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Lee Dô walked through the hospital corridors, his arm still bruised from the recent events. The sound of the gunshot that had unleashed the chaos in that square still echoed strongly in his mind. The child he had saved amidst that confusion was now his son. A new reason to carry on, to be even stronger.
Dô stopped in front of a window. There was Moon Baek, hooked up to countless machines. The doctor had said his condition wasn't the best. The shot had been precise, and he had lost a lot of blood in the process. His breathing was irregular, and he had been unconscious for over a week, showing no signs of improvement.
Lee entered the room. The smell of medication and that unmistakable hospital aroma invaded his airways. Baek looked so fragile, so harmless in that bed. The same harmless expression he had shown when she helped him carry his foster mother's body. He looked like something he would never be—even if he regretted all his mistakes.
It's not like he could say anything. Baek killed over a hundred people. But he knew his sins. And, in some twisted way, those deaths were necessary. He believed he had saved other lives in exchange for the ones he took. In the end, perhaps he was just a man who saw sacrifice as part of a greater good.
Lee sat on the bed of the man he would never have the courage to admit he had once loved—and perhaps still loved to this day.
"I wish I had never gotten close to you... everything would be easier," he whispered, standing next to the unconscious body.
Even with everything that had happened, and with everything that was yet to happen—after all, many weapons had been distributed, and recovering them one by one required time and patience—he couldn't hate him.
Even with Moon having fired over twenty shots at him...
He couldn't hate him.
Why was this feeling so consuming?
⸻
... Time skip...
⸻
Moon woke up. The world seemed distant. A nurse stood beside him, and upon seeing him awaken, she began asking the usual questions.
"Sir, you were unconscious for a week and three days! For you, that was until recently. Your cancer had almost spread throughout your body... it was a miracle you woke up!"
She checked the machines and adjusted the bed, raising the backrest so he could sit up.
"W-what...? What do you mean? Who brought me here?"
Moon asked, astonished. What was Jake like now? What about the weapons? What about the business?
His heart was racing. He was on the verge of despair.
"A police officer brought you. I think his name was... Lee... Do? Something like that. He was in a hurry and answered everything rather quickly, so I wasn't sure."
The nurse spoke in a light, almost playful tone.
"Lee Do?" Moon repeated, confused.
That didn't make sense.
He had shot Lee more than twenty times, killed the sergeant the officer considered a father, distributed countless weapons, and nearly destroyed his job and life.
"Uh-huh. He comes to visit you every day, without fail!" the nurse said, smiling. "Are you two dating or something?"
Moon's eyes widened. He didn't even have time to be surprised by the revelation that Lee visited him every day, because that question caught him completely off guard. He was the biggest arms dealer in the country... but he wasn't good with that kind of thing.
"NO! That's everything I don't want!" Moon replied, flushed and harsh.
"...Okay then," the nurse replied, unable to hide her embarrassment. "Anyway, if you need anything, there's a red button next to the bed. Anything, just press it. We won't hesitate to come."
She left the room after the mild scolding she'd received from a patient—not common, but also not particularly surprising when it came to Moon Baek.
The room fell silent.
Moon stared at the ceiling, breathing heavily. This still didn't make sense.
...
*Chiic... vuuush
The bedroom door opened. Delicately, almost imperceptibly. But for someone who was a weapons trafficker and one of the most wanted men in the world, any noise was noticeable.
Moon, thanks to the elevated bed and the sharp vision of his one remaining eye—compensating for the loss of the other—was able to glimpse who it was...
Lee Do.
In desperation, Moon pretended to still be unconscious, hoping no one had told him upon arrival that he was already awake.
Do sat up in bed.
Moon felt his eyes pierce his soul, as if they saw all his sins. It was a blessing that he knew how to pretend. He had no idea what would have become of him at that moment if he hadn't had that ability. He was nervous. Even with his acting experience, he wasn't sure if he was acting well enough right now.
