The Energy
I was wrapping Hyunji's body in a coat as fast as I could when Hwang Jiyoung's voice reached my ear.
"Sh-Shinwoo..."
"Is there anyone else here who needs the emergency room?"
There was no time to wait for an answer. It wouldn't have mattered anyway. What mattered was getting Hyunji to the ambulance. I didn't bother answering Jiyoung. I swept a look around us, but not a single hand went up. That was when an old woman, well past her prime, climbed onto the stage and caught my eye.
"What on earth do you all think you're doing? I told you to concentrate, at least on the day of a performance, and you commit a mistake this elementary? I told you there were people here from a foreign dance company."
"P-Professor."
"It's Hyunji."
"You think this is the first accident we've had, or the second? Spit on a scrape and it heals. Pull yourselves together. We only bought fifteen minutes, so start putting things back in order. We're going straight into Act Two."
The old-fashioned gold-rimmed glasses made that sharp face even more insufferable. Her tone was worse.
"Hyunji's fainted..."
"Let her rest a moment. She was pinned for a second and couldn't breathe, that's all."
"...But, Professor."
"You're the professor, I take it?"
Seol-ah and Mi-ji hurried to plead with the old woman who was plainly their professor, but the way she carried on as if the performance mattered more than anything only fanned my rage hotter.
"And who are you? Audience members are not permitted up here."
"I'm Hyunji's guardian. Emergency services have already been called, so you'll be taking her out of the performance. And I intend to file a formal complaint with the university about what happened today."
"...What? Who do you think you are, pulling someone from a performance whenever you feel like it?"
"A student can't even stay conscious, and the show is what you're worried about? You ought to be concerned for the injured girl first. What exactly are these kids supposed to learn from you?"
"Arrogant, for someone so young. You think this is the first accident I've ever seen? This is practically how we live."
"But there is a student who has actually lost consciousness. If you're the one in charge, shouldn't you be checking on your students instead of making announcements?"
"This is why I can't stand laypeople. Do you have any idea these girls skipped a meal or two for tonight? Their stamina dropped and their focus slipped, that's all. Let them rest a moment and catch their breath, and they'll be back on their feet!"
"Is that something you say in front of your students?"
The professor's open irritation only hardened my face. It ached to think Hyunji had been happy just to earn praise from a woman like this, and I was sorry for all of it. My stare was turning cold when a voice from the speakerphone snapped me back to myself.
"...Guardian, if you're able, could you move carefully to the main gate?"
"Is something wrong?"
"Traffic at the main gate is too congested. The ambulance can't get in. Even if the paramedics come to you, once you count the trip both ways it may be too late. If there's any internal bleeding, it could be dangerous, so..."
"We'll move right now."
"Please move carefully. Don't put any strain on her neck or lower back..."
"Yes. I need to hang up."
"All right. So we don't miss each other, I'll have them waiting at the main gate. Call immediately if you need anything."
"Thank you."
I hung up in a hurry and leaned closer over Hyunji, bundled in the coat. Her face, pale a moment ago, was already slick with cold sweat, her brows drawn tight with pain. She was biting that pretty lip; even unconscious, she was hurting. My chest felt as if it were tearing open. I wrapped the coat around her more tightly, slid one arm carefully beneath her knees and the other behind her neck, lifted her, and left the stage at once.
...Choke on it.
I knew the polite thing was to go back behind the stage, but I had no interest in showing that professor any manners. I made sure Hyunji's face was well covered and her hips wrapped too, then shoved straight out through the curtain. The murmuring audience broke into screams. I crossed the house with urgency written all over my face, and Lee Hyesun was at my side at once.
"Wh-what's wrong? Shinwoo? What happened? What's going on?"
"It looks serious. The ambulance is here, so we have to move. You're coming, right?"
"O-of course! Wait, just a second. A hospital near here..."
Pale and on the verge of tears, Hyesun rummaged frantically through her handbag as she followed me. Another presence made me glance to the right, and there was Hwang Jiyoung, her face drenched in sweat, stage makeup already beginning to run.
"...Are you sure you should come? A professor like that will have it in for you too."
"I-it's my fault. If anything happens to Hyunji..."
"Don't say something that unlucky. That isn't going to happen."
Jiyoung bit her lip at that. Thinking of her, I knew that leaving this hall would only cost her.
"Do the performance. You've got another year of school ahead of you."
"...I don't want to. Hyunji matters more to me too. Ballet... I was going to quit anyway."
"...Do what you want. I'm in a hurry."
Urging her once was enough. Her heart was in the right place, but I still couldn't make my words come out kindly. What mattered now was getting myself into a position where I could lay a hand on Hyunji's stomach.
...If you've been that much help, you'd better come through on this too.
I snarled it inwardly, a whisper thrown at the Special Internal Energy like a threat. I didn't even know whether it could hear me. I just had no one else to spend my anger on. They never should have given me a power like that in the first place. No. It was my fault. I'd only gotten full of myself because it seemed so marvelous, and—
"Here! Over here!"
I burst out of the auditorium at a run, and there at the main gate sat the ambulance with its green light bar flashing, paramedics in orange uniforms beside it. The moment one of them saw me she sprinted over, snapped the emergency stretcher open, rolled it in, and looked Hyunji over.
"She's bleeding. It looks like vaginal bleeding. I couldn't confirm the exact site."
"...Understood. When did the accident happen?"
"I believe we called the moment we found her."
"Very good. Let's move. Guardians, get in."
"Thank you."
A ventilation mask was already sealed over Hyunji's face, and in a flash she was loaded into the ambulance. I scrambled up after Hyesun, who had climbed in first, and Jiyoung crowded in beside us as well. I wished Jiyoung hadn't come. The ambulance was cramped enough without another pair of eyes.
