Chae Ryung froze, her breath hitching in her throat. With her hand still gripping the bathroom's doorknob, she stood motionless, peeking out through the fraction-of-an-inch opening at the person who had just entered the room. She stifled a sigh of relief, when the rather elegant woman apparently didn't notice her as she made her way over to the bed and pulled up a chair. She silently thanked whatever Gods had given her the foresight to not place a chair beside the bed, which could have betrayed her own, secret presence in the room.
With her fake nurse's ID and a set of her sister's scrubs, Chae Ryung had managed to gain access to the ICU unit and sneak into Gwon Kyung Jae's room, though fully aware of the risk she was taking. Getting caught this time would mean a long, hard jail sentence for sure, yet even knowing this she hadn't been able to fight off the overwhelming urge to assure herself that Kyung Jae was safe. She had pushed her luck by staying much longer than intended, and now found herself trapped with her only hope being that no one would enter the bathroom.
A muffled sob reached her ear, and Chae Ryung risked another glance through the slim opening. She could see the woman, who was obviously crying, gently holding Jae's right hand against her own cheek. She watched her place a soft kiss into his palm, before she carefully laid his hand back onto the bed then reached up to tenderly stroke his cheek. Chae Ryung had only caught a partial glimpse of the woman's face, not enough to estimate her age and make an educated guess as to her relationship with Jae. Nevertheless, judging by the woman's evident distress and her affectionate gestures, whatever this relationship might be, it was more than just 'casual' and Chae Ryung couldn't quite ward off a twinge of jealousy. A heartbeat later, however, guilt took over. It was her fault that Jae had been injured! It didn't matter that she had only grabbed onto his arm out of sheer reflex when his sudden move had startled her. It also didn't matter that she had never, ever, meant for him to get hurt. The only thing that mattered was the fact that he had been there and was injured because of her—because she had been naïve enough to fall for a dangerous conman who had nearly turned her into a murderer.
And if Jae...No! No! No! Chae Ryung quickly stopped the thought, but not before it sent a cold chill down her spine and she couldn't manage to suppress an audible gasp. Luckily, the woman at Jae's side didn't seem to have heard, as she was softly talking to him now, yet too low for Chae Ryung to make out what she was saying.
Straining to listen nevertheless, Chae Ryung startled violently when the door to the room suddenly burst open with a bang. At the same instant, the woman jumped up, spun around, then froze and stared at the intruder, her eyes widening in alarm.
"Wook!"
Even without the name being mentioned, Chae Ryung would have recognized the man who had barged into the room—although he looked vastly different from the attractive, distinguished gentleman, as she had seen him on TV. His disheveled appearance, together with the unconcealed fury that distorted his features made him look like a madman, and the impression only strengthened when he made his move.
He rushed forward and grabbed the woman's throat before she had a chance to scream. Chae Ryung watched in horror as he pulled a small caliber pistol from his jacket pocket and aimed it first at the woman's head, then at Kyung Jae.
"Push that button and he dies," he hissed menacingly, when the woman stealthily moved her hand to feel behind her for the emergency call button on the bed rail. "That's better," he nodded with a vile grin when she immediately pulled back and made no further attempt to resist. "Now let's have a nice little husband-to-wife chat, shall we?" he continued mockingly.
Chae Ryung quickly clamped a hand over her mouth to stifle the gasp this time when his words made her realize who the woman was—Hwangbo Wook's wife, Hae Myung Hee. But then what's her relationship with Jae?...How does she know him? And why is she so... The thought didn't go any further when Wook's next words sent a renewed shiver down her spine.
"You want that brood of yours to live," he growled from between gritted teeth, cocking the pistol's hammer, "then you better tell me everything I want to know! Right here, right now! Understood?"
Myung Hee nodded meekly. "Please..." she whispered, gasping for air, "Please...leave Ji Min...out of this."
Ji Min? Chae Ryung squinted confused.
"Ji...Min?" Wook sounded equally perplexed, but then chuckled. "Oh, was that the name you had picked out for him?...So cute!" he sneered. "Kind of girlish though, don't you think?...But whatever the case...Ji Min, Kyung Jae...doesn't matter to me. You want your son to live then..."
"He is your son too, Wook," she interjected low, tears streaming down her cheeks.
"And that's the only reason why he's even still alive," he retorted callously. "His mistake to come back to Seoul...your mistake to go looking for him again. You should have left well enough alone, but I guess that's not how the Spy Queen of Seoul works, is it?" He emphasized the title in a rather derogatory manner and relished the view of his wife's face turning pale. "Surprised that I found out, or just that it took me so long to find out?"
Chae Ryung unwittingly held her breath, shocked by the mind-boggling revelation. There probably wasn't a single person in all of South Korea who had not, at one time or another, heard of the famous 'Spy Queen of Seoul'. She was both feared and revered, but who or whatever Chae Ryung might have imagined the 'Spy Queen' to be, this graceful, yet almost delicate looking woman definitely didn't fit her mental picture. Hae Myung Hee's name, of course, frequently appeared in newscasts and reports about her well-known, influential husband, and Chae Ryung wondered how people—including herself and apparently also Hwangbo Wook—could have missed the connection between Hae Myung Hee and Lady Hae, aka the 'Spy Queen of Seoul'.
