TTD Ch 27

Kang Il-hyun was seen in the phone video. Ja-kyung immediately sent a message after hearing him knock on the bedroom door. Kang Il-hyun stood looking at the bedroom door after checking the message. Ja-kyung bit his lower lip and sent the following message.

[I took the medicine. I think I’ll be better off sleeping. Thank you for your concern.]

He hoped that person would not break the door and enter. Looking at his usual attitude, there was nothing strange about it. Contrary to his worries, Kang Il-hyun quietly turned around in front of the door and walked out. He closed his eyes and sighed in relief. He installed the camera inconspicuously in the living room and bedroom just in case, he didn’t know it would be so helpful.

Ja-kyung put his phone in his bag and lowered himself to look around the warehouse. The warehouse door was firmly shut and no one was seen. There were quite a few parked cars, so it wasn’t that there were no people at all. A bomb with a timer was attached to each car, and the time was set on a wrist watch.

From the factory entrance, a car noise could be heard. A black car enters the parking lot as he hides behind the van and waits. The car stopped, and a man stepped out. He walked quietly and twisted the man’s neck. The man collapsed without a single scream, and Ja-kyung took the car key and climbed into the driver’s seat.

He fastened his seat belt, started the engine, and accelerated to full speed. The car sped up and collided with the warehouse door. Bang. The door smashed, causing his upper body to bounce forward before returning to its original position. He frowned and looked at the crumpled cap like a piece of paper.

There were about ten men standing in the warehouse with surprised expressions. There was food and drinks in front of them, and it appeared that he was interfering with their meal time. When he got out of the car, the men who recognized him as not one of their colleagues immediately pulled their knives from their arms.

Ja-kyung looked at them and smiled.

“Knock knock, I forgot to knock. Were you eating?”

The man with curly hair creased his grim impression and strode forward.

“Who are you, you punk? What family are you from?

He has no family. He is an orphan without parents, you bastard. He took out a pistol with a silencer and aimed it at the man’s head and fired. Pisyung– The man’s head exploded and the three men behind him rushed at the same time. Ja-kyung shot the bullet into the same area at lightning speed.

Those who had survived the smooth and unnecessary movements all froze at the same time. When the guys with knives saw their colleague’s head explode in front of them, they couldn’t attack rashly and instead just stared at each other.

“Who’s next?”

“…”

“If there’s none, I want to do my business.”

That’s when he felt a movement right behind his back. The knife flew straight into his side. He turned his body to avoid it, grabbed the man’s hair, and locked his neck. At the same time, the guys in front of him also took advantage of the opportunity and started running.

He pulled out a knife from his waist and stabbed it into the neck of the man he was holding at high speed, and blood gushed out like a fountain. After tossing him to the side, he shot a bullet in his head and aimed and fired at the crowds of men.

Some guys, who were quick to grasp the situation with the bullets flying in, threw away their knives and ran away. Even those guys were on target and it smashed their heads.

In an instant, thirteen adult males fell to the floor, covered in blood. Ja-kyung checked those who were still breathing and stopped their last breath. If he let him live, he’ll live like garbage anyway. He changed the magazine to see if there were any leftovers and went inside.

There was no one there and a locked door appeared. The gunshot smashed the locking part of the key. But what was inside was not children, but paper boxes stacked up to the height of a person. When he opened the box, he saw that the bag was full of sugar bags.

A small plastic bag the size of his thumb comes out when he cut through the middle of the bag with a knife. There was a small amount of white powder in it. He put it on the tip of his tongue and checked it, it was methamphetamine. After spitting it out, he roughly counted the number of boxes. There were well over hundreds.

First of all, finding the children was a priority. Ja-kyung left the box and moved back inside. There was no sound, but he could let his guard down. Then he found an old door. It was just big enough for one person to pass through.

Opening the door led to the basement. He turned on the flashlight and went down slowly, illuminating the inside. Step, step, he couldn’t hear anything but his footsteps. A foul smell of filth emanated from below. Two rats run away in a hurry as he steps on the floor.

He looked around with the lights. There’s one more door. It was old and locked from the outside. He took out his gun and smashed it, and the old door opened on its own. He hid behind the entrance and took a sniper stance, aiming inside with a gun and a flashlight.

A child could be seen through the open door. Ja-kyung quickly lowered the gun and left only the lights on. The child was trembling in fear, clutching a stone in one hand. Ja-kyung remembered that it was the girl he saw in the alley. She had been beaten badly, and her face was a mess, and other children were gathered behind her, holding their breath.

