CH 338

-Hey, now. That's no way to greet someone, Bang Jin-Hun. No need to be that unfriendly when you consider our close relationship.

Kim Seok-Il snarkily replied on the phone.

“What relationship are you even talking about, you piece of sh*t? The one where we're trying to rip each other's throats out? Listen here, you son of a b*tch, wash your neck and wait for me, okay? I'll be there to rip your head off pretty soon.”

-Calm down for a second, will you? Besides, I don't think you have what it takes to deal with me now that Kang Jin-Ho has become a pancake.

“...I f*cking knew it. So, it really was you.” Bang Jin-Hun gritted his teeth. “Sure, we are dying to rip each other's throats out, but some things are totally off limits, you motherf*cker. And you crossed that line this time!”

-No, you people crossed the line first.

“Say what?”

-What did you expect us to do after you roped in a damn monster like him? Behave ourselves nicely and present our necks on the chopping board?

“Listen here, you dipsh*t! You got involved in that man's life first before I did! Don't come here with your bullsh*t, cuz no one's buying it!”

-That's where our opinions will have to differ. It doesn't matter, anyway. I don't have the time nor the habit of discussing this and that over a dead man. The dead is just that, dead and buried.

“He's...!” Bang Jin-Hun hurriedly clamped his mouth shut. He almost blurted out that Kang Jin-Ho was still alive.

If he stupidly revealed that Kang Jin-Ho was still alive, Kim Seok-Il and his gang would definitely try all sorts of underhanded schemes to trigger a second cave-in. In that case, letting the Yeongnam bastards believe in Kang Jin-Ho's demise was the correct thing to do.

-Sounds like you're too agitated to think straight, Bang Jin-Hun. Calm down first, big fella. You're now the leader of a sizable organization, after all. Even if you're only half a leader.

“Get to the point or bugger off.”

-The point, eh? It's simple enough. You know the Japanese are pointing their blades in your way, don't you? They are aiming for the Martial Assembly. No matter how thick you are, you must've received that info by now.

“...Where the f*ck are you right now?”

-This is a warning. And an offer. A negotiation, if you will. So, listen closely. Hand over the Assembly. Don't worry, I'll guarantee you will still have a cushy position for yourself.

“Don't f*ck with me, Kim Seok-Il!”

-We keep trying to kill each other like this, and the Japs will come in and sweep all of us away in one go. Now, calm down and think about how the history books will judge you if that happens, Bang Jin-Hun. If you quietly lower your head now, we can prevent that from happening. That I assure you.

Bang Jin-Hun smirked derisively. “Oii, Kim Seok-Il.”

-...?

“Sounds like you think I'm some kind of a clown, but... Your eyes for people stinks, you smelly son of a b*tch. Wait for me, okay? Cuz I'll be knocking on your door pretty soon. To rip your head off!”

Bang Jin-Hun didn't wait for Kim Seok-Il's reply and just ended the call there. He had no desire whatsoever to talk things out with the Yeongnam Group's leader, anyway. Besides, after things had come this far... Bang Jin-Hun and Kim Seok-Il simply had to kill each other now. What was the point of talking in that case?

Bang Jin-Hun chuckled and glanced at Jo Gyu-Min. “With that, we now know for sure.”

“It seems that way,” Jo Gyu-Min nodded slightly.

The final strand of the faintest of all faint hope that the person trapped in the tunnel wasn't Kang Jin-Ho got thrown out the window with that phone call. Sure, no matter who was down there, the moral thing was to rescue them. However, Jo Gyu-Min wasn't a humanitarian. He wasn't some righteous man who treated his acquaintances and total strangers equally. And he wasn't even interested in becoming one, either.

“Give me a freaking break...!” Jo Gyu-Min sighed, then headed to the Jaegyeong HQ's roof.

Bang Jin-Hun also followed him silently and headed to the rooftop smoking area. They mouthed cigarettes and lit each other's before wordlessly puffing away for a while.

Jo Gyu-Min remained standing while smoking two cigarettes back-to-back before squatting on the ground.

'What should we do?'

No matter how much he thought about it, questioned it and poked it from various angles, this problem didn't seem to have a good answer. The only option they had was to cautiously dig forward inch by inch, hoping to not trigger another collapse. This would be the best... if only Kang Jin-Ho could survive down there.

Jo Gyu-Min glanced at Bang Jin-Hun. “Mister Bang, how long can a martial artist last without eating or drinking a single drop of water?”

“...Not sure. Never experienced a situation like that before, after all. At a rough guess, maybe twice as long compared to a regular civilian. But I'm not 100% sure.”

