Chapter Text
The girl stirred in her sleep, and although she was supposed to be at full rest, there's a perturbed expression on her face and she occasionally whimpered and shifted, lines creasing between her eyebrows.
What was he waiting for? Jeong Hyeok's grip on the trigger tightened. He was too weak. In war, only the cold, hard and unsympathetic people would survive. She was an enemy. But why was he hesitating? A small voice he'd been using every ounce of his strength to restrain on slips into his mind, and albeit brief, it makes a myriad of emotions he never knew was there resurface.
Around him, the fine bits of dust particles fell like snow over large swaths of the empty land. Everything that was irradiated into oblivion haunts this destructed land, devoid of life a radius mile away. It was miraculous she was still breathing and alive. As the first ray of light emerges between the clouds of dust and settled on her, he could really see her face now-she was beautiful. Really beautiful. There was something about her that reminded him of his mother, who had perished in the war not long after his father and brother did. When the last of his family died, Jeong-hyeok, strangely, never mourned or cried for them. Maybe it was the excruciating pain that numbed him oblivious of feelings. Since then, everything had been easier. Battles. Wars. The ubiquitous killings and cries of pain. The old him would've never believed how he's capable of being nonchalant watching death. But now, he was faced with a conundrum.
Then a memory resurfaces-a childhood memory of his mother, in the garden, tending to the variety of flowers. Then when the first thunderstorm hit the town overnight, they'd woken up to the plants either wilted of over-hydration or stem broken. Only the purple orchids were upright and brighter, as if nothing happened at all. Jeong-Hyeok thought his mother would be devastated, but she never said a word. Later, she had fossilized it in amber and pressed it into his and his brother's palms.
"Promise me," She smiled gently, the way she'd always do whenever she was trying to teach them a life lesson. "That whatever happens, you won't lose your will to live."
The fossilized amber now weighed heavily in his pockets, and it was the only thing that clung him onto the roots of earth now.
The small voice beckoned him, and so the soldier made a decision. He pulled back his rifle, throwing it over his shoulder. He took off his only mask and walked forward, bending down as he slipped it over her nose and mouth. Then he lifted her up.
almost immediately, the dust particle entered his lungs and he coughed, making him feel a little malaise, but he knew he could endure much more than a post-bombed site. Making his way out of the unrecognizable, dead town, he headed for the remote part of the seaside up north, near any source of fresh water.
Oddly, as he settled the girl on a soft moss bedding, he felt light-weighted, as if a heavy burden had been lifted off him
.
Se-ri was running.
From what? She didn't know. To Where? She didn't know either. She could only reach her hands out in sheer desperation and move about blindly about. Then she saw her family-her father, stepmom and two stepbrothers. They're walking away from her, their backs turned. She tried to scream at them in trepidation, but nothing comes out. She starts running again, but trips over something and falls, unable to get up no matter how hard she tried to. There's a great, searing pain in her leg, and no matter how much she persevered she just couldn't catch up with them. She watched them disappear hopelessly, dread filling her.
Then she woke up.
Her heart beats fast and there was a buzzing in her brain and together they were as panic with jump-leads. There is a soreness in her throat as she blinked groggily. The only things she could see was specks of greenery and a fuzzy dark blue. Se-ri tried to clear her head, and it worked because he vision sharpened. Comfort settled her when she saw the stars, which looked like obliterated bits of Nova. It was strangely peaceful. Just let me stay like that, I'd be eternally grateful, She thought vaguely. A quiet moment passed before her thirst overtook her. Se-ri tried to move her body, and that punished her with a dull pain in her right leg, making her groan.
"You're awake."
That voiced shocked her, and she immediately sprang up and away, coiling and trying to ignore the stabbing pain. Grabbing a thin but sturdy branch, she pointed it at the figure, a man sitting in an Indian position, face lighted by the twilight.
"Who are you?" Her voice came out croaky, to her chagrin. She should't show vulnerability- a technique taught by her father. She squinted at him, eyes bulging when she saw the foreign crests and pins- her luck got her to a North Korean soldier. Her eyes darted to his rifle which was resting beside him, before back into his dark eyes.
