Release From Hell

The Story

At the end of the day, Seungbae drove back to the hospital, excited to tell Yoonbum and Soo Jung about his discovery. He met up with Soo Jung at the entrance of the psychiatric ward, and she gave him a bright smile. He told her first what he had found, and she seemed just as excited about it as him. She cared for every one of her patients on a personal level, and Yoonbum was no different. She wanted to see him recover safely, too. When Yoonbum wheeled out of the room, he glanced back and forth between Seungbae and Soo Jung, but said nothing.

"Hey, Seungbae. Hi, Soo Jung."

"Hey, Yoonbum. How did it go?"

"It was okay. Dr. Lee's a good guy. But he didn't ask me about anything that happened, he just sort of asked about me. I mean he also psychoanalysed me or some shit like that but I was expecting it."

Dr. Lee walked up behind Yoonbum.

"Thank you, Yoonbum, but we both know that 'some shit' as you put it is very important to your recovery process. Everything you tell me is between us, but as Yang Seungbae is taking care of you right now, he needs to know about basic medical information."

"I know. Seungbae, is it okay if we stop at the pharmacy? I'm supposed to start taking crazy pills."

Dr. Lee rolled his eyes at Yoonbum. Seungbae nodded, suppressing a laugh.

"They're not- ah forget it. I'll see you tomorrow then. Take care!"

The three waved goodbye as the doctor closed the door and walked of down the opposite end of the hall.

"I'm glad everything went well, Yoonbum. Hey, I got some new information at the station today about your case."

Seungbae relayed everything to Yoonbum, who nodded seriously. Seungbae knew it made Yoonbum uncomfortable to talk about anything relating to Sangwoo, but he thought it would make him feel better to know Sangwoo wasn't getting out of prison.

"Um, Seungbae," Soo Jung chimed in, "Yoonbum probably doesn't want to hear about that kind of thing. He's had a long day and-"

"No it's okay, Soo Jung. Thank you for thinking about me, but I would have told him to stop. I have to face this someday, and the sooner I learn to live with what happened, the sooner I can move on."

"No, I'm sorry Yoonbum. Soo Jung's right, I should have thought about it more. It's okay, you don't have to be all brave."

Yoonbum folded his hands in his lap, looking particularly small,

"Well in that case...is it okay if we don't talk about it anymore?"

"Yeah of course."

And with that the three left the ward. Yoonbum and Seungbae headed towards the parking lot, waving goodbye to Soo Jung. Seungbae helped Yoonbum into the car, then entered the driver's seat on the other side. As soon as they started driving, Yoonbum spoke up.

"How come you didn't tell me you liked her back?"

"What?" Seungbae was taken aback. Was it possible Yoonbum was referring to Soo Jung?

"Well I mean I knew she liked you because she used to talk about you all the time but I couldn't tell if you liked her back. It's good that you do, though, she's really nice."

He was talking about her! Seungbae was surprised that Yoonbum was so intuitive about his romantic life. Although, judging by what he knew, before everything with Oh Sangwoo, Yoonbum had been a bit of a stalker, so it wasn't too shocking that he was very in tune with human behavior.

"Uh, yeah. I think she's really great. So, uh, Yoonbum, there's something I've been wondering... are you ever going to tell me what happened? I know it's difficult for you to talk about but I think of us as friends now and I want you to be able to talk to me."

Yoonbum went quiet. The more relaxed side of himself that he showed around Seungbae faded and he began to look more like he had when they had first met. Subconsciously, Yoonbum started rubbing the scar on his neck until Seungbae had to stop him for fear of him opening it back up.

"I'm sorry I shouldn't have said anything. I didn't mean... It's just that I want to help you but I feel like to do that I need to know the whole story and... well, who am I kidding, I honestly just want to know."

The air between them hung awkwardly with silence for a few minutes.

"I-it's okay. I get it. I just... I know I'm s-supposed to feel safe now but I don't really. Even though I'm... away from him, I..."

"I know. I'm sorry. Just forget I said anything, it's okay."

"I'm going to have to tell someone aren't I?"

"...Yeah. If nothing else, you have to testify and tell the judge everything. If you don't want to talk about it other than that, that's perfectly fine, but you do have to do that."

Again the silence wrapped around them. They were almost back to the apartment building when Yoonbum spoke again.

"I want to do it."

"What?"

"Seungbae, can you call Soo Jung? Ask her to come over. I'll tell you both everything."

Seungbae nodded and hurried out of the car, almost forgetting to help Yoonbum out. On his way up the stairs, he called Soo Jung. As soon as she picked up, he explained what was happening.

"Give me ten minutes."

And she hung up on him. It was barely ten minutes later when Soo Jung knocked on the front door. She had with her a basket of supplies, most of which Seungbae had never seen before. She went over and plopped it on the couch next to Yoonbum. Unlike Seungbae, he seemed to know what was going on, and he dug through the basket, pulling out a large stress ball. Soo Jung put the basket away behind her.

"Um, what... what just happened." Seungbae was staring at the very bizarre picture of Yoonbum sitting on his couch wearing cradling a ball.

"It's just a precaution. Sometimes when PTSD or anxiety patients talk about things that trigger them, they use tools to help them stay calm. "

Yoonbum nodded like this made perfect sense. Seungbae just shrugged, figuring whatever worked was fine with him.