The Last Call | An Iz*One Journey

Chapter 15: Do a Double Take

Minju's POV

Dropping my pack, I rushed over to Hyewon who had been right in front of me. With my hands I pried the bag away from her shoulders, realising that her entire face was trickling with cold sweat: drenched were her clothes, even in the lack of snow falling. Her skin looked pale and icy, much more akin to the putrid whiteness on the ground than the world of colour.

"Hyewon-unnie, stay with me!"

Everyone around me turned to look, and I could feel the entire world coming to a halt. Her eyes were slowly falling shut. I shook her violently at her shoulders, just enough to stir her awake as she clung weakly onto my arm.

"I'm.... I'm fine, I'm fine." She coughed softly as she spoke, a forced smile stretching on her lips. Her shoulders sank lower into my arms with every passing moment, making the force of her weight heavier to hold against. She was getting weaker - and she needs to rest.

Chaewon dashed to my side, kneeling down as she held Hyewon's left hand, feeling for her pulse. "It's there, but weak." she reported, alluding to her heartbeat. "We need to get her to rest, and some food will be good." Chaewon added, biting back a curse as she realised our predicament.

"Don't worry about that, I'll go find some now." I assured Chaewon, before lugging my pack over to the hut. As soon as I dropped it at the front porch right before the door, I snagged a scarf from my items - planning on using that to hold whatever wild plants I can find for food. "Minju-ya!" Without further regard for any of the girls calling to me, I sprinted towards the woods.

A few minutes later, I realised how reckless of a move that had been. With haste, my mind had overlooked that fact that nighttime was rapidly descending upon us. The ominous howling of nocturnal creatures grew from an occasional few, to an incessant chain of calls from the wild. The darkness wasn't helping either. I muttered a silent prayer to myself, speeding up while hoping to get out of this tight spot. Many spruce trees covered the forest just nearby the hut, forming a corridor for me to walk down as I searched meaningfully for any kind of berries. Whatever I saw, I picked and covered them in my scarf. It was too dark to make out any colour, with the moonlight being my only source of illumination. I would just have to bring them back to the hut for Nako to distinguish-

"Minju."

A shadow of a footstep approached me from behind, causing me to jump away from the way it caressed my back. Standing before me was the dark silhouette of a person,  carrying a lit piece of dried wood as a torch. There was an incoherent jumble of confusion and terror in my mind as I looked at the little figure, slightly shorter than your average person.

Oh, it was just Nako.

"You scared me for a second, Nako."

"Ne? Mianhae." Her eyes fell to the ground. "I just wanted to help you."