An Unplanned Rescue
I rose quietly from where I'd been sitting.
Whatever that thing is, it's dangerous.
Beast or human, it made no difference. But that was fine. The hiking trail was right beside me, after all. All I had to do was walk down calmly, the way I came.
Rustle—
The grass kept shifting with a steady crackling. I was just lifting my foot slowly, careful not to make a sound, when a faint noise drifted out of the darkness.
...A groan?
The urge to move faster surged up. A pervert was worse than a wild dog, any day of the week.
I was moving under a sky that had gone completely black when I suddenly froze.
...What if someone's hurt?
It could just as easily be the sounds of an accident victim. And above all, one thing was certain: no misfortune could strike me today. I'd practiced more than enough. Of course, misfortune could appear out of nowhere, the way it had when Oh Seunghyun shoved me into the road—but...
They did say nothing like that would happen for a while.
It had been the words of some unknown presence, yet something about the strange atmosphere of that moment made me unable to believe it was a lie.
After weighing the situation carefully, I made my decision.
"Is someone there?"
I would check what the sound was, and then head down. Switching on my phone's flashlight, I swept the beam toward where the noise had come from.
"...Ugh."
There it was again. The faint groaning was unmistakably human—and along with it, the grass swayed pleadingly.
Taking a few careful steps inward, I caught the dim outline of someone lying on the ground.
They just made a sound, so it can't be a corpse.
Surely this wasn't a murder scene. If it were, preserving the scene would matter. Should I really be walking in here?—absurd thoughts crowded in as I slowly raised the light. Then I checked the ankle, and hurried straight over.
"Are you all right? Can you hear me?"
"...Ugh."
Conscious, at least. First things first—I called it in immediately.
"Hello. I'm on the hiking trail on Mount Gwanak. I've found an injured person. Could you send someone this way?"
I answered the voice on the phone calmly.
—We've just sent an emergency call to the nearest station. What's the injured person's condition?
"They're conscious, but can't speak properly. Their body is cold, and I think their ankle is broken."
—A broken ankle, you said?
Asked to describe the condition precisely, I glanced down at the injured man.
"...The bone is sticking out through the skin. I can't administer proper first aid from here."
I whispered as quietly as I could, keeping my voice away from the man lying on the ground. The operator told me they'd come as fast as possible and asked me to keep talking to him so he wouldn't lose consciousness.
"Excuse me. The paramedics will be here soon. You need to stay with me."
"C-cold."
"You're cold? Just a moment."
Pulling the blanket I'd packed in my backpack, I carefully draped it over his upper body. I didn't dare touch him freely, in case there was internal bleeding. All I could do was hold his icy hands and keep talking without pause.
"I know it's hard, but please try to answer me. You can't pass out."
"Wa... water."
"Water?"
He looked like he needed surgery right away—surely he shouldn't drink anything. Or no, was the thirst the more urgent problem? Information gleaned from books tangled up chaotically in my head. I was getting flustered.
"I'll just wet your lips for now. Help will be here any minute. You only have to hold out a little longer."
I poured water onto my sleeve and pressed it gently to the man's lips. The middle-aged man panted with every breath, and my own heart grew anxious in step with his. Taking a deep breath, I focused on what I could actually do.
"I know it hurts a lot. But once they treat you, you'll be all right. Don't worry about anything."
When I soothed him as gently as I could, the man's eyelids trembled faintly. Every time his lips parted in sorrow, a pained sound escaped them, and my chest grew heavy.
Because I knew exactly how much pain that was.
"I got hurt here once too, you know."
I must have been nine. It was during the one and only group outing I'd ever joined from the orphanage. The teachers had warned us children to stay away from the hiking trails—so I hadn't gone anywhere near them. And yet, on the mere walking path, I'd managed to get lost and break my arm anyway.
"It hurt, but there was no one around, and that scared me so much I couldn't even cry."
It had felt so unfair. I hadn't done anything wrong. All I'd done was walk down a perfectly ordinary, empty path—and somehow I'd ended up injured. Back then, before I'd learned to simply accept things, the injustice had cut deeper still.
"I couldn't do anything. I just sat there, still as a stone, until the teachers found me. But you—you've been calling out, moving your hands as hard as you could."
Grass lay flattened all around the hand that had waved so desperately, trying somehow to summon someone. In that tangled trail of broken stalks, I could see the traces of a will to live.
"You're the reason I found you. So just hold on a little longer. They'll be here any second."
"Hnngh..."
Mumbling through the pain, the man did his best to oblige my request for an answer. After that, I kept talking about myself for a long while. It was hard to ask a stranger about family, or bring up anything that might be sensitive—and besides, humans are fragile creatures who find comfort simply in sharing the same pain.
So I dredged up hazy memories, rambling about the time I'd broken my arm here, coaxing a response from him now and then. Just as my throat was starting to go dry, the paramedics spotted us at a single glance, thanks to the flashlight I'd left blazing.
"Actor-nim!"
Manager Ahn Jinbae had hurried up alongside them.
"Are you okay?! Are you hurt anywhere?"
"I'm fine. Let's get that man to the hospital first—we can talk after. Hyung."
In the span of a few hours, his face had gone pale as ash. He must have been worried sick.
Manager Ahn Jinbae handled the paperwork in my place, and the man was rushed into the emergency room. Only after contacting his family using the man's own phone did the tension finally drain out of my body.
"Actor-nim, have some water."
"Thank you."
I couldn't even manage the cap on the bottle he handed me, so he opened it for me instead.
