By Zephyria 
140
Ho-eun blinked slowly. The fever he had briefly held back was rising again. But he couldn’t lose consciousness here.
He had to find Tae-muk. Save him. Not someone else, he had to do it.
Because he was his Bondmate.
Thinking that, he glared, but now his whole body was slowly tilting to the side. Then, thud, he buried his forehead in the horse’s mane. He couldn’t lift his body.
Gil-sang, noticing Ho-eun’s unusual condition, spoke to him.
“Young master?”
“……”
“Young master. What’s wrong? Young master, please look at me.”
“……”
But Ho-eun couldn’t answer. Or maybe he didn’t. Maybe he was angry at Gil-sang for not saving Tae-muk. As he remained silent, Gil-sang dropped Ho-eun’s reins and ran to someone.
“Sir! Come over here!”
He was looking for someone to treat Ho-eun. Ho-eun stared at Gil-sang’s receding figure with blurred vision. But then.
“Captain!”
Someone shouted from afar. It was a shout from a great distance, but the words struck Ho-eun’s ears like thunder.
“……”
Ho-eun’s eyes snapped open. He straightened his back, which had been drooping like ripe rice. Ho-eun didn’t know where that strength came from. Without thinking, he pulled the reins and kicked the horse’s side. The horse leaped forward as if bouncing.
“Young master!”
Gil-sang’s shout came from behind. But Ho-eun ran on, unconcerned. His eyes throbbed with fever, and his body swayed as if he would fly away in the rushing wind, but he didn’t care.
His mind was full of nothing but Tae-muk.
It was the first time in his life that something had filled his mind so completely. It was the first time he had thought about something so much, worried about it so much, and wanted to see it so much.
Ho-eun quickly reached his destination. It was a bay where the lake pushed deep into the land, and the land and water were connected by a gentle slope.
And there, was Tae-muk, whom he had been so desperately searching for.
“……”
The moment Ho-eun saw him, he stopped breathing. He wanted to hug him right away, kiss him right away, but his body was frozen and wouldn’t move.
Tae-muk was limping out of the water. His whole body was soaked, water was dripping from his hair, and he was holding a half-broken Helmet Bone of a Devouring Ghoul in one hand. The Helmet Bone had fan-shaped antennae. It seemed he had found the Antennae Devouring Ghoul even in that chaos.
That was fine so far. After all, Tae-muk was alive. He was walking on two feet. But Ho-eun froze for another reason.
Tae-muk was hanging his head. It was an uncharacteristic posture for him, who always looked straight ahead. And he was staggering. As if he were heavily drunk. He faltered to the left, faltered to the right, and each time, red drops of blood fluttered onto the white snow.
Blood.
Yes, blood.
Tae-muk’s uniform was in tatters. The soaked uniform was glistening, but it seemed to be soaked in blood, not water from the lake.
Tae-muk was bleeding all over his body. It was as if red rain was falling only on his head.
Blood was streaming down his temple, as if somewhere on his head was broken or torn. Also, one ear… was gone. The flesh near the ear, as well as the corner of his cheek, was torn and rough.
And a chunk had been torn from the part where his neck and shoulder connected, so he couldn’t move one hand at all. But even if he could, it wouldn’t have been of much use. Because the thick, long ten fingers were less than half left.
Needless to say, his arms and legs were in no better condition. Tae-muk was staggering not because he was tired, but because his legs were not in a state to support his body.
“……”
Ho-eun was foolishly frozen at the sight of his miserable appearance. All the noise faded into the distance, and his vision narrowed. Only Tae-muk, only Tae-muk’s blood, only Tae-muk’s wounds were visible. Meanwhile.
“Captain!”
“Captain!”
Some soldiers ran past Ho-eun towards Tae-muk.
Tae-muk, as if he couldn’t hear their voices, staggered and continued to walk forward, forward. Then one knee buckled and he staggered greatly.
But Tae-muk didn’t fall. He planted the Devouring Ghoul’s Helmet Bone he was holding in the snow and leaned on it. The sharply broken Helmet Bone pierced his palm, but he didn’t utter a groan. As if he didn’t feel any pain. Or rather, as if there was no more pain to feel.
