“Seo Tae-joon,” she breathed, the name a fragile wisp of sound. Each word sapped what little strength she had left. It was unreal, watching the world come apart before her very eyes.
The forest was screaming. Trees splintered with cannon-shot cracks, their familiar shapes dissolving into the churning chaos. A low stone wall, meant to hold back the earth, was a pathetic dam against the deluge of mud and rock thundering down the mountainside.
“Ji-woo,” Seo Tae-joon gasped, stumbling to a halt. The effort of carrying her and their supplies had carved deep lines of exhaustion into his face. He fought for breath, his chest heaving. “Listen. Carefully.”
Ji-woo watched him with wide, panicked eyes, clinging to his every word.
“If you go left from here,” he said, the words punctuated by ragged breaths, “there’s a small cave. For cover.” His mind raced, clawing at the details of the map he’d forced himself to memorize.
Cheongdo was an old military base, he remembered. Riddled with man-made shelters. There had to be one nearby.
Lost in thought, his boot caught on an exposed root and he staggered, nearly dropping her. With a grunt, he found his footing again, shifting his grip to hook an arm securely under her knees.
“The cave,” he repeated, his voice a raw whisper against the roar of the landslide. “It’s narrow. You’ll fit. Get inside… block the entrance with a bag… and wait.”
Ji-woo blinked, the words taking a moment to piece themselves together in her mind. You’ll fit. The implication settled in her stomach like a cold stone. Her mouth went dry. Her fingers, which had been clinging to his shirt, tightened into fists, twisting the fabric as the trees around them continued to shatter.
“What about you, Seo Tae-joon?” she demanded.
The man only panted, his breaths shallow and fast.
The silent answer struck her, and Ji-woo’s eyes widened in horror. She stared at him, pleading, but he wouldn’t meet her gaze. She shook her head, a violent, sharp motion.
“I’m not going alone!” she cried.
Seo Tae-joon’s gaze finally snapped to hers before flicking away. “Please,” he rasped. “Just do as I say.”
Ji-woo’s expression hardened. She began to struggle, pushing against his chest. “No!”
“Ji-woo!” His voice was a sharp crack, the harshness of it stunning her into silence. “Get a hold of yourself. Do you want us both to die here?”
His words were stripped of all warmth, leaving only the brutal reality of their situation.
Ji-woo froze. She understood the cold logic of his plan, a brutal truth her mind accepted even as her heart raged against it. She shook her head again, more slowly this time. “No,” she whispered. “But I still… I can’t go alone.”
Her grip on him was a vise, tight enough to leave bruises. Her defiant glare never left his face.
A violent tremor shook the ground, and the roar of the approaching earth grew louder. Seo Tae-joon tried to set her down, to push her toward safety, but she fought him, thrashing in his arms with a raw scream.
“You can’t make me!” she shrieked, her voice thin against the cacophony. “I can’t do this alone!”
“Don’t be a fool!” Seo Tae-joon shouted back, desperation fraying his voice as another line of trees was swallowed by the earth. “Who do you think you are, trying to stop me from saving my own wife?” His will was iron. He would see her safe, even if he had to force her.
Despair clawed at her throat. He was being selfish. Unfair. More cruel than the indifferent avalanche that was tearing their world apart. Sobs wracked her body, her heart hammering against her ribs.
“Please, don’t do this, Seo Tae-joon. Please,” she begged, her voice breaking. “You promised you would listen to me! You promised you would do whatever I said! So why are you doing this? Why are you always like this?”
Why is it so easy for you? she thought, a fresh wave of grief washing over her. So easy to risk yourself for me, when it took me so long to even let you in?
The earth surged upward. A thick, hungry tide of mud swelled around Seo Tae-joon’s ankles, then his calves. Its pull was immense, sucking him down, tearing her from his grasp.
“Don’t let go!” she screamed.
As Ji-woo’s cries grew more desperate, a strange clarity cut through Seo Tae-joon's exhaustion. The fatigue vanished, replaced by a raw, unyielding resolve. Even now, with the world ending around them, she refused to let him go.