Thrilled by Madness - Chapter 80

“Wh-what? 10 minutes? No, we probably can’t hold on for even 5 minutes right now!”

– Even if we dispatch as quickly as possible, the distance makes it impossible to be faster than that, so please wait.

“Damn it! If you don’t want to clean up corpses, hurry! Please, come quickly!”

Do Soon, who had finished talking to the firefighter, looked on worriedly.

“Cough…”

At Eom So Yeon, whose occasional coughing was gradually increasing and whose body was becoming weaker.

“You have asthma… What if we really die like this?”

“We have to hold on… Cough!”

So Yeon, who had barely managed to answer, touched her phone with trembling fingers to call Seo Jun.

“Seo Jun, we’re trapped.”

– Trapped? What are you suddenly talking about!

“It looks like there’s a fire in this building. The waiting room door is locked so we can’t get out, and it’s hard to breathe because the room is full of smoke with no windows… Cough, cough…”

As So Yeon kept coughing, Seo Jun pressed the accelerator pedal he was stepping on even deeper, increasing the car’s speed.

– Eom So Yeon! I’m on my way there now! I’ll be there soon, so just hang on a little longer!

It was an uncharacteristically flustered and agitated voice.

“Actually… I’m scared this might be the end… Cough…”

So Yeon was scared.

That she might not see him again. That her earnest wish to live well with Hyun Woo would become a bubble at this moment.

“So… If something happens to me, please take care of our Hyun Woo… Seo Jun…”

– Shut up! I’ll be there soon! So cover your airways with clothes and lie flat on the floor! Just endure like that for a little bit! Understand?

“…”

When Seo Jun spoke so urgently, So Yeon nodded silently. Hearing Seo Jun’s reassuring voice made her throat tighten painfully. Even in that situation, So Yeon lowered her body and covered Do Soon’s mouth with clothes first, as Seo Jun had said.

– Eom So Yeon! Are you okay? So Yeon! Answer me! Please make a sound, even if it’s short!

Meanwhile, Seo Jun’s voice quickly became rough.

“…I’m lying down like you told me to. So when, when are you coming?”

– Ha, good job! Just stay like that a little longer. And don’t talk anymore!

“Okay…”

So Yeon decided to believe Seo Jun’s words.

No, she firmly believed them.

With that stubborn heart alone, she waited and waited for him.

So Yeon, lying flatter on the floor, asked Do Soon, whose eyes were tightly closed, facing her:

“Are you okay?”

“What are you going to do if I’m not okay?”

“Yeah, let’s endure. We can do it, right?”

“Didn’t you say the director would be here soon? I believe that!”

“You know what? Do Soon, you’re really a positive, good friend.”

“I don’t want to hear a last will. But just know that I feel the same way.”

Now her throat was unbearably dry and nausea was rising.

“Let’s hold our breath. No talking either.”

“…”

Do Soon nodded in acknowledgment and hugged So Yeon tightly.

As if they would cross the threshold of death together, or live together if they lived, the two embraced each other. There’s nothing as reassuring as being together. If that was comfort, it was comfort. No, it became a very great strength.

Soon after, the eyes of So Yeon and Do Soon facing each other held moist tears. Even those eyes slowly closed, and now the situation became too difficult to endure with willpower alone. Nevertheless, So Yeon and Do Soon never gave up hope that they could survive.

It wasn’t wishing for a miracle. It was believing Tae Seo Jun’s words that he would come soon.

At the same time.

“Eom So Yeon!”

Water dripped from the body of the sturdy man who came running up the stairs with large strides, shouting.

The man who fearlessly set foot on the second floor engulfed in hot flames was none other than Tae Seo Jun.

That’s right.

As soon as he arrived at the scene, Seo Jun had doused his entire body with water and rushed unhesitatingly into the fire pit.

“Eom So Yeon! So Yeon, where are you!”

Simultaneously with Seo Jun’s shout, the sound of a metal door being violently pounded and voices screaming in desperation to live came from the first room in the hallway.

Bang bang! Bang bang bang…!

“He-here! Over here!”

“There are people here! Please save us!”

The urgent voices sounded familiar. But it wasn’t Eom So Yeon.

