CH 418

“Get out of my way, you b*tch!”

A man's hand shooting out of the crowd grabbed Oh Su-Rin's shoulder and began yanking her back.

Oh Su-Rin screamed in alarm, “Unnie! Unnieeeeee!”

“Su-Rin!” Choi Yeon-Ha freaked out and hurriedly tried to pull the younger girl close.

The hand still didn't let go, however. “I said, get the f*ck out of my way! Move!”

“Unnieeeee!” Su-Rin desperately cried out.

That was when sparks of rage began shooting out of Choi Yeon-Ha's eyes.

Kang Jin-Ho entrusted the safety of these kids to her. Even if she wasn't Kang Jin-Ho, and these kids weren't… as 'important' to Choi Yeon-Ha as him, there was simply no way she'd let any harm fall on them.

“Hey, you bastard! Let her go, now!”

“What did you say, you insane b*tch?!”

“You...!” Choi Yeon-Ha quickly handed the baby girl in her arms to the other kids nearby. They accepted the crying child, and now freed from the responsibility, Choi Yeon-Ha rammed her way into the crowd behind. That was easier said than done, thanks to the wall of evacuees, but she still managed to switch positions with Oh Su-Rin in the blink of an eye. And then...!

Slaaaaap!

Choi Yeon-Ha slapped the middle-aged man trying to pull Oh Su-Rin down.

The man freaked out and held his cheek. “What the f*ck?! You crazy b*tch!”

“Crazy b*tch, huh?” Choi Yeon-Ha yanked her hat off and threw it at the man's face. She did the same with her mask and sunglasses, too. “Run your piehole again, as*hole! I dare you!”

“W-what the hell?”

What a mystifying thing this was. Despite the urgency of the current situation, Choi Yeon-Ha's face still stood out like a beacon of shining light. No, wait... Maybe people noticed her even more precisely because of their dire situation.

The middle-aged man and the other evacuees nearby confirmed Choi Yeon-Ha and got visibly flustered.

Choi Yeon-Ha didn't let up with her verbal attack. “You call yourself a man?! Is this how adults act?! Ah?!”

“W-wait a mi…”

“She's just a kid! A kid! And there are other kids here, too! Half of the people coming to an amusement park are children! Yet, you so-called adults are pulling and shoving little kids around to save your stinking hides instead of trying to save them first?! What, you think the people outside will praise you and give you rewards for doing that?! You should be ashamed, you pricks!”

Choi Yeon-Ha's shrill yell forced everyone nearby to drop their heads. It wasn't because they were cowered by her forceful aura, though. No, the truth was… Their conscience shouted at them when the matter with the children was brought up. All these people wanted was to get out of this desperate situation alive, so no one here would have cared even if the country's President was shouting at them, never mind a famous celebrity like Choi Yeon-Ha. However, the story changed somewhat when it involved children.

Everyone here was a human being, after all. They couldn't openly declare that they were willing to trample on kids for a chance at survival.

...Even if they were thinking of doing just that.

“Let's try to be humans, okay! Even if we're about to die, let's at least try to keep our dignity intact! Were you thinking of boasting to your friends about how you stepped on some defenseless kids to survive or something?!”

Quite a few people in the crowd agreed with Choi Yeon-Ha. That didn't mean everyone agreed, though. As a matter of fact, some were willing to shoot her down.

“Don't f*cking make me laugh!” A shrill yell came from the back of the crowd. “F*cking hell, you think people will treat you like a hero for dying? Aren't you also freaking out and sh*t because you want to live just like everyone here?! Who cares about other people, kids or not, when it's my life on the line! Who gives sh*t!”

Choi Yeon-Ha coldly retorted, “Then, keep living like an insect, okay? You loser.”

“What did you say?!”

“Shut your piehole, you f*cking insect! What? You think I don't know how to swear?”

“...”

The crowd got even more flustered when a famous celebrity hurled a sudden f-bomb at them.

Choi Yeon-Ha stood tall. “Of course I want to live! But I don't want to live if it means I must trample on these kids! If that's my choice, I'll rather die today!”

“Talk is cheap, lady!”

“In that case, why don't you see for yourself?!” Choi Yeon-Ha loudly yelled back. “I'm not leaving until every child is out of here first! I will not! And none of you will leave, too! You better trample me first or kill me if you want to get past me! Because I will not let anyone pass me before the kids get out of here first! Even if I have to claw and bite you and cling to your pants! Do you hear me?!”

