The Afternoon Terror Scare (2)
Looking down from the rooftop of a building dozens of stories high as the evening glow slowly settled was a rather atmospheric thing to do.
If I had simply come as a tourist, I would have been grateful for my lack of acrophobia and leisurely soaked in the view. Unfortunately, the situation was nowhere near that comfortable.
Most of the security guards Lee Jeongseok had posted were currently busy chasing my clone around inside the headquarters, so none of them knew I was up here. The moment the CEO received my card, his PTSD must have kicked in hard, convincing him I was going to loot something from inside the building…
In truth, I had never planned to steal anything more from Cheonok Logistics. From the start I had simply pressed my hand to the outer wall, opened a door, and climbed the emergency stairs all the way up here. All their scrambling was completely wasted effort.
Right before the protest was about to break up, I revealed myself. Down on the ground, Valkyrie unfurled her angel wings and shifted into combat stance.
I stayed right where I was, flipped on the voice amplifier, and called down to her.
“Ah, sorry, Miss Valkyrie, but could you wait there a moment? I’m a little too scared to face you head-on.”
“Cut the crap! What are you here to steal this time?!”
“That’s a bit harsh. I thought after all that chasing each other around we had grown somewhat close, and yet the second we meet you brand me a common thief.”
From Valkyrie’s perspective I really was nothing more than a petty thief, so my words left her gaping in sheer disbelief.
“I watched the protest carefully. It seems those people down there simply want the government and the media to hear their voices. Yet, astonishingly, no one paid them any attention. The government gave no answer at all. The so-called press only showed up at the beginning to snap a few photos before packing up and leaving… So I thought I would offer a little help.”
“Shut up! You send out a terror threat to a place where people are gathered and then what? Do you think I’m just going to stand here and—”
“Someone’s in a hurry. Are you saying you intend to snatch away their chance to seize the world’s attention? You, the righteous hero Valkyrie?”
“What the hell is this ‘chance’ you’re talking about?! It’s not going to be anything legitimate!”
“Exactly this.”
I brought forward a large box with dozens of helium balloons tied to it and held it out so the people on the ground could see. Bundles of what looked like dynamite were strapped around the box, and right above them dangled a digital clock whose numbers were steadily ticking down.
The instant they saw it, Valkyrie, the operator Han Juyeon, and every single person present thought the exact same word.
Time bomb.
The remaining broadcast staff were the first to confirm it through their cameras and immediately screamed in panic. One by one the protestors and ordinary citizens watching the camera feeds also got a clear look at the thing.
“Kyaaaaaaah!!!”
“Uwaaagh! A-a bomb! It’s a time bomb!”
“Th-this crazy bastard—what the hell are you doing?!”
Valkyrie shouted, cold sweat pouring down her face.
“Listen up, everyone at the protest! In order to move a government and a media that refuse to budge without controversy and gossip, I shall now send you a gift! By tomorrow every news outlet will be buzzing about what happened here!”
With those words I released the balloon-borne box into the open air beyond the building.
Even Valkyrie needed a few seconds to fly this high, and she was still hesitating out of concern for the citizens’ safety. That was enough time for me to take the initiative.
Watching the panicking crowd scatter below like ants pouring out of a nest, I cleared my throat, took a deep breath, and then let out an exaggerated laugh that everyone could clearly hear.
“Hahahaha! Let the spectacular show begin! I shall present you with the greatest explosion of all—right here!”
Damn it. This is way more mortifying than I expected.
I could only hope the cameras failed to catch how red my face had become.
Once the balloon-suspended box had drifted a fair distance forward, I pulled out an air gun illegally modified in the slums and fired with both hands.
Tatatatatang—!
“Haat—hahahaha!!!”
Swallowing the soul-crushing embarrassment, I cackled like a madman while wildly blasting the balloons. As their numbers dwindled, the weight of the box finally overpowered the remaining lift and it began to plummet.
…
“Oh no… no!!!”
Valkyrie screamed, flaring her angel wings wide and rocketing skyward—not toward Kid G, but straight for the falling box. As badly as she wanted to catch him, the thought of that box hitting the ground and detonating into a true catastrophe drove her decision.
“Everyone! Cover your heads and take cover under the building! Even under a tree if you have to! Hurry!”
She shouted desperately at the many people still nearby while flying up and snatching the box. She checked the timer in a rush, but—
00:10…
00:09…
Only ten seconds remained.
She was no bomb-disposal expert, and even if she had been, there was no way to defuse it in that time.
Damn it… too late!
