Wang So jerked back into consciousness, blinking his eyes to get rid of the blur. He squinted, stunned when his vision cleared at last and he found himself staring into the face of the girl he had just seen in the recall of his dream. She was bent over him, sitting on the edge of the bed with a hand on his forehead.
"So-yah, are you all right?"
So turned his head at Wang Yo's question. Seeing the deeply concerned expression on his older brother's face, he was glad for a moment that he couldn't answer with the breathing tube in his mouth, before he became aware that the tube had been removed.
But if there was no way to tell Hae Soo about the previous visions he'd had about the two of them together, then there was absolutely no way he could tell Yo about this one.
Hoping his brother wouldn't ask anything else, he felt the girl remove her hand from his forehead and looked back up at her. Why is she familiar? Even in the dream I thought I knew her from somewhere.
Smiling a little, she softly asked, "You don't remember me, do you?"
Trying to fight off the after-effects of the nightmare and collect his thoughts, So closed his eyes for a moment.
"A long time ago, you used to call me your Noona," she told him, then added, "I'm Park Soon Deok."
So's eyes flew open and he stared up at her, dumbfounded.
Yo couldn't help but chuckle at his brother's reaction. "And from what I've seen so far, she hasn't changed a bit from what you told us about her."
"And from what I've seen so far, So-yah still can't stay out of trouble," Soon Deok countered Yo's remark, yet reaching for So's hand.
Having somewhat recovered from the initial shock, So grinned slightly and rolled his eyes.
"But don't worry...Lady Hae has every one of her teams working overtime to get you out of this mess," Soon Deok assured him.
"Don't look at me," Yo raised his hands when his brother cast him a questioning glance. "I'm not the one who told her."
"Lady Hae told me, and it's a good thing too," Soon Deok stated, "because it looks like you'll need all the help you can get."
"And then some!" Yo grumbled under his breath.
"Okay, guys..." Soon Deok stood up, though still holding on to So's hand. "It's time for me to get back out there with Ji Young and take over for the nightshift boys... You behave yourself, okay?" she added, smiling and giving So's hand a light squeeze.
Not like I have a choice! So thought, yet returned the gesture with a nod and faint smile of his own, then watched her leave the room to stand guard and protect him again, like she had done when they were children.
"That is one feisty lady!" Yo stated admiringly after the door had closed. "I sure wouldn't want to get on her bad side."
"Then you better behave yourself too," So commented in a hoarse whisper, then asked, "Any news on Jungie?"
"No, not yet, but it's still early," Yo muttered, appearing distracted.
So squinted warily. "What's wrong?"
Yo leaned forward in his wheelchair and fixed his brother with a firm glare. "What's wrong?" he repeated harshly. "You mean other than the fact that you just had a major seizure a while ago, and if Soon Deok hadn't been there and known what to do, there's no telling what would have happened, because my dumbass listened to you and got into that damn recliner back there!" He rattled the whole thing off in a single breath, then leaned back again, ran a hand through his hair in utter frustration, and added low, "You scared the hell out of me, So-yah!"
Wang So didn't respond. It was a pretty safe bet that the seizure could have been caused by the dream he'd had, and he had to force himself to stop his mind from recalling those images once again.
"Say something, will you?" Yo pleaded. "Tell me it was just another one of your nightmares."
So looked away, still without answering. What could he say anyway? What could he possibly tell anyone about what he had seen, without sounding like a complete lunatic? The dream had played out like a scene from some historical movie, except that it had felt as if So had personally witnessed and actually experienced the event.
"I don't know!" he replied at last. "Maybe it was...but I don't remember." He added the last part, wishing it were true, but realizing it wasn't as the images immediately reappeared when he closed his eyes again for just a few seconds.
Yo shook his head as he watched his brother draw a startled breath and saw his heart rate spike on the monitor display. "You have got to be the world's worst liar," he assessed grimly.
So flashed him a weak glare, and breathed a furtive sigh of relief when they were interrupted by a knock on the door.
"Room service!" Soon Deok announced cheerily, holding the door open for the nurse who had previously accompanied Dr. Seong.
