The buzz-cut man still showed a trace of humanity as he spoke to Captian. But now his face twisted into that familiar, insolent look of someone who "doesn't know his place," and he sneered:
"I'm more afraid of a dog chasing a cat than I am of you bastards."
Hearing that, the buzz-cut man's companion flared up as if poked in the gut.
"All right then, let's send this old man straight to the afterlife!"
Then they all pulled their triggers.
Umee squeezed her eyes shut, unable to bear watching what was about to happen.Captian's gone mad, completely mad. Does he think guns are toys? Why would he talk back like that? If Captian dies, what's the point of me living?She curled into herself and burst into tears.
But then...
One.
Two.
Three.
Three seconds passed, and nothing happened.
Umee slowly relaxed her face and opened her eyes in confusion.The thugs were staring at their own guns with the same bewilderment. They squeezed the triggers again and again, but not a single bullet fired.They looked like housewives desperately trying to squeeze dish soap from an empty bottle but no matter how hard they tried, nothing came out.
The men were stunned.Why weren't the bullets firing? Why weren't the guns working? Were all their weapons jammed?
In panic, they disassembled their guns only to discover there wasn't a single bullet inside.
The thugs stared at each other wide-eyed.
"How… how is this possible…?"
Where had the bullets gone? They had clearly loaded them before leaving.No gangster would ever carry an empty gun, this was impossible. Impossible!
While they were fumbling in disbelief, Halley simply assumed they had been careless.Then she remembered the last time they worked, how sloppily they let Umee escape. The memory made her blood boil. Her eyes sharpened like a reaper's scythe as she glared at Umee, who was still frozen in shock inside the car.
Halley stormed forward, yanked open the door, and dragged Umee out.
"Ah!"Halley grabbed Umee by the hair and jerked viciously, making tears spring to the girl's eyes. Fear, shock, pain, everything tumbled inside her all at once.
Halley hauled Umee toward Captian. He saw what was happening, and something in his eyes flickered.
Halley smirked coldly.She lifted the pendant at her neck, opened it, and revealed a hidden blade.Pressing the knife to Umee's throat, she hissed:
"No matter what happens today, I'm taking this brat's life. Trying to stop me, old man? Keep dreaming."
Umee trembled as the cold steel touched her skin.So this was it. She wouldn't escape. This was how it ended.She looked at Captian, wanting to tell him silently: Go. Leave. Don't stay because of me.
Halley's hand slid down, blade ready to slash...
When suddenly, a stone flew through the air, slamming hard into Halley's wrist.The impact cracked sharply right beside Umee's ear.Halley screamed, the knife dropped, and she collapsed backward into the arms of the buzz-cut man.
Umee blinked in shock. Before she could process what happened...
"Come here!" Captian shouted.
She snapped out of it and ran toward him.
The moment she touched Captian's hand, she broke down, sobbing uncontrollably. Everything she'd endured spilled over like water bursting through a dam.Captian quickly wiped her tears and grabbed her hand.
"Run!"
Behind them, Halley finally regained her senses.Ignoring the pain in her wrist, she got up and screamed:
"Get them!"
The black-clad men took off after Captian and Umee. But most of them were already injured from earlier, slowing them down.Still, even injured, they should have been able to catch a frail girl like Umee.
Yet after a short distance, they saw nothing.Captian and Umee had vanished.
The path was straight. One side a cliff, the other a slope. No turns, no hiding places. How could those two disappear?
The gang stopped, unsettled.
They returned to Halley and the buzz-cut man. Halley was shocked to see them back so soon.
"Where are they?"
"We… we don't know," a lackey whispered.
Halley stomped on a gun lying on the ground, venting her rage.
"Damn it! Damn it! You idiots let an old man and a little brat escape?!"
She turned on her men, pointing furiously.
"This is your fault, your sloppy work! No bullets? You... You...!"
She choked on her own fury, unable to form words.
The buzz-cut man hurried to soothe her.
"Miss, please calm down. It was our mistake. But we should return to the Kimberly estate now. If you stay furious like this, the elders will notice."
He leaned in and whispered:
"It's just a small mistake. We know where that old man and the girl live now. Sooner or later, we'll finish the job."
Halley swallowed her anger and forced herself to breathe.He was right. She needed to be calm. Calm to finish what she started.
She turned then froze.
The car tires were slashed.
Not only that the rest of their men were nowhere to be seen.
Umee was running painfully slow.
Captian jogged ahead but kept stopping for her, so together they looked more like two people strolling on a weekend outing than two fugitives.
Umee glanced back and blinked.
"The… the thugs are gone? Did we lose them?"
Captian nodded.
"Yeah, guess we were too fast."
Only then did Umee dare stop, clutching her chest, panting hard.
She nodded vigorously.Right, she had run fast. Fast enough that the bad guys couldn't catch her.
They escaped.
Just that thought made her burst into tears again.She threw herself into Captian's arms.
"Sir, thank you… thank you so much! I can't believe you came to save me. I owe you everything!"
"…"
Captian stiffened completely as Umee clung to him, crying and smearing tears and snot all over his coat.He didn't know what to do so he stood there, rigid as a log.
Eventually, Umee's crying slowed. She sniffed and began to pull away when...
Thump. Thump. Thump.
She froze. The sound echoed right next to her ear… coming from Captian's chest.
She leaned closer, pressing her ear to his left side. The heartbeat grew louder, quicker.
"A-Are you out of your mind?!"
Captian jolted violently, pushing her away. His heart pounded even faster, and his face flushed. He turned sharply, trying to look composed while hiding the panic.
Meanwhile Umee still blinked cluelessly. She touched her own chest but heard nothing.Felt nothing.
She looked at Captian, puzzled.
"Why doesn't my chest sound like yours? Why can't I hear my heartbeat? Or feel it?"
Captian froze. Completely lost.
He turned back, mind in shambles, words tangled.
"Well… because… because your heart is inside my chest."
The moment he said it, he wanted to slap himself.What nonsense am I talking?!He had made the mess worse.Captian wanted to crawl into a hole and die.His emotional intelligence must have been inversely proportional to his age.
Sure enough, Umee asked:
"How can that be? Doesn't every person have their own heart?"
Captian looked around wildly and spouted more nonsense:
"Well… I'm keeping your heart safe for you! You're so clueless, what if someone steals it? And can't you tell my heartbeat is faster than normal? That's because there are TWO pulses beating as one. In fact, my heart is double the size of normal people's."
Captian nodded solemnly to himself.Yes, of course, his heart had to be twice as big to protect her like this.No one else would be foolish enough to do what he did.
Captian felt deeply noble.
Somehow… unbelievably…Umee bought it.She gasped softly.
Then she suddenly grabbed his hand.
Captian jumped like he'd been electrocuted and yanked his hand back.
"W-What are you doing?!"
But Umee still looked innocent.
"Then why is your body so warm, but mine is so cold?"
"…"
Captian felt like a father answering his toddler's ten-thousand "Why?" questions. If he stayed with Umee any longer, his hair would probably fall out from stress.
He thought and thought, then finally said:
"You're warm. But you gave all your warmth to the bad people in this world to soften them. To the poor, to warm them. To the suffering, to comfort them. That's why you feel cold now."
Umee looked up at him.
"So you're warm because you didn't give your warmth away?"
Captian wanted to snap but forced himself to stay calm, pinning down his emotions like the Buddha pinning down the Monkey King under Five Finger Mountain.
He answered:
"No. I'm giving my warmth to you. I'm using it to warm your cold little body."
Umee nodded.And before she could ask more questions, Captian cut her off quickly:
"All right, let's go home. It's lunchtime. We need to cook."
"Okay."