Chapter 19
“It doesn’t hurt.”
“Even if it doesn’t hurt, we still need to treat it.”
“I’m fine.”
“You don’t look fine…”
Kim Doyun insisted he was fine but focused only on my arm. Finally, unable to stand it anymore, I snatched the remaining torn tablecloth from him. Since I couldn’t properly use one arm, I tore the edge of the tablecloth with my teeth.
“Let me see your arm.”
“……”
Only after being pestered two or three times did Kim Doyun reluctantly extend his arm. I tried to stop the bleeding, but the cloth was thick and stiff, and my movements were unnatural, so I couldn’t wrap the wound as meticulously as Kim Doyun had done. With difficulty, using my mouth to help position the cloth, I finally managed to tie a knot, my teeth making grinding sounds from the effort.
“How is it?”
I asked Kim Doyun, who was staring blankly at his arm. He touched the wounded area with one hand and nodded. I sighed with relief and smiled proudly. Though it was sloppy, the result was better than I expected. But my satisfaction was short-lived, and I had to bow my head.
“I’m sorry. If only I hadn’t gone into the kitchen…”
I apologized to Kim Doyun while looking down at the few pieces of fruit that remained. I couldn’t kill my desire for food. Though I tried to eat sparingly, the fruit quickly reached the bottom. I was anxious, though I tried not to show it, since we didn’t know when we would find another grove, and our fruit supply was running out.
I couldn’t hide my depression and hung my head. It would be better if he would scold me, asking why I did what I did, but Kim Doyun was silent. He patted my bowed back and smiled.
“It’s not Seongho’s fault.”
“……”
“So there’s no need for this. It was inevitable. The creature just took advantage of that.”
My eyes widened. Kim Doyun, sensing that his explanation was lacking, added:
“I think it knew we had arrived.”
The wound on my shoulder trembled as if it were alive.
“It knew? How? Has it been following us the whole time?”
Trying not to be scared, I looked around the forest. Unable to enter the shadows, we were fully exposed to the blazing sun and becoming soaked with sweat. But I couldn’t tell whether this sweat was due to the heat or if it had sprung from fear. Kim Doyun embraced me as I tried to suppress the spasms in my shoulder while caressing my throbbing wound. He waited until my trembling subsided before continuing.
“I don’t think so. It probably knew the moment we entered the building.”
My trembling completely disappeared. Kim Doyun shifted his gaze, assessing the direction of the building. Looking at him, I felt one question arise.
“…But how do you know this?”
When I was in the midst of being toyed with by the creature, Kim Doyun wasn’t around. He appeared just before I was about to die and saved me, so he would have encountered the creature only briefly. Yet how did he understand it so well? Kim Doyun turned his gaze to me and nodded.
“I went outside when I heard the noise, right?”
“Yes.”
“When I went outside, I found nothing.”
Then he picked up a stone from the ground.
“I looked around outside the building and found nothing. Instead, I discovered a can on the ground. There was a stone inside the can… it was in front of a shaded window.”
A misunderstanding… no, could it be a misunderstanding? I couldn’t continue speaking. Us scattering after hearing the noise, the can abandoned in front of the window… I recalled the creature that had been playing with me. It wasn’t difficult to remember the monster that took pleasure in watching my suffering.
“…So deliberately…”
“Yes. It made noise to lure me out. Then it appeared in front of you. It seems it intended to kill us one by one… Even if you hadn’t gone into the kitchen, the result would have been the same. So please don’t blame yourself too much.”
Despite his final words meant to comfort me, I couldn’t relax at all. If someone could feel at ease after hearing such a story, they would have to be incredibly stupid or someone who had given up on thinking.
“…It’s quite intelligent.”
“Cunning, yes. But judging from the creatures we’ve seen so far, there seems to be individual differences.”
He was saying that either the one we met today was exceptionally smart, or the others were stupid. My mind sank into worry and depression.
While I was worrying about what lay ahead, Kim Doyun was looking inside the bag. Seeing how he had managed to bring it along even while carrying me and running, I was amazed.
I watched him organizing things for a long time. He was always calm and never surprised or flustered by anything. He quietly observed and obtained things that would help us. And Kim Doyun seemed to prioritize immediate tasks rather than worry.
