M 102

“Ah…”

His whole body ached as if he’d been beaten. Sehwa wanted to sleep a bit more, but his body was screaming at him to get up. After groaning for a while, Sehwa finally opened his bleary eyes. Not only did he feel heavy and droopy, but his stomach hurt terribly. Unusually so.

There was no one in the room. He had felt his right arm was oddly heavy… an IV needle was inserted in the crook of his arm. A fresh patch was wrapped around his wrist, and the bandage with the splint looked new too. The sheets and blanket were all new as well.

Given that he couldn’t remember, it seems he had vomited plenty earlier and then passed out… If so, did Ki Tae-jeong clean up after him?

Staring blankly at the IV drip falling drop by drop, Sehwa slowly sat up. It looked like it was almost finished, so he figured it would be okay to remove it now.

He removed the needle in his arm and all the tape stuck to him, and as he reached out to clean up, another dull pain spread. It was a sensation similar to the unfamiliar pain he felt when waking up. No, it might be even more painful than before.

Sehwa breathed slowly while clutching his stomach. He thought it would be fine soon, since he had felt some stinging in his belly a few times before. But,

“…Saessak.”

This time something was a bit different. A pain like his insides were being sliced by a blade came in intermittent waves like aftershocks.

“Are you… hurting somewhere? Saessak…”

He had just finished the IV drip. Why was this happening? Sehwa tried gritting his teeth and enduring. He tried calling Saessak’s name and talking to shake off the unfamiliar pain, but it was no use. If anything, the pain only grew worse as time passed.

Finally, he felt around above the bed headboard and grasped the tablet placed next to the collar. He thought there might be a function to call someone, since he was told this could open and close curtains, turn lights on and off, and do everything. Anyway, all the examination equipment was laid out in the hallway outside the bedroom, so Lieutenant Na just needed to come.

Wiping away cold sweat, he fumbled around trying to find the desired function, and just as he was about to press it firmly… he hesitated for a moment and then withdrew his hand from above the button.

The call function didn’t seem to have any option to choose who to call. If Lieutenant Na didn’t come but instead Ki Tae-jeong or Warrant Officer Choi came… it seemed like it would become more troublesome. They might mock him for being picky after throwing up all the food they had prepared for him and making them give him an IV drip.

Of course, he hadn’t sensed such a fierce attitude from the man yesterday. Even though he had hugged him and fallen asleep arbitrarily, he hadn’t treated him roughly like before. But his weakened body and mind, beyond reason, overlaid nightmarish imaginings. In any case, in his current state, he didn’t think he could endure even ordinary bickering.

In the end, Sehwa slowly got up from his seat. Lieutenant Na had said he would be waiting on the first floor for a while. He had told him not to hesitate to call even in the middle of the night if he was in pain, so he felt he would have to impose on him again, though he felt sorry.

He hadn’t heard exactly where Lieutenant Na was since he had only stayed in Ki Tae-jeong’s bedroom, but he thought he might be able to meet him if he went to the room where they had installed the ultrasound machine before.

His wrist stung every time he gripped the mattress, but he deceived himself that this was fake pain. Sehwa took careful steps while holding his abdomen. Thanks to the IV drip, he didn’t feel dizzy, just a slight pulling sensation in his stomach.

Come to think of it, the floor used to be bare marble before, but now there was a soft carpet. It still felt monotonous and bleak, but at least it was fortunate that it put less strain on his right ankle.

Ah… should he take this opportunity to ask Lieutenant Na to write a medical opinion stating he shouldn’t have intercourse for a while? It’s a bit embarrassing, but… since Ki Tae-jeong wouldn’t let him even mention a contract, he wanted to make things certain somehow.

Still, in the end he hadn’t done anything when he pleaded that the baby’s condition wasn’t good… If he added Lieutenant Na’s opinion, at least for a while he might not have trouble with bedroom issues, such faint hope blossomed.

Thinking it seemed like a good idea, he nodded slightly to himself, and was just about to leave the bedroom.

“…Anyway, since the Brigadier General will be in the courtroom too, and Major General Oh Seon-ran will be keeping his place, wouldn’t it be better to attend once? Especially if you’re planning to completely clear the previous incidents as not guilty.”

Lieutenant Park’s voice was faintly heard from afar. Although only Lieutenant Park was speaking, there were footsteps of two people climbing the stairs. It seems Ki Tae-jeong was with him as well.

“If you really don’t want to put him on the stand, it might be good to ask Lee Sehwa to record a hologram for testimony purposes.”

