IHBAVD CH 05

This is insane!

I was horrified.

Not only was this the first time I’d seen someone this badly injured, but the words death within one hour made my heart drop.

“Hey! Wake up!”

I shook him again, but the man showed no sign of consciousness. Just how badly was he hurt?

To properly treat him, I needed to move him home—but an unconscious adult man was far too heavy for me to carry alone.

On top of that, he was much taller and larger than most men, making it even harder.

“Ah, seriously! What do I do?”

Panicking, I looked around for a solution before deciding to treat him here for now. Groaning, I managed to turn him onto his back.

What surprised me was that the fox grabbed his clothes and pulled, helping me significantly.

“Thank you!”

Despite its small size, the fox was incredibly strong and smart.

“Good job, my fox.”

“Yip.”

“I should give you a name. But first… treatment… huh—”

The moment I saw his face, I gasped and covered my mouth.

‘Wow… he’s incredibly handsome.’

His clothes were luxurious, and his features were sculpted so perfectly he looked like an actor.

I had never seen someone this good-looking in my life, and for a moment, I couldn’t look away.

“Yip yip!”

The fox tugged at my skirt as if asking what I was doing.

“Ah, right, right.”

“Yip!”

‘This is no time for that.’

Shaking my head, I snapped out of it and quickly removed his outer clothing.

‘Wow…’

Just as it looked from the outside, his shoulder wound was the worst, and the rest of his injuries were severe too.

Had he been in a fight?

But this looked less like a fight and more like a one-sided attack.

Still, he was lucky—collapsing in a field of Verita herbs and meeting a healer like me.

I crushed some of the herbs I had gathered and applied them to his wounds, then checked his belongings.

He had no weapons, no identification—nothing to reveal who he was.

And something else bothered me.

His name in the status window was listed as [???].

That was new.

Even the fox had been labeled “fox,” so shouldn’t he at least be labeled “human male”?

And Tomi’s full name had been visible from the start.

“This is ridiculous. Why is the status window so inconsistent?”

I muttered, glaring at it, but nothing changed.

Meanwhile, his remaining time kept decreasing, so I gathered more Verita herbs, crushed them with stones, and applied them to his wounds.

Verita herbs would at least stop the bleeding and prevent the injuries from worsening.

“Good. It’s working.”

Sweat poured down my body, but I barely noticed.

“Fox, stay here and watch him.”

“Yip?”

“I’ll be right back!”

After finishing emergency treatment, I asked the fox to guard him and ran home to grab more herbs, thread, and needles.

‘Hurry!’

From then on, it was a race against time.

I rushed back, drenched in sweat. The man was still unconscious, his gauge not improving.

‘So many tears…’

I carefully stitched the massive wound on his shoulder, taking a long time to close it, then wrapped it in bandages.

The gauge increased by +5.

I let out a sigh of relief.

‘Carefully.’

Slowly, I stitched every torn part of his body and covered them.

Still, the gauge was only 15/100.

But at least the time until death had increased to three hours.

He remained unconscious, and parts of his body had turned dark.

Seeing that, I realized—

‘He’s been poisoned.’

He needed an antidote.

“Fox, keep watching him. It’ll take longer this time. If anyone comes after him, you can bite them.”

“Yip.”

The fox nodded and mimicked biting.

It definitely understood me.

‘Well, it’s twenty years old. Makes sense it’s become a spirit creature. Still… it’s really smart.’

I hurried home, made a basic antidote, and returned.

“Huff… huff…”

By then, night had fallen.

Under the faint moonlight, the man lay breathing heavily, struggling to stay alive.

“Ha… ha…”

With the silver fox beside him, he looked almost mystical—his already handsome face even more striking.

Even in my past life, I hadn’t seen many actors this handsome. Especially that nose, those eyes… exactly my type.

‘And I’m thinking about that right now…’

Scolding myself, I tried to wake him again.

“Hey, wake up. You need to drink this to live.”

“…Mm…”

For the first time, he let out a groan.

But he still couldn’t open his eyes or swallow.

“Hey!”

No response.

I hesitated, then sighed.

‘I guess I have to feed it to him.’

So… this was it.

My first kiss.

No, not like that. This is medical treatment.

It couldn’t be helped.

I took a mouthful of the antidote, pressed my lips to his, and tilted his jaw so he would swallow.

His warm lips, mixed with the bitter taste of the medicine—it felt strangely unfamiliar.

“Yip… yip…”

The fox whimpered beside us.

Hey, this isn’t me taking advantage. It’s treatment…

Its cries almost sounded like judgment.

I forced myself to focus.

At first, the antidote spilled from his mouth, but then, as if driven by thirst, he began swallowing instinctively.

“Ah!”

“Ha…”

A faint sigh escaped his lips.

I pulled back and checked his condition.

The antidote was visibly taking effect.

‘It worked!’

His gauge had risen rapidly to 50/100.

“Yahoo!”

Overjoyed, I took another mouthful to give him more—

“Yip yip!”

The fox suddenly stepped between us, stopping me.

“Huh? What’s wrong?”

“Yiiiip!”

It seemed like it didn’t want me to feed him that way.

I patted its head.

“I have to save him. You can’t feed him, right?”

“Yip.”

The fox seemed to make a decision.

Then suddenly, its body began to glow.

“…What?”

It crouched, as if preparing to transform—

“Ugh…”

At that moment—

The man opened his eyes.

Golden eyes.

‘Oh?’

Startled, I accidentally swallowed the antidote myself.

“Where… am I…”

His voice was low and rough.

??? (24 years old): Penetrating wound, abrasions, stab wounds, bite wounds, lacerations, burns. Under treatment. Will die if not continued (Gauge 55/100)

The fox tilted its head and moved closer to me.

At least—

He had survived.