The Rabbit Hole Share House! (10)
In the border zone between Gangseo District and Gimpo lay a sizable slum. One might wonder why a slum would exist so close to Seoul, but this particular area served as a vital transit hub among illegal immigrants and outlaws. Its proximity to Incheon Port and Gimpo International Airport, along with easy access southward to the Namdong Industrial Complex and Incheon Seo-gu Industrial Park, made it strategically valuable. The nearby Geomam landfill had turned Gimpo’s outskirts into little more than a dumping ground for undesirable facilities. In a hero society plagued by frequent terrorism, the farther one moved from the city center, the more entrenched the slums became.
A place beyond the reach of state administration. Or rather, a place where the state deliberately chose not to expend administrative power. The population simply wasn’t large enough to justify the cost of maintaining public order. In the shadowed underbelly of such cities, criminals naturally gathered. A den of foreigners and felons. That was how the 51st Street Slum had come into being.
—Screeech.
A green Wrangler came to a stop with a noisy groan. Iron Colossus had driven with perfect adherence to every traffic signal, maintaining a constant speed, and parked the vehicle in the designated space with zero margin of error.
Pink Aroma. The adult entertainment venue Night Sight had directed him to occupied the middle floors of a dilapidated four-story building. The alleys surrounding the structure reeked of vomit, urine, and rotting garbage. No matter how one looked at it, this was hardly an appropriate workplace for a respectable former elementary school teacher.
He slowly loosened his wrists, switched on a voice recorder, and stepped into the aging building that lacked even an elevator.
“Welcome~”
The counter attendant spoke without even glancing at the customer’s face. He was a thug with a cleanly shaved bald head and intricate tattoos covering every visible inch of skin. The moment the door opened, a wave of cheap incense and mingled body odors assaulted the senses. Even though it was daytime, heavy curtains blocked all natural light, leaving only dim red lamps to illuminate the gloomy interior. The atmosphere left a strong impression.
“Is Choi Eun-jung here?”
“We don’t use real names in this establishment… and you don’t look like a regular customer?”
Despite Iron Colossus’s massive frame, the man didn’t flinch. It wasn’t confidence so much as a glazed, drug-addled stare.
Dilated pupils. Tremors in the hands. Twenty-one injection marks on the forearms. One of them still has fresh blood.Stimulant-based, then?
After swiftly assessing the man’s condition, Iron Colossus let out a deep sigh. The fact that they had a junkie working the counter said more than enough about both the low volume of daytime customers and the overall quality of the establishment. In that case, he would handle this quickly.
Iron Colossus approached the counter, seized the man’s wrist, and twisted it with a sickening crack.
“Ugh…?! AAAAAAAGH!!”
“Quiet. Do you know Choi Eun-jung?”
“She’s here!! That bitch is here!!! AAAAAAGH!! Let goooo!!”
“Where?”
“Up-upstairs!! Staff quarters!! That, that bitch has no home so she lives here!! So, so let gooo!!”
“Thank you for your cooperation.”
Iron Colossus released the man’s wrist and headed for the emergency stairs. As he pulled open the rusted door, he heard frantic dialing behind him. It didn’t matter. He had deliberately refrained from knocking the man unconscious precisely so he would summon as many relevant parties as possible. The more witnesses, the better.
*
Though labeled “staff quarters,” the space was little more than a row of cramped, single-room units vaguely modeled after cheap studio apartments. At least the sections were divided. Yet none of the rooms had proper doors, and the straight corridor allowed for easy surveillance. To anyone with eyes, this was no lodging. It was a prison.
The thick stench of despair hung in the air. It was the smell of hormones—aldosterone and cortisol—secreted when humans were gripped by terror and hopelessness, mixing with sweat and spreading thinly through the space. It resembled the odor of a disaster site. And that scent was slowly gnawing away at Iron Colossus’s emotions.
For a man who handled every scene with clinical detachment, this was somewhat unusual… anger. Unlike disasters caused by building decay, villain terrorism, or monstrous incursions, this was a pure man-made calamity, born from concentrated human malice.
With a coldly hardened expression, Iron Colossus searched the rooms one by one. In roughly every other empty room, he found women collapsed in drugged slumber.
I’ll have to change the plan.
His original intention had been to locate the victim Choi Eun-jung, extract her immediately, and gather information. That would need revision. He would save them all. Every last one, right here and now.
