RUMBLE, BOOM!

The powerful explosion noises rocked Jo Gyu-Min’s brain. No, forget brain, it felt like his soul was shaking from the impact noises!

The water's surface hovering near his chest splashed about and slapped Jo Gyu-Min in the face. Even though everything was vividly registering in his brain, it all felt so surreal to him.

The dark, suffocating space was filled with water up to his chest. And all this water was constantly splashing and tumbling about. Meanwhile, other panicking people near him were loudly struggling and clamoring in their bid to escape from here. And to top everything off, loud explosion noises and vibrations akin to a deity hammering the ground echoed nonstop.

Even the lights decided to join in on the fun by flickering back to life only to cut out again repeatedly. All these factors combined to shake Jo Gyu-Min up and unnerve him.

‘If there really is Hell, it must be something like this place!’

It was scary here. No, make that incredibly terrifying! Jo Gyu-Min could barely keep his wits up. However, he was quickly stunned back into reality by the sensation of the child’s shoulders in his arms.

‘Wake the f*ck up! Now isn’t the time to think about me!’

Jo Gyu-Min was an adult, yet he was this terrified, so imagine how much worse it would be for the Seongsim kids! It felt like a bolt of lightning had struck him when that thought popped up in his head.

If everyone had to be categorized as either a good person or a villain, Jo Gyu-Min wouldn't be able to stand on either side. His conscience wouldn't allow it. Even then, his head was still filled with nothing but thoughts of the Seongsim children's survival.

He was a perfect example of how a person's stance would change depending on the subject matter. Most people would prioritize the kids' safety if they found themselves in the same situation as Jo Gyu-Min.

‘I… I must get them out of here, alive!’

Jo Gyu-Min repeatedly burned the faces of the Seongsim kids hidden by the darkness in his mind. And those faces were stained by tears, their lips firmly clamped shut so they wouldn't be a nuisance to anyone!

Jo Gyu-Min gritted his teeth.

‘What should I do?’

He couldn’t think of a way out. However, it was his job to find a solution. Giving up because there didn’t seem a way was only possible during written tests!

He was emphatically not in a test. This was reality! He must find a way out, no matter what.

Just as Jo Gyu-Min’s thoughts reached that far…

RUMBLE!

Yet another powerful vibration rocked the aquarium building. The water filling up the space tumbled again and slapped the scared people’s faces.

“Fuu-wuuuph!”

The terror born from the cold water rising up to one’s face was on another scale compared to everything else.

Obviously, Jo Gyu-Min had experienced moments in the past when his life seemed under threat. However, those were just feelings he had. Now that the water was actually threatening him by reaching up to his face, however… His body reacted first.

Not only him, but everyone else urgently flailed about, trying to grab and hold onto something. Unfortunately, the only thing they could find in this space were the bodies of other people.

Human bodies got into messy tangles with other humans, and the last vestige of order quickly vanished into the ether.

They shouldn’t be criticized for this situation, however. No one should. People in desperation were supposed to even clutch at straws, after all!

Would people be able to think rationally when they couldn't move and the cold water had filled the space up to their heads? No! Since everyone wanted to live, it was only natural for them to instinctively grab and pull at anything and everything they could touch.

“C-Chief Jo! Apoohu! Chief!”

Jo Gyu-Min urgently looked behind him. One of the Seongsim kids couldn't win against the adults' pulling force and was getting dragged underwater. Jo Gyu-Min forced his body to move in that split second. He successfully grabbed the child's arm and pulled hard.

It felt like his arm was about to fall out of its socket!

“Uwaaaaaht!”

Jo Gyu-Min roared in anger. That was when a hand shot out of nowhere to grab him by his hair. Not only that, but more hands began scratching and clawing him in his chest. Someone even grabbed his waist from below, and it became nearly impossible for Jo Gyu-Min to think straight.

“Goddamn it! Calm down, you idiots! You gotta calm down first!”

This rise in the water level was only temporary. What happened was the vibrations had caused the water to ripple and hit people in their faces. That was all!

‘Dammit! Still, why is there so much water here?!’

It seemed this passage was situated lower than the surrounding areas. If the aquarium owners had potential emergency situations in mind while designing this place, the water should have flowed out of here by now.

However, that didn't seem to be it, as this water was clearly going nowhere.

‘Goddamn it! Why haven’t the people in the front moved out already?!’

This situation made no sense. So much time had already gone by, so shouldn't those people up ahead have reached outside by now?

At this rate, people trapped in here would end up drowning!

