Knowledge is Power
Among proverbs related to knowledge, there's the saying "Knowledge is power." There's also one with the exact opposite meaning: "Ignorance is weakness." Which one you use to describe the moment you learn something depends entirely on the situation.
For Woojin right now, it was closer to the latter.
Two heartbreaking failures. The horrific conclusion that followed. Now Woojin had realized that the price of failure wasn't just a simple "reset." There was another cost: the vivid pain coursing through his entire body right after the bus explosion. And it was the worst kind of pain a human could feel—the agony of being burned by fire.
Once he knew that, he thought, "I don't want to go in..."
When he regained consciousness in the same scene once more, his first thought was drastically different from before. Fear surged up stronger than any sense of duty or responsibility.
"Hey, Lee Geon-woo! Respond!"
The situation replayed, starting with the furious voice of the fire chief. But—
Thud.
Woojin collapsed limply to the ground. Like a pitiful rabbit trembling before a pack of starving lions. Faced with overwhelming terror, Woojin felt infinitely small.
"I'll fail anyway."
"I'll die anyway."
"I'll suffer anyway."
Negative thoughts filled his mind. The first attempt could be excused since he knew nothing. But even the second try, where he'd already grasped the importance of time, had ended in failure. No matter how much he'd tried to shave off seconds, seeing firsthand how impossibly high the bar for success was—that sense of loss was indescribable.
The fact that no clear new strategy came to mind had already eroded his subconscious with fear, making him refuse to enter the tunnel.
"......"
Do you wish to forfeit the mission?
A message window like that popping up suddenly wouldn't feel out of place at all. If it did ask, he'd hit "Yes" in an instant.
"Lee Geon-woo!"
The fire chief's desperate voice kept crackling over the radio, but "I'm scared.""I want to run." Those honest inner thoughts echoed louder in his ears than the voice on the radio.
He knew full well that dallying like this was just wasting the golden hour. But what could he do when his legs wouldn't move an inch!
"Hey, Lee Geon-woo! Snap out of it, you idiot!"
That was when it happened. Another voice cut in out of nowhere. It belonged to Won Jong-su. He'd somehow approached right in front of Woojin.
"...Jong-su?"
"How long are you gonna sit there like a zombie after collapsing?!"
Won Jong-su grabbed Woojin's dazed, slumped body and shook it while yelling. Moon Hee-yeon, who'd followed him, stood by helplessly, glancing back and forth between the two men and the innocent tunnel entrance.
"You okay?"
"Y-yeah..."
"Good. Pull yourself together quick. No time for this. We gotta go in."
"G-go where?"
"You gonna save those kids or not?!"
Won Jong-su pointed straight ahead. Woojin's gaze naturally followed his hand to the tunnel entrance. It looked just like the gaping maw of an enraged tiger. A starving beast with its jaws wide open. His whole body shivered. The gruesome ends of his previous two attempts flashed back in his mind.
"......"
"Hee-yeon, let's go!"
"Y-yes, sir!"
Leaving Woojin frozen solid, staring mutely at the tunnel mouth, Won Jong-su shouted to Moon Hee-yeon and turned.
In that instant—
Grab.
"No!"
"...?!"
Woojin grabbed Won Jong-su's arm without thinking. The sudden action left both Won Jong-su and Moon Hee-yeon unable to hide their bewilderment. From their perspective, Lee Geon-woo's behavior made no sense.
"What the hell are you doing?"
"You can't go in..."
"Let go. You crazy?"
"Just listen! You can't go in there!"
Woojin yanked the arm roughly while shouting. Their eyes went wide at his words. Whatever. All Woojin could think was that he had to stop them from entering the tunnel. If they pressed him on why, he'd just stubbornly insist they couldn't go in. He knew how things would unfold from his two prior experiences. But how could he explain it to these two who knew nothing...?
"Frustrating. Scary." A complex mix of emotions too tangled to express simply spilled out without passing through his thoughts first.
"Anyway... you'll never save them. If you wanna live, give up—"
"...!"
Maybe that's why. Woojin's next words crossed a line he never should have.
Pow!
No sooner had he finished than his body crumpled.
"S-sunbae!"
The startled Hee-yeon rushed to the fallen Woojin. As he lifted his head,
"You bastard, you call that something to say?"
Won Jong-su clenched his fist and spat. Even with the fire helmet on, Woojin's right cheek stung fiercely. He'd hit hard.
"Fuck, you call yourself a firefighter after that?"
"......"
Woojin couldn't open his mouth. He knew exactly why the man was furious with him.
"There are still people in there. Firefighters exist to save them. Nothing's more important than that! Got it, you bastard?"
