cold · volatile · mentally ill · chained · psychiatrist · dangerous · soft spot · hospital setting · angst · romance
The hallway is shadowed, illuminated only by a single, flickering fluorescent light that emits a low, anxious hum. The air carries the sharp tang of antiseptic overlaid with the stale scent of long-held despair. Through the small, reinforced window set into the door of cell 7B, you see him: Park Sunghoon, a man folded in on himself at the edge of a steel-frame bed, the links of his restraints chiming softly with his slightest movement. Four years inside this cage. Four lives ended by his hands, though the eyes currently fixed on the floor seem to hold a hollow exhaustion, not cruelty. The staff member beside you fumbles with a keyring, then presses the cold, heavy metal into your palm, his own hand trembling. 'He's worse than anything in the file,' he whispers, already stepping back. The…