SOG Ch 151

“Mother, please leave a message for Aunt. Include my regards as well.”

Upon hearing Jae-chan’s words, Gu Ji-young’s face, already anxious as she waited for her son, turned pale.

“…Ji-eun was working today.”

“It’s okay. She left work early earlier.”

Jae-chan replied as he opened the first-aid kit and took out some disinfectant. While disinfecting his mother’s wound and applying a generous amount of antibiotic ointment, he couldn’t help but think it was fortunate that it wasn’t his aunt who was here, showing a thoughtless lack of consideration as a son. It was truly a stroke of luck that his aunt had left work early.

Meanwhile, Gu Ji-young, whose arm was neatly bandaged thanks to her son, was slightly frowning. She had sent a message, worried that her sister would be concerned, but strangely there was no reply from her sister who she thought would check immediately.

She’s not checking her messages.

Well, she did say she was feeling unwell and left early. She might be sleeping, and she has always been slow to respond to messages. Not thinking too much of it, Gu Ji-young shrugged her shoulders.

Having finished treating his mother’s wound, Seon Jae-chan was now looking down at his chat with Woo-jin.

“……”

The conversation they had just before the shooting, the promise he emphasized again and again that he would definitely come. The heavy weight of responsibility and guilt seemed to press on his chest.

It had only been half an hour since the incident occurred. The news probably hadn’t reached Zone Z yet.

[There’s been an accident. Sorry, I don’t think I can keep our promise today. 07:02 PM]

It’s right to apologize. Honestly, Jae-chan was confident he could escape this place and find Woo-jin today,  whether or not there were terrorists. That is, if he were alone.

Staying here was his choice. Seon Jae-chan looked around at his mother, Yu-ram, and Jung Hana. Taking in the sight of people he couldn’t possibly leave behind, he continued typing the message.

[I’m fine]

[I’ll come see you as soon as I get out of here 07:04 PM]

Woo-jin didn’t seem to have seen the message right away. Jae-chan regretfully looked at the chat window before leaving a message for Esper Chae Seong-hwan as well. In case his phone fell into the perpetrators’ hands, he only sent “Are you okay?”

He then checked his unread messages. There was quite a long message from Kwon Joon-young, sent just before the shooting incident.

[It’s a shame you can’t make it today, but it can’t be helped.]

[Instead, I’m sharing some information.

(Photo)

(Photo)

06:23 PM]

Filling the screen was a photo marking red stars on floor plans of Research Building 2.

[All victims have records of secretly entering and leaving the Center. At first I thought they were going in and out of the nuclear power plant, but apparently there’s a secret passage connecting the plant and the basement of Research Building 2. 06:24 PM]

Seon Jae-chan scrolled through the photos to check them. According to the blueprint, there really was a passageway connected to the nuclear plant.

‘We can’t use it as an escape route.’

Given the situation, it was obvious the power plant was also under the terrorists’ control.

Of course, it would take quite some time for a nuclear power plant to explode. They wouldn’t have set up such flimsy safety measures that couldn’t even last a few hours, and gunshots were still continuing.

If the power plant exploded, the terrorists would suffer irreversible damage as well. As long as they were still running amok, it was right to assume that the nuclear plant explosion wasn’t part of their plans.

‘If the serial killings and this terror attack are related, this passage could be the terrorists’ escape route.’

Jae-chan thought Kwon Joon-young should pass the plans to the military too. After immediately sending a message urging this to Investigator Kwon, he read through the long message again.

[And here’s information about an additional victim.]

[If the person I suspect is the perpetrator, I think this person should be added to the victim list.]

[A non-center affiliated Guide who went missing a year ago. Apparently he did guiding through apps and such after failing the national exam.

(Photo) 06:26 PM]

An unfamiliar face appeared on the screen. It was a very ordinary-looking, youthful male college student. Another potential victim – was there no chance this was just a simple case of running away from home?

Swallowing a bitter sigh, Jae-chan sent a reply to Kwon Joon-young telling him to seek cooperation from the military. Then he looked at Yu-ram, his mother, and Jung Hana beside him. Though the corpses strewn in the emergency center and outside weighed heavily on his heart, there were still survivors here.

Jae-chan swallowed a bitter sigh and sent a reply to Kwon Joon-young asking him to seek cooperation from the military. Then he looked at Yu-ram, his mother, and Jung Hana beside him. The corpses strewn outside and in the emergency center seemed to weigh heavily on his heart, but there were still survivors here.

Three people. Four if he included the unborn child.

Seon Jae-chan’s quiet eyes silently scanned the group. The rescue team would surely come. Until then, he had to protect these people.

*

The group continued to hold out in the guiding room afterwards. It was an inevitable choice since there were no portable amplifiers, and they couldn’t recklessly move the visible amplifiers. Jae-chan and Yu-ram went back and forth to the emergency guiding center every half hour to raise the wavelength stability.

