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n

n.

nRaising my head with a brightened face, I soon fell into despair. Those who dashed toward us with gritted teeth were now in a very short distance. That was when Ban Yeo Ryung put on alert while holding a broken beer bottle upside down. The noise that pierced through the group of guys struck our ears. Ban Yeo Ryung and I became goggled-eyed.

nThe guys hesitated one after another then slowly turned around. The sound coming from outside was quite extraordinary.

n“Who the fu*k is he?!”

n“Help! This ain’t no joke!!”

nA choking noise then echoed around; voices began to disappear by ones and twos. What was going on outside? While we blinked swiftly in wonder, the group of guys in front of us swarmed out of the warehouse as if they felt urgent upon their co-worker’s groan. Even though Choi Yuri yelled at them from behind, they didn’t give any attention to it.

n“Uh…?!! Where are you going? Hey, where are you going?! You guys must do what you’re paid for!”

nLeaving Choi Yuri shouting with a high-pitched voice behind us, Ban Yeo Ryung and I also ran as fast as we could. Running hand in hand tightly as if no one could let go of our grip, we soon got out of the warehouse.

nOutside the wide-open warehouse door, the gray air of dawn poured in. The ground glowed dark red with the early morning light. I smelled something like rusty iron mixed with a scent of thick grass.

nWhen I lifted my head, I saw a human figure moving freely in the radiant light pouring into my eyes.

nIt was such a quick and elastic movement like dancing. Every move was so light that it looked weightless like a shadow; however, the muscular guys collapsed one by one under the fist that seemed to have no weight or shape like a shadow. Speaking precisely, each person was knocked out with just one punch. The person’s blow was, therefore, quickly clearing up the fuss outside.

nBan Yeo Ryung and I just flickered our eyes at the sudden appearance of the unidentified reinforcement. No, it might be the enemy force, but the point was that the person was helping us to escape.

nBan Yeo Ryung started action ahead of me. She turned herself to pick up an empty beer box rolling around the space then threw it to the guy, who was turning his back against us.

n“Urgh!”

nAs he collapsed with a shriek, every eye was bent on us; however, the guys couldn’t look at us for long. The shadowy figure that came straight up kicked their chests and shoulders one by one and blew them away.

nWatching the guys getting blown away with gasps, Ban Yeo Ryung and I then turned our heads to the front again. As I finally saw the person’s face gradually approaching us, my jaw dropped onto the ground.

nAlthough the day was breaking, the sky was dark red since it was still too early in the morning. His blond hair fluttered over his forehead every time he walked with his back against the sky.

nBan Yeo Ryung also struck dumb when she found who he was. She blurted out his name before me.

n“Yi Ruda?”

n“Why are you staying still? Come on, let’s go!”

nHe… no, SHE shouted while pointing at the aircraft, standing behind her, with her chin.

nAs if she just got here by that helicopter, the blades were still spinning without a pause. The wind blow coming from the propeller was fiercely disheveling Yi Ruda’s hair.

nWhen I checked the driver’s seat instinctively, I found no one sitting there. ‘Then…!!!’ I gaped at the sight, thinking, ‘Did she drive that by herself? Yi Ruda??’

nBefore I tried to check the fact, Ban Yeo Ryung snatched my hand. She lifted a beer box again with the other side of her hand and threw it to another guy. Ban Yeo Ryung then began to run with me.

n“Donnie, let’s go! I’m not sure but, at least, it would be better than just staying here!” she shouted.

n“Then, do you think I’m gonna kidnap you guys again?!”

nThe way of Yi Ruda speaking to Ban Yeo Ryung was, unexpectedly, not that soft and warm.

nRegardless of his tone, Ban Yeo Ryung stretched out her leg to kick a guy, who tried to grab us from behind, in his stomach. Gently getting back on the ground, she then pulled my hand again and yelled, “Donnie, hurry!”

nAt last, we almost rolled into the opened helicopter, and, at the same time, Yi Ruda, who perfectly cleared out the last guy standing, came running in our direction.

