Yi-yeon was climbing the mountain carrying a medical bag to check on the progress of the trees she had performed surgery on.
Pushing through the lush undergrowth, a winding path appeared. She navigated skillfully, deftly avoiding the uneven terrain with practiced ease.
"Yi-yeon."
Kwon Chae-woo, who had stubbornly followed her this far despite her several attempts to take him home, snatched Yi-yeon's medical bag from her.
"Just a moment."
"Why?"
She had been walking looking only ahead, but now stopped weakly. Her eyes and the corners of her mouth were stiff as acorn shells.
"Your expression still doesn't look good."
"...."
"Are you hurt somewhere? Or perhaps, are you angry?"
His eyes were sharp as he carefully examined Yi-yeon's complexion.
"No, it's not that—"
She tried to brush it off, but overwhelmed by his direct, piercing demeanor, she couldn't help but let out a deep sigh.
A cold determination to eliminate the cause was settled in his eyes. Trying to argue defensively seemed futile against him.
The expression that had been hardened since leaving the hospital relaxed as if in resignation.
"I heard something shocking."
"From whom?"
"...."
"The doctor?"
When his eyebrows rose fiercely, Yi-yeon waved her hands.
"No, me! I said it to myself!"
Yi-yeon had shocked herself.
If all the man's actions were not blind devotion stemming from her lie, but rather symptoms of an illness, then Yi-yeon had actually created one more escape route for herself.
At least it wasn't causing harm, so depending on her mood, she could sufficiently lighten the burden on her conscience.
Yet she couldn't understand why she felt mocked instead of feeling quickly relieved. Something that had crossed the center line slammed into her back with a bang.
"I, just for a moment, misjudged my fate...."
"Your fate?"
"Still taking life's pitfalls too lightly...."
Yi-yeon lightly hit the crown of her head with her fist and rambled incoherently.
"Stop it."
He covered the crown of her head with his palm.
Leaves rustled in the wind. Yi-yeon feigned an expressionless face, but inside she was incredibly noisy. Even Yi-yeon's petty thoughts swayed in the wind.
"Um... there are many trees to check. Wouldn't it be better for you to go back now, Kwon Chae-woo?"
"Does that mean you want to be alone?"
Yi-yeon avoided his gaze and scratched the back of her head. The man raised the corners of his eyes as if trying to uncover her true feelings, but eventually released his hand and stepped back.
"Then I'll just follow from behind."
"It's distracting."
"I don't know the way back well. Taking the bus is difficult too. And there's nothing in my head except for you, Yi-yeon."
He only acts weak and sick at times like this.
As if proving that, the corners of his mouth were slightly downturned, but his wildcat-like eyes were gleaming.
At that moment, Kwon Chae-woo sensitively turned his head.
"....!"
The pupils that had been loosely open toward Yi-yeon suddenly constricted. The line of his neck from below his ears to his collarbone was taut like a pulled rope. At the man's abruptly changed atmosphere, Yi-yeon also swallowed.
Deep wrinkles gradually formed between his brows. His face, focused on something other than her, was serious to the point of being frightening, and Yi-yeon felt pushed out, if only for a fleeting moment.
"...What's wrong? Kwon Chae—"
"When I give the signal, run without looking back."
"What?"
He pulled Yi-yeon's wrist tightly.
"You're good at climbing trees. Can you go up for a moment?"
In that moment of bewilderment, Kwon Chae-woo pushed her back with all his might. His touch was quite hot, and Yi-yeon flinched in surprise and scrambled forward. The imprint of his hand on her back throbbed.
—Kwehhh—!
The ground shook.
A chilling roar seemed to grab her by the hair. When she turned her head, a wild boar as large as a house was rushing down madly from the uphill slope. Perhaps highly agitated, its black, coarse fur stood straight up.
"Kwon Chae-woo!"
Yi-yeon was pale with shock, but he instead raised his voice.
"So Yi-yeon, get up there!"
It was a rough voice that struck like a whip. His fiercely furrowed eyes frightened her, and like an obedient child, she scurried up the tree. Her feet slipped and her hands trembled.
Kwon Chae-woo opened her medical bag and without hesitation pulled out a hand axe and several stakes.
