Bring It On! - Chapter 50

Chapter 50.

The handoff of the wooden board was successful, but without lightning, it was nearly impossible to make out the contents. Jay snatched our bag out of the air with one hand before it blew away, then began stuffing whatever he could grab into it.

“Jay!”

Thwack. He blocked a flying piece of clothing with his arm and turned back to me.

“Keep Suho with you!”

“Where are you going?!”

“My hand—ugh…”

A sudden blast of wind slammed into my face, knocking the breath from my lungs. I couldn’t even open my eyes. While I struggled to block the gale with one arm, a house-sized wave rose like it would swallow the world whole, then crashed against the rocks. 

Uprooted trees toppled, and heavy thunderclouds swirled into a violent storm. Overwhelmed by the sheer scale of nature’s wrath, I completely forgot what I had been about to say. Then, a large hand urgently cupped my face.

“Sun Woori, what’s wrong? What happened?”

Only when I heard his frantic voice did my scattered mind finally snap back into place.

“…We need to find the flashlight.”

“Got it.”

Jay gave a curt reply, wiped the rain from my face, and charged back into the chaos of flying debris without hesitation. I wanted to chase after him, but I couldn’t leave Suho, who clung tightly to my hand.

Since waking from his sleep, Suho had been silent, clearly shaken. Anxiety gnawed at me. I desperately wanted to check his condition. 

Finally, I bent down and scooped him up. His icy body wrapped around my neck, clinging to me, when suddenly—click!—a beam of light shot upward in front of us. Jay had found the flashlight.

The beam quickly turned toward us, and Jay hurried over. I accepted the flashlight he thrust out, but my eyes immediately scanned him first.

“You’re not hurt?”

“Do I look like the kind of man who’d get hurt from this?”

“…Yeah.”

“You’re right. It’s just a scrape, I’m fine. Give me Suho.”

Jay slung the bag across his front and Suho across his back. Meanwhile, I lit the way with the flashlight, shining it on both the board and the ground ahead. Once we entered the forest, the winds battering us from all directions eased slightly, but that didn’t mean they were any less brutal.

The uneven ground made me stumble over and over. Sometimes I barely regained balance thanks to Jay’s grip, but most of the time I fell flat with a splat. Each time, Jay, more alarmed than me, rushed to haul me back up.

I was sure neither I, nor Jay, nor Suho were in good shape. But there was no time to stop and check our injuries. After forcing our way through the ferocious storm for what felt like forever, we finally found the cave I had discovered by chance before.

The narrow, treacherous path winding up to the entrance was its own danger. One wrong step and we could tumble into the pit I had once fallen into, or the gorge beside it. Jay tied the lifeline rope he’d brought around me, Suho, and his own waist, binding us together. 

He led from the front, blocking the rain and wind, while I followed cautiously behind.

Thunk.

“Ah!”

The ground crumbled beneath the step I’d just taken, and my right foot slipped straight down over the cliff’s edge. My upper body pitched forward until Jay yanked the rope at his waist upward. 

Thankfully, my left knee hit the ground. On all fours, I clung to the earth, feeling my right leg dangling over the void. My throat went dry.

“You okay?!”

“Y-yeah.”

But the truth was, I wasn’t. It had been only a split second, but I had felt my heart plummet to the bottom. My toes curled so tightly in fear they still wouldn’t straighten. Legs trembling, I collapsed where I knelt until Jay extended his hand. Only after gripping it did I manage to rise and walk again.

Step by step, we pushed on, never giving up, until at last, we made it inside the cave.

“Haaah… haaah…”

Maybe it was the strain of walking with every muscle clenched, but the instant I realized we were safe, I crumpled to the ground, knees striking the uneven floor. I didn’t even notice the pain. Heavy drops of water streamed from my chin and hair, raining down around me.

“Lee Suho.”

Before I even caught my breath, I reached for him. Jay was already checking on him.

“Let me see. Any injuries?”

Suho, pale-faced, gave a faint nod. His hands and feet were ice-cold, his lips tinged bluish-purple. His body temperature was dropping dangerously fast. I stripped off his wet clothes at once, cupped his bare skin with my hands, and blew warm breath onto him, rubbing my palms along his body over and over.

Meanwhile, Jay wrung every drop of water he could from the soaked blanket he had carried. Veins bulged along his bare arms as he twisted it mercilessly, streams of water splattering to the ground. 

Only after repeating this several times did he finally shake the blanket out and spread it on the ground.

“Lay him here.”

I set Suho down on the blanket, continuing to rub his arms and legs, creating friction with my palms to raise his temperature. While I worked, Jay swept the area with the flashlight, then strode deeper into the cave without hesitation. 

My eyes stayed fixed on Suho, but my ears strained toward the echoing footsteps receding into the cavern. After a long search, Jay returned, running back toward us.

“Is there anything inside?”

“There are some dry leaves. It’s warmer back there. Let’s move to the rear.”

Jay picked up Suho, and I gathered the blanket and the bag to follow behind him. It was still chilly inside, but compared to the cave entrance where the gale roared, the temperature was at least more stable. 

Jay laid Suho down and gathered the dry grass that had been blown inside. Then he pulled something out of the bag.

“Did you grab the glasses?”

“I just shoved in whatever I could get my hands on.”

“Think you can make a fire?”

“Only one way to find out.”

Jay snapped the glasses in half. He placed the lenses over the dry leaves and shone the flashlight through them. We had only ever used sunlight to start a fire… 

It had never occurred to me to try using a flashlight in its place. But right now, fire was absolutely vital. While massaging Soo-ho’s arms, I prayed desperately with all my being. In that moment, I fully understood why ancient people clung so fiercely to shamanistic faiths.

“It caught.”

Had my prayers reached the heavens? A thin ribbon of smoke curled up from the leaves. Jay quickly blew on it to nurture the ember, and I added in more dried grass I had separated out from the pile. After several minutes of effort, a proper flame burst forth. The instant warmth reached us, the tension that had been knotted in my shoulders melted away, and I closed my eyes in relief.

“Ha… thank goodness.”

Click. Jay switched off the flashlight and fanned the flame with his hand to keep it alive.

“How long do you think this will last?”

“With what we’ve got, an hour at most.”

“Then we need to keep finding fuel. I’ll go. You stay here with Suho and tend the fire.”

I took the flashlight and walked deeper into the cave. Drip, drip. Water pooled on the ceiling was falling to the floor, but not every patch of ground was wet. 

I figured I might be able to find more dry grass. I picked up everything I could see. Even so, it wasn’t nearly enough to be reassuring, so I kept walking deeper, and deeper.

And then—

“…Huh?”

Something came into view that should not have been there. The remnants of a campfire. Chopped wood stacked together, with grass underneath. And then….

“Cup noodles…”

Several unopened cup noodles were lying scattered on the ground.

“What… is this?”

Even seeing it with my own eyes, I could hardly believe it. These were unmistakable traces of someone’s stay. Could it be that we weren’t the only people on this deserted island? Since when? How many of them? 

The wood from the campfire was all worm-eaten, suggesting it had been some time, but not so long ago that the wood had fully rotted. What’s more, the expiration date on the cup noodles hadn’t even passed.

Who were the ones who built this fire and where had they gone? Unanswered questions filled my head. I needed to tell Jay right away. Maybe if we discussed it together, we’d find some kind of lead. 

I bundled the wood, the grass, and the four cup noodles into my arms and hurried back.