SLEEPERS. | ✔️

1-05

It was tough, his job. Or so he thought.

He never expected that coaxing another person out of one would strain him so much mentally and physically, while his mentor stood by him to offer support and help whenever he needed it. Park Jimin was, at that point, also trying his hardest to give the doctors the truth, but just could not trigger the other side of him to come out. It was almost as if he had started hiding inside the male, to avoid being asked any questions.

The moment Hoseok decided it was a lost cause, he turned the camera off and sighed deeply, massaging the bridge of his nose.

"I'm really sorry, doctor Jung. I don't know what happened to him," Park Jimin said apologetically to the doctor.

"It's okay. It's really okay. We can try again tomorrow. Can you try to get him to talk to me by then?" Hoseok waved the apology off, though he really felt like his brain had been squeezed dry thinking of things to ask. The clipboard of questions wasn't really helping him find this other side of Jimin.

"I'll try..." the patient's words trailed off as he shrugged his shoulders gently.

With a small smile and a nod, the junior resident got up from his chair and picked up his clipboard before leaving the room with Namjoon beside him.

"That was stressful," he declared the moment they arrived in the hallway.

"Yeah, that's one of the tougher scenarios we deal with..." his mentor frowned, adjusting his black-rimmed glasses. He started heading towards the counter again, to return the clipboard to the nurse there.

Hoseok followed behind him, as he had been doing for the longest time. The ambience of the West Wing still got to him every time he walked back in, especially since he'd been in the East now. The people on the other side just seemed more eager to do their jobs, rushing around and all. Even nurses in the West were solemn most of the time.

"Are there any more of you?" he found himself asking the man in front of him, who was hunched over the counter, signing a return slip.

"There's one more, but she's taking a momentary break. If you're asking about senior residents, that is. I haven't been able to find a junior one in a long time, so it's really great that you're here," Namjoon responded, pen in his hands as he studied the list of on-call nurses.

Hoseok couldn't say he was surprised that there were only two senior residents in the entire department, but he felt somewhat taken aback anyways. It was a small number for a whole department. And he was the only junior resident too, which probably explained all his paperwork for the six larger rooms.

"Isn't it hard working so much? I mean, two senior residents overlooking the entire ward? That's something."

"We used to have more people here when we first started." the mentor recalled rather solemnly, pen hovering midair as he stared at the white counter.

Hoseok had an itch at the back of his brain that was prodding at him to ask what happened to the others. But he didn't, because the gears started working themselves in his brain. Criminal hospital, guards, serial killers.

It was obvious what happened to everyone else.

"Did they-did they..." he began, unsure about pushing his curiosity further.

"Yeah. Some of them left in a...pretty bad way. Not all of us are lucky enough to escape unscathed, especially in this place. The news spread, people backed off our area."

Namjoon sighed and rubbed his temple before getting back to signing forms, adjusting his spectacles.

"You can get back to the office, we're done with rounds for the day." he smiled a small, sad smile.

The junior resident bowed slightly, then took his leave.

The moment he stepped through the entrance to the East Wing, his eyes landed on two male figures chasing a gurney, one holding a blood bag while the other pushed the cart forwards at lightning speed, while nurses and doctors checked the patient laying on the metal.

As the gurney charged towards Hoseok to the operation room, he caught sight of a certain blonde and a brown haired boy, their faces fixed with a serious expression, actions fuelled by adrenaline.

Hoseok moved to the side as his lips curled upwards in greeting to Taehyung and Jungkook.

Exhaling deeply, he watched as they disappeared into the double green doors.