March Novel (Completed) - Chapter 32

He had long given up on rational and kind explanations from Gi Taejeong, but this was too much. What was he going to use as packaging?

“Director, I’m sorry, but I don’t quite… understand what you’re saying….”

“Don’t you know what a bomb is?”

“No, it’s not that I don’t know what it is, but….”

Sehwa’s shoulders trembled. Only his own ragged breathing echoed in his ears. He felt like he was hyperventilating slightly, so he urgently covered his nose and mouth with his hands. It was hard to distinguish whether it was from pain or anger.

“A person can be ignorant. Why cry about it?”

“I’m not crying!”

Sehwa, who had been catching his breath, suddenly yelled. He swore, he hadn’t even teared up. He wasn’t in the mood to cry, and even if he were, he had poured out so much sweat from running to death because of a certain someone that he didn’t have any moisture left to cry with.

“I’m really not crying! I don’t cry like that every day, no…!”

Facing a life-or-death situation, courage welled up naturally. It was the first time he had yelled loudly in front of Gi Taejeong, but the situation wasn’t good. With every breath, he felt like a knife was piercing between his ribs, and Sehwa couldn’t finish his sentence, only gasping for air.

“Wow, with this face, you’re even yelling at me?”

Gi Taejeong teased Sehwa, saying that he would ruin his life by being so obsessed with handsome faces. Sehwa decided to just shut his mouth. This time, he really felt like crying. Annoyance surged, then a sudden wave of sorrow washed over him.

“…Yes, I’m sorry. Let’s just go.”

“Alright. I’ll explain. When I say bomb, what they have here is a Z2 series… meaning it’s not very powerful, just enough firepower to break a few doors in an emergency. And it’s usually this size.”

Gi Taejeong gestured with his hand to estimate the size. Just as he said, it was a size that would be full if he put the five syringes he brought inside. The Z2, or whatever it was called, was shaped like a round black ball inside a transparent plastic box, to put it simply.

“It looks like a toy you’d like.”

There was something similar among the doll packaging Gi Taejeong had sent him when he was away, but he didn’t think it was appropriate to compare cute doll packaging to a bomb. However, thinking what good would an argument do now, Sehwa nodded with a tired face.

“And the lock on the old Z2 case is reusable.”

Gi Taejeong said that bombs like the Z2, intended for escape, prioritize quick detonation, so they are usually thrown away whole as soon as the lock is disengaged. Since the case was never reused, new models coming out now no longer had the same locking mechanism.

“That’s why Lieutenant Kim’s maternal family strongly opposed it when the new model design was chosen.”

“Lieutenant Kim?”

“Yeah. Those bastards invested a lot in that shitty locking technology. Spouting nonsense like ‘eco-combat’ or whatever.”

Sehwa wondered what Gi Taejeong was getting at, listing the history of Z2, which he wasn’t curious about at all… It seemed this was what Gi Taejeong ultimately wanted to say.

“If you put it in a Z2 case, Kim Seokcheol won’t be able to do anything. It’ll be like disgracing the technology his maternal family invested in.”

“Then what about the bomb inside?…”

“We’ll detonate it and go.”

Gi Taejeong replied calmly, as if he was asking the obvious.

“Anyway, the moment you take the bomb out of the case, it explodes.”

“…It explodes? As soon as I take it out?”

“You’ll see later.”

“No, that’s not what I mean… Here… I thought you said Lieutenant Park needed to get a hologram of it being sealed within the hacking range….”

“Yeah.”

“But if the bomb explodes the moment we take it out… aren’t we in danger too?”

“I’ll throw it inside as the fire door comes down. It’s not that powerful for a bomb, so we should have enough time to escape.”

Gi Taejeong explained it as easily as describing how to boil ramen, saying that while the fire door, having swallowed the bomb, fought the flames, they would just open the door and leave, and it would all be over. He pretended not to notice Lee Sehwa’s face twisting attractively again. Work that involves physical action usually relies on instinct. He planned to throw the bomb when he felt it was about right. He had always done it that way, and how could he explain every single ingrained, natural sensation? That wasn’t what was important right now.

“The problem is that Kim Seokcheol seems to have changed the bomb’s storage location.”

