Chapter 020: A Three-Legged Race With Lives on the Line (3)
Both Hee-soo and Captain Gu possessed extraordinary strength.
Their combined squat, bench press, and deadlift totals were each over five hundred kilograms.
The other team members were also strong enough to exceed three hundred kilograms without difficulty.
Captain Gu could have carried both children by himself.
The real problem was that the children were struggling.
Each child weighed over thirty kilograms.
If two terrified children were thrashing in his arms at the same time, the chance of an accident would be too high.
Captain Gu and the deputy captain didn't have time to argue with Hee-soo.
Each of them wrapped one child in a fireproof blanket and picked them up.
Then they started climbing.
Without even discussing it, both men began calling out a rhythm.
"One!"
"Two!"
"One!"
"Two!"
Fortunately, the former Air Force firefighter was still with the group.
He supported the people behind them as everyone continued climbing through the scorching passage that felt like the inside of a chimney.
The chief of Dobong Fire Station was shouting in fury.
"WHO GAVE THEM PERMISSION TO ENTER?!"
"WHO?!"
"THE SMOKE EXTRACTION TRUCK WILL BE HERE IN THREE MINUTES!"
"W-well..."
The deputy chief had no idea how to respond.
Yoon-hee was equally restless.
She stood behind the safety line, waiting for Hee-soo to come out.
She became irritated with herself for feeling so anxious.
"Why the hell is the youngest grandson of a chaebol family crawling into a place like that?"
She wasn't really expecting an answer.
Photographer Jang was worried too.
"Who knows."
"I think he's genuinely insane."
"No sane person would do something like that."
"He voluntarily enters places everyone tells him not to enter..."
Communication with the rescue team had already been lost for more than ten minutes.
Then someone at the command center suddenly shouted in excitement.
"THE RESCUE TEAM IS COMING OUT!"
A strange sound came through the radio.
Everyone looked confused.
"HUH!"
"TWO!"
"HUH!"
"TWO!"
The fire chief frowned.
"What is that sound?"
He rushed out of the command vehicle and stared toward the entrance pouring out smoke.
Photographer Jang immediately sensed something unusual.
He raised his camera toward the entrance.
Two rescue team members appeared from inside the black smoke.
Each was carrying a shining bundle in his arms.
They moved in perfect rhythm.
The waiting firefighters immediately ran forward and took the glowing bundles from them.
The moment they handed the bundles over, the two rescuers collapsed onto the ground.
They removed their face masks and breathed heavily.
Even while exhausted, they stared anxiously toward the smoke-filled entrance.
Weak crying could be heard from inside the shining bundles.
"It's a victim!"
"A survivor!"
"They're alive!"
The emergency medical team was already waiting.
When they removed the reflective fireproof coverings, trapped heat burst outward.
The moment the children saw light and people again, relief overwhelmed them.
They began crying even louder.
"WAAAAAH!"
The paramedics immediately began treating them.
"It's okay."
"You're safe now."
"Everything's fine."
They carefully examined the children's entire bodies.
Their skin was red from the heat.
Fortunately, there were no obvious burns.
Their bodies felt as though they had spent around ten minutes inside a sauna.
The paramedics immediately placed cooling packs on their heads, chests, and backs to lower their body temperature.
However, the children continued crying so violently that the paramedics became worried.
"At this rate, they might start having convulsions!"
One paramedic who had experience raising children looked especially concerned.
"Meooow."
A cat suddenly jumped onto one child's lap.
The paramedic was so surprised that she almost chased it away.
However, the children's crying immediately began to calm.
"C-cat..."
Hic.
"Kitty..."
The children's attention shifted completely toward the cat.
They rapidly became calmer.
The paramedic stared in disbelief and relief.
"What is this?"
The children quickly became absorbed in watching the cat.
Once Captain Gu and the deputy captain confirmed that the children were safe, they immediately spoke to the firefighter beside them.
"Oxygen tanks!"
A firefighter handed them prepared tanks.
The two men began connecting them.
A senior rescue team member immediately stopped them.
"What are you planning to do?"
"That crazy bastard still hasn't come out."
The firefighter blocked them.
"Wait."
"Tell us what's happening inside."
"We'll go in."
Even at a glance, Captain Gu and the deputy captain were in no condition to reenter the building.
They were already completely exhausted.
They were standing only through willpower.
The moment they heard that the other rescue team members would enter instead, their strength visibly left their bodies.
Captain Gu quickly explained.
"Hee-soo is currently coming up from underground level three with the elderly couple."
"Behind them are two men in their thirties and two adult women."
"The stairwell is completely filled with smoke."
"And it's getting hotter by the second."
"They're coming up the stairs?"
"Wrapped up like those children?"
"That's right."
The information was immediately passed through the radio.
The remaining rescue team members rushed into the smoke.
Watching them disappear, Captain Gu and the deputy captain finally collapsed onto the ground.
The moment word spread that more victims were coming up, the fire suppression teams also rapidly repositioned.
To push smoke outward, they began spraying water from inside toward the entrance.
The temperature inside the stairwell was continuing to rise, so another suppression team prepared to spray water directly inside at any moment.
The more water they sprayed, the more violently black smoke poured outward.
Flames began appearing between the clouds of smoke.
One suppression team asked command,
"Should we spray inside?"
"Wait!"
"If you spray now, it'll make it harder for them to climb out!"
The waiting firefighters' mouths went dry.
Even from outside, they could feel that the people inside were running out of time.
