Recap:
"I wonder what it means to be happy? It's absolutely chaos out there buf it's peaceful here. They eant to enjoy their precious hohse prices and achieve some sort of happiness, but it can only be for so long until that happiness shatters like glass on pavement...but for me, I'm glad that you are one of the most important people that make my life happy." She mumbled as she snuggled into her husband's chest.
"Happy to be of service." He smirked and he kissed her forehead as they watched the night sky.
○●○●○●
Later that night when Hyun-jae was fast asleep Yi-hyun got up and snuck out of the apartment and into the underground parking only to meet with the man who caused this afternoons mess.
"I am so damn thankful for what you did earlier today." He said as he smugly walked towards him.
"Did they tell you to go home?" Yi-hyun questioned.
"The results were clean. So they told me to self-quarantine at home. So please understand even if it's noisy at night." He said.
"You will be quarantined in jail soon. So don't worry." Yi-hyun smirked.
"Jail? When my quarantine is over, I'm suing you first! You messed with the wrong person! I'm the master of lawsuits and accusations!" His threat fell onto deaf ears as Yi-hyun ignored him as he got into his car while making a phone call.
○●○●○●
Yi-hyun entered the facility causing Tae-seok to look at him questioningly while he placed the bottle of pills on his desk.
"This was found at the infected's house." Yi-hyun said casually. "It looks like your people took care of the cat wash dealers too. Those drugs cause Mad Human Disease, right?" He questioned.
"I'm sure you didn't come all the way here to ask that." Tae-seok said.
"Is Ms. Park Min-ji here? I'd like to meet her now." He said.
He was soon led to her room by Ji-soo where he found her bound and blinded on her bed.
"Be careful." She warned as he was about to pull on her blinds.
"Ms. Park Min-ji." He called as he removed her blinds and her eyes went wide showing her shrunken pupils as she started moaning.
"Shouldn't she have returned to normal by now?" He asked.
"She's supposed to be dead by now. The disease occuref just before she died, and she's alive thanks to the virus." She replied.
"Then if she turns back to normal..." He drawled.
"She'll die. Her mind has turned into a huge mess. Perhaps she's in that condition because she knows that too." She said.
"Perhaps it's because she's resentful, and she wants to reveal wo killed her... Ms. Park Min-ji. Don't worry. I swear I'll catch the asshole who did this to you." Yi-hyun swore to her before he left the room.
○●○●○●
That morning Hyun-jae woke up to the sound of shuffling and her eyes fluttered open to see Yi-hyun dressed and about to leave.
"Yi-hyun." She called.
"Oh you're up?" He asked.
"I can I not with all that shuffling." She grumbled putting the blanket over her head as he sat next to her.
"Bunny." He called.
"What?" She asked as she pulled the blanket down so she could see him and he stole a kiss from her lips, not that she minded.
"I'll be back, I've just got to get a bad guy in jail." He said.
"You mean that wife-killer?" She asked.
"Yeah, Dae-seong is helping in compiling evidence to use against him for an arrest." He said.
"Make the cuffs tight." She demanded and he smirked.
"Of course." He said and after one long last kiss he left. Leaving Hyun-jae lost in thought as she stared at the ceiling, she raised her hand and looked at it thought fully.
What happened yesterday really surprised her, was a temporary phenomena or is it an innate ability that awakened under stress.
Maybe I should try using it again, but it would be weird if I'm constantly touching people to prove a theory. She thought as she got out of bed to get ready for a leisure day of doing nothing.
Or so she thought.
"Hi!" Sae-bom smiled enthusiastically with Seo-yoon by her side. "Let's hang out!" She said and Hyun-jae sighed because she couldn't exactly refuse as the little girl had such an expactant look on her face.
Later on they were outside Hyun-jae watched as the two were playing on those leg swings.
"I'm going to get surgery." Seo-yoon said.
"So it's decided?" Sae-bom asked and the little girl nodded.
