Chapter 11: Evolution 1

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There were fifteen bottles of soju and twenty-five people. That meant less than one bottle per person. If anyone drank too much, it would still be less than three glasses.

Everyone drank happily. A few drank enough and had a nice buzz going, making their faces red, but no one was too drunk. If someone stumbled on the mountainside, it would cause a major accident. They all knew that and only drank enough to be merry. Also, there weren’t that many bottles.

Junhyuk tried to pick up the empty backpack, and Mr. Jang waived his hand while smiling.

“The guides will take care of it.”

It’s was an empty backpack, and he did not have to carry it.

“OK.”

The group went down the mountain. Junhyuk worried about there being an accident involving people who got rather tipsy and walked last in line to keep a watch on everyone.

“AHH!”

Everyone was walking down when they heard a scream. They all stopped. It was a familiar voice.

“Department Chief?!”

Mr. Jang expressed his concern, and Junhyuk was already running. It was dangerous to run downward on a mountain, but he did not care. If necessary, he would create a force field. He ran fast. He had been training just as Artlan instructed him, so he was utilizing every part of his muscles, and it was easy for him to run downward.

As he ran down, his sense of balance became more acute. The people behind him were calling his name, but he paid no attention. He only thought that he had to run faster.

He did not have a special relationship with Eunseo, but, after hearing that scream, his only thought was to save her. He ran toward where the scream had come, but there was no other sound.

She could have been hurt already, so he ran faster. He ran for 30 minutes. He ran fast, as if he were flying. He covered a distance in a few minutes that would take an ordinary man twenty minutes.

He saw Eunseo. She was still very far away from him. It would take him at least thirty seconds to reach her.

The reason for the scream was the mountain hog about three feet from her. The hog was fuming, so Junhyuk ran faster.

Eunseo heard the sound of Junhyuk running and turned to look. Then, he shouted:

“MOVE ASIDE!”

As Eunseo turned her head, the mountain hog started to run.

Snort! Grunt!

As she heard the sounds of the hog, she turned back to it. She wanted to move away from the charging hog, but couldn’t do it because she was too frozen.

Thump!

“AAHHH!”

With a short scream, she bounced off the pedestrian road toward the valley. Junhyuk did not even glance at the mountain hog and, instead, ran toward the valley.

He couldn’t jump down to the valley from a cliff, but he did it anyway.

The mountain hog stayed where it was.

Junhyuk figured he would be safe for at least ten seconds regardless of what happened. He would use his force field, but, after making the jump, he felt scared.

He saw Eunseo falling. If she continued to fall like that, it would be hard to catch her, so he extended his hands toward her and closed his eyes. It had never worked before, but he really wanted it at this moment. It was not for him, but for her. He wanted the shield to protect her.

The force field came out around him. Despite his wish, it did not come out around Eunseo.

He tried his best, but couldn’t get closer to her. As she fell, she hit a branch.

After that, her falling speed decreased. Watching her fall, Junhyuk kicked off the cliff wall. At that moment, he felt a sharp pain on his leg.

Phump!

With a loud noise, Junhyuk sped up, getting closer to Eunseo, but the ground was even closer to her. He tried even harder. If she crashed, she would die for sure.

“NO!” He shouted aloud and wished even harder. Then, the field disappeared from him. That’s when a protective field appeared around Eunseo.

Thump!

The field protected against any physical force. For ten seconds, it would work in any situation. Eunseo would be safe. The problem was what would happen next.

Junhyuk was close to the ground, but he had already transferred the field. He was falling head first, but turned his body. It would be better if he fell on his legs.

Crash!

“G’ahhh!”

He had been training for a month according to Arlan’s instructions, so he was close to reaching the human limit, but he couldn’t help but break his legs.

His leg bones were shattered, but he did not lose consciousness. He looked up. He must’ve fallen at least sixty-five feet.

He tried his best, and headed to Eunseo. His shin was broken and tearing open his skin, and she was deeply hurt from the collision with the mountain hog. She had also hit a tree branch while falling. Perhaps, she was dead already.

He crawled toward her and checked to see if she was still breathing. She was not dead yet and was still breathing.

He let out a sigh of relief, and looked at her wounds. The mountain hog hit her on the thigh, and it was swollen. It looked like her femur* was also broken.

She had no other wounds. He fell next to her, breathed deeply, and shouted with all his might:

“HELP US!”

—

Junhyuk shouted for help with all his might and stared at his leg. His pain was making him dizzy. In any case, they both could die from excessive bleeding.

He couldn’t just die. He had survived the Dimensional Battlefield and come back. He couldn’t die in vain.