I wiped the sweat from my forehead and sighed. It would be nice if I could calmly assess situations like Kim Doyun. Despite trying to collect myself multiple times, my mind wouldn’t work according to my will. I messed up my hair frantically but soon stopped when I felt dizzy. Thinking it would be better to help Kim Doyun than to sit idly, I got up.
But my vision briefly turned white. My ears rang and I felt nauseous, which seemed ominous, so I stood up while gasping for breath.
“…Doyun.”
“Yes.”
“I’m sorry, but could we rest today?”
My entire body started to tremble, beginning from my fingertips. I tried to stop it, but the trembling wouldn’t cease. This was due to a great confusion within my body rather than delayed fear.
“So…”
I opened my mouth but immediately closed it. In that brief moment, my voice had become terribly hoarse. Kim Doyun’s face frowned when he heard my voice, which had become more serious than before.
“My body seems to be…”
I tried to speak with as much strength as I could muster. But my body kept losing strength. Having been shocked by seeing the corpse, thrown by tremendous force, and wounded, my body was crying out its limits. Given that our journey so far had been anything but easy, it was natural to be exhausted quickly, but in the current situation…
My vision blurred and the world wobbled hazily, but I held on by focusing my eyes. Kim Doyun quickly approached to support me as I staggered. But because my legs remained rigidly upright, he only managed to grab my arm.
“…Don’t push yourself.”
I smiled a little at Kim Doyun’s words. In this situation, telling me not to push myself sounded like he was saying I could collapse with peace of mind. Thanks to my weakened body, my facial muscles were relaxed, so the smile didn’t come out properly, but I could show something similar.
I walked ahead of the worried Kim Doyun, looking for a suitable tree to rest under. We couldn’t rest just anywhere. Kim Doyun’s gaze never left me as I stubbornly persisted in following him. When we finally found a large tree, Kim Doyun took me in his arms. Since he was also injured, it seemed too much for him to carry me up. Noticing my concern, Kim Doyun smiled gently and said:
“It’s fine. It doesn’t hurt. So you can rest now.”
It was like permission to pass out with peace of mind. Kim Doyun’s embrace, as he held me, was warm and firm. Unable to hold on any longer, I closed my eyes.
* * *
My throat was parched. My body felt hot and painful, as if it had fallen into a fire pit. It felt like sparks would fly from my throat if I opened my mouth. I moved my body to escape the heat, but the fire followed me relentlessly.
It felt like my eyes would melt from the heat. Or had they already melted? The dampness around my eyes seemed like traces of my already melted eyes flowing down. Painful breaths rose to my chin. With trembling eyelids that refused to obey, I forced my tightly closed eyes open.
“Have you… …consciousness?”
Though blurry, the world came into view. And before the world, Kim Doyun’s face suddenly appeared. His face was deeply furrowed.
“…Do…”
I tried to call him, but my voice was choked. Moreover, his furrowed face was becoming strangely distorted. Why was his handsome face like that? Was it because he had suffered too much because of me? I tried to see clearly by blinking, but each time I did, his face changed differently.
“Fever… …down…”
When I spoke, the sound wasn’t properly audible. Kim Doyun’s lips moved a few more times, but then he seemed to realize I couldn’t hear and closed his mouth. Then he made a displeased face. It was clearly visible even on his distorted face, so I smiled, and Kim Doyun approached.
He examined me for a moment, then gently stroked my hair. I made a refreshed expression as he pushed back my sweat-soaked hair, but then his hand moved to my face. He caressed my cheek before his fingers touched my temple. At that moment, I winced as the spot stung. His fingers immediately withdrew. He moved his lips toward me as I began to smile again.
“…would be good… I’m also waiting… quickly…”
Kim Doyun seemed to have forgotten that I couldn’t hear him. I wanted to grab him and ask what he had said, to ask him to tell me later, but neither my body nor my mouth would move. Though I could change my facial expression…
I tried to change my expression to convey my feelings, but it had little effect. No, I did succeed in calling Kim Doyun with my expression. However, after looking at my face, he took my temperature, placed something damp on my forehead, and moved away again. Having no choice, I tightly closed my eyes and immediately fell into sleep.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
