Chapter 99
Chapter 99
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 99
Chapter Title: November III
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The firefighter received a call from headquarters over his radio and shouted to his colleagues.
"It's confirmed. Seal off this area! It's dangerous, so don't touch anything except for rescuing the injured!"
He relayed the situation, then turned to Na Gang-in.
"I've heard you're an expert in this field, sir."
Na Gang-in muttered to himself.
"Park Soon-gi must have made the calls and convinced the higher-ups at the fire station after all."
Park Soon-gi was a police officer learning Total Kwon Do from him.
To learn skills like that, he'd have to roll around a lot more.
"Poor Soon-gi must be crying his eyes out."
The firefighter didn't know exactly how dangerous the cargo on this truck was. But the story he'd received over the radio matched what Na Gang-in had explained.
"Sorry for doubting you earlier. Tell us the precautions. We'll help move it."
"Finally, someone who listens. No matter how much I explained, no one believed me. It was frustrating. Alright, from now on..."
"Huh?"
Na Gang-in immediately warned the firefighter.
"The container's condition is bad. If it breaks while we're moving it, we're in real trouble."
"Of course we'll be careful."
The drama team had already mostly cleared out.
Civilian control was underway, so onlookers couldn't get close. But there were still people watching from a distance.
Na Gang-in said to Shin Eun-ha and Yi Bo-ra.
"If you don't want to retreat, find whoever filmed this scene and make them delete the footage."
Shin Eun-ha shouted loudly.
"I'll handle that! Leave it to me!"
Min Young-hee was in charge of Yi Bo-ra's security today. Since Yi Bo-ra wouldn't leave the scene, she couldn't retreat either.
Min Young-hee suggested.
"I'll help you two. Come on, come on, both of you over here. That guy over there just took a photo, so let's go that way."
Min Young-hee's ploy worked. The three moved away from the cargo truck.
Na Gang-in moved the containers holding VTX-13 with the firefighters.
He left the intact containers to the firefighters. Na Gang-in personally handled every one showing even fine cracks on the surface.
Reinforcements arrived one after another. But they didn't know Na Gang-in's face.
A late-arriving firefighter spotted Na Gang-in returning after moving a container and said.
"Sir, this is our expertise. Civilians should evacuate. This is hazardous material."
"I'm the one who reported the explosives."
"Pardon? Ah! Are you an explosives disposal expert?"
"Something like that."
Na Gang-in carefully moved only the containers with fine cracks, one by one.
The firefighters knew it could explode. But only Na Gang-in knew the true scale of the blast power.
They were tense, but some still seemed skeptical.
Na Gang-in said while carrying a cracked VTX-13 container by hand.
"Don't call it the blast center. You're making me nervous. But it looks like a few drops leaked. Is it okay if it gets on my hands?"
"Should I get more on me?"
Na Gang-in placed the container in the fusion restaurant's parking lot. Then he told a newly arrived officer handling scene control.
"No one touches this. If it mixes with the liquid in that car, it explodes."
The officer had received basic info on the way here and instructions to cooperate with the explosives expert on site.
"We'll guard it strictly. Requesting additional support too."
"Yes. Then I'll leave it to you..."
Na Gang-in turned toward the truck and yelled.
"Why are you bringing that container over here!"
A newcomer moving cargo looked baffled.
"Pardon? There's plenty of space in that parking lot?"
"No! Don't move it! Don't even put it back on the road—keep it far away from here!"
"Ah, yes."
"Better to redirect all new personnel to perimeter control."
Na Gang-in found the site commander and explained. Personnel were quickly reassigned.
Afterward, he headed to the driver's seat.
The firefighters were carefully cutting open the cab panel to extract the injured man.
Na Gang-in looked at the driver's injuries and asked.
"Ji-in, what do you think?"
The Combat Support AI Jeon Ji-in excelled at injury diagnosis.
"With ambulances and doctors here, he'll be fine."
Surgeon Kim Jung-seok asked Na Gang-in before boarding the ambulance.
"But that cargo on the truck... is it really going to blow?"
"Yes."
"Then the blast power..."
Na Gang-in looked around and said.
"Everyone here would die."
Kim Jung-seok immediately yelled toward the ambulance driver.
"Hurry and go! Now!"
Na Gang-in said.
"If it blows, sure, but we've cleared the dangerous stuff, so it's safe now."
"Ah..."
The police called the cosmetics company Baekhansuryeo to verify the hazardous materials.
The development team leader stated definitively.
"No way it explodes. It's such a great ingredient for the skin. We use it in our cosmetics."
- Of course. We think so too. But things have escalated, so please confirm.
"We've already checked that ages ago."
The joint investigation headquarters now only gathered executives occasionally for meetings.
One police executive muttered in his office.
"Nah, not this time."