"My mom is pretty worried, but the disease spreading in the apartment is worrisome too. When I get wounded, it doesn't heal very well. I take antibiotics too. We decided to go out quietly and get surgery." She said.
"When are you leaving?" Hyun-jae asked.
"I'm going to go get checkups when my mom comes...Hey, he's the man who was on TV." She said and the two older women looked back to see Tae-seok walking towards them.
"Is he your friend?" Seo-yoon asked.
"No, he's just someone we know." Sae-bom replied.
○●○●○●
"What is it?" Sae-bom asked as they went to talk somewhere private.
"Mad Human Disease is spreading in the apartment." He said.
"Oh...shit." Hyun-jae released a frustrated sigh.
"Nut there was only infected person. Are there more?" Sae-bom asked.
"We interrogated the dealer, and he said he sold the drugs at the apartment gym. He sold them by saying it helps with diets and concentration, and one of the was Park Min-ji from the sixth floor." He said.
"Well...can't wait for all hell to break loose." Hyun-jae grumbled dryly as she looked st the apartments probably filled people who are probably taking the pill right now, not knowing that it's turning them into mindless monsters.
"I'm sure many in the apartment are going through the same thing. Some might be living quietly at home, hiding the disease. So the numbers will grow little by little and blow up all at once." He said.
"Then what are you doing here, then?" Hyun-jae asked.
"You should start investigating." Sae-bom insisted.
"Do you think that's going to solve it? There's no cure or vaccine for it and we don't know when they will turn. We can't even kill then all like pigs infected with swine fever." He said.
"Then what are you going to do? Is there another way?" Sae-bom asked.
"There...is a way." He said and they soon heard sirens wailing in the distance and they saw a barricaded wall being placed around the entire complex.
"Thankfully only the residents can use the gym, and less than half of the houses are in use. The nursery in the apartment complex isn't open yet, either." He said.
"So you're going to lock down the entire complex?" Sae-bom asked.
"Until we get the manpower and location to watch the infected." He said.
"Don't you think you shoukd be telling the residents that, they deserve to know and they need to prepare themselves." Hyun-jae said.
"They won't prepare themselves. They'll run away and spread the disease." He argued.
"You two can get out you two. We always lach decisive peopke when it comes to matters like this." Tae-seok offered and Sae-bom clicked her tongue and Hyun-jae scoffed.
"It's my fault. When I found out what were doing at the dorm, I should be revealed everything to the media." Sae-bom said.
"That wouldn't have changed anything." Hyun-jae sighed.
"She's right. We have to...have priorities like this. Like who is more needed and what is more needed." He said.
"So we're needed?" Sae-bom asked as he nodded.
"But I decided to live here and this is my house now. Whether it's Mad Human issues or noise issues, I'm not the type to run in the middle of something. Goodbye." She said and walked away and Hyun-jae followed.
"Hyun-jae surely as a doctor you can see logical reason." Tae-seok reached out to her.
"I do, but humans are emotional beings so at the moment you pissed me off so I can't." She shrugged and left.
Eventually they met Yi-hyun whipe he was taking the man who killed his wife to the station, Hyun-jae sighed and rushed to hug him which took him surprise.
"Yi-hyun...don't bother with him anymore." Hyun-jae muttered and the man took off.
"Hyun-jae, I have to catch that jerk." He said.
"Don't bother...There's no getting out of here anyway." Sae-bom sighed.
○●○●○●
They had to find that man and they found him rolling around in handcuffs.
"The police arrested me without a warrant, but an arrest without a warrant is illegal, right?"
"You mean this warrent?" Dae-seong appeared as he crouched above the man holding the approved document while Yi-hyun came along.
"What are you being charged with?"
"Yi-hyun replied plainly before dropping the phone.
"Dae-seong." Sae-bom sighed as she gave him a hug. "I thought I was going to be alone." She muttered as he put her back while hugging her.
"Yeah, I thought so, so imagine when I had to abandon my car just outside the wall and jump in before it was too late." He said with a small chuckle.
