Chapter 036: What Must Be Done (5)
At Hee-soo's explanation, the deputy captain could not hide his bewilderment.
They still could not even see the fire scene, but the vehicle stopped.
Hee-soo asked irritably,
"Why did we stop? Illegal parking again?"
"Yeah."
"Push through them. We'll charge the damages to the Seoul Metropolitan Government again."
"There are too many cars for that."
When they got out and looked, cars were parked on both sides of the road, leaving barely enough space for one passenger car to pass.
Hee-soo immediately contacted the equipment truck following behind them.
"How many bikes do we have?"
"Four."
"Take all of them out."
"They're already prepared."
Hee-soo looked at Captain Gu.
"Everyone knows how to ride a motorcycle, right?"
"Of course."
"Then let's go. Two people per bike should work."
"Got it."
They mounted the motorcycles prepared behind the bus and immediately raced toward the scene.
Jae-sik looked excited.
"This is actually really good. If necessary, we can jump on these and head straight to a scene."
Hee-soo rebuked him.
"All of this costs money."
The amount Hee-soo spent on every dispatch was not small.
Still, he thought it was cheaper than the price of a life, so he did not hesitate to spend it.
When they arrived at the scene, the victim markers immediately appeared.
He overlaid them with the building floor plan and saw that they were inside a bathroom.
Hee-soo immediately began briefing the team.
"The first place we need to enter is Basement Level 1. Unit B01, where the fire started. They're holding out inside the bathroom. I think they're spraying water around themselves."
Captain Gu felt chills.
"Seriously? I heard that place is already fully developed."
"I don't know about that. There are two people still alive. I'm going in. The rescue itself isn't complicated, so I need suppression water support."
"We'll do that as soon as the suppression team is ready."
Because the road leading into the alley was so narrow, the suppression teams still had not arrived.
The moment the briefing ended, Hee-soo ran into the villa filled with raging flames.
The fire scene had extremely poor visibility because of the smoke.
However, Hee-soo, the deputy captain, and Jae-sik already knew the building layout, so they headed toward the bathroom without hesitation.
The temperature at the fully developed fire scene was close to 1,000 degrees Celsius, but Dobong Rescue Team entered without hesitation.
Just as Hee-soo had said, the moment they opened the bathroom door, steam poured out.
Even though someone had been spraying water inside, the bathroom temperature had already risen above 80 degrees Celsius.
With the humidity close to 100 percent, if the two people had remained there another ten minutes, they would certainly have died.
One was an elderly woman who looked like a grandmother.
The other was a child who looked about five years old.
The grandmother had been desperately spraying water from the shower to survive.
She was using cold water, but the temperature continued rising because of the fire.
The moment she saw the firefighters after the door opened, the grandmother screamed desperately,
"Our Sang-woo! Take our Sang-woo out first!"
Hee-soo blocked the flames with his body and reassured her.
"Don't worry. We'll take both of you out safely."
He put auxiliary breathing masks on them to protect their lungs from the scorching heat.
Then he quickly wrapped both of them in fireproof blankets for escape.
The suppression team still had not arrived, so the interior temperature remained extremely dangerous.
After checking their surroundings, Hee-soo and the deputy captain picked up the two victims and carried them outside.
At that moment, another alarm appeared on Hee-soo's face mask.
[1 Victim Detected.]
A red dot appeared.
"What?"
It was on the third floor.
A victim who had not been there moments before suddenly appeared.
A chill ran through Hee-soo.
"W-what is this...?"
Hee-soo's startled voice went out over the radio.
"What is it?"
"There's a victim on the third floor!"
Unlike Hee-soo's shaken voice, Captain Gu remained calm.
"We finished searching up to the second floor. We're heading to the third floor now. The flames still haven't reached this far."
Hee-soo felt relieved for the moment.
But he still could not forget the chill running down his spine.
So there can be people even in places where no marker appears.
My previous rescue operations were incredibly lucky.
After Hee-soo brought the two victims from the basement outside, the dot on the third floor disappeared.
[2 Rescues Completed.]
He had no idea what happened to the victim on the third floor.
Since I wasn't involved, I probably won't receive a message about them.
As they were putting away equipment, a radio message came.
"Who said there was someone on the third floor?"
"What?"
It was a sudden question.
There definitely was a victim marker on the third floor.
Hee-soo replaced his oxygen tank and said,
"I'll go up to the third floor."
He recalled where the marker had appeared.
It had been near the wall adjoining the neighboring villa.
I need to add a history function.
I should save every marker that appears.
Using his memory, he found the location.
Smoke was violently pouring in through the ventilation fans in the kitchen and bathroom, so visibility on the third floor was also poor.
He searched the location by feeling around with his hands, but there was no sign of anyone.
Could it be?
Tense, Hee-soo opened the closet door in the room.
There was nothing inside except clothing.
Hee-soo let out a relieved sigh.
"Haah."
As he looked around the room, Hee-soo noticed a kimchi refrigerator.
No way.
He swallowed dryly.
He carefully approached and lifted the lid of the kimchi refrigerator.
Hee-soo could not believe his eyes.
A corpse had been folded and stuffed inside.
The grotesque sight of the body made Hee-soo freeze.
But he quickly calmed himself and reported the situation over the radio.
"I've discovered a body inside a kimchi refrigerator on the third floor."
Captain Gu was the first to respond.
