Chapter 15
A regretful expression appeared on her face, as if she were thinking she should have stayed in the hair salon.
Kim, without any reaction to Ha Yun-seo's despair, indifferently raised his hand and pointed to the stairs.
“To be precise, we have to go up to the third floor.”
At those words, I made a hand-shade to block the sunlight and looked up at the third-floor windows.
The sun, which had begun to tilt toward the west, reflected off the glass windows and stung my eyes.
Squinting and looking up, I saw that a few windows on the top floor were slightly open.
Through the gaps, black rod-like things were sticking out about half a span.
I tried to look closely, but Park, who had approached from behind at some point, pushed my back.
“Let’s hurry up and go in. Why stay outside for so long?”
The building's hallway was dark, as if sunlight didn't reach it.
Dim light coming from lamps covered in thick dust gloomily illuminated the 3rd-floor hallway.
The pale-colored iron doors lined up on one wall were all tightly closed.
Arriving at the iron door at the very end of the hallway, Kim knocked on the door with a unique rhythm.
On the square nameplate next to the iron door, the company name 'Jiwon Trading' was written.
After a few seconds of waiting, the door opened.
A man with a youthful face poked his head out, checked Kim and Park's faces, and quickly stepped aside.
Through the open gap of the door, a cluttered office that looked like it was under construction was revealed.
Old desks, chairs, partitions, and such were pushed haphazardly against the office walls, and entangled wires hung from the half-torn ceiling.
About thirty people were sitting sporadically on the floor, which was covered in a thick layer of gypsum dust that seemed to have fallen from the ceiling.
Overall, it was a depressed atmosphere with dark expressions.
People crying were also noticeable.
“This seems like it would be really bad for the lungs,” Ha Yun-seo muttered while slightly frowning.
Having heard that, Park said with a smirk.
“Is that what you're worried about most?”
“You're back?”
A middle-aged woman with bobbed hair sitting at a desk near the door saw Kim and Park and offered a blunt greeting.
In her hand, she held a clunky-looking mobile phone.
It looked like a satellite phone.
“Yes. And....”
Kim, who approached the woman, handed her something.
Although it wasn't visible exactly what it was, obscured by Kim's body, I expected it would be the cell phone recovered from the man.
The middle-aged woman put the item she received from Kim into a desk drawer, closed it, then glanced at us and asked.
“And that friend?”
“…He’s dead.”
Hearing that answer, the woman nodded.
Whether she had already guessed the content, she didn't look surprised.
“How did he die?”
“…He isn’t walking around.”
The woman let out a short sigh.
She stood up and patted Kim's shoulder once as if to comfort him.
“Um, what happened to your hand?”
I turned my head at the unfamiliar voice.
The youthful-faced man who had opened the door for Kim and Park was staring at my hand.
Startled, I hid my hand behind my back and replied.
“…It’s a scratch.”
“You’re injured quite badly.”
Having said that, the man opened the first-aid kit he was holding.
Taking out a clear disinfectant and gauze, the man sprayed the disinfectant on the back of my hand, then attached the gauze and finished taping with skillful movements.
And he pulled a familiar penlight from his pocket and spoke.
“I’m sure you were checked outside before coming in, but I have to take another look here. Could you look this way, please?”
The man shone the penlight into my eyes to check my pupils, just as Kim had done.
He then measured the temperature of my forehead with an infrared thermometer and went to check the others, seemingly having found no issues.
After the man moved away, I raised my hand to check the wound covered with gauze.
Because the snow-white dressing was covering the wound, it felt like an even more severe injury instead.
A throbbing pain was felt in my other hand.
While the man was treating the wound, my fingernails seemed to have dug into my palm because I had clenched my hand out of worry and tension.
He says there’s nothing wrong, so should I bother saying that blood might have entered the wound?
What happens if I do say it?
I could easily envision the scene of Kim blowing my head off with an expressionless face.
A momentary chill ran through me.
It was hard to tell if it was a physical anomaly or psychological fear.
Just then, Kim, who had been talking with the middle-aged woman, strode toward me as if he had finally finished the conversation.
Since I had been picturing him killing me in my head, my face stiffened as I looked at Kim.
Kim, stopping in front of me, stared down at me and asked.
“Are you hiding anything, Do Jihyeok-ssi?”
“P-Pardon?”
Flustered by the sudden interrogation, I took a step back.
Kim, who was watching me silently, suddenly reached out his hand.
Not knowing the meaning, I stared blankly down at that hand.
After a period of silence, Kim finally let out a sigh and added an explanation.
“The gun. Hand it over. You have it in your bag, don’t you?”
At those words, everyone, including Park, stared at me with wide eyes.
Feeling those stinging gazes, I slowly opened my bag and took out the gun I had taken from the dead man.
The youthful-faced man, who had just finished checking Lee Jeong-suk, and Park both flinched and reached for their waists.
But I obediently handed the gun to Kim.
“Since when did you know?”
