Chapter 030: Limit (9)
Captain Gu couldn't believe him.
His expression was hidden behind his face mask, but Hee-soo could easily imagine what he was thinking.
"This bastard."
"You're confusing the hell out of me."
"I'm going first."
He clipped the rescue harness hook onto the steel cable.
Then he jumped off the side of the building.
The steel cable had been pulled as tight as possible.
Even so, Captain Gu dropped almost in free fall.
He fell to around the fourth-floor level before the cable's curve rapidly became more horizontal and suddenly began slowing him down.
However, he had already been accelerating downward at 9.8 meters per second squared.
The sudden braking force placed an enormous impact on Captain Gu's body.
If he had been holding the cable with his hands instead of wearing a rescue harness, the impact would have ripped him free and sent him straight to the ground.
The moment Captain Gu jumped from the rooftop and dropped along the steel cable, Yoon-hee screamed.
"He's falling!"
Chief Jang could only clench his jaw and watch.
Captain Gu's speed decreased.
But by the time he reached the fourth-floor level, he had already been moving at around seventy-two kilometers per hour.
Once the cable leveled out, the only forces slowing him were the friction between the wire and the harness hook.
That wasn't enough to stop him efficiently.
The steel cable had been connected into the bed of a twenty-five-ton truck.
Captain Gu shot directly toward it.
At that moment, the rescue harness supporting his body snapped.
He was thrown toward the wall of the truck bed.
Captain Gu had been expecting to slam into solid metal.
Instead, his body struck a massive air mattress.
The impact still hurt.
The mattress hadn't yet been fully inflated.
But at least he didn't hit the wall.
The sudden shock left Captain Gu completely dazed.
When he dropped onto the floor, the Rescue Team 3 members waiting below immediately dragged him out of the truck.
"Captain!"
"Are you okay?"
Captain Gu staggered upright.
"Y-yeah."
"I think I'm alive."
A dull pain spread through his ribs.
I think I broke a rib.
A message appeared on Hee-soo's face mask.
[1 Rescue Successful]
[3 People Remaining]
Photographer Jang, who had filmed the entire descent, shouted in celebration.
"YES!"
Chief Jang clenched his fist.
His eyes were now filled with even greater confidence.
Hee-soo smiled.
Chief Jang came up with a good method.
As expected.
The next firefighter stepped onto the rooftop ledge.
At that exact moment, an ominous vibration ran through the building.
Rrrrrumble!
The entire structure shook.
Nothing could be seen below except smoke.
The remaining firefighters were becoming increasingly afraid.
Captain Gu's voice came through the radio.
"Next!"
"Jump!"
At Captain Gu's shout, the firefighter stopped hesitating and jumped.
Four seconds later, another message appeared on Hee-soo's display.
[1 Rescue Successful]
[2 People Remaining]
Captain Gu's voice came again.
"Next!"
The next firefighter jumped.
[1 Rescue Successful]
[1 Person Remaining]
Then the final firefighter quickly slid down the steel cable.
[1 Rescue Successful]
[0 People Remaining]
The moment Hee-soo saw the message, relief washed through him.
He clipped his harness onto the cable and stepped onto the ledge.
BOOM!
CRASH!
A massive roar exploded through the building.
Dust and smoke burst in every direction.
What?
The vibration knocked Hee-soo from the wall.
As the smoke briefly cleared and the ground came into view, Hee-soo could only close his eyes.
The rooftop parapet had collapsed.
The wire's anchor point dropped with it.
The cable that should have been stretched tight suddenly went slack.
Seeing it happen, Chief Jang screamed.
"WINCH!"
"REEL IN THE WINCH, NOW!"
Even before Chief Jang shouted, the winch had already been working continuously to maintain tension.
But now, the speed at which it reeled in looked impossibly slow.
Hee-soo plunged toward the ground at terrifying speed.
Ah.
Damn it.
Am I going to die here?
I saved so many people this time.
Will I ever get this lucky again?
Hee-soo had already given up on surviving this life.
I hope it doesn't hurt too much when I hit the ground.
Then again, the impact will be so strong I probably won't even feel pain.
Damn.
At least this death should hurt less than the others.
As Hee-soo continued falling, he felt weightless.
Then he closed his eyes.
A white ceiling appeared before Hee-soo.
A startled woman was standing beside him.
"Hee-soo!"
"Hee-soo opened his eyes!"
"Hee-soo!"
He was confused.
That's Mrs. Yoon's voice.
More importantly, this isn't the bathroom.
Another voice followed.
"Oppa!"
"It's me!"
"Min-jung!"
"Do you recognize me?!"
Her voice was so sharp that it pierced straight into his ears.
Hee-soo flinched.
Be quiet.
Your voice is stabbing my ears.
But the words didn't come out of his mouth.
Everyone else's time seemed to be moving normally.
Only Hee-soo's time felt slow.
Why is Mrs. Yoon here?
Is this a dream?
Huh?
This has never happened when I died and came back before.
He couldn't understand the situation at all.
Soon, someone dressed in white entered and shone a flashlight into Hee-soo's eyes.
He wanted to shout at them in irritation.
But he didn't have enough strength to resist.
"Director Choi."
"Can you hear me?"
"If you can hear me, give us some kind of sign."
"Can you raise a finger?"
Someone suddenly grabbed Hee-soo's hand.
"Oppa!"
"Squeeze my hand!"
It was Min-jung's voice.
Her sharp voice made him want to pull his hand away.
But he had no strength.
Still, it seemed that some faint pressure reached Min-jung's hand.
"H-his hand moved!"
"His hand moved!"
