episode_0098

Ding-

“Second floor.”

I took the latest model elevator upstairs, which, though dirty now, must have originally been pristine. As the saying goes, people act according to their nature, and these guys were truly far from tidy.

Anyway, my impression of using a product of civilization after a long time was excellent.

‘Was an elevator always this comfortable…?’

Its quiet movement and subtle defiance of gravity.

Leaving behind the regret of its poor maintenance, I walked down the hallway.

The hallway, aside from the uncleaned floor, was fairly clean, definitely showing signs of use.

And I could sense people’s presence inside several of the hospital rooms.

“Cough! L-let go…”

Yeom, whose Adam’s apple was clutched in my left hand, kept struggling.

He was so bothersome that I lifted him and twisted the hilt of the knife stuck in his knee.

“Ughh!!”

“Shut up. If you keep acting up, I’ll make it hurt more.”

As if it wasn’t an empty threat, I tapped the end of the knife’s hilt, and he swallowed his groans, trying to endure the pain. He was shedding tears and blood, but I felt no sympathy.

Rather, there was a slight bitter enjoyment to it.

Most of the hospital rooms seemed to have been used as living quarters by the thugs, leaving behind traces of disarray. Untidy bedding and haphazardly discarded meal remains.

Among the dirty living spaces, only three rooms were different.

The doors, reinforced with iron plates and latches over the original doors, were clearly for confinement.

It was certain, seeing that they even had padlocks.

Most importantly, I could sense the presence of many people inside.

“What is this place? Why are these people locked up?”

“…”

He didn’t answer, only rolling his eyes around, making me click my tongue.

‘I’ll see for myself.’

With my free right hand, I tore off the latch and pulled the locked door open with force.

CRACK! THWACK! SQUEEAAK!!

The sound of metal crushing and dragging grated on my ears.

Yeom, who was watching me tear off the door as if it were nothing, muttered weakly as if out of his mind.

“An i-iron door…”

I had no time to appreciate his despair, so I immediately stepped inside.

As I fumbled along the dark hospital room wall to turn on the light, the sight before me left me speechless.

“…Ha.”

Young women, scantily clad, huddled on the cold floor.

Including some who looked quite young, about twenty of them were huddled together, dozing lightly.

Seeing the faint traces of assault, it seemed they hadn’t been violently beaten.

However, their condition didn’t look good.

It felt like glimpsing a fragment of a deep brothel.

“You bastard. What is this? What are these people?”

I asked roughly, shaking Yeom who I had lifted.

But he only gave a vulgar laugh and didn’t answer.

The answer I wanted came from beside me.

“W-we were kidnapped…”

The women, who had woken up at some point, sat up and looked at me and Yeom. Deep fear was etched in their eyes.

The woman who spoke seemed to have gathered immense courage.

Having somewhat come to her senses, she looked back and forth between me and Yeom, then urgently asked.

“Did you come to rescue us?”

“Not exactly, but it seems the thugs have all been dealt with.”

“R-really?!”

The young woman, stumbling as she got up at my words, asked again with a hint of disbelief.

“C-can we… leave here?”

“If you want to, then do so. I still have some business with this bastard.”

No one appeared to have major injuries or difficulty moving.

I could somewhat guess what hardships these women had endured.

I wasn’t particularly intending to help, but I figured it wouldn’t be good for me, a man, to get too close, so I was about to move away.

At that moment, the brave woman approached me and pleaded.

“Excuse me! There are people in the next room too! Please, save them!”

“I’m not a police officer or a soldier, though?”

“…Huh? What?”

The woman, momentarily stunned by my firm reply, soon composed herself and pleaded repeatedly.

“Please! Please! Ah! Doctors! There are doctors trapped in the next room too!”

The disorganized, flustered woman began to sob, tears falling.

But she didn’t seem to realize it, only desperately clinging.

“They are the ones who worked hard for us! Please! There’s also a child caught by Yeom Seongjin on the third floor… Please, I beg you… Please…”

Words that I couldn’t just ignore popped out.

“Hey.”

“EEK?!”

When I lifted the bloody, disheveled Yeom, the startled woman soon recognized who he was and widened her eyes.

“You bastard. Did you touch the kid?”

Yeom flinched greatly at my low growl.

But he soon smirked with a resigned expression and jabbered.

“Perhaps because she’s young, she’s chewy and squi—”

CRASH!!

I swung my left hand and slammed him into the dirty floor.

Yeom, face-down, only writhed.

I lifted him again and dug deeper into the wound in his knee where the knife was stuck.

“Ughhh!! Stop! Stop!”

He, who was losing consciousness, returned to his senses with sharp pain.

It was almost amusing that he was still trying to pull tricks despite all this.

“…Did you think I’d kill you instantly just by scratching you like that?”

“Uhh… Uhhh…”

“You. I will never let you die easily.”