Even as he said it, he picked up the phone.
"But it's Na Gang-in claiming it, so we have to check..."
The police strongly demanded Baekhansuryeo confirm the material's stability.
The next morning, Baekhansuryeo President Baek Seon-cheol showed up personally at the company lab in Gyeonggi Province. Police and fire observers arrived too.
Baek Seon-cheol grumbled in front of them.
"I was already stressed from yesterday's accident, and now this ridiculous false accusation? Why would our cosmetic ingredient explode? It's so good for the skin."
The police observer said.
"VTX-13 is Baekhansuryeo's patented compound, right? So confirm it here."
"Fine, whatever. Team Leader Choi, show them quick."
The development team leader mixed VTX-13 and NG-3 in a test tube in the middle of the athletic field. Tiny amounts, less than 1cc each.
Observers watched from far away.
The team leader shouted.
"We've done experiments like this plenty of times!"
The police observer used a portable mic.
"He said mixing with other ingredients nullifies the explosion. That's why it never went off before."
Na Gang-in had called the team leader yesterday asking what that other ingredient was, but got no answer.
The team leader shook the test tube.
"You think we never tested just these two alone? Of course we did. See? No explosion even when shaken."
The observer said.
"We heard small amounts can explode, but larger amounts are even worse."
"Yes, yes. How much?"
"Over 100cc mixed is extremely dangerous."
"Ah, yes, 100cc. Who mixes that much? Got it. Let's do it."
The team leader generously mixed the two chemicals in a beaker. He'd done similar tests before, so no worries.
The observer jumped up yelling.
"He said absolutely don't do that much or it explodes!"
The team leader asked.
"What exactly explodes?"
No explosion even after mixing.
The team leader shrugged.
"See? Ours doesn't explode."
The observers looked embarrassed.
"Uh... yeah. Must be a misunderstanding."
President Baek Seon-cheol snapped at them.
"Gentlemen, you can't make a fuss over some random passerby's words. What kind of company do you think we are? We don't make sloppy products."
The fire observer apologized.
"Sorry. We needed confirmation, but if it inconvenienced you, our apologies."
"No, it's not your fault. Since you're here, have a meal before you go. Can't afford fancy due to regulations, so our cafeteria. Team Leader Choi too?"
The team leader set down the lab tools in the field middle and hurried after the president.
"Yes, President."
As he followed, he called on his phone.
"Yeah, I have to escort the president, so send someone to clean up the tools in the field. I covered the mixed stuff, dispose properly."
The test tube on the table rolled late, fell off the edge, shattered on the field ground.
Jeon Ji-in said this bomb was called November B. The 1.5cc of November B in the test tube exploded.
Too small an amount for serious damage, but enough to jolt the table hard.
A beaker with about 100cc of November B sat on that table.
Baekhansuryeo staff and observers had fully left the field, heading to the building. They heard the 1.5cc pop, turned in surprise.
Then the 100cc exploded. Light flashed in the field center. An enormous roar and shockwave hit them.
People were flung backward.
"Argh!"
Glass windows on surrounding lab buildings shattered entirely.
The police and fire observers scrambled up.
"Wh-what?"
"What happened?"
Nothing left at the blast site. Ground cratered like a shell hit.
They were horrified.
"It... it really exploded..."
The team leader, standing late, stared blankly murmuring.
"No, why did that explode?"
President Baek Seon-cheol stammered.
"Team Leader Choi? What happened?"
"Th-this can't be... it's weird."
"Then what was that explosion? Terrorism?"
"N-no, it's not..."
The fire observer realized a new problem. He asked urgently.
"A bomb smaller than a cup shattered all the lab windows. Are more of those ingredients stored here?"
The exploded bomb used just over 100cc of chemicals. Yet the power rivaled artillery.
This lab stored tons of chemicals.
President Baek Seon-cheol snapped alert.
"If that goes off, the whole lab flies away!"
The president and team leader frantically pulled out phones.
"Check VTX-13 and NG-3 status!"
"Move to safe spots!"
"No, don't leave them together! If those two mix and blow, we're all dead!"
"What? In the lab? If storage cracked, check if they mixed—even a little, just evacuate!"
"Don't you get it? Pull out only cleanup crew—everyone else out of the lab! Run!"
The police observer dusted his clothes. Ears rang, but he could still hear talk.
"It really blows."
The fire observer, shocked, said.
"I was skeptical too, but wow..."
"If it'd blown during the test, we'd be hurt. It went off after we walked this far, so we're okay."
"We were in danger, but that guy testing in the field middle... no remains."
Team Leader Choi overheard. He paused, ended his call, dialed his wife.
"Honey! I'm alive! I didn't die!"
- Got it, so buy toilet paper on your way home.
"I didn't die!"
- Prove it tonight.
"Huh? Honey?"