Chapter 3: 3 Fire
Jungsu blinked blankly as he listened to an upbeat pop song from a popular boy group Kraze. He stared off into the back wall of the convenience store, an earbud hanging from his ear as a group of girls surrounded him. Leaning against the counter, the brown-haired girl from a couple days ago smiled up at him with big eyes. Ever since he helped her back up after she'd fallen on the ground, she became bold enough to introduce herself and show him her favourite songs. The girl, Yuna, and her friends Chaewon, Jia, and Hyejin, surrounded the counter, giggling and pointing at the phone screen as their favourite idols appeared on screen.
Looking up from the phone, Yuna glanced up at Jungsu and stared at him for a long time.
"Oppa, you look just like an idol."
Jungsu frowned as he looked down at the pretty flower boys. Looking like that would not benefit him greatly, instead it would pose many problems. A spy needed to be inconspicuous, but he wasn't a spy anymore. Yet he didn't want to let go of that way of life, or maybe he couldn't escape it no matter what he wanted.
"What about you Oppa? What songs do you like?" Jia asked with a smile, tilting her head up at him.
Jungsu froze as he couldn't think of a song. The truth was that he didn't listen to songs at all, the only type of music he enjoyed listening to was classical music, the kind without words and only instruments.
His fascination with piano music had grown when he'd gone on a special mission as a pianist. He had trained intensively for months only to end up never touching the piano again. It still haunted him, the girl's blood splattered across the white keys of the piano as he shakingly held the gun that shot the bullet through her head.
"None that you would know. I listen to very old songs." He said.
They nodded their heads in fascination.
"Oppa's vintage." Jia murmured.
"Hey! Oppa's not old!" Chaewon said angrily.
"How old are you Oppa?" She asked sneakily.
"Twenty-one." He responded.
"Five years huh. That's not too much." Yuna whispered to herself as she bit her lips.
"You should attend your classes now. Skipping will not get you anywhere. Unless you want to work at a convenience store like me." Jungsu droned on.
"Oppa, did you skip classes too?" Hyejin asked.
"Yes. I skipped so much that I never even attended school."
"Oh! Oppa was a bad guy then?" Yuna laughed.
Jungsu glanced at her with cold eyes, startling Yuna.
"Yes, I was. Which is why you should head to classes now."
Removing the earbud from his ear he handed it back to her and walked away from the counter, deciding to stock up the chips.
"Omg." Chaewon whispered.
"Oppa cares so much about us!" Yuna squealed.
Giggling they left happily, leaving Jungsu staring after them in astonishment.
Squatting down, he started placing the chips onto the shelf when he heard the door opening, the tune playing softly in the background as he observed a deafening silence emanating through the store. He listened quietly as the footsteps purposefully moved towards him, his eyes mapping out the locations of the cameras and seeking the blindspots. He got up and walked down the aisle, picking up a bottle of soju on the way, and stopping when he felt the air moving behind him. Ducking down, he reached above him, grabbing the assailant's arms and threw him to the floor. As the man fell down, he grabbed a hold of Jungsu's arms and twisted, however, Jungsu quickly broke free by banging his wrists together, causing the man to let go. The man quickly got back up and pulled out a knife, slowly inching towards Jungsu.
"Number seven, you abandoned your mission. You ungrateful bastard. Have you forgotten who fed and groomed you? It wasn't South Korea. It was the supreme ruler-"
Jungsu kicked the knife from his hands and spun gracefully before giving a roundhouse kick to his head. It all happened so quickly that the man didn't have time to react. As his body lay on the floor, Jungsu combed his hair back in frustration. Picking up the bottle of soju, he opened it up and drizzled it over the man's body until it was empty. Hearing the door opening once again, Jungsu picked up the man and placed the man's arm over his shoulder. As he dragged the man towards the door, the woman who had just entered made a face as she saw the unconscious man leaning on him, smelling of soju. Placing the man onto the table outside, he took another photo and sent it to Officer Hyun-su.
There's your spy. He texted.
Heading back inside, he went to the backroom and checked the security footage, knowing he had not been able to evade one of the cameras. Erasing the footage was easier than he thought it would be. Mr. Kim was very simple-minded in assuming he wouldn't need better security measures for his security footage.
As Jungsu returned to the counter, he mindlessly scanned items for customers until the clock finally stuck 6 as he had to work an extra hour today, and the part-timer came to take over.
Leaving with nothing on him but his phone and wallet, he passed the man who'd attacked him, still unconscious on the table, with his hands tucked inside his hoodie pockets. Not long after he started walking, he smelled smoke in the air, soon after seeing it. He hadn't walked far until he approached a busy intersection that was crowded by people. Everyone seemed to be in a state of panic as they looked up at the blazing building in horror. It was an apartment complex that was ten stories high. From the way the fire was spreading, Jungsu estimated that they had less than half an hour before the whole building was engulfed in flames.
Jungsu observed the situation from the back and found out that all residents had presumably escaped from the building except for the family on the eighth floor.
"They're all alone inside too! My gosh, where is their mother?" A woman said worriedly.
"Don't you know? Their mother works two jobs. Her husband passed away recently you see." Another woman responded, shaking her head in pity.
From what Jungsu quickly gathered from the conversations of the residents around him, the woman had two children, a boy of 7 and a girl of 5, who were still trapped inside. As everyone seemed to be looking to the right side, Jungsu mapped out the potential rooms in his head.
