A Thousand Degrees of Flame (2)

Inside Building 4 of the battery factory, a black silhouette moved in frantic bursts. Gu Ja-min panted through his air respirator, each ragged breath sounding harsher than the last. The aftereffects of the Police-Fire War had left his body in terrible shape; he had bled so much that the world spun whenever he tried to focus, and his legs trembled beneath him.

I can’t stop. The partner who had come in with him as part of a two-man team was nowhere in sight. Working alone at a fire scene was against the rules, but this was no time to worry about rules when every second mattered. At Seoul’s 119 rescue center, alarm bells were ringing without pause—not bells of celebration, but dispatch alarms, warning of fires erupting all over the city. There wasn’t enough manpower to go around, and because the blaze at the Apixel factory was the largest of them all, this was where he had to come.

Gu Ja-min stopped in front of the heavy steel door and swallowed hard. His throat felt raw with thirst. It was common knowledge that when certain mana stones caught fire, they ignited at searing temperatures, and depending on the type, that heat could climb past one thousand degrees. Sweat streamed down the back of his neck. He was wearing fireproof gloves, boots, a hood, and a special turnout suit, but no gear was invincible. One wrong move and he could die.

He turned the handle and stepped into fear. On the other side of the door was a narrow, dark staircase leading down underground. God, this is terrifying. As always, he swallowed the fear down and took one step, then another, then another.

Breathing hard, he braced a hand against the wall and made his way downward. At last, he entered the basement warehouse. Unlike the inferno above, the underground level was relatively cool. The first floor had gone dead from a short circuit, every electronic device shut down, but thankfully the sprinklers below seemed to be working normally. Through the glass panels along the wall, he could see the shelves, and the mana stones stored there appeared to be intact. The real problem was the people.

All around the floor, people lay sprawled in the smoke, clinging to consciousness and whispering for help. Gu Ja-min crouched beside an elderly man collapsed right in front of him and hauled him upright. “Firefighter here. Stay with me! Can you stand?”

“Ja-min! Are you there?”

“Yeah! I need help here!”

“I’m coming down!”

Because he had worked with this partner countless times at countless scenes, Gu Ja-min finally had a chance to catch his breath. “How’s the first floor?”

“Something flashed by, and everyone was already rescued.”

“Huh? What do you mean by that?”

“...I don’t know. I really don’t.”

Gu Ja-min couldn’t make sense of what his partner was saying. The man looked as though he’d been possessed by a ghost.

“Anyway, there’s nobody left on the first floor. How bad is it down there?”

Gu Ja-min quickly counted the people with his eyes. “Fourteen.”

“Then let’s get them out of here!”

One by one, Gu Ja-min and his partner began carrying the trapped people back up to the surface. Twelve, eleven, ten, nine...

As the number of people left underground dwindled, Gu Ja-min finally noticed something was wrong. A pillar in the basement warehouse had caught fire in an instant, and the blaze was now racing toward the section where the mana stones were stored. The stones had a dangerous habit of exploding like bombs if flames touched them. They needed to get out immediately, but his partner, unaware of the danger, kept moving toward the remaining survivors.

Just before the red-hot flames reached the stones, Gu Ja-min shouted, “Danger!!” and shoved his partner aside.

BOOM!!!

Fragments from the blast tore into Gu Ja-min’s calf.

“Ghk!!”

Blood burst out in a rush. His usually calm partner went pale, his hands shaking so badly that he looked as if he’d lost his mind.

“Stay still!” Gu Ja-min’s gaze moved past his partner’s shoulder. The mana stones had heated to a vicious red and looked ready to trigger a second explosion at any moment. “Tae-sik. Go first.”

“What?”

There were still eight survivors left belowground—two women and six men. If they were going to live, they had to move now.

“Take those people and get them out first!”

On the scene, a firefighter’s duty boiled down to two things: putting out the fire and securing everyone’s safety. But did “everyone’s safety” mean only the survivors? Or did it include the firefighters too?

Gu Ja-min made his decision. I can’t drag my partner into this too. He grabbed Tae-sik by the arm. “I’m fine. I don’t think anything’s broken. Go up first. I’ll be right behind you.”

Amid the black, roaring flames, Gu Ja-min gave his usual foolish grin. “I’m thirsty. Let’s have a cold beer at Doldol Chicken later.”

