105 – Escape
“I can walk alone! I have to go when called. What are my options?”
“…”
“So. I want you to let go of my arm… It hurts so much. You didn’t do anything wrong, but you don’t have to hold on tight like a criminal.”
To my left and right, there were some very scary-looking men holding my arms tightly.
Did you think I was going to run away?
I looked at myself in the mirror.
I am among the stern-looking uncles.
When other people see you, you’ll think you’re a person who has done some serious wrong in the army.
If you act like this, you can’t come out cooperatively. I’m already threatening you like this, I’m trying to use my strength first
Chairman from the Future Group. And I couldn’t imagine what would happen if I talked to Lee Jin-ah.
I wanted to run away.
Could there be other people besides me and the guys from Mirae Group come to the bathroom here?
Maybe if they see this, they can call the police?
Others.
Can someone help me?
I wondered, I looked toward the entrance.
-Plumbing work in progress! Please use the restroom on the other side!
So kindly, yellow screens were installed to block people from coming to this bathroom.
The bus terminal we are in was built a long time ago, so the toilets were cramped.
The window on the wall was only big enough for ventilation, so it wasn’t wide enough for me to squeeze through and escape.
I was confident in my physical strength because I also exercised, but everyone here seemed to have learned martial arts professionally.
If your ears look like dumplings, would you say you’re a wrestler?
During my school days, I never thought that I would be able to fight and win against people who were on a different level from bullies.
“Okay! So, are we going this way?”
“I washed my hands. I only washed with water and didn’t use soap.”
“..? Can’t we just go? We don’t have time. He told us to bring him quickly!”
“Ah- Hey, it’s just about washing your hands. It’s okay. It won’t disappear like some kind of wind, right?”
He grabs the soap hanging on the wall and begins to apply soap on his palms.
I thought while touching the soap until white foam overflowed my palms.
It’s coming.
I thought he wouldn’t come, but he did.
Why did you suddenly find me like this after being quiet for years?
Chairman…? Or is it Jinah? Who called me
Yesterday, before I left home, the image of Yoo-jung looking at me with a more affectionate gaze than usual suddenly came into my mind.
I wonder if Yoo-jung expected something like this to happen?
Wouldn’t those people come to the café where Yoo-jung works and threaten or threaten her?
All sorts of bad thoughts started running through my head.
Yoo-jung is young, so if something like this happens to her, she won’t be able to come to her senses-
“I think that’s enough washing? Why don’t you wash it moderately…? It’ll wear off.”
It is impossible to escape from here.
Although those people are waiting for me, I also found out that they are not very patient.
It seemed to them that it was quite frustrating for me to wash my hands while clumping like this.
Future Group Security Team. Beings like the president’s hands and feet. I’ve seen it a few times before.
“… Then let’s go. Well… I only bought one bus ticket.”
“I brought a car, so I can ride it.”
I got out of the bathroom and started walking somewhere.
People really didn’t pay any attention to it.
There are a lot of soldiers in combat uniforms here.
And the men around him hid like ghosts in the crowd, so people didn’t seem to know where I was being taken.
I saw a soldier sitting on that bench and having a boring time.
I was playing a game on my cell phone.
I was yawning like I was waiting for the bus, but most people were passing their time in this way at the terminal.
A person was half forcibly dragged out in front of him, but he didn’t pay any attention. Because it’s not your job
Shall we shout out loud?
Holding on to someone and yelling for help, or- you know what.
At the terminal, if you put your hands in your pockets, take off your beret, and spill crumbs all over the place while eating on the radio, the military police will come and catch you.
I don’t think going to a prison would be bad.
“Don’t be weird. Whatever you do, we’re in our hands in the end.”
“…”
As if all people’s thoughts were the same, the man who was walking next to me at a distance narrowed the distance and whispered in my ear.
Then, as if he had never done it before, he spread his distance and started following me again.
We skipped taking the bus and walked to a public parking lot near the terminal.
There was a black van in the parking lot.
There was a fence up to my waist outside, and there was a crossing over the fence.
Across the railroad crossing, there was a market used by people around here.
At that time, it was lunch time, so the shopping district was crowded with people, and there were many street vendors selling goods spread out on the street.
“Hey, get on quickly”
Surelyuk- As the van’s door was pushed to the side, the inside of the car came into view.
What will happen if I get in that car?
I remembered what happened in high school in the future.
Did Lee Jin-ah wake up again? Why..? Come now? Suddenly again- me…? How hard I was, how painful I was.
…Don’t appear in front of me again. I earnestly asked for it, but Lee Jin-ah did not listen to me.
“Hey, do you want to ride fast?”
…I never wanted to go back there again.
“I ride- I ride… But… When I go, it’s okay to have a cigarette even if I go, right?”
“..Cigarettes?…I don’t think I’ve heard of being a smoker.”
“I don’t know, but I smoked when I was in the army. So, if you have a cigarette, give me one.”
A cigarette and a lighter came out of a man’s pocket.