"My hero." She smiled softly.
"Always." He said.
"You evaded arrest and escaped, right?" Yi-hyun questioned as he sat of the man who quickly got up.
"Help me, please! I live in building 101. Im2a doctor! A specialist!" He yelled.
"We're from the police. You can just keep going." Yi-hyun dismissed the crowd who looked on in interest.
"Young lady. Or old lady? Anyways, he's your husband? I'm going to report you for himsn rights violations." He scolded Hyun-jae who quirked her brow.
"He whines like a baby, can I hit him?" She asked.
"Just come with me?...and put on your shoes on." Yi-hyun said taking him away.
"Piece of garbage." Hyun-jae muttered.
"So this is what it looks like on the inside?" Dae-seong muttered as they looked at the wall.
"Yep...but is is legal?" Sae-bom asked.
"It's government issued so it is, even if they do let us out eventually we can't really sue them." He sighed as he combled his hair back.
○●○●○●
"Greetings, all residents of Building 101. I am the building representative. I'm sure you are confused because of all the noise. The entire apartment complex is noe separated from the outside. And the government has something to tell us about Mad Human Disease. A resident meeting will take place at the basement gym at five."
"I really dislike that woman." Hyun-jae muttered as she glared at the intercom.
"Why do you hate her, you just met her." Dae-seong said as he came to the living room now changed out of his suite.
"Just a hunch I guess." She shrugged as they watched the news of other places being barricaded.
"Don't worry your mom will call soon." Sae-bom comforted as Seo-yoon stared at the phone and just like that, it rang and she was quick to grab it with her little hands.
"Mom?" She replied.
Little child was so relieved to hear from her mother and with her mother's words she gave Sae-bom the phone and proceeded to walk out to talk to her mom.
Seo-yoon rushed to the intercom and turned it on to listen in. They all heard every word of the conversation and Hyun-jae walked up to the sniffling little girl.
"Sounds like your mom really loves you, you're one lucky girl." She said and the little girl nodded and she gave her a hug.
"Please don't tell her I listened." Seo-yoon asked.
"Don't worry, we won't say anything. Right, Dae-seong?" Hyun-jae questioned seriously.
"My lips are sealed." He nodded and they went back to sit down just as Sae-bom returned and gave Seo-yoon the phone to talk to her mom again.
○●○●○●
Later that day the tenants of the complex arrived for the meeting.
"Dear residents of Seyang Forest Le Ciel. Due to the danger of additional infection in the complex, the entire complex will be in cohort isolation for one week." Ji-so said from the live video stream which caused some people to panic.
"We will compensatefor all danages caused by the lockdown until we can manage all the infected. We will make sure you don't suffer any inconveniences, so please wait until then. And if you need anything else, discuss it among the residents and let us know. That will be all." She said and the stream ended with some tennants to reach out to her.
On the other hand while the meeting was happening Sae-bom and Hyun-jae were called down to the underground parking by Tae-seok.
The door slowly opened up and there he was.
"You know we were supposed to attend a meeting?" Hyun-jae asked.
"The kids were at school and you stopped the school buses from coming in. You wanted a lockdown without kids, right?" Sae-bom asked.
"Yes, I am aware of the meeting and It looks better." He said.
"There'sa kid who didn't go to school. Let her out. You can do that at least, right?" Sae-bom said.
"Park Seo-yoon. We're testing her parents. They have a high risk of infection." He said.
"Are you sure?" She asked.
"I'm sure they took the drugs to stay awake because delivery work is tough. They're telling their daughter that they love her and miss her, right? It's no use. You never know how people can change in times of crisis." He said.
"Could you save your pessimistic comments to yourself please Lieutenant Colonel. What of it?" Hyun-jae asked.
"I'm saying it's better for Seo-yoon to be here with a good guardian. We don't know...what will happen outside." He saidas he took a brief glance outside.
