Chapter 336: Taking a Chance (1)

Chapter 336: Taking a Chance (1)

“Where did you say it was?” Bang Jin-Hun narrowed his eyes.

“...Right here,” said Jo Gyu-Min while pointing at a spot on the map with a trembling finger.

Bang Jin-Hun checked the spot, then tilted his head. “But, did he have a reason to go this way?”

“I can't tell. We have no way of knowing Mister Jin-Ho's reasons, but this is where the signal from his phone was detected for the last time. But...!”

“But?”

Jo Gyu-Min wordlessly reached out to grab the TV remote, then turned the TV on. “...Please take a look.”

The TV was showing a news broadcast about a badly-collapsed tunnel.

“Mm? What about it?” Bang Jin-Hun tilted his head again after failing to connect the dots.

Jo Gyu-Min silently pointed at the tunnel marked on the map.

“...No way!” Bang Jin-Hun's eyes shot open wide.

“I also think it's unlikely. No, I... I'm hoping that it can't be true, but...!” Jo Gyu-Min muttered in a quaking voice. His hands were shaking just as badly. “This is... It doesn't make logical sense, but... But...!”

Jo Gyu-Min couldn't finish the rest of his sentence, but he didn't need to. Bang Jin-Hun could already guess what he wanted to say. Logically speaking, it shouldn't have happened.

What were the odds of Kang Jin-Ho being there at the wrong time? And what were the odds of him being trapped inside the tunnel? Such a series of coincidences couldn't logically happen. However...!

Bang Jin-Hun shot up to his feet. “Let's go and find out.”

Jo Gyu-Min dazedly looked up at Bang Jin-Hun.

“Chief Jo, we gotta go and see for ourselves,” said Bang Jin-Hun after sensing a hint of unwillingness from Jo Gyu-Min.

However, it wasn't as if Jo Gyu-Min didn't understand where Bang Jin-Hun was coming from. It was more like... He didn't want to acknowledge it.

Kang Jin-Ho was still a human being. Even if it was him... If he was really trapped in the collapsed tunnel and couldn't contact anyone outside, hoping for a positive outcome would be rather foolish at this stage.

Even though the situation required him to consider all possibilities, Jo Gyu-Min's honest thoughts were that he'd rather not consider this particular possibility. Unfortunately, his mind continued to drag the rest of him toward the worse and worse hypotheses.

The incident he was involved in had to be something as massive as the tunnel cave-in. Otherwise, Kang Jin-Ho would've called somebody by now. As long as he wasn't defeated by some unknown forces, that was.

“Chief Jo. No, Mister Jo Gyu-Min.” Bang Jin-Hun spoke in a stiff, cold voice. “For now, think later. The first thing we must do is to confirm.”

“...Of course.” Jo Gyu-Min shot up to his feet.

Bang Jin-Hun was right. If Jo Gyu-Min wanted to keep denying it, then all he had to do was go there personally and confirm that Kang Jin-Ho never went there.

'Right, he shouldn't be there.'

Jo Gyu-Min clenched his teeth while stepping outside his office.

***

“...This whole thing has turned into a circus, huh.” Bang Jin-Hun slowly shook his head while scanning the large crowd of various people gathered around the accident site. Starting from fire trucks, he could see varied vehicle types belonging to emergency services, the police, and even the reporters cramming the narrow street. That wasn't all, as the sea of onlookers didn't seem to have an end to it, either.

Trying to investigate anything in this mayhem was obviously impossible. Meanwhile, the police tapes had already cordoned off the site of the collapsed tunnel, preventing anyone from getting near. With all these cameras and witnesses around, getting closer to the tunnel was 'even more' impossible.

“...Goddamn it!” Bang Jin-Hun spat out a curse. Even as they stood around here doing nothing, time continued to tick by without a care. The longer they took, the lower the odds of finding anyone alive would get. One didn't need to be a genius to know that.

“Mister Bang, follow me.”

“Sorry?”

Jo Gyu-Min and his stiff face grabbed Bang Jin-Hun and dragged him away. They headed to a large tent located behind the throngs of reporters before being stopped in their tracks by several police officers.

“Gents, you are not allowed to go in there.”

Jo Gyu-Min glanced at them and asked in a cold voice. “Who is in charge here?”

