CH 25

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‘This is why I wanted to get out of here first…’ Josh grumbled internally, feeling his nightmare come true right before his eyes. With no other choice, Josh raised his hand. “…I’ll do it.”

“Great.” Just like that, Chase had ended the conversation. Not long after, the secretary returned.

“Mr. Miller, there is only one helicopter on standby right now.” With a pale face, she continued quickly, “The other helicopter is under maintenance, so it will take time. But the pilot is currently not on site. They said that it would take him at least two hours to get here… and it doesn’t look easy for him to try to get through the crowd to get into the building.”

“It’s fine.” Chase stood up right away and looked straight down at Josh. “Prepare to leave immediately.”

“Just a second. I need to check the helicopter before we leave,” Josh interjected hurriedly. Even if the helicopter had already gone through maintenance, it was a regular procedure for the pilot to examine it once more before takeoff.

Mark nodded, agreeing with Josh. “It won’t take long. Right, Josh?”

Josh quickly took the opportunity. “Yes… I’ll be as quick as possible. If you could just wait here for a moment—” 

However, all he got in response was a scoff. “What did you just say?”

The secretary quickly caught on and interrupted, “We can all go together.” She turned her body first and whispered softly to Josh, “Did you forget about the warning on the contract? Don’t ever tell Mr. Miller to wait again.”

“You mean those warnings that forbid us from everything but breathing?” Josh exploded and whispered back sarcastically.

The secretary nodded with a straight face. “Exactly.”

Josh said nothing more and quickly followed after her.

* * *

“…!”

As soon as they opened the rooftop door where the helicopter was on standby, a loud cheer erupted. Josh endured the deafening noise and walked—basically ran—toward the stationed helicopter. Breathing in some fresh air from outside enlivened him a little bit. He sat down on the pilot’s seat right away and began to examine the instruments.

Meanwhile, the other members excluding Seth and Isaac had urgently left to check on the situation. Chase was leaning against the wall, smoking his cigarette. He wasn’t persistently staring at Josh like before, but his presence was still as intense as ever. Josh could feel the silent pressure just from Chase being there—that he would not let him live it out if Josh didn’t finish quickly. Thanks to this, Josh moved his hands twice as quickly as usual.

In any case, however, it was impossible to drag out the time too long. The cheers were getting louder by the second.

“They broke through!” With a desperate cry, Mark dashed out of the door. As soon as the door opened, the cheers became multiple times closer. Chills ran down everyone’s spines. Chase, who had been very still as he leaned against the wall, took his back off the wall. At the same time, the throat-ripping screeches stabbed at their eardrums.

“Chase—!” Josh saw the remaining four, including Mark, hurriedly closing the door and blocking it with their bodies. Josh frantically prepared for takeoff. If Chase were to be caught now, his flesh would be separated from his bones.

Chase, who was walking toward the helicopter, turned around. He saw his entourage barricading the rooftop door with all their might. 

“Get in, hurry!” Josh shouted desperately. Chase was the first to get in, and his secretary and the other staff members followed. Josh lifted the helicopter off the ground by a little, so that they could leave as soon as his teammates got in. 

Mark, who had been watching everything unfold, lifted off his hands from the door and yelled, “Everybody run!”

At the same time, everyone turned around and began to sprint. Mark quickly jumped in, followed by Isaac, then Seth.

Thud! Thud! A series of heavy noises echoed, and the rooftop door that had just been holding on swung wide open. Through the open door behind them, a tsunami of people readily burst out with a cheer.

It was the scariest sight they had ever seen in their lives.

“F*ck, hey!” Henry finally managed to reach the ground directly beneath the helicopter and frantically jumped up. All they had to do now was leave. Using his impressive jumping power, Henry grabbed onto the floor of the helicopter that was just taking off. However, this made the helicopter lose its balance and wobble.

Josh hurriedly grabbed onto the control lever as Mark and Isaac quickly pulled Henry up. Just as Josh managed to regain balance and was about to rise farther up, the body of the helicopter tilted once again. One of the fans was trying to get onto the helicopter like Henry had.

“Ack!”

“Ngah!”

Yelps burst out from all over the helicopter. Josh tried to fly the helicopter up regardless, but the weight had increased exponentially in a matter of seconds. A few more people had grabbed on.

Josh cried sharply, “What are you doing? Push them off!”

Henry, who had got in last, was the closest to the entrance. He got up right away and blocked the man from climbing into the helicopter. Grabbing onto the open door, he was just about to push the man off.

Suddenly, Chase bent his knee and kicked his long leg forward.

“Argh!” Kicked mercilessly at the back of his knee, Henry’s leg gave in and he fell forward. With this, his body fell onto the bodies of the people who were hanging from the helicopter, and the force that had been weighing the helicopter down disappeared at once. The helicopter, now suddenly lighter, sprang upward from the resulting force.

“Henry!”