He clenched his fists tightly and checked on the sleeping women.
Clear signs of drug administration. When customers were scarce, they dosed them with narcotics to increase dependency?
The women, reduced to hollow shells, staggered out with vacant faces. Among them was the person he sought.
Choi Eun-jung, thirty-two years old. Former elementary school teacher. The photo he had seen was from her social media—an image of a bright, smiling woman playing in water. But the person before him now had sunken eyes, an emaciated frame, and looked far older than her actual age. It had been only one month since her disappearance. The reason private investigators hired by her family had failed to find her was simple: she had been broken beyond recognition, even by those who loved her.
Chrome Fist. Tran Van Bao.
Rage surged violently within him. From the circumstances, it appeared Tran Van Bao would break the women, cultivate their “dependency,” and then supply them to Chrome Fist. The fact that only women who had tried to report him had been reduced to this state suggested that those successfully conditioned posed no difficulty when it came to financial exploitation. And the fact that not all the missing persons were here implied that Chrome Fist had more than one “supplier.”
Iron Colossus examined each woman’s condition and let out a heavy sigh.
Chrome Fist. Just how long… have you been doing this?
How many people have vanished after being reduced to this state?
Thunderbird too. And my junior.
Were you ultimately planning to sell them in this condition as well?
Iron Colossus stood in the dark corridor, gazing down at the women who stared blankly up at him. Light spilling through the open emergency stairwell door struck his back, casting a long shadow. Within his face, darkened by backlighting, only his blue eyes gleamed sharply.
“Bosses!! It’s this bastard!!”
“Hey, hey!! What the hell are you doing standing there?! Can’t you see this is a place of business, huh?!”
“Who sent you? Oi?”
A noisy group of men came thundering up the emergency stairs. The sound of their feet pounding the metal steps echoed loudly. By the number of footsteps, there were seven. The auras he sensed indicated they were all non-awakened civilians. Therefore, he would not kill them.
Without turning his head, Iron Colossus continued watching over the women and spoke.
“Those who attempt to flee will be arrested. Those who resist will be neutralized.”
“What kind of crazy shit is that?”
“W-wait. That guy… isn’t he an awakener…?”
“How would an awakener even get here?! Huh?! This is ‘that boss’s’ workshop!!”
“Still, coming alone is suspicious as hell!!”
The men grew uneasy at Iron Colossus’s unnervingly calm reaction to their numbers. Only then did he slowly turn his head to look at them.
“Therefore, those who wish to resolve this through dialogue should raise their hands. I will take that into consideration.”
A fat thug who had climbed the stairs flinched the moment he saw the hero’s face. Though the shadow obscured precise features, the pair of piercing blue eyes glowed like will-o’-the-wisps within the darkness. That build. That speech pattern. The grey hair. It wasn’t that the man himself was especially famous, but because he was always seen with Botal Rabbit, his recognition had risen accordingly. The thugs finally realized who they were dealing with.
“Iron… Colossus…?”
“He’s a disaster relief hero!! What’s he doing here…?!”
“I-if you know someone here, just take her and go!! W-we were just…!”
“You idiots!! If we just hand over the business to a hero, do you think the boss will let us live?! Get your heads straight!! No matter how much he rampages, he’s not even a combat-type! He came alone! Grab your weapons!!”
A murderous atmosphere spread among the thugs. They all raised wooden bats and metal pipes in unison. Their actions served as sufficient answer, so Iron Colossus gave a short nod.
“I see.”
He tightened his fist with a soft crunch and slightly bent at the waist.
“Do not dodge. You may die.”
A clean hit would not kill them, but a clumsy attempt to evade that resulted in a blow to the chest or head could prove fatal. Iron Colossus deliberately relaxed the power in both arms as he spoke.
*
A short while later.
Aside from a light dusting of dirt, Iron Colossus looked exactly as he had upon arrival. He was carrying two women at a time on his shoulders toward the Wrangler. The women remained completely unresponsive, their expressions vacant as they allowed him to support them.
After carefully placing the women—one by one—into the Wrangler’s back seat, their bodies rendered extremely light by severe malnutrition, he returned for the final person. Among the five or six men lying beaten and bloodied on the floor, one lifted his trembling head.
