Chapter Text
Fuck, fuck, if he knows why he’s here. He has a soul to collect in just under five minutes. But he’s rooted here instead: presses his back - grinds his shoulder blades against it, almost - into the wall he’s against, listening intently through the crack of the slightly opened door.
“Thankfully,” the doctor says, and he hears the tapping and swish of the screen swiping, “it isn’t too bad. See here? It’s just surface damage.”
“How is that surface damage?!” Jun-woong screeches. Joong-gil shifts just slightly, and he can see flailing fingers, emphatically pointing at a hand caked in dark, malignant-looking markings. Alone the lineations are already stark, but the black is saturated by the shine of her black nails. From here, he can see a middle finger nail is chipped.
“-but it’s still only the first day since you’ve had the ring,” the doctor continues, calm in the face of Jun-Woong’s panic. “You’ll need to make sure you don’t overextend yourself for the remainder of the week.”
“Yes, yes. I will,” Ryeon says dismissively. There’s a shuffling of things, and then her exasperated sigh.
“Give it here.”
“Team Leader,” Jun-Woong cajoles, holding her coat out of reach, “You passed out. You ought to stay longer.”
“It’s just the ring’s effect.”
She’s a flash of pink, as she snatches her coat from Jun-Woong. Ryung-gu steps into view, blocking, but that pink disappears anyway, as she returns back to where she is sitting.
Ryung-gu’s voice is steady, but with a slight edge to it, “Yes, but you did exert yourself.”
“And now you?”
“She’s fine,” the doctor affirms through a laugh, “You’ve got some good subordinates, Ryeon-ah!”
Ryeon just grunts.
“She’s fine, like I said.” The squeak of a chair, and the doctor now appears. One hand is in her coat pocket, the other waving her pen somewhere in presumably Ryeon’s direction. “But I don’t suggest you wear anything against your neck - like, a scarf, for a little while. Certainly not the kind of top you’re wearing right now, with that choker. It’s cute, Ryeon-ah. But not so much the bruising under that.”
“Bruise? What bruise?”
“Ah- From that time-” Ryung-gu trails off. He clears his throat.
“What time? What time?”
“Are you a broken record or something?”
“Well, it would help me to know what happened,” the doctor shifts out of view again, heels clicking as she walks forward - again, presumably towards Ryeon, “So I can assess how bad it is. I mean you’ll heal, your recovery time is still one of the best. But goodness, the soul this time must have really been nasty,” she tsks, “I thought you worked suicide cases?”
“We do. And it wasn’t a soul. It was a reaper.”
“Mr. Lim.”
“It was Team Leader Park. There was an incident with him. What? She asked. I had to answer, in the interest of your health. I certainly don’t want to be responsible for leading this team, if you’re down for the count.”
“That bastard.”
“Park Joong-gil, huh. What a surprise,” the doctor muses, “considering the two of you.”
“Shin Hye-rin,” Ryeon intones.
“But maybe not. Again, considering. In any case, you’re fine, I can discharge you. Just take it easy. And the bruising - it always hurts more the next day, so be prepared when you drink, or eat, something for the first time.”
“I swear when I see that bastard again-”
“Because that went real well last time,” Ryung-gu drawls.
“Hey-- You're one to talk-"
"Really good subordinates,” Hye-rin’s laugh is closer now, as she reaches for the door. “I’ll see you later, Ryeon-ah. Good work, you two.”
"Would you go already."
Joong-gil scrambles, shifts so his back is turned away from the door. He unpockets his phone to pretend, but then winces at the time when he actually does look. Hye-rin’s heels click away; stop; his stomach turns for a half-second, before it turns out to be another doctor approaching her.
“Doctor Shin, can you take a look at....”
Their conversations trail off, footsteps fading. He stays as is, for a few short seconds more, before turning back towards the door.
Ryung-gu’s standing there, in the space of the opened door frame. There’s some faint bickering between Ryeon and Jun-woong, from within the room. He looks at Joong-gil pointedly, while the rest of his expression remains seemingly vacuous.
He steps back, closes the door shut summarily.
Joong-gil’s eyes shut themselves. The reproach is unnecessary - when he already is left with half self-recriminations; and the dregs of resentment towards her. The rest of his feelings unidentified, as he teleports to the next assignment.