Subjugation on Broadcast (44)
Fortunately, nothing stood in their way between the tunnel and the control room.
Before entering, they stripped weapons and clothes from the corpse they had stashed at the building's entrance, then did the same inside the control room itself.
Dong-hyun's people numbered eighteen in all. The bodies he had put down since arriving on the island — including the two he had subdued underground — came to sixteen. Two of the survivors were in no condition to carry weapons: one was the man Dong-hyun had injured in their fight, and the other was a shifty-looking type who simply could not be trusted with a gun.
Had they still been wearing the collars, Dong-hyun could have used them to keep anyone from turning on him. But he had already unlocked every last one. The reason came from the subdued agent's explanation. On the fifth floor — the building's top level — sat the control system that managed the collars, capable of delivering remote electric shocks or even detonating them outright. The moment Dong-hyun reached the control room, he had freed every collar on every neck.
"So what do we do now? Do we just hold out here until the boat comes in at three?"
Dong-hyun asked the agent.
"The truth is... the boat might not come at all."
The agent's voice had no conviction in it.
"What? What the hell are you talking about?"
They had committed everything based on that one plan. Hearing that the boat might never arrive was enough to leave him speechless.
"Unless you manage to keep what you've done here a secret until three o'clock tomorrow afternoon... they already know this island has gone to hell. You really think they're going to send a boat into that?"
He had a point. The broadcast was not even running properly. Viewers were probably already flooding the organizers with complaints.
"Isn't there a boat here on the island?"
"There is a boat, but... nobody here knows how to operate it."
"I can."
A man raised his hand while Dong-hyun and the agent were talking. He had originally been on Seon Woo-hyeon's team before a slave exchange brought him over to Yoon Jin-ju's. He had a reasonably intelligent look about him, but no one would have guessed he could handle a boat.
"You can drive a boat?"
"I served as a non-commissioned officer in the navy. I was a helmsman. I can handle just about any vessel."
"Really? That's incredible."
It was as if a single shaft of light had suddenly cut through the dark.
"How do we figure out where this place even is?"
Dong-hyun turned back to the agent.
"There should at least be a nautical chart on the boat."
"That's all we need."
"Good. Then let's get to the boat. Before we go, move enough food and water aboard."
The hope of escape put color back in every face.
"There's one problem, though."
"What is it?"
"Someone has to stay behind and raise the dock barrier."
"What?"
"Every vessel that docks here is locked down remotely from this room so it can't leave on its own. The barrier has to be raised before a boat can leave the harbor."
"Hmm..."
If they all left and someone else recaptured this room, they could simply drop the barrier again.
"I'll stay and do it."
The agent offered himself to Dong-hyun. But there was no trusting a word out of that man's mouth.
"No. I'll do it myself. All of you, get out of here. Now."
"Master, no. You can't."
The others tried to stop him the moment he volunteered. But his mind was already made up. He was an outsider in this world. Even if he died here, the quest was already complete. The rest of them, though — if he died, time would keep moving forward, and they would get to live free lives.
"It has to be me. If I take the agent and Seon Woo-hyeon as hostages, I can buy you enough time to get away."
"Then what about you, Master...?"
Gyeoul's voice trembled on the edge of tears. Dong-hyun had no answer for that. Once the boat left, there would be no way off this island.
The only way off this place is the boat...? The boat? No. There's a helicopter too.
"Min-ju. You said you can fly a helicopter, right?"
"Yes. I can."
"Once the boat is gone, I'll take Seon Woo-hyeon hostage and head for the helicopter. We'll escape by air."
Color flooded back into every face. It was a way out none of them had even considered.
"Understood."
"Then everyone get ready. We're short on time. Lee Su-hyun — you lead the group heading to the boat. Got it?"
"Got it."
Only the agent, Seon Woo-hyeon, and Dong-hyun remained in the control room.
The others filed back through the tunnel, grabbing every scrap of food they could carry from the cafeteria on their way out. Min-ju made for the helicopter and finished her pre-flight checks, ready to lift off at a moment's notice.
In the meantime, the other side learned they were trying to escape.
