[POINT OF VIEW: WI HA-JOON - THIRD PERSON]
The silence that followed Helena's "shock therapy" was of an almost scientific quality. Wi Ha-joon observed the scene with one part of his brain taking clinical notes. The subject, Leo, lay on the floor in a state of temporary neuromuscular paralysis, evidenced by residual muscle spasms in his limbs. The catalytic agent, an electrical discharge of unknown voltage but sufficient amperage to incapacitate, had been administered by the senior agent, Helena. The faint smell of ozone, characteristic of a high-voltage electrical discharge, hung in the air.
It was operant conditioning in its purest, most brutal form. Effective, no doubt. But also... barbaric.
Beside him, Lee Jung-jae slowly exhaled, a sigh that was equal parts horror and a kind of dark amusement. "Well," the veteran actor said softly, making sure Helena didn't hear him. "I suppose, after the nuclear prank, he somewhat deserved it."
Ha-joon couldn't help but agree, though the violence of the act churned his stomach. Helena was an enigma. She operated with a cold logic that was as impressive as it was terrifying. She had punished Leo not with anger, but with a calculated lesson. And now, she calmly ate her "student's" food as a final gesture of dominance. It was a masterclass in psychological warfare.
On the floor, the subject began to stir. Leo groaned, a pathetic sound that comically contrasted with the action hero they had witnessed on the news. He rolled over, propping himself up on his elbows, his entire body trembling like jelly. He tried to stand with an air of dignity, but his first attempt failed when his left leg decided not to obey his brain. He wobbled, almost falling again, before managing to get to his feet, clutching the back of a sofa like an old man.
He dusted off his clothes, trying to adopt an air of indifference, as if he had just woken up from a nap. But the trembling in his hands and the nervous tic in his right eye told a different story. The great Leo, the man who had escaped North Korea, had been defeated by a woman with a taser and the demeanor of a strict librarian.
[POINT OF VIEW: JO YU-RI - THIRD PERSON]
Jo Yu-ri watched the scene with her heart in her throat. Part of her, the part that still remembered the terror of thinking she had triggered the end of the world, thought the punishment was fair. But the larger part of her, the one who had cooked for him, who had clung to his hoodie like a talisman, was horrified.
Helena had been cruel. There was no need to use a taser. It was a display of power, a deliberate humiliation. And to see Leo, the man she had seen leap between buildings, reduced to a trembling heap on the floor... it awakened a protective instinct that surprised her with its ferocity.
She watched him get to his feet, his feigned indifference so transparent it was painful. She saw Helena's gaze, cold and satisfied, as she ate the kimchi-jjigae. And she saw the rest of the bowl, now lukewarm, abandoned on the small table.
Anger overcame fear. Not anger towards Leo, but towards Helena. With a determination she didn't know she possessed, she rose from her seat. She ignored the surprised glances from the others and walked with firm steps to the small table. She picked up the bowl of stew and the bowl of rice. She turned and faced Helena, who looked at her over the rim of the bowl, a silver eyebrow arched in a questioning gesture.
Yu-ri said nothing. She simply held the older woman's gaze for a second, a small act of silent rebellion. Then, she turned and approached Leo, who was still leaning on the sofa, trying to regain control of his nervous system.
She stopped in front of him. He looked at her, his eyes showing a mixture of humiliation and genuine gratitude that melted her heart.
"Eat," she told him, her voice firm, a soft command. She held out the tray. "Before it gets completely cold."
This time, there were no interruptions.
[POINT OF VIEW: LEO - FIRST PERSON]
My muscles felt like jelly, and my dignity was somewhere in the Pacific Ocean, probably sinking towards the Mariana Trench. The metallic taste of electricity still lingered in my mouth. And then, she appeared in front of me, with my food. My redemption.
I took the bowl from her hands, which were trembling a little less than mine. The warmth of the bowl was comforting. I gave her the most grateful smile I could muster. "Thank you," I mumbled.
I sat on the floor, disregarding formality, and began to eat as if I hadn't had a proper meal in a year. And, in a way, I hadn't. The stew was delicious, spicy, and full of flavor. It was the taste of normalcy, of civilization. A taste I hadn't experienced in a very, very long time.
As I ate, I felt strength returning to my body. And with strength, my stupid, stubborn pride returned. I felt everyone's eyes on me. They were watching me like a zoo animal who had just performed a particularly humiliating trick. I couldn't leave things like that. I had to regain control. I had to show them that it was nothing, that a little cramp wasn't enough to break Leonidas.
I finished the last grain of rice and set the bowl aside. I stood up, more steadily this time. I stretched, cracking the bones in my back.
"Wasn't so bad," I announced to the room in general, my voice deliberately casual. I waved a hand in the air. "Barely felt it, really."
I saw Min-jun snort, trying to hide a smile.