The crowd was even more cowered by Choi Yeon-Ha's venomous glare and distorted expression. And when she broke the floodgate open, the stormwater began pouring out next.

“She's right, goddamn it!”

“A man should have some modicum of conscience, don't you agree! Let's evacuate the kids first!”

“I don't want to live in shame even if I get out of here! Bloody hell, uncles, listen up! You all have lived long lives, haven't you! So let's act like adults and stop embarrassing ourselves, okay!”

Men with good physiques began lining up behind Choi Yeon-Ha. Even a blind could see that they didn't intend for anyone to pass unless they were children.

“Okay! Let the children through first!”

“Kids first!”

Choi Yeon-Ha glanced at them and smiled. People could be such amusing creatures. At times, a mob of people seemed like demonic beasts blinded by their primal desires but in some other situations, they would behave in such a way that she had no choice but to acknowledge why all those wise saints and saintesses ultimately believed in the goodness of humanity.

This was why humans could be entertaining to observe.

One of the burly young men addressed Choi Yeon-Ha. “Miss Choi, you should also get going.”

Choi Yeon-Ha tilted her head. “Ng? Why?”

“Well, you're a woman, that's why.”

“...So what?”

“I'm sorry?”

Choi Yeon-Ha retorted in displeasure. “You think being a woman means I don't have arms and legs? Woman or not, I'm an adult like you! Stop wasting time and help me evacuate these children!”

Oh Su-Rin hurriedly reached out to Choi Yeon-Ha. “Unnie...!”

“Su-Rin!” Choi Yeon-Ha stared straight at Oh Su-Rin. “You need to go on ahead of me, okay?”

“Unnie, let's leave together! With everyone!”

“Listen to me, okay!”

“...!” Oh Su-Rin lowered her head when Choi Yeon-Ha got angry.

Choi Yeon-Ha held the younger girl's shoulder. “I'd love to leave together with you all, but that wouldn't be the most optimum thing to do right now. Su-Rin, your job is to make sure no one gets separated, okay? You must keep everyone together. Understand?”

“Yes, unnie. I understand.”

“Good. Don't worry about me. If things get dicey, I'm gonna step on those idiots' heads to get out of here. Okay?”

“Okay, unnie!”

“Now, go!”

The children began inching forward through the path the adults had created by stepping back. Choi Yeon-Ha watched them bravely shuffle ahead and smiled to herself.

'They are all such tough cookies, aren't they?'

Most children their age would've broken down and cried their eyes out, but these orphanage kids would clamp their mouths shut instead whenever crises hit them. Not only that, but they would even try to solve those crises by themselves, too!

Choi Yeon-Ha felt moved and even proud of these kids for being so mature beyond their years. Sometimes, though, their maturity and bravery made her heart ache instead.

'...Now isn't the time to get all sentimental!'

Choi Yeon-Ha still had one more thing to do, after all! She quickly turned around and tried to head to the back of the evacuees. The crowd stared at her in puzzlement.

“W-where are you going, Miss Choi?”

Choi Yeon-Ha coolly brushed the question aside. “I forgot my wallet.”

“Are you insane?”

“It's from a famous brand, you know! Even your annual wage won't be enough to buy it!”

“You are insane, aren't you!”

Choi Yeon-Ha pushed aside the attempts by the menfolk to stop her and continued to run back into the building's interior.

Her eyes briefly looked down at the screen of her phone. The words appearing on the chat app stabbed into her chest.

=Unnie! Min-Ji isn't here! She said she's going to the loo earlier, but she's not answering her phone!

'No need to worry, because...!'

Choi Yeon-Ha gritted her teeth.

'...This unnie of yours will find Min-Ji!'

Believe in me!

***

Grab! Grab! Grab! Grab...!

Kang Jin-Ho moved forward while alternating his grip on the overhead railing.

'...Keuk!'

He suddenly scowled deeply. Considering his cultivation realm, this level of physical activity shouldn't have troubled him. However, the situation wasn't as simple as he initially thought.

First of all, the railing. The more he crept forward, the less secure the railing got. It swayed dangerously in the air. The railing behind him was still securely nailed to the ceiling, but the situation ahead didn't look as good. And the second issue was...

Slide!

“Huk!”

Kang Jin-Ho's hand slipped off the railing, but he managed to cling on with his other hand.

“Kyaaaaahk! Oh no!” One of the safety officers down below screamed as Kang Jin-Ho barely managed to cling on. Falling from that height would mean one didn't have to worry about surviving or not. It'd be more about how intact the corpse might be!

