Chapter 821: Swimming (1)

“What the hell? You must be out of your mind!”

Visceral responses greeted Kang Jin-Ho’s warning. He wasn’t surprised by this development, however.

A boy suddenly started raising a big fuss about the aquarium not being safe, and then he and his buddies yapped on about something with each other before leaving in their droves. And the last person in that group remaining suddenly warned everyone to leave if they didn't want to die.

Not many people in this world would react positively to this situation.

The glares landing on Kang Jin-Ho were sharp and cold.

“Hey, young man! Didn’t you hear us say that’s enough nonsense from you?!”

“Your whole group is crazy! Insane idiots!”

“A man should know how to read the room!”

Kang Jin-Ho sighed under his breath at the crowd’s reaction.

‘Well, it’s about what I expected, anyway.’

He was under no illusion that people here would be willing to listen to him. Even so, their responses were still more visceral than he expected. Was it because of the location? With their fears subtly stimulated in this aquarium's foreign environment, it seemed everyone reacted more curtly and viciously than usual.

Kang Jin-Ho could've tried to talk to them nicely and convince them, but he still wasn't good enough in the speech department to change anyone's mind. Besides, there wasn't enough time or logical points to convince anyone here through flowery words, anyway.

‘Hmm. Have they gone far away enough yet?’

A part of Kang Jin-Ho was being a little petty, as well.

He had faith in Jo Gyu-Min and believed the latter could guide the children outside the premises without any issues. However, that story was only possible with the aquarium remaining as peaceful as it was.

All these adults stampeding out of here in panic would undoubtedly lead to a huge accident. And what guarantee was there that the Seongsim kids wouldn't get sucked into that?

‘How… decisive.’

Kang Jin-Ho chuckled wryly to himself. If this event happened a few days ago, he would’ve genuinely agonized over what to do.

He’d have tried to choose between alerting the people somehow and minimizing the losses as much as possible or delaying that to prioritize the evacuation of his acquaintances first.

What a dilemma to have, then.

Objectively speaking, the only answer Kang Jin-Ho could choose was the latter. It involved the safety of the people he cared about. And that was why he unhesitantly chose it. Why would he risk endangering the Seongsim kids’ lives, even if it was only by a little bit, for the safety of complete strangers?

Kang Jin-Ho chose the latter without even wasting a single breath. Just his old self would have. This moment confirmed that he had been in the grips of a heart demon until recently.

“Oiii! You, what do you think you’re doing?!” A decently-sized man walked out of the crowd and began shouting at Kang Jin-Ho. “Who the hell do you think you are?!”

Kang Jin-Ho wordlessly stared at the man's face. Judging from how pissed off this man looked, he seemed ready to pounce on Kang Jin-Ho any second now.

Kang Jin-Ho narrowed his eyes, then pointed at the massive aquarium. “Tell me. What do you think will happen…”

The man’s glare chased after Kang Jin-Ho’s pointing finger.

“...When that thing breaks?”

Breaks? That water tank would?

The man gulped nervously while blinking his eyes, his trembling gaze locked on the aquarium.

He couldn't even begin to estimate how much water was contained in that thing, but it'd be safe to assume that the quantity must be greater than most man-made reservoirs.

A reservoir bursting its walls could still kill people despite all the spaces available to escape, so imagine the massive aquarium rupturing in this confined space!

The tragedy would be far worse than one or two lives being lost!

“W-why would that thing break!”

Kang Jin-Ho calmly replied, “It will.”

“What? You insane motherfu*ker!” The man roared and got ready to pounce.

However, the safety officials intervened in the nick of time. They stepped in front of Kang Jin-Ho and began chiding him.

“Sir! Please refrain from inconveniencing other visitors.”

“This will be your last warning, sir. Or we will report this matter to the police for disrupting the aquarium’s operations.”

Kang Jin-Ho wordlessly stared at the safety officials blocking his way.

The officials flinched at his still gaze and froze stiff. A hand reaching out to grab Kang Jin-Ho’s shoulder sheepishly fell away.

‘What’s up with this guy?’

That was the thought running inside the safety officials’ minds.

It wasn't as if Kang Jin-Ho had threatened them. No, all he did was gaze at them emotionlessly for a second. However, that was still enough to make the officials feel they had almost provoked something they shouldn't have.

“What are you doing! Don’t be courteous to a bastard like him!”

“Kick him out of here, will ya! Get him out! Don’t worry, we all saw what happened here! We’ll come to your defense!”

“Hey, where’s your phone? Film it, now!”

