By Zephyria 
Looking at Man-soo, whose one arm was hollowly missing, Ho-eun pushed the tray a bit deeper.
“You haven’t eaten anything for days. Please eat some—cough, cough.”
Caught by a sudden fit of coughing, Ho-eun quickly covered his mouth with his sleeve. He clutched his throat with his other hand, but the coughing did not stop easily. His throat stung, and his vision blurred from the fever.
After this battle, Ho-eun had come down with Gobul and Fever Sickness. It was only natural. After everything that happened in the rain, there was no way his frail body could have endured it. Consequently, walking, sitting, and even breathing had become difficult.
Having turned pale in an instant, Ho-eun leaned against a pillar and coughed painfully. Dong-ja asked worriedly.
“Young Master… are you sick again?”
“No. I’m, I’m not. I don’t hurt at all.”
Ho-eun answered without a moment’s hesitation. He couldn’t possibly say he was in pain. With people inside having their limbs torn apart and struggling in agony, complaining about something like this would be a mockery and a joke.
Barely stopping his cough, Ho-eun took out a handkerchief. After wiping the cold sweat from his forehead, he spoke to Dong-ja in a gentle voice.
“Please eat. If you keep letting them draw blood without eating anything, even you, Dong-ja Noonim, will be in trouble.”
“…….”
“Noonim……”
Dong-ja did not answer. She was staring blankly into the air, as if she couldn’t hear Ho-eun’s words. That sight cut through Ho-eun’s heart again and again. He felt as if he might vomit blood from his torn chest.
Ho-eun’s face slowly dampened. His eyebrows drooped, the corners of his eyes distorted, and his eyelashes sagged. Unable to bring himself to look up, he lowered his head deeply and spoke haltingly.
“I’m sorry…… I…… Man-soo hyungnim, because of me……”
No one knew how Man-soo had his arm torn off. It was only after the rain stopped and dawn broke that he was discovered lying among countless corpses.
Yet, for some reason, Ho-eun couldn’t stop thinking it was his fault. Because he had called Dong-ja. Because he had asked Dong-ja to knock down the trees. If he hadn’t, she would have stayed by Man-soo’s side. He wouldn’t have had his arm torn off and wouldn’t be hovering between life and death.
“…….”
Dong-ja said nothing. She wasn’t agreeing with Ho-eun’s words. It was simply that her mind, her reason, was not present. Seeing this, Ho-eun pleaded again with a desperate expression.
“Noonim…… please…… eat something. Please?”
He felt he finally understood why his mother and father had begged him so much when he would leave his meals unfinished. Ho-eun was afraid. Afraid that Dong-ja might also fall ill. Afraid that she might become as gravely sick as Man-soo, and that both of them might leave for a place where he could neither catch nor follow them.
“I asked Chilbok to make plenty of braised beef—”
Ho-eun stepped up onto the veranda with the tray. But at that moment.
“Haaaah……”
Man-soo let out a thin groan. His body convulsed in tremors. His blunt arm also flailed and moved.
“Man-soo!”
Springing up, Dong-ja dashed into the room. In doing so, her heel kicked the tray Ho-eun was holding. The bowls soared upward, spun once in the air, and half fell on the veranda while the other half hit the dirt ground. Then, thick porridge splattered across the back of Ho-eun’s hand.
Ho-eun had brought the porridge, shielding it from the wind to keep it from cooling, and it was hot enough to be steaming.
“…….”
However, Ho-eun did not groan. He did not show pain. He only kept his eyes wide, checking on Man-soo inside the room.
“Old man! Old man!”
Dong-ja called for the old man in a voice that sounded like it was tearing. At that, the old man, who had been in the opposite room, rushed over and gave Man-soo an injection. Fortunately, Man-soo’s seizures gradually subsided. Dong-ja hugged Man-soo and burst into tears like a child. Her back shook violently.
“…….”
Ho-eun watched the two of them quietly. Then, letting out a long breath that was neither a sigh nor a lament, he bent down to pick up the scattered bowls from the floor. It was then he belatedly noticed the porridge had splashed onto his hand.
As Ho-eun faintly knit his brows, someone called him in a sharp voice.
“Young Master!”
“……Chilbok?”
It was Chilbok. Ho-eun’s eyes widened for a moment as he noticed a dozen cooks following behind him. They were all carrying trays, seemingly bringing meals for the wounded soldiers. It seemed it was already dinner time.
“You brought the meals? Go on in.”
Ho-eun smiled brightly and stepped aside. Or rather, he tried to step aside. But Chilbok slammed the bowl he was holding onto the veranda with a loud thud and shouted.
“What is this!”