Kang Jin-Ho glanced at his empty hand.

'Dammit!'

It wouldn't have mattered to him if the rail's surface was coarse. However, the situation was the exact opposite. The railing was glass-smooth to the point of being reflective, and even a generous dollop of oil had been slathered on the surface for a good measure, too!

Despite his superhuman grip strength, Kang Jin-Ho's hands kept slipping. He wasn't scared of falling from here, of course. Despite other people's fears, the prospect of falling from this height did not worry him.

What did worry him, though, was the hot-air balloon-shaped ride with the orphanage girls trapped inside crashing to the ground before he could reach it. And, even if the ride remained attached to the railing, he was still worried about the conditions of the girls inside.

'I'm almost there!'

Back when he was on the ground and looking up, Kang Jin-Ho didn't think the distance he needed to cover would be this long. Now that he was here, the railing seemed endless. Even though he had been moving so quickly for what felt like hours, he still hadn't reached the ride yet!

However, he was almost at his destination. And this was where things would get most dangerous.

While dangling from the railing, Kang Jin-Ho calmly regulated his breathing. The girls' ride was right at the bottom of the railing that had broken loose from the ceiling to form a precarious-looking drooping arch.

'I need to get down there somehow...!'

Kang Jin-Ho wasn't worried about this part of the rescue since getting there would be the easiest part. However, he was worried about the addition of his weight potentially breaking the delicate balance and causing the ride to fall.

He couldn't understand how something like this could happen, though. The owners of this place couldn't have been a bunch of idiots, so they must've installed countless safety mechanisms. So how did this happen? Did they think the park would remain accident-free despite such shoddy construction?

“Fuu-huup!”

Kang Jin-Ho sucked in a deep breath and gritted his teeth. Assigning blame should come later. His job was safely negotiating his way to the girls and protecting them.

He circulated qi within his meridians to lighten his body. He even expelled more qi below his feet to support his body, hoping to lessen the pressure on the railing.

To become as light as a feather! Even a gram of additional weight could tilt the balance and change the situation unexpectedly. So, he had to be even more cautious.

Grab!

Kang Jin-Ho reached forward and began gripping the loose railing. And he slowly, oh-so agonizingly slowly... gripped the rail with his other hand.

Performing the Drifting Grass technique wasn't difficult to pull off for a high-level expert like Kang Jin-Ho. Momentarily making his physical body weigh practically nothing was as natural as breathing air to him.

However, completely negating his weight while dangling somewhere was still a tough act to pull off, even for Kang Jin-Ho. And the difficulty was even higher this time as he needed to slowly creep forward, too.

Even so, Kang Jin-Ho didn't rush ahead. Reducing the odds of variables took priority until he could ascertain the conditions of the girls inside that ride.

Grab! Grab! Grab!

By extending his arms greatly and pulling himself forward like a gibbon, Kang Jin-Ho managed to reach the top of the ride with only a few arm movements.

Creak, creaaaak!

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Despite minimizing his weight as much as possible, the rail still wavered and danced up and down as he moved. That also caused the ride to rock up and down slightly. However, that 'slight' movement was still stressing the railing.

“Fuu-woo…”

Kang Jin-Ho carefully landed on top of the ride, then sucked in another deep breath. Then, he nimbly climbed down the fake hot-air balloon. Unfortunately, the surface of this thing was smooth, with no places to grip or rest his feet. If he tried too hard, Kang Jin-Ho might end up slipping and falling away from his intended destination due to the spherical shape of this ride.

If only the ride was securely fastened to the wall! Kang Jin-Ho could've easily dashed down, but such a thing was a luxury he couldn't afford right now. He carefully peeked around the spherical shape, then finally reached the lower part of the ride, the gondola, where the passengers were.

“...! Oppaaaa!”

Girls inside the gondola saw Kang Jin-Ho's face and cried out. Kang Jin-Ho sighed in relief while studying their tearful faces.

'That was tough…’

The pressure of trying to get here as soon as possible from so far away had been mercilessly crushing down on him. If the ride fell while he was on his way here, Kang Jin-Ho would've been helpless to do anything. Now that he was here, though… Everything should be fine.

Kang Jin-Ho carefully reached toward the safety bars blocking the entrance of the gondola... Only for his expression to harden.

“Who dares!”

Something was flying at a scarcely believable speed toward his back. Kang Jin-Ho's face contorted to resemble a hideous monster.

The Demon Emperor seething in fury turned his head to look behind. While making the face of Armageddon's messenger ready to destroy everything in this world!