After the man with black face mask pressed down the sharp edge of the knife until it damaged the doctor's skin, the dark-haired woman lying just a few feet away let out another scream from her throat.
Eventually, though, she understood that it was not a wise act, because in a blink of an eye, she felt a rough kick in the chest area. And then another.
That's when I realized that my hope for a happy ending was too naive.
But before the tragedy could happened, the last man of the three abruptly lifted the culprit from that poor man on the floor by his jacket.
He then literally shoved him to the side and crouched down to the injured doctor while the brunette's soft sobs could be heard in the background.
I watched as he leaned towards him. Maybe I expected the same brutality from him as I saw a little while ago, anyway, I was glad it didn't take place.
Instead, he shifted his gaze to another doctor lying near them who immediately got what he meant by that. So he rapidly got up from the floor and rushed to one of the places where the first aid kits were located.
Then they let him help the wounded man, while no one showed interest in the woman writhing on the ground in pain. In a brief glance, I passed everybody, but no one really paid her any attention.
Based on past experience, she tried to keep her voice as low as possible, but she was in a lot of pain, which anyone could see if they took even a glimpse at her.
That was the moment when I started to rise from the cold floor to my knees, I couldn't get any further because of the warning shout that was directed at me.
In a millisecond, my eyes found those of the masked man from whom the shout came, and I saw him walk towards me with quick steps.
Out of reflex, my gaze darted away from him which then landed on the tall man, who was still kneeling and had two doctors under his supervision next to him.
I didn't see it at first. How could I?
However, when I noticed those incredibly dark eyes shining from under thick eyebrows and black hair sticking out from under the cap, my mind went entirely blank.
But right after that I was pulled out of that state when my hair was fisted and I was forced to stand up completely.
The next thing I perceived was harsh whispering.
,,What are you trying to do, hm? Did no one teach you to obey?" I felt his hot breath on my ear, which gave me shivers of disgust.
,,Looks like I'll have to do it myself." His hand that was holding my hair pulled hard and with that he tilted my head back, probably to prove how much power he had over me.
I tried not to let his words penetrate me. I had to finish what I started.
,,That woman over there needs help." I pushed out from the back of my throat.
,,Oh, and you're some sort of Mother Teresa, don't you?" The same one in whose grip I was still, was mocking me.
,,She needs help." I repeated in a firm voice.
Before he could react, there was a muffled scream from the brunette as she tried to find a less painful position.
The guy next to me let out an annoyed grunt, but ended up pushing me roughly towards her.
I immediately took advantage of it and ran to the place where she was still writhing.
After crouching down to her, I rolled up her medical blouse to see the extent of the damage done. There was already an ugly bruise forming in the area of her left ribs, so I shifted my attention to her face contorted in a pained grimace.
,,Does breathing deeply cause you to feel sharp pains?" It was my question right away, because I was aware that it could be broken ribs.
After she nodded her head, I softly pressed my fingers on the injured place, after which a whimper immediately came out of her lips.
I didn't wait for anything and pointed to another woman with a pleading expression on my face.
,,Can you sit behind her?"
Of course she knew what I was trying to do, but the same could not be said for the three men in nearly identical black clothing who were giving us their undivided attention.
Therefore, before any of them could speak, I quickly managed to say my explanation.
,,I need to get her into a semi-sitting position."
I didn't even wait for their answers and with a look I encouraged the woman to do what I asked her to do.
,,I'm Millie." I said along the process of her moving.
,,Mun-Hee." She nodded at me.
When she finally had her legs around the brunette's hips, I lifted her up and rested her spine against Mon-Hee's chest while she rested on her palms behind her, causing the right angle.
Next, I hurried to the open first aid kit and took out the remaining elastic bandage.
However, I realized that I didn't know the exact extent of her fractures, so I thought about a temporary brace.
I looked all around me when Mun-Hee decided to help me as she pointed to the magazine rack by the entrance.
,,You can use one of these."
Following her words, I aimed it right there and when I was back with one magazine in hand, I rolled it up and placed it against the injured part of her chest. I then fixed the ribcage area with a bandage capturing the temporary brace along with.
There was hope from me that I had relieved her of the pain at least a little.
I was suddenly startled by a hand that grabbed the collar of my turtleneck and directed me to where I had been lying before.
