Chapter 15
Shhhhhhh.
The sound of rain battered at her ears.
Rain poured without end, pounding against the cave entrance.
"...."
Choi Yu-ri slowly opened her eyes.
Her vision was blurry, and her head throbbed heavily.
"Where am I…?"
Her palm felt something damp and cold.
She had been lying on a dirt-covered floor all this time.
"Ugh..."
She let out a small groan and tried to sit up.
But her whole body refused to move.
"Where is this...?"
She slowly tried to recall what had happened.
The hike.
The sudden downpour.
The panicked voices of the others.
"Ah..."
She remembered the final moment.
The ground beneath her feet had collapsed, and her body had been thrown into the air.
Then someone had pulled her into their arms.
A large arm.
A voice that had rumbled low, as if reassuring her.
'It's all right.'
The CEO… had shielded her with his body.
Only then did Choi Yu-ri notice something strange.
Something was covering her body.
A brown hiking jacket.
A garment far too large for her.
"...This."
Choi Yu-ri's eyes widened as she touched it with her fingertips.
"The CEO's hiking jacket?"
It was the jacket Kang Tae-seong had been wearing.
Why was it on her?
Choi Yu-ri's eyes widened.
"Where's the CEO?"
She hurriedly looked around.
There was no one else in the cave.
"Sir!"
Her urgent voice echoed through the cave.
"CEO Kang Tae-seong!"
There was no answer.
Just as she was about to get up, worry creeping in...
"Are you awake?"
A low voice reached her.
Choi Yu-ri startled and turned her head.
Someone was walking in through the cave entrance, beyond the heavy rain.
"..."
A huge, familiar frame.
It was Kang Tae-seong.
Yet something about him was different from usual.
"Eek!"
Choi Yu-ri screamed reflexively.
Both hands flew up in front of her face.
"S-Sir?!"
"What's wrong?"
Kang Tae-seong was shirtless.
His muscular, bronze body was fully exposed, glistening under the rain.
"N-No...!"
Choi Yu-ri's face flushed in an instant.
She covered her eyes with her hands, but...
For some reason, her gaze kept slipping through the gaps between her fingers.
"..."
Choi Yu-ri hurriedly turned her head away.
'No, this isn't what's important right now!'
That's what she thought, but she couldn't help being flustered.
Keeping her head turned, Choi Yu-ri asked Kang Tae-seong.
"S-Sir… why are you...?"
Kang Tae-seong replied calmly.
"I took it off and covered you with it to help maintain your body heat."
"Pardon?"
"You got soaked in the rain. Staying in wet clothes can lower your body temperature, which is dangerous."
Choi Yu-ri looked at the hiking jacket covering her.
"...Oh."
She immediately understood the situation.
He'd taken it off for her.
There was no ulterior motive.
Even though Kang Tae-seong had gotten soaked and must have been cold, he'd simply shared his warmth for her sake.
"I-I'm sorry. I misunderstood..."
"It's all right."
Kang Tae-seong said casually.
Then he set down what he was holding in one hand.
They were branches.
"More importantly, there's something we need to do."
“Something important…?"
"We need to make a fire."
Choi Yu-ri's eyes widened.
"The rain is still coming down. We need to dry our clothes and warm ourselves."
Outside the cave, the downpour continued unabated.
Choi Yu-ri had been staring at Kang Tae-seong with a dazed expression, but then she seemed to realize something and raised her voice.
"We need to call for help! We should call for help first!"
Choi Yu-ri took out her phone with trembling hands.
But as soon as she turned on the screen, the first thing she saw was a small symbol.
No signal.
The indicator that there was no reception.
"..."
The worst-case scenario she'd feared was coming true.
She checked her phone again and again, just in case, but nothing changed.
"Sir."
Choi Yu-ri looked at Kang Tae-seong in a panic.
"My phone... isn't working."
Kang Tae-seong nodded quietly.
"I checked a little while ago, too."
Kang Tae-seong held up his phone.
It showed the same thing.
"It seems the signal can't reach this far into the mountains."
Choi Yu-ri's expression stiffened.
Kang Tae-seong explained the situation as calmly as he could.
"With the rain coming down this hard, it won't be easy to pinpoint our location, either."
"How can this be...?"
Choi Yu-ri murmured softly.
Her vision seemed to grow dim.
Until just a moment ago, she had thought the others would come find them if they waited a little.
If they could give their location, someone from the company or the safety team would surely come looking for them.
But they couldn't even make contact.
The sound of the pouring rain seemed to grow louder.
Choi Yu-ri quietly clutched her phone.
"Then... we..."
Choi Yu-ri's voice trembled.
She couldn't bring herself to finish the sentence.
"...Are we stranded?"
Choi Yu-ri looked as if she were about to panic.
Kang Tae-seong spoke in as calm a voice as possible.
"There's a good chance."
Choi Yu-ri's face went pale.
"But don't worry too much."
Kang Tae-seong added immediately.
"The people at the scene probably reported it right away."
"Then... are the rescue teams coming?"
