Chapter 72
***
Rescue Chief Ko Min-gyu felt a throbbing headache coming on.
A massive accident had occurred out of nowhere.
A tunnel collapse.
With the number of survivors still unknown, there was not much he could do.
'Let's stay calm...'
To carry out the best possible rescue, they first needed to determine the exact locations of those requesting rescue.
Which vehicles had been moving, and how they had been buried.
Whether they were men or women.
Whether they were young or old.
He had to calculate all of that to determine the current locations of those requesting rescue.
'Some people have to be left behind...'
Rescue personnel, resources, and time were limited.
Saving living people was more important than saving corpses.
What if he made the wrong choice and ended up rescuing corpses instead of living people?
What if, as a result, even the living people became corpses?
The sudden action by Jo Man-seong was more than enough to make Ko Min-gyu's head feel as though it would burst, with all of that on his mind.
The one thing he could call fortunate was that they had rescued the people there.
'Thank goodness. Thank goodness.'
If things had gone wrong, not only he but Jo Man-seong might have had to step down.
But he could not be satisfied with this alone.
There were still quite a few people trapped inside that tunnel.
The slightest mistake could lead to a catastrophe.
That was what was making Rescue Chief Ko Min-gyu anxious.
'Damn... Damn... Damn...!!'
Suppressing his impatience, he glanced at his phone.
The broadcast he had started watching with his son—and continued watching himself—had not yet begun.
'If only Noah hyung would go live..!!'
Then they could have gotten help somehow, no matter how much money they had to pour into it.
How wonderful it would be if he did even a special broadcast at a time like this.
He bit his lips anxiously, wondering if he should contact the broadcasting station and at least find out Noah's phone number.
"Rescue Chief! Right now...!!"
"I told you not to come in...!"
That was when it happened.
The door to the rescue command tent opened.
The person who entered was his subordinate Jo Man-seong, who had ignored his orders, carried out rescue work, and rescued the father and son.
Before Ko Min-gyu could even get angry at him for entering on his own...
A young man followed Jo Man-seong inside.
It was a familiar face.
And.
At that moment, it was the face Ko Min-gyu was happier to see than anyone else's.
"Noah... hyung!!"
A young man thirty years younger than him.
But someone who more than deserved to be called hyung.
A fortune-teller who was right every single time, and who had prevented countless dangers.
Every time he watched the broadcast, he had wished that this person would officially join the National Fire Agency.
That person had come to this urgent scene.
"How did you get here!!?"
"It's nice to meet you, Rescue Chief Ko Min-gyu. Hmm... Since you're calling me hyung, you must be a viewer after all."
"Y-yes!! I watch it with my son... No, but hyung, you can speak informally."
Anyone else would have found it absurd, but what could they do?
This was a conversation between people who had become acquainted through a broadcast.
Neither Ko Min-gyu nor Kang Noah felt particularly uncomfortable speaking informally to each other.
"Yeah, well. But didn't you watch the last broadcast? Near the end, I said I was going to get involved here too."
"I was busy last time... Anyway, this isn't the time for that...!!"
"Right. Here."
Kang Noah held out a deck of cards, and Ko Min-gyu nervously turned over one card from it.
The Tower, upright.
Before he could even ask what it meant, Kang Noah turned his gaze to the tunnel plans on the table.
"Between Exits 5 and 6. There are three people in a hollow space there. They came to visit their grandmother. Rescue them quickly. If it takes too long, their grandmother will die too."
"Oh...."
"The man alone near Exit 3 is in a relatively spacious hollow, with food and water, so he's safe. You can take a little more time working there."
"....."
"Near the ventilation shaft at Exit 8. This place is a little dangerous. There's a man buried along with his vehicle. If you don't rescue him by tomorrow, he'll die. But don't worry. You can rescue him quickly with an excavator."
Kang Noah calmly examined the map and blueprints as he gave his instructions.
Ko Min-gyu made his plans without missing a single word.
His mind, which had been hazy as though shrouded in fog because he could not even grasp what to do, was clearing up.
"And..."
Kang Noah continued explaining calmly.
Using the blueprints and map, he was telling them where the survivors were and even what condition they were currently in.
Ko Min-gyu felt relieved.
He sensed that the horrific accident, which had been too terrible even to talk about, was turning into one in which everyone could survive.
***
It was a relief.
It was fortunate that Rescue Chief Ko Min-gyu was a viewer of my broadcast.
Otherwise, it would have taken quite a while to persuade him.
Thanks to that, we no longer had to waste time needlessly.
"Min-gyu. I'm merely someone who sees the future. The future I saw can be said to be the result of the efforts of you, the rescue workers following you, and the police controlling the scene."
"......"
"Normally, you fail. Your future is one where the places you painstakingly excavate contain no one, and where, even when you find someone, it is already too late."
