Chapter 43.1

Chapter 43.1

With trembling hands, Heeju powered on the phone. After a brief hesitation, she scrolled quickly through the contacts. As soon as the dial tone began, her heart pounded kung-kwang, kung-kwang, loud and frantic.

Had she ever felt such raw anxiety from a simple dial tone? While she clung helplessly to the phone, she kept picturing Sungang somewhere, bleeding out, fading closer to death with each moment.

A severed ear alone wouldn’t kill him, but who was to say the rest of him was unharmed? The ringing dragged on too long. Just as she thought of giving up and calling someone else instead, the line broke with a sharp dal-kak.

– What’s going on?

On the other end, Kwon Gukhyun’s voice rumbled low. Heeju squeezed her eyes shut. Relief and fear crashed into her all at once.

Her throat was so dry she thought no sound would come out. Forcing down a hard swallow, she barely managed to speak.

“Inside the car… Kang Sungang’s gone, and there’s only… an ear.”

Even to her, it sounded like a stupid, pathetic explanation. But Gukhyun grasped the situation instantly. Instead of asking questions, he responded quickly.

– Lock the doors and stay inside. I’m coming.

“The location—”

– I know.

With that, the call cut off. Staring at the darkened screen, Heeju exhaled a ragged breath.

—

In less than thirty minutes, Gukhyun arrived. Ttok-ttok. The sound of knuckles tapping on the passenger window jolted Heeju, her shoulders jerking up as she sat slumped.

When she lifted her head and saw his face beyond the glass, she opened the door. In her arms, she was clutching a cooler box.

“You okay?”

Her unfocused eyes lifted to him blankly.

“Sungang… we have to find him fast and get him to a hospital, one that specializes in reattachment.”

Her face had gone deathly pale, trembling all over, yet her grip around the cooler box was rigid, bones jutting sharply against her thin skin. Like someone who had seen a ghost, half out of her mind, Heeju spilled the words in a rush.

“The golden time for reattachment surgery is about eight hours. I already treated the cut and kept it refrigerated, so they can at least try the surgery if we bring it now. But the longer it takes, the lower the success rate gets. It was severed cleanly with a sharp instrument, and since it’s only the outer ear, there shouldn’t be functional damage, but we have to move fast if they’re going to attach it back.”

While waiting for Gukhyun, Heeju had sprinted into the lab to treat the severed part. To save the ear, the tissue had to be preserved intact and rushed to the hospital as quickly as possible.

With trembling hands, she had rinsed it in saline, wrapped it carefully in gauze, sealed it tight, then packed it in ice inside the cooler. Of course, the most urgent matter wasn’t the ear—it was finding Kang Sungang, who had vanished.

“Sungang…”

“What the hell are you…”

Gukhyun’s fierce gaze bore into her. His jaw clenched so hard the muscles bulged as he snatched the cooler from her grip and pulled her up by the arm.

“First, you’re going home.”

He shoved Heeju into the passenger seat of the car he’d arrived in. Yunam, who usually followed him like a shadow, was nowhere in sight.

“But Sungang, we have to—”

“I’ll find Gang-ah. That ear you picked up—I’ll put it back on him myself. Don’t worry.”

With quick, forceful motions, Gukhyun started the engine. The heavy growl of the exhaust filled the air as the car shot forward, pressing Heeju deep into the seat.

Eyes shut, she clutched the seatbelt with both hands. Cold sweat trickled down her temples. Her frayed nerves felt like they were burning to ash. What was happening to her—this felt like she’d been thrown headfirst into some unreality.

“Sleep a little.”

The low voice reached her ears. Heeju turned her head to look at him. Eyes fixed on the road, Gukhyun steered hard into the curve. The car carried them onto the overpass, his eyes cutting to the rearview mirror, sharp as a viper’s, scanning for a tail.