"……I'm easily frightened. But responsibility comes first. This is a competitive bid, and I agreed to participate. So give me the rope."
"……."
"You said you'd do as I tell you."
When he still kept his mouth firmly shut, I-yeon unknowingly put her hands on her hips.
"Kwon Chae-woo. Right now……, are you defying me?"
Ah, I didn't mean to say something so childish…….
She thought it was a mistake, but it was already too late. The moment Kwon Chae-woo's graceful eyes narrowed, her insides began to churn. Her already mustard-seed-sized liver shrank even further.
He gazed at I-yeon for a moment, then cast his eyes down.
"No, I-yeon. How could I do that."
His expression was unreadable, but the eyes that brushed past hers were somber.
The man, now obedient, personally tied the rope around I-yeon's waist. She thought he would stubbornly resist, but he hooked and knotted it quite systematically. His skilled and swift hand movements made I-yeon's eyes widen.
Just then, a sunken voice flowed out like smoke.
"You don't think of your husband waiting below at all, do you?"
Each time he checked the rope's joints, her body swayed back and forth like paper.
She doesn't know the feelings of a man personally tying his wife's lifeline. But hearing the sound of his jaw grinding right in front of her, she felt suffocated by that menacing edge.
"I wasn't interfering, I was trying to protect you. I wasn't playing around, I wanted to comfort you."
"……."
"Because I'm anxious."
At his absurdly transparent inner thoughts, I-yeon only blinked.
"I hate I-yeon going far away."
His cold eyes were seething.
"I clearly said I don't want to be apart even a little bit."
It wasn't malice, nor hatred, nor irrational satisfaction from venting anger. It was fundamentally different from all those countless gazes I-yeon had received from her family.
It was simply pure affection clinging to I-yeon.
Something deep inside her chest wavered.
"Arborist, are you ready?"
The two people's gazes that wouldn't separate were finally torn away. I-yeon turned her head first.
Chu-ja handed over the saw with an anxious face, and I-yeon strapped it to her back and rubbed pine resin powder on her palms.
Your blood was on this saw.
I-yeon sneered.
When she had started deceiving and taming a man with amnesia. Seeing him being brainwashed exactly as she intended felt uncomfortable. It was a soft sentiment she didn't need.
"I'll be back."
I-yeon ignored the man's clinging gaze until the end.
Her light body was quite agile.
Amidst simultaneous admiration, I-yeon climbed the tree skillfully. Her thighs, knees, and elbows were scraped in an instant, but she didn't stop.
After climbing the 30m ginkgo tree for about forty minutes, her clothes were already soaked with sweat. At this point, her stinging arms and legs were a bigger problem than cutting the branches.
Still, thinking of the tree that must have been neglected for a long time, I-yeon gritted her teeth. She wanted to solve the tree's problem cleanly, the tree that had to bear its hardships alone without being able to say anything. As she approached the problematic branch, I-yeon grew urgent.
Finally reaching near the top, she turned toward the deformed branch.
The branch that was already precariously bent couldn't withstand I-yeon's weight after all and shook greatly in an arc.
―Uh, uh……!
Such commotion was faintly heard from below.
She hadn't particularly feared high places, but―
'I am afraid of heights……?'
It wasn't that she didn't have acrophobia, she just didn't know because she'd never climbed to this height before. Now that she was actually up here, her heart raced and her legs trembled.
She had to cut it somehow.
'So this is why Director Green couldn't just come down either.'
Clinging tightly to the curving branch and enduring its vibration was no easy task.
If it snapped like this, the road behind would be struck by disaster.
"Hoo……."
Just as she was struggling, a horrified scream burst from far below. Several people's shouts mixed together at once, but I-yeon, who had her own hands full, didn't even have the leisure to look back. A heavy wave rushed in like it was striking the back of her head.
It was when I-yeon barely caught her balance and fumblingly grabbed the saw. Suddenly her body tilted, and strength drained from her thighs.