"You must have been terrified. Still, they say your calm handling of it helped enormously."
"All I did was make a phone call."
When I casually asked whether he'd finished whatever errand had kept him busy, a flush crept up over his chalk-white face. Quietly, I smiled at the sight of him grumbling—even now, you're going to tease me?
"The family said they'd be here soon. Should we head out? You must be exhausted."
"A little. Let's go, quickly."
I'd put on a mask before entering the hospital, but one of the paramedics had recognized my face, and it was nagging at me. The last thing anyone needed was a commotion, so I intended to leave promptly. As I gathered my things, my hand stopped at a belated realization.
"Ah..."
"What is it?"
"Um... I think I left my camera back there."
I scratched my head. I had no idea exactly where I'd tossed it. From the moment I'd found the man, the camera had ceased to exist in my mind.
Well. A human life takes priority.
Still, thinking about having to reshoot made me vaguely weary. Should I just go film the ocean, whether or not it overlapped with singer Kang Sehyun's material? I considered it for a moment, then abandoned the idea—what if I found a body that had drifted ashore, or someone drowning?
I'll just film acting practice at home...
I wasn't a comedian. So what if it was boring? I should have thought this way from the start.
Fortunately, no reshoot was necessary. A paramedic had picked up my camcorder, mistaking it for the injured man's belongings. When I bowed deeply in thanks, the paramedic flailed his hands, insisting it was nothing.
Manager Ahn Jinbae's car was still parked at the Mount Gwanak lot, so we'd been about to take a taxi back when—
"You're Lee Yeonjae, the actor, aren't you?"
"They say you saved a missing person—is it true?"
"Just one word, please!"
People came swarming up to the hospital entrance, and for a moment my mind reeled. Manager Ahn Jinbae wrapped himself around my frozen form and carved a path through the crowd. Only once we were inside the car did I realize the people pounding on the window were reporters.
"Yeonjae. You okay?"
"...Hyung?"
I was staring blankly out the window when a familiar voice came from the front seat. It was Junghyun hyung.
"What are you doing here?"
"Came to pick you two up. Jinbae contacted me."
Junghyun hyung's manager was behind the wheel. I greeted him first, out of courtesy.
"Good thing your schedules happened to line up. I only heard the rough story—are you hurt? Must have been quite a shock."
I didn't actually do anything, though.
I was the one who wasn't hurt, yet I'd been drowning in excessive concern ever since, and it left me sour.
"The one who got hurt is that man. I'm perfectly fine. How did the reporters get here so fast?"
"Someone on the rescue team must have let it slip. The company just heard too—reporters are fast, as always."
Tell me about it. It was the first time so many people had descended on me in an instant. The flash from outside still seemed to burst behind my eyes, and my heart pounded for no good reason.
"Actor-nim, are you all right?"
I patted on the back by Manager Ahn Jinbae—I thanked him for looking after me earlier, too. It had truly been a chaotic day. Whether out of consideration for me or not, he said nothing more the whole ride home.
Which is how I learned I'd been on the terrestrial evening news only the next day—through the pile of missed calls from Noh Bihyeok.
—You, seriously... how does someone just rescue a person on a hiking trip?
"Rescue, nothing. Like I said, all I did was make a call."
—You're weird about the strangest things, you know that? Getting all modest.
His voice, brimming with mischief through the phone, made my chest tighten for no reason.
"I'm not being modest. I'm stating facts."
—Fine, fine. Then maybe don't watch the news. You're being broadcast right now as the hero who saved a man's life.
Not remotely curious. I shouldn't have called.
"Bihyeok, I've got things to do. I'll call you later."
—What things? Name one thing you do besides practice.
"Hanging up. Good luck with practice."
I cut the call without waiting for an answer. Exhausting.
Determined not to take a single step outside today, I sat down at my desk. I was unfolding the script I'd left half-read last time when Manager Ahn Jinbae came into my room.
"Actor-nim, do you have a moment?"
When I asked why, he said the family of the man I'd rescued yesterday had gotten in touch. They wanted to thank me in person. I shook my head, unimpressed.
"I didn't even perform CPR. Is the man all right?"
"Yes. The surgery went well, and they say he's in recovery now."
That was a relief. That was enough for me, so I declined the visit. The company agreed too, when I said I wanted to let this whole affair pass quietly, without inflating it any further.
But on the call with the production team of Hello, My Summer, I lost my composure despite myself.
"What kind of nonsense is that supposed to be?"
—...I'm sorry?
I clenched my teeth at the voice that had gone rigid with surprise.
"A person nearly died, and you're talking to me about buzz?"
—Ah... I apologize. It's just, the higher-ups told me to ca-call you, so...
I took a deep breath, listening to the staff member stammer in panic. Manager Ahn Jinbae made a move to take the call himself, but I shook my head.
"Then pass this along to your superiors. If they need buzz that badly, they can go film it themselves. As far as I'm concerned, my vlog never existed. I'll return the camcorder tomorrow. Goodbye."
Even after hanging up, I had to work to contain my anger. What kind of utter nonsense had they been spouting?
Since we're editing and uploading it today anyway, could you hand over the footage before the buzz dies down?
At that, my reason had left my body entirely. Only after a long stretch of deep breathing did a flicker of regret surface—had I been too emotional?
Until these bastards crossed the line, that is.
[Private Video! Lee Yeonjae — Recording of Finding a Missing Person & Conversation]
The next day, I clenched my fist as I stared at the title of the video sitting at #1 on Yu✕Tube's trending feed.