Suddenly, a cold hand touched his face.
Moon froze.
There were only the two of them in that room.
"I wanted so badly for you to wake up... I wanted so badly to leave you here and move on with my life. But I couldn't. I tried. I swear I tried." The voice was low, firm. "You've brought nothing but misery to my life. But why, even so... do I want you so much?"
Moon froze.
What the hell had he just heard?
Was that a prank? Was it genuine? Was he dreaming?
He didn't even know if he was managing to pretend he was unconscious anymore—and fuck that, too.
What do you mean? The most badass cop ever loved him?
How did the guy he almost killed... love him?
It wasn't mutual... or was it?
Lee's hand moved away from his face, and with it, Moon felt as if the entire room had cooled.
What a draining feeling.
"I hope you get better," Dô said, already standing. "I don't care how much shit you've done. I just want you again. Even if it's just seeing your face behind prison bars."
And with that, Lee left the room.
Moon stood still for a few seconds, the silence enveloping him completely.
"What the hell was that?" he murmured, in shock, as if finally waking from a disconcerting dream.
...
Moon closed his eyes.
He wanted to sleep, he wanted to forget, but his mind insisted on taking him away from the present.
...
When he realized it, he was already immersed in memories he'd always tried to bury. Moments that, at the time, seemed random.
But now... they seemed like everything.
...
The first image that appeared was Jeong Man, knife in hand, about to attack Lee inside that elevator. And even without having any connection to him, even without knowing him well, Moon stepped between them, preventing the tragic outcome.
In a way, it would even benefit him—after all, Do was the officer who made his operations the most difficult, uncovering everything about the drug trade with unusual agility.
But even so... he didn't let Jeong Man touch Lee...
And to this day, he doesn't understand why.
...
Moon remembered Lee's confused look at that moment.
He had no idea what was happening. He probably had a bad feeling... and suddenly, Moon was protecting him.
He never spoke about it to anyone. Not even to himself. But in that moment, he knew Lee Do had given him something...
A piece of himself.
...
Immediately afterward, the memory of Do's foster mother came to him. She was weak, practically fainting in Moon's arms.
Do didn't know what to do, just trying to keep her conscious, silent with pain. Moon, silent, carried her body to the car. She didn't say a word. And she didn't need to. The silence between them that day said more than any sentence.
He never knew how to deal with families, with bonds... but that day, he stayed...
He stayed because Dô was there, in need...
And maybe, just maybe, he wanted Lee to be well and at peace, for once.
...
Then came the revelation. The moment Lee discovered who he truly was.
The man of legend, the drug dealer with eyes of different colors. A past marked by blood, loss, and irreversible choices.
When his identity was exposed, Moon expected anger, screams, handcuffs. But Dô just stared at him...
Without anger. Without judgment.
With something he couldn't quite identify at the time. Today, he knew...
It was confusion. It was desire. It was passion.
...
Now, lying in that bed, his eyes fixed on the white, lifeless ceiling, Moon realized how much all of that had affected him.
He remembered the blood on the floor, the muffled sound of gunshots, and Dô's desperate voice after losing the sergeant. "The man he considered a father."
And he remembered, clearly, how he looked at him afterward. A lost look, full of pain, but without hatred.
What he saw in Lee's eyes at that moment was...
Disappointment. Pure and raw.
And only now, for the first time, Moon understood what she felt in that moment...
Guilt.
...
Maybe I felt something too that night... But I didn't want to accept it. I couldn't accept it.
It was easier to hide behind anger, sarcasm, the gun at my waist.
It was easier to pretend it never happened.
...
Moon took a deep breath. The hospital air felt even colder.
Maybe it's less painful to admit someone truly loved me than to keep pretending I never needed it.
And maybe, deep down, deep down... a part of me still longs to be loved back.
...
In the end, maybe all that confusing feeling some call love...
Will be a new trigger for you.