#21

Shin Ho-jae jerked his hand away as if he had been burned. He immediately turned around and continued forward along the path he had been taking. He heard footsteps following him a bit late.

Hearing the sound of the pace quickening, Shin Ho-jae slowed his stride slightly. Walking fast on a rainy road in those shoes could lead to a slip. Soon, Jung-hyun caught up to Ho-jae and stood beside him.

“Thank you. It’s warm.”

“…….”

“I guess I just can’t ignore people who are cold.”

I guess? It was a comment that suggested similar things had happened in the past. Their eyes met once again. A slight smile played on his lips. Shin Ho-jae’s gaze lingered on that face for a moment before he hurriedly looked away.

From here, they had to enter a side path rather than a well-maintained road. Shin Ho-jae walked forward, keeping an eye on Kwon Jung-hyun. Their body temperatures were dropping rapidly due to the rain.

If even he, who usually had a high body temperature, felt this way, Kwon Jung-hyun’s temperature would be dropping even faster. With the vision growing darker and the rain adding to the difficulty, it was hard to see the path.

Perhaps that was why Jung-hyun also remained silent, focusing only on walking. They were nearly at the first point, but Ho-jae felt anxious as there was still no sign of anyone. Shin Ho-jae’s thoughts came to an abrupt halt.

“Is—is anyone there!?”

He heard someone shouting, their voice sounding on the verge of tears.

Shin Ho-jae and Kwon Jung-hyun immediately turned in the direction of the voice.

About 50 meters away from the first point, Ahn Dong-ju was sitting under a tree, trying to avoid the rain. It didn’t seem very effective, as his body was already heavily soaked. Moon Seung-yeol could be seen leaning against him in an unnatural posture.

“Uh, uh…? CEO, Ho-jae….”

Recognizing their faces, Ahn Dong-ju’s voice trailed off, his eyes wide with surprise.

“The appointed time has passed, so we came to find you. I’m glad we found you. Can you walk?”

“Well….”

Ahn Dong-ju looked alternately at his own ankle and at Moon Seung-yeol, who was holding his side.

Shin Ho-jae immediately knelt on one knee and felt Moon Seung-yeol’s side as if palpating it. Moon Seung-yeol furrowed his brow and let out a groan through his teeth.

Lifting the T-shirt, a red, scraped area was visible, as if he had hit something hard. Fortunately, there seemed to be no bleeding or broken bones.

“What happened?”

At Kwon Jung-hyun’s question, Seung-yeol, with a dark expression, spoke up.

Moon Seung-yeol, who had set out first, had wasted quite a bit of time searching for the hidden flag. He said that the moment he touched his phone to return to camp after finally finding it, he realized the battery had died.

His old phone had drained the battery quickly trying to connect to the internet in this place where the signal was poor. Since he couldn’t see the map he had taken a photo of, the way back was bleak.

Then, he remembered that Ahn Dong-ju’s flag was nearby. Thinking they could find the map together and leave, he retraced his memory to find Ahn Dong-ju, which was fine, but Ahn Dong-ju had also sprained his ankle and was stranded on the other side of a stream. On top of that, he had dropped and lost his phone while crossing the stream.

Moon Seung-yeol had crossed the stream and carried Ahn Dong-ju on his back, and the two had no choice but to rely on their memories to find the way. Then, Moon Seung-yeol also slipped on a rain-slicked rock and hit his back hard, which was why they ended up stranded like this.

“This is something that wouldn’t have happened if you had all stayed together.”

Sharp words flew from Shin Ho-jae’s mouth. Ahn Dong-ju’s complexion darkened, and Moon Seung-yeol’s brow twitched.

“…Is that something you say in front of injured people?”

Moon Seung-yeol seemed about to spit out a curse after ‘Is that something,’ but he glanced at Kwon Jung-hyun and lowered his voice to a growl. It was the moment Kwon Jung-hyun stepped in front of Shin Ho-jae, just as Ho-jae was about to reply, ‘That’s exactly why I’m saying it, because you got hurt.’

“It was a good judgment. If the two of you had gotten lost even further trying to find the way, things would have spiraled out of control. You intentionally sought out the place where the flag was to stay together, right?”

Unlike Ho-jae, who was irritated, the voice was calm. Moon Seung-yeol seemed slightly flustered and stuttered a bit.

“…T-that’s not it, but we had no choice.”

“Even if it wasn’t intentional, you made the best decision in the moment.”

Jung-hyun smiled and nodded slightly. He looked exactly like the perfect club owner he had appeared as on the podium.

“After all, they are our players.”

At those words, the stiff faces of Moon Seung-yeol and Ahn Dong-ju began to soften. Moon Seung-yeol even bowed his head first to apologize.

“…I’m sorry. For making you come all the way here to find us.”

“…I’m truly ashamed.”

“Rather than saying that, tell me about your current condition. Are you shivering or cold? In places with low temperatures like this, hypothermia can occur even in June.”

“I’m okay so far.”

“You know your own condition best. If you downplay your state because you feel sorry, everyone here is put at risk. You understand, right? Because you’re our players.”

When Jung-hyun spoke with a stern face, Ahn Dong-ju, who had been glancing at him, tentatively raised his right hand.