Seeing that the hand holding the stone trembled, Ja-kyung pulled down the mask that was covering half of his face. The child’s eyes widened when she recognized him.

“Maybe that stone… You aren’t going to throw it at me, are you?”

The child’s face slowly contorted, and tears began to well up in her eyes. Ja-kyung was at a loss as to what to say. The child threw the stone on the floor and wiped the tears with the back of her hand. Ja-kyung came closer and looked at the children behind them. He was trying to take them all out, but one child was missing. Last time it was definitely seven.

“Where did one go?”

Another child in the back stood up from his seat. The rest of the children also eased their guard little by little, knowing that he wouldn’t hurt them.

“He is dead…”

Ja-kyung felt his breath tighten.

“Why.”

“He was beaten…”

He felt sick because he thought it was because of him. But he can feel sorry later. Taking the children out was a priority. It can be difficult to get out if he was delayed further and other bastards flock to him. There was a small child who seemed difficult to stand up, so he put him on his back and let the rest of the children take care of each other.

As they go up the stairs, the light pours in. The children did not scream or run away when they saw dead bodies with their heads blown all over the place. Even in that situation, the older children covered the eyes of the younger ones.

After breaking the glass of the van parked in the yard, he picked up the children one after the other.

“Stay here until I come.”

After one more caution, Ja-kyung grabbed his bag and walked to the warehouse. He took the oil tank next to the warehouse, poured it all over the box, turned on the lighter, and threw it away. In an instant, the flames grew and engulfed the stacked boxes.

And after opening all the valves on the LPG gas cylinder they used to roast meat, he kicked it. Chiik- Gas was leaking out and there was a musty smell. The fire from the inside was coming over this way along the outer wall.

Ja-kyung closed the warehouse door and returned to the car. First, he took the tool out of his bag. After removing the key box, he pulled out the wire, stripped the cover, and connected it, but the engine did not start. Damn it. It’s been a while so he was confused.

When he checked the time, there were about 10 minutes left before the bomb installed in the car in the parking lot went off. He made up his mind and hurriedly started working. Broom. The heavy vehicle shook with the sound. Ja-kyung sighed in relief and smiled. He hurriedly drove out of the parking lot because the cars parked next to him were about to explode.

***

One, two, three, four, five, six… Wang Lun’s expression was flustered as he counted the number of children. This was due to Ja-kyung, who had taken a motorcycle and a gun with him, selling the motorcycle and bringing six children with him. Children who also work as beggars. The children gathered to eat jajangmyeon and sweet and sour pork.

“Are these your children?”

“Not funny. Such a joke.”

Wang Lun waved his hand. It’s good that he brought them with him, but he wanted Wang Lun to keep them. This ain’t no nursery.

“I can not. No. Take them to the police.”

“I’ll give you more fees.”

“Did I ask you for money?”

“5% of my share.”

“…”

“Never mind if you don’t like it.”

“Hold on. I’m thinking about where to send them.”

Ja-kyung smiled softly. After much deliberation, Wang Lun remembered the cathedral. The priest at the church he attends takes care of the children who have nowhere to go, and he said that he should take them there. It may surprise others to hear that, but since he was very young, he went to church regularly was also had the baptismal name of Antonio.

So, even when he was playing on this field, he made a schedule to avoid the weekend. Wang Han criticized Wang Lun for being unprofessional, but Ja-kyung was deeply envious of his religious affiliation. Because he had never really believed in anyone, nor had he ever prayed earnestly.

He emptied a bowl of jajangmyeon and turned on the TV. The news was in full swing, but there was news that a factory exploded in Doksan-dong and that the firefighting process was in progress. The children’s eyes flocked to the TV. After turning off the TV, Ja-kyung came out and smoked a cigarette.

He inhaled deeply and then exhaled it into the air. Today the sky was clear with not a single cloud in the sky. As he was watching the moon, he heard the sound of a door opening behind his back. He wondered if it was Wang Lun, but it was the girl he saved.

“Thanks… you…”

She hesitated to say her gratitude and ran away inside. Ja-kyung becomes overwhelmed for no reason. When he first saw her in the alley, he thought she looked like him, but she wasn’t. She was much better than him. He will never forget the sight of that child trembling while holding a stone to protect someone.

He rubbed the cigarette out and looked up at the sky. Now… Going back to Kang Il-hyun’s house was a problem.