,,If you'll try something again! I'm warning you." He barked to my face while pulling me along with him.
In the next second, I was forcibly pushed into a prone position, bumping my elbows and knees.
I squeezed my eyelids tightly together in frustration, but not because of my knees and not because of the culprit above me neither.
Despite my closed eyes, I had his image in front of them. I couldn't miss his facial features even when the lower half of his face was hidden under the black face mask.
I had an incredible need to get out of there as rapidly as possible.
I made no further attempts to get a view of his person. On the contrary, I started to avoid it completely.
And then for the first time I was overcome with fear. The fear that all the things I thought were good memories were actually lies.
When I saw him enter that greenhouse then, I realized that it couldn't have been a coincidence.
But when the feelings that passed through me when his arms wrapped around my waist and when I heard his soothing words materialized again in my mind, I was no longer convinced of anything.
I really believed those feelings. And not only then.
It wasn't until I heard things breaking that my head rose up again. I saw as one of them went to the reception, straight to the place where the cash was kept. He instantly took it out and started stuffing it into his backpack.
This, of course, did not surprise anyone. Well, what did it was when they got to the medicine warehouse and thoughtlessly started destroying it.
Pill boxes were torn, ampoules were broken and ointments were cut.
It was the same process as before except that they were doing much more damage this way.
The only thing I was thankful for at that moment was that there were no patients in this building.
And as I waited for nothing more than a few more minutes or hours lying down, the sharp sound of police sirens coming from outside the building echoed in all of our ears.
Everyone's faces lit up in hope and turned towards the main entrance, however it was still locked.
My gaze, on the other hand, was focused on the three men who froze in motion for a short time.
Eventually, the one who injured the doctor was the first to come to his senses and began to scan all the lying people with his gaze.
When he found what he was looking for, he almost ran to the blonde girl from the front desk and forcefully lifted her to her shaky legs.
,,Did you summon them?!" He shook her body like a rag doll.
The girl was so frightened that she couldn't hold back one loud sob, which subsequently angered the man in black even more.
Before I could witness what he was about to do, another man stood up. I recognized him, he was Mr. Baek, a young psychiatrist who worked in this clinic for a short time.
,,Not she, I did." He said in an unnaturally even voice while all attention shifted to him.
,,So you have a fucking cult that plays fucking heroes or what?!" He was no longer upset. He was literally furious.
He then took a few steps to reach the psychiatrist, and without further ado, he swung his fist, which hit its target exactly.
,,This shouldn't have happened." The culprit said with a shake of his head as he pulled out a gun from behind his belt and placed the barrel against Mr. Baek's temple.
That was the trigger that made me willingly shift my gaze to the last member of their group of three.
He was standing with the upper side of his spine against the wall while his arms were crossed over his chest and he looked all too calm.
I was snapped out of my observation by another shout, which ordered the blinds on all the windows to be rolled down.
They chose a total of four women, who quickly began to fulfill the order given to them, while Mr. Baek still had a gun held to his head.
I hadn't the faintest hunch where this was going, and I couldn't decide whether it was good or vice versa that the three men in face masks and caps had the same hunch as mine, so none.
The quiet room, filled only with soft sobs and heavy breathing, was interrupted by the ringing of the landline at the reception desk.
And it was precisely Su-Jin who slowly walked over to it and picked up the call.
Each of us strained our ears to hear perfectly every word he was about to exchange with the policeman on the other end of the line.
,,It's about thirty people."
His velvety voice resonated in my head, but this time it didn't evoke that feeling of shield and safety in me.
After that he just listened for a while and confirmed something several times without further elaboration.
When Su-Jin ended the call, he and one other went to the farthest corner where they started a conversation.
,,Ya." I caught a whisper next to me. When I turned in that direction, I saw a girl whom I also knew because I helped her clean the patient rooms several times.
,,We have to find a way out. If the cops give them what they want, there's little chance they'll believe me." She surreptitiously crept closer to me while continuing to talk in a low voice.
A confused frown appeared on my face.
,,What will they not believe?"
She gave me a knowing look and leaned even closer to me.
My curiosity grew more and more until she whispered a few short words directly into my ear.
,,I recognized one of those burglars."