Superstar From Age 0

Chapter 552

Ten minutes ago.

Cocoa Entertainment.

“I wonder how Seo-jun is doing?”

An Da-ho, the director of the actor team, spent more time in the first team’s office on the ninth floor than in his own office on the tenth floor. He glanced at the clock when an employee (a former second team member) mentioned Seo-jun.

The new employees of the first team perked up their ears at the mention of Seo-jun.

“If there’s not much traffic, he should have arrived near the tunnel by now.”

He had visited the location beforehand, so he had a rough idea of the time.

“He said he would call when he gets there. It won’t be long.”

“You must be worried about sending Seo-jun alone for the filming.”

At the employee’s words, An Da-ho gave a bitter smile and put down his phone, which he had been fiddling with unconsciously, wondering when the call would come.

“A little… yeah. I guess I need to get used to this soon.”

He had to spend a year and four months away from Seo-jun while he was in the army, and after he was discharged, a new manager would be assigned to him. He would have to spend more days apart from him in the future.

“Don’t worry. Nothing will happen.”

An Da-ho nodded at the smiling employee and picked up the next document.

It was the document of Kwon Kang-min, the actor who would join Cocoa Entertainment at the end of this month. His previous agency had sent him off in a good mood, or at least not in a bad one, so he didn’t think there would be any problems with his future activities.

There were some agencies that spread ridiculous rumors or sued their actors for leaving them, causing difficulties for their careers.

An Da-ho flipped through the papers and checked the documents that came from the second, third, and fourth teams. They were about the actors’ next projects or acting class evaluations.

“Is Bae Seung-won going straight to his next project?”

“Yes. He said he felt good after practicing with Seo-jun. He passed the audition too.”

“That’s good. I hope nothing goes wrong with the filming-”

That’s when it happened.

He had one side of the monitor open for monitoring the entertainment news, and breaking news started popping up on the internet news window.

[(Breaking News) Nine-car collision inside the tunnel in Gangwon Province!]

[(Breaking News) Three of the nine vehicles involved in the collision are tourist buses!]

For most people, this would be something to sigh and feel sorry about, but for those who knew someone there, it would be a shocking news that would make their hearts sink and their eyes go white.

That’s how An Da-ho felt.

He turned his head without thinking and looked at the monitor, and he froze at the sight of the familiar tunnel name. He felt like all the blood in his body was draining out.

[(Breaking News) Fire breaks out inside the tunnel!]

He felt dizzy at the sight of the photo that followed, showing black smoke spewing out of the tunnel.

But he couldn’t just sit there and do nothing. An Da-ho picked up his phone with trembling hands and called Seo-jun.

The ringing tone lasted for one second, but it felt like a year.

He could hear his own irregular heartbeat pounding in his ears.

Please… please…

He was so anxious that his hands were soaked with sweat, and he gasped when the ringing tone was cut off, and he jumped out of his seat at the voice that followed. He felt like crying.

-Yes, I-

“Seo-jun! Are you okay!?”

He felt relieved at the conversation that followed, and he slumped into his chair as his strength left him. The expressions of the first team members who had gathered around after seeing the breaking news also showed relief.

***

Seo-jun looked at his seniors who were talking to An Da-ho on the phone. They must have heard the same story, because they had their eyes wide open as if they would pop out.

“So… those fire trucks were…”

Seo-jun and his seniors, and the villagers who had received calls from their families, turned their heads to look at where the fire trucks and ambulances were heading. They could now see the black smoke rising from afar.

It was a close call.

The seniors and the villagers who had stopped their cars for a moment to head to the tunnel were too shocked to say anything but, uh, uh, are you okay?

“Just a second. I’ll take a picture and send it to you, Da-ho hyung.”

He must be still worried.

Seo-jun quickly took a picture and sent it to An Da-ho. He heard An Da-ho’s sigh of relief at the sight of the city that had nothing to do with the tunnel.

-I’ll call your parents, but you should call them too, Seo-jun.

“Okay. I will.”

-Your team members will be worried too, so make sure you contact them.

“Okay. I got it.”

