#Side Story 24
Everything was chaotic. It was only after boarding passengers, seating them, helping with luggage, checking seatbelts, and finally sitting in the jump seat (a folding auxiliary seat for flight attendants, installed near the cabin exit or emergency exit) that I could catch my breath.
The long-haul flight of over 9 hours required constant alertness. Fortunately, today’s service went smoothly. There was no turbulence, meal service ended appropriately, and all passengers, perhaps due to it being a night flight, chose to sleep quietly.
After taking a breather during the break and running around energetically to avoid getting caught slacking, 8 hours had already passed. Sneaking glances at the passengers’ monitors, I could see the plane was almost at Incheon.
While preparing the cart for the final in-flight sales, the senior colleague who had been mistaken as my office romance partner in London made an “Oh?” sound and looked out the window.
“Dark clouds have formed?”
“Yeah. It’s all black out there.”
“It won’t rain, will it?”
The senior joked, but Saheon’s in-flight announcement as we approached landing confirmed that it had indeed come true.
“Ladies and gentlemen, this is Captain Kwon Saheon speaking. We are expected to arrive at Incheon International Airport at 8:20 PM, and there is currently heavy rain at Incheon Airport. This is Captain Kwon speaking…”
His low voice tickled my ears. It’s raining, huh. Did I bring an umbrella? Will it stop by the time I reach Magok Station? With such idle thoughts, I finished the in-flight sales successfully, and now all that remained was landing.
As we got closer to Incheon, the color of the dark clouds grew even darker. The seatbelt sign came on for landing. After completely tidying up the cart, I sat in my assigned jump seat.
I could feel us descending. As we passed through the pitch-black cloud layer, suddenly heavy rain started pouring. I was startled by the sudden downpour.
The raindrops were quite thick. As I blankly watched the rain quickly blur the windows, I could sense that today’s flight was almost over as the airport lights began to appear in the distance.
The rain was now pouring heavily. I could see the runway in the distance. Since it was a night arrival, the runway was flashing with lights. I could feel the vibration of the landing gear extending through the loud cabin noise.
It was just as we were about to reach the runway. Suddenly, the plane shot upwards. I, who had been bracing for the impact of landing, looked at the senior colleague sitting next to me with a confused expression. The senior’s expression was similar to mine.
As the plane went around, the cabin began to stir. But such incidents were common in flights. It happened occasionally at airports like Jeju where the wind was too strong, or when they judged they might not reach the end of the runway due to miscalculating the landing distance.
Today, it seemed to be due to the heavy rain accompanied by strong winds. The plane circled around the airport once more. The noisy passengers gradually quieted down as the plane began to lower its altitude again.
Once more, the plane approached the runway. Heavy rain battered the windows. The aircraft shook greatly once due to the strong wind.
At the same time, a child sitting in the aisle seat across from me slid down between the loosely fastened seatbelt. The loose belt had risen up to the child’s chest area. Probably bored from sitting still, but when I noticed it, my heart sank.
“Hey friend, it’s dangerous to sit like that…!”
Thinking the child might get hurt, my hand moved before my words as my posture became unbalanced.
It was just as I was bending towards the child. The plane made a terrifying “BANG!” sound as it landed. Even considering the rain, it was a hard landing. At the same time, a sharp pain shot through my waist.
“Aaagh!”
I screamed involuntarily and bent forward at the waist. The aircraft shook violently as it touched down on the runway. Due to the forceful landing, my body kept moving, and the impact went straight to my lower back.
The sudden pain was so intense that I couldn’t breathe. Not only had I taken the full brunt of the hard landing impact in my waist, but my lower back felt like it had been misaligned and stretched, causing excruciating pain.
“Cheongmyeong, are you okay?”
The senior colleague sitting next to me asked urgently. Tears welled up in my eyes. It felt like countless needles were stabbing my waist. I knew I should say I was fine, but I couldn’t easily get the words out.
Thinking of the passengers who might become anxious seeing a flight attendant injured, I had to suppress even the urge to groan. I also had to try not to let the tears that had welled up fall.
All the passengers in my section were looking at me. Whispers. “Are you okay?” The worried soft whispers tormented my ears. The senior colleague who had been constantly asking about my pain level finally contacted the purser when I couldn’t respond.
