Jeong Taeui tiredly bit his lip. The conversation continued buzzing around the topic, eventually circling back to what Taeui had mentioned earlier.

“But he won’t come. After joining UNHRDO, he said he had to handle two jobs at once and was very busy, rarely doing anything else. In the past, when similar things happened, other members he contacted dealt with it. He also said it had nothing to do with him.”

Hearing this, Taeui quietly nodded. He thought that Ilay might need to clone himself to keep up. Despite appearances, Ilay’s life was far from leisurely, the workload at UNHRDO was no joke. Taeui didn’t know all the details, but a branch of a large company like T&R, even just for a business trip, involved a lot of work. Ilay worked fast, but even when Taeui was by his side, his workload was already huge.

Moreover, if a member of UNHRDO came to the T&R branch not just to check on the company’s work but to resolve issues like this, it would undoubtedly cause a lot of discussions.

Jeong Taeui glanced at them and nodded repeatedly, agreeing. It made sense that Ilay wouldn’t get involved in this mess to rescue someone he didn’t know. After all, he didn’t know who Kim Young Soo was.

“….”

Just thinking about it gave Jeong Taeui goosebumps. He rubbed his arms. Even though he was only wearing underwear, it was still summer. Yet, thinking about it sent a chill down his spine. He couldn’t afford the luxury of thinking about who would come to rescue him. He’d rather cling to the kidnappers and stay here if the rescuer was Ilay. He doubted they’d accept a hostage as worthless as him.

With that thought, Jeong Taeui sighed again. They locked him up without doing anything, which meant they had plenty of time, wasting it on useless things.

“Alright” – Jeong Taeui said dejectedly, standing up and heading to the bathroom inside. Despite not drinking any water, he still needed to pee; the human body was indeed a mystery.

The bathroom was as empty as if everything had been cleared out. There was nothing inside except the basics like a toilet and a sink. Jeong Taeui looked around the bathroom while relieving himself. Suddenly, his eyes fell on a small ventilation hole on the wall. It was a hole too small for a person to crawl through, given its width and height. However, behind the vent, he could see the blue sky, indicating it was directly connected to the outside.

“Hmm….”

Jeong Taeui thought for a moment, then reached out. He had nothing to stand on but was tall enough to reach the vent and grip the fan blades. Through his fingertips, he examined each blade, noting they were quite sharp. Touching them too hard with bare hands could cut his fingers.

This time, Jeong Taeui gently pushed the blades with his fingertips, but they didn’t budge, indicating they were securely fastened. This was it. Climbing up it wouldn’t be difficult. But there was another problem, he couldn’t escape through such a small hole. Taeui considered shouting for help from outside, but he knew the kidnappers wouldn’t be foolish enough to reveal their location to outsiders. Before anyone passing by could hear his screams, the kidnappers would rush in and gag him.

So, the vent was useless.

“…..”

Jeong Taeui thought for a moment, then removed his underwear. He wrapped it around his hand like a glove and approached the vent.

“Ugh….—”

Jeong Taeui placed his hand in the vent, pulled himself up, and supported his weight with one arm for a moment. Then he reached his other hand, covered with his underwear, and grabbed the fan blade. He held on tightly to avoid slipping, then braced his foot against the wall. He shook the fan with all his strength.

He shook it several times, his body swaying in the air, and a creaking sound echoed. It wasn’t too loud but made him worry that the kidnappers outside might notice. But he reassured himself that the sound was only loud in the confined space of the bathroom and wasn’t actually that loud.

Three or four times, he grabbed and shook the firmly attached fan until pieces of the wall crumbled. Even though he had wrapped his underwear around it, the fan blades still hurt his hand. His knuckles felt like they were about to snap from the pressure.

“….!”

On the fifth attempt, the fan, which had been securely mounted, finally fell from the vent. As it fell, Jeong Taeui, who had been hanging from it, also fell.

“Ugh…!”

Jeong Taeui’s entire body slammed into the floor, his tailbone hitting the ground hard.

He trembled. He couldn’t scream, or he’d die from the pain, but he couldn’t make any loud noise, so he might die from the agony.