Jo Gyu-Min looked behind him toward the deeper part of the aquarium. Despite the darkness, he could see more water coming in. The water level had risen past his chest to reach the tip of his chin.

‘What about the kids?’

The Seongsim kids were somehow enduring while holding onto each other. The smaller kids were leaning on the taller kids’ shoulders and backs to stay above the water’s surface.

‘This can’t go on!’

This was all nothing more than a stop-gap measure. Soon, it’d become impossible to endure anymore.

Flames of determination burned in Jo Gyu-Min’s eyes.

‘The ceiling!’

Jo Gyu-Min's head snapped up to look above. He could see the damaged ceiling.

‘Let’s… cling up there!’

That seemed like the best option available. As long as they could somehow not drown and wait, rescue teams would surely arrive. As long as they could hold on until then…!

Avoiding drowning was all Jo Gyu-Min could ask for right now!

“Jin-Seong!”

“Yes, Chief Jo!”

“Get the kids above us! Above us!"

“I’m sorry?”

“Can you see the ceiling?”

Han Jin-Seong raised his muddied face to look up and saw the ceiling, now unadorned by the decorative material. “Y-yes, I can!”

“We gotta grab on to whatever things and edges we can find and wait! There must be some after all this crap fell down!”

Han Jin-Seong looked worried. “B-but, will they hold our weight?”

“Of course not!” Jo Gyu-Min resolutely replied. “They won’t be strong enough. However, they can once the water fills up to a certain level! So get the shorter kids above us and tell them to hang on to the ceiling!”

“Okay!” Han Jin-Seong animatedly nodded away. He didn't understand what Jo Gyu-Min was trying to do, but the Chief Secretary of Jaegyeong said they must do it, so it must be the right decision to make in this situation.

After the Seongsim kids hurriedly moved to get into the position, Jo Gyu-Min gritted his teeth and looked up.

‘How long will those things last?’

The ceiling had crumbled once to reveal all the ugly things decorative panels were trying to hide. And those things had no guarantee of enduring the weight of a person. In other words, this was yet another stop-gap measure.

However, Jo Gyu-Min didn't have the luxury of being picky right now.

The older, taller kids began helping the younger ones to reach the ceiling by pushing them up from below. Jo Gyu-Min felt his emotions well up while watching this sight.

It was normal for people to go insane trying to save their own hides at the expense of others. Indeed, it’d be only natural for them to do so. No matter how gracious and considerate a person was, at the end of the day, they would still put their own interests above all else. Especially when that interest involved their survival!

If the question was about saving your life or someone else's, who would waste their time agonizing about the answer? No, one, that's who.

However, these kids weren't like that. Even though the water had reached up to their chins now, they didn't try to climb up first to save only themselves.

Even as they spat out the dirty water encroaching their mouths, they still tried their hardest to save their friends first.

‘Dammit!’

These kids, they… They must survive. Not one must lose their life here today!

However, just as Jo Gyu-Min gritted his teeth…!

RUMBLE, BOOOOOOM!

A much, much heavier vibration rocked the space. It was as if a real earthquake had erupted just now. The water violently tumbled, and people barely maintaining their balance began flailing ungainly like cubes of ice inside a large cocktail shaker!

The children climbing up to reach the ceiling also lost their balance and crashed back into the water below. Noises coming from who knows where and children splashing into water tore right into Jo Gyu-Min's hearing.

“Uwaaaaaah!” Jo Gyu-Min roared, not out of desperation but sheer rage this time.

‘Why?!’

Why did something like this happen?!

Why here, why now!

Yes, disasters didn’t discriminate against anyone and affected everyone equally, but wasn’t it still too cruel to force these kids to experience this event?!

Unfortunately, Jo Gyu-Min wasn’t given more time to think. The building material still dangling on the ceiling couldn’t withstand the latest round of rumbling and began falling down. Jo Gyu-Min urgently handed the little kid on his back to one of the older kids, then jumped on top of the younger ones to protect them from the debris.

He should be the one getting hit here. These kids would never survive if something struck them in the head, and they blacked out as a result.

“Urgh! Ouch!”

Blunt objects of varying sizes tumbled down on Jo Gyu-Min's back and head. Despite the barrage of pain, however, he still didn't lose consciousness. He knew blacking out now would mean death, after all. That sense of danger helped him hold on to his consciousness with superhuman strength.

His life wasn’t his alone. Not anymore, not in this situation. If he died, these kids would also most likely die, too!