Carrying a breakfast try and replacement IV bag, the nurse entered. "Han Min Kyung," she muttered hastily, placing the tray on the nightstand beside the bed.
"What? No coffee?" Yo grumbled with a disappointed pout.
"I apologize," the nurse replied without looking at him. "Your brother isn't allowed to have coffee just yet, and it wouldn't be fair..."
"It's fine," So cut in. "I prefer tea anyway...just get him some coffee, please."
"I need to change out your IV first."
"I'll go!" Soon Deok, who was still holding the door open, volunteered.
"That's okay," Yo spoke back up. "I'll go get some myself. Need to make a pit-stop anyway, and the bathroom down the hall is much easier to get in and out of with this damn chair than the one in here...you'll be all right for a few minutes?" he asked, directed at So.
So rolled his eyes. "I'll be fine!...Just go!"
Yo hesitated for a moment nevertheless, before he turned his wheelchair around and headed for the hallway.
Reaching Soon Deok who had continued to hold the door open, he momentarily stopped and looked up at her. "And, no, I don't need any help!" he whispered, barely loud enough for her to hear. "Just keep an eye on him for me, okay?"
Soon Deok nodded with a furtive grin and took a step back to let him pass, then shut the door behind him and leaned against the inside, crossing her arms.
So had watched the short interaction between his brother and his 'Noona', while the nurse was busy replacing his nearly empty IV bag with the new one. He turned his attention back to her, just in time to see her pull a syringe from the pocket of her scrubs. Her hands were trembling slightly as she uncapped it.
"Wait...what is that?" he asked.
"Just pain medication! Hold still!" She took a hold of his arm, and inserted the needle into the IV's injection port.
So reached over with his left hand and grabbed the nurse's wrist, twisting it in a vain effort to dislodge the syringe.
Soon Deok reacted immediately, but still not fast enough to cover the distance between the door and the bed in time to prevent the majority of the syringe's contents being injecting into Wang So's IV, before she, with one swift move, slammed the nurse face down onto the floor.
"What was it?" Soon Deok's voice trembled with rage as she held the nurse pressed to the floor with a knee against her back. "What was in the syringe?"
The nurse laughed wickedly. "A little present from his mother...Good luck figuring it out in time!"
Soon Deok gasped, looking up at So who had pulled the near-empty syringe from the injection port and tossed it aside. "Stay calm, don't move!" she instructed him hastily, then yelled for Choi Ji Young to call the doctor.
The nurse was still laughing like a crazy person, until Soon Deok silenced her with a solid Sonnal Mok Chigi (knife-hand strike to the neck). Pulling a couple of heavy-duty zip ties from one of her cargo pockets, she firmly secured the nurse's wrists and ankles, then stood and turn to So.
"I don't think that's going to work this time," So remarked low when Soon Deok instinctively placed her hand on his forehead. He was trying his best to follow her advice to stay calm and control his breathing.
"Symptoms?" she asked as she removed her hand from his forehead, and instead placed two fingers against the side of his neck, just below the jawline.
"Nothing much yet...just dizzy and my arm feels numb."
"Squeeze my hand," she ordered, grasping his right with her free hand. "Yah!" She tightened her own grip when there was no response and she saw that So had closed his eyes. "Stay with me here, So-yah!...Come on, look at me!"
He blinked a few times, as if to clear his vision, then squinted up at her, breathing harder now.
Glancing at the heart monitor, Soon Deok cringed, watching his blood pressure rapidly increase. At the same time she felt the drastic change in her fingertips at his carotid artery as his heart rate suddenly plummeted to 42bpm, only to start spiking to over 150bpm a few seconds later.
Still holding on to So's hand, she felt it tremble and noticed that the skin had turned cold and pale. His forehead, however, was covered in tiny sweat beads, and even though his eyes were still open, she met only a vacant, unfocused stare.
"Come on, So-yah! Hang in there!" Soon Deok urged him from between gritted teeth. She removed her fingers from his neck, and once again placed her hand on his forehead. "Come on! Stay with me!...Don't give your mother the satisfaction!"
