episode_0066

Kwaang!

Everyone who was laughing and talking outside froze at the sudden loud noise.

It was a sound that came from far away, but it was by no means a small explosion.

Kwaang- Bang!

And similar explosion sounds continued to be heard in succession.

This is a situation that cannot be accepted as a normal situation.

The panicked voices of people frozen on the spot filled the surrounding area.

As if he had been making a joke, Reynold, in a panic, screamed while pulling out his hair.

“What?! Is it war? The North Korean army has finally invaded?! Damn… I was a fool to believe my KATUSA friends when they told me not to worry…!”

“Hey, that’s not it.”

“No, no! Every time there was a missile test in North Korea, I asked because I was scared, but I was always told that there was no problem! I must have let my guard down and got stabbed in the back…!”

“Ha… ”

I touched my forehead while looking at Reynolds who was making a fuss while saying ‘Keee!’

It is certainly true that the Korean military is usually much more calm than the US military due to the neighbors conducting military experiments whenever they get the chance.

However, there is no reason for this lower town to be suddenly attacked.

I took out my smartphone and went to the portal site to check the news, but there were no articles posted.

There was absolutely no reason to leave the front-line troops to attack the U.S. military camp in the rear first, so that loud noise was clearly just an accident.

I don’t know what’s going on that keeps causing explosions like this.

I thought I was tired of hearing the sound of something exploding in a ruined academy, but hearing it in real life felt different.

While I was thinking about the explosives stored in my inventory, I saw Private Sanchez running around shouting out messages to people over there.

“Everyone returns to their respective departments! Everyone returns to their respective departments! Everyone returns to their respective departments!”

“Minho oppa! Let’s go first!”

I left Reynolds, who was slowly coming to his senses, and followed Sujin Jeong to the battalion building.

The barbecue setup on the lawn next to the soccer field was decided to be left undisturbed in order to be cleaned up once the situation was fully figured out.

Kwaangㅡ

Even as everyone returned to their respective departments, the explosions did not stop and were heard at irregular intervals.

What we saw as we entered the battalion building was Major Millard holding the receiver and giving instructions.

“This is not a problem with the ammunition depot? Contact the shooting range and find out for sure. And there were instructions from Colonel Smith to apply MOPP (Mission Oriented Protective Posture) level 1 to everyone until the situation was assessed. Spread the message to all people remaining in the camp who did not receive a weekend pass.”

Click

“Phew…”

Major Millard, who saw Jeong Soo-jin and I coming in, put down the receiver for a moment and sighed.

“I’m sorry that something like this happened even though I took the time to come.”

“It’s not a big deal, right?”

“First of all, I don’t think it’s the worst. I think there was an accident on the outskirts or outside of the camp…”

Major Millard shook his head as if he was in pain at the sound of explosions that he still heard intermittently.

“Just in case, stay here until the situation is figured out.”

As soon as we could nod our heads at those words, the door burst open and someone came in.

“Major Millard!”

“What’s going on?”

“We found out what caused that explosion sound!”

Major Millard, who twitched his eyebrows at the sight of the soldier coming in without knocking, asked back when he was told that the cause of the situation had been discovered.

“What is that?”

“It appears that a fire broke out in a medical supply warehouse and the oxygen cylinder being stored exploded! There is no doubt that this is a fact that was delivered from the relevant medical unit!”

“How on earth did you manage it…! Phew, I get it. Let’s go back now.”

Major Millard, who looked agitated for a moment, waved his hand and sent the soldier away.

He was leaning against the desk and thinking deeply about something.

“Wait a minute, the location of the medical warehouse is…!”

Major Millard, who seemed to remember something, quickly opened a map of the camp, forgetting that we were in the same room.

After checking the map, he picked up the receiver and called the medical unit, but all he could hear was a beep, as everyone was on the phone because of what was happening.

Since I knew the cause, all I had to do was wait for the fire truck to put out the fire, so I asked why it was like that.

“Are you saying that because of the location?”

“……The medical supply depot is located on the outskirts of the unit. As soon as you climb over a wall as tall as a person, there are houses where residents live.”

He put on the hat he had taken off and continued speaking. He had a gas mask bag on his thigh.

“As the explosion continues, it seems like the fire has not been extinguished yet. It would be a big problem if the fire spreads to a private house by mistake. Even if it occurred in a different unit, the accident occurred within the same camp. I guess I’ll have to take the people on duty and go help out.”

Su-jin Jeong looked at the scene for a moment and said.

“I’ll go too.”

“What do you mean? It’s dangerous so wait here…”

“I’m not saying I’m going to go and put out the fire.”

Jeong Soo-jin explained clearly with an unwavering expression.

“You said the place where the fire broke out was a medical supply warehouse. Then, even if the fire does not spread, toxic gases may be generated, so an evacuation order must be issued to nearby private houses. I can do that better than American soldiers who can’t even speak Korean well.”

Blue eyes that resembled each other met our gazes.

“If it’s dangerous, I’ll leave right away. Please let me help too.”

“I don’t know who I resemble so much that I am so stubborn.”

Jeong Soo-jin smiled as she saw Major Millard taking a step back.

It was the first smile I smiled upon seeing my father after visiting the camp.

“Of course it’s Dad.”

“……Are you okay?”

Major Millard, who was slightly averting his gaze from his daughter, asked me.

I shrugged my shoulders because I was confident that I would be in good health. Rather, I was planning to force myself to follow in order to protect Jeong Soo-jin.

“Of course.”