“You… think you’ll get away with this…?”
“Mm.”
“The boss… the boss will tear you apart…”
“He should. Deliver my name and these exact words.”
Iron Colossus carefully hoisted the last victim onto his shoulder and looked down at the man with icy eyes. The thug raised his head defiantly, but the moment their eyes met he flinched and averted his gaze.
“I am Iron Colossus. Therefore, hurry. Before I come looking for you first.”
Before I gather all the evidence and the investigation is complete, stop wasting time and come at me. Anytime you like.
His words were a warning. If it was Chrome Fist, he would surely understand. Iron Colossus descended the emergency stairs with heavy, deliberate steps.
After gently seating the final victim in the passenger seat and carefully fastening her seatbelt, he drove away as smoothly as possible. Toward the only doctor he could trust and consult.
*
South Seoul Emergency Support Center.
Superhuman Emergency Medicine Department Director’s Office.
“Oh my? Mr. Colossus?”
“Doctor de Boir.”
Dr. Mentis, Wilhelmina, rose from her seat with a warm smile. She had wondered who would come without an appointment in such a hurry. It was Iron Colossus. Even if he appeared in the dead of night, he was someone she would gladly welcome. And yet here he was, walking in covered with blood and dust.
“Good heavens, are you injured?”
“Not me.”
“So you injured someone!! That’s so unlike you, Mr. Colossus…? Then the patients…?”
“Doctor de Boir. Is it possible to treat them without leaving medical records? I’m truly sorry for making such a difficult request.”
“Oh my? What could this be about? That’s a crime! A straight-laced man like you making such a terrifying request…? My heart’s pounding, you know?”
Wilhelmina smiled brightly as she approached and brushed the dust and dried blood from his shoulder with a handkerchief.
“Let me see. Will I need to make a house call?”
“No. They’re in the parking lot right now.”
“Hmm… emergency patients?”
“It’s difficult for me to judge. They are victims of sexual violence showing severe signs of drug addiction and malnutrition.”
“Ah… um. Hmm… so… there’s a reason you can’t leave medical records…?”
Iron Colossus looked at Wilhelmina with serious eyes.
“Those women still have lives to return to.”
“Oh my… hehe… hehehe. You really are…♡ Hoo. I understand. In a situation like this, of course I’d be the only one you could rely on. Mhm. Very well. I’ll do it! Why not!! But you must keep one thing in mind, yes?”
In the future, whenever something like this happens, I must be the only one you rely on, understand?
Dr. Mentis licked her lips lightly as she whispered, then followed Iron Colossus toward the parking lot.
*
“Drug addiction falls under endocrinology, malnutrition under internal medicine… sexual violence victims go to gynecology and trauma care to psychiatry, so if we admit them, we can’t avoid leaving records.”
“Hmm…”
“But the Superhuman Emergency Medicine Department is different! We frequently handle cases requiring patient identity protection, so we store identities in an independent database. You came to the right place, didn’t you?”
“Mm…”
Wilhelmina examined the victims slumped in the back of the Wrangler one by one, then frowned slightly.
“Their conditions aren’t good. They aren’t in immediate danger of dying, but the rehabilitation period until they can return to daily life will be quite long.”
“Until conversation becomes possible?”
“If you need rational dialogue, two to three days…? Since each patient’s prognosis differs, it’s hard to say for certain, but for healthy adults that should be the general timeframe. Once we neutralize the psychoactive substances they’ve been given, conversation itself should become possible.”
It seems there’s someone in particular you need to interrogate.
Wilhelmina smiled gently at him. As expected, it was difficult to hide anything from Dr. de Boir. Not that he had intended to hide it in the first place. Iron Colossus gave a small nod. She was a trustworthy “good person.”
“Choi Eun-jung. Thirty-two. She was an elementary school teacher. This is her. It appears she became entangled in a rather large-scale incident.”
“Mm…! The scent of a case. How thrilling. Good, good. The moment this person regains consciousness, I’ll contact you immediately.”
With a warm smile, Wilhelmina helped him transport the victims into the superhuman emergency center. As he left with her farewell at his back, Iron Colossus contemplated the remaining tasks.
Until the victim regained her senses, there was nothing that needed immediate handling. Therefore…
He had to return home.
At that thought, a heavy weight settled in one corner of Iron Colossus’s heart.