Found After the Hunt

“We’re screwed. What do we do?”

A greeting more common than “Did you eat?” or “Did you sleep well?” over the past two months slipped out.

“Yeah. We’re completely fucked.

Why use an umbrella in the rain? Just pull a condom over your damn head instead.”

“Exactly.

After tearing through everything from the mountains of Gangwon to the tangerine fields of Seogwipo and still not finding him, I thought I’d just drop dead—who knew we’d be even more screwed after finding him…….”

The anxious murmurs scattered like frightened dogs the moment they heard approaching footsteps.

A sharp, irritated sigh followed, crashing down over their heads.

“H-hyungnim.”

“You bastards, f*ck. Was I asking for that much…….”

“…….”

“It’s not like I told you to do anything special, right?

I just asked you to get a bit of ice to cool him down.”

The burly men grabbed onto each other’s shoulders and hands, trembling pitifully.

“Are you scooping ice out of Alaska or something? Huh?”

“N-no, sir.”

“It’ll be here soon. Gamja and Hopi went down on a bike just now, sir.”

“When is ‘soon,’ you bastard. How many minutes is ‘soon’?”

Crack.

The sound of knuckles popping echoed.

That alone made the surrounding temperature seem to plummet, leaving the men on the verge of tears.

A silent scream passed through their minds.

Hyungnim!

If you just sit still, this place is already Siberia!

We don’t even need ice!

The men shut their mouths, lamenting that they only had one life to lose, and the man who hated suffocating silence more than anything grew irritated.

“Do I need to dunk your heads in the spring sea before you idiots start moving faster…….”

“We’re sorry, hyungnim!”

“What are you doing? Someone call Gamja!”

Fortunately, right at that moment, the rattling sound of a scooter approached, and two men appeared.

They awkwardly unfolded their cramped limbs from the worn-out bike and hurriedly pulled out the ice and cold drinks they’d brought.

Soon, chunks of ice were poured into a basin they’d somehow gotten their hands on.

“Hah—sorry… sorry, hyungnim.

It’s such a rural place, all the stores were closed. So we had to go pretty far down…….”

“Enough.”

A large hand shot out and snatched the basin roughly.

As he lifted his other arm, the men shrank back all at once.

That large hand clenched into a fist, leaving only the thumb extended, then pointed toward the shabby door behind the man they called hyungnim.

“Think of what’s inside there as your lifeline.
Got it?”

If the person lying sick inside died, they would all be buried alongside him as grave goods.

“Do it right.”

“……Yes!”

“We’ll do our best!”

Then the man gave a cold command.

“Get lost. And tell Doctor Jang to get here now. Before I grind his accelerator into dust.”

The man in the coat sighed deeply as soon as he stepped out of the car, his pale face looking even more drained than usual.

The burly men rushed toward him without a shred of dignity.

“Doctor Jang!”

“Quick, this room.

Hurry!”

“Please save us before we all die, doc!”

Another few seconds of delay, and they looked ready to drop to their knees and beg.

The doctor in silver-rimmed glasses waved them away.

“I heard the situation over the phone on the way here.”

“Whatever you heard, it’s worse than that.”

“I’ll judge that myself.”

Before he could even knock, the door swung open.

A man with pitch-dark eyes ground his teeth.

“Are you a doctor or a funeral director?

Planning to hold a memorial until he stops breathing?”

The doctor stepped forward, glancing at the man—and beyond him, into the room.

The room was a complete mess.

Water had pooled everywhere, likely from melted ice.

Which meant the patient’s fever had been so severe they had to go out of their way to get ice in this remote place.

The irritated man stood there with four buttons of his ill-fitting shirt undone, sleeves rolled up to his elbows.

Sweat dripped from his chin and forehead, evidence of how hard he’d worked to wipe away blood and bring down the fever.

“I’ll cover your speeding tickets instead of a condolence fee, so let’s check the patient first.

Could you step outside for a moment?”

The man who looked like he’d refuse to leave no matter what surprisingly stepped back without protest.

Turning his back on the suffocating silence filling the rural house, the doctor stepped over the threshold.

Doctor Jang, Jang Hanseon, looked down at the young man lying neatly in the center of the room, breathing shallowly.

“They said they couldn’t find a trace of him for two months, so I figured he’d fallen into the sea.”

Considering they’d picked him up from the shore, it wasn’t entirely wrong.

With a sigh, Jang Hanseon opened his bag.

