Midday Guest Chapter 55

His body jolted violently. And in that moment, the car began to slide down the cliff. Unable to withstand the downward weight, it began to tumble over and over. It was impossible to distinguish where the sky was and where the ground was.

Thud, crash!

Pain beyond imagination assailed him, and the car came to a halt with a deafening roar.

Yiwon hung limp with his eyes closed.

The sound of the chassis scraping, the sound of glass shattering, and the sound of pebbles that had tumbled down the slope slamming into something echoed from far away.

He opened and closed his eyes several times. His vision, which had been nothing but black, gradually returned. The car was billowing smoke while caught somewhere halfway down the mountain, and from above, the sounds of rough shouting and the sounds of people trading blows could be heard.

The smell of something burning wafted from somewhere.

“Director!”

Oh Taesik and Ma Haeyoung, who had arrived before he knew it, shouted as they looked down. Cha Seokjoo raised a hand out of the window to try and calm them, but the situation above became even more hectic in contrast.

Smoke began to plume from the front of the mangled chassis. Just as the smell of gasoline seemed to grow thicker, sparks suddenly flew up.

It happened in the blink of an eye. The flames grew increasingly fierce until they finally swallowed the hood. It was a massive heat that felt like it would melt his very body.

“…!”

There was no time to exchange words. Yiwon merely exchanged a look with Cha Seokjoo and yanked the door handle. However, the chassis was so crushed that the door would not open. Even throwing his weight against it was of no use.

How to get out. As he agonized over it, something flashed through Yiwon’s mind.

Director!

Since he couldn’t call out loud, he grabbed the man’s shoulder and shook him. Then, he smashed the glass with his elbow and escaped through the passenger window.

After running out recklessly, he rested his hands on his knees and exhaled sharply.

It had definitely been his mother’s voice.

It had definitely been so…

“…Hah, hah.”

Was it voice phishing? By the time that thought occurred to him, it was already too late. From the moment the thought that something might happen to his mother took hold, he could hear nothing else.

Even his tears dried up instantly.

Stupid.

How could I be this stupid.

He felt disillusioned with himself.

Things like voices can be easily manipulated. In an age where they can even create moving videos, creating a single voice is nothing.

I should have called my aunt, I should have checked with the hospital directly… His hands trembled violently with regret over the moments that had passed.

Let’s apologize first. Then, after finding a way to compensate him somehow… Just as he thought that far and turned around, Yiwon’s knees buckled.

Cha Seokjoo, whom he assumed would have escaped long ago, was still trapped in the driver’s seat.

Why is he still in there?

Yiwon examined the chassis with confused eyes.

The back seat was flattened, making escape impossible, and the passenger door wouldn’t open. Seeing that Cha Seokjoo hadn’t escaped meant the driver’s door wouldn’t open either, but he couldn’t escape through the window. Because his build was too large.

“…Ah.”

Because of me.

Because I got caught up in something stupid, an innocent person is…

That fact drove Yiwon crazy.

There wasn’t much time.

Yiwon covered his nose and mouth with his arm and dove into the flames. He reached out recklessly toward the scorching hot chassis. He had no sensation of temperature. His mind was so full of the thought that he had to get this man out that everything else felt dull.

Their eyes met through the window. Cha Seokjoo seemed to be cursing with his eyes, but… Yiwon ignored it. He couldn’t just wait for someone to rescue them. He braced his feet against the back seat area and pulled at the crushed door.

Cha Seokjoo kicked the door with his foot. Then, at the moment their efforts synchronized, the door made a creaking sound and created a gap. Screeeech, with the sound of metal scraping, the driver’s door finally swung wide open.

The heat rushed over his whole body. It felt as if his consciousness was sinking into the ground. I have to run. But his body wouldn’t follow his thoughts.

From then on, Cha Seokjoo, standing firmly on the ground, pulled Yiwon by the wrist. Judging by the change in scenery, it seemed they were walking, but he couldn’t feel his legs moving. The car was now burning fiercely like a massive ball of fire.

Boom!

A shockwave surged with a massive explosion. Pushed by the force of the blast, the two lost their balance and collapsed to the ground. Yiwon was held in Cha Seokjoo’s arms.

While they were gasping for breath, the sound of people pushing through fallen leaves and bushes to descend toward them began to be heard. Bang, pop-pop. Sparks continued to burst.

The first thing Cha Seokjoo did while lying on the ground was to check under Yiwon’s chin with his fingers. Confirming the steady pulse, he let out a deep breath.

Watching the flames soaring high into the sky, he stroked Yiwon’s back. The hand that had been resting on the small of his back suddenly pulled away, and Cha Seokjoo pulled Yiwon’s wrist toward him. Then, he checked his palm.

