𝐆𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 | 𝐀𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐔𝐬 𝐀𝐫𝐞 𝐃𝐞𝐚𝐝

𝟏𝟒 | 𝐏𝐨𝐫𝐩𝐡𝐲𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐬

Rotating your head over your shoulder, you assess the injury before digging around for any extra fabric on hand. Taking notice of your predicament, Nam-Ra reaches behind her head and unties the cloth serving as her eye covering. She holds it out in front of you. "Here."

"What about you, then?"

Nam-Ra supinates your hand gently, placing the fabric into your palm and closing your fingers around it. "Dae-Su needs it more."

Sensing your indecision, she nods with certainity and pushes you to the back of the group.

The trio of boys look up as you approach, presenting the white strip. "Dae-Su, I'm going to need to tie this around your thigh to stop the bleeding."

"Go ahead, I trust you."

Without reluctance, you make to kneel in the dirt, knowing Dae-Su would definitely struggle to sit, but Wu-Jin stops you by grabbing hold of your forearm, making you turn to him. "I don't want you to have to get on the ground."

"I don't mind, and I'm the only one who can. We need to hurry because if I don't apply this makeshift tourniquet, Dae-Su's going to lose blood severely; severe enough to be fatal."

"Then, show me how, and I'll do it," Wu-Jin insists.

Dae-Su suddenly contemplates you for a long while.

"Is something wrong?" you question, confused.

He casts a sidelong look over to Wu-Jin, eyes widening slightly before he answers you, countenance quickly returning to normal. "No, it's nothing," Dae-Su replies, sounding unsure even to his own ears, but he brushes it off easily. "The only 'quet' word I know and prefer is 'banquet,' so can we maybe not let me die?"

"Right, sorry!" Wu-Jin hurries and drops to one knee before you can, looking up at you and extending his hand toward the fabric.

Conceding, you reluctantly pass it over, and he withdraws his hand when your fingers brush, moving away and clearing his throat. "So...what do I do?"

"First, you have to locate the site of injury, but since Dae-Su has long pants on, we're going to need to estimate from the tear instead or—"

"I can take them off," Dae-Su interjects nonchalantly.

"We don't need to see all of that," Joon-Yeong quips from where he's waiting to the side, now on the receiving end of his friend's death glare.

"Anyway," you emphasize, refocusing. "Wrap it mid-thigh starting from the back so that you can tie it to the front, right over the wound."

"Does this look passable?"

"A little lower," you direct, guiding his hand down.

"Yah," Dae-Su chides. "I'm the one losing blood so why are your hands quivering like that?"

"He's probably queasy," Su-Hyeok supplies, oblivious.

Without warning, Wu-Jin pulls on both ends so tightly to cross one another, Dae-Su screeches.

"What the fuck is going on over there?" Mi-Jin hollers from the front. "What animal did you slaughter?" She rolls her eyes at the sight, turning back around once more to lead the way.

"Not that tightly!" Wu-Jin immediately relaxes his grip, but the guy is smiling, proud at the reaction he drew out from Dae-Su as payback. "Compress the area tight enough to limit blood flow but don't entirely cut off his circulation," you warn.

The second time around, thankfully, Wu-Jin does it properly and without any more problems to Dae-Su's wellbeing. After you deem it satisfactory, you leave the two to resume their bickering and catch up to walk side by side with Nam-Ra.