Chapter Text
“Why must we save this man?”, Joong-gil asks with a scowl as they stare down at the pathetic shell of a man crouched at their feet. They’d just stopped him from jumping onto the train tracks. The ground shakes beneath them as the train thunders past, not taking their case’s life with it.
“He’s stolen from people who love him. People who tried to help him”, Joong-gil continues, face thunderous. “Everyone’s cast him out just because he’s so desperate for a fix. Why should we save him of all people?”
“I didn’t mean to”, the man moans, rocking himself. “I didn’t mean to. I just wanted to feel okay again. Just for a little while.”
Pity courses though Ryeon at the sight. She kneels down next to him after a quick glance at Ryung-gu. He’s frozen, staring down at their case. Clearly lost in his own thoughts, thinking about how this had been him at some point. Joong-gil doesn’t know that particular fact and she doesn’t plan on telling him either.
“I understand you didn’t mean to hurt the people your care about”, she says sternly. “But you need to get help. If you do so your family will want to see you again. And if you get help, and only then, we’ll tell them and convince them to contact you.”
The man looks up at her through his fingers. “Really? Even…”, he swallows harshly. “Even my sister?”
Ryeon nods, gaze impassive even as she wonders how they’ll convince the woman. She’d been more than furious the last time she saw her brother and, considering the fact he’d just stolen money out of her daughter’s bank account, Ryeon doesn’t blame her. “Even your sister.”
“If you can get clean”, Joong-gil reminds him poisonously. “Which, from the looks of it, I seriously doubt.”
That seems to do it. The man sits up with a determined scowl, despite the tremors still coursing through his body. “I can do it”, he grits out. “I’ve been like this for long enough. I want to make things right if dying isn’t an option.”
“It’s not”, Ryeon says quickly before Joong-gil can say anything. “Your family still loves the real you, mister Kang. Not this version of you.”
After they make sure mister Kang walks through the doors of the rehab clinic and check his percentage to make sure he’s in the green, they make their way back to the office. Joong-gil has a thoughtful look on his face the entire way there.
"Seems like our next case is a miss Cho", Ryung-gu announces, holding up his phone for them to see. A photo of a young woman and a flashing 87% greets them. "But you can deal with that, since I am off the clock."
"You know your mom is safe by now", Ryeon says mildly. "You don't need to leave so early."
Ryung-gu shrugs. "Take it up with my employer, she signed our contract. Oh wait..."
And with that statement and a smug grin that’s a little too tight around the edges he leaves the room. Ryeon snorts, she admittedly walked into that one.
He technically hasn’t actually finished his shift yet, but she lets him go. She’s a little worried, but knows he’s strong enough to get through this alone. She’s never had to hold his hand and she’s always appreciated that about him. His independence makes him Ryung-gu.
“What’s up with him?”, Joong-gil asks with raised eyebrows. “He’s been weird all day.”
Joong-gil has been part of their team for about two weeks now. He’s not used to it yet, most of the time he still sneers at their cases. But sometimes, she thinks she sees a hint of understanding there. Just quick flashes that are gone as soon as she looks at him more closely. Those moments give her hope, though.
“Who knows?”, Ryeon says. “Ryung-gu’s always been a weird guy.”
“I guess you’d know all about it”, Joong-gil murmurs. He shakes his head and looks at her. “Do we have time for this miss Cho?”
She looks at her watch. “It’s 5PM. I’d say we have plenty of time. You want to do it with just the two of us, though?”
Joong-gil’s gaze is unreadable as he nods. “Of course.”
“Alright”, Ryeon agrees easily, fishing her phone out of her pocket and walking over to him. He leans over her shoulder to look along with her as she opens their next case’s file. His breath tickles her ear and she suppresses a shiver. It’s been a long time since they were so close. Too long, she thinks and it takes everything in her not to lean back against his chest and melt into him like she would have in their first life. One look at the broken thread on her wrist brings her back to reality. She can’t do that, she doesn’t deserve to do that anymore.
How hypocritical would she be to look for his affection now, when she took that chance from him in their first life. She’d heard him all those nights when he cried for her in an empty bed. Every sob had been like a dagger in her heart as she roamed that endless tunnel, each gasped 'Bu-in' an iron leash to bring her down to her knees.
“Ryeon”, he says lowly, breath fanning over her neck and this time she can’t suppress the shiver. The next word leaves his mouth in a longing whisper: “Ryeon…”
“The case”, she says forcefully and she pulls up the same profile Ryung-gu just showed them. Still 87%. Ever since dealing with Ryung-gu's mother she always checks the number frequently. She reads the woman’s details, pointedly ignoring the breaths still ghosting over her nape. "We'll have to move in next door. She's not working currently and barely leaves her appartment.”
"And pretend to be a couple?”, Joong-gil asks carefully. His voice level again and she takes a step away from him, so they can face each other. He doesn't look upset, but she wouldn't wish to make him uncomfortable. "That or I move in alone and you pretend to be a friend visiting. Or we could always wait until tomorrow so Ryung-gu can pretend to be my partner?”
One of his eyebrows twitches. “You two do that kind of thing often?”
“Not often”, she says. “But occasionally we have to.”