She had never responded to her husband's last question yet, only closed her eyes and stood unmoving, yet Chae Ryung could see her visibly shiver.
"So, here is the deal," Wook continued, casually now. "One...as of this moment, the Spy Queen will cease and desist, and you will hand over names and contact info for everyone in your network to me. Two...Yoo Shin Myeong wants her son back, whom you are apparently hiding from her in some undisclosed location. You will personally take me there, as soon as we're done here, and we will return the boy to her together before the end of the day. And three..."
"She beat that child half to death," Myung Hee interrupted, "and you want to..."
"That's none of your concern," Wook cut her off harshly. "I'm telling you what's going to happen, and you will make it happen, or this one here dies." He hissed and threateningly waved the pistol's barrel in Kyung Jae's direction again. "You have three seconds to make your decision!...One..."
Chae Ryung froze, watching his finger tighten on the trigger.
"Two...Last warning!"
"Wook, I..."
"Th..."
Chae Ryung screamed on top of her lungs and stormed out of the bathroom. The desperate move was enough to startle Wook into releasing Myung Hee and turning around. His inadvertent pull on the trigger sent the bullet ricocheting off the room's steel door before it buried into the wall on the opposite side.
Myung Hee, though startled by Chae Ryung's action as well, had managed to keep her wits about her, and her solid punch to Wook's forearm dislodged the pistol from his hand. It clattered to the tiled floor, bounced, then slid underneath the bed.
The single shot, however, seemed to have instantly alerted every staff member in hearing distance. Anxious shouts rang out and someone pushed an alarm button.
Realizing the game was over for him, Wook hissed a flurry of curses under his breath and forced his way past Chae Ryung, out of the room.
"Let him go...just let him go," Myung Hee choked out, fighting to catch her breath as she prevented Chae Ryung from chasing after her husband. "They will... catch him later...He has...no place to...go," she added, gasping.
Chae Ryung yielded, albeit reluctant, but then quickly grabbed a hold when Myung Hee's knees buckled. "You need to sit down, Lady Hae," she stated firmly, yet knew that her own chance to escape was gone, the moment the door opened again and several nurses and doctors stormed into the room.
"Lady Hae, are you all right? What happened?" a young doctor inquired concerned, as he rushed over to assist Chae Ryung with getting Myung Hee seated back into the chair. "And who are you?"
"I...I'm..."
"She is my private nurse," Myung Hee replied with a pointed look up at Chae Ryung. "And she just saved mine and Gwon Kyung Jae's life. I'm fine, but please check on Kyung Jae..make sure he's all right."
"We heard something that sounded like a shot," one of the nurses remarked, nervously glancing around the room. "What happened in here?"
Myung Hee momentarily gritted her teeth and closed her eyes.
"This guy..." Chae Ryung spoke up guardedly instead, "he came into the room and threatened to kill Kyung Jae-ssi. I was in the bathroom, and he didn't notice me, so I was able to scare him when I stormed out, and his shot hit the wall back there instead." She indicated the area where the bullet had struck, then added, "He ran out of the room when the alarm went off."
"Did you know this person?...Who was he?" the young doctor queried.
Chae Ryung exchanged the faintest of glances with Myung Hee, yet still wavered barely noticeable before she shook her head. The reaction earned her a curious squint from the physician.
"Don't worry, Doctor Lee, he won't get far," Myung Hee assured him, then quickly asked, "How is Kyung Jae?"
Unlike Chae Ryung's hesitation, the doctor's was plainly obvious. "To be perfectly honest," he replied warily, "the shot, the alarm, and all the commotion in here not waking him up is not a very good sign. His vital signs are somewhat more stable by now, but..." He faltered and apprehensively rubbed the back of his neck.
"But what?" Chae Ryung blurted out anxiously. "He was already awake earlier and even..." She cut herself off too late and shrunk back when all eyes turned on her.
"And even what?" Myung Hee questioned her calmly.
"Smiled at me," the girl admitted in a near whisper, staring at the floor and wishing for a hole to open up that she could disappear into.
"Well, if that is the case, then my worries might be a little unfounded," Dr. Lee commented, sounding rather relieved. "But just to be sure, Doctor Seong will be back within the hour, and I'll have him come in right away to check on Kyung Jae."
Myung Hee nodded thankfully while Chae Ryung fought to suppress a cringe as the doctor and his entourage left the room.
"Here, take this," Myung Hee hastily whispered as soon as the door had closed behind them, handing Chae Ryung an embroidered handkerchief. "Go get that pistol, but be careful not to touch any part of it with your bare hands."
The girl nodded understanding, and slid underneath the bed to retrieve the weapon. She reemerged, gingerly holding the pistol with the handkerchief, and carefully placed it into Myung Hee's hands. The older woman released the magazine and expertly cleared the breech, still with the use of the handkerchief, then slipped the weapon into her purse.
