The Longest Dayz

Chapter 7: Jeon Yeongsu

Name: Jeon Yeongsu

Nationality: Korean

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Running out of the apartment, Yeongsu carried two young children who began coughing as they were reunited with clean air.

"Thank you so much! Thank you for saving my children!" The mother cried out as he handed her the two kids.

Yeongsu turned around and examined his apartment building. The smoke turned the nearby skies black. He felt so useless at that moment, because there was nothing he could do about it. As a firefighter, he never imagined his own apartment going up in flames. He wasn't even sure if everyone was out of the building. He couldn't go back in though because he didn't have the proper gear and the ceiling had caved in around the second doorway of the building.

Earlier when he had heard the fire alarm go off, he rushed to his neighbors across the hall and kicked in the door. He knew that his neighbors' kids were home alone. He had seen the babysitter leave with her boyfriend earlier when he had returned to his apartment from the convenience store. He knew his neighbor a little and knew she usually got home from work around 8:20 PM. The fire alarm had gone off around 8:10 So he knew the mother wasn't home when the fire had started. So Yeongsu had rushed out of his apartment with only his wallet and his fire department radio that was attached to his belt and proceeded to run across the all to kick in the neighbors door to grab the kids.

As he fled the building, he realized the fire had already consumed most of the apartment complex. Which was what concerned him the most. He tried to think of what could have caused the sudden fire, but couldn't come up with anything. What made it worse was that he couldn't even pinpoint where the fire had originally started. The fire had spread too quickly, so he couldn't tell if it had started on an upper floor or on a lower floor. This fire was nothing like any of the other fires he had dealt with before, even with the amount of experience he's had. It spread way too quickly to be a normal fire. "Was the apartment building that flawed? Or was it caused by some kind of crazy chemical I've never heard of?" He pondered.

Yeongsu silently watched the fire for a few more minutes before he turned away and started walking towards the train station. Lately he had been considering whether he should visit his parents in Seoul or not, just having the decision decided for him, he hailed a taxi and headed to the train station. He felt it kind of necessary to go. He was unsure of the feeling he has had lately, but he felt a need to get away from Busan, and now he didn't really have to think about it.

When he arrived at the train station it was 8:27 PM. He walked through the station heading towards the train. His footsteps echoed loudly with every step. The silence was making him feel unbearably uncomfortable. He looked around the station cautiously as he quickened his pace. Rapid footsteps approached Yeongsu from behind. He turned and looked over his shoulder as he walked to see what all the commotion was. His eyes met with another man's as the man ran towards him. The man's hair was a light pink color. He recognized him as one of the detectives that worked at the police station, though he looked a bit ghastly.

"Hanwoo?" He questioned. The police often worked closely with the fire department, so he was quite familiar with the police officers names and faces.

Hanwoo grabbed his arm without warning and pulled him along with him as he ran, disregarding how Yeongsu felt about it.

"Hey! What are you-!?" He started, but couldn't finish as Hanwoo quickly dragged him down the stairs of the station. He stumbled a few times as he struggled to keep up as he was dragged down the stairs. Hanwoo ran to the train and quickly got on it. The detective immediately closed the train door once they were on board.

Yeongsu breathed heavily, trying to regain the oxygen he lost from the sudden exercise. As he tried to catch his breath he turned to the person who had dragged him there.

"What the hell was that!?" He snapped at the detective.

Hanwoo was too occupied looking out the glass of the train door to acknowledge what Yeongsu had said. He examined Hanwoo's expression, which was stricken with fright.

"Why is he scared? As a detective he would see things regularly that other people would deem traumatizing. What could make him have that kind of expression?" Yeongsu wondered as he turned his attention to the door. He stiffened as a sickly green person ran head first into the door abruptly. Blood splattered across the glass door as the person sank to the ground. Their face was still on the glass as they sunk leaving a fresh trail of blood down the door. His eyes went wide at the sight, reaching out towards the door out of concern for the person. Hanwoo was quick as he rested his hand on Yeongsu's arm, stopping him. He looked up to Hanwoo as he shook his head at him.

"Shouldn't we help him?" Yeongsu asked the detective.

"There may not be a way to help." Hanwoo replied with a pained expression.

Yeongsu jumped as another loud thud drew his attention back to the door. People were throwing themselves into the door. They awkwardly, yet violently crashed into it, trying to get through. He took a step back from the door trying to grasp the situation. "What the hell is going on?" He mumbled...