Bring It On! - Chapter 58

Chapter 58.

“……”

After the gunshot, an eerie silence settled over the entire forest. Even the hostile natives froze stiff at the sight of this foreign weapon, unable to make a single move. The first to break the icy atmosphere was Jay. He rushed straight to me and cupped my face in his hands.

“Are you okay? You’re not hurt? Don’t just answer vaguely. Think carefully.”

“Yeah. I’m fine… thanks to you.”

“Haah.”

Only after hearing the words ‘I’m fine’ did his shaky breathing, trembling with fear, finally shift into relief. Jay pulled me into a tight embrace. I felt his lips touch the top of my head.

“&%^@#$!”

The natives’ language rang out again. Unlike the earlier furious shouts of “Catch them and tear them apart!”, their voices now sounded more like casual conversation among themselves. Jay wrapped a strong arm around my shoulder, shielding me, as he kept a wary eye on them.

At that moment, one figure stepped forward from the back. He looked like their leader, carrying a spear far larger and more imposing than the others’. Jay raised his gun and aimed straight at him.

The man flinched briefly but did not stop advancing. I quickly counted with my eyes. Eighteen rounds in the magazine, three already fired and there’s fifteen left. The natives numbered over twenty, and there was no guarantee every shot would hit. Even with a gun, it would be hard to take them all down.

“%&@#$*@#&@!!!”

Suddenly, the leader spread both arms to the sky and shouted. Jay calmly adjusted his aim to the man’s head. Then it happened. 

The other natives dropped to their knees in unison and bowed their heads.

W-what’s going on?

Still staring at Jay, the leader slowly sank to his knees as well. Behind the bone mask, his eyes glimmered with fear and reverence. What on earth was this situation? Judging by appearances alone, it looked as though the natives were… worshipping Jay.

Jay, bewildered, shifted his aim from one bowed head to another, but he couldn’t bring himself to pull the trigger.

“What the hell are they doing?” 

He muttered in confusion.

“From the looks of it, Jay… they’re revering you.”

“What?”

“Look at that pious posture. Why else would they suddenly kneel?”

“…Ha, unbelievable.”

He let the gun lower as he raked a hand through his hair in frustration. Whether they thought the gun was a divine weapon or they were awed that he had slain the terrifying boar, one thing was clear. 

In an instant, they had recognized Jay’s superiority.

At least, the oppressive tension in the air had eased. Maybe this was our chance to run…

“%#$&@#&$^.”

But then, the kneeling natives suddenly stretched both arms out toward Jay, as if in some kind of ritual. They raised their hands to the sky, lowered them again, and then gestured in unison toward a single direction. It was as though they were inviting him, escorting him somewhere.

I blinked in disbelief. This, I had not seen coming.

The leader stood and began speaking to Jay in his unknown tongue, making repeated gestures that seemed to say follow me.

Our feet refused to move, as if nailed to the ground. What would happen if we didn’t comply? Cold sweat slid down my spine.

At that moment, Jay set Suho, whom he’d been carrying, down on the ground. Suho, roused half-conscious, caught sight of the natives, gasped as though about to faint. 

He buried himself into my arms. Instinctively, I wrapped him tightly.

“Go.”

Jay’s voice was shockingly calm, his face steady. Even when I recoiled in disbelief, his eyes did not waver. Without letting the natives see, he shoved the handgun into my back pocket.

“Are you insane?!”

“They could change their attitude at any moment. For now, they seem favorable toward me. If I go, nothing will happen.”

“And you expect me to just abandon you to them and run away like a coward?”

How could I possibly do such a thing? I asked with trembling eyes. Jay gave a faint smile and brushed beneath my eye.

“Call it the start of Act Three of our lives. Yours and mine.”

“Jay!”

“Looks like that’s their stronghold deeper inside. Don’t go any further. Gather as much food as you can here and head back toward the shelter.”

He wasn’t just telling me to escape this place. He was telling me to abandon him and head out to the sea. I shook my head, unable to put words together. Something surged up inside me, hot and choking, and my vision blurred as tears welled up over my eyes.

“Don’t worry. Once you find people, send a rescue team. Until then, I swear I won’t die. My dream is to be buried alongside you, so there’s no way I’d die alone.”

“No, I can’t, I won’t. I… I can’t leave you.”

“You have to.”

“…I don’t want to.”

“You have to send Suho to school.”

“……”

At that moment, I felt the trembling little body clutching me tightly. Suho’s feverish heat weighed heavily against me, as if binding me in place. I shut my eyes to the reality I didn’t want to accept. The tears that had gathered spilled down my cheeks in heavy drops.

Jay kept wiping them away, comforting me. In my head, I knew he was right. If those mad cannibals turned hostile again, the best we could hope for would be a quick death.

So it made sense. At least one of us had to get out alive. For Suho’s sake, I had to do so. But if we parted like this, Jay might end up dead in their hands, just like Kim Jae-cheol or Jaden. Something in me broke at the thought that today might be the last time I’d ever see his face.

“Don’t die, hhhk, you, if, if you die, sniff, no, you can’t!”

“You don’t need to worry about me. I’ll just be waiting quietly for you.”

Unable to hold back, I pulled at his clothes. His head tilted toward me, and our lips met. His soft lips grew damp with my tears.

“……”

I slowly let him go, keeping my eyes fixed on his. Even though he was about to walk into the cannibals’ lair alone, he looked at me with nothing but warmth, as if nothing else in the world mattered.

“I’ll definitely come back to save you.”

“Yeah.”

I kissed him once more, just a quick peck, and finally released him. Jay turned his back on me and faced them. I saw the chieftain grin, stretching his lips wide. His teeth were jagged, some missing, his blackened gums bared grotesquely.

As Jay followed them, their expressions twisted into crazed grins. Some hopped about like monkeys, others started humming some strange, tuneless song. 

Jay’s retreating figure grew faint, swallowed up by that frenzied mob. Hugging Suho tight against me, I ran in the opposite direction.

***

In the end, I returned to the shelter.

The crying was over now. My emotions had gone numb and I moved like a machine. I opened Jay’s abandoned backpack, checked the supplies, and refilled what was missing. 

Then I dragged over the logs we’d used to build the shelter and piled them up. While I was working mindlessly, Suho suddenly broke down.

“Nuna, hhhk, snff, Noona! Noona, Noona!”

His lashes were wet with tears, drops rolling down his chin. Clinging to my thigh, he looked up at me with desperate eyes.

“Hyung… you’re, you’re leaving him behind? For real?”

“……”

“If it’s because of me, it’s okay. I—I don’t hurt anymore.”

It was unconvincing. His body was still burning with fever, but he couldn’t accept leaving the island without Jay, and he kept shaking his head fiercely.

Thud.

I dropped the log I was carrying onto the sand. My body gave out. I sank to my knees, covered my face with my hands. Suho began to cry even louder, his sobs threatening to knock him over.

“Let’s go save him, please? Noona… Noona…”

It was supposed to be the adult’s job to take care of a child, to be firm, to make the hard, cold choices. But I was a weak, irresponsible adult.

In the end, I gave in to Suho’s plea and nodded.

“Alright. Let’s do it.”