I hid behind the bush, my heart beating so fast I was sure she could hear it from across the trees.
The elf sat perfectly still on the log, her silver hair reflecting the setting sunlight. But something was wrong. Her shoulders were tense, frowned inward, and her hands were clutching her side.
Then my gaze landed on the blood.
Dark red stained her green tunic, leaking through her fingers as she pressed against what was clearly a wound. Her face was pale, paler than it should be, even for an elf, and her breathing was bad.
"Shit," I whispered.
This was it.
The moment where the protagonist heroically saves the mysterious girl and earns her eternal gratitude, maybe even her love. This was my ticket to not dying alone in a fantasy forest in another world.
There was just one tiny problem.
'I had absolutely no idea how to help her.'
First aid? I'd skipped that mandatory college seminar to play Sekiro.
Healing magic? I couldn't even open a status menu once.
Medical supplies? I had a box of matches and a useless map.
The elf suddenly swayed, her grip on the log loosening.
"Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit-"
I burst through the bushes before my brain could make a plan.
"Hey! Are you okay? That's a stupid question, you're clearly not okay, I mean, you're bleeding, not that I'm staring at the blood, well I am, but not in a weird way-"
She jerked upright, her hand flying to her waist where a dagger should have been.
But the sheath was empty.
Her eyes widened when she saw me, striking green eyes that held both fear and arrogance.
"Stay back, human!" Her voice was sharp despite its weakness, accented with something musical that made even her threat sound elegant.
"I'm not going to hurt you!" I raised my hands in what I hoped was a universal gesture of peace. "I just, you're injured."
"I need nothing from your kind." She tried to stand, shook, and sat back down heavily. "Leave. Now."
"Yeah, that's not happening." I slowly approached, keeping my hands visible. "Look, I get it. Stranger in the forest. Don't talk to weird guys in hoodies who appear from bushes. But you're literally bleeding out, and I'm the only person here, so how about we skip the 'proud warrior refuses help' scene and move straight to the 'not dying' part?"
She stared at me as if I'd just spoken in an ancient language.
"You're... very strange for a human."
"I get that a lot. Well, I would, if there were other humans around to tell me." I knelt a few feet away, giving her space.
"What happened?"
She hesitated, her emerald eyes searching my face for... something.
Hate? Pleasure? Was I secretly a serial killer?
Finally, she sighed. "Goblins. They ambushed me on the edge of the forest road," she said, pressing harder against her side. "I killed most of them, but one managed to land a blade before I finished it."
"How long ago?"
"Two hours. Maybe three." Her voice was getting softer. "The wound won't stop bleeding. Goblin weapons... they must have coated them with something."
'Poisoned wound. Great, now I have zero idea what to do.'
Think, Suho.
What would a protagonist do?
Cleaning the wound and stopping the bleeding is the basic stuff, right?
I took off my hoodie, leaving me in just a t-shirt. The cold immediately crept into my skin, but I ignored it. I ripped the hoodie at the edge, or at least tried to. The fabric was so hard to tear.
"Oh, come on-"
The elf made a sound that might have been a laugh or a cough. "You need a blade for that." She gestured weakly to her left. "My dagger. It fell to the side when I sat down."
My eyes found it half-buried in the leaves, a beautiful weapon with a curved blade and a handle wrapped in leather. I used it to cut strips from my hoodie, making improvised bandages.
"I'm going to need to see the wound," I said, trying to sound more confident than I felt. "Is that okay?"
She studied me for a long moment, then nodded slowly. "You're either genuine or an excellent actor." She moved her hand away, revealing a nasty wound along her ribs. "If you try anything inappropriate, I'll kill you with my bare hands despite the blood loss."
"Nothing inappropriate." I moved closer, my hands trembling slightly.
The wound was bad. Like really, really bad. It had already turned to a bluish hue, but the bleeding was slow right now, which meant... I had no idea what it meant.
Was that good? Bad?
I pressed the cloth strips against the wound.
"Sorry, sorry-"
"Just... do what you need to do."
I worked as carefully as I could, cleaning away the blood with one strip and using another to apply pressure. My hands moved almost on instinct, positioning the bandage, finding the right amount of pressure to stop bleeding without causing more pain.
Wait.
'How did I know that?'
"You're... surprisingly skilled at this," the elf murmured, echoing my own thoughts. "For someone who seemed so uncertain a moment ago."
"I honestly have no idea what I'm doing," I admitted, wrapping the makeshift bandage around her torso. "My hands are just... doing things. Muscle memory, maybe?"
But I'd never done this before. Never taken a first aid class that actually made sense. So why did my fingers know exactly where to tie the knot? Why could I instinctively tell the bandage was secure but not too tight?
"There." I sat back, examining my work. "That should hold until we can get you to actual help. Is there a town nearby? A healer?"
She tested the bandage with careful fingers, her expression shifting from suspicion to surprise. "This is... well done. Better than some medics I've known." She looked at me with new interest. "What's your name, strange human?"
"Kim Suho. Just call me Suho." I offered an awkward smile. "And you are?"
"Lyra, if we're using short names." She tried to stand again, and this time I caught her elbow to steady her. Surprisingly, she didn't pull away. "Thank you, Suho. For not being an asshole, I suppose."
"Bar's pretty low in this world, huh?"
"You have no idea." She took a step, stumbled, and I automatically shifted to support more of her weight. "The nearest town with a proper healer is three days' walk north. But there's an abandoned station one day south. I can rest there, gather my strength."
South.
I quickly took the map and saw the markings which started changing.