"Yes."
Kang Tae-seong nodded.
"The problem is how long it'll take."
At those words, Choi Yu-ri tensed again.
"In rain like this, it's more dangerous to move around blindly."
Kang Tae-seong looked toward the cave entrance.
The pouring rain.
The sun had disappeared, and finding the way back to the resort seemed out of the question for now.
"We need to hold out here as long as we can. To do that, we need to get a fire going first."
Only then did Choi Yu-ri realize.
While she had been unconscious,
Kang Tae-seong had already looked around and prepared what they needed to survive.
"Ah..."
A small sigh escaped her.
And at that moment, Choi Yu-ri felt something strange happening to her body.
"…Hh."
She was cold.
She had thought she was fine just a moment ago.
Maybe she hadn't noticed because she'd been so out of it.
Or maybe it was because the tension had eased.
Her whole body was starting to tremble.
A shiver crept over her skin.
Choi Yu-ri unconsciously wrapped her arms around herself.
"Are you cold?"
"A little..."
Choi Yu-ri tried to answer as if she were all right, but...
Her voice trembled faintly.
Kang Tae-seong moved at once.
"Please wait a moment. I'll get a fire going first."
Kang Tae-seong began sorting the branches he'd brought.
"The most dangerous thing is letting your body temperature drop."
*
Crackle, crackle.
A small flame flickered deeper inside the cave.
In contrast to the rain pouring down violently, the campfire gave off a warm light even in the darkness.
Choi Yu-ri sat in front of it and held out both hands.
"……It's warm."
The cold that had made her shiver just moments ago was slowly disappearing as if it had been a lie.
They'd been lucky.
Thanks to Kang Tae-seong carrying a lighter in his pocket, they had been able to start a campfire.
The wet branches had been hard to light, and he'd failed several times, but Kang Tae-seong didn't give up.
After painstakingly finding dry parts and coaxing a spark to life...
He'd finally managed to get the fire going.
Watching the flames, Choi Yu-ri thought absently.
'The CEO really is... even in a situation like this….'
Kang Tae-seong hadn't rested even after making the fire.
-Just wait a moment.
He'd gone outside, saying he'd look around and gather more branches to use as firewood.
As she stared at the campfire, what had happened earlier naturally came back to her.
-Ms. Choi Yu-ri!
The urgent cries of her colleagues calling out to her.
Her foot slipping.
The earth and rocks collapsing in an instant.
The hand that had caught her at the last moment.
'If it hadn't been for the CEO.'
Choi Yu-ri quietly closed her eyes.
If Kang Tae-seong hadn't caught her then,
she probably would have fallen all the way down.
In this cold place, all alone.
What if she had fallen here by herself?
'What would I have done?'
She probably wouldn't have been able to do anything.
She would have been confused and scared.
She might have just trembled there, not knowing what to do first.
Would she even have been able to find this cave in the first place?
Would she have thought to make a fire?
Would she have realized she should wait for rescue?
"..."
Choi Yu-ri slowly lowered her gaze.
The hiking jacket covering her body.
The campfire blazing before her eyes.
Kang Tae-seong had made all of it possible.
'If the CEO hadn't been here, I might have died.'
The realization that she owed him her life made one corner of her heart feel strangely heavy.
"The CEO is... really amazing."
Her quiet murmur was swallowed by the sound of the rain.
Just then,
"What do you mean, amazing?"
"......!"
At the voice from behind her, Choi Yu-ri jumped and turned around.
The cave entrance.
Once again, the huge man stood there.
He held a fresh bundle of branches in one hand.
"N-No...!"
Choi Yu-ri's face turned red in an instant.
She belatedly realized she'd been talking to herself without noticing.
Kang Tae-seong tilted his head as he approached, looking puzzled.
"Did something happen?"
"W-Well..."
Choi Yu-ri hurriedly averted her gaze.
"It's nothing."
She answered that way, but for some reason Kang Tae-seong didn't immediately back off.
"...?"
Choi Yu-ri carefully lifted her head.
Kang Tae-seong was looking at her.
Something was different from usual.
His normally intimidating face was drawn into a deep frown.
He looked serious, as if he'd discovered some major problem.
"S-Sir?"
When Choi Yu-ri called to him cautiously,
Kang Tae-seong slowly approached her.
One step.
Another step.
Choi Yu-ri tensed without realizing it.
'Why…?'
Her heart was beating fast for no reason.
And Kang Tae-seong's large shadow fell over her.
"……!"
Choi Yu-ri froze for a moment.
But Kang Tae-seong didn't lay a hand on her.
He didn't do anything else, either.
He simply looked at her for a moment, as if checking something.
How long did he keep looking at her?
Then he opened his mouth with a serious expression.
"Take it off."
"...Pardon?"
Choi Yu-ri's mind went blank.
She only blinked, as if she couldn't understand what she'd just heard.
"S-Sir?"
But Kang Tae-seong merely repeated what he'd said, his expression devoid of any hint of a smile.
"Take your clothes off. Right now."