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I think I'll never be able to properly describe the passage through the vortex.
Was it even a journey?It was dark but warm and I had the feeling of not moving a single step. It was like I weighed nothing, like I was floating in the darkness, lost in a single second of time, ready to embrace that calm infinity and be cradled in it forever.
Then I felt a strong pull and it was over. My body weighed again, the air was surprisingly fresh and wind was blowing, carrying the scent of grass and humidity. His hand was still tight around my wrist, reminding me why I was there.
I opened my eyes, frantically looking around, noticing it was night now. But it was just late afternoon when we entered that vortex!
My heart skipped a beat when I realized I wasn't in Seoul anymore. There was no city. No stairs. No lights. Nothing. Just trees and rocks. Even the vortex itself was different. My world, the world I always recognized as mine, was changed.

"Daejang!" I heard a boy scream and I finally found the nerves to look ahead, to the weirdest group of people I ever saw. Capes? Wooden shields? Swords?!
He wasn't surprised to see them, but if the boy was calling out for him, then they knew each other. Not to talk about how perfectly he fitted among them, with his black armor and sword. That meant they were a gang! Those men were waiting for him to take me there!
My captor walked to them, dragging me along and one of the men stepped forward, with a worried expression. A man? More like a boy... he certainly looked younger than the psycho holding me and considerably shorter as well. Maybe they were brothers?
"Wudalchi." He called him, as to make sure it was really him. Or maybe to check if he was alright. Oh don't worry, he's alright! He's perfectly fine! He only barged on my presentation, slashed a guard's neck and kidnapped me! Just that!
"I have escorted her here," was the answer. Escorted? This is what he was calling it? "She is a Healer of the Heavens."
Then he pushed me forward, in front of that man, as if to show me. I suddenly felt terrified, more than I already was. In that moment I perfectly understood how an animal must feel when people are looking at him at the zoo. I never felt so much exposed, helpless and scared in my whole life.
The man looked at me uncertain, like he was trying to understand if that was the truth. I knew it wasn't. A healer? Ok, I was a healer. A surgeon to be correct. But the Heavens? I certainly wasn't from the Heavens.
What if this psycho came to the wrong place? What if he brought me here by mistake? I saw them, I saw them all. The armors, the swords... it's just like him! What if they are a band of murderers? What will they do to me when they find out I'm not what they think?
That thought froze my body for just a second before giving me a sudden bolt of energy. I broke free from that damned iron grip and ran for my life to that scaring vortex. I didn't know what would have happened when I crossed it. I didn't know if I could go back to my dear, old Seoul. But I knew what would have happened if I didn't try. Those men would have killed me!

I was there, almost there. I could already feel that strange wind calling me when his hand caught me again, pulling me away from safety. No, no! I silently screamed, begging him to let me go. This time when he shoved me to the man (was he the leader among those weird guys?) it was with more than a little impatience, like I was throwing an unnecessary tantrum. I clearly felt that he was ready to throw me on his shoulder again, if I tried to run away once more.
A picture of me, carried away on his shoulder like some sort of trophy among all those men almost took my breath away, making me run for cover behind his back. I couldn't run to the gate, I knew he wouldn't let me escape. But at least I could try to hide from all those prying eyes.
"Is her Highness still alright?" I heard him ask to the boy. Maybe he really was his leader. Aren't they supposed to be like that? The leader is usually the one you could never expect, the one who's supposed to use his brain, letting his minions do the dirty job. So maybe I had to thank that boy, maybe it was him who gave the order to bring me there. And maybe this "Highness" was his mother? His sister?
My brain was going on overload, trying to understand what was going on, to make sense of what I was seeing. Sense? Who was I kidding? There was no sense.
"Wudalchi, you were gone for just a few moments," said the boy-leader. "How can this be possible? Is she really a Healer from the Heavens?"
I'm not! I'm not! Just let me go back home now! Please spare me! That's what I wanted to shout, before running again. But my throat was closed and my body glued to the ground. I couldn't move even a single step.
"I saw her healing the same kind of wound of Her Highness." He nodded to the boy, showing some kind of respect for him. Ah, so he really was his leader!
"Then we must return back at once!" Another man interrupted, behind the back of the boy-leader. "Your Majesty, we must bring the Divine Healer to Her Highness as fast as possible!"
The boy looked at me again. I was still hiding behind him, but I felt those eyes on me, looking, examining, doubting. Still, he nodded, giving the order to move fast back.
"Dae Man!" the psycho called out, and the boy who first greeted him came forward. "Stay with her. Don't let her run away."
Then he left, leaving me with the boy and apparently organizing the... troops? He was giving orders left and right to protect the "King" and myself as well during our journey "back". So my first impression that he was a man used to be obeyed was right. Everybody was just "Yes" or "Yes Daejang!" as soon as he opened his mouth.