So I changed that future.
There was no reason to leave it alone when it was such a tragic future.
"Hyung... Can I do it? Can we really do this?"
"You can."
Ko Min-gyu gave a small grin at my answer.
In that moment, the future changed.
It was no longer a future with only a single survivor.
Everyone else would die, the rescue chief would face public condemnation, and he would ultimately step down.
Instead, it became a future in which he was a great rescue chief who rescued everyone even in such a catastrophe.
"For now, I'll wait here until the rescue is over too. I'll call you if anything happens, so carry out your duties without worry."
The possibility that the future might change could not be ruled out.
So I would wait here and prepare for a future that might change.
Ko Min-gyu sprang to his feet and gave Jo Man-seong instructions.
"Gather the men right away. And..."
Ko Min-gyu looked at me.
"Hyung. I'll say that this was my decision."
I knew he was not saying this because he wanted to take the credit.
Things would have been easier if all the rescue workers knew about me, but that was not the case.
If he could not present scientific grounds for his decision, he had to assert his authority.
It was only natural that my being an outsider would weaken the force of that authority.
Even if Ko Min-gyu trusted me.
"Right."
"And... if this operation succeeds perfectly, I'll step forward myself and say that it ended safely thanks to you, hyung."
"I wasn't doing this to receive thanks."
I waved it off casually, but he did not seem to change his mind.
After we finished talking and I left the rescue command tent, I saw quite a crowd.
Police officers and reporters.
The relatives of the people trapped in that collapsed tunnel.
People from insurance companies.
I sat in a corner and watched the people, and my gaze fell on a man among the reporters who were shouting and arguing with the police controlling the scene.
He was a reporter who looked to be in his mid-to-late thirties.
"There is also a risk of another collapse! You cannot go in!"
"You said there are survivors!! Let us interview them just once!!"
Unlike the other reporters trying to get a scoop at any cost, he was focusing his camera on the busy paramedics and police officers.
Rather than creating chaos for the sake of a story, he wanted to convey the situation accurately to the public.
Unlike him, the reporters running wild and causing confusion made Cheolhon shake his head in disbelief.
"Seriously. Do they really want to act like that?"
"Exactly."
"Uh... But, Teacher? Why are you looking at that person like that?"
"Could I meet him for a moment?"
"What?! You want to meet a reporter, Teacher?"
There was no point in hiding it.
There were plenty of reporters who wanted to cover me, a superstar who drove both my fans and haters insane.
But I had never once given any of them an interview.
Because even when it was supposedly an interview, all they did was spout nonsense.
"Doesn't that person avoid spouting nonsense?"
"He does."
"Then why...?"
"Because it seemed like the right thing to do?"
I smiled, stood up, and headed for the car.
The cooler in the back seat of Cheolhon's car was packed with canned coffee.
Cheolhon had bought it because I drank canned coffee every time I rode in the car.
"Uh... C-could that really be Kang Noah?"
"Nice to meet you. I see you know who I am."
"Of course I do!! Ah, s-sorry for the late introduction. I'm Gu Yeon-ha of the Korea Daily."
The reporter in his mid-thirties, who had come over after being guided by Cheolhon, smiled brightly and held out his business card.
Gu Yeon-ha, senior reporter for the Korea Daily.
His eyes were shining.
"The fact that Mr. Kang Noah is here means... you came to help rescue the people?"
"Yes."
"Then? Then?! What will happen to them?"
"They'll all be safe... Well, perhaps not completely, since some will be injured. But they will be rescued. Their lives won't be in danger."
"Waaaah...!!"
He let out an exclamation.
"Let's not reveal this for now. It could cause even more confusion. Instead, I'll tell Rescue Chief Ko Min-gyu and have him give you an exclusive interview..."
"A-are you serious? Thank you!"
As I faced him in his delight, I held out a pack of cards.
"...What is this?"
"A card?"
After hesitating, he turned over a card.
What came out was a Yu-Gi-Oh! card: Dark Magician.
"...Uh, Mr. Kang Noah. Don't you usually use tarot cards, playing cards, or, failing that, hwatu?"
"I've been watching the Yu-Gi-Oh! anime lately. The viewers recommended it, so I'm watching it from the first season, and it's pretty fun."
So I had ordered some and kept them on hand.
It was only a ceremonial act to turn over a card anyway, so it was not particularly important.
"S-so? What happens to me? I happen to be investigating a case right now..."
He was brimming with anticipation.
Looking at his shining eyes, I told him about the future I had seen.
"Mr. Gu Yeon-ha."
"Yes! Yes!"
"You're investigating a tip that Taehyun Entertainment is connected to sex-for-favors. You should stop."
"....!!"
They have nothing to do with that matter. An operative group is merely using you, reporter.