Bring It On! - Chapter 49

Chapter 49.

Because the work had to be kept secret, they couldn’t even mobilize many people. The reason was simple. Because of Jo Min-ah’s request. 

She had pleaded that until the phone was found, absolutely no one outside could know about its existence, apparently out of fear of Cha Seong-hwan. As a result, only six people, including main PD Kim Cha-young, had been hanging off the mountain for an entire week. 

With no time left even for editing, this was the most absurd kind of drudgery. Kim Woo-joong couldn’t help but feel a deep disillusionment with life. Was this what he had gone through a slipped disc and college for?

“Whoa!”

When they’d been reduced to just picking up coins and gaining nothing, a loud cry cut through the sound of the rain. Kim Cha-young dropped his shovel and ran toward the noise.

“Why? Did you find something?!”

The youngest member of the camera crew, the team’s fresh blood, turned around holding up a dirt-caked root.

“Isn’t this wild ginseng?!”

“You little brat, are you kidding me right now?!”

Deflated, Kim Cha-young shouted in utter exasperation. As if to punctuate his roar, thunder crashed so violently it shook the earth. He snatched the root, whether ginseng or balloon flower, from the intern’s hand and chewed it down in a single bite.

“Let him at least enjoy thinking he found something. We’re doing work that shouldn’t even be done.”

Seo Na-rae scolded as she covered the dug-up ground with dirt again. Someone had to dig, and someone had to restore it.

“But are we even sure it’s really buried in this mountain? We’ve searched everywhere, and there’s no phone, not even a keyring.”

At her words, Kim Woo-joong nodded vigorously.

“Honestly, I’m not even sure there really is a missing person. And Cha Seong-hwan’s supposed mistress, at that. What if this is just a prank to make fools of us?”

The crew was working solely on the word of informants. But the more they thought about it, the more far-fetched it seemed. Still, Kim Cha-young’s view was different. 

He had obtained information that a secretary from J-Group had officially resigned, and, more than that, his instincts as a PD told him Jo Mina’s story was true. 

Of course, if Seo Na-rae heard that, she’d brush it off with, “You’ve gone senile again.”

They’d started digging at dawn, but once again, it was a bust. And with the rain only getting heavier, it could truly become dangerous once night fell.

“Let’s call it a day.”

Seo Na-rae finally said the words everyone had wanted to, but hadn’t dared. Even Kim Cha-young knew they should head back now, though regret gnawed at him. Somehow, he had this vague fear that if they didn’t find the phone today, they never would.

The rest of the crew was already exhausted. Devoting so much time to just this one Cha Yoon case meant they were missing out on other good stories. It was a huge loss for the show.

Once they got back to the station, someone was bound to suggest dropping the whole thing. And if the majority agreed, not even a powerful PD could resist. In truth, dragging the Cha Yoon case this far had already been reckless.

Should he really give up?

“Ugh—aaagh!”

“Woo-joong!”

Kim Woo-joong slipped on the rain-slick slope and went sliding straight down the mountain path. He skidded like he was on a sled until he hit a thick root jutting out of the ground, which finally stopped him. 

Like a motorcar tearing through rough terrain, he had accidentally enjoyed a mud-splattered thrill ride. Dazed, too stunned to even feel the pain, his eyes caught on something glinting in the mud.

A phone.

***

Flash. Light struck his eyelids, forcing them open. White brightness seeped through the shabby curtain on the window. 

For a second, it was bright as day, followed by a terrifying thunderclap that seemed to shake the entire house.

Jay was already awake, keeping an eye on the situation outside. My drowsiness vanished in an instant. Was the typhoon already here? We’d built this shelter to withstand such storms, but I still couldn’t help worrying.

“How is it?”

I asked cautiously, moving to Jay’s side. He wrapped an arm around my shoulder and pulled the curtain back. Each time lightning struck, the surroundings lit up, letting us see outside. 

The dark blue sea churned with dangerously high waves, and the trees whipped as though they might be torn out at the roots. The temporary tarp we’d set up days ago had long since blown away, and our old shelter lay in ruins, rolling along the beach.

“We need to board up the window.”

At Jay’s words, I nodded. We fitted the square wooden planks we’d prepared into place, blocking the window. The storm winds and rain forcing their way inside were no joke. 

In conditions where it was already hard enough to keep warm, it would be disastrous if our shelter got soaked.

“I’ll keep watch. You get some more sleep.”

Jay patted the pillow.

“I’m already wide awake. The storm’s only going to get worse, not calmer.”

The force of the raging winds was no joke. If even the deeply rooted trees were shaking that precariously, then a shelter pieced together from chopped logs could be smashed to bits in no time. As I bit my lower lip in worry, Jay lightly brushed my lips with his fingertips.

“Don’t hurt yourself.”

“Haah, this is driving me crazy. What do we do?”

“I’ll put up a barrier. It’ll block the wind a little.”

Just lining up and binding a few long logs upright could help. But saying it was easy. Actually building something in the middle of a storm was impossible. Still, it had to be done. We couldn’t just sit by and wait for our home to collapse.

“I’ll hel—”

Crack! At that moment, the roof shuddered with a threatening sound. We both snapped our eyes toward it. Unfortunately, it wasn’t our imagination. 

The roof shook again, and one of the logs propped against the wall slipped loose with a heavy clatter. Rain immediately poured in through the opening.

Startled, I jumped up and wrapped Suho in my arms while Jay caught the falling log with his hands, holding it up.

“Get back!”

The commotion woke Suho. He blinked drowsily up at me, still half-asleep, but my eyes were fixed not on him. They were on Jay and the collapsing wall.

Once one piece of the carefully fitted frame slipped out of place, the rest of the logs began to wobble dangerously. Then, with a thunderclap that seemed to shake the entire sky, something heavy crashed down outside, making the ground tremble.

“Jay!”

It wasn’t the log Jay was holding, but the one next to it that twisted loose and collapsed into the shelter. Rain and wind tore inside with full force, and the logs creaked as if ready to fall in at any moment. The shelter was no longer safe.

“We have to get out!”

Jay made a split-second decision, wrapping his arm around me and Suho to shield our heads as he pushed us outside. The moment we stepped out, the gale struck like a physical blow. 

Breathing was almost impossible as the wind pummeled our faces, and the rain lashed our skin like whips. The wind was so strong it made our legs buckle just standing still. The palm tree we often picked fruit from had snapped, and the whole forest echoed with an eerie, howling cry.

No sooner had we stumbled outside than the shelter collapsed with a roar, as if it had been waiting for us to leave. There was no time to mourn the effort and hours we had spent building it.

Splintered logs whirled through the air with the storm, each one a flying hazard. Jay shielded me and Suho with his body, moving carefully forward.

Nowhere was truly safe, but deeper inside the forest, where the trees themselves could serve as windbreaks, had to be better than staying here with logs flying like missiles.

Even so, we wouldn’t escape the rain and wind. What were we supposed to do? And then, like a miracle, it came to me.

“The board! Where’s my board?!” I screamed over the wind at Jay.

“The board?!”

Jay caught my meaning after a brief pause. He led Suho and me to an ancient, towering tree, pressing us against it for cover.

“I’ll find it. Wait here!”

As Suho and I clung to the tree, bracing ourselves against the storm, Jay darted back to the ruins of the shelter. At last, he returned, clutching the board, and thrust it into my hands.