Chapter 002: Death (1)
The raging fire had finally been extinguished.
The firefighters were now cleaning up the scene.
However, the rescue team captain's anger was burning even more fiercely than the flames had.
HEY!
CHOI HEE-SOO!
WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE, ACTING HOWEVER YOU PLEASE?!
DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW MANY PEOPLE ALMOST DIED BECAUSE OF YOU?!
Despite the captain's thunderous scolding, Choi Hee-soo refused to back down.
You expected me to turn around and come back when someone was dying in there?
Sir?
I couldn't do that! Sir!
That child would definitely have died if it weren't for me.
The only reason that kid survived is because I risked my life to go inside and rescue them!
You didn't even know the child was there, did you?
Shouldn't you be blaming yourselves for failing to search the building properly?
Sir?
In fact! When I went inside to carry out the rescue, you almost got in my way! Sir!
WHAT?! YOU LITTLE BASTARD...!
The captain immediately moved toward Hee-soo as though he were about to attack him.
The deputy captain quickly grabbed him.
Calm down!
ARGH!
Hee-soo's attitude left the captain speechless.
The young man refused to lose even a single argument.
The captain could only glare at him furiously, looking as though he wanted to kill him.
The deputy captain tried to calm him down.
Captain Hee-soo did rescue someone. And it's not like our team members were seriously injured.
HEY! YOU SON OF A...
The captain was about to start scolding Hee-soo again.
However, the deputy captain suddenly pointed behind him and stopped him.
Huh? L-look over there! The director is coming!
The director? You mean the director of the Seoul Disaster Response Headquarters?
Yes.
Why is that man here?
Why else? Because of Hee-soo.
A large group of reporters followed behind the director.
There were even more reporters than firefighters.
The director was smiling from ear to ear.
He soon approached Hee-soo and patted him on the shoulder.
OH! DIRECTOR CHOI! Ah, that's right. Here, you're Firefighter Choi Hee-soo! HAHAHA!
The director's smile grew even wider.
Hee-soo looked at him with mixed feelings.
Ah, damn it. What is this man planning to do now?
He wasn't happy about the situation.
However, when he noticed the reporters gathered behind the director, he realized that making an unpleasant expression would only cause problems.
He quickly forced himself to control his facial expression.
The director of the Seoul Disaster Response Headquarters then noticed Gu Seung-tae, the rescue team captain from Dobong Fire Station, who had been scolding Hee-soo.
His face lit up with a broad smile.
He approached Captain Gu and patted his shoulder.
Captain Gu! You've worked incredibly hard today! Thanks to your team arriving first and conducting such a thorough search, we were able to minimize the casualties!
The sudden praise caught Captain Gu completely off guard.
Th-thank you, sir.
Captain Gu lowered his head respectfully, although he wore a bitter expression.
Under normal circumstances, the director might have noticed his expression and asked what was wrong.
However, all his attention was focused on Hee-soo.
Goodness! Our firefighter Choi Hee-soo, the third-generation chaebol heir of Suseong Group!
Not only has he joined the rescue team to serve society, but he's also achieved such an incredible result!
Isn't this the perfect example of noblesse oblige?
I've been receiving reports about all your accomplishments!
Hee-soo desperately maintained his smile.
However, his irritation had already reached its limit.
It was obvious that the director was using him to improve his own political standing in front of the reporters.
He was equally disgusted by the media, which eagerly cooperated with the director's ambitions.
Ah, seriously! I'd rather deal with the rescue team captain who keeps yelling at me. I'm already exhausted...
Fortunately, the patience he had developed from growing up as a third-generation chaebol heir finally proved useful.
Hee-soo squeezed every bit of strength he had to maintain his smile.
N-not at all, sir.
The director immediately stood beside Hee-soo and wrapped an arm around his shoulders.
As though they had been waiting for this exact moment, the reporters began taking photographs.
Camera flashes went off continuously.
After enjoying more than enough attention, the director spoke with a satisfied expression.
Everyone saw it, didn't you?
You all witnessed Firefighter Choi Hee-soo safely rescuing a victim from those hellish flames!
The fire had spread so badly that it was almost impossible to control.
Yet Hee-soo had entered the third floor, which was suffering from the most intense flames.
He had gone inside and rescued someone.
And that person was a young child.
Just fifteen days earlier, when the news broke that Choi Hee-soo, the effective successor of Suseong Group, had joined a rescue team, everyone assumed it was nothing more than a publicity stunt.
The reporters had thought the same thing.
They wanted to see what kind of ridiculous performance Hee-soo would put on.
That was why they had immediately rushed to the scene after hearing that the rescue team from Dobong Fire Station, where Hee-soo worked, had been dispatched to a fire.
At the first-floor entrance, terrifying flames had been pouring out.
Even the fire suppression teams had struggled to control them.
Then Hee-soo emerged from the entrance.
He was carrying a rescued child wrapped securely in a fireproof blanket.
The entire scene looked like something straight out of a television drama.
No, it was even more dramatic than anything that could appear in a drama.
Every media outlet broadcast the scene around the world.
The director's grip on Hee-soo's shoulder tightened.
The camera flashes grew even more intense.
And maintaining the smile on Hee-soo's face became increasingly difficult.
Do you seriously think I'm doing this because I want to? Ah, this is so frustrating.
His memories drifted back to one month earlier.
Death arrives without any warning.
Have you ever thought about death?
You probably think of it as something abstract. After all, until now, even I considered death nothing more than a highly philosophical concept.