Sehwa, who was about to go back inside, perked up his ears at the sudden mention of his name. 

‘Testimony? Me?’

Lieutenant Park continued speaking after that, but he spoke so softly that it was hard to hear. Sehwa tried to concentrate on Lieutenant Park’s voice, not even noticing the sweat forming on his hand gripping the doorknob.

“Since you told Colonel Kim that in the previous trial, I think there won’t be a problem.”

“That was just something I said because Colonel Kim and Oh Seon-ran were running their mouths as they pleased.”

“…Then surely not the CCTV footage installed in the house,”

“Fuck, you call that talking?”

‘CCTV… footage installed in the house?’

“If you tell them you can clear the debt owed to Boss Son, people will line up to testify, so why bother? Just pick from among them.”

“But still…”

“If we give them fragments of the video, this time they’ll say they can’t trust it and demand we hand over the whole thing. Once you start listening to them there’s no end, so act like such things never existed from the start. Forget about testimony holograms or whatever, and don’t put Lee Sehwa at the forefront anymore either.”

Sehwa grasped the doorknob, replaying the words he had just heard.

Lee Sehwa. Testimony purpose. Hologram. CCTV installed in the House. Video footage.

The fragmented words bubbled up from behind his eyelids. As if someone was forcing him to focus only on those letters, the story he had just heard… simply refused to be erased.

“…Lee Sehwa?”

He heard a voice calling his name with confusion.

Having completely muffled their presence since entering the hallway upstairs, he hadn’t realized that Ki Tae-jeong and Lieutenant Park had approached the bedroom. Perhaps he wasn’t in a mental state to notice such things.

Ki Tae-jeong slightly furrowed his brow at Sehwa awkwardly standing in the doorway. His intense gaze scanned his right ankle, both wrists, and the injection marks on his inner arm.

“You still need the IV…”

“Brigadier General.”

It wasn’t anger, nor was it sadness. Having surpassed the threshold of sensations he could feel, he felt no emotion at all.

“The video you just mentioned…, what is it?”

However, contrary to his feelings, his voice, squeezed out of his dry throat, was trembling miserably.

“Just now… you said you installed CCTV in the House…”

“…”

“That video… is it what I’m thinking it might be?”

Tae-jeong’s slightly parted lips pressed firmly shut. Lieutenant Park behind him looked as if he might bite his tongue.

Ah… Sehwa felt he had already heard the answer in the expressions of the two men. It’s true. They really had planned even such a thing….

“Come in, I’ll show it to you so you can see for yourself what it is.” Ki Tae-jeong sighed, rubbing his dry face. “The day we first entered the House, we installed CCTV throughout the building for surveillance. The office, the gambling den, the players’ lounge… everywhere without exception.”

“…”

“The House itself was one of the important pieces of evidence, and because it was an undeniable crime scene…”

“…”

“Even the most ordinary operations start like that. This was too small to even be called an operation, but still, since we were infiltrating a facility… I only gave those basic instructions. At the time, I thought it was necessary.”

Towards the end, anxiety seeped into Ki Tae-jeong’s voice. Uncharacteristically, he seemed to be rambling somewhat.

“Anyway, only I had access to the CCTV server, and later I even forgot about it. We caught Lieutenant Kim more easily than expected, and thanks to that bastard’s stupidity, we had already secured enough evidence in other ways…”

But if he erased all the long excuses and left only the facts, it meant that Ki Tae-jeong knew the CCTV was installed and still intimately involved himself with him there several times. Moreover, it seemed Lieutenant Park knew about this too, and even mentioned it while talking about testimony purposes… It meant that even if not now, in the past, he had considered… the possibility of revealing that record if necessary.

“It wasn’t… I mean, I didn’t install it targeting only you for that purpose, Lee Sehwa!”

The man’s voice resonated dully as if underwater. He couldn’t understand what was happening. His stomach no longer hurt. All sensations were lost, and he only felt as if the ground he was standing on was slowly crumbling.

“Call Lieutenant Na, quickly!”

Even at that moment, thinking that he shouldn’t hurt his stomach, he tried to somehow protect his body… or at least he tried to, but he’s not sure if he succeeded. His fingertips, completely devoid of strength, dropped to the floor.

“I’ll call an ambulance too!”

Lieutenant Park, his face pale white, ran down the stairs taking big strides. Ki Tae-jeong barely held Sehwa’s body as he was about to collapse, moving his hands frantically. He checked if he was breathing properly, felt for his pulse, and scanned his head here and there to see if he had hit anything while falling.

