Episode 7. The Corpse That Runs (3)
Ha Yu-ju.
Screaming, thrashing, pain, bleeding, tears, fingernails.
Gwak Jae-gyeom.
Agitation, first aid, frenzy, irritation, desperation, bulging veins.
Cha Si-eon.
Radio, voice, composure, pressure, command, situation resolved.
Seo Do-un.
An editor in service to a gravedigger who had once again encountered death.
* * *
Ha Yu-ju’s sobbing subsided.
The medicine finally seemed to be taking effect.
I considered wiping the dried blood from Ha Yu-ju’s face, then thought better of it.
For now, it was wiser to conserve water.
The backs of my hands stung.
When I looked, they were covered in crescent-shaped wounds.
They were the marks left by Ha Yu-ju’s nails as she writhed in pain and dug them into me.
Unable to show that it hurt, I covered the backs of my hands with my sleeves.
Gwak Jae-gyeom, who had suffered more than I had, sat a short distance away.
Perhaps exhausted, he leaned against the wall with his head lowered.
It was not particularly bright, yet the blood caked through Gwak Jae-gyeom’s hair was all too visible.
It was fortunate, at least, that our clothes were black.
“Are you all right?”
“Yes, well…….”
When I approached and asked, Gwak Jae-gyeom lifted his head.
Then he smiled as though my concern itself made him uncomfortable.
“Of course I’m fine. I…