March Novel (Completed) - Chapter 88

Sehwa’s well-defined brow twitched violently. Gi Taejeong’s face, as he parted his lips as if to speak, was still beautiful, and thus, painful. Even in this moment, the man’s picturesque beauty seemed to mock Sehwa, who had foolishly coveted him.

Sehwa turned away without hesitation. He ran forward as if without any lingering attachment, pushed open the heavy office door, and then closed his eyes, holding his breath for a moment.

He vaguely imagined armed soldiers pointing their guns at him. He thought Gi Taejeong, who had walked up behind him with heavy steps, might grab him by the hair at any moment and furiously ask where he dared to shove such a crude object at him.

However, to his embarrassment, when he cautiously opened his eyes, the hallway was empty. Sehwa walked hunched over to the emergency exit stairs. He was trembling so badly that he would have fallen several times if he hadn’t leaned against the wall.

With hands convulsing as if in a fit, he barely managed to open the fuse box cover and recklessly tore out the tangled wires. It was only then that he realized simply turning off the power would have been enough. There was no need for such dangerous measures, but he was somehow dazed and found it difficult to think clearly.

Thump. With a sound like breaking glass, darkness settled heavily, and low, murmuring voices could be heard from various directions. A shiver ran down his spine. Soldiers were gathered nearby, waiting for Gi Taejeong’s command to fall.

“…Calm down, be calm.”

If he didn’t pull himself together now, it would all be over. Sehwa, continually coaxing his dazed self, tore open the communication box. He turned off the device button and threw his wristwatch behind it. He had thought of perhaps giving it to a fence and getting some money out of it, just in case… but it seemed too dangerous an item for that.

Sehwa hunched his body and descended the winding, narrow iron stairs. It was a shortcut opened for the players and hired hands, allowing them to move without being seen by customers.

His stomach churned from the musty dust and grease smell, but being caught by Gi Taejeong was far more terrifying.

Damaging the electrical wires and communication facilities on each floor, Sehwa painstakingly descended to the basement. He had thought it was nothing, but he was completely exhausted, and by the time he reached the end, he didn’t even have the energy to open the cover and turn off the power.

“Ah… ugh…”

Sehwa, unable to overcome the sudden rush of dizziness, leaned against the wall, gasping for breath. It felt as if someone was poking his stomach with each ragged gasp. He couldn’t bleed now… he had to appear normal in front of the fence and the smuggler until he reached Zone 2…

“…I’m sorry, please just hold on a little longer…”

Swallowing hard, he suppressed the rising nausea and rubbed his nose and mouth with the back of his hand as if crushing them. In his other hand, he still clutched the syringe.

“Just a little…”

Beyond the thin partition, the murmuring voices of people wondering what was going on scattered like a mirage.

The customers’ demands to bring the boss immediately, the pleas of some young players who said the house situation was driving them crazy, the sound of equipment breaking…

The piles of boxes in the path to the convenience store were too numerous, and sometimes too heavy for Sehwa to move alone. Still, he somehow cleared them, making his way to the meeting spot with the fence.

He squeezed his body through a narrow gap, wriggling like a bug, and finally emerged, catching a blurry glimpse of the convenience store ceiling. As instructed, several flashlights were on, so all he had to do was follow the hazy light.

It was then that the reality of what he had done truly hit him. Gi Taejeong’s face, smiling coldly as if telling him not to get caught, and his low voice, flickered before his eyes. A shiver ran down his spine.

So what would happen now…? His only remaining card was Oh Seonran. Whether he feared him or had something to gain from him… whatever it was, Sehwa hoped the fence would safely send him to Zone 2, even if only out of consideration for Oh Seonran.

Sehwa gazed at the box full of trick hanafuda cards. He had sharply told Oh Seonran that he no longer trusted anyone, yet he was now in a situation where he couldn’t even leave the house building without relying on someone else.

Some people gamble and are called gamblers or dealers, but why was he only called a player who cheats in the house…? It was a problem from the start that he, unsuited for such philosophical musings, had bothered to think about it when he should have just gone to sleep after finishing his work.

He felt unjustly treated by it and thought he should move into the light. And if he was determined to live outside the house, he should completely quit dirty work and live honorably… He began to harbor such vain dreams, even though he was barely able to pay next month’s interest.

