Chapter 75: Ready, Action! (1)
Han-Yeol slowly introduced himself to the Egyptian beauty in English. “Hello, my name is Han-Yeol, Han-Yeol.”
He slowly emphasized his name syllable by syllable.
Han-Yeol chose to introduce himself to her since they were already sort of acquainted with each other, even though they had a hard time communicating.
[Tayarana, my name is Tayarana,] said the Horus Warrior whose stiff expression gradually softened. She also repeated her name slowly so that Han-Yeol could understand her.
“Ah, Tayarana, Tayarana,” Han-Yeol proceeded to repeat her name.
The woman confirmed her name with a nod.
‘She’s pretty,’ Han-Yeol thought as he looked at Tayarana, who was slightly smiling.
The goddess of beauty was seemingly following Han-Yeol around and blessing him, since every single woman that he came across was very beautiful. His eyes were very happy at what greeted them.
‘Although it’s a shame that we can’t communicate with each other...’?Han-Yeol grumbled inwardly in disappointment.
However, Han-Yeol would not have understood her even if she spoke in English, since Han-Yeol’s English proficiency was that of a seventh grader.
Order was restored when the team sent by the Hunter’s Association and the rest of the fire department finally arrived at the scene. However, Han-Yeol did not immediately leave the scene just because the terrorists had been eliminated. Addressing the captain of the fire brigade, he said, “I will also help with the rescue efforts.”
“Are you sure about that?” the captain asked Han-Yeol in surprise.
The terrorists might have been subdued and neutralized, and the emergency responders were already rushing to the collapsed building, which had been destroyed by the terrorists and the earthquake, to rescue the survivors... But the entire rescue operation was very frustrating.
The earthquake that had shaken the city was at a magnitude of 6.5 according to the Department of Meteorology and Weather, and such a magnitude could be regarded as a strong one for the Korean Peninsula.
The already difficult and frustrating rescue efforts were further made difficult by the accidents occurring all over Seoul. After all, the emergency response personnel were already shorthanded.
Seoul would usually ask for assistance from Gyeonggi-do or the other nearby regions during such a crisis, but it was difficult for the other regions to provide additional manpower since the earthquake that had occurred affected the entire nation.
Asking the Hunters for assistance would have been the best decision in such a situation, but the arrogant and selfish Hunters did not sell their services for cheap. As a result, the government found it burdensome to forcefully deploy the Hunters for these kinds of rescue operations.
The chief of the fire department had repeatedly called upon the government to create an emergency procedure manual to mobilize Hunters in case of a national emergency, but the government did not prepare such contingency plans. In turn, they only raised the fire department's budget by a small margin as a symbolic token, and they cited the lack of budget for their inability to draft a plan and deploy the Hunters.
“W-We do appreciate your help, Hunter-nim... but...” the captain said as his voice trailed off.
“It is an emergency, and I am not doing this purely out of goodwill. I am currently filming for my channel, so please do not try and stop me,” Han-Yeol further explained.
“Oh... I see...” the fire captain was left speechless.
Vroooom...!
A drone equipped with a camera had already been deployed by Han-Yeol’s production crew, and the women-only production crew were gathered behind Han-Yeol armed with their high-tech camera equipment.
Han-Yeol went to his car and retrieved a new shirt. He changed into a fresh shirt before placing the action camera back on his shoulder.
“T-Then we will be in your care,” the fire captain said to Han-Yeol.
“Yes, I will be in your care as well,” Han-Yeol said.
That was how Han-Yeol ended up joining the rescue operation.
“Tsk, what difference will one Hunter make in this operation?” a young fireman said disdainfully.
“It should help a little bit,” another fireman said.
“What can a non-professional do? He doesn’t even know what he’s doing,” the young fireman said. He continued to complain, “Just look at those cameras! He’s just pretending to help for now, but I bet you that he is just going to disappear and hide when we need him to actually do some work.”
The veteran firefighters were very grateful for Han-Yeol's offer to aid them in the rescue operation. However, the newly recruited firefighters were not too happy about him offering his help because of their deeply rooted antipathy towards the Hunters.
This type of antipathy towards the Hunters was not only present in the young firefighters,?but it could also be seen in various parts of society. The civilians’ hatred toward the Hunters deepened as the Hunters started to grow further apart from them.
The younger generation could not do anything directly against the Hunters due to the now-existing social difference between them, but they utilized social media to still express their hatred toward the Hunters.
“Hey, even that Hunter, who’s not even a firefighter, is willing to help. Move your asses, you lazy youngsters,” a senior firefighter reprimanded the younger firefighters.
“Yes, sir...” the young firefighters replied.
After getting scolded, the young firefighters turned around and clicked their tongues behind their senior.
“Tsk, they can't even clean up their own mess,” the senior firefighter said. He was worried about the future of the country’s firefighters.
“Heave, Ho.” The firefighters struggled as they removed the rubble with their hands.
It was very difficult and risky to deploy heavy machinery to a collapsed building as even the slightest mistake could risk the lives of the people trapped underneath the rubble. That was why the firefighters had to manually go through the wreckage as much as they possibly could.
The higher-ups continued to push the firefighters to hurry up with the rescue efforts, but the firefighters could not carelessly speed up their work and jeopardize the trapped survivors under the rubble.
“Why, what’s wrong?” the captain asked the firefighters when he saw them standing around. Approaching a spot where quite a significant amount of rubble was collapsed on, he found a dozen firefighters struggling to remove a large debris.
“Sir, this debris is holding this place up, but it is not stable. We will have to carefully move this debris slightly. However, it is too heavy to move with manpower alone. It is also not an option to deploy heavy machinery here,” one of the senior firefighters said, making the report to the captain.
“Ughh...?Then what should we do?” the captain asked.
Just as the captain frowned while racking his brains to think of a feasible method, Han-Yeol suddenly walked up to him and volunteered. He said, “I will do it.”
“Ah, Hunter-nim, are you saying that you will personally give us a hand?” the captain said with a hint of surprise in his voice. He also thought that Han-Yeol was only going to pretend to help and be busy showing off when he first mentioned the cameras, so he was very delighted to hear Han-Yeol volunteer to help from the beginning.
“Yes, I reckon that this is the time for me to step in,” Han-Yeol said confidently.
“I’m ashamed to admit it, but I’m indebted to you,” the captain said.
What mattered more to the captain, a veteran firefighter, was to rescue the survivors than his own pride. He wanted to save at least one more life, and that was more important to him than worrying about lowering his head to someone else in these kinds of situations.
‘Demon’s?Eye,’ Han-Yeol used his skill.
Woooong...!
When noticing that Han-Yeol’s eyes had turned red, the captain was surprised. ‘Huk!’
Then, Han-Yeol raised his right hand and thought, ‘Psychokinesis.’
It had been a while since Han-Yeol utilized this skill, which allowed him to move objects remotely with his mana. This was actually a skill he occasionally used only when he was at home and could not be bothered to get the remote while sitting on the sofa. He never imagined that this skill was going to be so helpful in an emergency rescue situation like this.
Creak... Creak... Creak...?
The wreckage, which did not budge an inch even with a dozen firefighters exerting their full strength against it, moved with Han-Yeol’s casual hand gesture.
‘H-How could this be?’?the captain was shocked by the sight.
“What should I do with this?” Han-Yeol asked the captain.
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login