Rescue (2)
How long had we been climbing the unpaved uphill path on the electric scooter?
At some point the road had simply become a mountain trail, and that was when I spotted the camera hanging from a tree and brought the scooter to an immediate stop.
"From here on, we go on foot."
I pointed at the surveillance camera in the branches. Sharp as ever, Lee Yeon-hui understood at once and nodded.
We hid the scooter in the underbrush, stepped off the path, and got ourselves ready.
"Phones off for now. From this point they might be able to pick up the signal."
"Shouldn't we send our location first, then?"
"That—"
I started to answer Yeon-hui and then stopped cold.
"Hey, there's already a camera. Why the hell do we have to come out on patrol too?"
"What do you want me to do, asshole? Orders are orders."
"They said the aggro's already all pulled over that way. Everything's going exactly according to plan, so why are we doing this inefficient bullshit?"
Two men came grumbling down the slope.
One handgun. One military knife. Non-Awakened, then.
Their gear told me everything I needed to know. An Awakened might carry a weapon, but they wouldn't bother with ordinary military hardware like that.
Once the two of them had shuffled far enough away, I turned to Yeon-hui and laid out our priorities one last time.
"Final check. Our only objective is to get Yeon-ah out. We focus on bringing her back safely. If we run into anyone, I'll handle it somehow — you follow my orders no matter what. Got it?"
"Got it."
She answered with a firm nod. Adapting this fast even in a situation like this — her nerves must have always been something else.
I fiddled with my phone one more time, slipped it into my pocket, and the two of us carefully pushed through the undergrowth up the hill. Without being told, Yeon-hui stuck tight to my back the whole way, moving with careful quiet.
Before long we came up against a place on the mountainside ringed in iron fencing.
Right in front of the fence stood two men who looked like they were on guard duty. Armed with guns — Non-Awakened as well, almost certainly.
Beyond them, the iron bars stretched away endlessly in both directions.
Going around isn't going to work.
Even at a glance, the fenced-off area was enormous. Finding a gap and circling in would take far too long.
I told Yeon-hui to stay put, dug through the backpack I'd packed ahead of time, and pulled out a small shovel. Then I crawled up to the fence and started digging a shallow hole.
Being small has its uses in the dumbest ways.
With an adult body, a hole this size wouldn't have done a thing.
It wasn't deep, but it was more than enough for a couple of elementary-schoolers to slip under the bars. Yeon-hui and I crawled through without any trouble — and the moment we were inside, both of us froze with our mouths hanging open.
Beep—! Beep—!
"Hey! That's far enough! Cut it out!"
Dozens of them — nearly a hundred, just by eye — massive shipping containers. Forklifts moved with the crisp coordination of a working harbor, people directing them this way and that.
"Looks like an old port."
I wasn't the only one thinking it. Yeon-hui murmured the same thing under her breath.
Old. This world was more scientifically advanced than the one I'd come from, and work like this had been automated ages ago. That was why the comparison had come to her so naturally.
Footsteps, close.
I grabbed Yeon-hui and pulled her behind a container.
"You hear? The old man himself snatched the kid this time. Word is he took down two heroes in an instant and brought her back."
"He was supposed to be laying low. Would've been cleaner if he'd just wiped them out — no intel leaking that way."
"Hell if I know. The guy's strong as hell, but his moods are all over the place."
Another two-man patrol, grumbling as they passed. Non-Awakened again, judging by the weapons. Seemed like the Non-Awakened handled the armed guard and patrol work around here.
But it was the keywords in their conversation that made my ears prick up.
The old man. A real powerhouse.
In Freedom, there was only one person they called that.
Nogoe.
The insane old man who'd single-handedly half-destroyed both the Hero Association and the Hunter Association.
Every hair on my body stood on end.
If Nogoe was here—
Our odds of getting Yeon-ah out alive drop to almost nothing.
"Haven't seen him in a while and he was terrifying. Ugh… I locked eyes with him for a second and I swear he was going to kill me with a look."
"I can't stand that old bastard. Good thing he left already — if he were still around he'd be on our asses about doing things properly."
I let out a breath I hadn't realized I was holding.
So he's not here right now…
The second I let the tension ease—
"Oh? So because the old geezer's gone, you figure you can half-ass it?"
A stranger's voice from behind the two men. Cold. Razor-sharp. Like a blade pressed to the throat.
It wasn't even aimed at us, and still Yeon-hui and I went rigid.
"N-no, sir!"
"Sorry, sir!"
