"Don't smile while holding an axe!"
No matter how much she understood the circumstances, wasn't this exactly the appearance of an axe-wielding murderer waiting for prey beneath a tree?
I-yeon clutched the tree trunk even more tightly.
She wanted to wipe away with a rag the moment of betrayal she had felt at the doctor's diagnosis.
Someone who's committing fraud should really keep their wits about them.
Just then, Kwon Chae-woo let out a grunt and pressed his side.
"......Mr. Kwon Chae-woo, are you hurt somewhere?"
She poked her face out between the branches. Of course, having caught such a massive and ferocious wild boar, even Kwon Chae-woo couldn't be completely unscathed.
"Does it hurt a lot?"
The man kept his upper body bent without moving a muscle, and it was then that the startled I-yeon hastily grabbed a different branch.
Clatter, metal dropped to the ground.
"I put down the axe."
The man, who had straightened his posture at some point, gestured gently.
"So now it's I-yeon's turn to come down."
* * *
Kwon Chae-woo was covered in bruises all over his body.
When the ruined clothes were cut away with scissors, bluish-green bruises covered his entire upper torso.
A beast weighing over 500kg had pushed and pushed against him with all its strength, so it was practically no different from a traffic accident. His wrists, which had held a stake braced against his neck, already had stretched ligaments.
The doctor who had received her call and urgently come down to the emergency room clicked his tongue upon hearing the circumstances, saying it was fortunate he wasn't more seriously injured.
"I'll come by the house in a little while."
The doctor who finished emergency treatment picked up an aluminum tray and went out past the curtain.
Still, thanks to that doctor, there was no need to register separately. She had driven to the emergency room in a hurry, but she almost ended up in a situation where she couldn't even write down her husband's resident registration number.
"I-yeon."
Once the privacy curtain closed, only the two remained by the bed. I-yeon's strength drained away and she slumped down at the edge of the bed.
"I've been curious for a while, but who is that person?"
"......Who?"
"That man."
Kwon Chae-woo casually gestured toward where the doctor had left.
"The doctor?"
"Yes."
He looked at her with quite an intense gaze. His upper body wrapped in white bandages and his face with dried bloodstains looked rather disreputable.
"......The doctor is just a doctor, though?"
I-yeon tilted her head in bewilderment.
"Hmm."
A meaningful nasal sound came from somewhere.
A cold glint trying to determine whether it was true or not.
The gaze fixed on her without blinking was sharp. In that moment, frightened I-yeon suddenly became a wife making excuses and started adding to her words.
"That person is Mr. Kwon Chae-woo's personal physician."
"......"
"He's been exclusively in charge ever since Mr. Kwon Chae-woo was in a vegetative state. You saw him going back and forth from home to hospital, right? That's because he's Mr. Kwon Chae-woo's personal physician, so with all sincerity—"
"Are we that rich?"
He suddenly cut off her words.
"While taking care of a vegetative patient, I-yeon's back must have been bent double. How did you hire a personal physician who comes running with just one phone call?"
"Um......"
Her heart started pounding rapidly. She couldn't know his exact intention, but his raised eyebrow looked ominous.
At some point, I-yeon, whose feet had started going numb about everything, became extremely tense.
If she didn't answer properly here, the man might fall into some conspiracy theory and dig up holes in her lies.
"K-Kwon Chae-woo's family, I mean, my in-laws, Kwon Chae-woo's older brother supported us extensively!"
"......"
"It's true, that person is a real doctor so don't worry. He's someone my in-laws sent, so how could he be a suspicious person? He worked really hard day and night."
"Day and night?"
"Yes!"
"That man came and went from I-yeon's house when she was alone?"
His face instantly came right up to I-yeon's nose.
"......Yes?"
"Did he come and go?"
His forceful voice pressed her again.
"That's... right? That was the advantage, though?"
At the same time, I-yeon flinched and had to pull her upper body back.
Honey-colored eyes resembling trees instantly crumbled like a rotted mummy. She witnessed every single moment of how dried a person's eyes could become.
"So when it's urgent, that man comes to mind first?"