“What if it's Mister Jin-Ho?”

“My heart says at least one year, but my head says around ten days.”

“Ten days...”

That was cutting it too close. But they might still have a chance if the rescue operation got underway right now.

Bang Jin-Hun rubbed his chin. “...But, here's a thing.”

“Yes?”

“I did mention that there were two people down there, didn't I?”

“...Wait, two people?” Jo Gyu-Min's eyes widened.

Why two? Didn't that mean Kang Jin-Ho was with someone? But, didn't he go his separate ways with his friends and head home? Did he run into someone on the way, then?

“The thing is, though... One of the heat signatures was really strong, while the other one was a bit faint, you see? I think that belongs to a regular person, so…” Bang Jin-Hun lit another cigarette and sucked on it before continuing from where he left off. “The 'Kang Jin-Ho' I know doesn't view any of his enemies as his fellow human beings. I mean, he kills people like he's squashing some insignificant bugs, doesn't he?”

“...Yes, you're right.”

“On the other hand, that dude has this weird side to him. If he views you as his close acquaintance, he's gonna pay way too much attention to you. So much so that you even wonder why he feels the need to go that far.”

Jo Gyu-Min narrowed his eyes while studying Bang Jin-Hun's expression. Despite his bear-like appearance, he seemed surprisingly good at analyzing people.

'Right, I forgot that Bang Jin-Hun is no ordinary man.'

At times like this, Jo Gyu-Min was freshly reminded of the fact that Bang Jin-Hun was one of the titans influencing the course of this nation. When solely looking at the overall influence level, Bang Jin-Hun might have more sway than Chairman Hwang Jeong-Hu.

Jo Gyu-Min slowly shook his head. “I see. But, what are you trying to say, Mister Bang?”

Bang Jin-Hun sighed and sucked on his cigarette. “If the civilian is someone Mister Jin-Ho considers a close acquaintance, he's not gonna just sit there and watch this person die.”

“...Ah!” Jo Gyu-Min quickly figured out what Bang Jin-Hun was trying to say. That wasn't so hard to do, after all, considering Kang Jin-Ho's personality.

Bang Jin-Hun pensively continued to speak. “Maybe Mister Jin-Ho can last a month down there. But his personality means he will definitely attempt to escape before the person he is with dies before his eyes. Even if it's not feasible and utterly reckless…”

Jo Gyu-Min pulled out another cigarette from his packet, his hands nervously trembling. “...Three days.”

“Yes, I think so, too,” Bang Jin-Hun groaned.

Jo Gyu-Min chuckled hollowly as he mouthed the new cigarette. Just what the hell was he supposed to do now? This situation seemed to get worse and worse with every second passing by, and there was precisely nothing he could do.

If it was possible, Jo Gyu-Min would've rushed to the site and started digging with his bare hands. But he knew better than anyone that such an act was a total waste of time and energy.

“So, I was thinking...” Bang Jin-Hun cautiously piped up.

“Yes?” Jo Gyu-Min's head slowly turned toward his conversation partner, and he saw the hardened expression on Bang Jin-Hun's face.

“I have a crazy idea, and... Wanna hear about it?”

Jo Gyu-Min dazedly looked up at Bang Jin-Hun.

***

She was dying of thirst. Trying to open her lips caused this painful feeling akin to her mouth splitting apart and blood welling up to torment her brain. And her body also felt like drying up and turning into a withered husk. Her eyes felt stiff and dry as no more tears wanted to come out.

Her whole body was burning up in high fever. Choi Yeon-Ha couldn't even tell whether she was awake or stuck in a feverish dream. With her consciousness half-closed off, it felt like she was floating aimlessly in the world.

Was she even alive? Maybe she had died already?

Choi Yeon-Ha had already forgotten about her fear of death by now. It was similar to... To how a bleeding person would fail to hold on to their gradually-fading consciousness and eventually fall into a dream-like state as they died.

Drip...

What woke her up right at that moment was a trickle of liquid falling accurately between her cracked lips. When Choi Yeon-Ha sensed the liquid entering her mouth, she instinctively began seeking out more and panted weakly.

This trickle of liquid was like the nectar from the gods. She could even feel it slide down her throat, too. She dazedly continued to drink this liquid for a while before her eyelids weakly cracked open.

'...Is this water?'

But how could that be? Where would anyone find water in this space? Just having air seep in from somewhere was already good fortune, so...

With her mind sobered up now, Choi Yeon-Ha began questioning the origin of this liquid. Where was it coming from?