He mentioned the place they always went to together. Seeing that innocent smile, Tae-sik finally nodded, as if he’d made up his mind.

“I’ll bring support and be right back down.”

Tae-sik turned away with one of the women on his back and climbed the stairs. Gu Ja-min called after him, “Yeah. Hurry back. At Doldol Chicken, we can have as much beer as we want...”

BOOM!!!

The deafening blast shook the ground. Sand and dust rained down from the ceiling, and an explosion thundered up from the first floor.

Gu Ja-min snapped his head up. Is Tae-sik okay?

He had barely finished worrying about his partner when he realized his own situation was growing worse by the second. The mana stones exposed to the heat were bubbling and sputtering, their surfaces glowing hotter and hotter.

They’re going to blow again...

He dragged the people lying on the floor toward him. “Hey! Everybody, stay awake! Please...!”

If this kept up, he’d be trapped in the basement and burned black before he could move an inch. Someone flashed through his mind like a lantern lit in the dark.

...Honey. Gu Ja-min thought of his wife, who was probably struggling through the birth of their second child.

Maybe I should’ve gone to the hospital as soon as the protest ended...

Should he have acted selfishly, no matter what happened with the fire? Should he have thought only of himself?

Gu Ja-min gave a bitter smile. He knew better than anyone that he simply wasn’t that kind of person.

Sorry, honey. I’m a lousy husband. And I’m a zero as a father, too.

The heat grew more violent by the second. The temperature was high enough to make everything feel as though it were burning to ash, and Gu Ja-min’s vision began to blur. His head felt hot, as if an iron cauldron were boiling on top of it.

No... It was a common sensation inside a fire at one thousand degrees. Gu Ja-min instinctively knew his helmet was beginning to melt. Half-dreaming, half-delirious, he muttered, “I guess a daughter would be better. Not some ugly son who looks like me...”

His legs gave out, and he swayed as though he might collapse at any moment.

Then, as if a gust of wind had swept through the room, someone caught him from behind. It happened in an instant, with no sound of footsteps on the stairs and no creak of a door opening, as if the man had simply appeared there.

“Who’s ugly?”

Gu Ja-min slowly raised his head. Through the purple mask, he met a pair of clear black eyes.

“You’re pretty damn handsome, if you ask me.”

The instant I gained fire immunity, I activated the skill right away.

I kicked off the ground and shot forward at a speed so absurd it felt like tearing a hole through time itself. First, I had to clear Buildings 1 through 3. I ran a full circuit through the complex, hauling everyone out from inside the structures one after another. It felt like fast-forwarding a video—one body after another, I laid them out in front of the fire trucks. In just about 1.3 seconds, I had rescued more ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠than twenty people.

“Hah... Hah...” I bent forward, gasping for breath. The moment time returned to normal, every eye in the area locked onto me.

“Hey, look over there.”

“When did he...?”

“All I saw was something flashing by.”

My breathing still hadn’t settled. My throat burned like a thorn was stuck in it. I’d been inhaling smoke and sprinting through flames, and the damage I’d accumulated after fighting those two upper-rank villains was still sitting heavy in my body.

Can I use Infinite Acceleration again? Looking at my condition, maybe once more, at best. But there were still people in Building 4 waiting for ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠someone to reach them. I can’t stop.

I headed straight for Building 4. At the same time, an explosion tore apart the entrance behind me, and everything seemed to slow to a crawl. I slipped past chunks of broken concrete as if they were drifting lazily through the air and entered the building.

Ah. Hot! A spark stuck to the sole of my boot, and I barely managed to stamp it out. Fire immunity didn’t mean I couldn’t feel heat, and besides, the duration of the protection wasn’t all that long. There was nobody on the first floor. That meant I needed to go straight underground. I sliced through the air and raced down the stairs toward the mana stone warehouse.

I reached out and caught Gu Ja-min before he could topple over, blood running down from his calf. He looked half-unconscious from sheer exhaustion, babbling nonsense with glazed eyes. “I guess a daughter would be better. Not some ugly son who looks like me...”

“Who’s ugly? You’re pretty damn handsome, if you ask me.” I added, almost as an afterthought, “Well, not as handsome as me.”

Gu Ja-min blinked hard and pushed himself upright. “...Huh? Mr. Purple Devil.”

“Are you all right? You’re sweating like crazy.”

