Chapter 19: The Fire and the Journey

“I, I, I’ll study h-harder, so…”

‘Yeosu.’

Cheche looked at Yeosu, whose breath was coming in ragged gasps from excitement, with firm eyes.
Hiccup, Yeosu, hiccupping, looked at her mother, who placed a hand on her shoulder.

‘You have to throw away the books now.’

Yeosu’s eyes widened.
Cheche, without adding any explanation, threw the book in Yeosu’s hand into the brazier.

“Mom…?”

‘I have to try everything. For now, there’s no choice. Somehow… a way to get out unnoticed…’

Cheche mumbled, not giving her a chance to read her lips.
All the books in Yeosu’s bag were put into the brazier and burned to black ashes.

Tears welled up in Yeosu’s eyes, having lost her fairy tale books in an instant.
It wasn’t that she was sad about not being able to read those books.
She was afraid that the time she spent reading fairy tales to her mother before going to sleep would never come back.

Cheche, after confirming that the letters of the books were distorted, stood up from her seat.

‘Let’s go.’

Cheche forcefully grabbed and pulled Yeosu, who stubbornly refused to give her hand.
A short sigh.
But as if determined, Cheche lifted the entrance tent.

Her eyes met with someone she never expected to encounter, and Cheche involuntarily recoiled.
Researcher 38 looked alternately at the bag Cheche was carrying and at Yeosu, then frowned intensely.

“Do you want to get shot and die?”

Even if the unexpected encounter was set aside, his blunt words stung Cheche’s heart.
The guards had guns.
This meant that if their escape failed, there was a high possibility of losing their lives.

Pushing past her, who was frozen like a stone, Researcher 38 shamelessly trudged into the shelter.

Crackling, crackling, the sound of paper burning.
Researcher 38 glanced at the books losing their shape and crumbling, then gave a bitter smile.

‘I see. So you taught barbaric languages too.’
A murmur, unclear whether it was sarcasm or admiration, pierced Cheche’s eardrums.

But before she could refute him, Researcher 38 nonchalantly sat on a chair as if it were his own home, and planted his cane thud on the floor.
Yeosu’s shoulders trembled.

“I’m sorry, but my answer is still the same. There’s no way to pass the obedience test.”

The light in Cheche’s eyes, which had briefly held hope, disappeared.
Researcher 38, seeing her expression, gave a bitter smile and added.

“However, if your goal is to escape this place, I might be able to tell you how.”

Cheche’s feet moved towards him.
Yeosu, holding onto her mother’s sleeve, said “Oh, oh,” and was dragged along.

‘What’s the method?’

“Before that, make a promise.”

His voice changed the atmosphere. He looked at Yeosu’s eyes, clearly stained with tears, and said.

“That you will never send that child to something like the Human Run.”

Cheche read an unknown regret in the old man’s eyes, faded by time.
However, his gaze was firm, so she couldn’t ask for the reason.

When she simply nodded in agreement, the light in his eyes cleared.
That night, the old man explained the method in detail to the mother and daughter.

As soon as morning came, the mother and daughter followed Researcher 38 to the exchange.
The area near the incinerator was still guarded, with patrols blocking passage.

Their numbers had increased even more than yesterday, reaching 32.
Because of this, there were no groups clamoring to go dig for stones.
Still, a few, lacking food, looked out beyond the barbed wire fence with anxious faces.

Meanwhile, the truck came again today with the viewing box.
Those who had become idle due to the disappearance of the exchange counter all gathered in front of it to watch the recorded Human Run broadcast.

When the Wanderer occasionally provided commentary and elicited cheers, those who knew nothing about the Human Run finally let out exclamations of “Oh,” and “Ah.”

The three squeezed among the noisy crowd and surveyed outside the barbed wire fence.
Then, Cheche, who had been silently counting the number of guards, tapped Researcher 38’s shoulder.

‘Nine at the entrance. The rest are…’

“Patrolling. And two are inside the transport vehicle.”

Researcher 38 quickly filled in the details.
Cheche’s head turned to where he was pointing with his chin.

Fifty steps from the barbed wire fence entrance, near the barracks, stood three military transport vehicles with open tops, without windows.