When we moved, my "guard" walked close by my side, never looking at me but still giving me the impression I'd better not try to run away. He sure looked like a watchdog. But where or how could I run? Those men were everywhere, surrounding me and I could barely see where I was walking in the night.
I kept gazing behind at the vortex while I was taken away, until I could see its light no more. My heart broke down when it disappeared and I barely held a sob, refusing to cry in front of all those strangers. We only had the moon to light the way now. It looked enough for those men, but it sure wasn't for me as I kept tripping everywhere. We were walking in a forest and my heels weren't happy to meet dead leaves and damp ground. Nor were my feet!
I don't know how long we walked, but everyone was silent, on guard, as if they were expecting an attack every moment. He was on front, leading the way. The boy-leader was at the center of their defence, with me just behind.
None of this made any sense. The titles, for once: Her Highness, Your Majesty, the Divine Healer... who was this people? What was happening? I was tired. I already had a long day before this psycho kidnapped me. Now they were forcing me to walk and walk and everybody was behaving like they were in some historical drama. And nobody was talking. I was afraid to open my mouth, to beg them to let me go again. They were so tense that I was scared somebody would have drawn the sword at the first noise.
Then, I caught the glimpse of what looked like a village. Or at least, those seemed roofs. We walked down a hill and entered the "village", going straight to one of the houses there. I caught a common relief sigh from the men as soon as we reached it and as soon as the boy-leader left us to go in his own room, he turned to me again.
"Follow me." was all he said and with all the "guards" still surrounding me, I couldn't do anything else but obey. It was a mess, everywhere: broken doors, shattered furniture, chairs and tables turned upside down, like there was a huge fight there.
Upstairs it was no different, maybe worse. When I crossed the threshold of the room they were leading me into, I even saw blood staining the doors.
He shoved me in front again, to a man who looked at me almost incredulous.
"Is this the Healer from the Heavens?" He asked, like he couldn't believe his eyes.
I almost burst out saying NO! but he just nodded, saying he already verified that I could heal that wound. And, truth to be told, there was a young woman lying on the bed, pale from loss blood with a white cloth on her neck tamponing a slit.

I looked around once more, this time really trying to make sense of what I was seeing. Shattered wooden furniture, no light except from candles lit almost everywhere, blood, signs of fight. The weird clothes they were wearing, the swords, the armors. All this "Your Majesty" here and "Your Majesty" there. The ancient way of speaking. This new man talking about the wound in terms I could barely understand, saying something about Qi and acupoints.
Eun Soo, this is the time to think. Let's go with options. Option one, this is a dream. A particularly vivid dream. You fell asleep somewhere at the conference, probably on one of the desks in your conference room and now you're having a nightmare because your Big Day turned to Horrible Day.
Option two, you time traveled through that vortex and you ended up several centuries back in the past when there was still a King in Korea. Time travel and a magic vortex. Yes, let's rule this out.
Option three... this is a joke. Somewhere there is a hidden camera and suddenly everybody will burst out with something like "Got you, you fool!". The problem is the girl's wound looks real. And that deathly pallor can't be make-up.
Option four...

