Please be okay, he heard, or maybe, imagined it. He stirred awake, pain exploding everywhere in his body. He couldn’t remember what happened. He tried moving, only to find that his lower body is squashed by debris. He tried yelling, but his lips and throat were too dry to make a sound. There was a small child beside him, maybe 9 or younger. He blinked, and out again.

Jihyo’s phone buzzed. Another reporter. She offed her mobile phone all together. She was getting so frustrated with them; she might just yell if they call again. She was already stressed up enough, don’t they know?

Jihyo’s brother came into the room.

“Noona,” he called softly. She made a small nod, but didn’t turn.

“They found Gary hyung’s manager’s body.”

Jihyo bit her lips, trying not to cry, but her tears fell nonetheless. The death toll keep rising, the rescuers find more dead people than survivors. Then Gary…

Hearing their mother’s supressed sobs, Jiyoung and Ji-ohn came into the room. Jihyo didn’t make an effort to hide her tears anymore.

“Samchon,” Jiyoung called sofly, tugging at his uncle’s sleeve. The man turned to look at his nephew. The child didn’t question, but his eyes expected an answer.

He just smiled sadly and carried the boy up. “Let eomma rest, okay? Let’s go out.”

“I want to stay with eomma,” Jiyoung said.

Jihyo’s brother looked at Jihyo. She nodded weakly and said, “Just let them stay.”

Her brother nodded and put Jiyoung on the bed, then Ji-ohn. Jiyoung crawled towards Jihyo immediately, but Ji-ohn stayed at the edge of the bed motionlessly, her eyes red with tears.

Jihyo’s brother looked at his niece curiously. He bent down to her height, kneeling down by the bed.

“What’s wrong?” he asked gently, patting her legs which dangled off the edge.

“Carry me,” she whispered. He did so.

“Bring me out,” she whispered again, softer this time, so only her uncle heard. He obeyed and left the room, leaving Jiyoung and Jihyo alone.

“Why, why?” he asked Ji-ohn, now that they are out of Jihyo’s earshot.

She started crying, clinging onto her uncle’s neck. Jihyo’s mother looked at him, but he could only shrug.

“Appa is in pain and eomma is in pain,” she sobbed into her uncle’s shoulder. “I don’t like it…”

He could say nothing to comfort her, except to pat her back, hoping to soothe her down.

The news reported at a wave of aftershock hit the city Gary was in. Rescue operations were halted until further notice. Jihyo listened wordlessly, her eyes no longer had tears for her.  

The ground rocked and roared. The buildings swayed, but the force was not enough to make them collapse. Rescue operations were halted. All the rescuers huddled in the tent, waiting for the order to continue.

Suddenly, they heard soft wails.

“It’s a child!” one rescuer exclaimed.

They looked at each other worriedly. The red alert was still on; they can’t carry out operations yet.

“We need to save him,” another one perked up.

Their leader shook his head. “We can’t, it’s too much risk!”

“But he’s alive!” someone else said. “It’s a child who’s alive!”

The team leader looked torn between logic and emotion. How rare is it for them to find a survivor? What more a child?

“Please,” the first rescuer pleaded. “It’s already a risk to come here.”

“All of you are my responsibility,” the team leader said firmly, refusing to endanger his team.

“Wake up,” they heard they boy’s weak cries.

“It’s not just one survivor!” the rescuer exclaimed.

The team leader sighed. “Let’s check it out. I’ll give 20 minutes to save them. 30 at most. If it doesn’t work, we’ll have to give them up. We can’t endanger the entire team.”

They moved towards the source of the cries. The aftershock earlier had shaken a pile of debris off an originally larger pile, so only now they noticed the survivors.

They removed a large piece of boulder, and another. The boy, weak but alive and conscious, managed to crawl through a small opening they created.

He was quite dehydrated, but apart from some minor scratches, he was okay.

“There’s another man inside,” he said, still sobbing from the shock. “He protected me when the building fell.”

“Is he alive?” the paramedic asked.

“I don’t know…” he mumbled weakly. “But he saved me.”

The rescuers decided to go for it, and pushed away another rock. One of them squirmed in to get hold of the potential survivor, while the rest positioned outside to carry him out.

Jae Suk drove as quickly as he could to Jihyo’s house, repeatedly calling her, to no avail.

He called a few others too, and was told by Haha that she was staying with her parents.

“Jihyo-yah!!” he knocked anxiously on the door.

It was Jihyo’s father who opened the door. He recognised him as Jihyo’s running man colleague, but he didn’t come by often, so they weren’t close.

“Is Jihyo in?” he asked, after greeting the elder.

“Yes, she’s sleeping now. What’s wrong?”

“They found Gary.”