He suddenly drew a couple of heavy breaths and blinked his eyes again. "My head hurts!" he muttered, then asked in a mere whisper, "Is Jungie okay?"
Soon Deok had to force herself not to show any obvious reaction. "Jungie is just fine," she answered evenly. "You just hang in there...I'm right here...it's going to be okay!...Everything is going to be okay, I promise!"
"You need...to," So choked out, closing his eyes again. "Protect..."
"I will protect you!...I will always protect you!" Soon Deok vouched, but frowned when he weakly shook his head.
"Soo-yah...protect Soo-yah," he breathed, barely audible. "Promise!"
"I promise!" she answered, hoping he wouldn't detect the shiver in her voice as she fought back tears. She noticed he tried to say something else but it was a futile effort now.
"Come on, So-yah!" she screamed at him. "Don't you do this!...Don't you dare give up!...Don't you dare let your mother win!...Come on!"
She lightly shook his shoulder, mindful of his injured ribs, even though she wanted to grab him and shake him back into consciousness.
He was still breathing, but his blood pressure was off the charts and his heart rate fluctuated between much too low and much too high.
Staring up at the heart monitor, Soon Deok suddenly gasped. "Wait!...I know this...all those symptoms..." She stopped in mid-sentence and stared down at the tied up nurse who had remained unconscious on the floor.
"You shot him up with undiluted adrenaline?...You..." Swallowing the profanity, she pulled the woman up by the front of her scrubs, just as the door opened and Dr. Seong rushed in together with—the nurse who was the mirror image of the woman Soon Deok held in her grasp.
"Chae Ryung?...What...?" The nurse's eyes widened.
"What are you doing?" Dr. Seong snapped at Soon Deok, his eyes shifting between the nurse standing beside him and the unconscious woman Soon Deok was holding.
"Who is this?" Soon Deok retorted harshly with a motion of her head toward the nurse at Seong Il Hwan's side.
"This is Han Min Kyung," the doctor explained, then asked, "but who is this?" indicating the unconscious woman.
Their heads turned to Min Kyung, whose face had lost all color. "She...she's my twin sister, Chae Ryung, but...but...why do you have her tied up?"
"Your sister just tried to kill Wang So-ssi," Soon Deok hastily replied from between gritted teeth, "and if we stand around here much longer she will have succeeded."
Soon Deok carelessly dropped the unconscious woman back onto the floor, then sprinted to the other side of the bed where So had earlier tossed the syringe.
"I don't know how quickly you can test this," she said, hurrying back and handing the almost empty syringe to Dr. Seong, "but it's most likely undiluted adrenaline. All his symptoms match an adrenaline overdose."
Seong Il Hwan cast a quick glance up at the heart monitor, then turned to Min Kyung. "Go get me ten milligram of phentolamine mesylate and five milligram of propranolol... just in case Soon Deok-ssi is correct with her diagnosis."
Min Kyung nodded without answering and rushed out of the room.
Soon Deok followed her to the door and motioned for Choi Ji Young to enter.
"Take this one down to security," she instructed, indicating Chae Ryung, "and have two of our guys transport her to headquarters. She will have a whole lot of questions to answer when she wakes up... I'll guard the door until you get back."
Ji Young acknowledged with a slight bow, hoisted the unconscious woman onto his shoulder and started down the hall, ignoring the numerous stares he drew from other hospital staff as he passed them.
"Where is he taking my sister?" Han Min Kyung inquired breathlessly as she returned with the medication and caught a glimpse of Ji Young before he entered the elevator.
"To our security headquarters," Soon Deok replied icily, refusing to look at her. "So far your sister is only guilty of attempted murder, but you better pray to whatever gods you might believe in that Wang So-ssi survives."
"I...I.."
"Shut up and get in there!" Soon Deok interrupted her harshly, pushed her into the room and pulled the door shut. Leaning against the wall, her trembling hands clamped into tight fists and she gasped deep breaths as she fought to compose herself. She closed her eyes for a moment, forcing back tears of rage. Mianhaeyo, So-yah! Jeongmal mianhae!
"Everything okay?"
