The Blackmail

“What?”

“You heard me right, Tae Yoon-ssi. Let me join your undercover if you want me to zip my mouth and not reveal your identity,” Ma Ri repeats, zipping her mouth literally using her two fingers to emphasize her meaning.

I am already surprised to see her here, now she surprises me again by asking me this ridiculous demand. Well, it doesn’t look like she’s asking me at all but is forcing me to say yes. This is blackmail!

“You don’t know what you are talking about. Going undercover is a dangerous task. I can’t just let you in,” I say in a firm voice with my hands planted on my waist.

“Okay, if I can’t be in the plan then I’ll just ruin it then!” Giving me one last threatening look, she tries to walk away from me, “Excuse me! There’s a-”

Her words drown in her own mouth as I instantly block it off using my hand. When she stands still, I let my hand loose lightly.

“Listen, this is something-”

“Excuse me!” she yells after sensing that I am trying to reason out again, I immediately block her mouth again.

“Okay! Okay!” I cry desperately.

She no longer struggled when I say that so I put my hand down as she stares at me curiously.

“Okay? So that means I’m in?! Right?” she asks, her eyes dancing from delight as she tugs my coat.

I nod helplessly. She smiles widely which instantly fades when she lowers her eyes and notices her hands tightly clasped on my coat. Immediately, she let go of my coat. An action that made me aware of our closeness. I drop my hands that held her arms as well.

Awkward.

Both clearing our throat, I watch her under my eyes and she is doing the same way to me.

“So... tell me all the details tonight,” she says with a slight tone of authority in her voice. Meeting my gaze fully and boldly which she always does since the first day we met.

“Wait, all the details? You can just tag along. I don’t think I need to tell you all the details.” The case is too complicated for her to handle and some details classified.

“No. Tell me everything tonight once we got back in the house,” she insists.

“House?”

A voice startles us and Soo Hyun is already beside me.

“What’s about the house?” she asks, staring simultaneously at me and Ma Ri.

“Ah- H-house! Yes! The hospital is like a house in which nook and cranny we should know. I was telling Dr. Ri about that coz he was thinking otherwise,” says Ma Ri hastily, returning her eyes on me and then continues in a scolding manner.

“That’s why... like I said... touring around is important, did you get it, Dr. Ri?”

“Yes, Ms. Yoon,” I reply with a masked irritation for making me look like I was backing out of the tour.

Soo Hyun nods then turns to me, “I’m sorry, Dr. Ri, but I did not see any keys in Ms. Seo Dan’s table.”

“Yes, it’s here in my coat. Sorry to trouble you.”

“No worries, Dr. Ri,” she replies while smiling at me adorably. Totally opposite of Ma Ri’s disinterested look.

Soo Hyun’s eyes light up again as she resumes the tour.

“Alright! So let’s go to the most important part of the hospital,” she starts then turns at us with a questioning look on her face, hinting us to guess what it is.

“Records Section.” “Out Patient Department.” We both said at the same time. Ma Ri and I turn our heads to look at each other.

“Records section. It contains the history and information of the patients and other important details about the hospital,” I say in my usual stoic manner.

“Out Patient Department. It houses the non-admitted patients for quick treatments and most of the time it is the busiest part of the hospital,” she says with full confidence.

Weighing each other through a stare fight, Ma Ri puts her hands on her waist with her head raised up. How can she look directly at my eyes as if she was as tall as me still baffle me?

“Eeeeng!”

Soo Hyun caught our attention and we both look at her.

“You are both wrong.” Then she walks ahead of us, heading us to the elevator.

Soo Hyun pushes the basement floor and we follow her to a large hall.

“Canteen?” I ask, confused. Canteen is the most important part of the hospital, seriously?

“Yes. Work could get so tiring and people, toxic. If we don’t stuff ourselves, we’ll end up tired and stressed and it will affect our performance. In the end... poor service,” Soo Hyun explains a matter-a-factly.

Both surprised by the unexpected answer, Ma Ri and I glance at each other with a blank expression on our faces before following Soo Hyun inside. Taking a snack that we don’t really crave right now. I need to know where the records section is.

* * *

The sun climbs higher in the deep blue sky and the air is clearer than in Seoul. Jeju is indeed a refreshing change from the capital. Sitting on a bench on the rooftop, I glance at Ma Ri who is eating a chocolate bar at the opposite end.

“You are not gonna eat lunch?”

She glances in my direction for a few seconds then continues nibbling her chocolate bar.

“I’ve been working in the hospital for a decade now, you see, but I never tried the hospital food. Not even once.”

“Why so?” I shift in her direction as she caught my curiosity.

“We own a small eatery back in the Philippines so my mom always prepares me a lunch box. She told me that hospital food looks are for sick people so I should avoid eating there.”

“I see, that’s why you only ordered coffee a while ago.”

“Exactly.”

Nodding slowly, I stare back in front of me. The sound of the busy street below ringing in my ears.

“How about you? Why don’t you go down and take your lunch?”

“I’m not hungry yet. My stomach hasn’t digested yet the snack we had.”

“Cup of coffee, seriously?”

She scoffs softly and focuses back on her chocolate bar.

“I had a heavy breakfast... unlike someone who left without saying a word. I wonder if she even had a proper breakfast seeing her devouring a chocolate bar.”

She throws me an irritated look and huffs.

Suddenly, I remember that she told me before that she is a nurse. But I wonder why Soo Hyun taught her some things that are not of a nurse’s responsibility.

“By the way, you told me that you are a nurse, right?”

“Ah, I only have this job as part-time. I’m still working on my documents.” She replies directly, getting what I meant to say, “-and so I’m taking the undercover job.”

Oh yeah, I almost forgot about it. But then an idea pops in my head, I need a plan to stop her from joining our undercover. I just can’t let her join.

“Are you really sure?”

“Yeah, I can do it.”

“First, I have to see if you are ready for this. You can’t only have a strong will in doing this job, you should also be physically strong.”

Scenes starting to form in my head and I triumph silently for its impending success of stopping her.

“Another test, I see,” she says while snorting.

Narrowing my brows, I squint from what she said, “Another test?”

“Yeah, just this morning, your men tested my skills,” she says with a confident air, “I think you should check on them later. And, don’t forget to bring pain relievers with you.”

I scoff unbelievably. So they are the ones who told this to Ma Ri. Those little-

“Don’t blame them, they are just doing their job,” she tells me as if she has read my mind.

I look at her abruptly when she said that, she eats the last remaining bar on her chocolate and stands up.

“Anyway... If you don’t want to get caught. Distance yourself from me and act like you don’t know me.” Then she walks and left me behind.

Pfft! That was my line.