On a small table that looked more suited for serving drinks, he laid out medical trays, sterile gauze, disinfectant, needles, scissors, and various tools.

Putting on gloves, he pulled back the blanket and examined the patient’s exposed body.

Bruises and wounds covered his limbs so thoroughly that his pale skin was barely visible, and he was far more emaciated than the last time he’d been seen.

As soon as diluted chlorhexidine was sprayed onto the unhealed wounds, his body trembled.

Even unconscious, he still felt pain.

‘They said he didn’t even feel pain before he passed out.’

At least his nerves weren’t completely destroyed.

Both options were terrible, but if he had to choose, this was better.

Jang Hanseon quickly hung an IV mixed with painkillers and antipyretics.

Finding a vein in his bruised arm wasn’t easy, but it was still better than dealing with arms covered in tattoos of dragons and goblins.

Cuts across his limbs, a stab wound in his shoulder.

Bruises from blunt trauma all over his body, a fractured ankle, broken ribs.

They said he’d been bleeding from the nose even before the fever—his insides were probably a mess too.

Two months.

In just two months, he’d been reduced to half a person, battered inside and out.

Jang Hanseon clicked his tongue.

Seeing Woo Jaeyoung—who usually didn’t even flinch at injuries—react like this meant it was serious.

“Best case, we break even, damn it.
I drove like a lunatic to get here, and this is what you call a patient…….”

Of course, Jang Hanseon had no intention of just doing the bare minimum.

If he wanted that kind of life, he would’ve stayed in a university hospital instead of running around the country with gangsters.

His cold gaze swept over the young man’s arm.

Amid the bruises, a reddish mark stood out like a wick.

A needle mark.

This wasn’t just some lovers’ quarrel or a one-sided breakup and escape.

It was almost surprising anything in the room was still intact.

Woo Jaeyoung really mellowed out, huh.

Jang Hanseon clicked his tongue again.

Taking out several tubes, he filled them with blood drawn from the other arm and made a call, slowly shaking the tubes between his fingers.

“I’m sending a sample over.

Run a full panel.

Check every substance in his system.

It’s definitely not just one or two…….”

The problem was there were too many drugs that could’ve been injected into a kidnapped person’s arm.

If it was cheap narcotics, that would almost be better.

But if not—

If some sick bastard with twisted tastes had been playing around—

“…….”

Jang Hanseon paused as he was about to inject more antipyretics.

Better to be cautious with medication, just in case.

His eyes moved rapidly as he considered the worst possibilities, then he began treating what he could, step by step.

And all of it was being watched—

By a man standing just beyond the slightly open door.

“Say it, Doctor Jang.”

A chilling voice crawled across the floor.

“Who should I kill?”

Jang Hanseon quietly revised the conclusion he’d made thirty minutes ago.

Woo Jaeyoung hadn’t mellowed at all.

If anything, he’d gone even more insane.

The anger that had been building for two months was now on the verge of exploding.

All because of the young man barely clinging to life.

Yoo Sowon.

The one who had become Woo Jaeyoung’s Achilles’ heel without even realizing it just months ago.

The one who left as if he were nothing—only to shatter everything in his wake.

A small monster who created a ripple no amount of brute force could replicate.

He loved Woo Jaeyoung.

He carried Woo Jaeyoung’s child.

And he ran away from him.

Only to return like this.

“Send people out.”

Jang Hanseon spoke evenly.

“Search ten kilometers up and down the coastline—and underground if you have to.”

“I want to, but these idiots keep screwing up.

Acting like they’re guarding territory like pill bugs…… haah.

Can’t exactly starve them all either.”

At the muttered curse, Jang Hanseon raised an eyebrow.

“I’m not telling you to kill anyone.

Just check their base.

I’ll move on my end too, so let’s at least secure a lead.

This doesn’t look like an ordinary case.”

“I’ve got eyes too, bastard.”

“I know.
Not just for decoration.”

Jang Hanseon spoke coldly, like delivering a death sentence.

“One month.”

“…….”

“He was held for at least a month. That ankle fracture healed that way.”

Woo Jaeyoung covered his lips with his fingers.

He looked like he wanted to light a cigarette badly, but held himself back.

If only… if only he had known earlier—

The miserable regret didn’t continue.

Crash—

Medical tools and the basin of ice toppled over as the small table flipped.

Both men snapped their heads around.

“You guys…… what are you?”

Yoo Sowon, now awake, glared at them with bloodshot eyes.