Kwon Chae-woo slowly brushed her hair back.
"Kwon Chae-woo was hurt, and that person is the personal physician, so—"
"What exactly did he do day and night."
"Um..., treatment?"
"Who, treated whom, and how."
He pulled his t-shirt collar and wiped his chin. The sound of chewing the inside of his cheek reached her. By this point, I-yeon also started to notice the man's abnormality.
"Are we really talking about the same doctor right now? I honestly don't know what you're talking about."
"......"
"Should I call the doctor back? Your cognitive abilities seem slightly diminished......"
I-yeon tilted her head while looking at him.
"Kwon Chae-woo's... head area is quite vulnerable, you know."
When she glanced carefully at his head, Kwon Chae-woo let out a faint sigh.
He finally felt his fraying nerves relax, and his entire body ached. Fatigue washed over him.
"I'm sorry."
His eyes, closed for a slightly longer moment, were clear.
"For picking faults over nothing."
Though roughly wiped with alcohol, he was still mottled with blood. That appearance was like an actor in a dressing room after removing stage makeup, making it feel even more unreal.
"It seemed like I-yeon was strangely relying on that doctor. Even on the mountain, suddenly wanting to be alone happened after talking with that man."
"......"
I-yeon pointlessly rubbed her clothing hem. She tried to avoid his piercing gaze, but that only made her thoughts too transparent.
"Thinking about how that bastard was coming and going from I-yeon's house with a perfectly fine body while I was lying like a cripple."
I-yeon's mouth gradually fell open.
"My insides boiled like crazy."
He pressed his temples and faintly puffed up his chest pain like a wounded bird before letting it deflate.
I-yeon eventually bowed her head deeply. Having no memories, his excessive thinking was understandable, but he treated those involved with I-yeon with particular harshness.
Was this really due to the syndrome's symptoms?
Just as she faintly narrowed her brows—
"Is the person who caught the wild boar here?"
Suddenly the curtain was flung open and a solid voice like an announcer pierced her ears.
The woman who stuck her face in revealed charming crooked teeth upon seeing Kwon Chae-woo's state.
"Ah, that's right."
She strode inside.
The woman wore a large jacket with a "Wild Animal Rescue Center" logo stamped on it. Tall, a face without makeup showing some freckles. And a bob cut trimmed to her chin gave her a bright appearance.
"Hello."
She bowed her waist vigorously.
"We've finished collecting the wild boar carcass. We even did ASF virus testing just in case."
I-yeon also bowed her head reflexively.
Behind the curtain, men wearing the same colored jackets were gathered noisily. They stood at some distance but watched this direction with interest, their eyes gleaming.
"Thank you for catching it, no, thank you for reporting it. We were under a lot of pressure from above. It was a beast that kept biting people to death, so it had even earned the notoriety of being a man-eating wild boar."
Her tone was disciplined yet strangely relaxed.
"Since its size was extraordinary, we had even organized a separate hunter team to prepare, but we ended up with nothing to do."
She scratched the back of her head and laughed out loud.
"Also, this is the first time I've seen one hunted with a torn carotid artery."
Now the woman was openly staring at Kwon Chae-woo. Her cheeks flushed like apples, and the smile at her lips grew deeper. I-yeon thought that was quite remarkable.
"......"
"......"
Kwon Chae-woo quietly closed his eyes. As the silence grew unbearably long, I-yeon couldn't stand it and answered "Yes" on his behalf.
"Ah, I got too excited and committed a breach of etiquette. I'm Joo Dong-mi, working on the mammal team at the rescue center."
Suddenly a whistle sounded from behind. Colleagues in the same jackets put their fingers in their mouths, sending sounds that could be either cheers or jeers.
Joo Dong-mi, whose back twitched, turned red from face to neckline in an instant. She soon shouted with bold confidence.
"Please give me your contact number!"
At Joo Dong-mi's imposing spirit, I-yeon stepped back hesitantly.
Kwon Chae-woo, catching that moment like a ghost, quickly snatched her wrist. The place gripped tight like a lasso throbbed.