them 'kay? see ya around inseong."

the ranger watched jaeyoon's back as he nonchalantly stepped down the stairs.

inseong opened the door to his... room - or should've he knocked first? eh, who cares.

the sight made him take a step back.

it was a big room, bigger than he expected since the door was right next to the new set of stairs leading the the third storey.

he entered and slowly closed the heavy door behind him, looking around the unfamiliar room.

it has long glass windows to the side and a glass door to what seems like the balcony of the room - a sight of escape facing right at the beach.

he plopped himself on the actually soft double bed that is leaned on the wall next to the door.

he closed his eyes in exhaustion.

"this is too good to be an assassin group's headquarters."

EDITED.

[ GLOSSARY ]

'ODERINT DUM METUANT' ㅡ 'let them hate so long as they fear.'