“Aaaah!”
The sound staff member with a large build who had been standing precariously on top of a big rock misstep. Even if it wasn’t as high as a cliff, it was a sloped area. The path was narrow and steep. Moreover, this was in the mountains. On the way down, rocks were piled up in layers. If he hit anywhere wrong, it would be a serious injury.
Everyone was thrown into confusion, and shouts poured down from all directions. The surrounding staff members reached out their hands to grab Jiwon, but it was futile. No one could catch Jiwon rolling down. In an instant, Jiwon rolling down would get tangled with the person right below him.
And below that was Gi Siyoung.
Gi Siyoung, who had been standing right in the center, didn’t avoid the person rolling down like a snowball from above. Rather, he stood blocking like a shield and caught him falling.
“Ugh.”
“Kyaaah!”
“Siyoung-ah!”
“Jiwon-ah!”
“Hey, fuck! Catch him!”
Some closed both eyes as if they couldn’t bear to watch, while some became frozen like ice and couldn’t move from where they stood. The air stiffened in the touch-and-go situation.
Thwack— thud!
The two people’s bodies mixed together and rolled downward.
“Haa, haa.”
“Ugh, ah…”
Gi Siyoung clutched his chest and propped his upper body up with his elbow on the ground. Jiwon was the same. If Gi Siyoung hadn’t caught the short and small-framed Jiwon from below, it truly would have been a major accident.
Only after the two people were completely lying on the ground did people throw down their filming equipment and rush over. Myeongwoo, whose face had turned pale white, also pushed through the people and supported the staggering Gi Siyoung.
“Gi Siyoung! You!”
But Myeongwoo immediately lost his words. Gi Siyoung in a mess. The staff member equally a mess. It was a situation where no one could be okay. He couldn’t blame him for why he saved someone falling in this place full of people.
“Let’s check your condition, how is it, can you walk? Huh?”
The director tore at his hair while checking each person’s condition one by one.
“Sorry, I’m sorry.”
Gi Siyoung pushed away the apologizing Jiwon and grabbed his leg.
“I think I sprained my ankle a bit. The rest is fine.”
“Ha, what is this. To someone whose body is their life.”
“Are you okay?”
“I, I’m okay. Thank you so much, Gi Siyoung-ssi, you’re really a lifesaver. Thank you so much.”
“As long as you’re not hurt.”
When Gi Siyoung worried about Jiwon’s safety, the eyes of the staff surrounding them reached a state close to awe in an instant. For an actor, face and body were the number one assets.
Even if it were Jiwon’s family, no one could blame them if they got scared in that moment and avoided, but the lead actor who had no relation caught a mere staff member’s body like his own body. It was purely Gi Siyoung who prevented a bigger accident. No one here didn’t know that.
They had to wrap up filming here. No one could say it was fortunate that the accident happened at the very end. The sunken site became busy with hands gathering filming equipment.
Seungun and Myeongwoo each placed Gi Siyoung’s arms over their shoulders. They seated Siyoung, who couldn’t walk straight and was staggering, in a chair. One staff member made and brought an ice pack. When they rolled up his pants, his swollen ankle was revealed. Gi Siyoung turned his ankle this way and that while saying,
“I think just the ligament is slightly stretched.”
“Are you a doctor? You need to go to the hospital right now!”
Myeongwoo pressed the ice pack to his ankle while scolding.
“Can you walk?”
Jiwon was piggybacked by the staff member with the best build, but there was no one here who could piggyback Gi Siyoung. Gi Siyoung, who had been given temporary first aid, grabbed a wooden pillar and tried walking a few steps, but even that wasn’t working out. Even that brief walking motion seemed to strain his ankle as he grimaced.
“Sseup. It might be manageable if I go slowly.”
Even the person himself saying that trailed off his words unclearly.
“This won’t do. Wouldn’t it be better to call someone here? We came up quite far to here. You absolutely can’t go down with that leg.”
Myeongwoo said while sighing deeply. The staff members, even while withdrawing, peeked here and there to check on Gi Siyoung’s condition. Director Kim circled around Gi Siyoung until the very, very end with a face like the world had collapsed, acting frantically asking if there were any other injuries.
