SLEEPERS. | ✔️

1-01

It all began at the hospital that Jung Hoseok was a junior resident at.

He'd gotten the job, not quite knowing what he got himself into. The place he worked at was a hospital, but was far from an actual hospital that catered to citizens.

It was an institution for charged murderers and was built as a psychiatric ward. Hoseok studied psychology, particularly dabbled in the mental health sector, and was at a point in life where he would've taken any job, even if it were for a receptionist position. He had just gotten off a short-term posting at the previous hospital but found that it wasn't quite suitable for him.

So he was more than elated when he got the letter saying that he'd been confirmed as a resident at Moraka National Hospital.
He partially admitted that it was his fault. He'd never heard of the place before but didn't bother to look it up because of how eager he was to start. He could barely believe that they'd accept him right after he'd sent applications the minute he stepped out of his posted hospital.

He had walked in on his first day expecting an established place, clean white walls and furnished wards, lounges and counters and everything. And he did see all those things, but only in the east wing of the hospital.

The place he worked at, the west wing, was where all the other bigger, more spacious wards were. He'd thought that the wards were larger for special patients, but he was wrong.

He found out the hard way that the big wards meant serial killers.

When he reported to the reporting officer, a man named Kim Namjoon, the man had a smile etched on his face, which led Hoseok to think that there were greater forthcomings for him. Again, wrong.

Namjoon's smile soon faded to one of pity as he led the still oblivious Hoseok around the wing, showing him the reception area, waiting rooms, treatment rooms, medicine stash, storage room, all that.

The moment they arrived at the big wards Hoseok had seen earlier, which were guarded by a metal entrance that required a staff pass, Namjoon bit his bottom lip and sighed deeply, lips falling into a thin line as he stared at the other, who looked back in confusion.

"These are...the wards. Uh, you'll be taking care of 039, which is this one," Namjoon pointed at the first room on the left. "You might want to know that this department isn't exactly...normal." His hand went up to comb through his hair.

"We don't serve normal people. The people in here are dangerous, the worst of the worst,"

"How bad can it be?" Hoseok voiced rather unknowingly, a wide grin still on his face. He'd seen some tough patients in his attachment, surely nothing could be too bad in this place.

"They're...uh...they're killers. Serial killers. You know, the massacre kind," Namjoon stuttered out somewhat hesitantly, still looking at the other to gauge his reaction.

Hoseok took a moment to register what his reporting officer had said. It sounded like a joke to him. Moreover, he'd never heard of hospitals for murderers.

"You're kidding."

"I wish I was." Namjoon scratched the back of his neck. He was ready to send Hoseok away for good, as he did about five other applicants when he told them about the job scope.
He could do with a break from people running away from him.

"Wait, so you're saying this department takes care of...serial killers?" Hoseok said, still in disbelief, scrunching up his face.

"Yeah. Some of them don't mean to kill. They just...do. We take care of these people, try to help them. We're kinda like a rehab centre. Or, well, just people who take care of the murderers the judge was less harsh on."
At this point, the doctor was just glad that the newest worker hadn't run away in fear.

Instead, he blinked blankly, swallowing.
It certainly wasn't what he expected he'd be doing. He didn't foresee that he'd be working with criminals, treating them.

But what else could he do? He was fresh out of attachment, with absolutely nobody wanting to hire him (he was just picky about his work), and there was no other option that seemed feasible.

So he nodded.

"So what do I do?"

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Please do comment your thoughts and feedback on the book! I'm still not sure about this concept because I don't know if I'll be able to keep it up lmao.