“Aaaaaahk!”
“Uwaaah! Save me! Help me!”
Jo Gyu-Min was in a panic.
‘Crazy sons of b*tches!’
The aquarium instantly morphed into the scene of pure pandemonium. The whole building seemed to rock precariously as a massive explosive noise deafened him. And then, panicking people flooded out from the deeper parts of the aquarium and rushed toward the exit like a horde of zombies!
With so many people running in panic, the whole building seemed to be shaking and trembling from their feet stomping on the floor.
Screams of people and shrill siren noises assaulted Jo Gyu-Min’s hearing nonstop. And it felt like a powerful gush of hot air blew right into his face.
He suddenly had an epiphany just then. He now understood why more victims than necessary always accompanied large-scale disasters.
People died in their droves because they had failed to see the obvious exits and didn't respond rationally. As a bystander, Jo Gyu-Min struggled to understand why that was. By staying calm and responding appropriately to the unfolding situation, all those people could have survived the disasters. So why did they act so irrationally? He couldn't figure it out.
But now he knew.
‘Keep what cool now?!’
How could anyone stay calm in this situation?
Jo Gyu-Min was quite some distance away from the location of the disaster, yet he still had a torrid time holding on to his sanity. Even though he knew something terrible was about to happen, he still felt lost and unsure of what to do.
In that case, what about these people? People who were figuratively hit by the bolt of lightning out of the blue? How could anyone expect them to maintain their rational minds!
‘You stupid f*ck!’
If it was possible, Jo Gyu-Min was tempted to shoot his past self in the head for subconsciously looking down on those victims.
An observer would never understand. Unless one had personally experienced it, they would always be oblivious. Unfortunately, this world saw so many events that fit those two descriptions too perfectly.
Jo Gyu-Min forcibly suppressed his heart pounding at an unbelievable rate and calmed his heavy wheezing, then urgently turned his head to scan his surroundings.
‘Where are the kids?’
Jo Gyu-Min finally sobered up. And that reminded him of what his job was supposed to be. He had already done what he could for the aquarium's visitors, so he should shift his priority back to safely evacuating the kids.
Just as he urgently scanned the area, a new wrench decided to throw itself into his plan. Just as the panicked crowd rushed past him to obscure his view, the lights illuminating the interior started flickering on and off.
‘Lights are shorting now?! You... sons of b*tches!’
To think these bastards were careless enough to allow the aquarium’s electrical fittings to get exposed to water! Jo Gyu-Min should’ve suspected something like this while estimating how much money the constructors might have skimmed off the top!
Unfortunately, now wasn’t the time to hurl all sorts of insults in the direction of the aquarium’s operators. Jo Gyu-Min gritted his teeth and threw himself into the fast-moving walls of human bodies.
The kids must be up ahead somewhere! Since Jo Gyu-Min sent the kids ahead before triggering the fire alarm, they should be near the exit somewhere!VịSit no(v)3lb/!n(.)com for new novels
Splash!
As he moved, he sensed cold water splashing against his legs. Before he had the time to notice it, water was already up to his ankles. To make matters worse, he could sense the water level rapidly rising higher and higher with every step he took.
Initially, the cold wetness was below the ankle bone, but within the span of a few steps, the water had risen past the bone!
“Son of a...!”
The water was rising in the figurative blink of an eye!
Jo Gyu-Min reflexively looked back. He could see the water level had risen up to the knees of the crowd desperately fleeing the aquarium's interior. He could instinctively tell the water level would rise even faster from now on.
‘What the f*ck?! Even though Mister Jin-Ho is blocking the water?’
When Jo Gyu-Min thought about it, though... This outcome should’ve been obvious.
That main fish tank had to be several stories tall. So, imagine all that water gushing through the narrow passageways of the aquarium. Without someone blocking the water flow, the rapid onslaught of water would've already reached this place to sweep everyone away, and the water level would have reached the ceiling.
In that case... What about swimming? Holding breath underwater?
‘Don’t make me laugh!’
If doing that was enough to survive, shouldn't those people getting swept away by the rapids during the heavy rainy season just hold their breaths and swim back out after reaching the calmer waters? Unfortunately, that wasn't how reality worked. The rapids didn't drown you. It pummeled you to death!
The water pressure was one thing, but the debris and things getting swept up by the water would destroy the person’s body first.
However, would an aquarium have things like that? Of course it did.
‘Look at all these people!’
