Chapter Text
A loud sound jolts Ju-won awake.
He's sitting on the floor, his left shoulder pressed against a hard surface and his legs stretched out before him.
Why is he sitting on the floor? he wonders briefly, but his mind is fuzzy and the thought runs away from him.
He blinks into the dark room and thinks it's a strange place to be, because the walls are made of stone and there are wooden beams lining both sides of the room, some of them whole, some of them broken.
It's really dusty too, he notices when an errant ray of sunlight catches the specks of dust in the air in front of him. Additionally, sunlight means there's a window somewhere and it's a reassuring thought, though Ju-won is hard-pressed to say why.
His butt is going numb and cold from the hard ground beneath him, so he goes to push himself up, but his arms won't move. He tries it again and gets the same result, so he follows the length of his shoulder to his hands and finds both of them joined together at the handle of the same metal object he's lying against.
He tries pulling his hands away, but all it accomplishes, is producing a sharp clirring sound of different pieces metal scraping against one another, so he gives up.
It's an old mine-cart, Ju-won's mind provides as he takes in the object and he can't help but wonder why he's in this strange place... But his mind draws a blank. He tries thinking back over the past day and his breathing starts to pick up as he continues to come up with nothing.
Eventually he calms down and the harsh sound of his breathing ebbs away, which in turn causes him to become aware of other noises in the vicinity. There's a rhythmic tap-tap-tap coming from somewhere along the length of the room, but Ju-won is facing away from the direction it's originating from.
He turns his upper body as much as his bounds allow him to and goes to drag his legs along with him, but then cries out in pain as agony races up his right leg. He looks down to his feet and his entire right foot is bent at a strange angle and his toes are swollen and the sight bothers Ju-won, because why is he not wearing any shoes?
He also wonders if his shout alerted someone to his presence, because now Ju-won hears muffled shouting in the distance.
“-ector Han Ju-won!” a voice yells and by the timbre of the sound, he can tell it's a man. The voice also sounds achingly familiar, but Ju-won doesn't know why.
“Han Ju-won!” the voice repeats and it's a bit closer now. He wonders if the man is looking for someone and then – somewhat belatedly – recognizes the name as his own.
The man must have a reason to be looking for him, he thinks, so he goes to reply, but the words get caught in his throat and he coughs roughly. Once the back of his throat is wetted with as much saliva as he is able to muster, Ju-won tries again.
“Here!” he yells as loud as his parched throat permits him, which isn't very loud at all, but apparently it's loud enough, because the tap-tap-tap of what Ju-won assumes are the man's footsteps, speeds up. A few moments later, a figure appears at the edge of Ju-won's field of vision.
“Ju-won-a?” the man asks and he looks visibly surprised to see him, but why would he be surprised if he had been looking for him? Ju-won wonders and then disregards the thought, because the many questions are making his head hurt.
The man advances on him suddenly and Ju-won flinches, because he doesn't know who he is or why he's here. “No, don't come any closer,” Ju-won says and is proud that his voice doesn't crack.
The words achieve their intended goal, because the man stops dead in his tracks before he gets too close to Ju-won. The man takes a large breath and – with his gaze fixed on Ju-won – he starts moving again. His steps are slow and cautious this time, but he keeps on coming closer, so Ju-won tries to move away, but his back is already against the cart and there's nowhere for him to go.
“Stop,” he breathes out and the man does exactly that.
An arm's length away from Ju-won, the man crouches down, bringing their faces to the same level. The man gives him a disarming smile. “Ju-won-a. It's okay, it's me,” he says gently. “Lee Dong-sik,” he says, but phrases it like a question.
“Lee... Lee Dong-sik?” Ju-won tries the name on his tongue. And then he remembers.
“Dong-sik-ssi,” he exclaims, his tone full of recognition and wonders how he could have ever forgotten.
The man nods and makes a pleased sound. “I've been looking for you,” he says and to Ju-won it makes sense, because they're partners and partners always work together.
The man rakes his gaze over Ju-won's figure and the smile on his face falters slightly.
“The floor can't be very comfortable,” he says after a moment. “How about we get you up?”
There's something familiar about the man's tone of voice and Ju-won is reminded of the young man they had come across back in Manyang, when the two of them had only just started working together. It's the same tone and also the same smile Dong-sik used on the boy back then, that he turns on Ju-won now. He also remembers Dong-sik taking one look at the man's tattered shoes and swiftly pulling them off, replacing them with his own. He remembers it, because it was an act of kindness that he hadn't been expecting from – who had been back then – a suspect in a serial murder case.