“Lee Sehwa, can you hear me?” Ki Tae-jeong kept calling his name while massaging his hands that were growing cold. “Not like this… I’ll explain everything properly, one by one.”

‘What else…? Is there still something I need to know? How much more pain do I have to endure before I can reach the end?’

“Sehwa.”

In his fading consciousness, a faint resentment briefly blossomed. ‘Why couldn’t you just keep treating me as Lieutenant Kim’s accomplice or a convenient tool? Like in the beginning, kicking me away, tying me up and locking me away. So I wouldn’t harbor any expectations…. If you had done that, no matter how you treated me, I could have really done anything if you just promised to give me an ID card later. I wouldn’t have been in this much pain, and….’

“Lee Sehwa!”

‘Well, I’m not sure. I don’t want to know anything. I don’t want to hear anything …Now, I just want to give up on everything.’

***

The tightly closed operating room door opened after several hours. Ki Tae-jeong, who had been pacing the corridor the entire time, rushed towards Lieutenant Na with bloodshot eyes.

“Lee Sehwa.”

When Sehwa collapsed, he showed no response. Thanks to being caught immediately, he didn’t hurt his head, nor did he cough or bleed. However, the area under his eyes turned bluish instantly, as if he were dead. Seeing his vitality fade away like a withered flower made his heart sink.

“I’m asking how Lee Sehwa is!”

“The surgery is still in progress, but… there’s an urgent matter I need to ask you about, Brigadier General.”

Colonel Kim, who had failed to take Boss Son from the House, was insisting on handing over the CCTV installed inside. It was a ploy to try to tarnish Ki Tae-jeong’s reputation even slightly by bringing up allegations of brutality during the occupation.

When he entered the House wearing the laughable title of director, he thought it was natural to place eyes of surveillance everywhere.

He had forgotten about it now, and of course had no such intentions anymore, but… it was true that when he first took Sehwa, he had thought it might be convenient later as it would also capture him appearing to desire him of his own accord. He had even confidently declared as much to Lieutenant Park.

He had no intention of denying that he had severely pressured Sehwa. Even if they first met as a soldier and a drug offender, it doesn’t erase the cruel violation that occurred. He knew well that it couldn’t be an excuse that he had completely forgotten the initial plan as he became tainted by the cool affection Sehwa gave him afterwards…

However, he didn’t want Sehwa to find out about everything in such a worst-case timing and manner.

Looking back, this situation had been repeating itself ever since he first offered a light lie as an excuse. It was like dominoes that had already started to collapse, and it seemed there was nothing he could do but watch.

He didn’t know where the thread had started to tangle, and now he couldn’t even guess where or how to touch it to unravel it.

“We had to perform the surgery earlier than expected, but… we successfully moved to the incubator, and the baby’s condition is better than we thought. Fortunately, it was over 4 months, so we had many cases to refer to. However…”

“However?”

Lieutenant Na, with eyes sunken from fatigue and worry, bit his lower lip for a moment. 

“…I’m not sure if you remember, but I mentioned before that Lee Sehwa’s basic levels weren’t good and his uterus seemed weak, but strangely only the fetus appeared healthy. The situation is still the same. We successfully completed the surgery to deliver the baby, but… the mother, Lee Sehwa’s bleeding continues.”

“…”

“We were relieved that the anesthesia worked, but instead… none of our hemostatic methods are working. We can’t control the internal bleeding in areas that can’t be sealed with a laser.” 

Lieutenant Na took a deep breath, as if he didn’t want to say this next part. 

“The measure we’re trying to take now requires one more consent form from you, Brigadier General, as Lee Sehwa’s legal guardian.”

“…Consent form?”

“We want to try administering A7 along with the blood transfusion.”

“You’re going to use A7?”

A7 was a special treatment even within the military. It was a drug developed at the insistence of a paranoid head of state who demanded preparation for any possible situation, ordering that his life be preserved no matter what happened.

Of course, its effectiveness was more powerful than any other treatment. However, the side effects were also considerable, so it had become a white elephant with no use now. Even Ki Tae-jeong, who had been through countless battlefields, had only heard of it but never taken it. Even when shot by bullets and stabbed by knives, bleeding profusely, H3 was usually sufficient.

But now they needed to use A7 on Lee Sehwa…

“And as you well know, this method… in the worst case scenario, you need to be prepared for Lee Sehwa’s death.”