Ch.61Chapter 61. Second Test (2)

“······Tsk.”

It was a call from his daughter.

Conrad glanced around briefly.

The engineers were just watching with serious expressions as the engine spewed fire and spun in circles for several minutes.

It seemed like the test would still be in progress even if he stepped out for a moment.

“Excuse me. I’ll just take this call quickly.”

“Ah, yes. Go ahead.”

Normally, he would have cut the call immediately.

But right now, he wanted to take his daughter’s call.

He felt he knew why she was calling so urgently.

Conrad left the observation area, walked down the hallway for a while, and only answered the phone after entering the emergency stairwell.

“Yes, dear. What is it?”

“Father. Where are you right now?”

“Where do you think?”

“······.”

A deadly silence followed from the other end.

“Don’t tell me the factory you said you were visiting today is······”

“Yes. It’s Tactum company. They’re conducting a second test on the prototype engine today. I’m observing it right now.”

“Tactum! Father. Then does that mean······”

“Yes. I’ve already met him. That stupid Korean who can’t even recognize his girlfriend’s father.”

A few days ago, after investigating, I discovered the coincidence that Jinsoo Kim works as an engineer at Tactum company.

Moreover, he’s the lead engineer on this project, so he’s attending the test.

I thought it would be a good opportunity to at least see his face.

Apart from not wanting to see him, I was curious about what kind of jerk he was.

“Father······. He’s originally bad at remembering people’s names.”

“Does that mean he forgets the surname of the person he loves?”

“Actually······. It’s more that I like him one-sidedly, and I’m not sure if Jinsoo likes me that much yet······.”

“Then give up. It means he’s not interested enough to even remember your name.”

“Father!”

“I need to get back now. I stepped out in the middle to take this call.”

“Father! Just because Jinsoo doesn’t recognize you, don’t ask him weird things······”

BOOM!

At that moment, a vibration shook the entire stairwell with a thunderous sound.

Conrad’s expression hardened as he looked up at the emergency stairwell lights flickering momentarily.

“Father? What was that sound just now?”

“Juliane. I have to hang up.”

It seemed like an emergency situation had occurred.

***

“The fuel tank support······ the support has detached!”

The support fell off?

Why the fuck?

It was holding up just fine yesterday.

“Is it a serious problem? Huh?”

“Ah, we don’t know yet.”

“You don’t know?! I need to find the congressman!”

The security guards immediately opened the door and rushed out.

Looking through the glass window, I could see the rotator decelerating, and the engine’s rotation had almost stopped.

However, the amount of flames spewing from the rear end didn’t look good at all.

“The fuel tank tipped over, causing too much fuel to enter the combustion chamber!”

“Stop fuel injection. Cut the power too. Start fire suppression.”

“Yes!”

Following the manager’s calm instructions, the fuel injection nozzle detached from the front.

Soon, the fuel container entered the emergency isolation chamber behind thick steel plates.

However, even after the power was cut and fire suppressant was sprayed into the engine, not much changed.

The flames seemed to subside a little, but only briefly.

The engine was again spewing fire, turning its rear end red-hot and threatening to melt it.

“All fire suppressant used up! It’s not working! The combustion chamber is going critical!”

“Pressure inside the combustion chamber continues to rise. At this rate, it will explode soon!”

“······.”

The manager’s mouth fell open.

He could only make sounds like “uh······ ack······” without being able to continue speaking.

It was the first time I’d seen the manager lose his composure like this.

And for good reason.

If that thing explodes, it would blow up the entire test room at minimum, and fragments would fly into the factory.

“Everyone evacuate······. Evacuate. Quickly.”

At the manager’s weak instruction, the engineers began rushing out.

No one had a solution for this situation.

Everyone just had pale faces as they hurried toward the exit.

And naturally…

“Aaack! Move! My daughter is waiting for me!”

I was also fighting in that crowd.

I had to get out quickly.

There wasn’t much time left.