nBefore she ran, Yi Ruda suddenly turned around to glance at the warehouse. That was when I recalled the presence of Choi Yuri and followed Yi Ruda’s glance.

nBoth Ban Yeo Ryung and Yi Ruda didn’t attack Choi Yuri. In their point of view, she was relatively less threatening; once they defeat the guys she brought here, Choi Yuri might lose her substantive power. If not, maybe Ban Yeo Ryung and Yi Ruda just lacked time.

nInside the empty warehouse, Choi Yuri was looking this way while sitting on the chair. The view of her having a phone call earlier with Eun Jiho triumphantly while leaving me and Ban Yeo Ryung aside overlapped on her appearance right now.

nAll of a sudden, I felt that this entire situation was like a play. It seemed like a dream that she had just shouted at me with her face close to mine.

n‘Now, you can see?’

nShe asked.

n‘Can you see me now?’

nI nodded my head involuntarily and, at last, got an answer that didn’t work out in front of her.

n‘I… see you. Instead of a puppet on a string, I see you stretching out your hand to the future you desire. Even if you made the effort in the wrong direction, I admit you attempt and endeavor; however, that’s why you have to pay for all that by yourself,’ I concluded my thought this way.

nThat was why freedom and choice were heavy and frightful at the same time.

nAfter jumping on the driver’s seat like riding on horseback, Yi Ruda slammed the door. She then wore a headphone and controlled some buttons on the dashboard. With the previous ‘THITH-THITH-THITH––’ noise, the helicopter soon floated its heavy body slowly in the air.

nIt was my first helicopter ride ever, but it didn’t seem real. As if she was also feeling the same, Ban Yeo Ryung just stared outside the window in silence.

nWhen the helicopter increased its altitude at a slow pace, the warehouse where we had been locked up began to look very small that it seemed as unrealistic as a miniature model. The trees and the farmland surrounding the warehouse gradually shrunk into the distance; the horizon amid the gentle hills came into view.

nThe cloudy fog on the road… dump trucks and cars running through the fog and over the deserted overpasses.

nI lifted my eyes.

nAfter a long night, the morning was dawning bright.

n* * *

nAfter a few rounds of wandering, Ban Yeo Ryung and I managed to find and put on the seatbelts. Meanwhile, the helicopter continued to fly across the sky. It then passed a bridge that looked like Seongsu Bridge. I thought I saw the dawn light, but it still took a while for the sky to turn bright.

nAt last, the glows of Seongsu Bridge and the skyscrapers, reflected in the Han River, shone like pearls in the fully rising sunlight. The subway going over the bridge and the cars marching like meteor shower…

nBan Yeo Ryung suddenly turned to look at the driver’s seat.

nShe then asked, “What time is it now?”

n“Almost six in the morning,” Yi Ruda answered back while tapping the dashboard. The helicopter than gently swung in the air and began to raise its altitude by making a slight curve like a cable car.

nWhen I looked at the surface of the river slowly receding from my view, I trembled for a second with an unfamiliar sensation. I then heard Ban Yeo Ryung flinging another question from behind me.

n“Did you reach out to other kids?”

n“Other kids? Oh…”

nControlling the dashboard at her eye level again, Yi Ruda murmured, “You mean, the Four Heavenly Kings?”

nYi Ruda then continued with an apathetic voice.

n“I’m gonna get in touch with them a little later. Sorry, but as long as you’re inside here, no.”

n“What?”

nLeaving the bewildered Ban Yeo Ryung aside, Yi Ruda turned to look at me. She then flaunted a grin. Curving her blue eyes into a warm smile, Yi Ruda asked in a furtive tone.

n“Because there’s some reason. Well, Donnie, you trust me, huh?”

nReading Ban Yeo Ryung’s countenance, I carefully nodded.

n“Uh… yeah, I do.”

nSince Yi Ruda was driving the helicopter, not the car, I couldn’t help but trust her intention as well as her driving ability. Even if she had a bad intention, I couldn’t jump off the sky, so wasn’t it better to just stay inside the helicopter she was driving than to die?

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