“Why do you ask, sir? There will be a press conference later on, so you should go over there and wait like everybody else.”

“Go and call the person in charge, please.”

“What the... Does this guy have a hearing problem...?”

Jo Gyu-Min took out his business card and pushed it forward at the policeman. “I'm from Jaegyeong. I'm here to investigate whether or not this tunnel is connected to the construction arm of our corporation and, if it is, to figure out if there's been any irregularity. So, call the person in charge now. Please.”

“Oh. Uh...” The police officers looked at each other, unsure of what to do. They hadn't been trained on how to respond in a situation like this one, after all.

“Yes?” Jo Gyu-Min glanced at him.

“I'm pretty sure uncovering things like that here won't be easy.”

“That's why I'm leaving it to you, Mister Bang.”

“...Ah. Got it.” Bang Jin-Hun groaned and stopped talking there.

'Bloomin' hell, you think a martial artist is a superman or something?'

It seemed staying next to Kang Jin-Ho all the time had warped Jo Gyu-Min's concept of martial artists. The truth was that a martial artist simply boasted slightly better senses and physique than regular people. But Jo Gyu-Min seemed to view most martial artists as folks possessing some kind of a cheat key for every situation.

Bang Jin-Hun shook his head. “Hold on. This won't get us anywhere.”

“I'm sorry?”

“We won't find anything using our naked eyes. I'm going to try something, so wait for a sec.”

“...Of course.”

Bang Jin-Hun promptly sat down with his eyes closed in a lotus position.

Jo Gyu-Min wasn't sure what the big man was trying to do but still stepped back silently to not bother Bang Jin-Hun. The world of martial arts was mostly beyond his comprehension, anyway. As such, not getting in the way was the best thing he could do to help out Bang Jin-Hun.

Around five minutes later...

Bang Jin-Hun's eyes flew open, his fists tightly clenched. “...Excuse me, Mister Gyu-Min?”

“Yes?”

“How should I describe this... I was searching for something warm like heat signatures until now, you see?”

“Something like heat signatures?”

“Yes. If explosive powder or fuses still remain in the area, they should be warmer than their surroundings since, well, they were in an explosion, right?”

Jo Gyu-Min squeezed his eyes shut. Explaining a scientific principle that even a middle schooler should know to this adult martial artist would be way too time-consuming. So he chose not to. “...I see. Shall we get to the next step in our search, then?”

“No, hang on. That's not it...”

“Sorry?”

Bang Jin-Hun grimaced a little and pointed below. “It's down there.”

“...Huh?”

“The heat signature. It's down there. Below this collapsed tunnel, I can sense the body heat of a human being. You do understand what that means, don't you?”

Jo Gyu-Min shuddered. “Someone... is down there?”

“Yes!”

“And you can actually sense that?”

“You think I got the Assembly Master position through a game of poker or something!? I may not look it, but let me tell you, I'm one of the top martial artists in this country! Even if there's a mountain of soil here, I'm still good enough to sense stuff like that!”

“...W-which means?”

Bang Jin-Hun's complexion paled as he nodded slowly. “Yes! I've sensed the presence of two people. Right down there!”

Jo Gyu-Min squeezed his eyes shut in despair.

'Goddamn it!'

This... This wasn't the absolute worst situation. They just confirmed that Kang Jin-Ho was still alive, after all. However, the one scenario Jo Gyu-Min feared the most had become a reality instead.

“Below that thing...?” Jo Gyu-Min opened his eyes and scanned the debris and soil piled up like an imposing hill. He unconsciously grabbed his trembling arms.

'We... We need to dig through all this to rescue them?'

The realization of how absurd that task was swept across Jo Gyu-Min. He staggered and fell on his butt. “But... But how are we...”

His mind went blank just then. He knew they had to rescue the trapped people. Bang Jin-Hun implied that the two trapped people were still alive, after all. But how were they supposed to do that?

“For now...” Bang Jin-Hun groaned loudly. “...Let's hold an emergency meeting or something first. We need an expert's opinions on this.”

Bang Jin-Hun reached down and held Jo Gyu-Min's shoulder. However, the latter couldn't get back to his feet immediately.

'Mister Jin-Ho...!'

Jo Gyu-Min's fingers dug into the soil as his head powerlessly faltered.