“Nngh…”

A red burn mark remained on the palm that had struggled to pull the door. Cha Seokjoo stared at it for a while with eyes that had turned cold and sunken.

“Director!”

Oh Taesik, who had settled the situation above to some extent, ran down urgently as soon as he saw Cha Seokjoo. Watching him, Cha Seokjoo withdrew his gaze from Yiwon and stood up.

“Are you all right?”

“Are they Taesan’s boys?”

“Yes. Once we choked off their funding completely, Taesan lost their minds and charged in recklessly. It seems they were just waiting for the Director to leave Yonggung-ri.”

“They weren’t waiting. They lured me out.”

“Yes?”

Cha Seokjoo looked up. Ma Haeyoung and several others were in the middle of a fistfight.

“I thought we just had to protect the village, but I truly didn’t know things would flow this way. I have no idea how they knew to come and ram into the Director…”

Oh Taesik, who was spitting out words like a machine gun, opened his eyes wide and looked at Yiwon.

“Little boss, what are you doing here?”

He couldn’t even stand up after hearing the greeting. He felt like a person whose strength had all drained out, leaving only a shell. As he stayed on the ground on his hands and knees, Cha Seokjoo came over to support him.

“Can you stand?”

“…Yes.”

He didn’t want to be a nuisance any longer. When he pushed off his knees to stand and straightened his upper body, his vision spun.

“Whoa, whoa, little boss!”

Yiwon collapsed just like that, and Cha Seokjoo caught his body as it plummeted toward the ground.

Oh Taesik didn’t know what to do.

“What should we do?”

“Dispose of them. In the exact same way.”

Cha Seokjoo handed the limp body over to Oh Taesik. Oh Taesik shook Yiwon’s body. Yiwon gave no response.

“I liked you in a strange way. But if that’s the Director’s wish, there’s nothing I can do.”

“…….”

“Don’t you worry, I’ll send you off quickly so it doesn’t hurt.”

It was just as Oh Taesik was about to snap the slender neck. Cha Seokjoo looked back at Oh Taesik and knitted his brows.

“Why are you grabbing the kid for no reason?”

“Didn’t you give him to me to grab?”

“Get a grip.”

“…Yes?”

“Watch over him carefully. He shouldn’t be hurt any further.”

“Ah, yes! Director!”

Oh Taesik answered vigorously with a much brighter voice.

Cha Seokjoo strode up the slope and loosened his tie to wrap it around his fist. Then, he grabbed the hair of the first guy he saw and slammed his head into the asphalt.

“Ugh, ack…”

Thud, thwack!

The face being slammed down scraped against the ground with a grrrnd. Looking down indifferently at the struggling man, Cha Seokjoo forced his eyeball toward the ground and rubbed it mercilessly.

“Cough, ugh, ah… Aaargh!”

The drenched ground made a squelching sound. Blood mixed with saliva trickled from the man’s open mouth. Cha Seokjoo knelt down in front of the man who had become a bloody mess in an instant.

“Who’s the guy who rammed into him?”

“…Cough.”

“I’m… in a very bad mood right now.”

When he said that and turned the man’s head so the other eye faced the ground, the guy pinned underneath thrashed his limbs in a wild frenzy.

“Ugh, ugh!!! Over there, it’s that guy over there!”

A blood-stained hand pointed toward a man hiding behind a van, swinging a steel pipe at the others.

“Ah.”

Cha Seokjoo exhaled a light breath, twisted the pulp-like head, and stood up. The man, who was coughing up blood with a gurgle, gurgle, rolled his eyes back with a snapped neck.

Striding forward with long legs, Cha Seokjoo grabbed a steel pipe that had fallen on the ground. His pace grew increasingly fast. Springing off the ground and leaping, he struck the back of someone’s head without mercy.

Crack, with the sound of a watermelon bursting, the man who received the blow collapsed to the ground instantly. Cha Seokjoo planted the steel pipe firmly into the ground. Then, he looked for his next target.

The scene was cleared in an instant. The employees, who had been watching Cha Seokjoo’s every move, gathered the bodies together. The limp, tangled bodies had no part of them left intact.

Cha Seokjoo took a cigarette out of his pocket and lit it.

Ma Haeyoung, who had cleared the surrounding area, approached and asked.

“What shall we do?”

“Burn it all.”

“Understood.”

Ma Haeyoung signaled to the employees. The things that had been rolling on the ground were stacked into the cars, and the employees who had been controlling the road while pretending to perform an emergency electrical check from afar also packed up their positions. It was a perfectly organized movement.

Cha Seokjoo stood at the edge of the cliff and looked down. While staring at the flames soaring high into the sky,

Drip, drop.

Rain began to pour down.