“But if you had to pick a favorite?”

 

“I really can’t, I’m sorry.”

 

Won looked at Ju-hee, wondering how to change the subject, but she was surprisingly calm.

 

“You’re so greedy to not be able to choose just one, noona.”

 

Won looked down in contemplation and Ju-hee muttered something, making Won’s heart sank.

 

‘Is it because it wasn’t the reaction she wanted?’

 

“Okay, I’ll take note.”

 

Ju-hee turned and wryly smiled. Won felt relieved.

 

Ju-hee soon left for a cigarette, and Won went to the nurses’ station to get coffee. She ran into Target.

 

“You’re new here, right?”

 

Target spoke first with a poker face. Won responded with her best acting skills.

 

“Uh, yeah. I think we spoke a while ago…”

 

“That’s right. I wasn’t feeling well then, so I didn’t get to introduce myself. You can call me Jin. Nice to meet you.”

 

“Nice to meet you, too. I’m Won.”

 

“How did you end up here?”

 

“By forced hospitalization?”

 

Making small talk, they walked down the hall with their coffees.

 

“Do you happen to like board games?”

 

“Board games?”

 

“Yeah. There’s a game I think would be fun with three people, but we didn’t get to play it last time because there were only two of us. If you’re interested, we could play it sometime in the afternoon.”

 

At Won’s invitation, Target thought for a moment, then gave a crisp reply.

 

“Sure, if I get a chance.”

 

Won was impressed: he didn’t show impatience. He understood what she meant and responded in a polite way. If nothing else, this man had learned a lot about acting.

 

All the while, the cameras were recording everywhere.

 

‘How can I regularly approach Jin in this situation without raising suspicion?’

 

She can’t always rely on chance encounters. She needed to create a natural point of contact with him to allow constant contact that won’t raise suspicion by those monitoring them…

 

‘This is it.’

 

With no other option, Won lowered her head and began to hold her breath. She was increasing the concentration of carbon dioxide in her blood. When the blood becomes more acidic, the body recognizes danger and increases her heart rate. Her capillaries dilate, causing her face to flush.

 

Feeling the heat rising to her cheeks, Won decided the time was right. She tripped over her feet and fell toward Target, and he caught her and held her.

 

“Are you okay?”

 

Not at all. She felt like she was going to die while holding her breath.

 

Won lifted her head to see she was visible on the CCTV. Jin looked embarrassed when he noticed her bright, red face.

 

Won wanted to look as shy as possible. To be more precise, she wanted to look like a girl who just had physical contact with a guy she had a crush on and was blushing

 

Unable to look away, she stared at Jin, as if mesmerized by his good looks.

 

She could feel the arms supporting her stiffen. Target’s eyes were fluttering.

 

“Ah…”

 

After letting out a moderate gasp, Won pretended to come to her senses. She pulled herself out of his arms and slapped her cheeks with both hands.

 

“Thanks. I was heavy, wasn’t I?”

 

“No, you weren’t heavy…”

 

“I should have moved out of the way sooner, but you were so handsome that my brain went blank… Oh, I don’t mean anything else by it. I just meant aesthetically, purely aesthetically handsome, not that I’m not interested.”

 

It’s often said that the strongest negative is a positive, and Won wanted to make sure the watchers beyond the CCTV could see that she liked him and was desperate for him. It was so when she approached him in the future, they would assume she was trying to seduce him like normal.

 

It was then.

 

“Me too… I thought you were pretty from the first time I saw you.”

 

Suddenly, Jin was onto something. He noticed her intentions, so he picked up on it. He looked a little stunned, but he managed it.

 

It would be easier to make contact when the two of them were on the same wavelength. Target could approach her as well.

 

Won was thrilled when she looked at Target. To her surprise, his cheeks were flushed.

 

‘I can’t believe he knows how to flush his cheeks.’

 

She heard that CEOs in other countries were trained by professional coaches on how to show and hide emotions on their faces, so why wouldn’t it be true for Korea?

 

‘As a leading conglomerate, it seems that the education of the K Group’s heir is not easy.’

 

She can’t let this opportunity pass by her.

 

“Thank you, then. Can we talk again if you don’t mind?”

 

“You’re always welcome.”

 

It was a fantastic assist. Won marveled at the recipient’s flair.

 

‘This is what it takes to be the heir to a chaebol family.’

 

“Then I have your permission… to be there any time.”

 

Won began to stiffen up from an angle that would give the CCTV a good look at her mouth. Target moved his head up and down in slight embarrassment.

 

***

 

“What’s with this vibe? It’s like he’s never been in a relationship before in his life.”

 

“Look at No. 3 over there, red to the ears.”

 

The two male security guards watched the monitor and chattered.

