CHAPTER 19: CUTS AND WOUNDS

 “One move from either of you two and Dami will die.”

Dr. Choi’s voice was clear like ice cold water. All movement in the office had stopped. Soonyoung and Wonwoo were both staring at me in shock. Even Seungcheol had frozen in his tracks, staring at the doctor’s scalpel that had been placed against the skin of my neck. It felt sharp and I was sure there was already a hint of a cut there.

“Dami”, my name escaped Wonwoo’s lips and my eyes glued onto him. I stared at him, trying to stay calm by just concentrating on the boy’s face.

“This...” Dr. Choi started as he got a better grip of me. “This is exactly why we need to get rid of drifters. Minorities get scary when they get organized, you know?”

I listened to his words and closed my eyes as I felt the cold edge of the scalpel press against my neck again. I tried to control my breathing. Passing out in this situation wouldn’t be good. I tried to go through different possibilities in my head. Where did things go wrong? It was probably when Seungcheol tried to escape the room. If he wasn’t there to begin with, we would’ve been able to end things quickly. One shot at Dr. Choi would’ve ended it all. Now there was nothing we could do. The gun was lying on the floor next to my feet, there was no possibility anyone could take it and turn the tables around. Seungcheol was the only one in the room who could move but even he was shocked by the situation - and I knew he was too fond of his father to actually do anything about the situation.

“Seungcheol”, Dr. Choi said. “Dami shall be the first. Take those two out of the office - let them wait for their turn.”

Seungcheol looked like he was hesitating for a fraction of a second, but he managed to get a grip of himself and turned to face Wonwoo and Soonyoung. He grabbed them by their collars and started to drag them out of the office.

“Dami”, my name escaped Wonwoo’s lips again and he tried to resist Seungcheol, but the doctor raised his eyebrows at the boy and repositioned the scalped against my skin. He was forced to leave the room.

As the room was emptied and the door was closed behind Seungcheol and the others, the doctor suddenly took the scalpel off my neck and let me go. I fell on my knees on the floor, panting heavily and shaking in terror. For a second I couldn’t really see anything. Then my eyes could focus again and my sight was glued on the gun next to me. It was lying there, on the floor, waiting for me to grab it and shoot. I was about to do as my mind told me to when Dr. Choi noticed my intentions and made a quick move - he kicked the gun to the other side of the room and then proceeded to step on my hand.

I didn’t know very well of anatomy but I could feel something cracking and let out a painful sob. Something had broken or fractured for sure. I was just kneeling down on the floor, sobbing and letting the tears flow. When the man finally stepped away from my hand, the pain disappeared for a second or two before coming back even more intense. I couldn’t hold back the cries as I held my hand and stared at the man, terrified.

“Oh, Dami”, the man sighed. “Don’t look at me like that. This whole mess is your fault, you know that. If you weren’t so damn independent and curious, I could’ve just killed you peacefully with that poison. No sleep, no appetite, a slow but peaceful death. Now I have to go through so much just to get rid of you. So pest-like.”

I let out another cry of pain and glared at the man. “You’re a monster, do you know that?”

“I’m not a monster”, the man stated quickly, glaring back at me. “I’m the salvation. No more unhappy drifter children who don’t know what they are and what they should do.”

“That can be controlled!” I screamed at the man. “You know that too. With proper teaching, something you just couldn’t do - “

Dr. Choi had clearly had enough of me shouting. He rushed towards me and pushed me against the wall, slamming his hand onto my mouth, covering it and preventing me from speaking. He glared at me angrily once again before raising his scalpel into my sight again. The man raised his eyebrows.

“See, it’s so much better when you can’t make a sound”, he said, nodding by himself. “You should thank me. I emptied the room for you. I did say I’d always be on your side, remember?”

The hand was removed from my mouth and the cold scalpel was placed against the skin of my throat. I let out a silent, muffled whine. I didn’t want to die. Tears were falling down my cheeks and I shut my eyes tightly. Wonwoo. Wonwoo. His name was rotating around in my mind. I wanted Wonwoo by my side.

“Now you can die in peace”, the man whispered.

“Wrong.”

