Chapter 92 : Chapter 92
Chapter 92: Illegal Awakening (4)
Yoo jin’s gaze sank deeply as he held Lee Chan-yeong, who had collapsed on the trash heap.
His pulse was weak, and his breathing continued as if it would cut off at any moment.
The scent of forbidden substances still emanated from the vial in his hand.
“Chan-yeong…!”
Ye-na rushed in and embraced Chan-yeong.
“Teacher, what do we do!”
Jin-ho raised his voice, and Tae-wook merely lowered his head while biting his lip.
Seong-hyeon, who was always full of playfulness, couldn't crack a smile right now either.
The children's voices circled the garbage dump and wrapped around Yoo jin's body.
Yoo jin, who was biting his lip tightly and furrowing his brow, barely spat out his words.
“We have to move him while he's still breathing.”
There was no time to go outside. Every second was precious, and Chan-yeong's body wouldn't last until they reached a hospital.
‘Just where do we…….’
Yoo jin's mind underwent a chemical reaction like fireworks exploding and spun rapidly.
Then.
Flash!
Yoo jin's eyes opened wide, and his rapidly spinning head calmed down.
As the answer came to mind, his feet moved naturally.
“Let’s go!”
“W… Where to!”
Without a moment to answer the children's question, Yoo jin’s steps, holding Chan-yeong, moved faster than ever before.
The children and Kei followed behind without a word of complaint.
After running out of the garbage dump like that for a few minutes.
Yoo jin's steps stopped.
No, to be exact, he changed direction and threw his body inside as if to break down the shop door.
Only then did the children and Kei, who were barely chasing Yoo jin from behind, realize why Yoo jin had been in such a hurry.
The shop Yoo jin entered carrying Chan-yeong.
It was the money laundering shop where they had met the woman and the three monsters.
***
Money Laundering Shop.
The woman and the three gangsters turned pale as soon as they saw the boy Yoo jin brought in.
“He drank an illegal drug! We need to administer first aid immediately!”
Yoo jin shouted as if he had entered an emergency room, but this wasn't a hospital.
It was just a gate where merchants of the Dark Store and people from the surface living peaceful lives made money legal.
However.
Yoo jin was not a fool.
And he was certainly not an idiot who came here thoughtlessly looking for a doctor.
“Since you deal with a lot of shady characters, you must know to some extent the items sold here!”
When Yoo jin shouted, the woman who had stiffened blankly quickly approached Yoo jin.
Yoo jin held up the vial Chan-yeong was holding to the woman.
The woman, who examined the vial closely while narrowing her eyes, had shaking pupils.
Then.
The woman, quickly hardening her expression, shouted toward her gangster younger brothers who were stiff as stones.
“Second! Go open the drug storage room immediately! And Third, quickly take this child to the safe!”
As the woman's voice rang out, the gangsters who were standing blankly began to move quickly.
“Follow me.”
The gangster who looked like the youngest guided Yoo jin and headed to the safe.
Discovering the children and Kei following behind, the woman pointed toward the safe, and the children and Kei moved their steps to the safe.
“Sister! I opened the drug storage room door!”
When the Second's voice rang from afar, the woman hurriedly headed there.
The drug storage room with its door wide open.
Next to it, storage rooms for most items sold in the Dark Store were lined up.
The woman went straight to the drug storage room quickly without even glancing at those places.
Passing the Second, whose build was as big as a mountain, before the woman's eyes.
Stimulants, stabilizers, illegal mana boosters.
Illegal antidotes.
Numerous types of illegal drugs were lined up.
Recalling the drug Yoo jin had shown her, the woman moved her eyeballs quickly.
And then.
Chuck!
She picked up one of the displayed vials and quickly moved to the safe.
***
In a large square room, several small square safes were placed.
And money and gold that couldn't be put in yet.
And numerous artifacts filled the safe room.
And in the center of such a safe.
A mat shining in gold was visible.
Lee Chan-yeong was lying on top of it.
“It's fortunate we still have this artifact.”
Golden Mat.
Only the color was dazzling; its appearance was the same shape as the general silver mats seen at the Han River or places where many people go for picnics.
However.
“It's a mat that has the effect of stabilizing mana and the body, even if just a little.”
At the woman's voice, the complexions of the children who followed behind brightened a little.
But, due to the voice that followed immediately after, that expression couldn't be maintained for long.
“It's merely an auxiliary tool to the end. Judging by the child's condition, this alone cannot stabilize him. So hurry.”
The woman brought the vial containing blue liquid she was holding to the child's mouth.
Then Kei reflexively opened his mouth.
“B, but isn't this also an illegal drug? Does it have side effects, or is it really an antidote in the first place?”
“What? Are you doubting me right now?”
“No, it's not like that, I'm just asking just in case. There's no way you guys would help without any reason.”
“Then what are we supposed to do.”
The gazes of Kei and the woman clashed in mid-air.
It seemed as if invisible sparks were flying between the meeting gazes.
At that moment.
“Stop.”
At the low-ringing voice, the glaring eyes moved.