It’s always awkward and they try to avoid it as much as possible, but sometimes it’s just easier to explain things that way. Like when they have to move into the same building as their case. Or that one time they were forced to enter a BDSM club just to reach one. She still cringes when she remembers how Ryung-gu pulled her onto his lap and pretended to fondle her so they were both shielded from other wandering hands and able to strategize their next move.
“This is just as bad for me as it is for you, ma’am”, he’d forced out between gritted teeth when she warningly gripped his shoulder.
It’s true that she’s never seen Ryung-gu as a brother, but neither has she ever seen him as a potential romantic interest. They have too much history and until recently she thought herself long past that kind of thing. They’re just partners, the RM team employees.
Joong-gil’s actually frowning now and she feels the inexplicable need to explain herself. “We don’t like doing it, sometimes it’s just convenient.”
“Yes”, he says, looking away. “I guess I could see that.”
She silently waits for his answer and wonders if it would be awkward with Joong-gil too. She doubts it, it would likely be incredibly easy to pretend they were back together. Even with their broken soul bond. Her eye falls to his wrist, where the severed thread of fate hangs. A wave of regret courses through her for what seems like the thousandth time in her existence.
“Let’s pretend we’re a couple”, he says then, gaze determined. “The sooner we save miss Cho, the better.”
She smiles slightly at his choice of wording. “I agree.”
Miss Cho looks horrible. Purple bags surround her eyes and her hair is a mess. It’s like she hasn’t slept in weeks. Ryeon keeps the pleasant smile on her face, though. She’s seen worse.
“Who are you?”, the young woman croaks, leaning heavily against the door frame.
“We’re your new neighbors. I’m Ryeon”, Ryeon says and she motions towards Joong-gil, swallowing down the way she wants to introduce him as her husband. “This is my boyfriend Joog-gil. We’d like to invite you over for a drink, so we can get to know each other better.”
“I thought…”, their case falls silent. “Oh, I guess they must’ve moved out already. I hadn’t even noticed.”
A long silence falls as miss Cho looks at the door to their apartment with a vacant expression.
“Well, what do you say?”, Joong-gil asks from behind her. She can hear the underlying tension in his voice. But he stays polite. “Would you like to come over?”
The young woman startles out of her trance and hesitates. “It's very kind of you to ask, but I don’t know. I don’t think I’m the best company at the moment…”
“Nonsense”, Ryeon says. “We’d love to have you over.”
“Alright then…”, miss Cho says quietly. “Let me just change out of these clothes. I’ll be there in a couple of minutes.”
“This is good'', she tells Joong-gil as they get back to the apartment. He gives her a disbelieving look. “She’s willing to come over, that’s good.”
“She looks so…defeated”, Joong-gil says and that’s a kind way of putting it. “What do you think happened to her?”
“That’s what we’ll try to find out”, she says as she plants herself on the couch. He sits down next to her, their legs touching. She doesn’t pull away.
They sit in silence for a while, just waiting for miss Cho to show up. She looks at him, studying him closely. He’s looking down at his clasped hands, gaze faraway. He always seems so deep in thought. She finds that she hates thinking too much these days, no matter what she thinks about, her thoughts always lead her to her guilt.
“Have you been sleeping better lately?”, she asks before she can stop herself.
He looks up, clearly thrown off by the question. For years she’d allowed him his sullen silences, never once breaking them. Things were different now, though. They had to be.
His gaze softens when he sees the genuine curiosity on her face. He chuckles softly. “That takes me back.”
It takes her back, too. Back to before he found out about her beliefs and the RM team. Back to before he started looking at her with contempt. He’d just started growing fond of her again, too. She’d noticed it despite her reservations.
“Now that you mention it, I guess I have been sleeping better”, he says. “I still get nightmares, but now that I remember it isn’t as terrifying as it used to be. I can recognize myself in the person I see in the nightmares.”
“It wasn’t really you, though”, she says carefully. “You weren’t like that.”
“But I was”, Joong-gil argues. “I know we both didn’t want to face it back then, but I was like that. That bitterness is a part of me. You’ve had it directed at you for so long now, how can you still deny it?”
“Because your kindness far outweighed that bitterness”, Ryeon says defensively. She doesn't like anyone badmouthing her former husband, even if he's the one doing so. “You were kind before you were cruel.”
“Were?”, Joong-gil asks. “Not anymore, then?”
“I…”, Ryeon flounders, not expecting the question. At some point she’d started thinking of her husband Joong-gil and team leader Joong-gil as different people. They had been different people. The Jade Emperor had told her that specifically. Still, she sees more of her husband in this Joong-gil than she has in hundreds of years. She decides to be honest. “For a while, you weren’t.”
Joong-gil nods slowly, expression pinched. “You’re right, of course. No matter how much I dislike that answer.” He lets out a sigh. “I still wish you’d told me about us earlier. I wish I hadn’t been so unkind towards you.”
Ryeon knows she should tell him it doesn’t matter anymore, that their thread of fate was severed long ago, but she can’t. Not now that he’s part of the RM team and doing his best to connect with her again.
“We can’t change the past”, she says instead. “I just...I’m glad you’re not afraid to sleep anymore”
“Yeah.” He gives her a half-smile. “Me, too.”