The only card without drawings of people or animals, a mediocre hanafuda card shrouded in suspicious blackness. It was only March, yet…

“…Ugh…”

Clutching his trembling knees, Sehwa almost crawled forward. If he was too tired, he would stop for a moment, rummage through his bag to check if the badge was there, and then move forward again.

“I… won’t let you… live like this. I’d rather die…”

Unable to endure the various emotions that kept surging up, Sehwa muttered to himself without realizing it.

“I’m sorry… but honestly, I’m leaning heavily towards ending things… Living like this is just too shabby.”

Sehwa apologized to the baby in his belly repeatedly.

Every time he went for a check-up, the doctor said the baby’s facial contours were becoming clearer. To Sehwa, it still looked like a gummy bear, but anyway, they said that tiny, finger-sized thing had eyes, ears, everything.

So it must be listening. To all this noisy commotion outside.

“…You’re scared too, aren’t you?”

Once the floodgates opened, he kept muttering incessantly. And…

“If it weren’t for this… even if I was surprised, I would have eventually liked you.”

Surprisingly, the more he talked to the baby, the more his tension gradually subsided. Perhaps it was because he realized he wasn’t alone; he felt a little less lonely.

“My child, family… I had never imagined such things…”

Cupping his flat lower abdomen as if supporting it, Sehwa cautiously stepped forward.

After saying repeatedly that he planned to get rid of it. After never having spoken kindly to it. Shamelessly, he leaned a piece of his worn-out heart on Gi Taejeong’s bloodline…

“…Anyway, I will absolutely never let you live like me. It might be better not to be born than to live like this…”

He whispered, his dry lips barely moving, his voice hissing out like deflating air.

He’d rather die than live so painfully. He would protect it so that no one could use it as a tool.

“…Ah.”

Damn it. Gi Taejeong dropped the hand covering his eyes. He rarely slept while drugged, so he felt terrible. Even with his eyes closed, his five senses, raging wildly, felt vivid. Sehwa’s trembling fingertips caressing his face, and the sound of his footsteps as he left the room. All so clear.

The view outside the window hadn’t changed much from before. It was just reddish and black. Unable to gauge the time, Gi Taejeong finally got up and went to the window.

Outside, people were bustling as usual today. Rumors that the boss wasn’t doing his job properly must have already spread… And since military vehicles were even deployed today, one might expect them to take a day off. But the pathetic fools addicted to gambling and drugs were pushing their way in, as if it were none of their business.

Seeing that there were no addicts sprawled in the alley, it seemed they had just started business… so it must be a little before 8.

He took out his phone from his pocket, but only a notification for a weak signal appeared. He suspected this was also Sehwa’s doing.

Though he had acted docilely all along, he wasn’t without a stubborn streak. It was like when he abruptly asked if Gi Taejeong wanted to make a bet, or when he demonstrated selling drugs… Gi Taejeong should not have overlooked his unpredictable personality.

Gi Taejeong clicked his tongue and was about to press the emergency call button on his phone when he flinched at a sudden message screen and froze for a moment.

「Brigadier General, have you eaten yet? You must be very busy.」

“…”

It was Sehwa’s last message, full of misspellings.

He rarely used his phone, as he could handle most things with just his watch. Recently, however, he had been using it to exchange messages with Sehwa, and the smart device had automatically activated frequently used features.

「Big problem, all the apples are gone.」

「Brigadier General, Sergeant Choi brought pudding. It tastes so strange.」

「Brigadier General, they said it was your errand, is it true??」

「Thank you. It’s very delicious.」

「I left one for you. Eat it when you come home. Meat.」

「It was ‘definitely’, but I wrote it wrong. I’m not a chicken. And I don’t want meat.」

「Chicken」

「You’re busy, aren’t you? I’m at the hospital and a little bored.」

Sehwa sent messages several times a day, either from Sergeant Choi’s phone or the tablet left at the official residence. When Gi Taejeong belatedly sent curt, one-word replies, Sehwa would immediately pour out trivial stories without any delay. In those honest messages, unable to hide his excitement, Gi Taejeong sometimes felt a heartwarming emotion he had never experienced in his life.

Gi Taejeong gazed at the clumsy, crooked messages on the screen, then, as if erasing his thoughts, returned to the home screen and pressed the emergency call button. Notifications would go out to all registered adjutants, including Lieutenant Park.

“Ha…”

It was still absurd to think about. A strange sound, neither a sigh nor a wry laugh, kept escaping him.