Junhyuk tried to stop the bleeding and focused on his shin muscle. Artlan had taught him that by using a muscle’s contraction, he could stop blood vessels from bleeding excessively.

Junhyuk could do the muscle contractions even though it was difficult. He had been training each part of his muscles, so it wasn’t impossible for him to do it. How could he die just like that?

He took off his jacket, and tried to use it to stop the bleeding by wrapping it around his torn muscle. He thought it was possible he could die. He could comprehend each of his muscles, but he still did not know which muscle contraction would stop the bleeding. He was trying all of them and guessing. In the end, he was lucky. The bleeding decreased.

He wrapped his jacket even tighter and lay on the ground. He did everything he could do. At the moment, he should wait for the rescue team to arrive.

Mr. Jang’s face popped out from the hiking trail. Junhyuk looked at him. He didn’t see them, but looked like he had hurried to get down. His face was sweaty, and Junhyuk shouted:

“WE ARE HERE!”

Mr. Jang looked at them, and his eyes widened. Junhyuk was bleeding heavily, and Eunseo had lost consciousness.

“Are you OK?”

“I am, for now, but I’m bleeding heavily. It could be bad.”

“What about the Department Chief?”

“Looks like she has a broken femur. The rescue team should hurry.”

“Wait a minute.”

Mr. Jang’s face disappeared, and Junhyuk let out a sigh of relief. They would send a rescue team soon.

“Mmm.”

Eunseo was regaining consciousness. Junhyuk crawled toward her.

“Are you okay?”

Eunseo frowned as she opened her eyes.

“Ouch!”

“Looks like your femur is broken, and your hip is bruised. Stay still.”

“I can’t feel anything below my legs.”

“It may be because of the shock. Mr. Jang found us, so a rescue team will be coming soon.”

Eunseo looked at Junhyuk. She was feeling a great amount of pain, but she tried not to show it because of her pride.

“Where are we?” She asked him.

“You were hit by a mountain hog and fell off from the cliff.”

Junhyuk pointed upward with his hand. She looked up. It was at least sixty-five feet high. They fell and they were lucky to be alive.

Eunseo closed her eyes. She could picture a mountain hog running toward her in her mind. She remembered falling, and Junhyuk jumping off the cliff.

She remembered Junhyuk extending his hands toward her as he jumped, but did not remember anything else after she hit a branch, injuring her hip.

“Why did you jump?”

Junhyuk laughed.

“If we are lucky, we will both survive.”

“We are lucky.”

Eunseo looked over to Junhyuk and asked:

“How is your leg?”

“I broke my shin, but I’m OK.”

Eunseo wanted to talk more, but she closed her eyes because of the pain. As she closed her eyes, Junhyuk looked at her and said, tenderly:

“The rescue team will arrive soon.”

Eunseo nodded without speaking. She was not even moaning and withstood her pain. Junhyuk sighed.

“If it hurts, you should let it out.”

Eunseo did not talk, and endured it all.

He realized it was pointless to say anything else to her. Resting next to her, his head was getting dizzy. He had stopped the bleeding, but he had already bled too much. He shook his head and said:

“Stay awake. If you fall asleep, it will be dangerous.”

“I know.”

She knew what was happening, but it did not mean she could do anything about it. Junhyuk took care of her, and she was doing her best to endure the pain. She shivered slightly.

“It’s cold.”

Eunseo was wearing warm hiking clothes. She shouldn’t be saying that she was feeling cold. She had to be bleeding. The broken femur or injured hip might have sliced some veins. If there was internal bleeding, the problem was serious.

Junhyuk took off his shirt and covered her with it.

He looked at her feeling cold, and looked up at the sky and gave her a hug. Eunseo was surprised, and Junhyuk whispered:

“You cannot afford to lose body heat.”

Eunseo’s face turned red, but she did not say anything. Junhyuk looked away. Soon, from far away, there came the loud noise of a rotor turning.

Junhyuk looked and, between the trees, he saw a helicopter.

“The rescue team is here.”

From the top of the cliff, Mr. Jang showed up.

“The rescue team is here. Just hold on a little longer.”

Junhyuk let go of her and shouted:

“Ms. Kim has hurt her hip! We need something to carry her!”

“Understood!”

People showed up on the top of the cliff. As she looked at them, she felt relieved, and passed out. Junhyuk noticed what had happened.

A member of the rescue team shouted:

“Are you both conscious?”

“She just passed out! She was awake a moment ago!”

“What happened?”

“The Section Chief broke her femur and hurt her hip, and I broke my shin.”

“Wait a minute. We will get you out.”

Junhyuk looked at the passed out Eunseo and whispered:

“Cheer up! Rescue team is here.”

——

femur – name of the thigh bone, the longest and most resistant bone in the human bone

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