Just as Ho-eun was about to ask what he meant, he realized Chilbok’s gaze was on the back of his hand. His skin was bright red, scalded by the porridge.
“It’s nothing—cough.”
Cough, cough. As another fit of coughing hit, Ho-eun quickly turned his head away. As he coughed, his thin body shaking, Chilbok let out a deep sigh and wiped the porridge from Ho-eun’s hand with his own sleeve. Then, glancing around, he suddenly stepped up onto the veranda, stood on tiptoe, and snapped off an icicle hanging from the eaves.
“How did this happen? To such fair hands……”
Chilbok spoke sounding distressed as he gently rubbed the icicle against the back of Ho-eun’s hand. At this, Ho-eun wore an awkward smile.
“I made a mistake. I’m clumsy with these things…… I’m sorry.”
“You’re the one who got hurt, so why are you apologizing to me? Honestly…… does it not hurt?”
“It doesn’t.”
“How can it not hurt when it’s this red!”
Chilbok yelled, looking as if he were dying of frustration. Even so, the touch of the icicle was incredibly careful. His own hand, not yet fully grown, turned red from the cold, but he didn’t seem to mind.
Watching this intently, Ho-eun grasped Chilbok’s hand with his other hand. He then gently transferred his own body heat, burning with fever, to him and spoke.
“Something like this, no matter how much it hurts, could it possibly kill me?”
“…….”
“No matter how much it hurts, could it be as bad as having raw flesh torn away?”
“…….”
“It’s nothing, something like this.”
Ho-eun spoke in a monotonous, dry voice. His face looked parched and withered. There was no color in his cheeks, and his lips were white. Looking at that face, Chilbok suddenly pulled his hand away.
“Let’s go. I’ll take you back to your room. I’ll start the fire for you, so please lie down.”
“No, I want to stay here.”
But Ho-eun dug his heels in and resisted. At that, Chilbok’s eyebrows shot up. He knew that Ho-eun had been lingering in front of the Medical Station for three days straight, exposed to the cold wind.
“Why? Why do you want to stay? Does the torn flesh of the hyungnims and noonims magically stick back together if the Young Master is here? Do they just spring back up? You’re just wasting your health for absolutely nothing!”
“……I’m sorry.”
“No, why are you apologizing again! What did you do wrong!”
Chilbok yelled again in frustration. Ho-eun smiled awkwardly and coughed again. Watching him with disapproval, Chilbok let out a deep sigh and asked.
“Did you take your herbal medicine?”
“Of course. You were the one who brewed it, Chilbok. I drank it. I drank every single drop.”
“……Well, you did that right.”
Satisfied with the answer, Chilbok’s expression softened. He examined Ho-eun’s pale face, sighed deeply, and turned around.
“……Wait here. I’ll bring some ointment.”
“Okay.”
Ho-eun gave a brief nod. Chilbok picked up the bowl he had set down and entered the room. Ho-eun stood there blankly, waiting for him. But suddenly, his vision blurred, and a wave of dizziness washed over him.
“Ah……”
Ho-eun flailed his arms, searching for a pillar. But he caught nothing. His body slowly tilted forward. The square stepping stone, where shoes were scattered haphazardly, drew closer.
If I hit that, I’ll be badly hurt. Then Chilbok will worry again. The thought occurred to him, but he couldn’t stop his falling body. It was just as Ho-eun closed his eyes tight.
Grab.
A firm hand gripped both of Ho-eun’s forearms and pulled him up. Even though the touch wasn’t familiar, Ho-eun hoped. He wondered if it might be Tae-muk.
“Young Master, are you alright?”
But as expected, it wasn’t. Byeonguk stood there, dressed in his usual neat military uniform. Ho-eun repeatedly closed and opened his eyes to fight the dizziness, eventually managing to regain his balance.
“Ah, yes. Thank you.”
He tried to pull his arms away from Byeonguk’s grip, but for some reason, Byeonguk wouldn’t let go. The thin forearms were completely enveloped by his one hand. Frowning slightly, Byeonguk spoke kindly.
“Please go back. I will escort you.”
“I’m fi—”
Ho-eun started to say he was fine out of habit, but then he smiled faintly. Both Chilbok and Byeonguk were telling him to go back. He wondered why he was being so stubborn.
“My persisting here would be a nuisance, wouldn’t it?”
“…….”
“Yes, it would be best to go back. If Chilbok comes back, he’ll just worry himself to death again.”
Ho-eun tidied up the tray that Dong-ja hadn’t touched and stepped down into the yard. When Byeonguk tried to support him, he politely declined. After taking one last look at Man-soo inside the room, he left the Medical Station. Byeonguk naturally followed behind him.