Almost nobody watched the broadcast at night. So much happened during the day that most people used the sleeping hours to catch up on daytime footage. That did not mean the feed was completely dark, though. There were always a few degenerates who liked to sit and watch infrared footage of sleeping contestants, smiling to themselves.
Then Dong-hyun had shown up, flipped on the lights, and started herding people out. Naturally, that particular VIP had reported it to the organizers, and the organizers had finished preparing to storm the control room.
Dong-hyun had never expected them to stay ignorant this far into things. He had been ready.
Sure enough, armed agents began descending carefully toward the second floor. Their living quarters were on the third and fourth. They moved with caution, but the CCTV made every step as clear as day. The contestant-area cameras were monitored from the broadcast control room, while the general control room handled the cameras inside this building and across the rest of the island. Dong-hyun had been watching them the entire time.
He gave the agent beside him a shove, sending the man stumbling out through the door. The sudden appearance of a body in the hallway made every agent snap their weapons up at once.
"W-wait! I'm one of you!"
"Who's inside?"
A familiar voice. The man who had been acting as the agents' leader — Joker.
Dong-hyun answered from inside the room.
"Joker? You come in alone. I've got Seon Woo-hyeon's life in my hands."
Joker looked the agent in the eye, as if asking whether it was true. The agent nodded.
"Ha... I suppose I don't have a choice."
Joker walked into the control room without the slightest hesitation. Dong-hyun held a blade to Seon Woo-hyeon's throat and spoke.
"Put your weapon on the floor and kick it over to me."
"Fine."
Joker was wearing a mask, but something about the posture suggested a smile.
"Take the mask off too. I want to see that face."
"Heh heh heh. Anyone who sees my face has to die. Are you sure you're all right with that?"
"I don't care. Take it off."
"All right."
Joker reached up and pulled the mask away. A moment later, Dong-hyun stared at the bare face underneath — and froze.
Joker was a woman. And not just any woman. She was strikingly beautiful. An innocent face, large eyes, pale skin. Those green eyes, especially, were breathtaking.
"You're a woman?"
"Yes. Is that a problem?"
The mask must have had a voice modulator built in. Without it, her voice was unmistakably a woman's.
"No... just surprised."
"Heh. I suppose that's fair. But now that you've seen my face, you die. No exceptions."
"I don't care about that. All I need is for my people to get off this island."
"How noble. Watching you go through all those women, I figured you for a cold-blooded bastard."
Apparently Joker had been paying close attention to the CCTV footage of Dong-hyun with the women.
"So what's your plan? We've got this room surrounded. There's no way out for you."
"When the radio comes through in a minute, I raise the dock barrier. That's it."
"And then you'll just surrender and become our prisoner?"
Joker's tongue swept across her lips, the look of someone sitting down to a meal she had been craving.
"As if. I'm not getting captured by the likes of you."
"Willing to die for it, then. Aren't you even a little afraid? Of dying?"
Death did not hold much terror for Dong-hyun — not when he was an outsider in this world. Joker, who had no way of knowing that, looked genuinely surprised.
Then the radio crackled to life.
"Master. We're ready to depart."
"They're ready."
"Copy that. I'm raising the barrier now. Get out of there."
Dong-hyun kept the blade pressed to Seon Woo-hyeon's throat and backed slowly toward the controls. He raised the dock barrier exactly as the agent had shown him.
"The barrier's going up. We're leaving first. Get out of there safely."
"Hmm... so you do have a way out. Let me guess... the helicopter?"
Joker had heard the radio and already pieced together Dong-hyun's next move. Seeing that, Dong-hyun dragged Seon Woo-hyeon forward until they stood right in front of her.
"If you've figured it out, then get out of my way. I've got somewhere to be."
He pushed past Joker and stepped out through the door. The agents trained their weapons on him but did not fire — not with Seon Woo-hyeon held hostage in his grip.
"Get out of the way!!"
Seon Woo-hyeon screamed, still locked in Dong-hyun's hold. The agents did not move. The only person who could give them that order was Joker.
Then Joker stepped back out into the hallway. The mask was on again. Somehow, she already had a gun in her hands. She racked the slide and fired.
BANG!
"Ghhhk—!!"