Fuck, if I knew this would happen, I should have slept with Cuss earlier.

If I get out of here, I’ll definitely fuck Cuss from both ends.

That’s what I was thinking when suddenly…

‘Huh? Both ends?’

My mind suddenly cleared, and a brilliant idea came to me.

I stopped in my tracks.

After the engineers noisily evacuated, only the manager, who was hanging his head in despair, and I remained in the observation area.

“Get out quickly. It’ll explode in a minute at most.”

“Manager. There’s a way to prevent the explosion.”

“There isn’t. We’ve stopped fuel injection, disconnected the battery to cut power, and used up all the fire suppressant! It’s been out of control since the fuel tank broke!”

Even now, the engine was making a loud noise and spewing blue light from its rear end.

The internal pressure continued to rise, but the hole to release that pressure was so small.

Even though it was opened to its maximum.

When the pressure exceeds what the combustion chamber walls can withstand, then boom.

It would shatter into pieces.

But what if there was a way to release that pressure?

“Turn the power back on, Manager. Before all the circuits burn out.”

“The power? Why?”

“We’re going to open the fuel inlet.”

“······!”

The manager’s eyes widened.

If the problem was that the pressure-releasing hole was too small, then we needed to increase the number of holes.

Release the pressure from both ends simultaneously.

Like an AV actress being penetrated from both ends at once.

“You······ are you a genius?! How did you think of that?!”

“I was thinking about my daughter······. Ah, forget it! Just hurry up and do it!”

“Ah, okay! Let’s start with the power!”

People’s thinking tends to stop when they’re cornered.

My mind had gone blank too, but I came up with this idea while coincidentally thinking about Cuss.

Damn. Cuss is saving my life.

“Combustion chamber······ opening fuel inlet······.”

The manager’s hands were trembling.

The lives of several people depended on his fingertips right now.

I wanted to help, but I didn’t know how to operate the control panel, so I just watched.

No, I wasn’t just watching.

I was cheering him on from behind.

-Warning! The fuel injection nozzle is not properly connected! Do you still want to open······

“Open it! Do it!”

The manager, drooling, slammed the red button.

-Abnormal operation detected. Operation requires two or more lead engineers.

“Oh shit! Hey! Jinsoo! Come here!”

“Ah, yes.”

“You have your key, right? The administrator key!”

“Huh? Fuck, where did I put that?”

Suddenly, I felt cold sweat pouring like a fountain.

How could meticulous me have left the administrator key behind?

“It’s hanging on your front pocket, you idiot.”

“Ah.”

Fortunately, I succeeded in finding the administrator key right away.

The manager and I each inserted our keys at opposite ends of the control panel.

“We turn on the count of three, right? One······ Aaaah! Manager! Why are you turning it already!”

“You’ve watched too many movies, kid. We can just turn them sequentially······.”

Come on, couldn’t we turn them simultaneously for style points?

I followed the manager and turned my key.

-Authorization confirmed. Opening fuel inlet.

It worked.

Now there’s another hole in the front.

WHOOOOSH······!

As soon as the small hole was created, pressure immediately burst through it.

The front section, unable to withstand the pressure, soon······

KABOOM!

It was torn off completely.

Now flames began to spew fiercely through the newly created hole in the front as well.

It was even more intense than from the rear end.

But it was so strong that······

“Uh······. Holy shit.”

The flames reached the walls of the test room and were spreading.

The inside should definitely be a vacuum.

Either the wall had melted creating gaps, or oxygen was flowing in, causing the fire on the wall to spread instantly.

“Shall we evacuate?”

“Uh, yeah. Let’s do that. We should.”

The pressure in the combustion chamber was continuously decreasing in real-time.

You could tell just by seeing the intensity of the flames gradually weakening.

So we had prevented the explosion for now.

We needed to escape before the fire spread and completely destroyed the test room.

“Cough! Cough! Ah, damn! The smoke is coming in here too!”

“Let’s get out quickly!”

