The Word 'Lovers'

Dojin thought all he had to do was cross out the word "lovers."

Sera read two lines of the revised clause and folded the paper.

"No."

Her power really did stop.

Instead, the twelve passengers sitting in the corridor split into traitors and saviors.

The third floor corridor of Guryong Disaster Hospital had more cameras than exam rooms. Rescued passengers sat on plastic chairs in front of the temporary testimony room, and Correction Bureau staff had stuck number tags in front of them. Sera's right arm was strapped to an immobilizer. Pain level: eight. Expression: two. She only let the two show.

The first line of the revision Dojin held out read, "The secret lovers relationship is not true." The second line underneath was the problem.

Yun Sera acknowledges impaired judgment and voluntarily withdraws from field command duty and promotion review.

A sentence that erased her career in exchange for erasing the lover.

"Who wrote this?" Sera asked.

"Standard Correction Bureau form."

"Who brought it here."

Dojin didn't look away. That made it worse. "I requested it. I asked for the fastest way to lift your promotion freeze."

"So the fix is to remove the promotion review itself?"

"To remove any conflict of interest in command review, we'd need to..."

"So if you erase my job, there's no professional disadvantage left to calculate."

Dojin's mouth closed. Sera set the folded paper down on his terminal. She used her left hand instead of her right, which had no strength in it. The edge of the paper landed exactly over the "agree" button.

"Let me ask again. Do you know why I said no?"

"Because you're the cost I put down for your own future."

"Half."

Dojin stayed silent. For someone who cut down questions and added more clauses the more urgent things got, silence was, for once, the right call.

"You want me to sign a lie saying I'm not the field commander, just to prove the rumor that made me your lover is wrong. You covered one false sentence with another false sentence."

"Yes."

"And you assumed that because my shoulder is hurt, my judgment must be hurt too."

Dojin's hand crumpled the revision. "That's not consent. I'll withdraw it first."

"No. Preserve the original."

Sera pulled the paper back out of his hand. Someone needed to keep a record of who had picked which lie because it was most convenient. Her eyes caught the smeared approval number. Same as the one stamped on the wage garnishment order. The co signer's name was hidden under a black redaction again.

Eunha pushed the treatment cart between them. Her tone was gentle, but her hand went to Sera's pulse before it went anywhere near the paper.

"Pain number first."

"Four."

"That number is your pride talking."

"Six."

"Your pulse says eight."

Eunha retightened the strap on the immobilizer. When Sera gritted her teeth, she left only two options on the table.

"Take the painkiller and keep reading. Or go to the exam room right now. Kindness isn't consent, so I'm not choosing for you."

"Painkiller. Exam in ten minutes."

"Noted. Ten minutes."

Dojin lowered his own wrist terminal. He didn't explain Sera's injury for her. He acted like someone who'd learned a lesson yesterday.

Noise burst from the monitor at the end of the corridor.

The first passenger's number tag turned red.

Traitor 1. Witness who concealed the hero and lover's deception.

The number tag of the woman sitting next to him lit up blue.

Savior 1. The only witness who can prove the two are truly in love.

The twelve tags split one after another. Six traitors, six saviors. Reporters in the corridor started reading the labels aloud, and the hospital floor let out a low groan.

"Don't read them out!" Sera stood up.

Her right shoulder pulled hot with pain. Instead of blocking her, Eunha locked the cart's wheels.

"If you run, straight to the exam room."

"I'm not running. I'm just moving the barrier."

Sera pushed the emergency partition with her left hand. It blocked the reporters from the passengers. But it was already too late. When the middle aged man wearing a traitor tag tried to open the door, the lock pushed him back.

Access restricted. Threat to public shelter.

The woman with the blue tag grabbed his arm. This time her hand wouldn't let go of the door.

Testimony obligation. Saviors may not leave the scene.

"I never saw anything like that!" the woman screamed. "How would I know if those two are lovers!"

"I didn't conceal anything either." The man kicked the door. "I just did what I was told and stayed down!"

Their roles demanded testimony, but the two of them had no facts to give. The loudest rumor filled the blank space instead.

Dojin opened his terminal. "If I write a clause that deletes all witness roles..."

"Stop."

At her single word, his fingers froze over the screen.

"If we don't get consent from each person, it gets pushed onto someone else again. You saw the rule yesterday."

"Meanwhile six people can't get out."

"That doesn't mean the answer is to lie faster."

"I know. But this started because of the revision I made."

"Your guilt isn't a command authority either."

The words were short, and they landed exactly where they needed to. He turned off the screen. "What should we ask first?"

Sera looked at the passengers. The one who'd asked to send the elderly out first at the rescue site. The one who'd put his own mask on a child. The office worker who'd testified to her command from the stretcher. None of them had any obligation to rule on the two of their relationship.

"Separate what they saw from what they assumed. Announce upfront that relationship questions won't be taken."

"How much of the original footage do we release?"