If so many humans got swept into the rapids at once, they’d get entangled underwater and kill each other. Human skulls would crack other skulls, while arms and legs would get into messy tangles and twisted knots.
“Goddamn it!”
Jo Gyu-Min pushed aside the panicked people in front of him while making his way forward. It wasn’t easy, though. The visitors would’ve grumbled but still stepped out of the way not too long ago, but now? Who would do that in this crazy situation?
“No, I'm fine!” Jo Gyu-Min hurriedly stopped the kids from fussing over him.
They simply didn't have the leeway to ask about each other's health here, never mind confirming how terrible he looked to these kids. Jo Gyu-Min thought his arm must be broken from how horrifying the pain was. The stinging aching on his thigh was severe enough to make him clench his teeth.
Unfortunately, he also didn't have enough time to stew in his pain!
Jo Gyu-Min hurriedly asked Han Jin-Seong, “Is everyone here?”
The boy stuttered, “I-I’m not sure.”
“Hurry and confirm it! See if anyone’s missing! Raise your hands! Hurry!”
The Seongsim kids hurriedly raised their hands. Jo Gyu-Min and Han Jin-Seong quickly did a head count.
Han Jin-Seong cried out, “Everyone’s here!”
“You sure?”
“Yes, I’m sure!”
“Good!” Jo Gyu-Min grabbed the back of Han Jin-Seong’s neck and pulled the boy right up to his face. “Jin-Seong!”
“Yes, Chief Jo!” Han Jin-Seong replied almost in a yell.
“Men must bring up the rear. Meaning, you will follow the group from behind to make sure everyone is accounted for! You hear me?"
“Yes, Chief Jo!”
“When we get out of here in one piece, I swear I’m gonna treat you to a good meal, okay? So, you better not miss anyone, okay! Got it?”
“Yes!”
Jo Gyu-Min's bloodshot eyes locked into Han Jin-Seong's for a second or two. Then, the older man gritted his teeth while urgently turning his head away to scan his surroundings.
‘We need to get out of here, somehow!’
Maybe the smartest decision here was to wait until people at the front escaped first. No, wait. It was not a maybe—waiting here was the right decision. It wasn't as if the water level had risen up to Jo Gyu-Min's waist, anyway. Losing his crap like this didn't make any sense at all.
However, his mind and his heart had a disagreement on this one.
It felt like his heart was sending him the urgent warning sirens. It screamed at Jo Gyu-Min to escape from here right away. To escape from here as soon as possible!
“Okay, let’s go!”
Jo Gyu-Min took the lead and charged forward. He shoved aside people desperately struggling not to get pushed away, then kept moving forward one step at a time. Even while doing that, he didn’t forget to turn his head several times to confirm the presence of the children behind him.
“Stick close to me! Hold on to my waist, okay!” Jo Gyu-Min cried out. “Grab the waist of the person in front of you! And keep that person up on their feet, no matter what! If you fall, you will die! Understand?”
“Yes, Chief Jo!”
Children replied in unison. Even in this noise-and-scream-filled space, their voices registered clearly in Jo Gyu-Min’s hearing.
‘Okay, I need to remain calm!’
Jo Gyu-Min grimaced while wiping the blood off his face. He remembered someone trying to grab or scratch his face earlier. That must be when his skin broke.
‘Stay calm, Jo Gyu-Min! Stay calm! We’re almost at the exit, right? Yes, we must be close. So, stay calm! Rushing too fast can only hurt the kids instead!’
Two thoughts dominated Jo Gyu-Min’s mind right now. One, ensuring that every Seongsim kid would escape from here. And two, ensuring that none of them would get hurt!
‘People up ahead must be evacuating like a flood right now. For all these people to leave and make enough room... At most, five minutes? In that case, maybe waiting five minutes could be a...’
Just as his thoughts reached that far...
RUUUUUMBLE!!!
A loud thunderclap went off somewhere.
‘No! That wasn’t a thunderclap!’
The entire aquarium building seemed to shake ominously before all the flickering lights went off all at once. Almost at the same time, decorations on the ceiling came loose and began falling to the floor... to mercilessly smash into the heads of the panicked people below!
“Kkyaaaaaahk!”
Jo Gyu-Min’s eyes shot open as he hurriedly jerked his head up.
‘C-could it be?!’
Was this building... collapsing?!
“F-f*ck! Couldn't you stay up for a couple minutes longer?! Uwaaaaaaah!”
Despite the darkness, Jo Gyu-Min’s eyes vividly witnessed the sight... of the ceiling coming down on him and on everyone else!