Chapter 34
Chapter 34
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: uly
Chapter: 34
Chapter Title: A Firefighter is Always a Firefighter (1)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
A fire broke out in Seoul right at rush hour.
Looking up at the building engulfed in roaring flames and thick smoke, Fire Captain Lee Ja-seong shouted.
"Haven't they evacuated the 12th floor? Why hasn't anyone come down from the point of origin?"
"Captain! The fire started in the women's sauna."
Lee Ja-seong's face hardened.
"What? Damn it... shit!"
There wasn't a single female firefighter who could enter a sauna full of flames and carry out civilians.
"We'll have to go up and bring them down ourselves."
His team members, already prepared for the worst, awaited his orders.
Even the first responders on scene were delayed by rush-hour traffic.
Time was running out.
"If we wait any longer, it'll be too late!"
Chan-ho urged him on.
Of all places, the 12th floor of this rundown building had to be the women's sauna.
There were hardly any windows for spraying water from outside or for ventilation.
"Why the hell do they put saunas on the top floor? Whoever approved this crap... fuck!"
The hot-tempered Chan-ho grabbed his axe and charged into the burning building without waiting for orders.
"That idiot... always like this. Everyone, we're going in."
Lee Ja-seong gave the command.
"Brace yourselves!"
To carry out unconscious victims through the smoke, they'd minimized their gear.
"Why aren't the sprinklers going off?"
"Looks like they didn't fill the water pressure."
"Damn it..."
Older buildings often ran empty on water pressure.
Initial suppression seemed impossible.
The fire would only grow fiercer with every passing minute. They couldn't hesitate.
"We go in first! The follow-up teams will handle the water from below."
Extinguishing from inside looked hopeless.
"Focus on rescue, everyone. Move in!"
As everyone else fled the inferno, they charged upward.
They raced to the 12th floor and burst into the women's sauna, the origin of the blaze.
The sight of nude women collapsed after inhaling smoke left them stunned.
"Captain! Captain Lee!"
Chan-ho called out, scanning the smoke-filled room.
A dozen in the locker room alone.
The jjimjilbang and nap rooms would have about the same number.
"Wake anyone you can! For the unconscious, drape a towel over them and carry them down."
No time to hesitate.
"Hurry! Radio for backup!"
Water everywhere, but the wooden interiors made the sauna highly flammable.
"Watch out, ceiling's collapsing! Grab that woman underneath! Why are there so many obstacles in a bathhouse?"
Floors, ceilings, wooden lockers—all fueling toxic gases.
The enclosed space without windows meant external water sprays wouldn't help much.
The smoke grew thicker by the second.
"No time! Move!"
Lee Ja-seong's initial entry team numbered just eight.
At this rate, they'd have to make multiple trips.
Other units were still stuck in traffic, backup delayed.
"Rush hour or not, they should make way for fire trucks!"
Chan-ho muttered as he hastily draped a towel over a nude woman.
His legs buckled under her weight.
Even firefighters felt the burden of a person's mass like anyone else.
"Don't touch me!"
Even now, a barely conscious woman yelled from his back in protest.
Physical contact was unavoidable for rescue.
"Sorry, but it's urgent. Can you walk down?"
"How am I supposed to walk through these flames? And it's the 12th floor!"
"Right, the 12th floor..."
No time for arguments.
"Hold your breath. Here we go."
Chan-ho had no choice but to grip her legs.
"Hey, where are you touching? You pervert."
"Yes, ma'am! File a formal complaint downstairs. Let's survive first."
Regardless of her protests, Chan-ho bolted down the stairs.
Lee Ja-seong hoisted an elderly woman nearby.
"Me first! Save me!"
A plump middle-aged woman rushed at him, begging to be carried down before the grandma.
She looked perfectly capable of walking.
"Ma'am, if you're awake, follow behind me. Drape that towel first. No time."
"Carry me down first! Are you going to let me die? Hurry!"
She demanded to be carried to avoid embarrassment.
A team member rousing others nearby couldn't stand it and hoisted her up.
"I'll be right back. Hurry down!"
By the time Lee Ja-seong carried the grandma down, Chan-ho was getting an earful from the woman he'd rescued.
"This bastard groped me! A beast worse than an animal, firefighter or not. People dying in the fire, and you sexually assault me? Got turned on even then?"
Chan-ho, dumbfounded, didn't respond and raced back into the blaze.
As Lee Ja-seong handed the grandma to paramedics, someone slapped his cheek.
He nearly dropped her, turning to see who'd hit him.
It was the plump woman who'd demanded to be carried first.
Her hand stung.
No time for fights, and she wouldn't listen anyway.
Rubbing his cheek, Lee Ja-seong turned to run back.
"Where do you think you're going? You abandon someone begging for their life... now trying to run? Scum like you deserves prison!"
A woman roughly covered by a blanket grabbed him, shaking him wildly.
She was stronger than she looked, making his smaller frame wobble.
The crowd, already gawking at the fire, now watched the scuffle.
"Ma'am, please, I have to go back up. Let go. Please!"
Despite his pleas, she only gripped tighter.
