Chapter 217 - Trap 2

Chang Mi and Kang Dae had their smiles paralyzed, while Ms. Yoo tried to set her cell phone for a selfie with the three Yoo family members. After the celebratory dinner for Kang Dae's first model campaign, the Yoo family is having a well-deserved time together. 

"Come on, mom!" Kang Dae has already switched poses a few times, using the modeling techniques he learned, while the younger brother just repeats his little, minimal smile. "Chang Mi will distort his face with that huge smile… Poor Joker..." Kang Dae always mocked his little brother's ever sullen face.

"Chang Mi! Smile! NOW!" her mother ordered, and she herself smiled surrounded by her two wonderful children. Kang Dae grinned and made a V with two fingers.

The youngest looked at his own image reflected in the cell phone and twitched the corner of his mouth to widen his smile... and his mind was swallowed up in another face and in another place.

*

The Devourer watched the smoke rise and cover the Pearl sign, staining the night sky with a serene smile.

~ Your problem and my problem will end today, Chang Mi ... ~ The Devourer's voice rang in his mind.

*

Chang Mi couldn't take his eyes off the distant point, knowing that Pearl's building was now on fire. He did not know how or who had done this, but he knew that the Devourer awaited the outcome with the excitement of a birthday boy to blow out the candles on his cake.

"What is it, Chang Mi? Aigoo! Why is your nose bleeding?" His mother screamed, drawing attention in the restaurant.

The student came out of his trance, and blinking looked at his brother,

"Kang Dae! Ye Rim noona is in danger!"

ººº

Shin braked the car so as not to run over the onlookers who crowded around the Pearl Building. Eun Ha didn't even look around and opened the door, jumping from the car immediately and pushing her way through people with elbows and shoves. She saw Mrs. Song screaming desperately, as she pointed into the building.

"HELP! There are still people inside! OH MY GOSH! HELP, PLEASE! The kitchen staff! Duk Mi in the backstage!"

"Have firefighters been notified yet?" she shouted back, and Pearl's owner nodded.

"How many people are still in there?"

"I don't know, there is a lot of smoke, the fire is coming from the bas.e.m.e.nt and has already reached the entrance!"

The fairy heard the firefighters' sirens coming, but she knew that the narrow streets of that neighborhood did not favor rescue work. 

"Ye Rim said she was here and that Lee Dae Won was here too!"

Mrs. Song leaned on someone else when she heard the news, fanning herself to avoid fainting.

"Yes... I didn't see Ye Rim leave...OH PLEASE HEAVENS, HAVE MERCY!"

Eun Ha looked at the flames coming out of the building's door with a shudder.

Her hand reached for the magic wand inside her bag.

Many people would lose their lives here today, but all she could think of was getting to Ye Rim as soon as possible. 

But would she be able to let other people die doing nothing?

ºº

"Get out of the way or help me!" Ye Rim exclaimed, pushing Dae Won with her body and forcing the door with her shoulder as the musician tried to use the handle.

He also pushed the door with his unhurt shoulder a few times, m.o.a.ning each time he did it. The door finally gave way, only to reveal that it was locked from the outside by a padlocked chain.

"It's no use. Someone locked it! Motherf.u.c.kers!"

"Did someone lock ...?!" she asked aloud. She knew that even a psychopath like Dae Won was aware of what was going on there. 

They could not get out by the internal staircase, as they could not pass through the fire, and in a short time, the flames would also consume this room. 

The only way out was through that door and the exit from the terrace. And neither of them could open the door alone. She was sure she had a broken rib, as there was a horrible pain in her chest, and it was getting harder and harder to move her arms and even breathe. And Ye Rim could see that her blows had done some damage to Dae Won too.

"We can both open the door together, Dae Won! We must do it together!"

They stared at each other for a moment. And she saw that he, like her, didn't intend to die in the fire he had caused. 

It didn't escape her that Dae Won seemed to know who had locked the door. But Ye Rim wasn't going to spend her energy trying to figure out Dae Won's macabre schemes.

Having seen cans of paint, she tried to approach the products, even though she knew it was dangerous, as she imagined that there would be an object capable of opening the cans. She needed something like a crowbar or a chisel to break the chain that locked the door.

Dae Won understood her purpose and also started looking. The flames inside the room were getting bigger and hotter, and the toxic vapors from the flammable materials were nauseating and made it difficult to see. 

Ye Rim was already thinking about giving up and walking away when she saw the object, a crowbar. She put on her coat to protect her hand and get the metal tool, and ran to the door.

"I found it!"

Dae Won held out his hand for her to hand over the tool and potential weapon, and Ye Rim shivered at the look on his face. 

He lowered his hand, and she passed the musician, going to the door and starting to force the tool through the gap, to break between the chain links on the other side.

After some effort, she started to cough, and her vision blurred. Dae Won said, 

"Get down and cover your face!" and grabbing the tool, he took her place in the desperate task of opening the door.

Ye Rim did as ordered, praying for a miracle.

ººº

Jun Hyeon got out through a door, even before the car stopped. They had arrived right behind the fire truck. 

He already knew that the ground floor and the top floor were on fire and that people were trapped in the decrepit building. He had heard all of this on the police car radio, while Officer Ji was informed on the way to the scene.

If he cared about his own life at that time, Dr. Kim would have feared every second on the road there, because the crazy Ji Jae Wook had defied national traffic laws, and even the laws of physics, with the speed with which he drove. He didn't know if he was alive by a miracle or thanks to the detective's driving skills. But it didn't matter.

Ji Hyeon and Ye Rim were inside the building, as was Dae Won.

He was sure of that.

The high flames brought back his worst nightmare. 

His greatest failure as a man.

He was behind a group of firefighters who were preparing to enter, listening to the captain's instructions.

Looking from side to side, he grabbed one of the flameproof coats from the truck, and ran to the Pearl building.

"Hold him!" someone shouted. All his life, he studied all he should have done to save his sister, but didn't. He knew almost everything one has to know about how to rescue a person from a building on fire.

Jun Hyeon pushed the first man to stand up to him, blindly. But he was grabbed by the arm and pulled to the side.

He looked up; it was Shin.

"If you're going to do that, you need our help." Said the Hunter. "There are many people in there, I will try to rescue as many as possible, and Eun Ha will be out here to help them. Look for Ye Rim!"

"My sister is in there too! She must be tied up somewhere..."

It was unfair that he had to choose between one of them. He didn't want to cry, but the tears just came.

Shin nodded, and put a helmet on Jun Hyeon's head.