#Side Story, The Day of Fate (4-3)

However, what seemed to be the end didn't end there.

"There are suddenly too many emergency patients to transfer...! The order is backed up..."

"What did you say?"

Looking around at the bewildered paramedics, Min-yeol could see many white ambulances with flashing green lights parked everywhere, as if there had been a major accident somewhere. People began discussing whether they should transfer the patient to another location or not. It was an absurd situation where the patient's miraculous thread of life was gradually fading even at this moment.

That was when it happened. Someone unhesitatingly undid the restraining belts and lifted the patient into their arms.

"What are you doing! That's dangerous!"

Those who belatedly noticed Seung-jo carrying the patient and rushing through the emergency room doors shouted, with no chance to stop him. Though it seemed wrong to carry him that way because of his crushed, blood-covered leg, it would have been the same even if he had carried him on his back.

Min-yeol belatedly followed behind Seung-jo. The boy was crying continuously like someone unaware they were crying. His two eyes, blazing with a fierce spirit, were gleaming while covered in blood here and there.

People they encountered along the way, without exception, parted like the Red Sea in surprise. It seemed to be not only because of Seung-jo's gaze but more because of the corpse-like body in his arms that continued to bleed like a mass of blood.

Seung-jo kept muttering something under his breath as if unaware that Min-yeol was following beside him, but his words didn't reach Min-yeol's ears.

And finally, after an hour since the light came on in the operating room where the patient who had managed to hold onto life was urgently taken...

After Min-yeol had struggled to contact the competition venue on behalf of Seung-jo, who remained kneeling on the floor with his head deeply bowed, to inform them of Kang Mu-heon's accident. At first thinking it was a joke, the other end of the line finally fell into chaos before saying they would send the patient's family, close associates, and police to the hospital.

Min-yeol thought he had roughly finished everything he needed to do, but he couldn't leave the lit operating room. His gaze shifted to Seung-jo, who remained alone with him. He felt complicated emotions.

Although the position where he had thought someone would be hit was where Seung-jo had been, the one who was actually hit was Kang Mu-heon. Considering Seung-jo's position when he had fallen after being pushed, it wasn't hard to figure out that Mu-heon had pushed him and been hit by the car instead. Feeling like he might sigh from the heartache, Min-yeol took a deep breath.

That triggered various thoughts to explode forth. What on earth had happened for them to fight like that there? Why hadn't he approached them earlier, faster?

The boy who was dying now had been the National High School Kendo Championship winner just tens of minutes ago. He had been a boy promised a bright future. Why on earth would such a person...

As Min-yeol frowned with self-reproach, someone hurriedly came out of the operating room. Before Min-yeol could react, Seung-jo, who had been kneeling on the floor, suddenly stood up and grabbed them.

"How... is Mu... heon... now...?"

The person who had been startled by his stammering question and searching gaze soon wore a dark expression.

'...'

At that moment, Min-yeol had a bad feeling. At the same time, the other person slowly shook their head.

"His breathing just stopped..."

Ah...

As Min-yeol, who had unconsciously let out a groan, blankly watched the medical staff hurrying past, Seung-jo staggered like a puppet with cut strings before colliding with the wall and sliding down.

Min-yeol couldn't carelessly touch Seung-jo, who was lying face down with an empty expression. It seemed even Seung-jo's breathing had stopped after hearing those words. His expression was as if he too had died.

"Uh..."

Just as Min-yeol was about to try saying something, Seung-jo suddenly sprang up like a coiled spring.

"Um...?"

"..."

Seung-jo still didn't turn his gaze toward Min-yeol, just staring blankly at the operating room door. Then after a moment, he turned around and began walking away unsteadily.

While Min-yeol wavered about whether to follow or not, knowing he needed to explain to the patient's family who would rush here soon, Seung-jo went outside the hospital. Min-yeol felt a silent scream in that retreating figure.

To have a friend die because of oneself, it must truly make one want to die. There was no room for him to intervene there. As Min-yeol sat back in his chair with a hollow feeling, some commotion was heard from inside the operating room before a nurse came out. She looked around briefly and, upon meeting Min-yeol's eyes, came straight to him.

"Are you the patient's guardian?"

"No... though I am somewhat related..."

"Ah, yes. I'm just explaining the current condition now, so you can just listen and inform the others."

At those words, Min-yeol tensed up completely.

"...Yes."

"The patient's breathing and heart stopped briefly, but we've secured his airway again and his ECG has revived now. However, there's still a possibility of death, so I think you should be mentally prepared."

'What, what?'

"Then, you're saying he's not dead?"

"Yes. For now..."

"Whew..."

Despite the nurse's "for now," Min-yeol couldn't hide his relief that burst forth. Even though they were complete strangers, he was so happy that the person who had made his heart stop and start several times today was alive.

'But... where did that Jeong Seung-jo go?'

Afterward, Min-yeol roughly explained the situation to the patient's parents and what appeared to be his master and his wife who came running and wailing, then finally called his brother while thoroughly exhausted. His brother Ju-yeol immediately came running with his car, and while carrying his tired brother, gave him heartfelt praise for once, saying he had done a great thing by saving a life.

The lovely fourth brother returned home three days later as expected and, after carrying blue bruises all over his body for a month from receiving his brothers' love more powerfully than usual, changed his sport from kendo to taekwondo.

Although he could briefly see an article about that accident in a corner of the newspaper afterward, that was all, and he never heard stories about the two boys again.

But Min-yeol would occasionally find himself haunted by the image of that boy's back as he walked out through the cold hospital doors, unable to forget it.