-…Should I go there now?

“No. I’m fine. Don’t worry.”

As Seo-jun was reassuring An Da-ho, he heard the sound of an ambulance from afar. The siren was quieter than before. It must have been only one car.

“It’s coming now.”

The woman who had been talking to her husband in surprise nodded at Seo-jun’s words.

-Do you hear the ambulance?

An Da-ho’s voice was tense, and Seo-jun smiled as he headed to the street.

“There’s a patient here who called for it. Thanks to him, we got off here for a while.”

-…What?

The lone ambulance that was coming slowed down as it saw Seo-jun waving his arm. The paramedics got out of the stopped ambulance.

“Where’s the patient?”

“Over here. Over here!”

The seniors and the villagers also came to their senses and guided the paramedics to the woman.

“Da-ho hyung. Just a moment.”

The woman lay down on the stretcher with the help of the paramedics. Seo-jun picked up the woman’s phone that had fallen on the ground and spoke to her husband.

“Sir. The ambulance is here and your wife will be taken to the hospital right away. The paramedics will tell you which hospital they are going to, so don’t drive yourself and go to the hospital. It’ll be a big trouble if you get into an accident.”

-Yes, yes! I understand.

The husband, who had heard from his wife that there was a nine-car collision, and had checked the breaking news, quickly answered.

“Don’t worry too much about the baby. He’ll be healthy. You have to be strong, dad.”

-Yes… yes… thank you so much… Ah, can you leave me your contact information…!

“No. It’s nothing, really.”

Seo-jun handed the phone to the woman’s hand. The woman thanked him sincerely in a small voice.

“…Thank you so much… Can you please tell me your contact information…”

“It’s okay. We should be the ones thanking you. We could have been caught up in that big accident if it weren’t for you.”

Of course, Seo-jun wouldn’t have been hurt even a hair.

But what about his seniors?

Even if Seo-jun had used his full abilities, he would have been injured in a few places. He didn’t want his friends to get hurt.

“We thought we saved the baby, but the baby saved us.”

Seo-jun thought of the baby who had signaled him to save his mother.

He was faint, but he had shown mana outside, so he might be a great person in some field (Seo-jun guessed it was sports).

The woman smiled faintly at Seo-jun’s words.

No. If this person hadn’t found him in pain, he, the baby, and this person’s companions would have been in danger. It was this mysterious benefactor who saved the people here.

“…Thank you very much…”

The benefactor, wearing a hat, smiled brightly.

***

The ambulance that carried the woman left.

Behind it, more ambulances appeared, seemingly coming from the tunnel. Seo-jun and his seniors, who had contacted their parents and [Hwa] team members, let out a heavy sigh without realizing it. They were relieved to avoid the accident, but they felt complicated as more injured people showed up.

‘I can’t go and help them either.’

There were too many fire trucks. There was no room for ordinary people to intervene.

Seo-jun looked at his seniors with a bitter feeling. They all sighed with similar expressions.

“…Shall we go now?”

“Is there another way besides the tunnel?”

“It’s a bit of a detour, but there is. It should be on the navigation too.”

“Then let’s go.”

Receiving compliments from the locals, Seo-jun and his seniors headed to the car.

“Seo-jun, you sit in the back.”

“Ji-yoon, you too. You both did well.”

Two seniors from the stage art department sat in the driver’s seat and the passenger seat.

“It’s only been a few minutes, but I’m exhausted.”

“Me too.”

When Park Woo-jin, the art team member, and Hwang Do-yoon all took their seats, the car started. Seo-jun, who fastened his seat belt, looked at the black smoke rising in the distance. The other seniors did the same.

“Smoke… It’s scary.”

“There were three tourist buses too.”

“Tourist buses… You mean the ones that were with us?”

“Yes. That’s right.”

Hwang Ji-yoon nodded at Park Woo-jin’s question.

They felt sorry for the vehicles that were running next to them and got swept away by the accident.

“I think I saw them at the rest area too…”

“Oh, I saw them too. They were Hyodo Tour buses.”

Ah…

A sigh escaped.