I turned to look at Helena, who had finished her portion and was now watching me with barely disguised amusement. "I have a very high pain tolerance, you know," I informed her, puffing out my chest a bit. "I've endured dart poisons in the jungles of Borneo that would make an elephant cry. This was... a strong tingle. Like a very, very intense muscle massage. Almost therapeutic, I'd say."
Wi Ha-joon raised an eyebrow, his face a study in polite skepticism. Lee Jung-jae simply shook his head, a weary smile on his lips. They knew I was lying. I knew I was lying. But my ego desperately needed me to maintain the charade.
Helena said nothing. She simply, with theatrical slowness, set her teacup on the table. And then, her hand slid into her trouser pocket.
All the color drained from my face.
The entire room tensed. The air became heavy again. She pulled out the taser. She didn't activate it. She just held it, letting it rest in the palm of her hand, a small, dark obelisk of promised pain.
[POINT OF VIEW: GROUP - THIRD PERSON]
The change in Leo was instant and total.
All the bravado, all the regained arrogance, evaporated like mist on a summer morning. His eyes widened, fixed on the small black object in Helena's hand. The color he had regained from eating vanished from his face, leaving him ghost-pale. Helena's Pavlovian conditioning had been a resounding success.
Oh no, Leo thought, his brain screaming in panic. Not again. She's going to hit me again. That sadistic witch is going to fry me again. No no no no no.
His survival instinct, that primal engine that had kept him alive in dozens of countries, kicked in. And his instinct didn't tell him to fight. It didn't tell him to run. It told him to find cover. The nearest cover.
Jo Yu-ri was standing beside him, clearing away the empty bowls.
In a movement that was a blur of pure panic, Leo let out a small squeak, dropped the bowls to the floor (which crashed with a sound of broken pottery), and launched himself behind her. He grabbed her shoulders, ducked down, and used her smaller body as a makeshift human shield, peeking only one eye over her shoulder to keep watch on Helena.
The scene was of such sublime absurdity that no one knew how to react.
Jo Yu-ri gasped in surprise when Leo's large, trembling body collided with her back, his hands clinging to her shoulders as if his life depended on it. She could feel him shaking behind her.
The great adventurer. The man who had faced private armies, who had survived North Korea, who had jumped off a skyscraper.
He was hiding behind her.
[POINT OF VIEW: HELENA - THIRD PERSON]
Helena looked at the scene, and for the first time since she had arrived, a genuine smile, wide and filled with amused cruelty, spread across her face. Victory was total. She set the taser on the table. She no longer needed it. Her words would be enough.
"Well, well, Leonidas," she said, her voice dripping with delicious sarcasm. She stood up and walked slowly towards the improbable pair. "How brave. What impressive pain tolerance. What a display of strength."
She stopped in front of them, her amused gaze moving from Leo's terrified eye peeking over Yu-ri's shoulder, to Yu-ri herself, who was rigid with the sheer disbelief of the situation.
"Let me understand this, please, because my old mind is getting confused," Helena continued, savoring every word. "A man. A twenty-five-year-old man who is, if I recall correctly, six feet two inches tall. A man who is supposed to be an expert in survival and combat. A man who has faced Spetsnaz, laughed in the Supreme Leader's face, and survived my training methods for a decade..."
She paused, letting the humiliation sink in.
"Is hiding behind a young woman who weighs, if she even reaches, one hundred ten pounds, and whom he almost gave a heart attack just a few days ago?"
She looked directly at Yu-ri, her smile softening with a touch of mocking compassion. "Excuse me, Miss Jo. It seems that in your act of kindness, you have unwittingly adopted a very impressive pedigree hunting dog, but with the heart of a chihuahua terrified by thunder."
"It's a tactical retreat!" Leo's muffled voice protested from behind Yu-ri's back. "I'm using the terrain to my advantage! She's mobile cover and an emotional deterrent!"
The final declaration was the last straw.
The tension in the room finally broke. The first to laugh was Lee Jung-jae, a deep, genuine belly laugh he hadn't let out in days. Wi Ha-joon followed, leaning against the wall, breathless. Min-jun and Ho-yeon collapsed onto the sofa, laughing hysterically. Even Mr. Choi, who seemed to have survived his crisis, let out a choked chuckle.
The sound of laughter filled the villa, a liberating laughter that swept away the last vestiges of fear and trauma. They were laughing at the situation, at the madness, and above all, they were laughing at their pathetic, cowardly hero.
Jo Yu-ri stood still, feeling Leo's trembling hands on her shoulders. She could feel his humiliation. She could smell his fear. And listening to her friends' laughter, she looked at the harmless taser on the table, and then at the older woman watching her with sparkling eyes.
She didn't know whether to kick Leo in the shin or join the laughter. So she did both. She stomped on his foot with all her might, making him let out another squeak, and then burst into laughter, a clear, bright laugh that joined the chorus.
She had officially become the protector of the world's most cowardly adventurer. And the idea, strange as it was, no longer seemed like a tragedy.