Soon Deok noticeably startled at Wang Yo's question, and mentally scolded herself that she hadn't even heard him approach.
Yo's expression darkened when she didn't answer. "What happened?"
"I screwed up!" Soon Deok replied miserably at last, unable to face him.
"What...happened?" Yo repeated, harshly emphasizing each word.
"That nurse...she wasn't the real Han Min Kyung."
"Then who was she?" he snapped. "Her evil twin?"
Under any other circumstances, Soon Deok would have laughed at the question. In the current situation, however, she merely fixed Yo with a somber stare and nodded. "Yes, that is exactly who she was!"
"Huh?" He squinted perplexed, but felt his anger rise. "What the hell are you talking about? This isn't funny!"
"No, it's not!" Soon Deok retorted heatedly. "But it is exactly what you said, and I completely screwed up! I didn't ask her for the code and I didn't notice in time!"
Wang Yo merely stared up at her for several seconds, then exhaled a sharp breath, trying his best to remain calm. "Is So-yah okay?"
"I don't know!" Soon Deok shook her head, looking away again. "Doctor Seong and the real Han Min Kyung are in there right now. If I'm not completely wrong, then that fake nurse...who really is Min Kyung's twin sister...shot So-yah up with undiluted adrenaline."
"How would you know?" Yo asked.
"All of his symptoms matched an adrenaline overdose...I've seen it before on my roommate in college."
"How serious is that?"
Soon Deok didn't answer this time, however her silence and the look she gave him said enough.
"I need to get in there!" Yo reached for the door handle, but Soon Deok interfered.
"Don't!" she said, softly this time, grasping his hand. "There isn't anything you can do in there right now, Wang Yo-ssi."
She easily countered his incensed glare—which was nothing compared to one of Wang So's glares—until he yielded and stopped fighting against the hold she had on his hand.
"Where is that fake nurse? What did you do with her?" he inquired.
"I knocked her out...unfortunately a few seconds too late," she sighed, "and tied her up. Ji Young is taking her down to security, and she'll be transported to our own headquarters from there."
"Not to the police station?" Yo frowned.
"Hell no!" Soon Deok grumbled. "That bunch is all in your mother's pocket. They would probably give her a medal...oh, and by the way, speaking of your mother..."
"I would rather not," Yo interjected.
"Neither would I, but when I asked that fake nurse what was in the syringe right after she injected So-yah, she said a present from his mother!"
The revelation caused Yo to turn pale and once again stare at her, not knowing what to say.
"That's how many times now she has tried to kill him?...I lost count!" Soon Deok commented grimly, staring up at the ceiling to keep her tears in check.
Yo propped his elbows onto the arm rests of the wheelchair and buried his face in his hands. And how many more times is she going to try? he thought, but really didn't want to know.
For several minutes, neither of them said a word, yet both straining to discern even the slightest sound from inside the room—to no avail.
Soon Deok broke the silence first. "Can I ask you something?"
"What?" Yo snapped gruffly.
She hesitated, then merely shook her head with a dejected sigh. "Never mind!"
"Sorry!" Yo muttered embarrassed, realizing that his unkind response wasn't helping the situation at all. "What did you want to ask?"
"Who is Soo-yah?"
"Soo-yah?" he echoed, squinting up at her, then shrugged. "I have no idea!... Why?"
"He made me promise to protect Soo-yah, before he passed out," Soon Deok disclosed. "But I don't even know if that's a guy or a girl, or where to find that person."
"Ask Lady Hae," Yo suggested, wondering if 'Soo-yah' could be referring to Hae Soo, whom Myung Hee had promised to protect on his brother's behalf. "She knows everything."
"Not everything," Soon Deok countered sullenly, "or we wouldn't be in this mess right now."
"Point taken!" he conceded. "And now we have to..." He stopped and visibly startled when the door to his brother's room opened.
##########
"Uisaseonsaeng-nim?" Yo looked up in concern as Dr. Seong and Han Min Kyung exited his brother's room at last.
Soon Deok bit her lower lip when Seong Il Hwan turned toward her first. "You were correct once again, Soon Deok-ssi," he told her with a gracious bow, then looked over at Yo.
