Bring It On! - Chapter 51

Chapter 51.

Whoosh. The fire caught in the darkness, revealing Jay’s face. I picked up a stone that fit in my palm and scratched a mark on the cave wall. It was the fifth day since we’d been trapped inside.

Suho still hadn’t recovered his strength, and the meager food that had kept us going finally ran out that morning. Worse, even the firewood was gone. 

Jay and I had been tearing strips from our clothes to use as kindling, but that wouldn’t last much longer.

“We have to go outside.”

It wasn’t a choice anymore. It was a necessity. I agreed with Jay’s words.

“I’ll go.”

He said it as if it were the most natural thing in the world. We both knew someone had to, but we didn’t know what dangers waited out there. The path we had taken might have collapsed, or the stream might have flooded, washing the ground away. 

If Jay misstepped and was swept into the water… I didn’t even want to imagine it. When I looked at him with worried eyes, Jay chuckled.

“Worried I might die?”

I couldn’t answer playfully. My lips were frozen, and I didn’t know what words to say. Someone had to bear this burden, and Jay was naturally stepping up. 

Was it right for me to voice my fear now? When I didn’t smile, the one on his face slowly faded.

“Sun Woo-ri.”

He cupped my cheeks with both hands and pressed his forehead to mine. His warmth spread steadily into me.

“I can’t live without you anymore, and I can’t die without you. When you die, I’ll ask to be buried with you. So don’t worry.”

“…The people who were here before us.”

I finally voiced what had been gnawing at me. Whoever made that campfire must have also fled here from rain, cold, or wild animals. 

But to leave behind food and never return meant they too had been forced to go outside, pushed to the brink. Their absence said enough about their fate.

Reading my unease, Jay answered lightly.

“Maybe they were rescued.”

“We haven’t heard of any helicopters.”

“Well, maybe a boat on the other side of the island picked them up.”

“……”

“I’ll be back before sunset.”

Smack. His warm lips brushed my cheek, then left. The heat of his hands vanished without hesitation. I looked up at Jay as he rose, my eyes trembling. Outside, the rain sounded relentless.

Was he truly fine, or just pretending for my sake? He looked casual, like someone heading out for a jog in front of his house. He waved his arms wide and stepped out into the rain.

Left behind, I tended the fire to make sure it didn’t go out. We couldn’t waste any fuel, so I had to feed the wood at just the right times.

When would this damned rain ever stop? It poured mercilessly, as if the whole island would sink under the sea. Wasn’t this Atlantis already?

“…Noona.”

A faint groan came from behind me. Snapped from my thoughts, I rushed to Suho’s side.

“Do you feel a little better? No dizziness? How’s your stomach? Do you feel like throwing up again?”

He shook his head at each question. His face had more color than before, but it was too soon to feel relieved. Blinking drowsily, Suho glanced around the cave.

“Where’s hyung?”

“We ran out of wood, so he went to get more.”

“…Won’t everything be wet out there?”

“If we find anything, we can dry it out. It’s fine.”

Suho nodded weakly. He looked so pitiful, breathing faintly with none of his usual energy. He often tried to hide his pain, so he might have been suffering more than he let on.

“But how did you know this cave was here?”

“Before, when I got hurt—”

That was when it happened. A thunderous roar came from outside, again and again. I froze mid-sentence and straightened, then ran toward the cave entrance.

“Noona, look!”

Suho, following me, pointed.

It was the only path connecting the forest where the shelter had been to the cliff with the cave. Both sides of the narrow trail were overflowing with water from the valley, and the path itself was already half-submerged. Still, it wasn’t impossible to cross if you watched the current.

But now, a massive landslide from the mountain had buried the trail completely. There was no way Jay could get back to the cave.

Damn it. Why today of all days? Five days of quiet, and the landslide happens right when Jay goes out for supplies. 

I bit my lip and searched desperately for another way. The collapsed side was hopeless. The only option left was for Jay to swim across the flooded valley.

But swimming in this weather was suicide. He wasn’t even good at swimming. Just stepping in, he’d be swept away.

What should I do? My mind raced for a solution. Then, like a miracle, I remembered the rope Jay had brought.

“Noona, what are you doing?”

As I dug through the bag and pulled out the rope, Suho asked with worried eyes.

“The gorge isn’t that wide. If I can just secure the rope properly, Jay should be able to cross.”

“You mean you’re going out now?”

I pressed the flashlight Jay had left behind into Suho’s hand.

“If you get scared, turn this on and wait. I’ll be right back, so don’t panic, okay? You can do that, right?”

Suho’s expression stiffened in a strange way. For a nine-year-old, it would’ve been natural for him to whine about being left alone, but he seemed to know this wasn’t a situation where he could afford that. 

Forcing himself to endure the fear, he nodded. I hugged him tightly before slinging the rope over my shoulder and stepping cautiously outside.

I headed in the opposite direction of the path we had first taken into the cave. Below my feet, the raging waters of the gorge churned violently. 

Hoo… I took a deep breath, then edged downward along the wall, step by step, like I was climbing down a staircase.

The downpour made it nearly impossible to see, and every rock I grabbed at was slick. For just a moment, regret flickered. 

Maybe this had been a reckless idea. Thinking about it and actually doing it were worlds apart.

What I’d imagined to be a “difficulty level 90” task suddenly felt more like “difficulty level 500 trillion.” Childish numbers, but that was honestly what it felt like.

I tied the rope on a spot slightly higher than where the water met the gorge’s edge. Looping it around a protruding rock several times, I yanked hard to test it. Then, with the rope around my waist, I stepped into the water. 

Wow. Just dipping one foot in was enough to make me stagger. The current was that strong. Keeping the rope as short as possible, I pushed forward bit by bit, forcing my way through the torrent.

“Puhh, cough, cough….”

Clinging to reeds and rocks jutting out of the water, I somehow managed to crawl forward and finally made it to the opposite bank. After catching my breath, I tied the other end of the rope to a thick tree trunk.

“Sun Woori?”

A familiar voice called from nearby. Jay, eyes wide in surprise, was staring at me. I waved at him.

“You’re here?”

He brushed his rain-soaked bangs back from his forehead, revealing his sharp, handsome features. His thick brows furrowed tightly.

“So I really did die and start hallucinating… Why are you out here?”

Instead of a long explanation, I pointed back toward the collapsed trail.

“To bring you back.”

“……”

“The water’s too deep, the current too strong. You won’t make it across on your own. I tied a rope, so if you hold onto it—”

Whish—

Just then, Jay gave the rope tethered to the tree a testing tug. The rope I had secured on the opposite bank, the one I had tied so tightly to a rock, slipped loose as if it had never been knotted at all, vanishing into the torrent below. 

It fell with such little weight that the sound of it splashing into the river was drowned entirely by the roar of the rain.