Won Jong-su chewed out the words. They stabbed into Woojin's chest like daggers. "Hitting with facts" was the perfect phrase for this moment.
"What the hell did I just say...?"
The clean punch and barrage of facts seemed to snap him back to reality. Only then did he grasp the weight of his rash outburst, the irreversibility of spilled water. Woojin could only hang his head.
He was utterly ashamed. Sure, anyone could shrink or crumble before massive fear. But it was no excuse for the role and responsibility he now carried.
"I don't know what makes you say we can't save them anyway, but one thing's clear: there are survivors in there. So!"
Won Jong-su turned back toward the tunnel and continued.
"I'm going in. No time to fight you, so bail if you want—to hell with you."
His voice was ice cold.
"Moon Hee-yeon!"
"Yes, sunbae!"
"Check on Geon-woo and follow. He's not right in the head right now."
"G-got it!"
"If it looks bad, come alone. Don't drag it out."
Thud-thud-thud.
With that, Won Jong-su bolted toward the tunnel. Woojin and Moon Hee-yeon watched his back recede. As his figure grew smaller,
"Sunbae..."
Moon Hee-yeon supported the worried Woojin.
Overwhelming terror, fear, tension. Right after Won Jong-su's sharp words purged those massive emotions at once. His body still lacked strength, but his mind was clearer than ever.
"You okay?"
"...Yeah, I'm fine."
Standing up, Woojin continued.
"Sorry for embarrassing myself in front of a junior. Bad look."
"It happens. Firefighters are human too."
"Thanks for saying that."
Strength finally returned to his body. Adjusting his helmet, Woojin said,
"Let's hurry and follow."
"Was waiting for you to say that!"
Woojin dashed toward the tunnel with the spirited Moon Hee-yeon. Just as they reached the entrance—
BOOM!
"Gasp!"
A deafening roar he never wanted to hear again, and a massive blast of wind erupted from the tunnel mouth in an instant.
Ah, fuck...
The tunnel interior was instantly engulfed in flames. During the first blaze phase, there had been tiny gaps to squeeze through. But now? It was a raging inferno with no gaps at all—not even room to attempt entry.
"Ahh..."
Woojin's body trembled again. But this shaking was on a whole different level from the earlier fear or dread.
Drip-drip.
Tears streamed endlessly, and sobs choked him.
"I killed the survivors. I... killed my comrade..."
The source was guilt. For failing to save the people. And the enormous guilt for failing to save his teammate!
"Ugh, damn it!"
Woojin could only drop to his knees.
"If I hadn't wasted time..."
"If I hadn't been scared..."
Regret flooded in uncontrollably. But it was already done. The difference between his desperate past failures to save them and this one was like heaven and earth. Was there anything more painful than doing nothing? Better to burn alive...
"...Huh?!"
Lost in grief and self-recrimination, pounding the ground, Woojin glanced back carelessly. A bizarre sight unfolded.
Not just Moon Hee-yeon behind him—the water streams spraying from afar to douse the primary explosion site hung frozen in the sky. Like time had paused; everything except Woojin was motionless. Even the roaring flames ahead stood still.
This... is like that phenomenon when I first met Kyu-bo hyung?
That was when—
*Ding.*
> Survivors (0/21)
The text on the message window floating by Woojin's vision suddenly shifted from 【Survivors (0/21)】 to
Deaths (21/21)
The atmosphere chilled abruptly for some reason. And moments later.
"G-guhk!"
Woojin clutched his chest. Agonizing pain surged in suddenly.
"U-uaaaagh!"
He writhed on the ground, screaming. The intensity dwarfed his prior experiences, and it lasted far longer. It felt like some absolute being embodying this virtual world was declaring, "Imposing severe penalty for the mission performer's weak will." Pure punishment.
"Uuuugh..."
Even amid the unrelenting pain, the gut-wrenching text kept invading his vision.
Deaths (21/21)
"...!"
In that instant, Woojin realized it. Why the bus had twenty survivors, yet the window showed '21'. That final '1' was—
"Jong-su... it was you."
Thinking back, the only one who fit both "died with me in the previous two deaths" and "the sole death this time" was Won Jong-su.
"Haha..."
Woojin mustered his last strength, reaching toward the tunnel. His vision blurred, but a faint smile formed on his lips. Everything clicked into place. He'd finally found the way to "succeed" the mission. He'd uncovered the identity of that shrouded final person. And now he fully understood what this virtual world meant to convey.
"Next time... I'll definitely save you..."
In that sense, it was a valuable failure. One that turned "Ignorance is weakness" into "Knowledge is power."