"Your brother will be all right, and you can thank this lady here. She told me his symptoms matched an adrenaline overdose, and that is what I relied on for his treatment. I'm sorry that I had to take a chance in this case, but testing the contents of the syringe first would have taken too long."
"But what if I had been wrong?" Soon Deok asked low, a noticeable tremor in her voice.
"You weren't, and that is all that matters," Dr. Seong assured her, smiling.
"Majayo (that's right)!" Yo agreed. "Don't start with the what ifs, or you'll just drive yourself crazy. You were right, and So-yah made it, and that's all that counts...is he awake?" Yo added the question, directed at Seong Il Hwan.
"He is, but he'll probably be quite drowsy for a while from the medication's counter action. Let him sleep if he wants to...or can, because after the seizure earlier, this has taken quite a toll on him."
Yo nodded. "I just want to see him."
"You go on in," Soon Deok told him. "I'll be there after a while. I have to wait until Ji Young comes back to guard the door."
"Not like that helped much before," Yo commented, yet instantly regretted it when he watched her expression turn to utter dejection. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean it like that. It wasn't your fault or his," he assured her quickly, reaching for her hand and squeezing it gently.
She looked down, somewhat flustered, but didn't pull away. Then she suddenly felt herself blushing—for the first time in years—when he made 'puppy-dog eyes' at her and asked, "Forgive me?"
Han Min Kyung ruined the moment. "What is going to happen to my sister now?" she spoke up guardedly.
Yo dropped his head and released Soon Deok's hand.
"That will depend on her...whether she answers our questions or not," Soon Deok responded coldly. "Someone put your sister up to this...probably even paid her... and we need to know who is behind it."
"But what if she doesn't know who that person is?" Min Kyung muttered, staring at the floor.
"Oh, I think she knows very well who the person is," Soon Deok spoke in a low voice, yet the ferocity in her eyes caused Yo to cringe when she glanced over at him and added, "considering what she told me when I asked her what was in that syringe."
"Why? What did she say?"
"It doesn't matter!" Yo cut in quickly, even though he was sure Soon Deok wouldn't disclose the information to anyone else. "Your sister tried to kill my brother, and if she doesn't fully cooperate, then..." He left the rest open to Min Kyung's own imagination.
"But Chae Ryung is really not a bad person," Min Kyung argued meekly.
"Could have fooled me," Soon Deok stated harshly. "The way she laughed like a crazy person after she injected Wang So-ssi with the adrenaline and I had put her down... Like she actually enjoyed herself."
"Wait!" Dr. Seong, who had quietly followed the exchange, interrupted. "Something there doesn't sound right."
"None of it sounds right, and none of it should have happened," Yo declared.
"Granted," Seong Il Hwan nodded agreement, "but Soon Deok-ssi...you just mentioned she laughed like a crazy person?"
"What are you saying, Uisaseonsaeng-nim?" Soon Deok frowned. "That she was drugged or something?"
"I am not trying to make excuses for her," Dr. Seong replied calmly, "but it is a possibility we may have to consider...isn't it, Wang Yo-ssi?"
Yo pensively looked up at the doctor, suspecting what Seong Il Hwan was referring to—the fact that his youngest brother had most likely been drugged when he willingly followed their mother out of So's house.
"I guess we have to," Yo admitted, though not liking the implication at all. "But if that's the case, then how do we know whom we can still trust?"
"Nobody!" Soon Deok stated low.
"Well, that's maybe a little bit too dramatic..."
"Is it, Wang Yo-nim?" she snapped at him. "Is it really? Your brother almost died because..."
"Yah!" Yo cut her off. Reaching for her hand once more, he looked up. "I still trust you!" he avowed, his unwavering eyes meeting hers.
"Yeah, well...maybe you shouldn't," Soon Deok pulled her hand back and looked away. "I don't even trust myself anymore."
Yo exchanged a brief glance with Dr. Seong, then shook his head and sighed in resignation. "I'm going to see my brother," he said, thanking the doctor who opened the door for him with a short nod.