Take Them Off
Ssshhhhhh.
Rain hammered against her ears. Endless sheets of water pounded the mouth of the cave.
"..."
Choi Yuri slowly opened her eyes. Everything was blurry, and her head throbbed with a dull, heavy ache.
"Where...?"
A damp, cold sensation pressed against her palms. She had been lying on the dirt-covered floor this whole time.
"Ugh..."
She let out a small groan and tried to sit up, but her body refused to obey.
"This place..."
She carefully pieced her memories back together. The hike. The sudden downpour. The panicked voices of the others.
"Ah..."
The final moment came flooding back. The ground beneath her feet had given way, and her body had lifted into empty air. In that instant, someone had pulled her into their arms. Enormous arms. A low voice that had rumbled as if to reassure her.
It's all right.
The president... had shielded her with his own body.
Only then did Choi Yuri notice something strange. Something was draped over her. A brown hiking jacket—far too large for her frame.
"...This."
Her fingertips brushed the fabric, and her eyes went wide.
"The president's hiking jacket?"
It was the one Kang Taeseong had been wearing. Why was it on her?
Her eyes flew open wider.
"Where's the president?"
She frantically scanned her surroundings. Inside the cave, there was no one but her.
"President!"
Her urgent voice echoed deeper into the cave.
"President Kang Taeseong!"
No answer came. Just as she tried to push herself up in rising panic—
"You're awake?"
A deep voice reached her. Choi Yuri whipped her head around with a start. Beyond the driving rain at the cave entrance, someone was walking in.
"..."
That familiar massive build. It was Kang Taeseong. But something about him was different from usual.
"Kyaaah!"
Choi Yuri screamed on pure reflex. Both hands flew up to cover her face.
"P-President?!"
"What's wrong?"
Kang Taeseong was bare from the waist up. His copper-toned, muscular body was fully exposed, glistening with rainwater.
"I-I mean...!"
Choi Yuri's face flushed crimson in an instant. She covered her eyes with her hands, yet somehow her gaze kept slipping through the gaps between her fingers.
"..."
She hastily turned her head away.
No, this isn't what matters right now!
Her mind knew that perfectly well, but the fluster refused to settle. Still facing away, she asked him,
"P-President... why are you... without your clothes...?"
Kang Taeseong answered evenly.
"I covered you with it to keep your body temperature up."
"What?"
"You got soaked through. Leaving wet clothes on can drop your core temperature—it's dangerous."
Choi Yuri looked down at the hiking jacket draped over her.
"...Ah."
The situation clicked into place at once. He had taken it off for her sake. There had been no other intention. Even though he himself must have been freezing from the rain, he had purely shared his own warmth with her.
"I-I'm sorry. I misunderstood..."
"It's fine."
Kang Taeseong spoke as if it were nothing. Then he set down what he had been carrying in one hand—an armful of branches.
"There's something more important right now."
"Something important...?"
"We need to start a fire."
Choi Yuri's eyes went round.
"The rain isn't letting up. We have to dry our clothes and warm ourselves."
Outside the cave, the torrential rain continued to pour. For a moment she stared blankly at him—then something seemed to dawn on her, and her voice rose sharply.
"A rescue call! We have to call for rescue first!"
With trembling hands she pulled out her phone. The moment the screen lit up, the first thing that met her eyes was a tiny indicator.
No signal.
The mark that meant no reception at all.
"..."
The worst-case scenario she had been dreading settled firmly into place in her mind. She checked the phone over and over on the slim chance it might change, but nothing did.
"President."
She looked up at Kang Taeseong in desperation.
"The call... won't go through."
Kang Taeseong quietly nodded.
"I checked a little while ago myself."
He held up his own phone. The same indicator.
"We're deep in the mountains. Looks like the signal simply doesn't reach here."
Choi Yuri's expression hardened. Kang Taeseong explained their situation as calmly as he could.
"With this much rain, pinpointing our location won't be easy either."
"That can't be..."
She murmured under her breath. The world in front of her swam for a moment. Until just now she had believed that if they simply waited a little, the others would come looking. If they could just report their position, the company people or the safety staff would surely find them. But they couldn't even make contact.
The roar of the rain seemed to grow louder. Choi Yuri quietly clenched her phone.
"Then... right now we're..."
Her voice shook. The words wouldn't come easily.
"...stranded?"
Panic was written all over her face. Kang Taeseong answered in the steadiest tone he could manage.
