Stray Scars (Book 2)

Chapter 35

Pov: Ra Minji

"Good morning," I echoed, walking into Changbin's quiet office.

"Minji? Can I help you with something?" he asked, putting his work aside to aid me.

"Um.. Yeah, actually. I was wondering if I could meet the Vipress?"

He screwed up his eyebrows. "Are you sure she's the one you want to visit?"

"Is she that bad?"

"No, no. Just.. If she behaves weird or makes you uncomfortable, don't mind her and leave. She's mostly harmless." He took out his phone, pressed a few buttons, then talked to somebody on the other side of the rectangular device. Once done, he spoke to me again, "She's in the lab. Someone will take you there now."

Well, this conversation didn't reassure me at all.

"Thanks," I said, making my way out.

"I heard it hasn't been long since you upgraded both stars to silver?" He stopped me, an easy smile on his face. It reminded me of Lieutenant Lavigne's.

"That's right. Now the three of them are silver," I replied.

"Congratulations. I hope you can push our Minhyuk to train half as much as you do. He's got the talent, but no ambition. I gave up on trying to encourage him long ago."

l laughed, wishing I could see Minhyuk's face if he ever heard those words. "Can I tell him you said that?"

"Tell him whatever you want," he snickered, going back to his work while an agent came to escort me to the laboratory.

If it weren't for Minho's words yesterday, I wouldn't have had the guts to do this today. In order to continue the book, the protagonist must visit the witch to see if her potion is useful or the opposite. Then, he can think of confessing everything to his crush to see if she likes him back. Well, with the genders reversed for extra caution.

"We're here," the agent said, leaving me alone in front of a spotless white door.

I knocked on it once, then twice, then three times, and they were all fruitless. Losing hope, I twisted the knob and slowly entered, looking around the white space. It smelled of disinfectant. Science stuff was scattered everywhere, with most of them being neatly organized on shelves.

My focus finally landed on the Vipress. She had her hair high up in a bun today, with just the right amount of strands falling to her face to make it look strategically messy.

I still couldn't wrap my head around how someone could look so picturesque all the time. There was no getting used to her beauty. If she were to put herself out there, she'd definitely make it in the top most attractive women on the planet.

"Has a lab rat escaped?" she asked without even looking up to know who had entered.

"Did you just call me a rat?"

Her smile only grew and she walked towards a little cage filled with them. "Aren't they charming?"

Oh.. That was a compliment?

I made sure not to touch the glass because I didn't know if she'd lash out at me over something petty. "I guess.." I agreed, watching the rodents huddle up together to eat.

"Ra Minji," she voiced, and I looked at her as she made her way back to her seat near a faucet, washing her hands, "Pain?"

"Pain?" I repeated, completely clueless to what she meant, "What pain?"

"Any pain," she answered.

"What about pain?"

She abruptly stood up, approaching me without stopping even after going past what someone would consider personal space. Her manicured long fingernail poked my chest and I jumped back in surprise. "This one," she voiced.