Though they seemed to have called the police already, there was no saying how long the firetruck would take to get here as it was currently rush hour. The closest fire station was more than 15 minutes away and if they waited any longer, parts of the building would soon collapse, making survival and escape impossible. Climbing up and breaking into the window wasn't an option as he didn't know whether he might unintentionally harm the children. Not to mention the low visibility through the windows would also be another hazard.
Letting out a slow breath, he approached the building and entered inside, the people around him too stunned in the moment to stop him.
Covering his head with his hood and his nose by bringing up the fabric to his mouth, he quickly located the stairs and felt the door with the back of his hand. Opening the door with his hoodie, he raced up the stairs as if the devil were chasing him. Time was not in his favour, as the carbon in the air and the spreading fire would not afford him the luxury of slowing down.
Once he'd reached the top of the stairs, he felt the door once more and tried opening it, however, the handle wouldn't budge. He frantically started kicking the door, sweat pouring down his back as the fire was quickly spreading throughout the building. Finally, the door flew open with a burst of flames awaiting him on the other side. Jungsu ran through the flames with his arm covering his face, patting down his hoodie as it caught on fire near his shoulder. His eyes quickly scanned the area, not finding anybody in sight. Turning the flashlight of his phone on as he stepped forward, a piece of the ceiling fell right before him. Jungsu jumped out of the way before it could reach him.
As he raced through the hallway, he screamed, "Is anyone here?!"
Kicking down on every door that he passed he waited for the slightest sound. He screamed louder and louder, hoping that his voice would reach someone. He slowed down as he approached the apartments he estimated the children to be in. Kicking down the doors, he continued to scream, hoping to hear a voice. Then finally, he heard a shout. Racing to open the door, he pushed down on the handle, cursing when it was locked.
"Step back and cover yourselves!" Jungsu shouted. Though he knew they wouldn't be standing near the door and most likely were near the window. He had to kick down the door again, knowing he couldn't call the children to open the door.
Kicking down the door, he thanked whoever had made the apartment doors using flimsy material. As the door flew open, Jungsu brought his flashlight up to search for the kids through the dense smoke. Stepping forward, he quickly danced around the blazing furniture, spotting the two children gathered by the kitchen window. As Jungsu quickly approached them, the boy looked up at him, frightened by the pace at which he moved toward them. Slowing down, he held his hands out on both sides and cautiously moved forward as if approaching a wild animal.
"I'm not here to hurt you. I'm here to get you out."
The brother who had bravely stood before his sister slowly nodded his head and looked up at him with eyes full of tears.
Jungsu, seeing the girl lying on the floor unconscious, thought for a moment before picking up the girl and placing her far back into the kitchen, urging the boy to follow him.
Picking up a frying pan that was lying on the counter, he said,
"Stay back." knowing that it would be impossible to try to escape with them the way he had came.
Jungsu looked back to see if they were far away enough before breaking the window, the frame giving away without much of a fight. Jungsu continued to hit the window to clear the broken glass, then quickly turned towards the boy.
Unzipping his hoodie, he pulled the hoodie around the girl, tying her to his stomach. He tried covering as much of her skin as possible with the hoodie's fabric.
"We need to leave now. I'm gonna need you to climb onto me. Imagine we are going on a ride together." he said to the boy.
Nodding his head obediently, the boy climbed onto his back and hugged his shoulders tightly. Slowly standing up, he held the girl close to his chest.
"Wrap your arms around my shoulders but wrap your legs around my stomach and grab hold of your sister, okay?"
"Okay." The boy responded, his voice heavy with unshed tears.
"Keep your head down, but look at me. Don't stop looking at me."
As he gripped the children tightly, he slowly eased them out of the window he had smashed open. Grabbing onto the windowsill, he dug his feet into the crevices between the bricks. Slowly but steadily, making his way down, he balanced himself on the windowsill of the lower level and pulled them down. He could hear the crowd shouting in surprise and screaming for help as he swiftly moved down with the children wrapped around him.
"Hold on tightly." Jungsu reminded the boy. "And press your face against me."
Just then, a window exploded, the shards biting into Jungsu's forearms as Jungsu turned his face away tightening his grip in one hand as his other hand held onto the boy's hands around him. As they dangled from the windowsill, shouts were heard from below. He wasn't too far down, but if he let go now, the children would surely be injured.
He heard soft crying from his back. Using all his strength, he quickly climbed down level after level. He could feel his eyes starting to cloud and his consciousness slowly leaving him as he took deeper breaths due to the lack of oxygen.
On the last windowsill, he jumped down, landing safely on the ground. Untying his hoodie, he placed the children down. The firefighters had arrived just as they made their way down and immediately surrounded them, carrying the children away and checking them for injuries.
A firefighter started talking to Jungsu but strangely enough, he didn't bother listening to what he was saying as he started coughing. An explosion sounded behind him and Jungsu closed his eyes as he felt the world around him swaying.
Slowly sinking to the ground, resting his elbows over his knees, he saw from the corner of his eyes that the girl had woken up. Feeling relieved, his head sunk down, his eyes taking in the cloud his breath left behind in the cold air.
He felt somebody place a blanket around him and belatedly realized that he was half-naked in the middle of a street. He should have bought those shirts.
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