 

“This is real. That assh*le has been playing hard to get, but he’s falling for the new girl.”

 

“He’s so smitten with her, but what’s the point of even making eye contact in the asylum? He can’t even f*ck her.”

 

“Hey, you weren’t there, so you don’t know. I caught some in the shower the other day. They didn’t come out after 10 minutes, so I went to see what happened, and they were n*ked… Ugh.”

 

The senior officer pretended to throw up as the junior giggled.

 

“I guess it’s fun to watch them do it, though.”

 

“You got that right. Look at their bodies, especially the new girl. If they f*ck, I’m not going to stop them, I’m going to watch.”

 

“You can’t do that.”

 

The officers, who had been exchanging perverted comments, stiffened at the voice behind them.

 

“If they do something inappropriate, we have to stop them.”

 

It was a low tone that didn’t require them to raise a single eyebrow. They only felt goosebumps rising across their bodies. Feeling like they met the Grim Reaper, they slowly turned their chairs.

 

A white coat and glasses.

 

Dr. Madison was smiling.

 

“Sorry, sir. It was a joke.”

 

“He’s right. We didn’t mean it, we were just bored and decided to crack a joke between us. Please don’t take it the wrong way, sir.”

 

“Of course you shouldn’t, but I see you’re watching No. 3 and the new patient.”

 

“Oh, yeah. I’ve been keeping an eye on them and they seem to be hitting it off.”

 

“Hitting it off?”

 

The long eyes behind the glasses slightly twitched, but the officers didn’t notice.

 

“Uh, yeah. No. 3 caught her as she was about to fall, and she got all red in the face. She didn’t know what to do, and then she said something, and No. 3 got all red in the face too, and then… they’re in a different world.”

 

“The new patient is new, but I’ve never seen No. 3 do that before. Look, he can’t take his eyes off the newbie even now, can he?”

 

The senior officer pointed his finger at the screen. There was a woman who was awkwardly looking away, unable to make proper eye contact, and a man who kept glancing at her.

 

It was annoying to watch, but it also made Dr. Madison feel a tickle somewhere inside.

 

“Hmph.”

 

The muffled sound made the older guard look away from the monitor and to the side. It was Dr. Madison, who had just arrived, leaning on the table with one arm and staring at the monitor.

 

“You certainly seem to be conscious of No. 3.”

 

It wasn’t Won’s usual contemplative, relaxed gaze. Dr. Madison looked unhappy.

 

The senior guard was mildly surprised; a smirk was a trademark of the doctor’s.

 

The smirk was always accompanied by interest, disdain, or irritation. It always seemed to neutralize whatever state he was in, but this was different. The unpleasantness was clear. The guard had never seen that level of emotional expression that wasn’t accompanied by a smiling face.

 

“Keep an eye on him, just in case.”

 

Dr. Madison urged, staring at the screen. The senior guard dryly swallowed, feeling nothing but nervous.

 

“Understood.”

 

“Don’t worry, Dr. Madison.”

 

The junior guard chimed in.

 

Dr. Madison spun on his heel and left the nurses’ station.

 

“Hah, I do like the look of a doctor’s coat after all. I should have studied harder in school. I’ll never be much of a nurse, let alone a doctor.”

 

The junior guard muttered at the sight of the white coat fluttering. The senior guard remained silent and spoke when the doctor left.

 

“You know Old Man Gugu, right?”

 

“The patient who makes pigeon noises? The one who makes unintelligible noises except for the flying pigeon. I heard he’s the longest-staying patient in the ward.”

 

The junior caretaker recalled the scrawny, old man. Long-term hospitalized patients are usually schizophrenic and could have a bunch of names. The old man had the most colorful diagnosis chart. The guard still hadn’t memorized all of them.

 

“As far as i know, Old Man Gugu has been hospitalized for at least 10 years.”

 

“What? That long?”

 

“Yeah, the senior who quit just after five years said that he was the first to see him. Then there was a senior who came four years before him who said that he was the first to see him. But when the fifth-year senior came, he said the old man was already delirious. He said they would say things about giving the old man an elephant shot, giving him drugs, but something went wrong and they made him like a half-corpse. Then they gave him ECT (electroconvulsive treatment), and something went wrong in his head and they crossed the river of no return.”

 

An elephant shot is a euphemism for a neuroleptic. It’s called that because it sedates an elephant, and while it isn’t that powerful, it can quickly and forcefully calm an agitated patient and put them to sleep.

 

“By the way, the fifth-year senior said he saw the old man before he went crazy, but he wasn’t called Old Man Gugu. He was called Dr. Hudson.”

 

---

 

I will be using the following titles for Old Man Gugu: Old Man Gugu (duh), Grandpa Gu, Granpa Gugu, Old Man Gu and yeah any variation

 

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