'Ah! Seriously, this is too much……!'
She slipped helplessly.
Thanks to the rope tied around her, she wouldn't die. However, since this height of work environment was her first experience, I-yeon instinctively closed her eyes and braced for the recoil that would strike.
'I'm falling……!'
At that moment when her vision was half-turned, her body was firmly caught by a rough force yanking up her waist. It hurt as if her ribs would break.
"……I caught you. I caught you."
"……!"
Her heart dropped at the voice touching the nape of her neck. Kwon Chae-woo was hugging her tightly without a gap, his large hand wrapping around her stomach. Her eyes widened to their limit.
"……K-Kwon Chae-woo?"
I-yeon whipped her head to the side.
Past his roughly heaving Adam's apple and sharp nose tip, she saw his eyes sharpened to their limit. He had climbed up here without a single piece of equipment. His nape was damp with cold sweat.
"Have you gone mad?!"
"It's okay. I won't let you get hurt."
The man assumed she was terrified and started comforting her first.
"That's not what I mean……!"
I-yeon was completely dumbfounded.
"What are you doing with your bare body! Because of Kwon Chae-woo, I get surprised several times a day!"
Thinking about it, it had been like that since their first meeting.
Burying people alive, chasing to kill, suddenly waking up, tearing raw chickens, falling into deep sleep again, then crying tears.
And now, whether he was determined to die or what, a person with no skills climbed to the top of a tree with bare hands.
"Why is a person so extreme?"
The man's hand she glimpsed at was already covered in wounds. Unlike I-yeon who had gloves and full equipment, Kwon Chae-woo only had irrational obsession.
"Well, why would I do that?"
From their firmly pressed bodies, a heart was beating roughly. He breathed heavily and lowered his face to I-yeon's shoulder. His hot breath disturbed her composure.
"I-yeon decides."
"Decides what?"
"Whether to be pulled down like this, or to see this through to the end."
Then her wildly pounding heartbeat started to calm. At the man's calm voice, her resolve was instantly set.
"I'll see it through to the end."
A branch growing deformed and throwing off balance also has a bad effect on the roots. Worries had long been erased from her mind. She just wanted to help this tree.
"Alright, then get on my back."
"……What?"
"I'll cut, so I-yeon give me instructions."
At these unexpected words, I-yeon was dumbfounded.
"No!"
"Why?"
"Kwon Chae-woo doesn't even have a rope. Get back!"
"It's okay, even if I fall, I-yeon will live."
"……!"
I-yeon's anger flared at his extreme logic.
"Never, never say that again! If Kwon Chae-woo gets seriously hurt, my life ends that day!"
Does Kwon Chae-woo know how scary his household is? If Kwon Chae-woo dies, I have no room for negotiation and go straight into a drum! I-yeon breathed heavily. The words she couldn't spit out swirled inside her.
"Actually, coming up here in the first place is crazy enough!"
"……I'm sorry. Don't be angry."
His prominent nose rubbed against her nape.
"And even if it was safe, I'm the tree doctor. Of course I can saw better than Kwon Chae-woo!"
"……."
"D-don't mess around."
Her vocal cords trembled. I-yeon asserted her dignity with a red face. Not facing him actually let her raise her voice loudly.
While she lifted her chin in satisfaction, warm breath settled on her nape. It seemed like he might have laughed.
"I'll take the punishment when we go down, so hold on tight."
"What―"
I-yeon's vision suddenly changed. Without warning, Kwon Chae-woo carried her like cargo and sent her over his shoulder.
"Hiek……! Kwon Chae-woo!"
I-yeon screamed and tightly hugged his neck.
When her position suddenly changed at 30m height, she desperately clung to him. Her desperate clinging to survive looked ridiculous, but his broad back was surprisingly cozy.
Someone's back she had never leaned against. From him came the scent of cool sweat. Everything was unfamiliar and scary, so her heart pounded incessantly.