“…I—I think I’m a bit cold.”

Shin Ho-jae examined him. One shoulder was almost completely soaked from the rain, and since he said he fell in the stream, his clothes looked entirely damp.

“Take off your wet clothes and change into this.”

As he spoke, Jung-hyun quickly took off the windbreaker he was wearing—the one that belonged to Shin Ho-jae. Shin Ho-jae immediately reached out and blocked the back of the hand that was lowering the zipper. Jung-hyun’s eyes followed, as if asking what was wrong.

A small sigh escaped. Who exactly was worrying about whom?

Despite having droplets—whether sweat or rain—clinging to his smooth bridge of the nose and lips, and his bare legs being full of wet leaves and small scratches.

“Keep it on. Your body temperature is dropping too, CEO.”

“I’m fine.”

“Didn’t you say that downplaying your state because you feel sorry puts everyone at risk?”

Returning Kwon Jung-hyun’s words exactly, Shin Ho-jae whipped off the short-sleeved shirt he was wearing. His stark white bare torso was immediately revealed.

Of course, this shirt was also a bit wet, but since it was basically water-repellent and he had been wearing a waterproof windbreaker halfway, his condition was much better than the others.

Ahn Dong-ju hesitated but took off his own clothes and changed into Shin Ho-jae’s T-shirt. Shin Ho-jae folded Ahn Dong-ju’s T-shirt and put it in his pocket.

“…You’re going like that?”

Moon Seung-yeol, who had been watching, asked Ho-jae skeptically. Ho-jae simply nodded.

Being bare-chested meant there was a risk of being scratched by branches, but he judged that in this temperature, the drop in body temperature from wearing wet clothes would be a bigger problem. As if thinking the same thing, Moon Seung-yeol sighed.

“Wear this, then.”

He then took off the windbreaker he was wearing and tossed it. Shin Ho-jae reflexively caught the garment as it flew in a parabola and looked at Moon Seung-yeol askance.

“I’m fine. Why would I wear a patient’s clothes?”

“Ah, stop talking and just put it on. I’m saying this because I can’t stand seeing you show off your body.”

At those words, Ho-jae saw Ahn Dong-ju stifle a laugh.

“…….”

Deciding that arguing here was also a waste of time, Shin Ho-jae put on Moon Seung-yeol’s windbreaker.

Jung-hyun’s gaze slowly dropped from Ho-jae’s upper body and turned back to the other two.

“What about the injuries?”

“Ah, my ankle was already a bit bad, so I think the ligament is gone. And Seung-yeol hyung is….”

“There’s no bone abnormality or bleeding; it looks like the muscles are shocked from a contusion.”

Shin Ho-jae answered on behalf of Moon Seung-yeol. It was what he had thought while looking at the wound earlier. Athletes were sensitive to injuries, so they were almost half-experts. Moon Seung-yeol seemed to have reached the same diagnosis and nodded.

Jung-hyun looked up at the sky. The rain, which had been thickening as if it were about to pour down at any moment, had slowed slightly.

“The staff must be looking for us. There’s no signal here, and if we keep getting rained on, our body temperatures will drop, so I think it’s better to move a bit to close the distance. What do you think?”

“CEO, could you help Seung-yeol hyung stand up? I’ll carry him on my back.”

Shin Ho-jae answered immediately to Jung-hyun’s words.

Ho-jae handed the map he had been keeping to Moon Seung-yeol, who was staring at him with wide eyes.

“Hyung, please look at the map for us. And CEO, please support Dong-ju hyung.”

“Let’s do that.”

With Jung-hyun’s help, Shin Ho-jae carried Moon Seung-yeol on his back, and Jung-hyun supported Ahn Dong-ju as they began to slowly descend the mountain path.

Even though it wouldn’t be easy to distinguish between the similar-looking mountain paths, Seung-yeol guided them without hesitation while looking at the map. When a fork in the road appeared, he notified them 50 meters in advance, and he didn’t hesitate or wander, which would have caused Jung-hyun and Ho-jae, who were transporting the injured, to waste unnecessary energy.

It was typical of Moon Seung-yeol, who had been talking about efficiency even before the game started. He probably couldn’t tolerate the expenditure of inefficient effort. Since he was a similar type to himself, Ho-jae understood easily.

When Jung-hyun asked how he was so good at reading the path, a bland answer came back that it was because he lived in the countryside as a child.

Ho-jae said nothing and readjusted his grip on Moon Seung-yeol on his back. There were many things he hadn’t known despite having played together for over a year.

How long had they walked like that? He could hear Kwon Jung-hyun’s breathing, following behind, gradually becoming heavier.

No matter how much a grown man exercised regularly, it was incomparable to the activity level of a professional athlete. Moreover, he was currently supporting a man heavier than himself while walking on a slippery mountain path.

However, since Shin Ho-jae was also descending a drizzling mountain path while carrying a person, he was just a bit late in checking behind him.

“Ugh!”

Along with Ahn Dong-ju’s short cry, two figures tumbled rapidly in front of him.

Shin Ho-jae reflexively reached out and grabbed someone’s clothes. However, the water-soaked fabric slipped through his hand and vanished futilely.

22 – Puck Drop