the sound of someone calling their name catches hoetaek’s attention, and they turn to find the source of it, recognising the voice. “hyunbin?” but no sooner had hoetaek located the werewolf in question then he’s shifting, jumping between hoetaek and the hunter. they hear the sound of the crossbow being fired, and the yelp of pain that escapes from hyunbin, but hyunbin immediately starts attacking, and hoetaek uses this opportunity to help the other student onto their feet and on their way. as soon as they’re gone, hoetaek turns to find both the hunter and hyunbin on the ground. “shit, hyunbin.” hoetaek doesn’t even register that the kid is naked, just the arrow that’s sticking out of his side. they rush over, kneeling next to hyunbin to assess the damage. the arrow’s lodged pretty deep in there, it’s going to have to come out but it’s not going to be pretty. they reach into their bag and pull out some more of that moss, holding it ready in one hand as the other wraps around the arrow. “okay, take a deep breath in, this is going to hurt even worse, but I promise right after it’ll start to get better,” they tell him, doing their best to keep their voice from shaking. “one.. two.. three.” on three, hoetaek pulls, hard, tugging the arrow clean out of the wound. blood immediately begins to pour out of the hole in hyunbin’s side and hoetaek quickly presses the moss to it. they keep one hand there, applying pressure, while the other dives into their bag again, pulling out a small bottle of light green liquid and handing it to hyunbin. “this’ll help,” they tell him before going back into their bag once more, this time for bandages. as they wrap the bandages around hyunbin’s waist, covering the wound and keeping the moss in place, the last few moments fully dawn on them, and they register exactly what happened, what hyunbin just did for them, and their gaze lifts to hyunbin’s face, awe in the expression. “hyunbin… you saved me. holy shit. I… I owe you one.”
he sees hoetaek and listens to them speak, nodding along, but what’s about to happen doesn’t register until they grasp the arrow in his side and pain shoots through his body. it only gets worse when it’s ripped out of him and he clamps his mouth shut, trying to keep the vocalizations of his pain as quiet as possible. he doesn’t need to alert more hunters of their location; he’s not so sure he could fight them off in this state. he sees blood pour out of him and onto the forest floor and he thinks he may pass out, but he can’t. he has to stay focused if he wants to recover and find his family. there’s a bottle of green liquid pressed into the palm of his hand and he grimaces. “it looks like baby puke,” he mutters, but drinks it down anyways before gagging, “it tastes like baby puke.” sitting up so hoetaek can get a large bandage around his waist is painful, but he can already feel himself healing rapidly. he shakes his head at the other’s words. “stop it, you don’t owe me anything. you’re my friend and... i couldn’t just let you get hurt. i can heal, but you can’t. you would have probably died,” he says, realizing that that’s exactly what could have happened. they would have died. the situation they’re in suddenly feels very real to him.