The doctor's explanation reached his ears.
"Haah."
"This is a relief."
"It appears Director Choi has regained consciousness."
"However, he remained in a coma for a long time."
"It may take some time before his body fully returns to an awakened state."
The unfamiliar feeling of his own body was disturbing.
A coma?
Did I survive that fall?
This didn't feel like being dead.
It felt as though every connection inside his brain had been severed, and now the wires were being connected one by one.
Even in that state, one question remained in his mind.
Why is Mrs. Yoon here?
His body felt like a sponge soaked completely with water.
The brief disturbance exhausted him.
He quickly fell asleep again.
Chairman Choi rushed to the hospital the moment he received the call.
When he arrived, he couldn't believe his eyes.
Hee-soo's mother, President Yoon Hye-ri, had cried so much that her face was a mess.
Hee-soo was still lying on the bed.
A doctor was removing the oxygen mask from his face.
Fear immediately struck Chairman Choi.
"Why?"
"What happened?"
"Didn't you say he woke up?"
"Why are you removing the oxygen mask?"
President Yoon looked at Chairman Choi.
Her expression was somewhere between crying and smiling.
"Yes."
"He woke up."
"He's sleeping again now."
The doctor also smiled.
"He can now breathe on his own."
"So he no longer needs oxygen support."
"His oxygen saturation is also good."
"Really?"
"But why isn't he waking up again?"
"It's already been days..."
Chairman Choi asked with a confused expression.
President Yoon took his hand and pulled him closer.
"They said he's confused and his brain has been under a lot of stress."
"That's why he fell asleep again."
"Come sit down."
Only then did Chairman Choi let out a long breath of relief.
He sat beside President Yoon.
"Where are the boys?"
"They stayed beside Hee-soo for two full days without leaving."
"I told them to go home for now."
"They've been through a lot."
"I'm glad you came."
"It feels reassuring having you here."
"Of course I came."
"Aren't you busy?"
"How could work matter when Hee-soo is like this?"
"That's true."
"Since you're here, get some rest too."
"I need to see Hee-soo regain consciousness properly, then I have to go straight back to America."
"I have an important meeting with the Department of Commerce."
"I postponed even that to come here."
Chairman Choi gently patted President Yoon's shoulder.
"Still."
"You came running because of our son."
"I won't say thank you."
"Of course not."
"More importantly, you haven't even gone home for days."
"I'll stay here."
"You should rest."
"It's fine."
"What home do I even have here?"
"No."
"Father recognizes you now."
"So you can come home."
President Yoon's face instantly brightened.
"Really?"
"Father-in-law acknowledged me?"
"Yes."
"You saved the American branch when it was practically dying."
"There's no way he can deny you anymore."
"He sent me there without even giving me shares."
"I truly thought Father had abandoned me."
"He did."
"But you brought it back to life anyway."
"And you weren't even a business major."
"You majored in music."
"Well."
"That's..."
President Yoon Hye-ri had been born without any powerful family background.
When she married Chairman Choi, media outlets spent an entire year calling it the romance of the century.
She had been chosen as principal violinist of the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra.
But she gave up music.
Chairman Wang had never liked Yoon Hye-ri.
In his eyes, she was merely a beautiful woman who had seduced a chaebol heir and changed her fate.
Even after President Yoon gave birth to all three of Chairman Choi's sons, his treatment of her didn't change.
Then Suseong Electronics' American branch began struggling for multiple reasons.
President Yoon volunteered to go to America and revive it herself.
Since the family had already considered abandoning the business, they sent her partly to separate her from the household.
They even completely separated the American branch from Suseong Electronics and made it operate almost like an independent corporation.
Financial support was cut off.
The branch was pushed to the edge of collapse.
But President Yoon never gave up.
She slowly revived the American operation.
Now, the business had become essential to the state of Illinois.
Even Suseong Electronics' headquarters had begun building its American foundry business around that branch.
Of course, the strong support of her husband, who had become chairman around the same time, had also helped tremendously.
President Yoon had gone to America when Hee-soo was only three years old.
From that point until Hee-soo eventually came to America to study more than ten years later, she had barely seen his face.
She had devoted herself entirely to business.
For President Yoon, the years when Hee-soo studied in America had felt almost like a dream.
No matter how difficult things became, they met once a month.
Sometimes Hee-soo flew from Massachusetts to Illinois.
Other times, President Yoon traveled the opposite direction.
When Hee-soo announced that he was returning to Korea, President Yoon understood that he was going back to prepare for the family succession.
Even so, she had been so heartbroken that she barely ate for several days.
She was overjoyed that Hee-soo had awakened.
But she was also deeply happy that Chairman Wang had finally acknowledged her.
Still, President Yoon shook her head.
"I'll just stay beside my son."
"If not now, when will I ever have another chance to stay beside Hee-soo like this?"
Chairman Choi understood her feelings completely.
He didn't try to persuade her anymore.
"All right."
"Do that."
"If it becomes too hard, tell me."
"But seriously, why does this brat keep sleeping so much?"
"After what happened to him, sleeping is only natural."
"I'm just grateful he woke up."
Her voice trembled at the end.
It seemed the terrifying possibilities she didn't even want to imagine kept returning to her mind.
The news that Hee-soo had awakened sent the medical team into motion.
His CT scans and MRI scans had shown no abnormalities.
His brain waves were also normal.
And yet he had not awakened from the coma.
The doctors had been growing increasingly nervous.
But after three days in the hospital, Hee-soo had finally opened his eyes.
Every member of the medical team breathed a sigh of relief.
End of Chapter 030
