Help!

Kang Jinha pedaled his bicycle with all of his might. Pedestrians only felt a strong gust of wind swept past them and did not even have a chance to take a good look at his appearance before he ditched them far behind, leaving only the afterimage of his silhouette. His legs nearly turned numb with pain, and his back was soaked in sweat, which swiftly morphed into a chill that penetrated deep to his bone marrow. 

The warm spring sunset enveloped him, but Kang Jinha's teeth were chattering as if he had fallen into an ice cellar. 

Please… Kang Jinha prayed in desperation. Please let me make it! 

The journey which was supposed to take forty minutes was forcibly cut short into thirty thanks to his frenzied riding. 

Soon, the familiar house came into view. 

Without even pausing to catch his breath, Kang Jinha carelessly tossed his bike aside and staggered to the door, his breath rugged and uneven. He could not tell if the tremor on his body was due to the physical exertion or the fear for what was to come. Everything before his eyes seemed to be spinning as if the world had become distorted. 

Now that he had reached his destination, he found his feet rooted on the spot, much to his own dismay. 

Dread and hope waged an intense war within him because honestly, up until now Kang Jinha still felt like he was dreaming. A super ultra realistic dream where the slightest misstep would cause it to burst like a fragile bubble. But another part of him… the him who had mourned and cursed this day countless times in the future was shamelessly hoping that he had really returned to the past. 

What are you waiting for?! Kang Jinha's mind screamed at him, forcing him to take the first step. If you don't hurry… if you're late again this time, then she will—

"My deepest condolences. We have missed the golden timing to rescue her. Even before she was sent here, she had already stopped breathing."

Kang Jinha could not help but squeeze his eyes shut when that particularly painful memory surged to the forefront of his mind. His nails dug into his palms hard enough to leave crescent marks, and he could taste blood in his mouth where he had bitten down on his gum too hard. 

One after another, bleak and gloomy scenes flashed behind his eyelids— the heavy downpour, the frigid rain soaking him down to the bones, the white walls of the hospital caving in on him… but all of a sudden, everything screeched to an abrupt halt when he heard a loud 'thud!' coming from inside the house.

It was the sound… as if something heavy had fallen…

Kang Jinha's mind went utterly blank. Without even thinking, he burst through the door and hollered so loudly that his voice cracked, "Grandma!" 

His eyes frantically searched around the living room before stopping on a pair of feet that peeked out through the side door leading to the kitchen— it was a scene so similar to the nightmares that continued to haunt him for years. 

In an instant, Kang Jinha felt a surge of panic and horror crashing over him. No… he choked, his vision darkening. This can't be happening…

Kang Jinha nearly collapsed right there and then, but he gritted his teeth and forced himself to remain sober. He had to remain sober and fight his fear. This was different from the previous time. He was not too late yet! 

Summoning the last ounce of strength within him, he charged into the kitchen and dropped to his knees, his hands trembling badly as he reached out to the unconscious elderly woman.

"G–Grandma…"

He held her shoulder, feeling her body shuddering under his touch. Her eyes were tightly shut, her brows crunched up in pain, and a bluish hue tinged her lips. But above all, she was still breathing.

She was still breathing!

A crystalline teardrop slid down Kang Jinha's eyes, but he didn't even have the luxury to wipe it away. "Grandma, hang in there," he choked out amidst the sobs. "This time, you will definitely be okay…!" 

It was not an exaggeration to say that Kang Jinha felt like he had just received a new lease in life. All the dread, horror, and despair weighing down on him instantly vanished at the first sign of life he detected from her body. Now the emotions that dominated him was anticipation, hope, and a smidgen of fear. 

This has become a race against time. He must not waste any more seconds! 

"Help… I have to call for help…" mumbling to himself, he scrambled to pat himself all over but did not find his phone in his pockets. His frustration and anxiety almost reached a feverish pitch at this moment. But fortunately he moved swiftly and found his grandma's phone on the kitchen counter right away. 

Struggling to keep his composure, he dialed 119 with badly trembling fingers.

"H–Help!" He choked out before the other person could finish their greeting. "My grandma… she has a heart attack! Please send an ambulance here as soon as possible—!"

***

"Her condition has stabilized."

As soon as Kang Jinha heard that, he promptly held onto the wall beside him for support or else he would have definitely collapsed to the floor. For a while, he could do nothing but stare blankly at the doctor as if trying to ascertain that those words had indeed come out from his mouth. 

It was yet another familiar face. 

The middle-aged doctor before him, Cho Sukchul, was the same person who had received them before and relayed the death notice of his grandmother. 

Unlike his previous somber countenance, however, Doctor Cho bore a faint smile as he added, "But she still has to remain under observation in the ICU for the time being. You should go and fill out the patient's form first. Where are your parents? Why haven't they come yet?"

Kang Jinha swallowed a mouthful of saliva before he found his voice which had gotten lost somewhere between the deafening rhythm of his heartbeat. 

"No…" he said, his voice rough like sand grinding against paper. Slightly startled, he cleared his throat before continuing, "There are no parents. It has always been the two of us. If there's anything wrong with her, doctor, you can tell me." A hint of anxiety crept into his tone as he spoke the last sentence, but one thing he was thankful for was that he managed to keep his voice steady and present a somewhat reliable appearance.

The doctor appeared a bit surprised by how swiftly he had regained his composure, which sent a bitter tang to Kang Jinha's mouth.

After all, he was not nineteen years old in a true sense…

With a nod, the doctor proceeded to lead him to the office and beckoned for him to take a seat. He questioned, "Does your grandma have a history of heart attack?" 

Kang Jinha shook his head firmly. "No, she doesn't. As far as I remember, she has always been healthy." 

This was one of the main reasons why her death had hit him particularly hard. Despite being in her seventies, Grandma Kang remained as vigorous and energetic as she did in her fifties. For Kang Jinha who had been single-handedly raised by her since he was a baby, she was akin to an invincible superwoman. She was strong, resilient, and loved to laugh. So how could such a person die of heart attack one day when her medical records had always been clear? 

The image of her frigid, lifeless body crossed his mind without warning, and Kang Jinha had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep himself grounded to the present. 

In front of him, Doctor Cho nodded without much surprise. "I think so too."

He clicked on his computer and brought up an image to the viewing monitor suspended on the side wall – it was the result of a chest X-ray. 

Kang Jinha's eyes were drawn to the black spots on the heart right away. He could not quite describe what they were like but they had a peculiar shape, similar to droplets of blood falling from a certain altitude. 

"Look here," Doctor Cho used a laser pointer to circle the black spots, elaborating, "These things that look like blood clots are the ones that block the blood flow to the heart muscle, which results in the lack of oxygen due to the muscle damage. It's the primary cause of your grandmother's heart attack." 

Kang Jinha stared at the image dazedly as the doctor's firm voice reached his ears, "Your grandmother's medical record last year is clean, and it's simply impossible for these clots to build up in such a short time. That leaves only one possibility— this is another form of radiation caused by the appearance of another S-Class dungeon. There have been quite a few cases like this nowadays. We still need to perform a few more tests to make sure, but that's the general gist so far."