“One is for transporting children. The destination is here.”

Researcher 38 pulled out a crumpled flyer from his trouser pocket.

There were a total of five screening centers that Juseong had set up near Incinerator 200.
Among them, the one Researcher 38 pointed to with his index finger was the northern screening center, the farthest from here.

He raised his head and looked around.
And, confirming that no one was paying attention to them, he spoke.

“He definitely said up to 203… was finished, didn’t he?”

Cheche nodded. His expression became serious.

“Then the screening center closest to 203 might be closed.”

Cheche did not question Researcher 38’s words.
She had already guessed as much when he said the transport vehicle was going to the farthest northern side.

Incinerator 203’s shelter was next to the southern screening center on the map.
If the truck with the corpses that day came from there, it was obvious what had happened without even seeing it.

The human soldiers must have killed the shelter residents after the Human Run recruitment ended and also closed the southern screening center.

‘It takes four hours to get to the northern screening center.’

Cheche gestured to the map, holding up four fingers.
Researcher 38 nodded as if he understood.

“Yes. Once a transport vehicle leaves, it takes roughly eight hours to return. They pick up kids once in the morning, and once right after the shift change.”

The Human Run broadcast was nearing its end, and the cheers of the spectators grew louder.
Researcher 38 subtly checked the Wanderer, then gestured to the mother and daughter to move to a spot where the transport vehicle was clearly visible.

“They’re changing shifts.”

A patrolling guard went into the guard post, and another guard came out of the guard post, preparing to patrol.
The nine guards at the entrance also took out food bars from an ammunition box and ate during that time.

Cheche watched them, then turned her gaze to the transport vehicle. The car door was open.

“Can you see it now?”

Researcher 38’s lips turned upward.

“No one is guarding the open vehicle. The barbed wire fence surveillance also loosens.”

His words meant… Before Cheche could even fully move her lips, he continued.

“Now, at this time of day. This is the only chance to get out of the incinerator.”

Just then, the Wanderer’s voice was heard, announcing that the broadcast had ended.
As if on cue, the entrance opened, and patrolling began.

It wasn’t a delusion. They were moving according to a set schedule.

‘How do we get through the entrance?’

Cheche gestured to a few guards who were standing rooted to their spots as if their shoes had grown roots.

They were receiving food bars from their colleagues and supervising inside the barbed wire fence without moving.

Researcher 38 glanced at the Wanderer loading the viewing box into the cargo compartment and said.

“I know how to attract their attention.”

‘How?’

“What else would a researcher do? Nothing but tinker with machines.”

Cheche’s eyes widened.
Not at all intending to exchange awkward farewells now, he abruptly turned his head.

“The rest is up to you.”

As the Wanderer climbed into the driver’s seat, the spectators began to disperse.
Cheche anxiously grabbed Researcher 38, who was trying to return to his shelter, caught among them.

‘After you attract their attention. Aren’t you escaping with us?’

He winced his brow with his characteristic habit and said.

“How fast can an old man like me walk, even if he’s all done?”

Only then did Cheche’s gaze turn to the cane he was leaning on.
Seeing her lips part, he waved his arm and distanced himself from Cheche.

“I’m too tired to run away twice.”

His legs trembled from standing for so long today.
He glanced at Yeosu once, then turned away.

Yeosu gripped her mother’s hand tightly, watching him, wondering what she was thinking.
The sound of tires scattering sand was heard from afar.

“…”

‘Mom, I don’t want to. I don’t want to go anywhere. I’m scared.’

However, Yeosu’s lips, which had hesitated as if to reveal her emotions, soon closed.
The words she couldn’t say were carried away by the wind.

The mother and daughter walked at the very end of the line of those returning.
Their last night in this place was approaching.

The next afternoon, a line of children and parents waiting for the transport vehicle formed in front of the entrance.
Since diligent transport had taken place the day before, their numbers were not large, about six or seven.

Cheche and Yeosu arrived right after the first transport ended and stood at the front of the line.
Yeosu, who kept wiggling her toes, craned her neck to look up at the tall Cheche.

She tugged at her sleeve and poked her palm in her anxiety, but Cheche was only looking out at where the transport vehicle would arrive.