SOG Ch 30

It was as if the things inside were really sent by Director Yoon. A payment to the military for keeping Go Woo-jin bound on the island. Jae-chan looked at the tightly closed door and let out a short exclamation.

“Do you mind if I take a look at the supplies? Director Yoon sent something good, so I was looking forward to it.”

The soldier on the left hesitated again, and the soldier on the right nodded as if he had waited. The solid iron door that filled one side of the wall opened with a squeak and an obtrusive sound. Following the soldiers, Jae-chan pulled out his phone and sent a text message.

The recipient was Kim Geun-won.

[Sunbae. I’m currently in the underground shelter of Mentosa Castle. If I lose contact, please find me. 08:58 pm]

Judging from the fact that the chest badge embroidered in front of their names was a white plum flower, the soldiers were people without ability. He didn’t have to be concerned about dying because he had a reason to believe in them, but it’s human nature to not know what will happen. In any case, there could be an ambush within.

[You punk, what are you talking about? 08:58 pm]

The reply came right away. Kim Geun-won at least knew so that he would at least contact Go Woo-jin if Jae-chan went missing later.

It was dark inside. A damp musty smell and the faint smell of iron wafted through the air. One of the soldiers clicked on the light. The flickering light suddenly lit up, revealing the terrain like a deep and wide trench.

Dozens of large steel-framed cabinets were crammed together like stockrooms at a supermarket. The front ones, close to the entrance, were empty, and the back ones were filled with boxes.  At that moment, the soldier walking ahead on the left glanced back.

“Is that person still coming with you?”

Seon Jae-chan sighed. The soldier pointed to Nam Myung-seong, who was walking along. In the worst case, he could be detained by the soldiers or shot. That would be bad.

“Don’t worry, Sir Guide.”

Nam Myung-seong with his usual soft smile stopped walking.

“Since Sir Guide is reluctant to go to the village, I’m asking for it in this way. It’s less of a burden.”

Nam Myung-seong tapped the inner pocket where the money envelope was put back. Seon Jae-chan resisted wanting to grumble and said, “No. It’s more burdensome.”  Nam Myung-seong obviously didn’t realize the gravity of the situation. Seon Jae-chan only shrugged his shoulders, as returning it to him here might have appeared suspicious. The soldiers took another step forward.

“Oh. Wouldn’t it be hard to open this?”

The soldier on the right, who had been walking ahead, touched the nearest box. Each military box was securely wrapped in yellow PP banding. He needed scissors because the string was tough plastic, but he didn’t have any right now.

The soldier, who had previously been wary of Seon Jae-chan, was briefly relieved. Of course, he received an order from higher up to ‘keep it because it is an ordinary item,’ but tearing it apart seemed to be crossing the line, so he thought it was a good thing.

It was too early to be relieved.

“Oh! Wait a minute!”

It happened out of the blue. The landscaping worker who had followed the group took out pruning shears that resembled pliers from his waist.

Before he could react, the plastic string had been cut in an instant. A black, square bag eventually appeared in the box that revealed the contents. Only one.

“…?”

The remaining empty space was filled with white Styrofoam buffer. The moment he saw all of this, Seon Jae-chan felt an ominous feeling as if the back of his head was on edge.

“What is it?”

The friendly soldier who readily reached inside took out a black box at once. It was a black briefcase with a lock. He fiddled with the metal license plate on the left side of the handle, but it doesn’t open well.

Meanwhile, Seon Jae-chan was pale and tired. The Black Swan’s main method of terrorism was bombs. He had received several written reports of bomb bags in briefcases like that one…

“Geez. You can just knock this down.”

And while Jae-chan was caught up in complicated thoughts.

For some reason, Nam Myung-seong, who seemed to fit well with the friendly soldier, took a step forward. Was it because the desire to be helpful was too bulldozer-like? It happened in just one second. Thanks to the soldier’s support, Nam Myung-seong snapped the lock with a hard part like pliers.

Click!

Seon Jae-chan awoke to the sound of being smashed. Without warning, the black briefcase gaped open.

The next moment.

…

Everyone stiffened.

“Beep-.”

Seon Jae-chan broke the icy silence and shouted.

