Chapter 41

Chapter 041: What Must Be Done (10)

The moment a hopeless thought crossed Hee-soo's mind, he heard footsteps.

"Hey! Hee-soo is here!"

It was the deputy captain's voice.

Everyone looked at Hee-soo and struggled to hold back their laughter.

"Oh, there he is. Wow, you're really stuck."

It was Jae-sik.

Hee-soo barely managed to speak through shallow breaths.

"H-hurry and pull me out."

The deputy captain snickered at the sight.

"Hey. Sorry. I know I shouldn't laugh, but, pfft, you look really funny stuck in there..."

Jae-sik, who was beside him, also burst out laughing.

Hee-soo snapped irritably.

"Ah! Hurry up!"

The two grabbed Hee-soo by the shoulders and pulled hard.

His body suddenly slipped free.

As his lungs filled with as much air as they could take, Hee-soo finally escaped the fear of death.

"Where is this?"

He asked immediately after getting out.

The deputy captain answered,

"About five hundred meters from the entrance you went into."

Hee-soo was still restless.

Chief Jang soon came running over.

His voice was slightly agitated.

"Hee-soo! Are you okay?"

Hee-soo nodded.

"Yes. I'm fine."

Chief Jang examined Hee-soo's entire body like a father looking over a son who had returned from the jaws of death.

After confirming that he was unharmed, Chief Jang let out a deep breath.

"Haah. Thank goodness."

Chief Jang shook his head.

Hee-soo reassured him.

"There's nothing wrong with me. But how did you know to come here?"

"I was listening to the radio the whole time. I heard you were stuck in a hole here."

Hee-soo felt his face heat up.

But he quickly became curious about the child.

"Where's the kid?"

"We sent him to the hospital first. He seemed fine, but he'd been underground for a long time, so we sent him in just in case. We also contacted his parents."

Hee-soo felt relieved.

But he soon became worried about the remaining victim.

"There's still one more person inside. I couldn't find them. Visibility was terrible, and I had to bring the child out..."

Captain Gu stopped the anxious Hee-soo.

"If you couldn't find anyone inside, then it can't be helped."

Hee-soo asked Chief Jang,

"Chief Jang. We have a spare protective suit, right?"

"Of course."

"Could you prepare one for me?"

"All right. Wait a moment."

Chief Jang made a call, and someone waiting by the vehicle brought over a spare protective suit.

As Hee-soo began putting it on, the deputy captain asked,

"Why are you putting that on again?"

"There's still someone inside."

Hee-soo hurried toward the entrance while taking out his phone and opening the app.

However, the marker was no longer visible.

"Huh?"

"What? Is something wrong?"

"The victim... the victim disappeared."

"What are you talking about now?"

Hee-soo had a bad feeling.

He quickly returned to the place where the toxic chemicals had pooled earlier.

All of the chemicals that had gathered there had drained somewhere, leaving only a large pit behind.

"Where did everything that was here go?"

"It probably soaked into the ground."

Jae-sik answered as if it were nothing serious.

Hee-soo tightly closed his eyes.

Ah. I'm too late.

I should've searched more at that time...

Regret rushed over him.

Captain Gu looked at Hee-soo standing blankly in front of the pit.

"What's wrong?"

"I failed to save one person."

"You're talking about that victim nobody saw, the one only you said was there?"

"They were definitely there."

"You saved the child. You said there was nobody else near him. The kid also said he didn't see anyone else."

Captain Gu's words were also reasonable.

"If you hadn't reached that kid when you did, you wouldn't have saved him either. You probably would've been found melted somewhere underground too."

He was right.

If Hee-soo had been even a little later, both the child and Hee-soo himself would have been in danger.

Jae-sik looked at the deeply discouraged Hee-soo and said,

"If someone had been down there, you would've found them too. You didn't find anyone because there was nobody there."

Of course, Jae-sik's words did not comfort Hee-soo.

There had definitely been someone alive in that place.

The police arrived about five minutes after Hee-soo came out.

It had also been thirty minutes since the Dobong Fire Station rescue team had been dispatched.

The police hurried over to investigate the scene.

Hee-soo tried to approach them, but Captain Gu stopped him.

"You worked hard. Let's go back. We can't stay here forever."

"Just a moment."

Hee-soo looked toward Chief Jang.

Chief Jang nodded and gestured for him to go back.

With reluctant steps, Hee-soo turned and returned to the rescue bus.

After they returned to the station, Captain Gu called Hee-soo to the rooftop separately.

"Hee-soo. I want to believe what you say too. But moving the team solely based on your words carries too much risk. There are also parts of it that are hard to believe."

Without knowing Hee-soo's ability, Captain Gu's words were reasonable.

That was why it was so frustrating.

Hee-soo could not prove it, so he could not simply demand absolute trust.

He needed a system capable of determining whether there were victims before they entered.

Hee-soo spoke coldly.

"So all you need is certainty that a victim is there, right?"

"If we're certain, our rescue team will follow you into hell itself. You do the same thing, don't you?"

These were people who repeatedly entered places like hell to save victims.

Even they were amazed by Hee-soo's actions.

At Hee-soo's sharp response, Captain Gu reached out to pat his shoulder.

