Between life & Death

🎭Truth🎭

~Seungmin's POV~
After our weird encounter wish Ms. Koo, Junwoong and I decided to go to Jumadeung to spend the rest of the day. He wants to see Mr. Lim, while I want to see a certain Team Leader. We are just casually talking while he is watching something on his phone. He then opens his eyes and looks at me with shock. "Are you alright?" He asks me. I look at him in a weird way. "I am, why wouldn't I be?" I question him. He then turns his phone around and shows me my profile on the red light app. Oh... so that's it, my profile shows my negative energy to be 85%. Why am I not surprised? "Do you need help doctor? Does anything hurts? Can I do anything for you?" A panicked Junwoong starts asking. "I'm fine, my levels have always been high, don't worry over nothing... you should see Ms. Koo's" I reply. He then does what I say. Ms. Koo's levels are of a 100%, I already knew this. "Oh my god." He says frustrated.
Out of nowhere Mr. Lim pops out and scares Junwoong. "Why are you so surprised? Were you thinking about me?" He asks mockingly. "No." He replies. "But... what's we that clothing? Are you going somewhere?" He asks. "I'll go to the store, I've heard a new season has been launched." Mr. Lim replies. "Will you see your mother also?" I question him. "Yeap." He answers nodding his head. "But... is something wrong? Why do you have those long faces?" Mr. Lim asks both of us. "I've came across Dr. Lee's and Ms. Koo's negative energy levels, both are quite high." Junwoong says. Mr. Lim stares at me. "I'm fine! It's already normal for me." I reply. He just nods. "As for Ms. Koo... it must be her day off." Mr. Lim says. "Sorry?" Junwoong asks. We only have one day off per year. The day we died, of course she'll be in a bad humor, after all... how many people dies happy?" He says while sitting down. They start talking, but I get distracted by a certain male figure entering Jumadeung. "Excuse me..." I tell both of the men I was just talking to while making my way to follow the escort team leader.
He enters his office and I do the same, closing the door behind me. He hasn't seemed to realize I am here. He leaves the tablet at his desk and sits on his chair with an annoyed expression. "Is everything all right?" I ask. As if he had seen a ghost, he stands up with a scared face. "Don't do that, you scared me." He says while noticing it's just me. "Sorry, you seemed to have a lot of things in your head... you didn't even heard me when I called you while following you here... is everything all right?" I ask him once more. "Yeah, yeah, why wouldn't it be?" He asks back. Liar. I know he's lying. "You seemed stressed out, don't you want me to h..." I was about t say when he cuts my words by yelling, "I DON'T NEED ANYTHING! I'm perfectly fine and I just want to be alone, so get lost!" Ouch... that hurt... well, at least now I'm sure that something is bordering him, I just need to figure out what is it...

~Time skip~
"Why do you insist?" I ask Junwoong. After our conversation with Mr. Lim, Junwoong insisted that we should ask the director about Ms. Koo's past, but I have a gut feeling that we're not going to like where things go. "It's the only way we'll get to understand her, we'll be able to help her." Junwoong says. I mean... he's got a point, but still... "Oh come on, we're already outside of director's garden, there's no way back." He says opening the door. We both enter the room. The director looks busy watering all her plants. This place is actually really beautiful.
"You know, right?" Junwoong asks. "If you ask me that all of a sudden, how am I supposed to know what to answer?" Director replies. "We see that Ms. Koo is going through a lot, she seems to be having a hard time... but I don't think she'll tell us why." I say. "That's not the only reason you are here Dr. Lee." She says. Crap... did she noticed? "I also... want to know about him..." I say. Gosh, it was supposed to be a secret, but I need to figure out what is going on with him. "That's more like it." The director replies. "Bearing with the pain of others ain't easy, specially when you are close to those people. Ryeon and Joong Gil know that, that's why they don't want to talk about it." Director replies. There's silence.
"Ms. Koo..." Junwoong says unable to finish, seeming to find it hard even to mention the word. "Committed suicide, didn't she?" I end Junwoong's sentence. "Yes." Director answers without thinking about it twice. Now the question I fear the most... "And... she's related somehow to Mr. Park...?" I ask, swearing already, my hands are cold due to the nervousness I'm feeling. "You mean if your current boyfriend has something to do with your team's manager? The answer is yes, but it's way more complicated that what you'll expect." She answers back. Wait? How does she knows? As far as I know, Joong Gil hasn't told her anything... "Boyfriend?" Junwoong asks. "Long story." I reply. "I'm going to ask both of you a question. What does Ms. Koo and Mr. Park mean for you?" Director asks. "Sorry?" Both Junwoong and I reply. "Answer." She coldly commands.
"Ms. Koo at the begging was just cold, it was really hard to be able to be close to her. But now... I admire her, many times I've thought, I want to be like her. I want to help her, in everything I can." Junwoong answers. "And for you? What does Mr. Park means for you Dr. Lee?" She asks directly. Gosh... this is so hard... "Just like Ms. Koo... at the beginning he was Ice cold like. Staring at me with murderous eyes, repeating that he'll kill me over and over again. I was scared, I thought he was scary. But I saw the other side of him, the soft beautiful side of him. How he cares for his colleagues, how he'll notice even the smallest details about a person, how he'll take care of children, how he works hard and goes through the difficult task of seeing peoples lives coming to an end over and over.... I admire him, I fell for him, not just because of his looks, but because of the comfort he brings, that sweet but hurt side of him." I reply. The director stays quiet, analyzing my words.
"I see you're ready to see the pain of Ryeon and Joong Gil." She says while getting closer to us. "From the bottom of my heart, I hope you can handle it." She says while covering our eyes. Next thing I know is that I'm in some sort of dream.

In front of me, I see a young man, he must not be more that 17 years old. He is practicing archery. He then finds a boy who's been playing some prank on him, the kids father arrives pledging for his son's life. "Do you have a death wish?" He asks them. Joong Gil... it's you. I'm sure. "You're being too harsh." A girl says while walking towards him. She talks him out of the death sentence he wanted to imply. He agrees not to kill the child and his father and goes other way. I follow him. He keeps practicing sword fighting and archery for the rest of the day, that until a snake bites his leg. "NO." I Say, but of course, I can't be heard. The girl from earlier appears one more and performs some first aid on him. She then takes him to the village to get proper treatment.
After a couple of days Joong Gil is way better. He can walk around and is feeling great. As a way to say thank you, he goes hunting and catches a bunch of different animals, and he buys some more at the market. The girl returns that day to see the people form the village enjoying the meat. They talk for a while and he thanks her as well for saving his life. They spend the day together, talking about archery, hunting and get involved in some political conversations with the elders. "I have to go." The girl says. "Wait, my name is Joong Gil, I'm the eldest son of Park Won Sik." He says. "May I have the honor of knowing your name?" He asks te girl. She smiles. "My name... is Koo Ryeon." She replies. I freeze. So... this is the truth... they do know each other from their past lives...