My mask was soaked through. My breathing still refused to calm down, and by the time I came down to the basement, even my Infinite Acceleration had slowed to a crawl. It wasn’t that I lacked hero abilities. It was that my stamina had dropped off a cliff.

Somewhere nearby, a vicious hissing sound echoed through the warehouse. The overheated mana stones were snorting like enraged bulls. There were seven people left underground, including Gu Ja-min. The stones would explode soon. I couldn’t use Infinite Acceleration anymore. Even if I tried, I doubted my legs would still obey me.

My body was already at its limit. Hunger gnawed at me so badly that my hands and feet were shaking.

Should I just get Gu Ja-min out of here? Saving a small number of people right away wasn’t difficult. Should I choose one person? Or...

Can’t I save them all?

“......”

The answer was there, but the moment I tried to act on it, my body didn’t move.

Damn it. That just showed how reckless the plan I’d come up with really was. No choice. I’ll put out the immediate fire first.

Gu Ja-min pointed at the mana stones with a frightened face. “That... if you leave that alone, it’s going to be really bad.”

“I know.”

I walked up to the shelf where the stones were stored and grabbed one of the red-hot mana stones with my bare hand.

“W-What are you doing?!”

The skin on my palm started to char, and the smell of burning flesh filled the warehouse.

“Ghh...” I didn’t stop.

An extremely thin mana barrier spread across my whole body. If I added God's Aura on top of fire resistance... I shoved the stones together with both hands, held them against my stomach, and hugged them as hard as I could.

A deafening boom rang out, like a grenade going off at point-blank range. It felt as though someone had slammed a superheated iron pipe into my gut.

“Aaaagh!!!”

Gu Ja-min’s eyes went wide. “M-My God... Are you okay?”

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

No. I wasn’t. The force of the mana stone explosion had torn part of God's Aura apart. A thick, metallic taste flooded my tongue.

“Khh...” Blood poured from the hole in my stomach. A few fingers on my right hand and left hand were simply gone.

Ugh... I felt like I was about to black out, but I gritted my teeth and held on.

I tried to heal and regenerate, but the speed was painfully slow. That injury is too severe... At this rate, it would take far too long to patch me up. I pulled a bandage from my thigh pocket and wrapped it tightly around my right hand, where the thumb was gone, and around my left hand, where the ring finger and pinkie had been blown off.

The hole in my stomach closed over with new flesh almost immediately, but blood was still streaming out everywhere. I’m sleepy... I wanted to lie down. My whole body was shaking, and there was no time to stand still. The mana stones that had already exploded were cracking apart, their surfaces smoking, while the rest still waiting their turn were glowing brighter and brighter red. Those things would blow again before long.

What do I do? How am I supposed to handle this? I assessed the situation with cold eyes. Among the people left underground was even a large, obese man. Gu Ja-min had injured one leg, so he was limping badly. He coughed up a mouthful of hot blood, and the whole world spun.

It’s dizzying. My hand traced the area around my stomach. The way I was flailing around inside the flames made me feel like Prometheus, the Greek god punished for giving fire to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠humanity. I was a hero declared by my own pride and arrogance. Was I paying for my sins? Or fighting desperately to accomplish something great?

It didn’t matter which one it was. This is the road I chose.

I unstrapped Heoksikdo from my back. “Gu Ja-min.”

“Yes?”

“Hold this.”

Gu Ja-min took Heoksikdo from me.

“It’s a sword I treasure, so take good care of it.”

“Y-Yes, sir.”

The next thing I needed to do was simple. I bent one knee and crouched down, then took a breath in and let it out.

“Put everyone on my back.”

“A-Alright.”

He was a little awkward with his words, but Gu Ja-min moved quickly and without hesitation. Good soldier. One by one, he lifted the people and stacked them onto my back.

“Ungh!”

Every time another person was added, gravity came down harder and harder. If I’d been in top condition, I probably could’ve handled around a ton without much trouble. I feel like I’m going to die. The moment I let up, I’d pitch forward onto my face.

Worry crept across Gu Ja-min’s face. “Are you really going to go out like this?”

“Of course. You can keep up, can’t you?”

“Yes.”

Gu Ja-min nodded.

Amid the hellish chaos, with flames boiling everywhere like an asura’s battlefield, I said, “Let’s go.”

I hoisted the mountain of people on my back.

“Aaaaaah!!!!”

Veins bulging in my neck, I lurched to my feet.