"I think we should go." Hyun-jae said and they were about to leave but Tae-seok grabbed her wrist.
"Hey!" She yelped.
****
A secluded hospital room, a woman, unconscious on the bed connected to all sorts of hospital equipment. Hyun-jae shivered as it was cold in the room, she also noticed that this woman was sevely dehydrated by her chapped lips and her skin had was pale but more importantly.
"Your pregnant...who are you?" She questioned as she reached out to hold the woman's hand but she was pulled away to another scene.
The door opened and the woman was on the floor with a man pinning her down as he took a bite out of her neck.
"Oh my god!" She gasped.
"Honey..." The woman reached out limply but she was frozen on the spot.
The man who was biting her stopped and made a move to look up...
***
"Hands off." Sae-bom snapped as she ripped his hand off of Hyun-jae who just came back.
"I'm sorry, but Hyun-jae I strongly recommend you come with me. You could be of great service to us and finding the cure a lot faster." He said.
"Why would she do that, were you not the one who kicked her out in the first place." Sae-bom argued.
"Still..." He said.
"I think I'll stay but give me a week to decide, right now U think it would be reassuring to have a decent human doctor within the complex." Hyun-jae said.
"Very well." He said and they walked off into their separate ways.
○●○●○●
When they arrived Hyun-jae made a beeline towards Yi-hyun who kissed her head as she wrapped her arms around him.
"You okay?" He asked.
"I'm fine." She nodded.
"Then we have no one from the management office here?"
"No, we don't. Something unfathomable has happened." The posh woman said.
"But she's right there." Sae-bom said as she pointed towards the door where a nice cleaning lady waved from the day.
"I was living in the US with my husband but returnrf because I gell in love with the so-called K-Quarantine."
"Excuse me, building representative. We do have someone from the Management Office, outside." Sae-bom spoke up.
"Our apartment complex teems with corruption. They secretly fixed the elevators because they didn't pass the safety test. And they collect recyclables only once a week, and they are wasting money to fix the roadside trees in the complex. If you trust and follow me, I wil become the resident representative a resolve these unreasonable issues in the apartments."
"Excuse me but why should we trust you?" Hyun-jae spoke.
"What?"
"I'm asking why should we trust you? Was it not you who said you'd prefer that the apartments look good so that more people would buy apartments?" She asked.
"Well that's--"
"And if so why aren't the public rentals not allowed to use the gym, not to mention the locked fire escape." She said.
"Those were not my desicions I was merely doing what was needed of me."
"But you just said you'd help resolve unreasonable issues did you not? Those are unreasonably unfair restrictions on public rentals is it not?" Hyun-jae said as she continued to grill the woman. "But hey, that's just my opinion if all of you are willing to place your trust in this woman by all means go for it, I was just giving my two cents." She said as she raised her hands up in surrender shrugging sheepishly.
Once she stepped back the woman composed herself continued to advertise herself and her husband followed by a woman who advertised legal consultancy and with that the meeting ended and the woman walked up to Hyun-jae.
"I heard you're a doctor. You should be cooperating with maintaining health and order in the apartments." She said.
"Oh of couse, I'll do my best alongside my friends and forgive me for being so inquisitive it's become a part of my personality to find and get rid of ailments and viruses." Hyun-jae said with a sickening sweet smile and the woman sighed and walked off.
"She makes it so easy." Hyun-jae scoffed.
"Hyun-jae don't provoke people." Dae-seong warned.
"I'm sorry but it's not my fault she's got a stick way up her ass." She rolled her eyes.
○●○●○●
Later that night Hyun-jae, Yi-hyun, Sae-bom and Dae-seong were inside the gym office with a worker as they wanted to investigate the distribution of the drug.
"What is this about? You should tell me so I can help." The boy said and Sae-bom locked the door.
"Why are you locking--"
"If you're willing to help that would be great, because we've got a few questions for you." Hyun-jae said as she looked up from her hands that rested under her chin as she sat across from where he stood.