The Incident (Dal-Geon)
"Why did you kidnap me?", Hae-Ri went straight to the point, wasting no time. Even so, it was pointless. Dal-Geon couldn't tell her anything. If it really came down to it, he could overpower and disarm her quite easily without hurting her. Though she was trained and skilled, not many people could overtake him in close combat, even while holding a knife. He kept his head low, eyes on her knife-yielding hand, and waited quietly, trying to think of a way to get them out of this risky situation.
"Who hired you?", she went on to the next question after not receiving an answer. Her voice was threatening yet calm, as if she never expected any response to begin with, but the knife inched closer to his neck as she came forward. Dal-Geon kept motionless and silent, eyes locked on the knife.
"Who are you?", she asked the last question with a certain edge, marking it as the real reason for the interrogation, as the blade deliberately, though gently, made contact with the skin of his neck, just above his left collarbone. Maybe he should just take the knife and end it, he thought, or duck around it and go about his business as if nothing happened.
He weighed his options, thinking of what might be the best way to end the situation. His eyes were still on the knife that was held tightly in her right hand, when suddenly, he caught another movement from the corner of his eye. His right arm instinctively shot up to grab the approaching object, yanking it away from his face, making Hae-Ri stumble forward. As he should have predicted, Hae-Ri went for his mask the moment she found an opening.
With her hand completely engulfed by his, Hae-Ri's breathing changed and quickened as the warm wetness slid down his collarbone and soaked the collar of his shirt. It took a moment until he felt the following stinging pain in his neck.
Hae-Ri seemed quite shocked, which made him extremely confused. She took a step back away from him, and he noticed her grip of iron on the handle of the knife was no longer. Her entire frame seemed to be vibrating. She dropped her hand, letting the knife dangle from between her fingers, until it finally slipped and made its way to the floor. Dal-Geon was quick to catch on and yanked her out of the way by the hand that he still held on to, just in time to avoid the knife that was about to pierce her foot. The knife clattered against the terrazzo tiles as Hae-Ri stumbled forward again, unable to balance herself with her sprained ankle. Dal-Geon caught her by the shoulders, steadier her, then slowly walked her to the sofa and made her sit down. She allowed him to lead her without resisting.
It wasn't like her to be shocked by something of this nature, she wasn't the type to shy away from blood, and seeing her react like that made Dal-Geon worried. Could she be so thrown off by the long hours of confinement that she wasn't acting like herself? Could it be that she merely changed since they parted? He didn't think that was the case.
Dal-Geon picked up the knife and went over to the kitchen, dropping it in the sink. If he wasn't worried about his wellbeing before, he was even less concerned now. Hae-Ri didn't seem to be willing to injure him. He wondered what was going on, and was taken aback when the thought of PTSD crossed his mind. He really hoped that wasn't the case, but nevertheless, was instantly filled with guilt. What would he do if his actions that were meant to save and protect her actually backfired to that extent? He couldn't wrap his mind around the possibility.
Not knowing what was the best way to deal with the situation at hand, he thought that since in one way or another, he was probably the cause for her distress, it might be better to give her some space. He went to the bedroom and took out another hoodie from a box, then went back to the bathroom to change. He tossed the bloodied shirt to the hamper, extracted the first aid kit once more, and slapped a band aid on the cut. It wasn't large or deep at all, it just bled a lot. He was sure it will heal in no time and wouldn't even leave a scar.
Dal-Geon went back to the front room after changing shirts, and found Hae-Ri still seated at the same spot. The only way he could describe her expression was "absent". It was like she was physically sitting there, but her mind was elsewhere. She was looking here and there without really looking, just staring into space. Sometimes her eyes landed on him quite randomly and gave him a bizarre look that he couldn't quite figure out. He went to fill a glass with water and brought it to her, but she didn't acknowledge the glass that was offered to her, and finally, after a few moments, he just left it on the side table beside her, resigned. Seeing her being oblivious, possibly on purpose, he decided that leaving her alone was probably the best option, as he suspected her random stares were actually death-glares. There were still many things he had to do to make the place habitable for an undetermined amount of time, so he thought it would be best if he just busied himself with that.
He cleared the table and washed the dishes, took two glasses to the bathroom and placed a toothbrush in each. He went to the bedroom, found pillows, blankets and sheets and made out the bed, filled the chest of drawers with clothes, towels and extra linen, and was lucky enough to find another pair of slippers for himself. He was disappointed to see all the clothing items Lily prepared were for men, there was not even a single thing for herself, which made him wonder what was her plan in case they needed to go into hiding if his identity or cause were compromised. Surely she wouldn't sell him off... He was pretty sure of that, but then again…
Finishing up in the bedroom, Dal-Geon went out to the front room to find Hae-Ri still spacing out. The house was significantly heated as the sun was blazing in the middle of the sky, so he went over to the far end of the room where the air conditioner was and pugged it in. Looking around, he though the most likely place to find the remote control was in one of the entertainment unit drawers, and was glad to find it in the top one, next to the TV remote. He turned on the AC and went back to his domestic duties as he waited for news from Lily, not before catching another death-glare from Hae-Ri.
