Beeeep — a sharp ringing sound echoed inside her head.
“–llo?”
Her vision was blurry, speckled with blotches of light and color. In the midst of it all, she could just make out the vague outline of a silhouette.
“Ma’am, do you hear me?”
The sound of the unfamiliar voice switched her body into alert mode. Lee-yeon sat up in surprise and felt her breath shake roughly as though her lungs were unaccustomed to the act of inhaling and exhaling. Her pupils dilated, she scanned the inside of the white tent and observed the paramedics in front of her. She must have been in the makeshift emergency room located at the bottom of the mountain.
“You’ll feel dizzy if you sit up so suddenly. Please lie down.”
The paramedic was calm as he gently pushed Lee-yeon’s shoulders back down. He was putting gauze on Lee-yeon’s chin and pouring saline solution over the back of her hand which burned. He emptied the bottle before quickly opening another one.
“Your guardian has spent every moment by your side. He should be here any minute.”
“….”
The last thing she remembered was being pushed forward by the waves. Thanks to the growing pain she felt from the moment she opened her eyes, she was certain she’d definitely hit her chin on some rocks as she fell. She had no idea how she’d made it out alive.
Then the tent flap opened and there he was. Kwon Chae-woo in the same shoes, jersey, and pale face.
“Lee-yeon, are you okay?”
The sound of his concerned voice cleared away any lingering feelings of faintness.
Frustrated, Lee-yeon scooched herself towards the edge of the bed in a feeble effort to escape.
Her sudden movement caused the paramedic pouring saline over her hand to miss. Lee-yeon quietly gripped the white bed sheet tightly in her hand. Her heartbeat became sporadic.
“What, how, here…” She didn’t know what to say.
“Ahh, you don’t remember?”
“What? Remember…”
As he got closer, Lee-yeon’s body stiffened noticeably. However, Chae-woo placed himself beside her with a sweet yet brazen look.
He smoothly took the saline from the paramedic and held Lee-yeon’s hand in his. Her shoulders trembled.
“I left first and went down before you.”
She thought she saw a hint of mockery in his silent gaze. Lee-yeon wanted to yank her hand from his grasp, but it wasn’t easy. He was very subtly applying pressure by pressing his fingernails into the back of Lee-yeon’s hand. Yet his expression was as innocent as a shameless young boy.
“I got a bad feeling from the sound and the smell.”
“….”
Chae-woo was particularly sensitive. Of course, she knew that.
“Fortunately, I saw the firefighters and came back up. And it’s a good thing I did. If I had come just a little later, it would have become a big forest fire.”
Lee-yeon struggled to find the right words, her mouth opening and closing as she tried to express her relief. “I’m just so glad you’re safe,” she finally managed to say.
On the surface, there was nothing unusual about his words. He was just a responsible citizen who had stepped up and fought to protect the Golden Time. But to Lee-yeon, his words meant so much more.
“Miss, we almost lost you! If he had seen the fire just a little bit later, you won’t have survived. They said not even a single ant in the area survived. If it wasn’t for your husband, you might have had much more serious burns. But instead, all you got was shock from the explosion. You should consider yourself very lucky.”
The paramedics made such a fuss, it was as though they were trying to convince her of Chae-woo’s innocence. Slowly, her anxiety faded.
Her confusion cleared and her sharp sense of foreboding and intuition became dull.
“…Chae-woo, are you hurt?”
“Not a scratch.”
“Thank goodness.” Lee-yeon managed to lift the corners of her mouth, but there was no hiding the fatigue which showed clearly on her face.
Chae-woo placed a hand on her arm and leaned his head towards her. Lee-yeon held her breath.
The smell of his breath, a big shadow hovering above his forehead. It was dark and cold enough to freeze her solid. Chae-woo whispered as if he were telling a secret.
“Lee-yeon won this evaluation.”
“…what?”
“A tree surgeon got injured for being in the field on her own despite the danger. Isn’t that so admirable?”
“…!”
“After yesterday, there’s nothing more to consider.”
The feel of his cold breath against her ears made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end.
“Lee-yeon, what’s going on?!”
Just then, the tent opened with the boom of a Choo-ja’s loud voice as she rushed in, her face deadly pale. Only checking that all of Lee-yeon’s limbs were still attached and unharmed did she plop onto the emergency room bed.