Jeong Taeui curled up on the bathroom floor, holding his tailbone. After some time, the pain subsided a bit, and he stood up, sighing. There was no mirror in the bathroom, so he couldn’t see, but he was sure it was bruised.

“Damn it, this hurts like hell….”

Jeong Taeui instinctively wiped away the tears welling up from the pain. He winced and looked up. The vent where the fan had fallen was now empty.

Jeong Taeui carefully patted the throbbing area around his tailbone again. He approached the vent and examined it. He had fallen once; another fall might render his tailbone useless.

Now, climbing up the vent was much easier without the obstructing fan. Jeong Taeui pulled himself up again but still couldn’t see outside clearly because the hole was too small and the ceiling was in the way. The first thing he saw was a pure white tree branch. A branch of pristine white appeared wherever his eyes could reach. Whether he tilted his head left, right, up, or down, he could only see a single scene. Jeong Taeui silently listened. No voices. In the quiet space, only the sound of birds singing in the distance could be heard. And the cool, fresh air flowed in from the vent.

“….”

Jeong Taeui released his grip from the vent and landed on the floor, looking at his dusty hands. He brushed them off.

Outside was a forest. There was no way to know which forest it was or its name. It seemed like an isolated retreat in the mountains, built in the middle of the forest.

He didn’t know what forest this was, so he couldn’t say for sure. But if he could sneak out somehow, he thought he could escape by hiding in the forest……

Jeong Taeui sat on the toilet like a statue and pondered for a moment. But his thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door from outside.

“I’m in a hurry” – A gentle but urgent voice said after the knock.

“Oh, I’ll be right out.”

Jeong Taeui hurriedly stood up and shouted back. But just as he was about to leave the bathroom, he realized he was still naked and quickly turned back to find his underwear.

When he removed his underwear still wrapped around the vent, it was covered in black dust.

“….”

Jeong Taeui silently held his underwear, then heard the knocking again. He needed to think about how to attempt this again.

If you’re kidnapped and held captive, the easiest thing to do is wait for someone to rescue you.

—Jeong Taeui had heard people say this, but it seemed those words were just lies. It wasn’t the most optimal method because being rescued by someone might be the best way to stay alive, but it wasn’t the most convenient way.

Jeong Taeui lay on the floor, staring out the window, lost in thought.

The sky was growing brighter. White light filtered through the cracks in the wooden boards covering the window. It had been less than a day since he was kidnapped, but it felt like several days had passed. What could be more frustrating than sitting helplessly, unable to do anything but wait in vain? Jeong Taeui firmly believed that trying to escape would be better, no matter how much he had to struggle. If he had the right tools, he would try anything. He’d rather be beaten to death trying to escape than die of boredom.

He hadn’t slept well last night. Not because of the change in sleeping arrangements, but because he had been drugged during the day and couldn’t sleep again at night.

Even now, when it was time to sleep, Jeong Taeui lay restless, unable to fall asleep as his mind remained fully alert. In the end, he sighed and sat up. Lying on this cold, hard floor made it difficult to sleep anyway.

Jeong Taeui scratched his head and looked around. The others weren’t much different. Some were sleeping soundly, some had just fallen asleep, and two were wide awake.

Jeong Taeui hadn’t brushed his teeth, so his mouth felt dry. He looked out the window again. If he did it right, he could break it. Speaking of wooden boards, nine out of ten were cheap plywood since there was no reason to use expensive, high-quality wood for something like this. So, someone with average strength could break it with their bare hands. If it was plywood, Jeong Taeui could break it. But not now. He would have to use all his strength to break it, but if the kidnappers heard the noise, they would storm in immediately.

Jeong Taeui got up and walked to the window, tapping on the wooden board covering it. It was sturdier than he thought; he hadn’t expected to break it with his bare hands at this point. Besides, apart from Jeong Taeui, who could do physical work, the others looked old and weak. Honestly, he had no confidence in breaking it with his bare hands.

Jeong Taeui tapped the wooden board again with his fingertip. Through the gap at the top, he saw a bird flying across the crimson sky outside.

Today seemed like a beautiful day.

“We’re going to have a hard time escaping without any tools.”

The man lying below, who was awake and watching Jeong Taeui tap the window, spoke slowly. Jeong Taeui replied – “Certainly.”

