Chapter 11-1

by Han Yong-un · 2026-08-25

“Ugh, I’m freezing to death.”

When she groaned and curled her powerless limbs while making such sounds,

Sun-young covered Dae-cheol with the blanket she was using and even wrapped the clothes she had taken off around him.

If that was still not enough, she would shield him from the wind with her body or press down on him.

One day, from early morning, Dae-cheol's condition suddenly worsened.

He couldn't spit out or swallow the phlegm that was bubbling up.

Occasionally, he would open his dull eyes wide, furrow his brow, and twitch his lips.

His hands and feet were so cold that it seemed like he was losing strength.

Dae-cheol sometimes forced his eyes open and looked blankly at Sun-young, shedding tears.

It was impossible to know what those tears were for.

Were they tears of sadness for dying, tears of gratitude for Sun-young,

or were they tears of regret for his past? There was no way to tell.

It was also unclear if there were other grievances that made him unable to hold back his tears.

To others, those tears might not have seemed particularly valuable.

However, facing Sun-young, he couldn't help but shed tears as well.

“Would you like to get an injection?”

Sun-young leaned closer to Dae-cheol's face and whispered softly into his ear.

“……”

“Would you like some snacks?”

“……”

“Should I go buy you some hot soup?”

Dae-cheol could barely shake his head and only waved his hand slightly to show his refusal.

“Caw, caw.”

The sound of crows was something that was always there, so it was nothing unusual to hear.

But that day, the sound was particularly unpleasant to hear.

“Shut up!”

Sun-young yelled and tried to chase the crows away, even throwing stones at them.

However, the crows only moved from this tree to that tree, and from that tree to this tree, without stopping their cawing.

Sun-young found it unbearable to hear the sudden crow as if it were foretelling Dae-cheol's death.

The sun was setting slowly, but the weather suddenly became hot, suggesting it might rain.

Sun-young's heart was also very uneasy.

At that moment, it seemed like there was a presence along the stream accompanied by groaning sounds.

Sun-young turned around absentmindedly.

A woman, her hair disheveled, was covered in dirt and debris as she lay on the ground.

It was difficult to distinguish whether it was a human head or an animal's head.

She was wearing what could be called clothes, but they were torn to shreds, exposing even the dirtied flesh beneath.

The woman was crawling towards Sun-young, making sounds as if she were about to lose her breath.

She crawled like a beast on her arms and knees, collapsing once and then crawling again, only to fall over again.

Each time, she gasped for breath and made moaning sounds.

In between, she would occasionally lift her head just enough to look at where Sun-young was and gauge how much farther she had to go.

Sun-young could not tell if the woman was coming towards her or not.

The woman's pitiful state made Sun-young want to ask what was wrong and help her in some way.

However, with Dae-cheol on the verge of death, she could not leave her spot for even a moment and had no time to attend to someone else's troubles.

Thus, while keeping an eye on Dae-cheol's condition, she could only glance at the woman from time to time.

The woman collapsed several times and rested multiple times as well.

Even so, she crawled and crawled until she finally reached Sun-young and collapsed right in front of her.

Sun-young was in a dire situation.

Not knowing what to do because of the dying Dae-cheol, a lifeless woman had come and collapsed before her.

I felt both scared and uncomfortable, thinking that she might die there rather than feeling pity for her.

However, there was no choice but to watch as it was.

“Hoo-yu!”

After a long time, the woman finally opened her eyes and looked at Sun-young.

As if she was about to say something, she opened her mouth slightly, but perhaps lacking the strength to speak, she closed her eyes again.

After struggling for a while like that, she opened her eyes again and spoke.

“Water...”

She managed to make a sound that was barely understandable and then closed her eyes again.

Sun-young had water that she had set aside to give to Dae-cheol when he came.

However, she went to get another container and brought back fresh water.

“Hello, please drink some water.”

While saying that, she gently shook the woman.

“Uh-huh.”

The woman opened her eyes with a sound and tried to rise by propping herself up on one arm while lying on her side.

However, she couldn't get up and fell back down, scrunching her nose.

Sun-young looked at her for a moment, then set down the water container and lifted the woman with both hands.

“Here, there’s water, so drink.”

As she held the water container out, the woman tried to take it with her hands, but her hands trembled and she couldn't grasp it.

Then she looked at Sun-young with powerless eyes.

“Oh dear, how pitiful. How did this happen to you?”

Sun-young brought the water container to the woman's mouth.

The woman took three or four sips of water and said.

“Oh, thank you so much.”

She tried to hold Sun-young's hand but stopped, sitting up a bit straighter and letting out a long sigh.

“Hoo!”

Sun-young could only think how horrific her face and body looked as she alternated her gaze between them.

However, unable to sit there for long, she went back to Dae-cheol's side and observed his expression.

The woman looked at Sun-young and then back at Dae-cheol, her mouth twitching as if she was making some expression.

“Hello.”

The woman lowered her energy and called for Sun-young.

“What?”

Sun-young looked at the woman again with a suspicious gaze.