Seo Jun quickly unlocked the door and without delay headed towards the inner hallway.

Min Jung, who rushed out of the room with her manager, turned back while going downstairs and shouted at the back of Seo Jun’s head.

“Thank you for saving us! If you’re looking for Eom So Yeon, she’s in the second to last room at the end!”

A word of gratitude to Tae Seo Jun who had helped her escape the crisis. Oh Min Jung, who had revealed Eom So Yeon’s location with at least a minimum of conscience if not profound gratitude, ran down the stairs in a hurry, relieved to have escaped death.

The large strides stopped in front of that door Min Jung had mentioned. Unlike the other doors, only the door he was now staring at had a lock on it, just like the first room Oh Min Jung had come out of.

It was clear that someone had deliberately confined the people in the room, but identifying the culprit was a problem for later. Although the intense heat of the fire felt like it was melting his skin, Seo Jun disregarded it and called out her name loudly.

“Eom So Yeon!”

“I’m here… Cough!”

Indeed, a faint voice straining with all its might was clearly heard from inside the room where Seo Jun was standing.

“I’m here!”

Seo Jun’s heart raced at So Yeon’s coughing sound more than her voice. He quickly scanned around the door and hurriedly stretched out his arm. But at the same time, the flames leapt up high.

Moreover, the flames burning the walls had heated the door so much that it was impossible to even touch the lock.

Seo Jun stepped back with his body and legs and shouted loudly.

“Stay away from the door! I’ll break it down after I count to three! Three, two, one!”

Thud, crash!

The door, broken by a powerful kick with almost superhuman strength, finally opened wide like a gaping mouth.

The first thing that entered Seo Jun’s view as he stepped into the room was two women huddled on the floor, hugging each other tightly.

“Eom So Yeon!”

“Seo Jun…”

When he called her, So Yeon opened her eyes wide and called out to Seo Jun, though she had no strength.

But Do Soon stared at the man behind him, her eyes almost popping out.

“C-CEO…!”

“It just happened. Let’s get out first!”

With a bland smile meaning that such things can happen unintentionally in life, Gu Won Hoo piggybacked Do Soon.

Won Hoo, who had told Seo Jun at the first floor sink where he was drenching himself with water that he absolutely wouldn’t go up to the second floor. However, seeing the fire trucks that were nowhere to be seen and the intensifying flames, he too couldn’t just stand by and had followed Seo Jun.

Seo Jun also lowered his back to piggyback So Yeon and strode out of the room.

“You endured well. See? I came quickly, right? Now we’re going to run! Hold on tight so you don’t fall.”

“Sob…”

So Yeon tightly hugged Seo Jun’s neck, without even wiping the tears flowing down her cheeks.

The hallway was being consumed by the increasingly fierce flames in all directions.

“Let’s go!”

“Yes. Let’s go!”

Confirming that So Yeon’s arms were tightening, Seo Jun began to quickly break through the flames. And he ran unhesitatingly towards the exit, leaving behind the thick smoke and hot heat.

Finally escaping from the building being consumed by fire, So Yeon buried her face in the broad back that felt bigger than a mountain and conveyed her gratitude with tears.

She had escaped from a hellish place.

More than the relief from that, the joy of being able to see Tae Seo Jun again made So Yeon unable to stop crying for a while.

It was a close call.

As soon as the two men with women on their backs came out, the entire building was engulfed in huge flames. Around that time, firefighters who had arrived a step late from the fire trucks that had just arrived began to move in unison to contain the flames.

Oh Min Jung, who was about to get into the ambulance that had arrived with the fire truck, suddenly ran towards a luxury car parked in a corner of the parking lot, shouting at the top of her lungs.

“Hey, damn it! Yoo Jung Hwa!”

All Yoo Jung Hwa had done for 10 minutes, staying put in that spot, was to stare blankly at the building that would soon be engulfed in flames. She hadn’t noticed Seo Jun’s arrival at all because his car had passed by the front of the parking lot so quickly.

Jung Hwa, who had been like that, snapped back to her senses when several fire trucks rushed in with blaring sirens.