"You're off tomorrow and the day after. Clear your head. Don't come in for no reason."

Hee-soo sometimes came in at night even on his days off to help with dispatches.

He avoided Captain Gu's hand.

"I'll handle my own affairs. Don't waste your time worrying about me."

Captain Gu's expression hardened.

"Want me to tell you how I really feel?"

"No. I'm not interested in things like that."

Hee-soo firmly refused.

But Captain Gu continued anyway.

"I'm going to say it. You make me nervous. I feel like sooner or later, you're going to cause an accident."

"That's because you're looking at me from your position."

"If you look at me from my position, there's nothing to worry about."

"And the reverse is the same."

"From where I'm standing, all of you make me nervous too."

"What?"

Captain Gu's anger rose at Hee-soo's unexpectedly cold and sharp words.

"You bastard! I'm worried about you and you still act like this?!"

"Who asked you to worry about me?"

"You're only worrying because it makes you feel better, aren't you?"

"Don't judge me by your standards!"

Captain Gu flinched at Hee-soo's cold, sharp, yet emotional words.

Seeing that, Hee-soo spoke calmly again.

"Worrying about me is a luxury."

"Worry about yourselves."

"I have enough control over my own life."

Hee-soo walked past Captain Gu.

After a few steps, he stopped and spoke again.

"And that nervous feeling you mentioned."

"I'll make sure even people like you won't need to feel nervous anymore."

He walked away, leaving a cold atmosphere behind.

A chill remained between the two of them all day.

Chief Jang greeted Hee-soo after work.

"Tired?"

"Well, yes."

"But at least you're no longer a probationary firefighter."

Hee-soo smiled.

"Does that really mean anything? It's not an important issue."

"Right. It isn't. But if you can operate your own team, things could become much easier."

Hee-soo only nodded silently.

After about five minutes of silence, Hee-soo finally spoke.

"How did the police investigation at the site go?"

Chief Jang shook his head.

"The scene is still too unstable, so they only preserved it. The forensic team came too, but they said it was impossible to investigate properly today."

"There was one more person in there."

"Please make sure they search for them."

Chief Jang stared at Hee-soo for a moment.

"There really was another person?"

"Yes, Chief Jang."

"All right."

Silence briefly filled the car on the way home.

Hee-soo was the one who broke it.

"Chief Jang. I'm thinking about stepping down as Director of Suseong Electronics' Strategic Planning Division."

It was an unexpected statement.

"What are you talking about? That sounds like you're giving up on Suseong Group."

Hee-soo shook his head.

"Not that. I have two reasons. One short-term reason and one long-term reason."

"Let's hear the short-term one first."

"I need to focus."

"To stabilize Suseong Safety, I don't need the title of Director at Suseong Electronics."

"Hmm. You're saying you don't have enough time."

Hee-soo became flustered at Chief Jang's answer.

"Ah. N-no, that's not what I mean."

"My tasks don't overlap. The efficiency is terrible."

"Isn't it your job to find efficiency even in that situation?"

"You know the world isn't efficient."

Hee-soo knew very well that if this conversation continued, he would lose.

"I won't be able to convince Father with a reason like this, right?"

"Of course not."

"Completing both is your task."

"If you can't even do that much, you shouldn't have started in the first place."

Chief Jang asked the awkward-looking Hee-soo,

"What's the long-term reason?"

"Ah. Now that my short-term reason has been completely crushed, I'm embarrassed to even say the long-term one."

"Just say it. I'll laugh at you afterward."

"In the end, my long-term goal is to grow Suseong Safety enough to take control of Suseong Electronics, and beyond that, the entire Suseong Group."

"You're going to buy Suseong Group?"

"Yes."

"Forget the money for a moment. Why buy it? They're already going to give it to you. You don't even have a real competitor."

His words sounded almost critical, but his expression was clearly interested.

Encouraged by that expression, Hee-soo continued.

"Well, I was thinking that instead of inheriting it and paying inheritance tax, wouldn't it be cheaper if I earned that much money myself and became the largest shareholder?"

Chief Jang smiled and simply nodded.

Hee-soo's face gradually turned red.

"Ah. I shouldn't have told you. Now I'm getting laughed at."

Chief Jang quickly waved his hand.

"No. I'm not laughing at you."

"I'm proud of you."

Hee-soo's expression finally brightened.

"Really?"

"Of course."

"You're saying you'll take Suseong with your own strength. That's a grand ambition."

"That's something I should support, not mock."

"You'll support me?"

"Of course."

Chief Jang watched Hee-soo for a moment with a pleased smile, then continued.

"But I think it's important that you keep your position as Director of Suseong Electronics."

"Do you?"

"And you're capable enough to handle that much."

"So I trust you."

Those few words struck Hee-soo deeply.

Hee-soo took a moment to settle his emotions before speaking.

"Yes. I'll do well enough that you won't be disappointed."

"I won't be disappointed."

"So just do your best."

"Chief Jang. By the way, the company that made my face mask isn't Suseong Electronics, right?"

"Of course not. We don't have an organization that makes things like that."

"The Strategic Planning Division probably outsourced it."

"Suseong Group is huge, but somehow there's no organization that makes the things I actually need."

"Then you have to create one."