The news was the same. Breaking news was coming up. The announcer’s voice came out of the car speaker of [Hwa] advance team.

-The rescue near the entrance is going smoothly, but the smoke is so severe that it will take some time to get inside. It is very difficult to find the rescuers in the thick smoke.

-Fortunately, there have been no deaths so far, but there are many elderly patients among the seriously injured, so we don’t know when there will be deaths…

“We would have been in big trouble if it wasn’t for Seo-jun.”

“You’re right. But how did you know that woman was sick, Seo-jun?”

“Yeah. Could you see that from the driver’s seat?”

The fourth-year students from the stage art department, who were looking around and talking in the driver’s seat and the passenger seat, were quietly told by Hwang Do-yoon with a smile.

“Seo-jun seems to be asleep.”

“Huh?”

“He must be tired.”

Park Woo-jin, the art team member, and Hwang Ji-yoon, who were leaning on the chair with their eyes closed, looked at Seo-jun, who was still a freshman, and smiled softly.

“I’m not sleeping.”

He opened his eyes wide.

“…I thought you were sleeping!”

Seo-jun smiled at the surprised seniors.

-Another person is being rescued by the rescue team and coming out of the tunnel.

Listening to the news, Seo-jun quietly opened his left hand. A small wolf with a translucent blue light appeared on Seo-jun’s left hand and wagged its tail happily.

It was an ability he had obtained from the Library of Life a while ago.

[(Sun) Surang’s Medicinal Rain – Intermediate]

It is a healing and purification rain made with the power of the water spirit, Surang ().

It works on the most urgent living beings within range.

Surang (), one of the subordinates of the god Hyunmu, who ruled over water in a world similar to the Asian civilization in his previous life.

‘He was very fierce back then…’

He looked cute now, barking on his left palm.

Of course, it was his previous self.

‘There are already patients who have been moved to the hospital, so it’s hard to set up one by one for the ability.’

So he came up with a wide-range ability.

‘Well, if they are patients within range, they will be healed to some extent even if they have nothing to do with this collision accident.’

Sometimes, such miracles were not bad.

At Seo-jun’s glance, Surang barked and went through the ceiling of the nine-seater van running on the road and rose to the sky.

And when he rose to a certain height, he ran in the air as if he was running on an invisible ground, drawing a large circle.

Following Surang’s footsteps, round waves rippled, and then raindrops began to fall.

[(Sun) Surang’s Medicinal Rain is activated.]

Medicinal rain.

Rain that is medicine, and rain that falls when needed.

The rain that people could not see began to fall from the sky.

It passed through the hospital ceiling and touched the body of a patient lying in the intensive care unit.

“…Uh…Uhmm…”

“Father? Father! Excuse me! Doctor! My father woke up!”

It passed through the ceiling of the operating room and touched a critically ill patient undergoing emergency surgery.

“Blood pressure! It’s dropping!”

“Blood!?”

“We can’t get it right now because there are other places in surgery!..Huh? Blood pressure is rising again!”

It crossed the high mountain and fell on the tunnel.

And it touched a person who was still unconscious and collapsed without being rescued.

Ugh…!

The first refreshing feeling stopped the blood, healed the wound, and numbed the pain. His faint consciousness began to slowly come back.

-Come out now!

“But there may still be rescuers!”

The black smoke blocked his eyes, but the firefighter couldn’t take his feet off with regret.

-There will be a second explosion! Do you think you’re the hero of a movie!?

“But…!”

The man who had dreamed of becoming a firefighter after watching [One Step] clenched his teeth and turned his back, when his sight opened. The black smoke that filled the tunnel was gone as if it had been hit by rain. The charred and burned vehicles were clearly visible. It was as if all the sparks had been extinguished.

Then he heard a faint voice.

Sa…Save…me…

At the voice, the firefighter raised his head and shouted.

“I’m going to save you now! Please make some more noise to locate you!”

And he moved along the faint voice and lifted the radio.

“I found a rescuer!”

-…Wait. I’m going in.

Ha-hat.

He laughed and ran to the rescuer who was waiting for him.