The Hero of Incheon Airport
On the way home from the hospital I stopped by the market for a few simple groceries.
By the time I got back, the sun was already sinking.
I showered, bit into one of the tomatoes I’d bought, and turned on the TV for the first time in ages.
By pure coincidence, the screen was filled with Han Yojung—now a global star.
Those large eyes, the high bridge of her nose, porcelain skin, and hair dyed a vivid yellow. A slender yet toned figure. You couldn’t look away even if you tried.
It was footage of her performing in Los Angeles; the announcer mentioned nearly ninety thousand people had packed the stadium.
The stands really were a sea of bodies. I could barely believe so many had come just to see her. Still, there was no denying she was doing a great deal to elevate the status of K-pop worldwide.
“Han Yojung, huh…”
I muttered the name and finished the rest of the tomato in one bite.
The truth was, LK Telecom was pulling out every stop to sign her as their next exclusive model.
Marketing Teams 1 and 2 had both tried to arrange meetings, but they hadn’t even managed to get a single appointment on the books.
She hadn’t rejected them outright, of course—her agency simply kept her under extremely tight control.
I watched her perform for a while with complete detachment.
Office gossip claimed she was a real piece of work, but I didn’t buy it. You never really know someone until you’ve dealt with them yourself; jumping to conclusions only clouds your judgment.
I flipped through a few more channels, read a little, and turned in early.
I had to be back at work tomorrow; it was time to reset my daily rhythm.
The next morning.
Screech!
A sedan slammed to a halt at the company gate.
“You two! Get in, quick!”
The passenger window rolled down and Kim Seungho, the junior associate, shouted at us.
Kang Bitna and I, who’d been waiting at the entrance, scrambled into the car.
“How long to the airport?”
“Rush hour’s over, so about forty minutes.”
“Good, we’ve got a little buffer. Still, better step on it. We absolutely cannot miss this.”
“Yes, sir!”
Kim Seungho floored it and pulled away from the LK Telecom building.
There was only one reason we were racing to Incheon International Airport.
We were going to meet a global pop star—Han Yojung herself.
After a few days off, I’d returned to find that the mission to recruit her had been handed down to our Team 3 as well.
Then, in the early hours of this morning, we’d received word that Han Yojung and her agency’s CEO were secretly flying back into Korea.
Since she wouldn’t meet anyone, the desperate party had no choice but to go to her.
Deputy Manager Jeon, Manager Park, and Assistant Manager Jo were all tied up on other projects, so the sudden assignment fell to me, Kim Seungho, and Kang Bitna.
Kim Seungho kept the accelerator down all the way to Incheon. Traffic was light, just as he’d predicted, and we arrived with a comfortable thirty minutes to spare.
“You two go ahead. I’ll park and catch up.”
“Understood.”
He dropped us at the terminal entrance and drove off again.
Kang Bitna and I headed straight for the international arrivals hall for the flight from LA.
The moment we reached it, we stopped dead in our tracks.
A massive crowd had gathered in front of the gates like a dark cloud.
“What… is this? Weren’t they supposed to be arriving in secret?”
Kang Bitna frowned. I pointed at the picket signs bobbing among the throng.
“Looks like another celebrity is landing around the same time.”
“Ah! SS1—the girl group. You spotted that right away. Sharp eyes.”
She gave me a thumbs-up. I just shrugged.
Even without sharp eyes, that much should have been obvious…
“Did SS1 perform in LA too? I don’t think so.”
“They could’ve come from somewhere else.”
“So what do we do?”
“We wait and watch. They might clear out before she arrives.”
We edged closer to the crowd and found a spot with a partial view of the gates.
“Looks like they’re coming out.”
“Yeah.”
People began trickling through the arrivals doors. The fans waiting behind the barricades stirred restlessly.
A few YouTubers started whipping up the atmosphere, and the energy spiked.
— Kyaaaa!
— Ohhh! It’s SS1!
— Jessie! Karara! Sea!
— Waaaah! Look over here!
The members of SS1 emerged under heavy security escort.
“Make way!”
“Move, now!”
Fans surged from every direction. Bodyguards shoved a path open so the idols could push through.
“Ahh!”
“Stop pushing!”
In that chaos, a family that had exited just ahead of the idols got trapped between the security detail and the fans.
The problem was that the family included small children.
The parents lost hold of them in an instant as the bodyguards forced their way through.