Steam was rising from Tae-muk’s body, making it look as if he was on fire. Perhaps he actually was. Perhaps the flesh inside his skin was boiling.
Then, when blood poured down from under Tae-muk’s chin. Ho-eun finally came to his senses. He, who had been gripping the reins so tightly that lines were forming on his hand, let go and slid off the horse.
Then, in a suppressed voice, he called him.
“General…”
It wasn’t a loud voice. Because his throat was hoarse. And because he was afraid. Because this situation, Tae-muk’s appearance, was far beyond what Ho-eun could handle, he couldn’t make a proper sound.
But at that moment.
“……”
Tae-muk suddenly raised his head. And, their eyes met.
“Ah……”
At the same time, Ho-eun unknowingly took a step back. Because Tae-muk wasn’t Tae-muk. Or rather, because he didn’t seem like Tae-muk.
Because the eyeballs of Tae-muk he met… were all red. It was because all the blood vessels had burst, and it looked as if he had dug out the eyeballs of a Devouring Ghoul and put them in his eyes.
But the moment Ho-eun took a step back, Tae-muk’s black pupils, buried in the red sclera, flickered and shone. It was like a flashlight had been turned on inside Tae-muk’s pupils.
“……”
Tae-muk looked at Ho-eun and tilted his head to the side. As if to confirm that the person in front of him was Ho-eun. Then he stood up straight as if he had never staggered.
And he took a step towards Ho-eun.
The snow crushed under his feet was crushed and soon turned red. He took one step, then another, leaving red footprints as he approached Ho-eun.
“General…”
Ho-eun also took hesitant steps towards Tae-muk. At the same time, he inwardly criticized himself for taking a step back in a moment of surprise at his injured appearance. Tae-muk must be suffering unspeakable pain, and he, his Bondmate, was trying to run away.
He had to apologize. He had to apologize for being wrong, for being sorry, for never doing it again.
Before that, he should hold his hand first, then hug him, then kiss him, and when the bleeding stops, when the wounds heal, then he should apologize.
He was thinking that as he approached Tae-muk. Suddenly, someone came running as if flying and stood in front of Tae-muk.
“Captain.”
It was Dong-ja.
“……”
Tae-muk’s red eyes turned to Dong-ja for a moment. His pupils were flickering as if they would soon melt. Not that his eyes were, but they were literally melting. The steam rising from his body became thicker than before, and each breath was mixed with a roar like a beast.
Tae-muk didn’t answer Dong-ja’s call. He only turned his head back to Ho-eun. Then he took another step towards Ho-eun. It was as if Ho-eun was the only thing he could see.
But Dong-ja didn’t give up and moved closer to Tae-muk. And in a voice that was lower than before, with emphasis, he called him again.
“Captain. You can’t.”
“……”
Tae-muk’s movement stopped abruptly. The movement was quite strange. Not that he stopped at her call, but he stopped like a beast caught by the neck. It was as if shackles had been put on his ankles.
“……”
Ho-eun, watching the two, frowned slightly. Why was Dong-ja doing that? What couldn’t he do?
No, that wasn’t important. What was important now was saving Tae-muk. He had to treat him. Only he could do that.
Ho-eun, who had been moving one step at a time, began to run towards Tae-muk. It was when his silk Hair Tie fluttered like wings.
“Get that… out of the way.”
Tae-muk’s low voice cut through the air. At those words, Ho-eun had to stop as if he had hit a wall. It wasn’t because of the term ‘that’. It was because of ‘get out of the way’.
“…General?”
Ho-eun looked at him with a blank face. Wondering if he was talking to him. But Tae-muk’s gaze was directed at him more than ever.
“Fucking, get out of the way!”
He shouted again. His face was contorted with pain. He hadn’t been making that face when he came out of the water, but for some reason he was in more pain now.
“General. Why…, why are you doing this?”
Feeling something was wrong, Ho-eun took another step towards Tae-muk. But then. Someone grabbed his wrist from behind.
“You can’t go, sir.”
“…Corporal?”
It was Gil-sang.