PHUW 3

Clunk. Clunk.

He opened the toolbox that had been loaded in the truck bed. Grabbing the leather tool belt worn smooth with age, he checked if the new colored pencils, industrial measuring tape, and level were all there, along with the other tools. Once everything was accounted for, he strapped it around his waist. With every movement, the hammer and crowbar clattered against each other.

After getting ready, Jeong Mok pushed back his windblown hair, made messy by the breeze through the window while he was driving, and looked around. There was nothing unusual on the front of the building, illuminated by the still-on headlights. But at the edge of the light, he spotted the corner of a large box marked with a home appliance logo.

His thick, straight brows twitched. He had specifically told them to deal with that. And they hadn’t done it properly.

“Come on.”

The building, meant for a very specific and personal purpose, was just about to begin full interior construction. The air conditioner had just been installed. Yesterday, Jeong Mok had to leave early for personal reasons and had told the site workers to move the box somewhere it couldn’t be seen from the road.

If a box was left out in front, someone would end up dumping garbage there. There was no particular suspect. This whole area was a resort zone, so it often happened when tourists passed by. Even a few scraps were a headache, especially half-drunk coffee cups or rotting food waste that attracted bugs and reeked. These days, just seeing an unpacked box put him in a foul mood.

But, in a strange way, it made him feel that coming early had been worth it. That slight irritation drowned out the deeper gloom from his recent loss. He didn’t have time to be sad.

It was nearly time for nocturnal animals to retreat to their dens before morning. The only sounds on the remote construction site were gravel crunching under his steel-toed boots and the heavy clink of metal tools shifting at his waist.

He put on the safety gloves hanging from his belt and reached for the large box to lift it.

“Hm?”

There was something inside.

‘What is it? Something left inside?’

Jeong Mok lifted the flap slightly. Something furry caught the edge of the headlights. He immediately pulled back.

“A cat? Or a raccoon?”

He recalled the animals that had occasionally wandered through the site. A cat wouldn’t be an issue, but a raccoon would be a problem. If it bit him, he’d need rabies and tetanus shots. Too much of a hassle. Jeong Mok shook the box. A sensitive wild animal would have jumped out by now.

Nothing burst out. But it wasn’t completely still either.

Whatever was inside was moving. The whole box trembled. Judging by the way it shook, it had to be something big. Oddly, there were faint boot prints on the box, like someone had stepped on it. Yet from inside, harsh breathing leaked out.

A roe deer… couldn’t be. That kind of thing would’ve run off before he even parked. Something this big, hiding in an air conditioner box, unafraid of humans?

‘Wild boar.’

There was a sign deeper in the mountain warning of wild boars. During mating season, they came down into residential areas. The local government even hired licensed hunters around that time. One must have come down looking for food and crawled into the boxes to stay dry from the night dew.

A single wrong move, and it might charge him.

Gulp.

Jeong Mok gulped and reached for the heaviest tool on his belt. The crowbar. Slowly, carefully, he began to back away.

He brushed his hand against the window of the building. Locked, of course. He glanced toward the truck. Wild boars charged in a straight line, so the plan was to distract it with the noise and a thrown crowbar, then run to the truck bed. It would wreck the truck, but that was better than a broken spine or ruptured organs.

The thing inside had gone quiet. Maybe it had noticed him. He tightened his grip on the crowbar. Before the boar could spot him, he would use noise and a well-aimed throw to catch it off guard, then run for the truck.

Rustle.

Suddenly, the box jumped.

“Come on!”

Jeong Mok hurled the crowbar with all his strength while shouting.

Thud!

He ran for the truck without looking back.

He grabbed the side rail and leapt, flattening himself inside the bed. If it went down from a crowbar hit, it wasn’t a boar. He lay low, bracing for an impact.

But everything stayed quiet. Too quiet. Could it be it wasn’t a boar? Maybe a deer? Or a big cat mistaken for something else? He couldn’t be sure. It was better to check.

He raised his head just enough to peek outside. The box had been knocked closer to the headlights. Something lay in front of it. The grey shape was definitely not a boar.

“What the…”

Jeong Mok squeezed his eyes shut, then opened them again. He hadn’t imagined it. That wasn’t a boar. Not a deer. Not a cat. But what it was chilled his spine more than anything he had expected.