The crowd whipped their phones out and began recording Kang Jin-Ho and the safety officials.

The officials panicked slightly and stood in front of Kang Jin-Ho to block the filming attempts.

“Everyone! Filming another visitor without permission is prohibited. Refrain from recording any footage, please!”

“Huh? But that bastard is insane, though!”

“Everything has been recorded by the CCTV cameras on our premises. Please refrain from recording footage privately.”

“Urgh! Damn it!”

The crowd grunted in frustration and unhappiness but still put their phones away. They were trying to criticize some kids going on a power trip, so it felt weird to argue with the safety officials now. Even as they unhappily put away their mobile devices, they still shot venomous glares in Kang Jin-Ho’s direction.

One of the safety officials approached Kang Jin-Ho, before pointing toward the exit. “My apologies, sir. At least, for your own safety, please exit from the main hall.”

“Exit, you say?”

“Yes, sir,” said the official, his attitude firm and adamant.

However, Kang Jin-Ho casually shook his head. “I can’t leave just yet.”

“Sir, don’t be like this!”

“If the problem is with me talking, then I won’t say anything from now on. However, I cannot leave just yet.”

The safety official sighed in resignation. “In that case, please refrain from…”

Before he could finish warning Kang Jin-Ho, a man hurriedly approached him.

“Excuse me. What’s going on here?”

When the man asked that, the safety official looked back, and his expression stiffened a little. “Ah. Good day, Chief Bak, sir.”

The man, now identified as Chief Bak, looked puzzled as he closed the distance. Then, he quietly asked the safety official. “What's going on here? I can hear the commotion from outside the main hall. Do you want to tell everyone we have a problem here?”

“My apologies, sir. This customer was, uhm…” The safety official sneakily pointed to Kang Jin-Ho. Naturally, Chief Bak’s gaze also shifted to Kang Jin-Ho. “This customer said people should leave the premises if they don’t want to die…”

The safety official was feeling lost. It was against his training to say a visitor was making a scene in the presence of said visitor.

However, Chief Bak's complexion paled from the report instead. He straightened his jacket and addressed Kang Jin-Ho. “Good day. My name is Bak Gwang-Cheol, and I'm the chief of Sea Paradise Aquarium's maintenance division.”

“I see,” Kang Jin-Ho slightly nodded.

“Sir, are you suggesting our aquarium is not safe?”

“I am.”

“May I ask… why?” Bak Gwang-Cheol asked, his expression filled with shock.

His job was to oversee the maintenance of the facilities here. That meant he knew all the inside stories and various niggles of this aquarium. However, a visitor walking through the designated course should not have any knowledge of the aquarium's internal affairs.

‘Does he really know? Or is he just an attention-seeking lunatic?'

Bak Gwang-Cheol was confused and lost. And what Kang Jin-Ho said only worsened the chaos in his mind.

“Looks like you already know what I'm talking about,” Kang Jin-Ho quietly muttered.

“I’m sorry?”

“I’m saying, you already know the truth and don’t need to ask me.”

Bak Gwang-Cheol clamped his mouth shut.

His head yelled at him to respond as calmly as possible. However, his mouth refused to do its job. On the other hand, Kang Jin-Ho's gaze remained flat. Those eyes seemed to express their unyielding will.

‘N-no, calm down!’

Right now, it didn’t matter whether this young man really knew something or was simply a madman spewing nonsense. Bak Gwang-Cheol should only respond in one way in this situation.

He obviously couldn’t admit that there was a safety issue in front of so many people. He might have been arguing for the aquarium’s closure with the president not too long ago, but closing an operation of this scale didn’t just happen with a snap of fingers. It must follow established protocols and procedures.

If he shouted, "This water tank will rupture soon, so everyone must leave!" right now, this aquarium would be finished for good. It’d be destroyed regardless of whether the water tank ruptured or not!

Bak Gwang-Cheol was here to ensure the safety of the visitors, not to ensure the destruction of the company he worked for!

“I’m not sure what you’re suggesting, sir, but I’d like to ask you to refrain from saying things that will unnecessarily frighten other visitors. Our premises have already passed the government’s strict safety inspection.”

Kang Jin-Ho leaned slightly forward and whispered quietly so only Chief Bak could hear. “35 centimeters.”

“I’m sorry?”

“It’s not actually that thick, now is it?”

Bak Gwang-Cheol’s expression instantly grew pale. “W-what are you saying, sir!”