My eyes spread wide open as I heard Seungcheol’s voice speaking behind Dr. Choi. I stared as the doctor turned his head enough to stare at his son, never taking the scalpel off my skin. We were both shocked by the boy’s sudden appearance, but what was even more shocking, I knew, was the gun he was holding. Dr. Choi had kicked it away from me earlier. It had probably made its’ way to the door so it was easy for Seungcheol to pick up. The situation was unreal. Seungcheol just stood there, the gun pointed at his father who looked too dumbfounded to really do anything. Seungcheol glanced at me with tears in his eyes. I narrowed my eyes a little bit. What was going on?

The boy loaded the gun.

“What do you think you’re doing, son?” Dr. Choi asked.

“I miss the old times. The times before you became obsessed with this, dad. Before you went mad”, Seungcheol said. I could hear the pain and the tears from his voice even though my vision was slowly becoming blurry.

Dr. Choi let out a sigh. “I’ve had enough of this game.”

“I’m sorry, dad.”

Just as the scalpel began moving against my neck I heard a loud bang. For a second everything stayed still. Then the scalpel was dropped to the floor and soon after, the doctor followed. First he was on his knees, then he slowly fell onto his stomach. My knees went weak and I collapsed onto the floor, next to the doctor, crying hysterically. I couldn’t really feel anything. All the fear and terror and pain I had experienced was just flowing out of me as the form of tears.

Seungcheol dropped the gun and rushed towards his dad, sitting down next to him, rolling the man onto his back. He was crying out continuous apologies.

“Dad, I’m right here”, he whispered as he placed the man’s head onto his lap and tried to make him as comfortable as possible. “I’m sorry. You’ll be all right. Please forgive me. Try to relax.”

It was obvious the man was dying and as a medical student Seungcheol knew it too. It was heartbreaking to watch the boy as he tried to comfort and calm down his father who probably didn’t even understand his son’s words anymore.

“I’m so sorry”, the boy cried. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”

We were both crying. I listened to the loud sobs and apologies and the dying man’s gasps for minutes until everything became silent. The only sound to be heard now were the occasional silent sniffs Seungcheol let out. He was out of tears and crying but the sniffs still came as a reflex. He was crouching over his father’s dead body, looking exhausted and upset. I slowly got up from the floor, faltering and swaying from side to side. I was dizzy. I tried to ignore that and walk towards Seungcheol. He had saved me. He was my enemy but he had saved us all. He had killed his father and saved us all.

“Are you - “ I was about to start speaking and the boy turned around to glare at me so poisonously I let out a gasp.

“Leave. Go away”, the boy growled at me. “Never come back.”

I frowned a little bit. I understood his pain, it was completely appropriate. It was okay for him to be angry. Still, I took another step towards him and opened my mouth.

“I told you to ing go away!” Seungcheol shouted at me, getting up from the floor and now looking really angry, like he was ready to shoot me as well.

With eyes spread wide open I gave one last glance at the boy and his dead father before running to the door, unlocking it and escaping to the hallway.

Wonwoo and Soonyoung were standing on the hallway, looking extremely stressed. I noticed there were guards at the elevator end of the hallway so they couldn’t leave, and since Seungcheol had locked the door behind him when he came back to the office, they couldn’t really do anything but to wait. As they noticed me exiting the office they rushed towards me, surrounding me and asking me questions. The most frequently asked question was if I was all right. I didn’t understand the worry at first.

“Do you feel pain?” Wonwoo asked with his eyes wide of worry. “That cut on your neck doesn’t look too good.”

A cut? I slowly raised my hand onto my neck and then glanced at the fingers that had been coated with blood. I blinked. Oh. So Dr. Choi had been able to cut me before Seungcheol had shot him. So this is why my vision had been blurry for a while now. I let out a dumbfounded chuckle.

“Dami?” Wonwoo called out my name. “Are you all right?”

“It’s all over”, I whispered as I noticed the ground coming towards me quickly. At the same speed my already blurry vision became dark and for a second I could feel shouting before everything went black.

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Oh my gosh I'm getting excited with the writing process. I'm sad to tell you this story is slowly getting close to the end. There will only be one or two chapters after this one. I'm not sure if it's good to update this often, like 2 chapters a day for 2 days in a row but... I'll be busy soon so I want to finish everything.

I hope you like the chapters and we'll see each other in the next chapter!