Then, as the light blue cigarette was pushed aside, a pure white cigarette appeared in front of me.
Smokers are a piece of sh*t, even in the military, I was an anti-smoker to the point of wandering around the smoking areas.
…Still, I wanted to buy time somehow.
I don’t want to get into that car.
The feeling of the first cigarette was quite hard. Soft tobacco leaves inside..?
I thought it wouldn’t be strong because it had stuff like that. Even if you bite with your teeth, it won’t cut or anything.
“…Fire”
The cigarette is burning……. You pin something like this? The taste of the first cigarette I smoked was quite strong.
From noble mtl dot com
I have a cough, tears, and a stuffy nose. Mr. Sangmu, you wear something like this every day. My head is also dizzy.
Unnecessarily, the weather was sunny, there was not a single cloud in the sky.
“Perfect weather for a drive”
Can I see this sky again?
What am I being dragged into?
What happened to Yoojung right now?
Butts. Her fingers were hot as the cigarette burned.
If you hold it like this, you’ll get burned.
…The 5.4.3.2… Number on the crosswalk signal was getting smaller and smaller.
“- Hey!”
I snapped my fingers and flicked the butt at a nearby man. When something hot touched my body, I reflexively distanced myself from it.
Let’s run away. I felt like I didn’t know what would happen to me if I was dragged away like this.
So let’s get out of here.
I bounced back quickly like a spring and pushed the man who was blocking my way to the ground.
If it was normal, I don’t think this would have worked, but I guess I was careless because I’ve followed obediently until now.
There is a saying in the military that carelessness is death. It is also eaten in society.
“..What is it? What is that bastard?”
-Chack!
I jumped over the parking lot fence that came up to my waist. After that, I started to run without hesitation through the crossing with the red light on.
Cars were moving, but when I suddenly jumped in- more than one car made a sudden stop while getting caught.
-Hey, what are you doing!
-Where do you put your eyes on!
-Hey, f*ck that, you have to catch it! If you don’t catch it, you’ll be in big trouble!
I heard a voice behind me.
I ran into the market.
I shove my hand around whatever was around me, shove it in—and more in, digging deep into the crowded marketplace.
With so many people, can’t I hide at least one of them?
“Hey..! There!”
Future Group Security Team.
I wonder if he joined the company just because he was good at playing Go-Stop, and those guys crossed the railroad crossing and gradually started narrowing the distance with me.
They followed me to the distance where I could reach them with an outstretched arm.
“-Please step out of the way..! I have a lot of luggage!”
At a nearby seafood store, I was passing through a busy market with a box full of fish on a tow truck.
I’m sorry. Mister
– No!
– Hey! What the f*ck are you doing!
I push the boxes stacked much higher than my height.
The market turned into a mess as the fish poured out of nowhere.
This is morally wrong. I was thinking to myself, but it was not a situation where I could care about such things.
Aiming at the moment when the market was crowded with fish all over the street, I entered a nearby clothing store and took shelter.
“…This, and. This, and again- this, please”
After picking up all the clothes or shoes that caught my eye, I put a few bills from my wallet and put them down.
“Where is the bathroom?”
“…Do you want to change clothes? It’s in the back… But our store has a changing room…”
I saw the dressing room. It was set up like a small phone booth, but to my eyes it looked like a coffin rather than a dressing room.
“Thank you”
-Change is…?
I didn’t have time to relax and take care of that.
I went to the bathroom at the back of the store and threw off the combat uniform I was wearing.
I quickly changed my clothes. What is the clothes It only takes 1 minute to change clothes.
When I went to the back of the bathroom, there was an alley leading to another store, so I walked towards it this time.
“Have you ever seen a soldier go in here?”
“…Soldier..? I went into the bathroom over there…”
…A familiar voice.
My heart began to tremble like crazy.
I thought I had widened my distance, but I never thought I’d catch up like this already.
Forcibly squeezes his body into the gap between buildings where only an adult male can enter.
All the clothes I bought were stained and dirty… But it was far better than being dragged in like this.
“Where did you go from here…?”
“I think I went there…?”
For now, it seems that we have passed a hurdle.
The future group’s security team has begun to leave.
… But where should I go…? Should I go back to the unit? Obviously, the military is a closed space.
I don’t think the future group security team will be able to get there either.
-Wooooong
I got a call from an unknown number.
“Hello”
“Uh, yes, are you Yuseon Kang? I’m a battalion commander of the 3rd battalion, so I’d like you to come to the base soon.”
Has my accident here been reported to the unit already?
But it was strange. It’s only been 5 minutes now, but in the meantime, the unit is reporting what I’ve been doing outside, and they’re trying to bring me to the unit..?
The Korean military I knew did not work so systematically and swiftly.
“…What is the reason? Is it related to Mirae Group…?”
“…”
I felt an awkward silence.
“..Reason..? Where is the soldier’s reason? They just say come quickly. That’s right”
“…I can’t go without a reason.”
This is my intuition, but I thought that if I returned to the base right now, I would be caught by the people of the future group.
…Then where should I go?