Euiju, who had rushed onto the rooftop, felt momentarily dazed at the scene that had become a disaster zone. Rebar had fallen from the wall that the crane had collided with, blocking the path to the railing.
Thanks to that, no one could enter the railing side where Haeseong and the other actor were, and the few men there were busy lifting the obstacles.
Euiju pushed the men forcefully aside.
“Move!”
Stepping on places he could step on, Euiju easily jumped over the obstacle that was higher than his height and ran quickly to the railing.
There, actor Kim Woonjung, who was playing the teacher role, was holding onto Haeseong and barely holding on.
“Ungh!”
As Haeseong’s wire came loose and Kim Woonjung bore the full weight, he was holding on with veins bulging in his neck, trying not to let Haeseong fall. While Haeseong’s build wasn’t particularly large, he was wearing various equipment all over his body, so the weight must have been considerable. It seemed he lacked the strength to pull him up.
Fortunately, the wire hadn’t come completely loose, so even if he fell, he would dangle in midair. However, since there was a high possibility of hitting the building wall in the process, they needed to pull Haeseong up as quickly as possible.
Euiju ran to his side and firmly gripped the arm of the actor holding Haeseong’s hand.
“Jin Haeseong! Look at me!”
Haeseong’s head, which had been looking down in a daze, lifted. Their eyes met in midair.
Haeseong’s complexion had turned deathly pale from the suddenly unfolding situation.
Moreover.
‘Why does he have that expression……’
A face that seemed afraid, yet somehow looked detached. A strange and subtle expression, as if it would be okay to fall from here and end everything.
Even knowing it was an urgent situation, Euiju almost burst into tears the moment he faced that expression.
“Jin Haeseong. Snap out of it!”
But that was only for a moment. Haeseong’s eyes widened as he belatedly realized it was Euiju who had come to save him. Soon his face began to crumple, and tears quickly welled up in his large eyes and streamed down. The raindrops falling little by little settled on his face and fell to the distant ground below along with his tears. The child’s lips trembled.
“A, Ahjussi.”
“The wire isn’t completely loose, so you won’t fall. Don’t worry and stretch out your other arm. Hurry!”
At Euiju’s shout, Haeseong bit his lip and tried to extend his right arm.
“Ungh!”
Then a pained groan burst from Haeseong. He grimaced as if he had no strength. Looking closely, Euiju could see that Haeseong’s arm was bent abnormally.
As if it was broken.
“I, it hurts. I can’t put strength in it……”
He must have hit the railing or wall when the wire came loose. Euiju, who let out a pitiful exclamation, shouted to actor Kim Woonjung, who was barely holding onto Haeseong in a daze.
“Kim Woonjung-ssi! Right now people can’t get in because it’s blocked by obstacles. I’ll give you a signal, so let’s pull him up together!”
“A, alright.”
“One, two, three!”
Euiju grabbed Haeseong’s arm with both hands and Kim Woonjung grabbed his clothes. The increasingly heavy raindrops kept making their hands slip. Euiju and Kim Woonjung pulled him up with all their might, but struggled because the weight was considerable due to the heavy equipment.
“Ungh.”
Moreover, as if caught on something, the wire line was caught on the bottom of the building, so even when they pulled, there was a limit as he couldn’t come over the railing.
‘This won’t work.’
Eventually Euiju stepped up onto the railing. He reached precariously for the hook connected to Haeseong’s back. Even though it was a situation where Euiju himself could fall if he made a mistake, Euiju acted as if he didn’t even think about such things. Only after disconnecting the hook could Euiju and Kim Woonjung pull Haeseong inward and up.
The three bodies tangled with each other and rolled inside the railing. Only after mobilizing even the strength from nursing did Euiju and Kim Woonjung barely manage to save Haeseong, and they gasped for breath.
“Haah, haah. A, are you okay?”
Kim Woonjung asked while catching his breath, but Haeseong didn’t answer.
Euiju looked down at Haeseong, who was in his arms. The boy’s body was trembling uncontrollably. His pupils were unfocused as if in a daze, and even his face was pale enough to remind one of a corpse.
“Jin Haeseong.”
“……”
Euiju, who had barely caught his breath, stood up and took off Haeseong’s top. Even as Euiju removed his clothes, Haeseong just swayed limply at those hands like someone whose soul had left their body.
Euiju began to remove all the equipment connected inside the costume. As if angry at something, he removed the equipment with very rough hands and threw them far away. Euiju’s eyes were fierce as if he would devour someone.
“Are you alright!”
People began running up behind them. As if they had cleared the obstacles only after the entire situation was over, the smell of sweat wafted strongly from them.
“Jin Haeseong.”