I interrupted the man talking, clasping my hands. "I got it! You're filming a movie!"
Yes, and the magic vortex? How do you explain that? The weird location shift?
My rational mind was starting to bug me again. I shut it down, firmly telling myself it was just a "special effect". People can make you believe anything with special effects!
This was the perfect explanation. They addressed each other with titles because they were actors. So the young boy was the King, the men were his guards and he was the guards Captain. And the girl was an actress, injured while filming.
The solution was very easy!
"Just call 911. If I treat this patient and something goes wrong my licence will be revoked!" I was not going to risk that. My career would end before even starting! The girl's wound could be treated at a hospital, better than I could do there, in that filthy room. I brought out my phone, assuring them I would vouch for them with the police so the man beside the girl tried another tactic.
"Are you really a healer? What kind of healer doesn't even take a look at a patient before her eyes?"
Oh, no, you go try that at another doctor, Sir. This isn't my responsibility! I won't take charge for something like that!
But as soon as I tried to leave, three men blocked my path. And then he sighed and came over.
"How many times do I have to tell you before you understand?" he leaned towards me, lowering his voice. "First save that woman. Then I'll see you safely back."
I almost bowed my head in defeat. No matter how hard I tried, none of them would listen to reason. I knew this was probably going to be my doom, but I had no other choice. Taking a deep breath, I took control of the situation, looking at the wound, preparing for the surgery and sitting beside the girl. It was the second surgery that day and I was tired, not to mention that the young woman was in worse conditions than the man I healed that afternoon. The cut was deeper and she had lost a lot of blood.
I don't know how much time that went on, but I noticed my captor fell asleep at a point. Lucky you, I thought. I'd like to sleep as well.
When I finally took my gloves off, I could barely stand on my feet. But it wasn't over of course. I tried to make it as casual as possible: I put on my jacket, told them what to do to cure the girl after the surgery and very casually walked outside the room, hoping to make my way to the door before anybody noticed I was leaving.
Vain hope. There were awake men downstairs but they just bowed to me leaving me be. I bolted to the door. It was locked.
And then he was there again, keeping it closed. So, there we were. Was this the moment they would kill me? I did what they wanted, I cured the girl. Now they didn't need me anymore.
"Please, let me live!" I cried. He grabbed my wrist again and dragged me back.
"She hasn't woken up yet." He told me as if that explained everything.
"But that takes time!"
"Exactly!" he exclaimed "So while we're waiting you cannot leave."
They wanted to wait until she woke up? Then what? They would have wanted me to stay there until she was fully recovered? Then what?
Then... you die Eun Soo. He's just buying time, hoping you'll believe him and not cause trouble until the moment he gets rid of you forever.

But this time I wasn't going to just stand there and do as I was told. If I was to die, at least I would complain about it! The psycho suddenly bowed in the midst of my complaining, and I saw the boy-leader upstairs. Maybe I could talk him into reason. Maybe I could still make it out alive.
"Will she regain consciousness?" the boy asked me quietly.
For a moment I was tempted to say "yes, you just need to take care of her.", but I knew that wasn't the truth. I also knew I would have to pay for a lie, so I just answered the truth, trying to making him understand my situation.
"I cannot guarantee that. That patient is not my responsibility! I was forced into this surgery, this has nothing to do with my medical licence!"
"Healer from the Heavens." He interrupted me, this time with slightly pleading eyes. "The country's fate rests upon her survival. The Heavens sent you here. Is this a sign my country is still under the Heaven's protection?"
Heavens, countries... fate. If this wasn't a drama, and it wasn't a joke, then it had to be a dream. It couldn't be true. My mind went back to option one and, as he kept blocking me from leaving, I just sat down, my head in my hands pleading for waking up from the nightmare. I really, really wanted to wake up.
I heard the boy leave the stairs and then he grabbed my wrist again. This was becoming a very unwelcome habit. Upstairs, he took me to a room, then proceeded to block every window with a lock, so that I couldn't get out. I was too exhausted to complain any further and the bastard knew it. Turning to me, he pointed to the bed. "Rest. As soon as Her Highness wakes up, I'll see you back to the Heavens. Quietly wait for me here until then."
Then he left, locking the door.
I slowly sat down on the bed, trying to refrain from crying. I always hated crying, but I really wanted to this time. I was prisoner in a place I didn't recognize, surrounded by weird people who carried swords. There was blood everywhere. I was alone and helpless.
I laid down on the bed, turning to face the wall and closing my eyes.
There was no way out. If that man wasn't telling me the truth about sending me back, then I was going to die.
And with that last thought I fell asleep.

Author's Note: as I can't reply to Lauren's review (she's a guest) and ZVKG-ai one (pms not allowed!), let me thank them there for their appreciation! Thank you so much for liking this :)
As you noticed, I already broke my promise to dedicate each chapter to each episode. I was probably not going to have enough time to write down the full length of episode 2, so I decided to split it and deliver you a chapter before the week-end. I hope you enjoyed it!
Also, I know Eun Soo declared she passed out during her travel from the Gate to the inn. I'll explain it in the next chapter.
Until next time! :)