Smoke filled the interior instantly.

Even though I might be a fool and an idiot, I knew well enough that inhaling that smoke would kill me.

Smoke is heavy, so it sinks.

So I straightened my back as much as possible and ran.

“Cough! Cough! Ugh! Hack!”

“Lower your head, idiot! What are you, an air purifier?”

“Huh?”

That’s strange.

Why does it feel better when I lower my head?

“Haaaa······!”

“Escape!”

The manager and I burst outside simultaneously, and once we reached a relatively safe place, we collapsed on the ground.

Breathing was so difficult.

We lay there spread-eagled, our chests heaving as we savored the fresh oxygen for a while.

When I briefly raised myself to look, the manager’s face was a mess, as if it had been smeared with soot.

“Manager! Are you okay!”

“Jinsoo! Why didn’t you come out earlier!”

“Haha. I was busy preventing the explosion······.”

Soon the engineers flocked to us.

It seemed everyone had evacuated safely.

I quickly explained that we had succeeded in depressurizing to prevent the explosion, but couldn’t stop the fire.

Fortunately, they had called 911 as soon as they saw the fire.

Our factory also has its own firefighting facilities, so they’re currently spraying water, but······.

“It’s going to burn down completely.”

“It’s going to be completely destroyed.”

Water alone couldn’t seem to stop the flames.

It was a fire hot enough to burn even steel.

They could probably only prevent it from spreading to surrounding areas.

The fire would only stop when there was nothing left to consume.

That is, after the test room had completely turned to dust.

We sat on the ground for a while, watching the flames shoot through the ceiling.

Then I suddenly remembered something I had forgotten.

“Huh?”

“What’s wrong, Jinsoo?”

“Where’s the congressman?”

“Uh······.”

Everyone’s expressions went blank.

Shit, no one knows.

“Has anyone seen the congressman outside?”

“······.”

“Inside?”

“The last time was when he went out to take a phone call······.”

“Oh no.”

This is crazy.

The worst scenario came to mind.

The worst scenario where that middle-aged congressman was still trapped inside.

It was entirely possible.

If he went to some isolated place to take a phone call without knowing the layout well, and even his security guards couldn’t find him.

“Hey! Hey! Jinsoo! What are you doing!”

“I have to go rescue him!”

“Are you out of your mind! Going in there! Wait for the firefighters to arrive!”

“By then, the test room will have already collapsed! Who among us has the best physical condition?!”

“······.”

I looked around carefully.

No matter how I looked, there were only pot-bellied men or skinny ones.

If someone had to go in there, it would be me.

“Hey, you idiot! You could die too!”

“If I die saving someone important, that’s a worthy sacrifice.”

“You······!”

Suddenly, words I didn’t mean came out.

The usual me would never have done this.

I would have held back, saying I was busy enough just trying to survive.

But why?

I felt something like a sense of responsibility that the congressman must be saved.

Well, it makes sense. He came to observe our company’s test, so it’s right for the lead engineer to take responsibility and save him.

“I’m going.”

“You’re really going······?”

I poured a bucket of water from the water truck over my head, slapped my cheeks to focus, and then ran toward the test room.

.

.

.

“Is he really going······?”

“He’s really going, that crazy bastard.”

The manager and engineers watched Jinsoo’s back with their mouths wide open.

Soon, Jinsoo disappeared into the test room filled with black smoke.

Red flames were shooting through the ceiling.

To think of going back in there.

He clearly wasn’t in his right mind.

“Oh. Please. God. Let them both come back alive.”

“Is there still someone inside?”

“Ah, yes. Congressman Stadtfeld is······”

The manager turned his head and was speechless.

He couldn’t believe his eyes.

“What about me?”

“Wh-what······?”

There stood Congressman Stadtfeld, perfectly fine, with his security guards.

The manager’s eyes widened as he finally understood the situation.

“No way! Jinsoo Kim! Come back, damn it!!!”

The manager’s empty cry echoed.