"Ah...! Kwon Chae-woo, don't go forward! Th-that's for cutting trees, not for catching animals! I'll report to the rescue center, so just come up here for now!"
She grabbed a branch and stretched out one hand. However, the man didn't even pretend to listen. Biting her lip, she finally hurriedly turned on her phone.
Meanwhile, Kwon Chae-woo was hacking away at a tree trunk. He struck it dozens of times in mere moments. Without tiring, he struck with the same force as at the beginning, and finally created a groove in the tree.
"Kwon Chae-woo, what are you doing! Dodge!"
The boar was rapidly approaching, but the man was only hacking at the tree.
"Stop, stop! Put that down!"
"...."
"Put it down, you bastard!"
"Stay right there."
"Are you trying to die?!"
At that, he laughed aloud, "Haha."
"There's only one reason a dog turns its back."
At his nonchalant attitude, Yi-yeon lost all strength. She couldn't understand him at all.
"Kwon Chae-woo—! You, you, what good is turning your belly inside out! You never listen to a word!"
While she was only pounding her own chest in frustration, the man didn't dodge—instead, he moved toward the boar.
When the human came into the animal's sight, the already agitated creature snorted even more roughly.
Yi-yeon covered her mouth tightly with both hands.
The moment the vicious-looking tusks reached right in front of Kwon Chae-woo's nose.
"....!"
The man, whose expression hadn't changed until the end, aimed the stake he was holding half a beat faster.
And the boar, unable to reduce its speed due to its momentum, drove itself straight onto the stake.
Blood gurgled up from below its neck. It was a fatal wound, but the boar only hesitated for a brief moment before starting to ram Kwon Chae-woo again, still impaled.
Pushed and pushed, they were driven to the tree Yi-yeon had climbed.
'Don't die...!'
Trembling violently, she had just finished the emergency call, and for the first time, she desperately wished for the man's safety.
Yi-yeon clearly saw his smile.
Kwon Chae-woo inserted the stake into the axe marks he had made moments ago. When the stake's handle fit perfectly between the jaws, the sharp blade plunged deep into the body of the beast that had been only charging.
Kweeehh—
At the painful wail, mountain birds flew away.
"Ugh...!"
Yi-yeon didn't take her eyes off the man, even as she endured the vibrations of the tree being struck with thud after thud.
Kwon Chae-woo, his whole body in tatters, was still smiling as if enjoying a fun game. And he began to swing the axe he had been gripping tightly.
Once, twice, three times.
Blood splattered with each swing. Especially when he grabbed the protruding tusk and tore the carotid artery inside, Kwon Chae-woo too was drenched in blood.
"Ugh...!"
The man looked as if he had been painted bright red. Red liquid seeped between his teeth.
The beast, which had been making terrible sounds, now only twitched its body, as if all its strength had drained away.
"You can come down now, Yi-yeon."
Her dry throat swallowed, and her heart pounded.
It seemed like she shouldn't go down.
Because of this man who made her waver between 'don't die' and 'don't kill,' she felt like the sibling who climbed a tree to escape a tiger. She needed another rope.
"Should I come up?"
"No!"
She firmly refused.
"My legs, my legs are trembling. Let me catch my breath for a moment and I'll come down. You too, Kwon Chae-woo, um... calm down a bit...."
"Do I seem excited?"
Glancing down, except for his chest heaving slightly, Kwon Chae-woo was no different from usual.
Rather, he was settled quietly like fog. His soaked bangs and damp clothes added weight to that feeling.
"Yi-yeon, it seems you wanted me to be excited in this state."
He rotated one shoulder as if stretching.
"Just say the word. Want me to get hard here?"
"No!"
"I told you I can do anything if you want."
"Even so, I'm not a pervert!"
Yi-yeon desperately hammered this point home for the future. At the same time, the doctor's words, spoken with a serious expression about his concerns, wouldn't leave her ears.
Behavioral abnormalities, aggression, hypersexuality....
That was Kwon Chae-woo right now, exactly.
When she suddenly stopped making even breathing sounds, Kwon Chae-woo wiped the blood from his face with the back of his hand.
"Were you very scared?"
"Right now, I'm more scared of your face, Kwon Chae-woo."
At those words, Kwon Chae-woo burst into laughter. Even with his blood-smeared face, she could clearly see how each of his features curved.