Chapter 422: Punishment (2)

Chapter 422: Punishment (2)

“It's this way, Miss Choi!” The safety officer cried out to Choi Yeon-Ha.

A woman like her trying to keep up with a male safety officer running at full tilt would never be easy. However, she didn't complain once while following him.

If Choi Yeon-Ha could reach Oh Min-Ji even one second faster, she must choose that path, even if it was physically more demanding. Even though she wasn't sure just when she became this altruistic.

'No, wait. I'm not being altruistic, is it?'

Choi Yeon-Ha grinned wryly to herself. She was still a selfish person who only cared about herself. As an example, she still didn't give two hoots about the fate of other parkgoers despite the severity of the current situation. Rather than Choi Yeon-Ha acting altruistically, it was more like the orphanage children had become her 'people'.

They hadn't known each other for long, and from other people's perspective, their relationship seemed shallow enough that if Choi Yeon-Ha chose to walk away now, they would've quickly become strangers again. However, at least in Choi Yeon-Ha's mind, the orphanage kids had already reached the same status as her family.

'I'm similar to him only in bad aspects, aren't I!'

Choi Yeon-Ha's wry smile came from realizing that her mindset was surprisingly similar to Kang Jin-Ho's.

Bang!

“Is anyone in here?” The safety officer roughly shoved the bathroom door open and shouted inside. However...

'There's no one?'

Maybe Oh Min-Ji was in another bathroom? Choi Yeon-Ha hurriedly asked the officer. “How many other bathrooms are nearby?”

“There are a couple more, Miss Choi!”

“What are we waiting for! Let's go!”

“Of course!”

Even before Choi Yeon-Ha's sentence was finished, the safety officer broke into another full-powered sprint. Choi Yeon-Ha supported her torso by bending over and holding her knees while the officer's back was turned to her. After sucking several deep breaths, Choi Yeon-Ha gritted her teeth and chased after the safety officer.

'Even though I never slacked off during my exercise...!'

Choi Yeon-Ha exercised every single day of her adult life to stay in perfect shape, yet her stamina was rapidly running out. Was this because of the physical difference between men and women? Or was it because she was too stressed right now, and that was depleting her stamina much faster? She had no way of knowing.

The safety officer in the lead ran inside a different woman's bathroom before rushing outside again. “There's no one inside!”

“In that case...” Choi Yeon-Ha was about to say they should head to a different bathroom but stopped herself and frowned a little. She quickly walked past the officer and entered the bathroom herself. That was when she noticed the cubicle at the farthest corner with its door closed.

The officer tilted his head. “No one answered me when I called, so I...”

“Shh!” Choi Yeon-Ha shushed the officer urging at her, then stood before the closed door. After sucking in a deep breath, she called out in a calm voice. “Min-Ji, It's me. Are you in here?”

There was no reply, but Choi Yeon-Ha patiently waited. And as if to reward her for her patience, a quiet little voice hesitantly leaked out from inside the cubicle. “...Unnie?”

Thank you, dear Lord!

Choi Yeon-Ha nearly collapsed on the spot just then but desperately held herself together. “Yes, it's me. Can you open this door for me, please?”

How would an elementary school girl stuck in an extremely stressful situation respond when a strange man roughly yelled out, 'Who's in here?'

'She'll never answer, obviously!'

It was too scary, after all. Logically speaking, requesting assistance would be the right thing to do. But humans were not rational creatures. And elementary school kids wouldn't be rational, to begin with. Choi Yeon-Ha wanted to praise herself for instantly figuring that out and remaining calm in this urgent situation.

Click...

With a loud thud, the safety officer crashed to the floor and rolled to his side. Judging from a faint tremor in his chest, it seemed he wasn't dead yet.

“You're asking the obvious. I want to torture Kang Jin-Ho.”

“But why?” Choi Yeon-Ha furrowed her brow. “What did he ever do to you? He's not the type to hurt other people, after all! So why would you go out of your way to torture someone like that?”

“Huh? Kek. Kekekeke...” The mad giant burst into a sinister cackle. It was as if he couldn't believe what he just heard. “Kang Jin-Ho isn't the type to hurt others, you say?”

The mad giant theatrically spread his arms wide open and stood back.

“Looks like love has totally blinded you. Or you're simply insane. Do you have any idea what kind of a man you've been hanging out with?”

“...”

“What do I look like to you?”

“...What?”

“Answer me, little lady. What do I look like to you?”

Choi Yeon-Ha bit her lower lip. “You look like a stinking lunatic, you son of a b*tch!”

Her words might end up agitating this crazy man, but she didn't want to tremble and cower in fear. She was also motivated by the belief of never displaying weakness to a crazy bastard like him.

“Kekeke. You're totally right. So, so right. Yes, I am crazy. A loon. Definitely not sane!” The mad giant theatrically nodded. “However, someone like me is shockingly normal compared to that bastard. Kang Jin-Ho is properly insane, you see? At least I know sane folks wouldn't even think about doing what I do. However, Kang Jin-Ho has no awareness like that.”

Choi Yeon-Ha narrowed her eyes. “...What do you mean by that?”

The mad giant slightly raised his hand before leisurely drawing a vertical line in the air.

“Let me tell you something, little lady. Humans... All humans are the same. However, that man separates people into two categories. People he acknowledges and those who are nominally humans, but he can't be bothered to treat them as humans. These two.” The mad giant cackled insidiously. “You can only run your mouth like that because you're included in the territory of people Kang Jin-Ho acknowledges. He doesn't want to see anyone he 'cares' about getting hurt, you know? On the other hand, though? Whether the people he doesn't care about live or die, it's of no concern to him. Kang Jin-Ho is an extreme-level egotist. A psychopath. Do you understand me now?”

Choi Yeon-Ha didn't say anything and just glared at the giant.

“So, here I am. Here to teach that bastard something important, you see?” The giant cackled. “I want to teach him that people he doesn't view as humans are still humans at the end of the day. Humans that can get hurt and suffer from pain, stuff like that.”

“Say what? You think doing this will teach him? What kind of twisted nonsense is this, you stinking bastard?”

“Twisted as it though may be... Haven't you heard this before? To fight a monster, one must become a monster himself. I have taken on that burden, you see? And it's your turn to do the same.”

The giant smirked like a sinister villain and began approaching Choi Yeon-Ha as if he didn't want to talk anymore.

Choi Yeon-Ha, now finally aware of what this mad giant wanted, hardened her expression and spread her arms open. “As long as I'm here, you won't lay a finger on this girl!”

“Wowsers. You sure know how to say some scary things.” The mad giant licked his lips. “But it will be fun to see if you can still say the same thing after I rip your body to pieces and throw your intestines to the floor.”

He was being serious. This insane bastard was being serious with his threat.

Choi Yeon-Ha bit her lower lip. Should she try to run? Escape to the best of her abilities?

This crazy bastard was fully capable of doing what he said without even batting an eyelid. In that case, trying to protect another person from a monster like him was something only a fool would do.

She wanted to run away from here. Run as fast as she could right now...!

That was when Choi Yeon-Ha sensed Oh Min-Ji's small hand gripping hers tightly. And a sense of dismay suddenly washed over Choi Yeon-Ha.

'Since when did I become smart enough to pretend I'm smart?'

So what if she was an idiot? If Choi Yeon-Ha earned the label of 'idiot' by doing this, she was fully prepared to be called that thousands, nay, millions of times!

“Do your worst, you piece of trash!”

The mad giant's expression distorted in pleasure as he closed in on Choi Yeon-Ha and Oh Min-Ji.