They snapped to attention and bowed like they'd seen a ghost.
"Nah~ it's fine. Aggro's already all pulled over that way anyway — not like we've got much to do. Take it easy."
"Th-thank you, sir!"
"But… why do I sense kids nearby?"
The man's sharp gaze swept the area. We were hidden behind the container, and still it felt like his eyes were boring straight through the metal and into us.
Shit. Did he make us?
Awakened didn't just get special powers — every baseline human ability shot through the roof. Strength, stamina, and all five senses.
I clamped both hands over my mouth and Yeon-hui's and held my breath, watching.
"Ah, it's probably because of the kid the old man brought in."
"A kid? That old fossil kidnapped a child?"
"Yes, sir. Said she was essential for this operation."
The man explained with a nervous little laugh, and only then did the crushing pressure of that gaze lift away from us.
"Tch. How come I didn't know about this?"
"Well, Captain, you fell asleep during the briefing—"
"Huh?"
"N-nothing, sir!"
"So. Where'd they dump this precious little brat?"
"She should be over in the experiment prep room right now, sir!"
The man pointed at a green container. I locked the location in without missing a beat.
"Tch. Whatever. Something feels off, so even if you're slacking, don't make it obvious."
"Yes, sir!"
With that final word, the white-haired man disappeared toward the far side of the yard. I didn't dare risk a look at his face — only after he'd turned away did I catch so much as the back of his head.
"I think I know where Yeon-ah is."
"Mmphh!"
"Huh?"
Thwack!
"You absolute idiot! At least let me breathe through my nose! I almost died!"
Right. I'd been covering her airways.
"Sorry. Early-onset dementia, maybe. Getting old."
"How old could you possibly be?! You're not even a teenager and you're talking about dementia?"
Fair point.
Still — the way she kept her voice down so we wouldn't get caught. Impressive in its own right.
Moving carefully and quietly paid off. We made it all the way to the experiment prep container where Yeon-ah was supposedly being held. The patrols were half-assing their rounds, so it hadn't been all that hard.
"It's locked. What do we do?"
"Don't worry about it."
The container had an electronic lock. No one was standing guard at the entrance, and cracking the lock itself wouldn't have been difficult — but with people moving around nearby, walking in through the front was basically impossible.
That didn't mean we were out of options.
I dug through the backpack and pulled out the first thing my hand found.
"A… water gun?"
Yeon-hui stared at what I'd taken out. Fair enough — it looked exactly like one.
Once it fired, though, there was nothing cute about it.
I twisted the lever to adjust the output, waved Yeon-hui back, and squeezed the trigger at the container.
Fsssshhhh!
A vicious hiss, and a beam of light tore free — like a laser straight out of a movie. The scarlet fire pouring from the muzzle was so hot that the heat-resistant gloves I was wearing had already blackened and scorched.
"Whoa…"
The result was worth it.
"…There's a hole."
A clean opening had burned straight through the side of a container that had to be a good thirty centimeters thick. Yeon-hui's face was a mixture of shock and pure disbelief. I couldn't help a small smirk.
Worth every won I paid for it.
I hadn't just been sitting around while Choi Min-ho and Lee Hyeon-seong were babysitting me. I'd been using back channels to stockpile weapons for exactly this kind of emergency.
Not that any of it had helped when it actually mattered. But in my defense, the opponent had been Nogoe. There wasn't much anyone could have done.
At least it was useful now.
The method was pretty extreme, but the surrounding noise was loud enough that the sound got buried without a problem.
I stuck my head through the hole we'd just made — and a stench hit me square in the nose.
"This smell…"
The familiar reek of iron and blood. The air itself felt thick and sticky. It was too dark to see clearly, but the second I leaned in, every instinct I had told me that whatever was inside was deeply, fundamentally wrong.
I pulled my face back out and looked at Yeon-hui.
"I'll go in and find Yeon-ah. You hide nearby and keep watch. If a patrol spots the hole, signal me with this."
I pulled another phone from the bag and handed it to her.
"You told me to turn mine off."
She stared at me like I'd lost my mind. She looked a lot less tense than she had at the start — which was exactly why we couldn't afford to get careless.
"This one doesn't use radio signals, so it's fine. Just do it, okay?"
"Why don't I just come in with—"
"Answer."
"…Fine."
I got that she was frustrated, but we didn't have time to argue over something this pointless. Half of it was an excuse, sure — but someone did need to watch the hole.
I clamped a small flashlight between my teeth and shoved myself headfirst through the opening.