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Kang Il-hyun appeared on the phone screen. Watching him knock on the bedroom door, Jagyeong immediately sent a message. After checking the message, Kang Il-hyun stood staring blankly at the bedroom door. Jagyeong bit her lower lip gently and sent another message.
[I took the medicine. I think sleeping will help. Thank you for your concern.]
Surely that man wouldn't tear down the door and barge in. Given his usual attitude, it wouldn't be strange if he did. Contrary to her worries, he obediently turned and left from in front of the door. Closing her eyes, she let out a sigh of relief. Just in case, she had installed cameras inconspicuously in the living room and bedroom where she stayed, but she never knew it would help like this.
Jagyeong put her phone in her bag, lowered her body, and surveyed the area around the warehouse. The warehouse door was firmly closed, and no one was in sight. Seeing quite a few parked vehicles, there were definitely people around. After attaching timer bombs to each car, she set the time with her wristwatch.
A car sound came from the factory entrance. Hiding behind a van and waiting, a black sedan entered the parking lot. The car stopped, and shortly after, a man got out. Silencing her footsteps, she approached and twisted the man's neck. The man collapsed without even screaming, and Jagyeong took the car keys and got into the driver's seat.
After fastening her seatbelt, she started the engine and drove the car at full speed. Vroom—with the sound, the car rushed forward and crashed forcefully into the warehouse door. Bang. With the sound, the door shattered, and the impact threw her upper body forward before settling back. Ugh, frowning as she looked ahead, the hood was crumpled like paper.
Inside the warehouse, about ten men stood with surprised faces. Seeing alcohol and food placed before them, it seemed she had interrupted their meal time. As soon as she got out of the car, the men realizing she wasn't a colleague all pulled out knives from their clothes in unison.
Jagyeong grinned at the sight.
"Knock knock, seems I forgot to knock. Were you in the middle of a meal?"
A man with frizzy permed hair came forward with a menacing scowl, taking large strides.
"Who the hell are you, bastard? Which family are you from?"
Family, my ass. I'm a parentless orphan, you bastard. She drew a silenced pistol, aimed at his head, and shot. Pishew—his head exploded, and three guys behind rushed at her simultaneously. Jagyeong embedded bullets in the same spot with lightning speed.
At the agile and clean movements, the survivors all froze. The men holding knives, seeing their colleague's head explode and die right before their eyes, didn't dare to attack recklessly and only glanced at each other.
"Anyone else coming?"
"...."
"If not, I'd like to take care of my business and leave?"
Just then, she sensed a presence right behind her. Immediately, a blade flew toward her side. She turned to dodge, grabbed the attacker's hair, and snapped his neck backward. At the same time, the men in front also started rushing forward in a swarm, seizing the opportunity.
She drew a knife from her waist and stabbed rapidly, stab stab, below the neck of the man holding it, and blood spurted like a fountain. After throwing the man aside, she shot him in the head and aimed at the swarming men, opening fire.
At the flying bullets, a few quick-thinking men threw down their knives and fled. Even those men, she took careful aim and shattered their heads.
In an instant, thirteen grown men lay bloody on the floor. She checked those still breathing and finished them off. They'd only live doing trash things anyway. In case there were any remaining, she changed the magazine and moved further inside.
There was no one, only a door locked with a padlock. She shot and destroyed the lock. But inside weren't children but paper boxes stacked as high as a person. Opening a box to check, it was full of sugar bags.
She cut and rummaged through the middle of a bag with a knife, and a small plastic bag the size of a thumb came out. It contained a small amount of white powder. Dipping it on her tongue to check, it was philopon. Ptui. After spitting it out, she roughly counted the boxes. There were easily over several hundred.
First, finding the children was the priority. Leaving the boxes behind, she moved further inside. Though no particular sound emerged, she couldn't let down her guard. Then she discovered an old door. It was just large enough for one person to barely pass through.
Opening the door, it led underground. She turned on a lantern, illuminated the inside, and slowly descended. Thud, thud, nothing was heard except footsteps. A terrible stench of filth rose from below. When she stepped on the floor, two rats hurriedly fled.
She looked around with the light. There was another door. It was old and locked from the outside. She drew her gun and shattered it, and the old door opened on its own. She hid behind the entrance, then aimed her gun and lantern inside in a sniper stance.