"Don't come any closer." She threatened him, voice louder and stronger than before. Come on, Seri. She'd heard stories of soldiers taking girls as young as 13 away, and all the callous and draconian things they'd done to them. They never had happy endings.
Jeong-Hyeok was about to open his mouth to reply, but closed it when he recognized the fear and disgust in her eyes. He slowly put the container he was holding down, hands raised in a surrendering position.
:I won't hurt you. I swear." He promised in a low voice. He wasn't like the rest of the soldiers from not only North Korea, but china and Soviet Union. He was all well aware of the other's doing, which earned the soldiers the epithet of 'dirty'.And he wasn't proud of it. "Your leg. I'm trying to help."
As if on cue, the sharp pain from her dream comes back, and she hisses in response. Without looking away, Jeong-Hyeok slowly reached for the container he'd set aside just now.
"This is Calendula ointment. It has medicinal values to treat wounds." He dabbed some of it onto his fingers. She flinched. "It'll help. Trust me."
To his surprise, she answered. "I know,". Se-ri was a war nurse, and she'd seen soldiers coming in with life threatening wounds, long nasty gnashes, some were too far one to be saved.
Reaching forwards slightly, he hovers his hand in front of the long, nasty cut. She wanted to protest, but the pain was screaming, making her acquiesced into letting him help her. Gently, he applied a thin layer of the ointment onto the side of the wounds. Se-ri bit her lip, stifling the screams that threatened to escape. She tried to keep her mind distracted. Happy thoughts only. Not things like waking up after to the middle of nowhere with a North Korean soldier helping her treat her wounds. Edelweiss, roses, lazy Sundays, laughing so hard water comes out of your nose. Not things like the cut you've got probably from the debris falling in the hospital. The hospital. Oh God, the bombing. Se-ri couldn't remember the exact details, but it wasn't pleasant, that's what she knew. Wait, if there was a bombing shouldn't she be dusty and dirty, covered in soot now? But her skin felt smooth and clean.
"You bathed me." Se-ri said bluntly, feeling her cheeks heating up. Why was she so direct now?
Bathe was...well, a better away to put it was clean. Jeong Hyeok cleared his throat and averted his eyes. "I was cleaning your wounds. I didn't look." He reassured her, but that only made her more flustered. "If not you would've gotten sepsis." He quickly changed the subject.
Se-ri knew blood poisoning, and the idea wasn't very pleasant. "Oh." She didn't know what else to say.
Jeong-Hyeok continued to treat her wound, and she watched as his fingers dance as he took out a cloth to wrap her leg up. They stayed like that silently. After a while, he asked her. "Do you remember what happened?Or where your family is."
The images crossed her mind again, but she still could not make out what was happening. She did not answer, though. Instead, she asked in a tight voice. "Why are you helping me"
Jeong-Hyeok looked into her eye, and Se-ri couldn't describe it except that it was soulful, and it made her tighten her grip onto the branch. Maybe he's putting on an act, acting benelovent to gain her trust, but to kill her later. She shouldn't be naive. Not after she was blind to her family's abandonment.
But then he looked away."It just felt right." He replied dismissively.
"But..you're a north korean." She hoped the subject wasn't too touchy.
"That doesn't mean I'm not human." He answered. A small smile tugged at Se-ri's lips briefly. Maybe he was human after all.
"But still, you're a soldier...I'm your enemy."
Jeong-Hyeok was about to answer when he decided against it. He didn't want to address his sense of patriotism and duty to his country. Honestly, he never saw the south as a big threat. They were one Korea with the same people, same culture, same language. Only recently were they separated.His loyalty lies to the North, so it was conflicting. Up until now he'd never felt remorse or regret at the things he's done...but the days he'd spent caring for the girl awoken him. But why? That was a question he also did not want to address.
"No more questions." Jeong-Hyeok took a deep breath. This time, his voice was colder. "I'm going send you back. Until then, don't ask questions like that again."
His words, for some reason hurt Se-ri, but she quickly pushed that feeling away. She was not going to let her have feelings for anyone, much less a North Korean soldier.
After all, she was Yoon Se-ri. She was a strong and independant, and she didn't need anyone.