Looking at his own body sitting on the toilet with its head hanging down, Hee-soo realized that death was far more meaningless than he had imagined.
Choi Hee-soo.
A third-generation heir of Suseong Group, the largest chaebol in South Korea.
The third son of Choi Seung-wook, the current chairman of Suseong Group.
The youngest person to earn a doctorate from MIT.
And the director of the Development Division at Suseong Electronics.
Yet here he was.
To be precise, his physical body was sitting on the toilet with its heart no longer beating.
He was only twenty-nine years old.
Of course, death didn't have an age limit.
Still, even Hee-soo couldn't help thinking that twenty-nine was far too young to die.
But what was this strange sensation?
He was clearly looking at his own dead body sitting on the toilet.
He couldn't understand what his current existence was supposed to be.
Is this a near-death experience? No, that can't be right. My dead body is sitting right in front of me...
He looked at the watch on his wrist.
My heart stopped at least ten minutes ago. Doesn't that mean I'm actually experiencing the afterlife?
So the afterlife really exists? Damn it! If I could write a research paper about this, I might win the Nobel Prize in Physiology... Or would this fall under a different category?
Hee-soo began reviewing the events leading up to his death.
First, my chest felt incredibly tight. I thought I had indigestion. I had already gone to the bathroom this morning, but then I suddenly felt the urge to go again.
It wasn't difficult to understand.
When the human body senses that death is approaching, it reacts in ways that maximize its chances of survival.
One such reaction is trying to expel unnecessary substances from the body.
Even ordinary people knew that much.
Having studied medicine as well, there was no way Hee-soo wouldn't know about it.
It was also the reason people sometimes lost control of their bladder or bowels when facing extreme fear or death.
Suddenly, another question came to mind.
But how am I still thinking?
More importantly, my body is right in front of me. My heart has been stopped for over ten minutes. By now, my brain tissue should already have started breaking down.
Then what exactly is doing all this thinking?
Don't tell me...
Does the soul actually exist? Is there some separate channel independent of the physical body?
No, more importantly, what kind of coordinate system am I currently fixed in?
Just as his thoughts began growing more complicated, a voice suddenly interrupted him.
Are you really that curious?
Hee-soo jumped in surprise and quickly turned around.
A strangely shaped object was floating in front of him.
WHOA! What the hell is that?!
Hehehe. That? Young people these days certainly are arrogant. The being standing before you is what humans call an angel. I've seen plenty of people tremble in fear, but you're the first person to call me 'that.'
An... angel? You mean one of God's subordinates, like in Christianity?
First, you call me 'that,' and now I'm a subordinate? Hahaha. Well, call me whatever you like. It doesn't matter. I've come to offer you an opportunity.
An opportunity? What kind of opportunity?
An opportunity to live again.
Hee-soo couldn't believe his ears.
The fact that he could hear an angel speaking was strange enough.
But now this supposed angel was telling him that he could come back to life.
It was almost impossible to believe.
Y-you can actually give me something like that?
The approval has already been granted.
Huh? Approval?
Hee-soo couldn't understand what the angel meant.
Wait. Do angels work in some kind of company?
Hehehe. You could say it's somewhat similar. Although rather than a company, think of it as something closer to what you humans call the National Assembly.
Anyway, you said you've already received approval to bring me back to life...
Let's just say the decision was made because of certain internal circumstances and external evaluations.
Could you explain that in a way I can actually understand?
Well, there's no reason to hide it. We're currently carrying out major renovations in the other world. We never expected the human population to increase this much. We're expanding Hell, so we need to temporarily reduce the number of people arriving.
WHAT?!
Are you expanding Hell? And you didn't expect the population to increase?
1Isn't the one you serve supposed to be omnipotent? And what do you mean by space? What kind of renovations are you talking about?
Ah, He only created light in the beginning. We handle everything else. Also, many different kinds of spaces exist in the universe. Some are places that humans can never reach.
Didn't you say you received approval? Wasn't He the one who approved it?
To put it in human terms, the approval came from the Supreme Council. He doesn't interfere with the affairs of the world. He mainly focuses on fixing bugs.
Hmm. So bugs occur in the world too?
Of course. Everything has bugs.
Then I guess He isn't really omnipotent.
From a human perspective, He is. It's similar to how ants might view humans.
Ah, I think I understand what you mean. There are plenty of other things I'd like to ask, but those aren't important right now. Let's get to the point. Are you really going to bring me back to life?
That's right. However, there's one condition.
Hee-soo smiled sarcastically.
Of course there is. So, what do I have to do after coming back to life?
Am I supposed to spend the rest of my life proving that God exists?
You know, giving religious testimonies? Standing on a stage and crying in front of everyone?
That's entirely up to you. Neither He nor we have any interest in those things.
Oh. Really?
Yes.
The angel continued.
The condition is simple.
Every time you personally save someone's life, I'll extend your lifespan by one day.
That's the only condition.
Hee-soo didn't immediately understand.
What exactly does that mean?
Every time you save someone who is destined to die, your lifespan will increase by one day. To be precise, twenty-four hours. We calculate everything in exact hours, not days.
To avoid any arguments you might raise later, let's define it using Earth's rotation.
It's the time required for Earth to complete one rotation and for the Sun to return to the same position in the sky.
That's the standard you humans use, after all.
R-really?
Of course.
The angel paused before continuing.
There's also another option. I doubt you'll choose it, but I could send you straight to His side right now. In human terms, that would mean accepting death.
The angel looked directly at Hee-soo.
So, what will you choose?
To be continued.