Choi Yeon-Ha's eyes, still swimming and weak, slowly shifted around to look. However, nothing could be seen in this darkness no matter how wide-open her eyes were. After being quickly reminded of where this was, Choi Yeon-Ha closed her eyes again.

The weakened body led to weakened eyesight. The blurry shape she saw at the beginning was no longer visible to her eyes now. On the other hand, her senses of smell and touch were responding much more sharply.

Choi Yeon-Ha sensed this faint stickiness and tasted sourness and a hint of metallic something within her mouth. Only then did she realize what the liquid in her mouth was, and her eyes shot open wide in shock.

She tried to say something, but her cracked lips and parched throat could produce only turbid sounds. Forming words was not possible for her anymore.

“Stay still, Miss Yeon-Ha.”

Choi Yeon-Ha clenched her teeth at Kang Jin-Ho's flat-sounding voice. Her expression crumpled, and the corners of her eyes stung, but no tears wanted to come out.

'It... was his blood.'

After figuring out the truth about the liquid she just drank, Choi Yeon-Ha wasn't sure how to respond to this revelation. She felt apologetic. Thankful. Even flabbergasted. And angry, too. Also...

'You're such a fool...!'

Obviously, Kang Jin-Ho's wounds couldn't have opened up again. Which meant he deliberately injured himself and guided his blood into Choi Yeon-Ha's mouth. She might have recovered a little bit of strength through his kindness, but Kang Jin-Ho should have lost just as much of his stamina in return.

No one knew when the rescue team would come for them, so for him to waste his stamina like this could only mean he was inching even faster toward his death. Just who would even think about using his blood to feed someone else in this kind of situation?

'And it's all because of me, too...!'

If only Choi Yeon-Ha hadn't just shown up out of the blue that night, they wouldn't be trapped here like this. And... And, even if she did show up before him, they could have avoided this situation if Choi Yeon-Ha had left after taking a good look at Kang Jin-Ho's face.

Everything seemed like Choi Yeon-Ha's fault, and she couldn't bring herself to look at Kang Jin-Ho's face out of guilt. She should consider herself fortunate that the darkness was hiding Kang Jin-Ho right now. If not, Choi Yeon-Ha wouldn't have been able to keep her eyes open.

“I'm... sorry...”

Her voice was small. Cracked. Even she couldn't be polite about it and say it sounded okay.

Kang Jin-Ho gently pressed his palm on her forehead. “Don't speak. Breathe slowly, and try to get more sleep if you can.”

“I... I... can't...”

Kang Jin-Ho chuckled softly at that. He didn't find her response all that surprising. Choi Yeon-Ha had been asleep for a while now, so no wonder she didn't feel sleepy. Her body had entered a half-state of suspended animation after sensing the looming danger, but that could only help up to a point.

Thankfully, it wasn't cold down here, and that helped a lot with preserving her body temperature. However, that still didn't change the unfortunate fact that she hadn't eaten or drunk anything.

'I need to start preparing.'

All this time, Kang Jin-Ho had been diligently circulating his qi, and the bones in his left arm seemed to have mended themselves to a degree. The pain from there was gone. That took care of the arm issue, but his leg was a different story. The sensations had come back, and did so with a vengeance, too. Extreme pain was constantly shooting up from his leg.

However, Kang Jin-Ho considered that as good news. It meant his leg was still attached to his body, after all.

'I'm running out of time.'

Choi Yeon-Ha's condition was getting worse with every passing minute. This space underground obviously had no difference between day and night. The concept of time flow down here was vague at best.

Some time ago, Kang Jin-Ho saw a documentary on TV about the Sampoong Department Store collapse. In it, the survivors said their perception of time flow had slowed down while they were trapped in the rubble. If that was true, then Choi Yeon-Ha's condition might be even worse than Kang Jin-Ho assumed.

Kang Jin-Ho quietly sucked in a deep breath.

'There won't be many opportunities to get this right.'

Before Choi Yeon-Ha's stamina completely ran out, Kang Jin-Ho had to recover as much internal energy as possible. That, in turn, should help him with recovering his body's state to 'optimal' as much as possible under the circumstances. And then...

He needed to escape from this place with Choi Yeon-Ha in one attempt.

Even Kang Jin-Ho himself couldn't guarantee success. That was how reckless it was, but he couldn't think of any other way to save Choi Yeon-Ha's life.

As he stewed in his thoughts...

Kang Jin-Ho's head suddenly snapped upward.

Ruuuuumble...!

Support us at bit.ly/3iBfjkV.

His eyes shot open wide as the rumbling noises akin to the entire world quaking reverberated within the space.