Chapter 218 - Burning Hell

Using the fire extinguisher that Eun Ha handed him, Jun Hyeon smothered the flames on his way, making a small path through which he could pass to reach the passage on the side of the stage. Meanwhile, the firefighters were struggling to make their way to the kitchen on the first floor, where three people were being held.

He and Shin had managed to get to the back of the stage, where Duk Mi had called for help minutes before. They found him passed out near a small window, with a head wound. A girl in a waitress uniform was trying to revive him while coughing. She was so relieved to see them!

"Ye Rim?" he asked her. Perhaps she could have seen Ye Rim.

The girl shook her head while coughing, and Jun Hyeon placed a wet cloth over her face. Shin was putting Duk Mi on his shoulders, and motioned to Jun Hyeon, pointing to a small door.

Before entering the building they saw the building blueprints and knew that there was access to part of the bas.e.m.e.nt through the back of the stage. It was the only possible entrance now, other than going through the burning hell on the building's main stairs.

Grabbing the small firefighter's ax that Shin handed him, Jun Hyeon went to the small door. 

Jun Hyeon was following his intuition. It was very much like his worst dreams. 

The infernal heat made it difficult to breathe, and he wanted to run away, away from his recurring nightmare. But he persevered. Grabbing the extinguisher cylinder that was still half full, and wondering if there was anything magical in the container, he went down the stairs. There was smoke, but no fire.

He knew he was making a risky decision, and that he would have no way of going back.

The cluttered place was colder than up there. Then he saw the plywood wall, splitting the bas.e.m.e.nt into two different storages. It rattled with strong, rhythmic beats.

He raised the ax and started to make his way.

ººº

DUM DUM DUM

DUM DUM DUM

Dae Won and Ye rim took turns to break the chain, gasping and coughing in the process. Her eyes teared because of the smoke.

"A little more ... My shoulder ... I can't take it ..." he said, giving her space to try again. Gathering all the energy he had, despite knowing that it was only half of what they had to do, Ye Rim forced the crowbar a few more times, until she felt the weakened link break.

The joy and relief she felt at that moment were indescribable.

They were saved!

She pushed open the door and went out into the open, followed by the musician. Smoke billows rose from the windows on the lower floors, and she heard the loud sirens of the police and the fire department, but she could see nothing around her. 

The singer felt Dae Won's hands hit her back, and turned away, feeling something wrong. She was aware of what happened before she felt it. 

The sharp blow of the club on her back reverberated in Ye Rim's head first, and then nerve cells in the body reacted. 

She tasted the blood in her mouth, and fell forward without reaction.

ººº

Dr. Kim managed to open a hole in the plywood wall, from where a terrible heat escaped. The other side was on fire.

Crawling, he put part of his body inside, and his hands touched a body that pressed against him.

Jun Hyeon pulled, without really seeing, dragging the person through the gap.

But even without seeing it, he knew who it was. Her soul recognized her.

It was his sister Ji Hyeon.

She was so hot and red for the heat and exertion! But she wasn't burnt. Ji Hyeon probably used all the resources at hand to keep away from the flames and not to faint from inhaling smoke. But Jun Hyeon also knew that bastard Dae Won must probably make it the way she could endure for a time to make it greater torture.

He turned his noona to him, seeing that handcuffs bound her hands. She was having a coughing fit and trying to push air to her lungs.

He should take her to the ambulance and an oxygen tank right away.

"Help ...! Coff ...!" Her voice barely came out, hoarse and barely audible.

"Ji Hyeon!" he hugged her, protecting her with his body.

"Jun?!" she raised her face to look at him, understanding only now that her savior was also her brother.

"Is Ye Rim in there?"

"No! Dae Won… took her to the terrace!" she promptly replied, with widen eyes in terror.

It was what he needed to know. On the other side of the plywood wall, something big crashed down, rattling the bas.e.m.e.nt all over. The twin brothers hugged each other in shock. The partition Jun Hyeon had just opened plummeted to the side where he took Ji Hyeon from.

"Come ... let's get out of here!" he could not afford to enjoy the moment of reunion. That would have to be for later. Jun Hyeon picked his sister up, realizing that she was as light as he remembered, to get out of there as soon as possible.

His mind was now focused on someone else.

Ye Rim. He had to get to her.

No matter what.

ºº

Ji Hyeon was afraid to wake up and this would all be another terrifying nightmare. And discover that she had not been saved by her brother, finally, at the last moment when she no longer thought she could survive. She no longer had the breath or strength to continue hitting and kicking the plywood wall, and fearing that it would all come crashing down on her in the end. But Heavens heard her pleas.

"Ji… Loosen my neck! I need to go!" her brother asked,

"No! Please don't, don't leave me!" She felt JunHyeon pulling her hands away from his neck, wearing thick gloves. He passed Ji Hyeon to another man's lap.

"This is my sister, Detective Ji!"

"I'm going to take you to the ambulance," the man held her carefully.

"Jun, don't go! Please, please! You will die!"

Jun looked at her again, and smiled under his helmet. But then he turned back and crossed the yellow safety line back to hell.

"Ji! My daughter! Ji Hyeon! Ji Hyeon!" she heard her mother's tearful voice in the midst of that chaos, and the man turned to where the sound came from.

In her direction, she saw her mother, so different from what she remembered ... And her grandfather, exactly the same, passing by the side of the ambulance to reach her.

That's when she believed it was about to end. It wasn't a nightmare, but a reality.

She wanted to believe that it was over, but it would only be over when her brother left that building alive ... And Dae Won left it dead.

ººº

Ye Rim blinked, feeling damp lashes, bitter mouth and immense pain. She could barely move her arms. Her chest moved with difficulty.

But she was not yet dead.

"There is what you wanted. Those bastards locked me up to die!" Dae Won was talking to someone at his side.

~ Hahahaha! ~

Even in the middle of the chaos, she heard a buzz and felt a cold that caused her ancestral terror, permeated by the diabolical and cold laugh. 

That was at the heart of her nightmares since he was a child.

The Big Mouthed Monster.

The Devourer.