Fallen

Outburst

A carousel of vaguely connected scenes and voices flashed through his mind, preceding what Ri Jeong Hyeok naturally assumed would be yet another mundane day coming softly into focus.

The former military captain blinked, involuntarily squeezing his eyes shut when blinding pinpricks of light flooded his vision, before searing discomfort elicited a soundless gasp from him.

"He's awake!" Came a familiar male voice. "Captain Ri is awake!"

His mind remained sleep-addled, but the obliterating pain tearing through every fiber of his physical being soon pulled him back to reality.

An instinctive deep breath, brutally interrupted by the throbbing ache somewhere within his chest, ended in an anguished groan. Trying to prop himself up on an elbow, Jeong Hyeok found himself in a bleach tinctured hospital ward, lying on thinning sheets which had probably witnessed more than its fair share of death.

"Slowly does it, take it easy, Captain Ri."

That sounded like Joo Meok.

A fraying curtain hangs limply on a rusty steel railing, looking like it's been washed at least a thousand times, before it was given up on to live with the blood stains that inevitably got on it.

Images began to flood his mind in messy bits and pieces; he recalled the turn of events that had put him in his current predicament.

Their noodle stall...the thugs...the unprovoked attack...their Seri's Choice signboard...Yoon Seri.

With eyes pinned to the gray tiles above, he could hear frantic footsteps from down the hallway, before more voices were heard.

"Captain Ri, can you hear us? It's me, Eun Dong. Are you feeling any better?"

"...is she alright?" Nodding ever so slightly, the former Captain managed a feeble whisper past his painfully cut lip, before swallowing instinctively to soothe the aching dryness in his mouth.

A rather audible snort followed, and it didn't take him more than a second to recognize who it came from.

"You've just gotten yourself beaten to a pulp," Pyo Chi Su exclaimed incredulously. "And you're only worried about her? What is this sorcery that the woman is using?"

Wincing with exertion as he strained to sit up with Eun Dong's aid, Jeong Hyeok repeated his question with a steely gaze that effectively shut his friend up.

"Is she safe?"

"Don't worry, Captain Ri. Miss Yoon is safe," Joo Meok was quick to reply. "She left with her chauffeur when we've arrived, after ensuring you were going to be alright. How are you feeling?"

The tension visibly dissipated from the wounded Captain following the young man's reassurance, but it only served to make him more acutely aware of the existing physical cuts, bruises, gashes and the mind-numbing pain they brought.

"Dreadful."

That honest response, delivered in the most dead-pan, classical Ri Jeong Hyeok manner, elicited an exasperated smile and mock annoyance from the loudmouth of their clique.

"I'd bet it hurts like hell," He gestured animatedly at the injuries he was looking at, before his expression darkened to take on a much graver demeanor. "Who are those scumbags? Why did they do this?"

"You offended someone, Captain Ri? Is it a misunderstanding or something that we can help clear up?" Trust Eun Dong to always think on the bright side.

For a second, Jeong Hyeok entertained thoughts of coming clean with the Fifth Company, only to dispel those thoughts upon mental images of them embroiled in fights, or worse, coming to harm.