Through the open door gap, a child was visible. Jagyeong quickly lowered her gun, leaving only the light. The child was clutching a stone in one hand, trembling with fear. Jagyeong remembered her as the girl she had seen in the alley. Her face was a mess as if severely beaten, and behind her, other children were gathered silently.
Seeing the hand clutching the stone trembling violently, Jagyeong pulled down the mask that had been covering half her face. The child's eyes widened as if she recognized her.
"You're not going to throw that stone at me, are you?"
The child's face slowly crumpled, and tears began to well in her hollow eyes. Jagyeong was at a loss for what to say. The child threw the stone on the floor and wiped her tears with the back of her hand. Jagyeong approached and examined the children behind. She intended to take them all out, but one child was missing. Last time there were definitely seven.
"Where did one go?"
Another child from behind stood up. The other children also slightly lowered their guard, seeming to realize she wouldn't harm them.
"She died..."
Jagyeong felt her throat tighten.
"Why?"
"From being beaten..."
It ached because it seemed to be because of her. But feeling sorry could come later. Getting the children out was the urgent priority. If she delayed more and others swarmed in, escaping might become difficult. There was a young child who looked too weak to stand, so she carried her on her back and had the others help each other.
When they came up the stairs, light poured in. Even seeing the corpses with shattered heads scattered everywhere, the children didn't scream or run away. Even in that situation, the older children covered the younger children's eyes.
After breaking the glass of the van parked in the yard, she loaded the children one by one.
"Stay right here without moving until I come."
After giving another warning, Jagyeong took her bag and walked to the warehouse. She took an oil drum from beside the warehouse, poured it all over the boxes, lit a lighter, and threw it. In an instant, flames grew fierce and swallowed the stacked boxes.
Then she opened all the valves of the LPG gas tanks the guys had used for grilling meat and kicked them. Hiss—gas leaked out with an acrid smell. The fire from inside was climbing the outer wall and coming this way.
Jagyeong closed the warehouse door and returned to the car. First, she took out tools from her bag. After tearing off the key box, pulling out wires, stripping the insulation, and connecting them, the engine didn't start. Damn. It's been a while so I'm confused.
Checking the time, about 10 minutes remained before the bombs planted on the vehicles in the parking lot would explode. She steadied her mind and hurriedly began working. Vroom. With the sound, the heavy car body shook. Jagyeong let out a sigh of relief and smirked. Worried the cars parked nearby might explode, she hurriedly drove out of the parking lot.
***
One, two, three, four, five, six... Wang Ryun's face was quite troubled as he counted the children. Because Jagyeong, who had taken a motorcycle and firearms, had sold the motorcycle somewhere and brought back six children. And they were children in ragged condition at that. The children were huddled together, busy eating jajangmyeon and tangsuyuk.
"Are these children you gave birth to?"
"Not funny. That joke."
Wang Ryun waved his hand dismissively. Bringing them was fine, but asking him to take care of them. This isn't some daycare.
"I can't. No. Take them to the police."
"I'll give you more commission."
"Am I doing this to make money?"
"5% of my share."
"...."
"If you don't want to, forget it."
"Hold on. I'm thinking about where to leave them."
Jagyeong smiled. After much deliberation, Wang Ryun thought of a church. He said he would take them to the church he attended where a priest cared for children with nowhere to go. It might surprise people to hear, but he had been going to church steadily since he was very young and even had the baptismal name Antonio.
That's why even when he was active in the field, he avoided weekends when scheduling. Wang Han had criticized Wang Ryun for lacking professional spirit, but Jagyeong was secretly envious that he had a religion. Jagyeong had never particularly believed in anyone nor had she ever prayed earnestly.
After finishing a bowl of jajangmyeon in no time, she turned on the TV. The news was on, and word came that a factory in Doksandong had exploded and firefighting operations were underway. The children's marble-like eyes gathered toward the TV. Jagyeong turned off the TV, went outside, and put a cigarette in her mouth.
She took a deep drag until her cheeks hollowed, then exhaled into the empty air. Today the sky was perfectly clear without a single cloud. While gazing at the moon, she heard the sound of a door opening behind her. Thinking it might be Wang Ryun, she looked back to see it was the girl she had saved.
"Thank... you..."
After giving a mumbled greeting, she hurriedly ran back inside. She felt inexplicably choked up. When she first saw her in the alley, she thought she resembled herself, but no. She was far better off. She would never forget the sight of that child trembling while clutching a stone to protect someone.
After grinding out the cigarette, she looked up at the sky. Now... the problem was returning to Kang Il-hyun's house.