Unable to disarm the bomb and with nowhere safe to throw it, Valkyrie steeled herself and wrapped her arms around the box, even folding her ability-created angel wings over it for maximum coverage.
— Seol-ah, don’t!
Han Juyeon’s scream crackled through the earpiece mic as she operated from the other end.
00:02…
00:01…
Valkyrie squeezed her eyes shut and clenched her teeth.
00:00
Pop—!
Pop?
Instead of the eardrum-shattering blast one expected from a bomb, a rather cute little sound rang out. Feeling a sudden wrongness, Valkyrie carefully opened her eyes.
From the red “dynamite” sticks that had looked like a time bomb, party-popper confetti burst forth and scattered in every direction.
Coming to her senses a beat later, she realized the box she was clutching felt strangely light. She opened it.
Inside were dozens of smaller boxes, each labeled with a person’s name. Judging by the height, they were stacked several layers deep—hundreds of them in total if counted together.
The realization that she had been made a complete fool made Valkyrie’s teeth grind. She whipped her head toward the rooftop of Cheonok Logistics headquarters, but the Kid G who had stood there moments ago was already gone.
Feeling hollow, she landed on the ground still holding the box. Sensing that nothing catastrophic had happened, people began drifting back one by one.
Then a voice issued from the clock that had looked like a time-bomb timer.
— Hahahaha! Well? Did you enjoy the “gift” I sent?
Crack—crack—
So furious that a vein twitched at the corner of her eye, Valkyrie seized the clock with both hands as if she meant to crush it and roared.
“Hey!!! Are you treating people like idiots right now?!”
But the voice from the clock continued, utterly unconcerned, with only its own prepared words.
— Ah, right about now Miss Valkyrie is probably worked up and cursing me out, but it’s useless. This is a pre-recorded message.
“Seee… seeth…”
— What’s inside that box is a gift for the non-regular employees who got fired this time. And I mean a genuine gift, so please don’t get any weird ideas. These people have nothing but darkness ahead of them; the least we can do is take a little of the worry about putting food on the table off their shoulders, right?
While checking the smaller boxes inside the large one, Valkyrie absently read the writing on one of them.
“…Gyeonggi-do, Seongnam-si, xx-gu, xx-ro 21, unit 1129… Kim Minsu?”
Among the people who had fled in panic and were now carefully returning to gather their things, someone answered.
“Yes? That’s me… How do you know my address?”
“Huh? It’s written on this box…”
The man whose name was on the box couldn’t restrain his curiosity and stepped closer. He read his own name, yet was still too frightened to open it.
In the meantime, operator Han Juyeon relayed a message to Valkyrie.
— Valkyrie, I just scanned the contents of the boxes. Nothing hazardous is registering. It’s safe to open them.
“The scan results say the items inside the boxes are safe. You may open them.”
Reassured by Valkyrie’s words, the man opened the box with his name on it. The moment he saw what was inside, he cried out in shock.
“Th-this is all money?!”
“Money?!”
At that, the other protestors gathered around the boxes one after another and opened the ones labeled with their own names. People who received boxes containing nearly twenty million won each simply stared at one another in stunned silence.
“V-Valkyrie-nim…? What on earth is this…?”
The answer came promptly from the recorded voice of Kid G, as if it had been waiting for the question.
— It turns out there are quite a few people who simply adore CEO Lee Jeongseok of Cheonok Logistics.
At that exact moment Lee Jeongseok himself burst through the first-floor doors and ran toward Valkyrie.
“Hey! Has the bomb been defused? What the hell just happened?! That Kid G bastard vanished from our building without a trace!”
Thanks to his arrival, Lee Jeongseok was able to hear the rest of the recording.
— When they heard that CEO Lee Jeongseok’s belongings had gone up for auction, you would not believe how much money they willingly paid. Especially that black pearl necklace—the gentleman who bought it said he planned to dismantle it and use a few of the pearls as studs for his manhood… I wouldn’t be surprised if the logistics company CEOs start making group appointments at the public bathhouse sometime soon. Hahaha!
In that instant Lee Jeongseok froze completely solid.
“…What… did you say? My wife’s necklace… for what…?”
— Anyway, protest participants, the one who deserved punishment has been punished, and you’ve received gifts that should help a little with your unjust situation, so take that as a foundation and make your own fresh starts. This is all I can do for people the government has chosen to ignore.
Hearing that voice, some of the protestors broke into tears of gratitude and raised their voices high.
“Thank you…! Thank you, Kid G-nim! Thank you so much!”
That day’s bomb-terror scare, which ended as nothing more than a misunderstanding, became the very incident that catapulted both Kid G and Valkyrie into explosive fame.