Then, a deafening explosion rocked the building.
Part of the 12th-floor exterior wall crumbled, raining debris.
The roof buckled, smoke billowing skyward.
'City gas... I told them to shut it off... they didn't. Damn.'
The blast collapsed part of the roof onto the 12th floor.
Likely the locker room where his team was rescuing.
"No... Chan-ho!"
Lee Ja-seong shoved the woman's hands away and plunged back into the death trap.
* * *
"They say the woman the captain pushed injured her back."
Lieutenant Yoon Il-han spoke with difficulty.
"She claims you abandoned her when she begged for rescue... that's an issue too."
Il-han's face was full of regret.
"And now, women's groups are protesting that the late firefighter Yoo Chan-ho groped key body parts during the rescue."
Even recounting it, he couldn't meet Lee Ja-seong's eyes out of guilt.
"Truth is, the Fraud Squad at National Police HQ hasn't handled cases like this before. That day, so many died in the fire. Orders came straight from the top."
Lee Ja-seong, head bowed, showed no reaction.
Il-han felt heavy seeing his gaunt, oil-free face.
"I know losing your whole team is devastating... I'm sorry. But we need your statement. Let's begin. Name and occupation, please."
He knew who it was but asked mechanically for the suspect interrogation.
Lee Ja-seong, still bowed, answered calmly.
"Lee Ja-seong. Occupation: firefighter."
After five hours of questioning, Lee Ja-seong finally headed to his car.
His eyes met an old woman's piercing stare.
"You there, come here."
The sharp-eyed grandma called him abruptly.
"Ma'am, what is it?"
"You got something to do with water? Do you work in the water?"
"We use a lot of water, but I work in fire."
"Is that so? Well, you might drown. Better off in fire—you won't die there."
To Lee Ja-seong, who'd lost comrades in the flames, it wasn't welcome advice.
"Got it, I'll keep that in mind. Excuse me."
He gave a curt nod and got in his car, but she stared intently.
A young woman ran up behind her.
"Oh! Virgin Bodhisattva! You're here? Long time no see. What brings you?"
"Ah, Reporter Eun? Came 'cause someone reported fraud. Not even their jurisdiction at HQ, but I'm kinda famous, so they called me here."
"Fraud? Whoa, no way!"
"Yeah, big deal. Gave a 'college entrance exam jackpot' amulet earlier this year, and the wife of some assemblyman filed fraud charges. If I'd known she had connections, I'd have made it extra potent. Anyway, got good scoop from Fraud Squad, Reporter Eun?"
She was remarkably nonchalant for someone just interrogated on fraud.
"Wow! How'd you know I was at Fraud Squad? You see that too? Amazing!"
"Saw you inside earlier. With my eyes."
"Oh, right. Eyes."
Nothing more accurate than eyes.
"Buddy of mine there leaked some info from Gyeonggi Fraud Squad—said check out this water ghost story."
"Nice. Isn't that leaking classified info?"
Always the pessimist.
"Nah. Water ghost sighting. Virgin Bodhisattva, wanna go together tomorrow?"
"Water ghost? Hmm, those are pretty dangerous evil spirits... hard to cover in water. I'm busy tomorrow night anyway. If you're free now, let's go today. Where is it? Far?"
"Close. Yangpyeong."
"Yangpyeong? Let's go now. Grab some Yangpyeong haejangguk on the way."
The grandma agreed readily.
Thrilled, Na-rae linked arms with her and led her to her car.
"Got myself a car. Even snagged an officetel near the office—moving in soon. Sweet!"
"Making good money. Must be nice."
"It is! You're the first passenger in my car today, Virgin Bodhisattva. Let's roll! Hehe."
* * *
After meeting Mia-ri Virgin Bodhisattva in the Seoul Metropolitan Police parking lot, Lee Ja-seong drove toward his home in Ilwon-dong, muttering to himself.
"Weird old lady. Shaman? Telling a firefighter to watch out for water. What kind of advice is that?"
It irked him somehow.
"Guess I should head to Yangpyeong to Mom's for a few days off."
He'd lost his entire team in the women's sauna disaster and now faced assault charges.
Exhausted in body and soul, he'd already taken leave.
Might not come back at all.
For the first time, he hated being a firefighter.
His wife was probably packing for her parents' place by now.
Not far, but he just wanted to leave Seoul and rest.
"Nice weather."
The sky through the window was clear, less fine dust than usual.
Unlike the blue sky, a heaviness filled Lee Ja-seong's chest.
He parked in the apartment lot and entered his home. His eyes wavered.
A familiar pair of firefighter gloves sat on the shoe rack mirror.
Not his, but recognizable.
Before the women's sauna disaster.
Last year, in another fire, Firefighter Park Cheol-hoon had died when the building collapsed. These were his gloves.
Firefighters bought their own with personal funds.
Lee Ja-seong had gifted Park Cheol-hoon, who followed him like a brother, expensive imported gloves from online for his birthday.
They were the priciest in the station, quite famous.
Park had worn them even when crushed to death.
His family cremated them with him.
"Honey! Where did these gloves come from?"
He urgently asked his wife greeting him.