"Faces blurred, rescue order only. Keep the garnishment order's approval number. Don't cut my injury record either."

"That could hurt your promotion freeze."

Sera looked at Dojin. This time he didn't hand her the answer himself.

"Investigate with the incomplete original. Throw out any safe lie."

Dojin nodded once. "Confirmed."

The staffer handling the footage cut in. "When are you going to get individual consent from all twelve people? Let's just settle it with one representative testimony first. If one of the blue tag holders confirms the relationship, the rest can..."

Sharp footsteps clicked from the other end of the corridor.

Oh Hyeonju stopped at the barrier with a black briefcase in hand. She repeated the staffer's words back to him exactly.

"'If they confirm the relationship, the rest can' become what?"

"We could resolve the role conflict."

"The requirements are different. Being a witness is not consent to a relationship claim, and one representative's testimony does not own the other eleven mouths."

Hyeonju photographed the traitor list posted on the door. A cold gesture that hadn't sided with anyone yet.

"I'll log this statement. But don't request approval on the revision. I don't begin review until the original footage and the individual questionnaires arrive."

Dojin asked, "Even with twelve people trapped right now?"

"That's exactly why not. If urgency is treated as grounds to assume consent, this hospital has no right to refuse left in it."

Sera held out the original revision to Hyeonju. "Compare the approval numbers first. It matches the wage garnishment order."

Hyeonju's eyebrow lifted, just slightly. "I'll look at the original, not a copy."

Meanwhile, two passengers with traitor tags pushed the door together. The passengers with blue tags, pulled by their role that forbade them from leaving, grabbed at them. Good intentions and an escape attempt turned into a scuffle. Eunha pushed her cart in to split them apart.

"Whoever's in pain, speak up! Not hero, not traitor, just where does it hurt!"

"My wrist!"

"I can't breathe!"

"Okay. I can handle that. The tags, those three over there can handle."

Eunha pointed at Sera, Dojin, and Hyeonju in turn. An arrangement that left no room to turn care into relationship cheerleading.

Sera pulled a blank correction form toward her. Since she couldn't use her right arm, the handwriting slanted to the left. Dojin didn't offer to hold the pen for her. Instead he just pressed down on the edge so the paper wouldn't slide.

Sera started with what to strike out.

Secret lovers. The hero's property. Representative testimony that rules on a relationship.

Then she wrote what facts should remain.

Yun Sera directed the rescue order. Baek Dojin carried out only clauses with consent. Ma Taeho changed the route. The testimony of the twelve passengers stands independently of each other.

In the last box she wrote the minimum permissible clause.

No one is obligated to prove anyone else's relationship beyond what they personally saw or heard.

Dojin asked, "Can I question people one by one with this clause?"

"Have them read it, take their answer, and if they refuse, move to the next person. Don't touch the number tag of anyone who refuses."

"That'll take time."

"So does my future."

Sera opened the first revision. She drew a thick line under the sentence giving up her career. A Correction Bureau staffer tried to grab it, but Hyeonju blocked his hand with her briefcase.

New guidance appeared on the corridor monitor.

Temporary shelter closing due to role conflict.

A steel fire door began to descend. Six traitors and six saviors were inside, families outside. Sera slid the revision under the descending door. A passenger on the other side picked up the paper.

"Read the first line out loud, please," Sera said. "If you don't want to, you can say so."

The office worker who took the paper on the other side read the first line aloud. The red glow from his tag spread up to his neck, but he stopped before the sentence about the relationship.

"All I saw was Commander Yun giving the order and Mr. Baek listening to it. But wasn't it Mr. Baek who brought that revision in the first place? Isn't he the reason we became traitors?"

The corridor monitor cut the sentence instantly.

Traitor: Baek Dojin. Savior: Yun Sera.

The families outside hurled curses at Dojin. Before Sera could open her mouth, another passenger snatched the paper.

"No. It was Baek Dojin who opened the exit. Commander Yun looked after her own promotion record before she looked after us."

This time the roles flipped.

Savior: Baek Dojin. Traitor: Yun Sera.

The fire door stopped, then started descending again. Every time the two testimonies clashed, the lock was ordered to open and close in turn. The back of the office worker's hand, still holding the paper under the door, got pinned by the steel plate. Eunha dropped to her knees to pull his hand free, and Hyeonju smashed the glass on the emergency stop box with the corner of her briefcase.

"Both statements mix what was actually seen with an assumption of blame. Separate them starting with the next question."

Sera watched the screen flash the two names red in turns. The independent testimony she'd wanted hadn't produced a single clean answer. Protecting the right to refuse hadn't tidied the conflict into something neat either.

"Fine." She called through the fire door. "Skip who's the traitor. Just tell us again who did what. You can still refuse relationship questions."

The fire door closed the gap between them.

On the margin of the remaining original, Sera wrote one more line and showed it to Dojin.

My future is not a footnote.