Before Bak Gwang-Cheol’s voice could get louder, though, Kang Jin-Ho pulled out his phone first. Naturally, Bak Gwang-Cheol froze still in anxiety, wondering if this young was about to call someone.

However, all Kang Jin-Ho did was check the time appearing on the phone’s screen before nodding in satisfaction.

‘That should be enough time for the kids to exit this place.’

As long as Jo Gyu-Min hadn't encountered any issues, he should have guided the children outside the aquarium by now. However, Kang Jin-Ho was merely guessing. He hadn't seen the map displaying the aquarium's layout and didn't know how far the exit was.

Kang Jin-Ho put the phone away and glanced at Bak Gwang-Cheol. “It's not important whether the wall is as thick as you say or not. No, what matters is that the wall will rupture soon. If you don't want a tragedy on your hands… Evacuate everyone. Right now.”

Bak Gwang-Cheol clamped his mouth shut like a clam.

He knew he must argue back. Other visitors were listening right now, so he must say something! However, his mouth still refused to listen to his commands.

‘It’s going to rupture?!’

Didn't Bak Gwang-Cheol say the same thing to the Aquarium's president earlier? That the visitors should be evacuated since the water tank could rupture at any given moment? Listening to someone else say the same thing mysteriously sapped Bak Gwang-Cheol's desire to argue back.

‘E-even so, this water tank shouldn’t rupture that easily!’

This young man’s observation was not incorrect. The truth was… The water tank’s wall was indeed thinner than the minimum recommended safety specification. To be more precise, the thickness did meet the specs during the initial phase of the construction.

However, the plans went through several revisions during the aquarium's construction, resulting in the scale of the water tank growing much larger than initially envisioned by the team. In other words, it was now holding far more water than what it was designed for.

Even so, the tank should still be able to hold on for a little longer. Bak Gwang-Cheol felt that what this young man said should not be possible.

The minimum recommended safety specs were exactly that, recommended specs. As long as the recommended spec was adhered to, things should remain absolutely safe regardless of what might happen. That was why the recommended minimum safety specs usually seemed far too excessive compared to what was actually required in reality.

For instance… Every car came with recommended tire air pressure from the manufacturer. However, how many people in the world rigorously stuck to that spec? And did the cars develop serious issues because the tires weren't inflated correctly? No!

This issue was not too dissimilar from the tire example. Yes, the minimum safety spec was not met, so the tank should develop various issues in the long run. In the short term, though… There shouldn't be any major problems to worry about.

‘That’s right, this young man is talking nonsense!’

Two factors helped Bak Gwang-Cheol arrive at this conclusion. One, if the tank really did rupture, a small portion would break first, causing the water to leak out. Secondly, he had already told his direct subordinates to drain some water from the tank not too long ago.

Considering those two factors, there shouldn't be any immediate problems to worry about.

Even though Bak Gwang-Cheol knew this…

He found himself asking Kang Jin-Ho again. “It’s going to rupture now?”

He knew he shouldn’t ask this. Yet, he simply couldn’t control himself. What this young man before his eyes said contained a mysterious power to convince Bak Gwang-Cheol.

He never got a chance to say something, though. Because the other visitors exploded in irritation and anger first.

“What the hell! Didn't we say you gotta kick that brat out!"

“Isn't this how you run your place? How long are we supposed to put up with this nonsense!”

“If you don’t kick him out, we will! Hurry up and wrap this up already! Or make him shut his trap, at least!”

People’s loud yelling echoed unsteadily within the main hall. Bak Gwang-Cheol was about to say something to calm the irate crowd down, but then…!

The dreaded event finally happened.

Craaaaaack!

That noise could only be described as very strange. Even though it was ear-piercingly shrill, it was also surprisingly weighty. As if… a massive balloon had popped high up in the air!

From the irritated people shouting at Kang Jin-Ho to those who disinterestedly stared at their phones… Even the parents trying to calm their bored kids and the safety officials and Bak Gwang-Cheol…!

They all hurriedly turned their heads to stare at a spot in the acrylic wall.

The spot… where an ominous-looking crack could be seen!

‘A… crack?’

The wall that was so pristine and crystal-clear that it almost felt like water was being magically kept back… now had a visible crack running on it. The only way to describe it was like looking at a fissure in mid-air.

Everyone who saw that crack finally got to appreciate the fact that a 35cm wall made out of acrylic had been keeping the water away.

That information entered their minds, and when their brains finally processed that information…

Screams rocked the main hall.

“Kyaaaaaaaaaahk!”

The sharp screaming signaled the descent of pure pandemonium in the hall.