In the process, Jae-chan realized that his mother was quite helpful. Even those with a brave nature would find it hard to remain calm in this situation, and his mother’s mental ability played a significant role in stabilizing Yu-ram and Jung Hana.

“The clean-up operation will be completed in two days at the latest. Until then, we just need to stay hidden in a safe place.”

When Seon Jae-chan’s wavelength stability finally hit 80%, Jae-chan gathered the group and spoke. He might not trust the government, but he had absolute faith in the skills of the E-SOF unit or Go Woo-jin.

“But this isn’t a safe place.”

The emergency guiding center was naturally located on the outermost part of the Guide Bureau, right in front of the main road due to its role. The terrorists had to pass by frequently. So far, they had only encountered low-class Espers and luckily hadn’t been caught, but if an A-class or higher Esper with developed sensory abilities were to show up, they could be discovered helplessly.

Moreover, Jung Hana’s increasingly severe labor pains were also a problem. She claimed it was false labor, but what if the baby suddenly decides to come out?

They needed a more thoroughly sealed place. Somewhere with disinfectant and scalpels.

“We’re going to Research Building 3.”

So the place Jae-chan chose was the nearby research building. The target was the autopsy room.

If they went out the back door of the emergency center and went up the hill for 50m, they would reach the door at the end of the left corridor of Research Building 3. There was an open area in the middle that others might not have dared to attempt, but of course, Seon Jae-chan planned to use his ability in that section. Although his class was terrible, it was an ability optimized for survival.

‘Though the efficiency is disgustingly low.’

It would have been great to have a portable amplifier, but there was no helping it.

Along the way, the group picked up coffee mix and the like from the guide lounge. If they got hungry, they planned to consume sugar or vegetable oil.

Yu-ram, who was rummaging around the lounge, also packed a phone charger and adapter into the tarpaulin bag. It might have belonged to the deceased, but they were in no position to be picky.

Two hours later, after thoroughly practicing transporting a stretcher with their bodies invisible to each other, the group left through the back door of the emergency guiding center.

Seon Jae-chan took the front of the stretcher carrying Jung Hana, while Yu-ram’s two hands and his mother’s one hand took the rear.

As they came out through the back door with less lighting, the street was even darker. Bang! Bang! Gunshots continued intermittently, perhaps shooting other survivors.

“We’ll move to the first point.”

Jae-chan pointed between an abandoned SUV and the wall of the Guide Bureau.

“Just do as we practiced. On three. One, two, three.”

The four people exchanged tense glances and disappeared in an instant as if dissolving into the air.

In this way, the group quickly moved to the prearranged points, only revealing themselves and taking breaks once safety was confirmed, gradually making their way to Research Building 3. It was still midwinter, and the cold wind pierced through their bodies, but no one felt the cold. Rather, sweat beaded on Park Yu-ram and Gu Ji-young’s faces from the weight and responsibility pressing on their palms.

While resting in between, Seon Jae-chan had a chance to look towards the nuclear power plant. As Yu-ram had said, dark gray smoke was rising thickly from the entire building like storm clouds, but the round containment building where the reactor would be was still holding firmly. He hoped the protective system that had met government standards would perform its role and withstand the situation.

The sound of helicopters passed by in the distant sky a few times. Seon Jae-chan also fervently prayed that among them were helicopters transporting suppression forces.

About 10 minutes later.

“Thank you… thank you so much…”

Jung Hana, who had been holding back tears, expressed her gratitude in a whisper. The group had just succeeded in entering Research Building 3.

A brief moment of joy flickered across their sweat-drenched faces. But the joy was short-lived as they turned down the corridor and came face to face with the scattered corpses.

As they advanced to the hall, they saw that the directions the bodies had fallen were haphazard. It seemed that the victims were taken by surprise and shot by the terrorists without any chance to escape.

“Be careful not to leave footprints this time too.”

Jae-chan cautioned as he pushed away scattered bullet casings with his toes.

Coincidentally, there were a couple of bodies lying in the direction they were going. Yu-ram almost tripped on a bag strap tangled around one body’s arm while passing over it, but other than that, they were able to safely reach one of the autopsy rooms without incident.

They opened the door with a key found on the doorframe and entered to find it was indeed the autopsy room Jae-chan had visited before. The three people carefully lowered Jung Hana, then checked the interior’s safety and locked the door.

“Ah… the phone’s not working now.”

Yu-ram checked her phone while clenching and unclenching her hand, sore from carrying the stretcher.

Jae-chan also frowned and checked his chat with Woo-jin first. The messages were marked as received, but there was no reply. He couldn’t tell if Woo-jin hadn’t answered or if the messages weren’t being received due to the GPS jammer.

He also couldn’t send any more messages saying they were safe. Jae-chan leaned his head against the wall, staring at the message window with a blank gaze. He hoped Woo-jin wouldn’t be worried.

At that moment, a small ticking sound was heard from outside.