He went on to stock the kitchen with bags of rice and flour, oil bottles, canned food and other items that were in the food provision boxes, taking a few of each and organizing them neatly in the cabinets. He just finished to fill up the refrigerator with bottles of water, when he heard the security system announce "Intruder approaching, main entrance", while he snuck a glimpse in Hae-Ri's direction. Caught by surprise, not expecting the loud announcement, Hae-Ri jumped in place and almost out of her skin. Dal-Geon bit his lip and looked away, trying very hard not to laugh at the bewildered expression that she was wearing, and was very grateful to have witnessed this moment. His hilarity was extinguished almost immediately as he reminded himself that he wasn't entitled to be grateful and didn't deserve to enjoy her company.
He quickly went over to the main control panel and dismissed all notification for the event, then hurried to the TV, plugged it in and extracted the remote control from the drawer. He turned the TV on, clicked a few buttons on the remote until he reached the live stream of the relevant security camera, and watched as a young woman wearing a Hijab walked straight to the gate, paused for a moment, looked up, then turned around and left.
Yes!
He felt triumphant. If the girl withheld her duties properly, by tomorrow they would have more to eat but plain rice and canned beans. There were also cans of garbanzo beans in brine, but he didn't know what to make of those, and decided it was best to stick to what he knew. He turned around to look at Hae-Ri, wondering why she hadn't tried to scream for help as the woman approached the house. The house was actually soundproofed and there was no way anyone could hear anything from outside when the windows were closed, but Hae-Ri didn't know that.
She was still watching him from time to time with the same odd look in her eyes. He was dying to know what was the meaning behind that look and what was going through her mind. Though it has been a long time since the distressed expression had disappeared, she wasn't quite back to herself yet, and was omitting what could only be described as "unfriendly aura". Not that he deserved anything else. In fact, he was very aware that he deserved much worse. He was trying to figure her out just when a loud growl came from behind him. He turned around to face her, and for the first time since their little incident earlier, he found her wearing a familiar expression as she quickly turned her head away. He could see the tip of her ear turn pink with embarrassment.
The curtained windows made him unaware of the passage of time as he was busying himself doing housework. He checked his watch and was quite shocked to see it was almost evening. Much like her, he was also quite hungry, but he has been hungry since morning and assumed he would have to wait for her to fall asleep before he could eat. He felt another pang of guilt, this time for starving her – yet again, dropped the remote on the table and went to the kitchen to prepare her meal.
He took a clean bowl and filled it with leftover rice, then put it in the microwave to warm it up. Not knowing what to make of her relationship with the canned beans, he grabbed a can and another bowl and placed it in front of her on the coffee table, and added a spoon and the bowl of rice once the microwaved finished, just as Hae-Ri put the lid of the can on the table. She gave him another dirty look before she turned her attention to her meal, emptied the can into the spare bowl and replaced it on the table.
He tried to ignore the bad feeling he was getting, and grabbed her glass on his way to the kitchen for a refill. When he brought it back to her, he saw that she was scooping a few beans and a bit of rice on her spoon, then popped it into her mouth. At least she didn't seem to hate it, he thought as her cheeks protruded while she chewed. Seeing her focused focused on eating after he had starved her all day, he decided to take the chance. Not bothering to heat up the rice, he ate straight from the pot, with his back to her. He grabbed another can and opened it, not bothering with a bowl, and quickly shoveled it into his mouth.
He pounded his chest several times to help the food, that was only mostly chewed at best, go down, feeling uncomfortable from eating too fast. He took a bottle of water and tried to chase down the lump that was lodged at the base his throat, then pounded his chest again and swallowed hard, trying his best not to cough. He was quickly finished and pulled his mask back on to cover his face, then turned around, and wasn't surprised at all to find Hae-Ri watching him again. He was going out of his mind because of her mysterious behavior, but seeing as there was nothing much for her to do other than giving him death-glares, he couldn't blame her for doing that.
Under her watchful gaze he picked up her dishes and carried them to the sink, washed them and the pot, put the empty cans in a bag and went back to his chores. Though the structure was sturdy and all windows were closed, sand still manage to get inside, somehow. He swept the floor in all the rooms, then mopped and dried it. When he was finally done, it was already night-time.
After many hours of busying himself to give Hae-Ri some space, he thought it would be alright if he joined her in the living room. He settled himself as far away from her as the sofa allowed, feeling entirely beat from the busy day. He watched the monitor, zapped between the live streams of the different cameras that surrounded the house, until he landed on the split screen that displayed all streams simultaneously. He peered at her sideways once more, and thank god, she wasn't looking at him anymore. She was staring to her left, at nothing in particular that he could see, playing absentmindedly with a strand of her hair, wrapping it around a finger in an endless swirl. It looked like she was completely unaware that she was even doing it.