He didn’t not understand Sehwa’s despair and anger. He had lightly deceived and equivocated with him several times. But…

He still couldn’t believe that Sehwa had urged him to take that drug, as if it didn’t matter if he died or was in a similar state. Sehwa’s resolute voice, saying he’d rather die by Lieutenant Kim’s hand, kept churning Gi Taejeong’s stomach.

“Brigadier General?”

Gi Taejeong slapped his chest hard with his palm. The drug must have been strong; a dizzying, tingling sensation still lingered deeply inside him. Whether it was the drug’s effect or something else…

“Is something wrong? The emergency call came through…”

Lieutenant Park and Sergeant Choi rushed in, breathless. Judging by the orderly sound of military boots outside, the others seemed to be on standby.

“We were wondering what was going on, since you suddenly told us to move and the lights went out for a moment. Nothing serious, right? Sehwa is…”

“The communication lines?”

“Ah, they’re all cut. But we have the watches, so…”

Lieutenant Park, who was about to say there was no big problem, awkwardly closed his mouth. He had belatedly noticed Gi Taejeong’s empty wrist. While an item equivalent to an ID and lifeline for a high-ranking officer was missing, his superior had made an emergency call on his phone and specifically checked the communication status, as if completely unaware of the commotion that had occurred.

Sergeant Choi’s eyes also wavered uneasily. Sehwa’s absence, felt nowhere, and the abruptly cut electrical circuits somehow intertwined like obvious omens of tragedy.

“The lights went out too? So there’s backup power? Ah… right, if something like this happened during a game, the customers wouldn’t stand for it, so they must have prepared for it.”

Gi Taejeong stroked his chin and mumbled.

“First, apprehend that fence. And block all international entry and exit routes, focusing on ports where illegal immigration is possible. Checkpoints and ports too.”

“…Yes?”

“There’s a high probability he hid in a cargo ship, not a passenger ship, so strengthen inspections there, and for any area with people coming and going, bring all records from about 2 hours before now.”

Lieutenant Park and Sergeant Choi’s eyes widened in disbelief. It was clear who “he” was likely to have hidden, but it was difficult to accept.

“Brigadier General, surely…”

“Check Oh Seonran’s communication network too. If there were attempts to bypass or jam signals, just knowing the date and time is enough to predict the situation. And…”

Gi Taejeong pressed his thumb and middle finger against his forehead and temples, choosing his words carefully for a moment. Although he was giving instructions lightly as if it were nothing, he was in fact not rational at all. He even felt relieved that he couldn’t catch Sehwa right now. If he faced him now…

“…Anyway, the places Sehwa can go are limited. To go up, he’ll definitely need someone’s help, and that’s bound to be noticeable.”

Since he had contacted Oh Seonran at the Ministry of National Defense building, there was a possibility he had moved to a higher zone with his help. Still, Gi Taejeong didn’t put much weight on this.

The higher the rank, the tighter the security. No matter who Oh Seonran was, he couldn’t remove all the CCTVs attached to every block just to hide one Sehwa. Sehwa wouldn’t be unaware of this either.

Above all, given Sehwa’s personality, he would likely have refused to go to the center of the city, where he couldn’t even go out without Oh Seonran’s help. He was someone who hated being indebted so much that he found it difficult to say what he wanted to eat even after getting pregnant. Moreover, in a situation where he couldn’t be sure of Oh Seonran’s goodwill, he wouldn’t have tried to entrust everything to him.

Then it had to be a place where Sehwa could at least secretly do manual labor and earn some pocket money. After eliminating a few possibilities, the scope quickly narrowed. A place where surveillance was lax, and Sehwa knew every nook and cranny.

“Because of the Zone 2 incident, he can’t even go to Zone 1, so there’s a high possibility he’s in Zone 3 or Zone 2…”

Gi Taejeong gripped the backrest of the sofa tightly. The cheap leather seat crumpled and twisted in his grasp until it tore.

“He probably went to a more familiar place.”

“Then should we send people to Zone 2 immediately?”

“…No. Drive him slowly.”

He shook his hand, and black leather fragments scattered in the air. Gi Taejeong gazed at the ash-like particles.

“When he feels safe and lets his guard down, thinking it’s okay now. That’s when we’ll catch him.”

That way, he’ll never again do such a wicked thing as holding Gi Taejeong’s life in his hands.