Almost no one noticed. The kids simply vanished into the crush of bodies.
But my eyes locked onto them perfectly—children about to be trampled because the guards wouldn’t let them through.
“Wait here.”
“What? Noh—!”
I left Kang Bitna’s shout behind and sprinted toward the gates.
I scanned the scene ahead. The crowd was so dense there was barely room to plant a foot, yet every person’s path unfolded before me like silhouettes. The fastest, most efficient route stood out crystal clear.
Perfect.
Thud-thud!
I poured on more speed. The distance closed in a heartbeat—but there was a limit. The final stretch was packed so tight that forcing my way through risked a real stampede.
Then…
I didn’t slow down. I planted my foot and launched myself into the air.
Whoosh—
I sailed clean over the heads of the crowd and landed right in the middle of the idol group’s path. The bodyguards spotted me instantly and charged.
“Who the hell are you?!”
“Stop that guy!”
Two of them lunged. I twisted lightly between them, slipped through, and scooped up the child who had already been knocked down.
In that same second—
Crash—
“Aagh!”
“Ugh! Move! Get out of the way!”
“Don’t trample people!”
Bodies toppled into the exact spot where the child had been lying. People piled on top of one another. One second later and the kid would have been crushed.
“Block that side!”
The bodyguards still only cared about the idols.
Blood rushed to my head.
“Are you kidding me right now? What, are celebrities royalty?! How dare you block the path! That child almost got hurt! What right do you have to stop ordinary people?! Get out of the way—now!”
I roared at the men still barricading the exit.
A raw, murderous aura poured off me. The bodyguards flinched and froze. Everyone else went dead silent and stared.
“Yeeun! Yeeun!”
The child’s mother shoved through the crowd, sobbing, and ran to us.
“Thank you. Thank you so much.”
She took her daughter from my arms and bowed over and over, then clutched the girl and wept with relief and apology.
One by one, the onlookers quietly drifted away from the arrivals hall.
When the whole mess finally settled, Kang Bitna and I sat in an airport café, staring blankly at the passersby.
Kim Seungho returned with coffee.
“Why the long faces? You saved a kid—that’s what matters. We’ll get another shot at Han Yojung.”
He grinned and held out a cup.
“Yeah… you’re right. Don’t worry about me. I’m fine. Sorry for putting you both through this first thing in the morning.”
I managed an awkward smile. Kang Bitna shook her head hard.
“Sorry? You saved a child! You did the right thing. Who cares about those celebrities? Ugh, so full of themselves. Acting like they’re nobility.”
“Exactly! Worst case, we just pick someone else instead of Han Yojung!”
“Still, we should try everything we can.”
I shrugged. Kang Bitna leaned in closer.
“But how did you even know the kid was in danger? And the way you weaved through that mess…”
“Just luck. Let’s drink these on the way. We’re already late.”
I brushed off the question and stood. The other two rose quickly after me.
That evening, a video went up on YouTube.
The clickbait title plus the name of a currently surging idol group sent the view count skyrocketing.
The footage clearly showed SS1 emerging into arrivals, bodyguards sealing off the path, and a man leaping over the crowd to snatch a child trapped between fans and security. The same man then tore into the bodyguards at the top of his lungs before SS1 and their detail quietly left the airport.
Then the comments exploded.
Someone pointed out that the hero was the same man who had performed CPR on an epileptic patient at Jongno 3-ga Station not long ago. The thread snowballed. Comparison videos of the subway and airport clips appeared. In the end it was confirmed: both heroes were the same person.
Back at her lodging, Han Yojung lay in the bathtub, soaking away the jet lag, when she stumbled across the hottest video on YouTube.
She watched it several times, then scrolled through the comments.
She had been there herself, after all. Completely disguised, she had walked out of arrivals while every eye was fixed on the other group. No one had recognized her.
“Jongno 3-ga…”
She searched for the Jongno 3-ga hero. Related videos lined up immediately—one of them already past five million views.
She hit play and let out a small, involuntary gasp.
The way he saved the epileptic patient looked completely professional.
“Whoa… impressive. Who is this guy?”
Sudden curiosity gripped her. She combed through every comment, then hunted down every interview clip she could find.
In the end she learned the hero was an ordinary office worker at LK Telecom.
“LK Telecom? Now that… could be useful.”
She set her phone on the shelf and sank deeper into the water.
For some reason, the image of him shouting down those bodyguards at the airport refused to leave her mind.