“A person?”

A person was lying there. Cold sweat crept down his back.

Just like he had jumped in, Jeong Mok grabbed the truck rail and leapt down. He grabbed his crowbar on the way over.

“Ugh… ngh.”

The figure groaned. It was a man. Brown, curly hair, a hoodie, and expensive sneakers. He looked like a college student staying at a nearby pension or campsite. He tried to sit up.

“Don’t move. Just stay still.”

Jeong Mok gently pressed a hand to his shoulder.

If he had hit his head, movement could be dangerous. Staying still until the ambulance arrived was best. He clipped the crowbar back onto his belt.

“Ah!”

The student flinched when his eyes landed on Jeong Mok’s tool belt, specifically, the hammer.

Jeong Mok checked his back pocket. That’s when he realized his phone was still inside the jumper he’d left in the truck.

He needed to call emergency services. Even then, in a place this remote, it would take at least thirty minutes for help to arrive.

“You really can’t move. It’s dangerous. You could die.”

The student seemed too dazed to understand. Jeong Mok pressed down harder on his shoulder and spoke in a firmer tone.

“Ugh… sh… shit! Let go!”

But the reaction was the opposite of what he wanted.

The student shoved Jeong Mok away and staggered forward. He couldn’t even stand properly and was driven only by panic. He ended tripping on himself.

“You!”

Jeong Mok reached for him, but too late. The student’s legs folded beneath him, and he fell headfirst.

Thud!

The same spot that had taken the crowbar hit slammed against the corner of a decorative granite slab. His body collapsed.

“Hey!”

Jeong Mok ran over, pale as a sheet. In his panic, he forgot everything he had said earlier and flipped the man onto his back.

“Hey! Stay with me!”

He lightly shook him. The student’s pale body trembled. His neck looked fine. It seemed he hadn’t died on impact. Jeong Mok felt a brief wave of relief, right before the student started coughing. Blood sprayed from his nose and mouth, soaking his own face and Jeong Mok’s hands.

“Shit.”

Jeong Mok let go of him and ran to the truck to get his phone. He called 119 and explained the situation. Someone was injured, and he gave them the location. To his dismay all ambulances were currently out on calls. They said it might take a while. If the injury wasn’t life-threatening, it would be faster to bring the victim to the hospital himself.

“He hit his head. Can I move him?”

–Is there any bleeding?

“There’s… a lot of blood. From his nose, I think.”

–You’ll need to administer first aid.

The operator told him to lie the victim flat and stabilize the head. Check breathing and body temperature. If the person stopped breathing, clear the airway first. Then wait. A fire station nearby was dispatching an ambulance, but it would take thirty minutes. There weren’t many options in the mountains at dawn.

After hanging up, Jeong Mok recalled the instructions of the operator and memories of his days in the army, he laid the student flat and checked for breath. Putting his ear near the blood-covered nose and mouth, he caught a faint sound of breathing. He turned the head to the side so blood wouldn’t block the airway. He pulled the jumper from the truck and folded it to cushion the student’s head.

After securing his airway, the next issue was body temperature. It was still cold. The student was lying on bare stone. He looked around for something to cover him and spotted the box again.

Jeong Mok flattened two boxes side by side and carefully moved the student onto them. He was just about to place the jumper under his head.

“Ugh… ngh…”

The student, thought to be unconscious, fluttered his eyes open and shut, struggling to stay awake.

“Your head….is tough.”

Maybe it was youth, maybe he just had a sturdy skull. Either way, the fact that he was still conscious surprised Jeong Mok.

He rolled the jumper and placed it under the student’s neck. That way, his head tilted back for better airway access.

“You’re awake? You hit your head. I’ve already called emergency services. We’ll treat you first, then go to the police after.”

He meant it to reassure the kid that this would be handled properly.

“Ugh… no… no…”

Even though he didn’t faint, the student was confused he began flailing weakly. He shook off Jeong Mok’s dry hand and tried to get up. to go.

“I… I have to… I need to go…”

“You can’t go anywhere like this. You hear me? I can’t let you leave like this.”

He had no intention of letting an accident turn into something worse.