“We don't have time to argue about that right now. I understand your words too, but. There's no way she would give strange medicine while I'm obviously here. Right?”
He was speaking softly, but the woman, overwhelmed by Yoo jin's atmosphere, swallowed dry saliva.
“O… Of course. And since I found out who you are. There's no human who would play with a child's life.”
“Earlier you tried to take out a brat with a poison needle, so what are you…….”
“You, that snout.”
“Hap. I'm sorry…….”
Kei lowered his head avoiding Yoo jin's gaze.
The woman, who had a dark expression, steadied her gaze and looked at Yoo jin.
“I said it earlier too, but I apologize for that matter. Since a young child wandering around here isn't common….”
“It's done.”
“Yes?”
“I said there's no need to apologize twice. That's not what's important right now. Hurry up and save my student.”
“Yes…….”
The woman slowly turned her body and approached the lying Chan-yeong.
He is a fascinating person.
Rather, she thought the behavior of that man named Kei was more correct right now.
This place is a lawless zone.
The Underground Dark Store.
A place where no one should be trusted.
And a place where the one who trusts first loses.
In the first place, she could have held the antidote hostage, demanded a large sum of money, or if she had just a little bad intent, she could have substituted it with another drug to make that great power her own.
However.
‘I saved you.’
Even in this gutter, she knows one thing.
No, because she is in the gutter, she knows.
That he could have really killed her, but he saved her.
That she shouldn't do something like that to an opponent who gave her a chance.
The woman opened the vial.
A proper antidote not easy to obtain.
A precious medicine that would cost tens of millions of won in price.
However, its value was not important.
There was the reason that he was a person who gave her a chance to live, but.
Because she couldn't forget the eyes of the man who came in holding the child.
A Returnee with the alias Demon King.
No, the eyes of the man who came in holding the child with trembling hands were.
Eyes of a teacher.
That didn't exist anywhere else in the world.
The woman injected the medicine into Chan-yeong's mouth.
***
Thirty minutes later.
“It seems he has passed the critical point for now.”
The woman said, exhaling smoke from a pipe that looked old.
Relief that the urgency was over was placed on top of the smoke the woman exhaled.
At the woman's voice, smiles spread across the faces of the children who were waiting anxiously.
The gangsters waiting in the back also high-fived and rejoiced.
“Why are you guys happy. Well… Still, it's a relief he didn't die.”
Kei shook his head looking at the gangsters, then soon spat out words gruffly.
While wearing a small smile on his lips.
The medicine worked well.
And once Chan-yeong passed the critical point.
Only then did a small exhale burst out from Yoo jin's mouth.
And then.
“You were useful. Thanks.”
He expressed gratitude toward the woman.
The woman couldn't manage her expression because that appearance didn't suit the alias Demon King at all, but soon smiled small and nodded her head.
When she saw him on Nutube and broadcasts.
She thought 'Teacher' was a concept.
A Returnee.
Why would he be a teacher when he has such power?
Perhaps for his image.
Or she thought he was using being a teacher to hide something.
Like a celebrity.
Like the wicked Hunters who come here with only a good image.
‘He's just a teacher.’
One that exists everywhere.
And one that exists nowhere.
Such a teacher.
The woman bowed her head slightly to greet Yoo jin and brought the pipe to her mouth again.
A small silence followed after that.
A silence of a different meaning where the heavy atmosphere had half disappeared.
While the silence flowed like that.
“Ugh…….”
A voice began to flow from the mouth of the lying Chan-yeong.
The children's gazes gathered.
Yoo jin, who had been standing tall, quickly lowered his posture next to Chan-yeong.
“Are you okay?”
“Tea… Teacher…….”
“Yeah, okay. Don't speak for now. The medicine's effect must still be circulating.”
“I was wrong…… I was wrong…….”
Yoo jin's pupils shook and then sank calmly.
Without asking or questioning why his teacher was in the Dark Store.
Not excuses.
Not reasons.
But an apology and crying burst out first.
He shouldn't even be in his right mind yet.
How much must it have hurt.
How hard must it have been.
How painful must it have been alone.
That small child's heart was felt as is, so Yoo jin's eyebrows drew a diagonal line.
“Please, just me…… My parents are innocent…… Please let only me be punished. Only me… Please…….”
“…….”
As Yoo jin couldn't spit out any words due to the boiling emotions, Tae-wook and Jin-ho opened their mouths instead.
“Hey, what happened to you?”
“Why on earth did you take such medicine?”
“…….”
At the children's questions, Chan-yeong, who turned his head slightly to capture the children in his eyes, slowly closed his eyes.
The woman watching that appearance added a word.
“Don't ask too many questions. The poison hasn't fully left yet. His mind won't be sound either. First, let's go out and get treatm…….”
At that moment, Chan-yeong cut off the woman's words and opened his mouth with difficulty.
“There's something I must say…… Those guys…… If not today, we can't catch them…… Today… Must…….”
The atmosphere in the room sank.
Chan-yeong's eyes headed toward Yoo jin.
And
From Chan-yeong's mouth, the story up until now flowed out.