But Jung Hwa couldn’t hastily leave this place. At some point, ambulances and police cars had parked in the parking lot, and realizing this, she could only wait quietly with the car doors firmly locked.

Hoping that bodies would soon be loaded into the ambulance. And that everyone in the parking lot would move to the front of the burning building.

However, Jung Hwa’s plan to wait quietly fell apart in an instant.

“Yoo Jung Hwa, come out! Come out right now!”

When the car door wouldn’t open, Oh Min Jung went berserk, even climbing onto the hood and stomping as if she would smash it.

“Damn it! Hurry up and come out! You crazy…”

Bang bang, thump thump thump, bang thump bang thump!

As Oh Min Jung pounded on the car window as if she would break it, Yoo Jung Hwa reluctantly got out of the car. The words she uttered as she did so were outrageous.

“Are you crazy? If you don’t want to be treated like a crazy person, please calm down.”

“What? Crazy? Ha! That’s right! I am crazy! It’s because of you X who tried to kill me!”

“What nonsense. I have nothing to do with this fire.”

“Hey, you…! That mouth…”

Oh Min Jung was truly going mad and jumping up and down at the calm tone that denied any involvement with the fire. She was so dumbfounded and furious she could really go insane.

“Even if your mouth is crooked, speak straight! The people trapped in there were me and Eom So Yeon! You were perfectly fine here, literally just watching the fire!”

As Oh Min Jung pointed her finger at the building that had turned into kindling, breathing heavily, Jung Hwa shrugged her shoulders slightly and said nonchalantly.

“Huh, I don’t know what you’re talking about. I just arrived to meet you.”

“Huh…!”

Yoo Jung Hwa’s expression, furrowing her brows in a somewhat wronged manner, was too clear and pure, as if she had drawn on all the acting skills of a top actress. This further provoked Oh Min Jung’s anger.

“Wow, you lie so well! You told me to hold Eom So Yeon, didn’t you! And then you tried to kill me too? This is completely insane!”

Min Jung’s words were accurate.

She had tried to dispose of the one she wanted gone and the one who had outlived her usefulness together. However, Jung Hwa spoke as if she had no idea what Min Jung was talking about, acting very perplexed.

“Did nearly dying make you lose your mind? I’m Yoo Jung Hwa! The senior you youngsters should look up to! What do I lack that I would do such a thing?”

“What? Senior? Are you joking with me right now?”

“Tsk tsk, even if you go crazy, you should do it gracefully. Where do you get off assaulting an innocent person?”

Min Jung’s eyes rolled back at Jung Hwa’s brazen attitude. Now she couldn’t see anything except Yoo Jung Hwa, whom she wanted to strangle right away.

“Come on, you haven’t experienced real assault yet, have you?”

Slap!

Min Jung’s palm flew, striking Yoo Jung Hwa’s cheek so hard that sparks flew from her eyes.

“What are you doing! Who are you to hit our Jung Hwa unnie?”

“I hit her because she deserved it! Why!”

Slap!

“Ah!”

Min Jung, who had also slapped the cheek of Sung Jin Ah who had jumped out of the driver’s seat in shock, breathed heavily and panted fiercely.

“If you have eyes, you must have seen clearly! Yoo Jung Hwa, that one went into that building and came out! She tried to kill me!”

“N-no she didn’t! We were in the car the whole time!”

At least the Yoo Jung Hwa she knew would never do such a thing. Jin Ah defended Jung Hwa, adding lies for now. To this, Jung Hwa added:

“I’m telling you it wasn’t me. Why would I have made a reservation at an expensive traditional Korean restaurant? Is this how you treat a senior who came all the way here to take care of you?”

The reservation part seemed true since she had made it herself. So, Sung Jin Ah nodded her head vigorously and agreed with Jung Hwa’s words.

“That’s right. Our Jung Hwa unnie is so kind-hearted, why are you falsely accusing her? You’re really a bad person!”

“Ha, kind-hearted? That’s hilarious! The worst of the worst! Are you the best at being shameless too?”

Min Jung snorted at the end of her words, finding Sung Jin Ah, who was busy defending her side, very ridiculous.

Be prepared, Yoo Jung Hwa! I will absolutely not let you off the hook!