Ju-won stares down at his own feet in the present and remarks “I'm not wearing any shoes.”
Dong-sik doesn't respond, instead choosing to follow the young man's gaze down to his feet. Something akin to concern flashes over his features as he looks back up at Ju-won's face, but the look is promptly replaced with a soothing smile.
“That's okay,” Dong-sik says and stands up. A moment later, the man is leaning over him and Ju-won feels his partner's fingers on his hands and on his wrists.
“We should probably take these cuffs off first,” he comments casually and crouches back down.
“Do you know where the keys to your handcuffs are, Inspector Han?” he asks with a smirk and there's a joke in there somewhere, but Ju-won doesn't get it, because he's too hung up on the fact that Dong-sik called them his cuffs. But they can't be his, because his are in the pocket of his coat, but then Ju-won looks down and realises he's not wearing his coat. In fact, he's not wearing much in the way of clothing at all.
He still has his trousers for which he is glad, but they are torn about the knees and Ju-won can see patches of broken skin beneath. His once pristine white dress shirt hasn't fared much better, he thinks, because it's dirt-stained and open at the front and Ju-won notices that a couple of the buttons are missing.
“Han Ju-won,” Dong-sik says encouragingly and Ju-won is reminded that the man was waiting for a response, but Ju-won can't recall what it was that the man had asked, so it's just as well that he repeats the question.
“Where are the keys to the cuffs?” he asks, but Ju-won still doesn't know the answer, so he just shakes his head and has to bite back a groan as the movement agitates his aching head.
Of course, his partner hears the pained noise regardless. “Ju-won, are you injured? Did you hit your head?” he asks and Ju-won doesn't know, because he doesn't know anything.
“I'm sorry,” he says quietly.
“Sorry? What are you sorry for?” Dong-sik asks. He sounds exasperated and Ju-won thinks it's probably his fault somehow.
“I don't know,” Ju-won says and he can feel tears sliding down his cheek. “I'm sorry.”
Another look passes over the man's face and for a moment Ju-won thinks he looks out of his depth, but that can't be right, his aching mind argues, because Dong-sik is never out of his depth.
“Ju-won-a... It's okay, everything is going to be okay,” the man says and it sounds very reassuring.
He rummages around in the pocket of his jacket and a moment later light flares up in his hand. Ju-won, who has become accustomed to the shadowy gloom inside the room, has to look away because the sudden light is too bright. He looks up instead, to Dong-sik's face and the man's features are briefly illuminated by the synthetic light. Ju-won sees the haggard look on his partner's face and wonders what had happened to upset the man so.
Dong-sik stares down at the light-emitting object in his hand and curses under his breath. He puts the device away and looks about the room indecisively. With a sigh, he turns back to Ju-won and looks him in the eye.
“I'm going to get you out of here,” he vows, “but I need some help.” He points his right hand in the direction he had come from before and says “There are other officers a couple of minutes away. I'll go find them and bring-”
“No!” Ju-won yells suddenly, interrupting the man mid-sentence, because Dong-sik is talking about leaving and he doesn't want to be left alone in the cold, dark room again. He's afraid the other man won't come back.
“Please... Don't leave,” Ju-won begs and the man's face twists.
Dong-sik looks back to the entrance uncertainly and Ju-won almost expects him to leave anyway, but then he nods his head. “Okay, okay,” the man says and gets up again.
He removes his jacket, leans down to Ju-won and pulls it around his shoulders. It's an odd fit, because Ju-won's hands are still bound above him, but then Dong-sik zips up the front and the jacket stays put. The man moves past Ju-won and slides down to the floor between him and the hard surface of the cart.
Ju-won thinks it's an odd place for the man to want to sit down in, but then he pulls Ju-won to him and the thought flutters away, because this is so much more comfortable than it had been before.
There is a hand in his hair and it hurts, but it's also very soothing, because it reminds Ju-won of when he was a child and his mother would hold him at night and card her fingers through his hair until he would fall asleep. He thinks falling asleep now might be a good idea too, so he closes his eyes and slumps onto the man's chest.
“Ju-won-a!” the man exclaims in response. “You need to stay awake,” the man says, but it's a lost cause and Ju-won's consciousness slips away regardless.