In the end, Major Millard, who was unable to stop us, added a request as he got into the car.

“You must never do anything dangerous. There is a fire department here too, so if they come, promise to stay calm and wait.”

“I understand.”

The medical supply warehouse we arrived at by car was engulfed in flames and burning brightly. The sight of gray smoke rising like a cloud was unusual.

Personnel who appear to be medical unit soldiers are busy running around in all directions.

Perhaps because it had been about 5 minutes since the fire broke out, the fire truck had not yet arrived.

Kwaang!

I think I heard the explosion dozens of times, and it was still continuing without stopping. Each time, the flames grew in size, stretched out their arms and danced shakily around the area.

I asked because I thought the size of the fire would continue to grow until the explosion stopped.

“How long did you store the oxygen cylinder?”

” Considering the size of the warehouse, I think it was storing about 100 items at most.”

“……It’s serious.”

Since we were not here to put out the fire but to assess the situation and evacuate civilians, we parked the car at a small gate nearby and went outside.

“This is……”

It seemed a little late.

Flames were rising from the villa built closest to the camp.

Black smoke was billowing out of a broken window that appeared to have been hit by flying debris.

A soldier wearing the badge of a medical unit was holding a loudspeaker, as if he had already made an evacuation announcement.

“Notify residents near the camp. There is currently a fire breaking out in a warehouse inside the camp. Because toxic gas may be generated and there is a risk of fire spreading, we ask that nearby residents evacuate quickly.”

Behind him, who was shouting alternately in English and Korean, residents were huddled together and murmuring.

“What on earth is going on…”

“Do you know what’s going on…”

“I’m glad you got out quickly.”

“Has the fire in Mr. Kim’s field been extinguished?”

“Only the greenhouse melted a little.”

“All the houses on fire over there were evacuated, right?”

“I saw the houses downstairs coming out earlier. I don’t know about the top floor.”

“The third floor is Mr. Lee’s grandmother’s house.”

dump!

An elderly woman who was walking behind the residents was seen collapsing in her seat.

Perhaps he had gone grocery shopping, but fruit rolled out of the shopping cart in his hand.

The grandmother muttered with a devastated expression as the fruit rolled down the road.

“Donghyun… Our Donghyun was at home…”

Mrs. Lee, who threw away her shopping cart, grabbed the residents and asked.

“Did you see our Donghyun? Donghyun…! Grandma is here…! If it comes out, answer me…!”

All residents who were asked shook their heads.

Among the evacuated residents, no one seemed to have seen the child named Donghyeon.

That meant that there was a high possibility that they would be trapped on the third floor of the villa, which was still burning, without being able to get out.

“What should I do…”

Jeong Soo-jin stamped her feet with a sad look on her face. Major Millard also guessed the situation from the atmosphere and clicked his tongue.

If this were the metropolitan area, or at least Daegu, the fire trucks would have arrived already…

Unfortunately, there was no sign of the fire truck arriving yet.

It will take 3 to 5 minutes more to arrive.

And even if they arrived, they would have been given priority to go to the medical warehouse inside the reported camp first.

Considering that we parked the car and walked out because there was no gate nearby for vehicles to pass through, there was a possibility that there would be further delays.

The fire is burning the lower floor and spreading upward.

Considering that he was still growing in size, I had no idea whether Donghyun would be able to survive until then.

“Oh my… my grandchild…! What should I do… Donghyun…!”

The grandmother looked like she was almost out of breath.

Seueueuu

“Minho oppa?”

I left behind Jeong Soo-jin’s voice calling me and approached the grandmother and asked.

“Grandma. Which room was Donghyun in?”

” Oh my… I was playing in the master bedroom and then took a nap… I went shopping with the intention of giving him a snack when he woke up… But… Oh my… Donghyun…!”

The old woman, whose face was all messed up from sobbing, answered while out of breath.

Jeong Soo-jin, who followed behind and heard the situation, spoke in a trembling voice.

“Oppa… isn’t it? Don’t you think it’s dangerous?”

“Don’t worry. I’ll come back quickly.”

“The firefighters will be here in a little while. How are you going to get into that pit of fire!”

Major Millard, who was listening to the story next to me, must have sensed that I was trying to enter the burning villa and raised his voice to stop me.

“I already saw while watching the game that you run fast. However, fire is a completely different story. From the looks of it, the villa is in a very old state, so it wouldn’t be surprising if the gas broke out at any time. All we can do now is wait for the fire trucks to come.”

In normal cases, that would be the correct answer. If you enter a burning building for no reason, the number of victims will increase by one more.

But I am different.

Thanks to this ability, you can take absolutely no damage from fire.

Perhaps, if this was a world I was traveling to rather than reality, I would have judged appropriately based on the situation.

He would have calculated what would be the most profitable and then made his move.

But this was reality.

I have no intention of using my abilities to become a noble hero who actively saves humanity.

Because I hate doing such tiring things.

However, when a child was in danger of being burned alive, he had no intention of just watching, even though he had the ability to save him.

All you have to do is move as your heart desires.

I reached for the gas mask bag hanging on Major Millard’s thigh.

Jjiik ㅡ

chin!

“You…!”

Major Millard, whose gas mask was taken away in an instant, looked devastated.

“I’ll be back.”

I smiled at Jeong Soo-jin, grabbed the gas mask, and ran towards the villa.

“Minho oppa!”

“Ugh…! Where is that person now…!”

Leaving behind the voices of the soldiers and Jeong Soo-jin who were controlling the surroundings, I threw myself into the flames with bright red tongues fluttering.