"There's a high chance of that."
The color drained from Choi Yuri's face.
"But don't worry too much," he added at once. "The people who were there at the scene almost certainly reported it right away."
"Then... the rescue team is coming?"
"Yes."
Kang Taeseong nodded.
"The problem is time."
At that, tension seized her again.
"In weather like this, moving around blindly is more dangerous."
He looked toward the cave mouth—the sheets of rain, the sun long gone, any path back to the resort impossibly distant.
"We have to hold out here as long as we can. And for that, the first thing we need is a fire."
Only then did Choi Yuri understand. While she had been unconscious, Kang Taeseong had already surveyed the area and begun preparing what they needed to survive.
"Ah..."
A small sigh escaped her. And in that moment she felt a strange change in her body.
"...Hic."
She was cold. Just a little while ago she had thought she was fine. Had she simply been too distracted to notice? Or had the tension finally drained away? Her whole body was beginning to tremble. A creeping chill climbed her skin. Unconsciously she wrapped her arms around herself.
"Are you cold?"
"A little..."
She tried to sound all right, but her voice quivered faintly. Kang Taeseong moved at once.
"Just wait a moment. I'll get a fire going."
He began arranging the branches he had brought.
"A drop in body temperature is the most dangerous thing."
Crack. Pop.
A small flame flickered deeper inside the cave. In contrast to the fierce rain outside, the campfire cast a warm glow even in the dark. Choi Yuri sat before it and held out both hands.
"...It's warm."
The cold that had made her shiver only moments earlier was fading as if it had never been real. They had been lucky. Kang Taeseong had been carrying a lighter, and that was what had made the fire possible. The wet branches had refused to catch, and he had failed several times, but he never gave up. He found the drier sections, nursed the embers, and through sheer persistence finally coaxed the campfire into life.
Staring into the dancing flames, Choi Yuri thought blankly,
Even in a situation like this... the president really...
Even after lighting the fire, Kang Taeseong had not rested.
Just wait a little longer.
He had said he would look around and gather more branches for fuel, then gone back outside. Watching the fire, she naturally found herself replaying what had happened earlier.
Choi Yuri!
The urgent shouts of her colleagues calling her name. Her slipping feet. The earth and stones collapsing in an instant. The hand that had seized her at the last second.
If it hadn't been for the president...
Choi Yuri quietly closed her eyes. If Kang Taeseong had not caught her then, she would have fallen just like that—alone in this freezing place. And if she had fallen here by herself?
What would I have done?
She probably would have done nothing at all. Too panicked and too frightened. She might have simply sat there trembling, not knowing where to begin. Would she even have found this cave? Would she have thought to start a fire? Would she have been able to decide that waiting for rescue was the right call?
"..."
She slowly lowered her gaze. The hiking jacket covering her body. The campfire burning right in front of her. All of it was something Kang Taeseong had made possible.
If it hadn't been for the president, I might have died.
The thought that she owed him her life settled heavily in her chest.
"The president is... truly amazing."
The soft murmur was swallowed by the rain. And then—
"What's so amazing?"
"...!"
The voice from behind made Choi Yuri jump and spin around. At the cave entrance stood that massive man once more, a fresh armful of branches in one hand.
"Ah, no...!"
Her face flushed scarlet in a heartbeat. Only now did she realize she had been talking to herself without meaning to. Kang Taeseong approached with a puzzled look, tilting his head.
"Did something happen?"
"Th-that's..."
She hurriedly averted her eyes.
"It's nothing."
Even so, for some reason Kang Taeseong did not step back right away.
"...?"
She carefully lifted her head. He was looking at her. Something was different from usual. The already intimidating face was drawn into a deep frown between the brows—the expression of a man who had just discovered a serious problem.
"P-President?"
When she called him cautiously, Kang Taeseong slowly closed the distance. One step. Another step. Choi Yuri tensed without meaning to.
Why...?
Her heart began to race for no good reason. Then his enormous shadow fell over her.
"...!"
She went rigid. But Kang Taeseong did not place a hand on her body, nor did he do anything else. He simply looked at her as if confirming something. How long did he study her like that? At last he spoke, his face utterly serious.
"Take them off."
"...What?"
Choi Yuri's mind went blank. She only blinked, as if she had not understood the words she had just heard.
"P-President?"
But Kang Taeseong, without the faintest hint of a smile, simply repeated himself.
"Take your clothes off. Right now."