Seeing as he didn't get an update from Lily for hours already, he decided to take the initiative, feeling too anxious too wait any longer for. He pulled the push-to-talk microphone out of his shirt through the neck, and tapped –
dash-dot, dot, dot-dash-dash, dot-dot-dot. News.
"Nothing much, " Lily's reply came shortly after.
"Found a short-range frequency. They're still assessing the situation. So far 4 kills, one MIA, target condition and whereabouts unknown. No official suspects. What the hell did you do, kid?"
Dal-Geon was ecstatic to hear the news, though Lily didn't seem to think much of it. The fact that Black Sun didn't suspect him and had no information of Hae-Ri's condition was great in and of itself.
Dash-dot-dash-dot, dot-dash, dot-dash-dot. Car.
"Aaah, the cars?", There was a long pause before Lily's voice came back on.
"One was gone by the time anyone got there, there was only blood. They did get a report of a suspicious BS jeep with an unfamiliar driver before losing touch with the dead guys. As far as I know, that's all they have. They seem to think it's the target's blood. Is it?"
Dash-dot, dash-dash-dash. No.
Dal-Geon tapped as Hae-Ri got up and went to the bathroom, closing the door behind her.
"Then what the hell happened?", Do-Soo's voice blasted in his ear. Dal-Geon could hear Lily go "Ya!" in background as he spoke.
It was rather obvious that something was going with those two, and for quite a while now, and it was pretty uncomfortable to witness. Do-Soo was so whipped it almost made Dal-Geon feel bad for the man. He wished they would just get on and over with this unbearable stage of their relationship that he had to put up with for the last year.
Dot-dash-dot-dot, dot-dash, dash, dot, dot-dash-doth. Later.
"Why are you using Morse, dumbass? Speak!", Do-Soo seemed to be the closing act for the night, and Dal-Geon, who was already thoroughly exhausted, wanted to wring his North Korean neck pretty badly, knowing he wouldn't shut up otherwise.
He was getting sick of all the questions. It was tiring and bothersome to use Morse code, and his patience was running out, all things considered. He hated it when Lily let Do-Soo take over the radio. Though he was quite a useful fellow, Dal-Geon just didn't have the energy to deal with his challenging attitude in a situation such as this.
Dot-dot-dot-dot, dot-dash, dot, dot-dash-dot, dot-dot. Haeri.
"What about her?", Clueless Do-Soo persisted, as expected, as Hae-Ri left the bathroom and marched to bed without sparing him another look. He saw her climb into bed, claiming it as her own as she got under the covers and laid down in the dark room. He was glad she took over the room without any effort on his side, it made things a lot easier.
"So Juliette doesn't know", it was a statement rather than a question that came from the other side. Lily took over the radio, and as expected, caught on perfectly without needing an explanation. She knew he had no intention of getting involved in her life ever again, and he had made her promise that she also would never contact Hae-Ri.
"You star crossed lovers are better than any drama, I swear," she said theatrically, and he couldn't decide whether her voice was dripping with poison or honey.
"We'll keep tabs on BS and keep you updated. Nighty night, Romeo."
With the exchange over and Hae-Ri in bed, Dal-Geon could relax for the night. He got up early after a short sleep that followed a tedious day, and the housework didn't do much to help his exhaustion. He hoped Lily and sidekick would soon find the long-range frequency his Black Sun unit used now, so he could tune in himself, as he felt uneasy to be out of the loop when it came to Hae-Ri's safety, that was entirely up to him and his single-man operation.
What was discussed on the short-range, that usually included only a handful of Black Sun soldiers that operated around a certain area, mostly out for the same mission, was second hand information. It could very possibly be entirely different than what was discussed on the main long-range frequencies that included higher ups, and possibly decision makers as well. It was mostly coded, of course, but both he and the duo had already covered the majority of most frequently used code words, and quite a bit more than just that.
He very quietly went to the bedroom to grab a fresh set of clothes, careful not to wake Hae-Ri, who was already deep asleep. He went to the bathroom, took a quick shower and got ready to crash. He switched off all the lights but the one in the entrance on his way to the living room, and settled in his seat on the far end of the sofa, close to the air conditioner. If he could, he would have stayed shirtless throughout the day. The stone walls that absorbed the warmth of the sun took quite a while to cool down. To top that off, not only did he wear a hoodie better suited for winter, he was also wearing a mask that made him feel suffocated.
He rested his left foot on the edge of the table and slid down his seat, then pulled his hood as far as it would go and hung his head low. He crossed his arms over his chest and closed his eyes, hoping this night would be restful and devoid of nightmares.