Euiju, who had removed all the equipment attached to his body, called out to Haeseong. Was he getting chills? Haeseong just trembled while curled up, with no response.
Euiju, who had been taking in that sight, slowly approached. Earlier he had held him in his arms with all his strength because he had to pull him up, but now he didn’t want to do that. He gently embraced Haeseong’s head and pulled him to his chest.
The trembling of his body was vividly transmitted.
“Shh- It’s all over now. You don’t have to be afraid. Good boy.”
He lowered his head and slowly whispered in his ear. He began to reassure Haeseong while patting his shoulder. As Euiju’s low voice was heard, focus gradually began to return to Haeseong’s pupils, which had been in a daze as if he had fainted with his eyes open. When Haeseong slowly turned his head, their eyes met.
Euiju pulled Haeseong’s face, which was gradually filling with tears, to his neck and buried it there. Soon Haeseong began to burst into violent coughs and pour out the tears he had been holding back.
“Cough cough, huk, kuk… huuu……”
“It’s okay. It’s okay. You can cry.”
When he patted the shoulder of him who was spewing out something that could be coughs or sobs, Haeseong clung to him tightly. He wrapped his uninjured arm around his neck and hugged him firmly.
“Ahjussi, huk. Ahjussi. I…… huuk, I.”
“Yes, I know. I’m sorry for coming late. You were scared.”
He embraced Haeseong who was clinging to him without any gaps and stroked and patted his shoulder. Reassured by the familiar scent and familiar touch, Haeseong began to pour out violent sobs.
“Uuk. Uwek.”
Euiju, who had been watching Haeseong unable to control his bursting tears and even dry heaving, supported his back and put his arm under his knees. He lifted him up as he was and held him in his arms. Haeseong instinctively burrowed into Euiju’s embrace. Euiju felt the area around his neck becoming warm from Haeseong’s tears.
“Haeseong-ah!”
“Oh my. A, are you okay? Huh? What happened here!”
Director Jo Yeongchun and Kim Jaeho came running in a hurry. The drama staff who had been below also ran over with deathly pale faces. In an instant, Euiju and Haeseong were surrounded by people.
Euiju, who had been comforting Haeseong, spoke coldly without softening his fierce expression.
“The equipment team said there was a mistake in the inspection. I heard them talking below and ran up right away.”
“Wha, what? But there were no problems even right before filming. It’s not like we’ve done wire filming once or twice, what on earth happened! Hey, Director Park. Isn’t the equipment side your responsibility?”
“Look here, Director Jo. Right now our actor almost had a big accident during filming and you’re not even apologizing? He almost fell, what are you doing right now?”
“Ri, right. I should apologize. Is the actor injured anywhere?”
“He is injured. So don’t block the way and move aside.”
“What? Injured? We need to get to the hospital quickly……”
Kim Jaeho approached with surprised rabbit eyes. However, Euiju stepped back as if he wouldn’t show Haeseong, who was clinging to him, to him. It was as if he was wary of people other than himself.
“We won’t just let this slide like with the bicycle incident last time. I’ll take Haeseong to the hospital, so Team Leader Kim, you stay and handle this properly.”
At those words, Director Jo Yeongchun’s complexion turned deathly pale. Kim Jaeho also nodded, as if he didn’t plan to just let it slide either, and made a phone call somewhere. Euiju turned around as he was and headed for the stairs.
“Excuse me, but could you pick up that phone that fell?”
Euiju, who had come down to the first floor while holding Haeseong, realized he had dropped his phone and asked a nearby staff member. Then he tried to put Haeseong down on the stretcher of the waiting ambulance.
“……?”
Haeseong, who had been hanging onto Euiju’s neck, hugged Euiju with strong force, even mobilizing his broken arm, when Euiju tried to separate him. It was a desperate gesture, like a baby monkey refusing to let go of its mother.
“Let go of this. We need to get to the hospital quickly.”
“……”
It was when the paramedic, unable to watch any longer, tried to pull Haeseong away.
“Fuck, let go of this!”
Haeseong screamed sensitively with a vicious face and struck the paramedic away. Then he immediately buried his face in Euiju’s embrace.
Euiju, with a troubled face, lowered his head and spoke to Haeseong, who had no intention of letting go.
“I’ve been holding you since earlier and I’m really tired too. We’ll keep being together, so let’s let go for a moment. Okay?”
Shake shake.
Haeseong rubbed his face against Euiju’s neck, expressing his refusal. Euiju let out a small sigh and spoke to the paramedic.
“……I’ll hold him and get on. Just please treat his broken arm somehow.”
“Understood. Please get on for now.”
In the end, Euiju, who got on the ambulance while holding Haeseong, had to hold Haeseong until they arrived at the hospital.