There would be many problems in this situation. Firstly, they were kidnapped, had no tools, and it was difficult to know the outside environment. Another issue was that if they tried to escape and failed even once, escaping a second time would be much more difficult. Literally, there was no choice but to wait for help from outside.

“If Kyle can negotiate with them, that would be great… But it’s not going to be that easy.”

Jeong Taeui sighed and mumbled. This situation was like playing the lottery, their fate depended entirely on the person coming to rescue them. If they were lucky, they could just wait patiently without lifting a finger and return without any trouble. But if unlucky, they might have to die here.

It seemed the others in the room didn’t think much about that future, possibly due to their status or the influence of their work environment. Although they seemed similar, Jeong Taeui grew up in a completely normal environment, a true commoner. So, he naturally leaned towards the unlucky side.

As if remembering something, he left the window and went to the bathroom.

The ventilation fan he had dismantled the night before was still lying in a corner. It seemed Jeong Taeui had struggled with a pretty tough fan.

“I’m only concerned about the future. I must try to escape from here…”

Jeong Taeui mumbled to himself as he touched the fan blades with his finger. He stared at the ceiling for a moment, then glanced outside. From this position, he could see everyone through the door.

He had never seen a successful escape story involving a group of people dragging along those who were unfamiliar with fighting or not physically capable. Such stories were only found in religious texts.

The biggest problem was the mindset; these people didn’t even intend to escape.

This situation would be quickly resolved if it happened in the military or with his colleagues at UNHRDO. In that case, they would try to escape, and Jeong Taeui might be the one demanding to stay put and wait for rescue. No, if it were them, they wouldn’t have been caught in the first place.

Now, escaping with others seemed very difficult, so he had to find a way to escape alone. Jeong Taeui was concerned that even if he failed while trying to leave, if he escaped alone, only he would die. But if he took others along, their lives would be at risk too.

However, he couldn’t just leave them behind and escape alone. (One visit to the bathroom, and Jeong Taeui had already imagined at least ten potential emergency scenarios.)

“It’s best to sit still and wait for the prince to come rescue us, huh?”

Jeong Taeui repeated the man’s words and left the bathroom. The two alert people in the room looked curiously at the fan he was holding. He moved his hand and lost himself in thought, seemingly unaware of their gazes.

Trying to escape with nothing in hand was indeed foolish. No, it was a great opportunity to become a fool. For example, if he tried to escape with an injured leg while a successful negotiation with the kidnappers was happening, leading to everyone quietly being rescued without his knowledge, that would be the dumbest thing ever.

Even so…

“I should at least come up with an excuse.”

Later, when he met Kyle, he would say, “I tried my best… sorry I couldn’t help.”

He would have to try to excuse his foolishness. Of course, since Kyle was the reason for this, he could argue that Kyle should take responsibility, but Jeong Taeui didn’t think that way.

“I can guess what you’re trying to do with that. But if you make a mistake and get caught, it’ll be even more dangerous.”

The man watched Jeong Taeui move and whispered worriedly.

Jeong Taeui glanced at the man’s disapproving look and smiled. Instead of worrying about him, the man was concerned about the dangers he might face if Jeong Taeui acted.

That was normal, it was unfair to risk your life because of someone else.

But the man overlooked one thing: the people in this room were all important, valuable hostages, except for Jeong Taeui, who was worthless and quite ordinary. In other words, even if something went wrong, the kidnappers could easily deal with Jeong Taeui without touching the others.

“It’s okay, it’s okay. Even if I have to die, I’ll take responsibility and die alone.”

Jeong Taeui jokes and continues moving his hands. He pulled the blades out of the core, which almost never came off. This fan must have been made by a very good company with excellent quality. He thought he should invest and buy shares in that company later. Jeong Taeui thought to himself as he looked at the core with the company’s name engraved on it.

Finally, all four blades were removed. His hands were full of cuts from gripping and twisting the blades, but he could endure it. Jeong Taeui pulled the twisted blades out. The sturdier the blades, the more pain he had to endure. Jeong Taeui sighed in satisfaction and stood up with the four blades stacked together.

Approaching the window, he looked up at the crack above the wooden board. It was daylight, and the birds chirped merrily outside. A new day was beginning.