"This is my life insurance policy against Wook," she stated grimly, patting the outside of the small handbag. "And now that that's taken care of..." she continued, looking up.
"I can explain, Lady Hae," Chae Ryung hastened to say. "It's all my fault that Kyung Jae-ssi got hurt, and I just felt so awful about what happened, and I was so worried about him. I just wanted to see him and make sure he was okay. I didn't mean to..."
"I was only going to ask," Myung Hee interrupted her, "what all you heard in that bathroom back there."
"I didn't hear what you said to Kyung Jae-ssi...only what you told your husband, and what he said to you," the girl admitted timidly. "And I noticed," she added, "that you didn't tell Doctor Lee that Kyung Jae-ssi is your son. I guess he's not supposed to know?"
Myung Hee regarded her with a probing, sideways glance. "You are a lot smarter than I would have expected, Han Chae Ryung," she mused pensively, "so I trust you will understand what I'm telling you now." She paused for a moment, fixing the girl with an adamant stare, then continued solemnly. "Kyung Jae is my son...mine and Wook's...but he doesn't know it, and he can never...never find out! Do you understand?"
Chae Ryung nodded halfheartedly. "But...why?" she queried in a shaky whisper.
"It would destroy the life he has now! And if you care for him…even just a little...then you will keep this secret between us."
"But maybe..."
"Please!" Myung Hee cut off the girl's objection, fighting against the tears welling up in her eyes. "I'm not asking this for my sake, but for Ji...Kyung Jae's," she quickly corrected herself.
"Ji Min is actually a very pretty name," Chae Ryung remarked with a timid smile. "Is Min spelled with the hanja character for jade?"
Nodding in confirmation, Myung Hee couldn't help but smile as well despite herself. Dr. Seong had confided in her about the 'staring contest' incident and the girl's fascination with Jae's green eyes. "They do look like jade, don't they?...Jae's eyes, I mean," she added with a wistful glance at her son. "Was it true what you told Doctor Lee?...That he was awake earlier?"
"It was!...I swear!" Chae Ryung affirmed sincerely. "Not for very long...just a couple of minutes, but he was really awake." She suddenly dropped her head and sniffled, then muttered dismally, "I told him it was all my fault that he got hurt, but that I really didn't do it intentionally and that I was really sorry. I don't know if he believed me, but..." She stopped and furtively wiped the back of her hands across her cheeks.
"I did!"
The unexpected interruption, though barely above a strained whisper, turned the women's attention.
"Jae-ssi!...You're awake! Are you okay?" Chae Ryung blurted out before she could stop herself.
Kyung Jae nodded faintly, then looked up at Myung Hee with a smile. "Ji Min is a nice name, Eomeoni...and you don't have to keep it a secret anymore...I already know!"
"You..." Myung Hee gasped and clutched a hand over her mouth. Her eyes widened in distress.
Chae Ryung visibly deflated. "You heard us talking just now?"
"I did," he confirmed. "But you said nothing that I didn't already know."
Myung Hae buried her face into her hands. "Mianhaeyo, Ji Min," she choked out, sobbing. "Jeongmal mianhae!... Yongseohaejwo!"
"Eomeoni...please don't cry!" Kyung Jae reached out wearily, placing his hand on her arm. "I've known everything for a long time, and you have nothing...to be sorry for...There is nothing to forgive!...I know you gave me up to keep me alive, Eomeoni, and I...I always hoped that one day..." He paused, gasping for breath. "One day I would...get a chance..."
"Jae-ssi, are you okay?" Chae Ryung asked again, anxiously now as his breathing became increasingly more labored.
"To...to thank you," he finished with obvious difficulty as the smile faded from his face and his eyes rolled back into their sockets. Another desperate gasp for air, before his hand slipped from Myung Hee's arm and his head sank to the side.
"Jae-ssi?...Jae!...JAE!" Chae Ryung pushed past Myung Hee who sat frozen, staring in shock. "No, no, no!...Jae!...Come on, Jae, breathe!" She gently shook his shoulder with one hand, felt for a pulse with the other, then spun around and sprinted to the door. "We need some help in here! NOW!" Her scream still echoed through the ICU's quiet corridor as she, without waiting for a response, rushed back to his side.
"Wha...what are you..."
She waved off Myung Hee's question, and never hesitated. With a silent Thanks! to her sister, who had insisted on teaching her CPR, she started chest compressions. ...Twenty-eight, twenty-nine, thirty...two breaths...I'm sorry, Jae!... Please, don't get upset, Lady Hae, I'm just...One, two, three...Come on, Jae!... Please...
She tried to resist when strong hands suddenly grabbed her and pulled her away. "It's okay now, Chae Ryung, we got him," someone assured her. "You did good!" A moment later, she found herself behind a wall of white coats, blocking her view of Kyung Jae, and Myung Hee was tightly clutching her hand.
"Lady Hae, I..." Her voice died in her throat when she met the older woman's anguished gaze. I'm so sorry! This is all my fault! Please be okay, Jae, please be okay!... Please... The room started spinning and dark spots swirled in front of her eyes, then everything went black.