“Get away!”

Grabbing the pliers and holding onto the frozen wrist of Nam Myung-seong, he started running.

5,

4,

3,

2,

1,

…

In an instant, the pulsating bomb with a tangled bundle of wire-like veins engulfed the red numbers counting down.

Beep.

It finally reached zero. Funny enough, what came to mind at that moment was the money envelope that Nam Myung-seong was holding out. Was it such a request? Seon Jae-chan smiled dejectedly and unknowingly covered Nam Myung-seong and suppressed him.

*

His view went dark.

“Take cover!”

The figures of the running soldiers were slowly reflected in the field of his vision. They run first, and Seon Jae-chan squeezes Nam Myung-seong’s unmoving wrist. The untrained man was obviously not immune to this. However, Jae-chan realized that his legs were also heavy.

He had felt the moment when the world was moving so slowly.

Black Swan’s underground factory before his regression. It was like this when he encountered the unexploded bomb.

Like post-traumatic disorder, the memories of that moment held him back. As he forced himself to run, he glanced back. Eventually, the red number reached zero. He embraced Nam Myung-seong.

Collapsing together to the bunker floor, he realized his carelessness.

He’d been reckless.

He wasn’t Noah Airy, and he’d gone too far in believing he’d regressed. He had promised himself that he would live, that he could change the future if he lived, but he had let his guard down by believing the media reports that no bombs had gone off.

He hugged Nam Myung-seong just as he did when he saved Nam Hae-sol before regressing. Unlike the unexploded bombs, which exploded without warning, they were fortunate to have bought even five seconds of time. Jae-chan only hoped that the bomb’s power would not increase and that it would not cause a chain reaction by colliding with other bombs.

…

How long has he been keeping his eyes closed?

… Sir … You okay?

… Sir Guide!

A gruff voice snapped him back to reality.

Gasp! The trembling eyelids opened. He breathed air into his mouth as if his breath had been suppressed and then opened.

The image of Nam Myung-seong was reflected in the tensely contracted field of vision. Similarly, he was drenched in sweat and tapped Seon Jae-chan on the cheek.

“Sir Guide! Are you okay?”

He asked as the world spun back to normal speed. He saw soldiers lying on the floor and staggering to get themselves up in the back.

It was a situation he couldn’t understand. While Seon Jae-chan got up quickly, he fixed his trembling pupils toward the bomb. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. The bomb timer in the briefcase, which had apparently been counting down rapidly, now displayed a different number.

[00:29:14]

Everyone’s eyes widened.

[00:29:13]

[00:29:12]

The number was decreasing by one second.

Jae-chan, who had been watching the timer, steadied his breathing. He moved his twitching lips in a momentary adrenaline rush.

“… It’s a timed bomb. It shows that there are 29 minutes left until the explosion.”

Perhaps the time was set for 30 minutes.

Jae-chan looked back on the situation from a minute ago. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. The moment the counter ends, 0 pops up and everyone falls face down.

[00:30:00]

The timer must have had such a number. After that, it would slowly decrease by 1 second.

“Uh… Ah, uh, wahh!”

At that moment, as if Seon Jae-chan’s voice had become a signal, the soldier who had been repeating the sound screamed and ran out  He was the friendly soldier.

“Hey, Sergeant Jeong! Where…! -Oh, shit. !”

His comrade hurriedly ran outside, and the remaining soldier seemed to be in a panic. The hesitation was short-lived. He also stumbled straight through the iron gate in pursuit of his colleague. Creak, the hinges creaked and squeaked.

[00:28:59]

Meanwhile, the red number was steadily decreasing. Nam Myung-seong nervously wiped his sweaty palms on his overalls as the sound of hurried footsteps faded. He pressed the soles of his feet to the ground, wanting to follow suit, and urged the guide, who had a pale face as he looked down at the bomb.

“Come on, Sir Guide. We too… Let’s go too…”

That was the moment.

Tung-

Something new happened in the blink of an eye. An unknown heavy sound was heard, and all power was abruptly disconnected. The surrounding darkened.

Seon Jae-chan blinked once in the sudden darkness.

Without even realizing the situation, the next incident took place.