“Yes, purser. This is Jiseo. It seems Cheongmyeong got hurt during landing…”
The pain showed no signs of subsiding. Eventually, I managed to stand up from my seat with the understanding of the senior and the passengers.
There was no way I could say goodbye and tell the passengers to take care. Taking advantage of the time when the first and business class passengers were disembarking, I moved to the rear galley and switched places with the senior colleagues, continuing to suffer in pain.
The feeling of being left alone in the empty rear galley was terrible. Perhaps due to the loneliness of being alone, it seemed to hurt even more.
But no matter how much I stayed in the rear galley, there was no sign of the pain improving. I kept my eyes tightly closed, hoping for the passengers to disembark quickly. As the overlapping footstep sounds that had been noisy gradually subsided, I heard the sound of high heels approaching me in a rush.
“Cheongmyeong, we’ve called the airport fire department for now. Are you okay?”
“I’m… fine.”
I answered weakly. After groaning from the loneliness of being left alone, receiving concern made something well up inside me. As I lay half-bent over, a familiar voice reached my ears.
“Cheongmyeong!”
At first, I thought I had misheard. I wondered if I was hallucinating from the pain, but when a gentle touch landed on my shoulder, I realized it was really Saheon.
“Are you, are you okay?”
Saheon’s hand was trembling slightly. He knelt down to meet my eye level and looked up at me. It hurt, but seeing the person I loved made me want to cry after holding back tears for so long. I had to quickly blink and turn my gaze away.
“I’m… fine.”
“Can you walk outside? No, can you?”
If someone could support me, I could walk. I quietly nodded. Soon after, I heard the voices of the airport fire department arriving and looking for me. The purser tried to escort me with a troubled expression, but Saheon was faster.
He held my hand and wrist tightly as we walked through the cabin. The aisle was narrow, so he must have had to walk almost backwards, but he didn’t seem to mind. A senior colleague followed behind, pulling my carry-on.
“Hospital, hospital. We need to go to the emergency room…”
Saheon muttered in a panicked voice. The firefighter who took charge of me in the wheelchair asked various questions to check my condition, then calmly informed us:
“Are you feeling a bit better now? It seems you’ve injured your back, but the hospital inside the airport only has family medicine and surgery departments, and their office hours have already ended, so you’ll need to go outside. There’s no emergency room on Yeongjong Island, and we can’t leave the airport, so you’ll need to call a private ambulance or…”
“How can you say that now…!”
Saheon raised his voice as if truly angry, then suppressed it. I could see the guilt etched on his face. Even in my situation, bent forward due to back pain, I suddenly felt more worried about him.
“…How long does it take to get to the nearest emergency room?”
“About 30 minutes. But if you call a private ambulance, it’ll take another 30 minutes or so. They have to come from outside the island.”
“I’ll take Cheongmyeong to the hospital for now. Could you give me Cheongmyeong’s carry-on and take us to the taxi stand with the wheelchair?”
“I’ll pull the carry-on to the taxi stand.”
The senior colleague holding my carry-on said. But Saheon cut them off firmly.
“No, I think it’s better if I pull it. We need to go quickly, go…”
Saheon let out a short sigh, then spoke in the strict voice I had seen a few times before. It was the charismatic response I had always imagined he would use in emergency situations.
“I think it might be difficult for you to walk quickly in heels. Please give it to me, and is it alright if we go ahead?”
“Yes, yes. Do that.”
As soon as the purser gave calm permission, Saheon took charge of my carry-on. The path to the arrival hall seemed especially long today. With steps as fast as running, we quickly passed through immigration, submitted the pre-filled customs declaration form, and headed to the taxi stand. All the while, Saheon’s face remained stiffly frozen.
Even the small bumps of the wheelchair sent sharp pains through my back. The sensation that my back had been unnaturally stretched and might never return to normal stabbed at me. After exiting the airport in just 10 minutes, Saheon helped me into a taxi first. Through the window, I could see him briefly thanking the staff.
Without time to load the carry-on into the trunk, he roughly threw it onto the passenger seat and quickly circled around to sit next to me.
“Please take us to the nearest emergency room.”
The door closed with a thud. Saheon, who had stated our destination before even sitting down, messed up his neatly arranged hair. Finally alone together, I changed to informal speech and grabbed the hem of his clothes.
“Hyung…”
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry, Cheongmyeong.”
Saheon started with an apology. His voice was filled with guilt.