Unfortunately, in the middle of all these…

‘What… the hell?!’

Jo Gyu-Min saw something that sank his heart deep into the pit of his stomach.

It… was coming! More and more water was closing in from the distance!

As if to completely fill the whole passageway, the water in the distance was creating a surging wave as it came closer and closer to his position.

‘We… will die!’

That one thought Jo Gyu-Min tried his damnedest to avoid thinking finally filled his head. And in the blink of an eye, too!

That water couldn’t be stopped. That thing, it…!

Once that wave reaches this space, it would instantly fill it up to the brim. And that would drown everyone here.

Just as the grim reality of death filled his mind, Jo Gyu-Min reflexively reached out. And someone… actually held his hand.

Jo Gyu-Min bit his lip, hard. His skin burst, drawing blood.

From regret to despair, many indescribable emotions washed over him at that very moment.

“Uwaaaaaaaah! Lee Hyeon-Su, you f*cking son of a…!”

KAAA-BOOOOOOM!

An explosion suddenly went off!

The moment the ear-shredding noise rocked the space, the whole world seemingly tumbled and flipped around. Before Jo Gyu-Min could figure out what happened, his body tumbled upside down and was thrown around repeatedly. It became almost impossible to get his bearings now.

‘Huh?’

However, Jo Gyu-Min still managed to sober up real quickly, thanks to something he thought he'd never see in this place.

“Light?”

Even as water rushed inside his mouth, Jo Gyu-Min still cried out at the top of his lungs.

“Light!”

There was light!

Only then did Jo Gyu-Min finally figure out what happened. There was a large hole in the wall, and the water was rapidly flooding out through it. People were getting washed outside along with the water, too.

Several men standing outside the wall were helping the drenched and dazed people to stand up and step out of the way to avoid getting injured.

‘We… We are saved!’

One thing was for certain… Jo Gyu-Min and the kids were safe now!

Jo Gyu-Min teared up at the sight of all the water filling up the space flooding outside.

“Dammit…!”

That must’ve served as a signal, as a different flood broke out all around him. And it was a flood of tears this time.

As the relief of knowing they were alive washed over, everyone broke down and began sobbing away.

‘What about the kids?’

Jo Gyu-Min urgently looked back. He needed to make sure the kids were alright! They could have gotten swept away in the middle of all this, after all!

“Jin-Seong! Where are you, Jin-Seong!”

“I'm here!" Han Jin-Seong replied loudly, his voice also heavily soaked in tears.

Jo Gyu-Min fully understood the boy’s sentiments, though.

“Jin-Seong, the kids… Let’s make sure that everyone is accounted for, okay? I know it’s tough right now, but we can’t relax just yet.”

“I know, Chief Jo. I’m doing the headcount right now.”

Jo Gyu-Min nodded slowly.

Not too long after that, Han Jin-Seong raised his voice. “Everyone's here, Chief Jo! And they are safe! They… they are… We are…”

Han Jin-Seong couldn't continue as he also broke down and sobbed. Jo Gyu-Min looked back at the boy and nodded slowly. By then, the water level had dropped below his knees.

Without even meaning to, Jo Gyu-Min plopped down on his butt. Not a single part of his body was fine. Relief flooding his senses robbed him of the last bits of strength propping his body up. All Jo Gyu-Min did then was just sit there and dazedly stare at the bright light pouring in through the large hole in the wall.

‘Light. Yes, that is light…’

Light held such a mysterious power to bring peace back into a man's frayed mind, now didn't it? If he could, Jo Gyu-Min wanted to stare at that light for the rest of his life.

‘...Mm?’

That was when Jo Gyu-Min finally noticed a silhouette of a person amidst the light. While the sunlight poured in from behind to create a sort of a halo, this person leisurely stepped inside.

Splash, splash…

This person waded past the water flooding outside to enter the passageway. The shadow of this person, who was a man by the way, grew larger as it loomed over Jo Gyu-Min. And when he stood right before the dazed man’s eyes…

Jo Gyu-Min’s jaw nearly fell.

“...Did you know I could clearly hear you on the outside?”

“…”

“So, I’m a f*cking son of a what now?”

“…”

“Get up, you little sh*t. Because you’re gonna learn I'm the son of what today!”

Jo Gyu-Min instinctively realized something while looking at Lee Hyeon-Su making a distorted face of an angry demon.

He realized his ordeal hadn't ended yet![1]

1. I almost TLed this line as “It was at this moment he knew… he f*cked up.” ?