“I caught a glimpse of it on the 18th floor. I didn’t say anything there, thinking you might feel more at ease having a gun.”
Kim, having received the gun, pulled out the magazine that was inserted in it.
The magazine was empty.
Kim showed no sign of surprise at all.
When I let out a hollow sigh seeing the empty magazine, Kim offered a brief piece of advice.
“From next time, check if there’s ammunition first.”
“I’d rather there be no reason for me to carry a gun again.”
I answered in a small voice, feeling drained.
Kim nodded with a flat expression and said.
“I hope so too.”
Park approached with a curious face and asked.
“You had a gun, so why didn’t you shoot? You almost died then.”
Behind Park, the youthful-faced man with the penlight hurriedly followed.
It seemed Kim and Park also had to be checked, just like us.
I looked at Park with a sour expression.
He seemed to have forgotten an important fact.
“There weren’t even any bullets.”
Park tilted his chin with a nonchalant face and added.
“But you didn’t know that.”
“Besides, it’s been years since I fired a gun.... Truthfully, I don’t really remember how to shoot, either.”
Park nodded as if he finally understood.
Having satisfied his curiosity, Park obediently met the eyes of the youthful man to receive the pupil response test, then walked to one side of the office with Kim.
“Where did you get the gun?”
Only after the two left did Kang Ye-ra approach and ask cautiously.
When I told her I had found it from the dead man in the office, Kang Ye-ra nodded with an understanding look.
“…I suppose. If he was doing the same kind of work as those people, it’s not strange that he had a gun.”
Then Manager Kim approached with a dissatisfied face and asked bluntly.
“How long were you planning to keep it hidden by yourself?”
“It’s not like I picked it up to use it. I just felt uneasy leaving it on the floor like that, so I put it in my bag.”
Deputy Head Jeong quickly cut in, adding a word as if to soothe Manager Kim.
“That’s right, Manager. Jihyeok-ssi isn’t the type of person to use a gun for anything bad.”
But the look of dissatisfaction didn't leave Manager Kim's face.
“Still. We would have felt a bit more at ease if we knew there was a gun.”
“Geez, didn't they say there weren't even any bullets?”
Ha Yun-seo chimed in indifferently.
Having arrived at a place where many people were gathered, she seemed somewhat relieved, her face visibly relaxed.
Looking around for a moment, Ha Yun-seo grabbed the youthful-faced man and asked.
“Excuse me, about when do you think we can go home?”
The man holding the first-aid kit looked a bit flustered.
“I don’t know either. I’m not sure when it will end….”
“What do you mean by when ‘it’ will end?”
At my question, the man glanced toward the middle-aged woman with bobbed hair.
The woman, her face stiff, was talking to someone on the phone.
She didn’t seem to be in a position to pay attention to this side.
“Didn’t you see it all outside before coming in? I’m talking about after that is resolved.”
The man answered rapidly as if spitting out the words, seemingly afraid that he might say something he shouldn't while answering my question.
I asked the man again as he tried to hurry away after finishing his sentence.
“Um, so how exactly are you going to resolve it? Surely not….”
The images of Kim and Park pulling the triggers without hesitation, and the corpses strewn across the streets, came to mind.
The man, the color draining from his face, simply shut his mouth tight and shook his head.
Once the youthful-faced man left, there was no one left to ask about the situation.
Eventually, we also joined the people sitting on the floor with gloomy expressions.
Sitting on the bare floor covered in white dust, Deputy Head Jeong muttered with a depressed look.
“I wonder if the kids are okay….”
“Looking at how they blocked the roads, it seems like something that only happened here. Don’t worry too much.”
Deputy Head Jeong nodded weakly at my words.
It didn’t seem to be much comfort, but there was no other way to console her.
At Deputy Head Jeong’s words, the others also stared at their phones with gloomy expressions, as if their own families had come to mind.
Manager Kim was also fiddling with his phone, but seemingly unable to get a signal, he turned his head to me and asked in a low voice.
“By the way, what kind of people do those guys look like to you, Intern Do?”
“…I’m not sure. Judging by what they’re doing, they don’t seem like ordinary citizens.”
“Aren’t they soldiers after all? They look like soldiers, right?”
“Didn’t you say they weren’t soldiers because they aren’t wearing uniforms?”
Ha Yun-seo suddenly cut into the conversation.
Manager Kim frowned slightly and looked at her.
“That was before I knew better. If you were in their shoes, would an ordinary person be going around saving people in this situation? They’d be busy looking after their own life.”
Ha Yun-seo looked a bit dissatisfied at that blunt answer, but she didn’t open her mouth further as if she couldn't think of a rebuttal.
“Then why didn't they say they were soldiers? People would feel more at ease and follow them if they knew they were soldiers.”
Kang Ye-ra asked with a face lost in thought.
“Is there any other reason to hide their identity? …They’re planning to do something shady.”
A look of worry momentarily flickered across Manager Kim's face as he spoke boastfully, as if teaching.