“Are you really okay? You’re sure only your ankle is hurt? Maybe I should have looked for a slightly gentler area…”
“Director-nim. Please go down.”
Gi Siyoung gently suggested. He seemed annoyed at dealing with the director.
“What? I’m going to stay here with you. I have to! This happened on my set!”
“Your staff under you is hurt too, Director-nim. Aren’t you going to take care of Jiwon-ssi?”
“Right, Jiwon! Hey, where did Jiwon go?”
Director Kim asked a passing staff member.
“He was already piggybacked down.”
“Ah, I see. That’s fortunate to hear. Haa, the problem is here…”
“Director-nim.”
“Hm? Do you need something? What should I do? Should I piggyback you?”
Gi Siyoung grimaced.
“Because of you, Director-nim, my perfectly fine ankle is about to hurt. Please just go down.”
“That’s right, Director-nim. Staying here any longer won’t help the injured person either. Who’s going to piggyback whom. You barely ate lunch.”
Director Kim was grabbed by the staff members.
“I’ll go down and send a helicopter, absolute rest! Okay? I’ll definitely send one even at my own expense, so absolutely don’t move! Don’t budge at all! Initial response is important even for stretched ligaments. It becomes a chronic condition!”
The director’s voice grew more and more distant.
“What helicopter… Realistically, can a helicopter come down through these trees. He’s lost his sense of reality from only filming movies… Siyoung-ah, are you really in your right mind? What were you thinking catching Jiwon-ssi there? Do you have thoughts or not!”
“Then should I have avoided it when he was flying from above?”
Gi Siyoung sharply retorted.
“If something had happened to you, you would have gone straight to your grave. You know? Everything you’ve done until now would have been buried in the ground!”
“Stop overdoing it. Is my leg broken now? Can I never use it again? Over just briefly spraining it.”
“Still, you’re lucky it’s only this much. If it were someone else, they might have died.”
When Seungun quietly muttered, both people’s eyes simultaneously turned to Seungun. Myeongwoo looked at him with eyes asking what kind of cruel words he was saying, then opened his mouth.
“Ahem, rather than this, first I need to go down and try contacting the rescue team. Look at those staff bastards prioritizing their equipment even though you’re hurt.”
Myeongwoo grumbled while turning on his mobile phone. There was no way to get a signal. Myeongwoo, who had been tracking signals while reaching his hands here and there, gave up.
“Is this really South Korea?”
“Should I go down and come back?”
Seungun asked.
“I might be faster. I was in the mountain climbing club in college.”
“Ah.”
“Right, Seungun, you stick right here and monitor so Gi Siyoung can’t do any more foolish things.”
“When we were coming up earlier, I saw there was a rest stop below.”
“Right, the rest stop!”
“There was a wide clearing in front of it. First, I’ll take Siyoung-ssi there. It’s in the mountains, so it’ll get dark much faster… Even if someone comes to look for us, that rest stop shows up on the map so it’ll be easier to find.”
“Yeah. Smart Seungun is right. Let’s do that.”
After that, the two people wrapped Gi Siyoung’s arms behind their necks respectively. Moving Gi Siyoung to a place even slightly easier to search was a better course of action no matter how many times they thought about it.
“But sunbae-nim, are you going to the rest stop together too?”
“Of course, were you two going to go alone?”
“It’ll just take more time. Go down first with those people.”
Seungun pointed with his chin at the last staff members trying to descend the mountain.
“If you go this way, it’s a shortcut. If you’re going to come with us, hurry up, Myeongwoo-ssi.”
Sure enough, a staff member who had been listening to their conversation gestured.
“Can you move him alone? Or should I ask those staff members to wait together? First I need to contact the company too.”
Myeongwoo wavered back and forth rambling.
“Please go. We’ll be at the rest stop.”
Seungun said to Myeongwoo with a determined face. Both of them moving with Gi Siyoung was a waste of time as Seungun said. Myeongwoo barely moved his feet that wouldn’t leave.