As I truly threatened him, Yeom quietly lowered his gaze.

This kind of guy deserves exactly this kind of treatment.

Leaving the women, who were greatly flustered by the sudden chaos, and the brave woman behind, I moved to the next room. As expected, the door was similarly reinforced and locked.

I simply tore the entire thing off and stepped inside.

Instantly, a pungent, nose-stinging smell rushed in.

It was enough for me to unconsciously raise my arm and cover my nose.

Unlike the next room, this brightly lit place had people standing upright.

No, not exactly upright, but in a dazed, semiconscious state.

Their eyes were mostly glazed over, and they were standing precariously.

In the middle of the hospital room, large, wide tables were connected, holding various implements, and they were making something.

In that state, they focused their gaze on me, who had torn off the door and entered.

Several people wearing doctor’s gowns and a number of women.

As I surveyed the people and the situation, I focused on the items on the table.

And then I thought, ‘Surely not.’

“Is that… drugs?”

“…”

“Wow… this is quite something…”

A drug manufacturing process, like something out of a movie, was unfolding before my eyes.

At the end of the table, lined with equipment typically used for chemical experiments, a pile of white powder was neatly stacked.

I wondered if drugs could really be made this easily.

But seeing him set up equipment and produce drugs in this situation, it was clear in that moment that Yeom Seongjin, though insane, possessed extraordinary resourcefulness.

“You people there. Come out quickly. Ah! Hurry up and come out!”

The pungent smell and a sensation that twisted my senses overwhelmed me.

Feeling that I shouldn’t be in this space any longer, I hastily turned around.

The people who had been trapped inside, making drugs, looked to be in a very bad state.

They seemed to have some awareness that it was a dangerous space, their eyes hazy, but they staggered out of the room.

Just then, the young women from the adjacent room helped them.

The women who had come out into the hallway, despite their poor physical condition, helped support and bring out the people intoxicated by the drug’s effects.

The fortunate thing was, perhaps because they hadn’t directly inhaled the drug.

The people who breathed in fresh air gagged, resisting the drug’s influence.

Seeing that sight, I thought I should take some action, but there was nothing I could do.

In a situation where I, lacking medical knowledge, couldn’t rashly intervene, what I had to do was clear.

“…You bastard. I’ll see you in a bit.”

I threatened him once more, but Yeom, who was half-unconscious from the bleeding and pain, didn’t properly understand my words.

Clicking my tongue at his relaxed state, I stood before the last hospital room.

This door was just a normal hospital room door.

But there was clearly a human presence inside.

‘Two people?’

Without hesitation, I tore off the door and stepped into the room.

In the brightly lit room, there were only two doctors.

Other than that, it was an unremarkable, ordinary hospital room.

An elderly man with streaked gray hair and a rather young man.

Both wore white gowns, the symbol of doctors.

Their haggard appearances, showing signs of severe fatigue, suggested they had been overworked for a long time, revealing deep exhaustion.

However, their clear eyes conveyed strong resolve.

This made me think they might have resolute personalities.

The fact that they showed no great disturbance even after I suddenly appeared, tearing off the door, served as proof.

“A rescue team… you don’t seem to be.”

The elderly doctor spoke calmly, with a composed demeanor.

His deeply subdued voice probably would have been gentle normally.

The young doctor, shielding the elderly doctor who had spoken, blocked my path and looked at me with a very tense expression.

“I’m not a rescue team. More importantly, you’re doctors, right?”

“…”

“People outside are gagging and struggling, so please take a look at them.”

“People? Perhaps…?”

The two doctors, who couldn’t hide their sharp reactions as if they had been severely hurt by the thugs, softened their demeanor when the women followed me in.

“Director-nim!”

“Oh! You’re safe!”

“B-but more importantly, please look at the people. They’re all in bad shape!”

At the mention of urgent patients, the elderly doctor rushed out without a second thought, heading straight for the people sprawled on the floor.

“Let’s talk later.”

“Y-yes, of course.”

I was slightly surprised by the elderly doctor’s sudden shift in demeanor.

A doctor who reacts so strongly to the word “patient.”

Watching him calmly examine people and give instructions, I wondered if this was the true image of a doctor.

‘Is the second floor mostly done?’

The other hospital rooms were empty, and all the trapped people had been released.

Those freed from confinement were quickly regaining their senses and tending to one another.

Staying here would only make me a hindrance.

“Let’s head upstairs.”

“Ah, no!”

“Yes.”

I struck the back of Yeom’s head, knocking him unconscious, as he made a fuss, forgetting his own situation. A strong curiosity arose as to why he said no.

I stared at the unconscious people for a moment, then moved.

Dragging the limp Yeom, I quietly headed to the third floor.

‘What kind of mess did they make?’

With such thoughts, I stepped onto the third floor.

There, I found myself clicking my tongue lightly.