...Nothing to be done.
Too many eyes. But it couldn't be helped. Even if I got caught, I had to see to Hyunji's belly first and think about the rest later. Then Jiyoung, now aboard, spoke in a rush.
"Hanseong Medical Center. Please, Hanseong Medical Center."
"That's two minutes farther than the hospital we've already secured."
"Take us there anyway."
Hyesun backed Jiyoung's plea, the paramedic nodded, and the ambulance shot off as if fired from a gun. Before I knew it my hand was stroking Hyunji's lower belly, and whether Jiyoung saw it or not, I quietly began drawing the Ailment Shadow out of her.
"Hyunji... come on, wake up..."
Hyesun, seated farthest in, let tears fall like little silver beads and kept stroking Hyunji's cheek. The paramedic glanced at her and passed over the bag-valve mask.
"Press it slowly with both hands, once at a time. When it inflates on its own, count calmly to three, then squeeze gently. Don't press it all the way. Only about a third. Yes. Just like that."
"Y-yes..."
Hyesun took the bag in a panic and, weeping, gripped the air reservoir in both hands. The female paramedic spared a glance at my hand on Hyunji's stomach, then without a word lifted a pair of scissors and began cutting the ballet costume away. What the blades laid bare below her waist was devastation.
"Hyunjiii..."
Jiyoung's voice broke around a sob, and I couldn't make myself speak either. Everything below Hyunji's waist was a ruin soaked through with blood.
"Sir, it might be better if you didn't look."
"...It's all right. She's my girlfriend."
"...All right. Then just keep stroking her like that."
"Is that okay?"
"Yes. It helps more than you'd think. There's no medical evidence for it, but I've seen plenty of unscientific things doing this work. Just let the patient feel that someone is staying right beside her."
She hadn't even registered what I'd said. If anything she was encouraging my touch, and I was relieved. Working fast, she wiped the bleeding with gauze and checked the site. Blood poured from between Hyunji's pretty thighs in an instant. Once she had confirmed where it was coming from, she packed the place with gauze again and spoke.
"Uterine bleeding. If it's severe, there's a strong chance of rupture. She's losing a lot of blood. The tight costume seems to have slowed it a little. We won't know for certain until they get images."
"...How long to the hospital?"
"It's the evening commute, so I can't promise, but we should be there within five minutes. Boyfriend."
"Yes?"
"Have the two of you had sex?"
"...Yes."
"Good. Excuse me a moment, then."
With that she pulled out a thick wad of gauze, shaped it like a tampon, and packed Hyunji below. A spike of irritation hit me at the thought of someone handling her so freely, but the paramedic's hands were careful, plainly taking every care, and I kept my mouth shut. Then she opened the cooler in the back, chose a unit of blood, and asked.
"Blood type?"
"A. She's A. Rh positive."
At Hyesun's answer the paramedic connected the pack to Hyunji's slender arm with practiced hands, and I poured everything I had into my own.
Faster. Come on, devour it already.
I was desperate. I wanted that shadow gone, as much of it as I could manage, inside of five minutes. If it really was a rupture, Hyunji's stomach would bear a surgical scar. These days the techniques were good enough to leave no mark, they said, but the thought of a cold scalpel touching this slender belly of hers was enough to make me lose my mind. And then it happened.
Kh...
It was as if fire had erupted from my lower abdomen. In an instant the energy racing up into my right hand felt as though it were searing every vein in my body, but I bit down on my molars with everything I had and didn't let it show. Then I felt the current that had reached all the way to my fingertips seize the shadow and swallow it in a single gulp.
Would it have killed you to come out sooner? You were listening, weren't you, you bastard.
I didn't know why it was acting like this, or why it had only moved now, but for the moment I welcomed it fiercely. The speed at which the shadow vanished jumped, obvious even to the eye. I could feel a good third of it already eaten away, the shade growing faint, when the ambulance suddenly slowed and I lifted my head to look around.
"Looks like we're almost there. Traffic's jammed after all."
"...Will she be all right?"
"Don't worry. We've got plenty of type A, and all we have to do is keep the bleeding stopped. Once the bleeding's under control, the golden hour stretches out. And your call came in very fast."
The paramedic was smiling, trying to reassure me, but my mind was nowhere. I was too busy enduring a pain like my arm being cooked from the inside. By now only the faintest trace of the shadow remained. And mercifully, the moment we reached the hospital, the energy finished drinking down every last bit of it and began to sink back into my lower abdomen.
"Let's move. You can stop squeezing the bag. Looking at her face, she's stabilizing a little."
I looked up at those words and saw that the cold sweat on Hyunji's face had already eased. The pained set of her expression had softened too. Thank God. I was so relieved. Whatever the energy had done, I set it aside for now. The instant the rear doors opened I pushed Jiyoung out, and she scrambled down in a hurry. The paramedics brought a gurney, transferred Hyunji onto it, and doctors swarmed in. I followed as they wheeled the bed away, and where a nurse told us to wait I let out a hollow, ragged breath.
"I've passed everything along, and she should be in imaging now. Results within ten minutes, and if she needs emergency surgery someone will come for the consent forms. That's all. I hope she recovers quickly."
"...Thank you. Truly. Korea's emergency service really is the best."
"You must be overwhelmed. Thank you for the compliment."
I nearly fell for the woman as she disappeared with a gentle smile. Once she was gone I dropped into a chair in the emergency room as if I were throwing my weight away. My throat closed up. I undid a button of my shirt and sighed, and there was Hyesun, sinking weakly into the seat beside me.