After Dark (Prompts)

Be With You - 17

Im Cheol-Ryung felt exhausted and his mind was slipping. This fatigue was nothing like the one he felt during the time he was with Ha Chae Yoon. The one he was feeling now felt like a tiredness he would never recover from and part of him no longer wanted to fight it. He wanted to close his eyes, let the darkness consume him  so that it will be over and done with.

But whenever he would attempt to give in to the darkness, Ha Chae Yoon's face would flood his mind. Her eye smile directed at him before she whispers, "You're frowning again, Detective. Come home so I can tease you some more."

As the hours passed, he felt himself get weaker and weaker. With the regular beatings and his wounds, he wondered if he was ever going to make it out. 

He needed to. 

He needed to go home. 

He still had life to live with Ha Chae Yoon.

He still had to explain that his phone was filled with pictures of her but he couldn't show her yet because there was a certain item there that was currently being engraved.

Would she like it? He chose a simple, no frills design. He was after all working on the budget of a cop. However, he made sure he chose the clearest stone to symbolise how pure he saw her and how she would hopefully see his love for her.

Im Cheol-Ryung left instructions to the jeweller that if anything happened to him, the ring will go to Ha Chae Yoon. He always thought this way ever since his wife died. Always plan for the worst.

In spite that, he remained hopeful that he would still be able to ask her.

It was getting chilly and his vision was slowly getting out of focus. Maybe he could rest. Just a little. 

A few minutes shouldn't hurt. 

A few minutes.

Then, it was dark.

*

"I think we have it," Detective Kang announced. "This property is owned by a certain Cha Ki-sung."

The location was an abandoned building, not a warehouse, but had all the other traits Min Tae Gu mentioned and was owned by one of the names included in Min Tae Gu's list. The dealer was fairly new in the business, his previous crimes was mostly related to robbery. 

"That's his connection to the pickpockets," the station chief concluded.

Expectedly, they received another call from the hostage takers. The law enforcers no longer took their word seriously but it gave the cops clues as to how Im Cheol-Ryung was doing. They also hoped for any additional information that would confirm the location.

This time, whoever was speaking no longer made sense. They demanded an amount and then the release of one of their companions in exchange of the detective. "You don't have much time," the person said. The video was currently a black screen but when it started transmitting an image, there was a collective gasp in the room.

Im Cheol-Ryung was unconscious.

*

The following moments were a blur. 

Teams were already dispatched to the identified location which wasn't that far from the station and should be reached in less than an hour. 

Lee Da-bin was speaking to the person on the other end of the video call, telling them in an even tone that the captors need to make sure the detective comes out alive or else this would not end up well for them. She threw them a bone saying, "Of course, I will help you as much as I can but if Detective Im does not make it, I don't see a good outcome for you."

Ha Chae Yoon heard a cackle as a response, making her quickly stand up, ready to give them a piece of her mind. Fortunately, the Chief was behind her and stopped her before she did anything she would regret. 

"Let it go," he said.

At that moment, she wondered what it was like to be criminal who just acted on instinct. Wiping away her tears, Ha Chae Yoon sat and stared blankly at Im Cheol-Ryung's unmoving form. It was because she was staring at him this whole time that she saw the movement. 

"Cheol-Ryung," she whispered. 

As if he heard her, Im Cheol-Ryung groaned. 

"Oh look at that! The detective lives," the disembodied voice said. "Get up, Detective. Say goodbye to your colleagues."

The camera zoomed in on his face.

Though thankful to see him upclose, Ha Chae Yoon's heart broke seeing all the gashes, the swollen eye and the cut lip. "Inspector Lee, is Inspector Ha with you?" he managed to ask, weakly.

"Yes," Lee Da-bin replied.

Checking with the Chief, Ha Chae Yoon sighed gratefully when she was allowed to appear on the call. "I'm here," Ha Chae Yoon said. "I'm here."

"Inspector Ha... I have a message...," Im Cheol-Ryung said, struggling. 

"Yes. Tell me," Ha Chae Yoon told him, with a paper and pen ready to jot down whatever he would say even if she knew the whole thing was being recorded.

"Tell my girlfriend... I love her... I don't think I was able to say it properly," he said.

Tears sprung into her eyes but she nodded. "Okay. You might need to say that in better circumstances." In spite of the situation, she realized she succeeded in making him smile. "Is there anything else?"

He was drawing laboured breaths now. "Tell her I'll see her at home."

"Do you promise?"

"Yes."

Then the line went dead.

*

Ha Chae Yoon was escorted to a room to wait. Staring into nothing was all that she allowed herself that moment. She trusted her colleagues and she trusted Im Cheol-Ryung. It was probably naive but the alternative was an option her mind and heart could not process at the moment something she was unwilling to accept.

Hands massaging her head, she kept chanting, "You promised. You promised. You promised."

When sitting was no longer comfortable, she paced around the room, or leaned on one of the walls, checking her phone one in a while in case she gets any news.

When an hour passed, she felt her resolve slipping. That was the time Lee Da-bin came barging in to pull Ha Chae Yoon out. 

"We have him."

*

Ha Chae Yoon was waiting by the sidewalk for the ambulance, that was carrying Im Cheol-Ryung, to arrive.

When door opened and she caught sight of him on the gurney, she ran along with the medical personnel attending to him. 

"Chae Yoon," he was calling out, weakly. His head kept turning around as if looking for her. 

"I'm here, I'm here," she whispered. She took his hand to assure him of her presence. 

He seemed to want to say something but she was prevented from following into the operating room. "Wait. Stop," Im Cheol-Ryung ordered. "Sweetheart?"

"Yes? I'm here. What is it? They need to operate now," Ha Chae Yoon told him urgently.

"Wait for me, okay? I'm coming home to you," he said.

"I'll wait. I promise."

Ha Chae Yoon released her hold on him so the doctors and nurses could finally wheel him in. Standing by the doors and peaking through the glass pane as if she could see anything, Ha Chae Yoon stood and waited again. 

Hoping that this time, when they were reunited, they would never have to part.