He had removed all the makeshift booths that could serve as landmarks and dismantled the control room. It would be better if there was some intention behind this. Every strategy has a basis, so finding the hidden rules would lead to the answer.

However, Kim Seokcheol wasn’t the type to think that deeply. He probably sold off anything he could for cheap when he felt he lacked space to hide drugs, and just haphazardly stashed items that were too troublesome to dispose of, like the Z2, in some corner.

Gi Taejeong had found the drugs long ago. The moment he entered the shelter, he saw the suspicious sacks on the shelves and knew that was it. Since all these refills couldn’t possibly be drugs, he thought he’d secure the Z2 from the makeshift booth in the middle and then examine them slowly.

But the moment he moved to the next section, something suspicious immediately caught his eye. Just as he thought. Kim Seokcheol, that stupid, lazy bastard’s camouflage was so obvious it was noticeable even while running. Only some of the sacks had a stamp-like mark under the manufacturer’s name. It was definitely not a military format. Glancing at other shelves while running, he saw that only some sacks had that mark.

It seemed easier than expected. Gi Taejeong had told Lee Sehwa to practice moving his hands quickly in case it was hidden in a hard-to-reach place. It wouldn’t be too much for Lee Sehwa to extract the drugs from such large sacks. Even considering that Lee Sehwa might be nervous in an unfamiliar place. So now, they just needed to secure the Z2.

After that, Gi Taejeong moved leisurely. He searched for places where the Z2 might be, and if he sensed something suspicious from afar, he would go back and rescue Lee Sehwa. It was annoying, but not hard or difficult.

But… no matter how far he went, he saw nothing. Not even a makeshift booth, or even a panic room for waiting soldiers. The whereabouts of the Z2 were, of course, unknown.

Gi Taejeong leaned crookedly on one leg, looking at the scattered corpses. Behind them was complete darkness, due to the sealed entrance. Ominous red lights wildly adorned the ceiling.

He didn’t think they would sell off old models that couldn’t even be used in combat… Besides, the Z2 was a failed project that Kim Seokcheol’s family didn’t even dare to mention. Kim Seokcheol, who doted on his family’s words, wouldn’t have deliberately brought that item back into the world.

If he took the time to search, he would certainly find it, but there was no time for that. Even though it was a neglected facility, soldiers had been attacked. Naturally, a request for backup would have been sent.

“Oh?”

Lee Sehwa, who had been catching his breath while leaning on a shelf, suddenly tilted his head in confusion. He even seemed somewhat pleased.

“Is this a ssangpi?”

Gi Taejeong, who had been lost in thought about the Z2, snapped his head up.

“Ssangpi?”

“Yes. In Hwatu, there are a few cards that give you 2 points with just one card, and this is one of them. This looks like a chrysanthemum ssangpi. Ssangpi usually… looks flashier than regular chrysanthemums.”

Lee Sehwa marveled, saying he never expected to see this here. Gi Taejeong’s eyes narrowed. Chrysanthemum. Ssangpi….

“Haha….”

Gi Taejeong let out a hollow laugh, dumbfounded, and Lee Sehwa, startled, quickly shut his mouth. He seemed to be afraid he had blurted out something about Hwatu without thinking.

“No. You did well. You found it well.”

Yes. This too, was a rule, if you could call it that. Gi Taejeong should have looked at it from the perspective of a gambling and drug-addicted maniac, but he, a normal person who only knew how to drink and smoke, hadn’t thought of creating a code using Hwatu.

“You’re March, aren’t you?”

“Th-that’s right.”

Lee Sehwa replied awkwardly. He seemed to think Gi Taejeong was being mischievous again.

“Then what month is chrysanthemum?”

“Chrysanthemum? September.”

September. The beginning of autumn, the season when ‘harvest’ begins. Damn it. Gi Taejeong swallowed a curse and checked the numbers written on the shelf. This was 8-1. Then, if he went to section 9-2, he might find the item he wanted. No, it would definitely be there.

“Lee Sehwa.”

Lee Sehwa, who had been looking at the ssangpi engraved on the sacks, snapped his head up. His gaze was so intense that even Gi Taejeong, who had called his name, couldn’t immediately continue speaking.