I'm back! Owed chapter 1/7

XG 111 - Why don't you try before giving up?

"But Teacher Jang, why don't you think that maybe we could save your students? What if we have the strength to rescue them, and succeed in bringing the church's tyrannical ruling to an end?" Wong Xue Guo stood up and properly faced Teacher Jang. "Don't you want to bet if your students could be saved? Why don't you try before giving up?"

Teacher Jang was flustered, shocked that she would be so ambitious. "There are only so few of us and they are just children. The church has many people and most of them are good at injuring people. Don't say we could rescue the sacrifices, it's already impossible to bring the end to the group."

"I want to try it!"

Eyes widened in shock, Teacher Jang turned to look at Seonmi, who had eavesdropped on their conversation. With a fierce expression, she repeated, "I want to try it. Teacher Jang, they are my friends and I want to save them. When I ask everyone to follow me to the church to rescue them, I plan to search for helpers along the way. If we can't find any, I would abandon the rescue mission."

"Seonmi, it's still dangerous-"

"Teacher!" Seonmi interrupted. "You have said that when we graduate, we will face a lot of challenges in society. But as long as we stand firm and work hard, we will survive and thrive. If we don't try to rescue them, how would we know if we will succeed or not?"

"Please Teacher Jang! Please let us try!" The lanky boy bowed beside Seonmi, earnestly asking his teacher to let them be.

Teacher Jang was worried for his student's safety but their firm determination shone in their eyes finally had him yield to them.

"Princess, what are you trying to do?" Kang Xunsu was very aware that his little princess was vehemently against helping them. So why was she egging Teacher Jang then?

"Well... I'm just curious if he could go against my reasoning?" Alas, she had hit her own feet with her stone!

To make up for her fault, Wong Xue Guo smilingly asked what they would pay them for their help.

"We have nothing to give. Please help us, since you have already met us!" Seonmi said, without shame of her bold request.

"Kind people, please help us!" The lanky guy bowed deeply. "We will die if no one helps us."

Teacher Jang winced. "Kids, don't do that... that's moral kidnapping."

"If you guys are here to loot stuff, you can get a lot from the church. They had grabbed a lot of stuff. I promise thatall of them are yours! We won't take any!" Seonmi promised generously.

Wong Xue Guo gave them an unimpressed look. "That is the reward for our hard efforts, not your payment for getting us to help."

"We really have nothing valuable on us. Our food is given by the school and it's only enough for us to eat. If we give them to you, we will starve," Seonmi said rather pitifully, and the lanky boy immediately supported his friend by giving them his own version of the pitiable look.

Beom Seok's laughter was mixed with frustration. "How shameless. We don't want your food, but your body."

"What? We don't agree!" Teacher Jang immediately stood before his students.

"We are not a prostitution den. There are many ways of using a person's body," Beom Seok explained, but Teacher Jang's expression still does not look good.

"You want us to scout the place first? Get to the front lines when fighting those monsters?" The lanky guy asked warily.

"Nothing as life-threatening as that," Wong Xue Guo assured. "You just need to speak to people on our behalf and maintain our reputation at the same time. I can't explain more now, but you need to answer now before we decide to help you."

"If we say no, you will not help us," Seonmi summarized.

Wong Xue Guo just smiled unapologetically.

Beom Seok was puzzled by her sudden change of trajectory, as he was thinking of using them to help them farm. Even so, he showed none of his puzzlement on his face, fully cooperating with Wong Xue Guo. He was just a guard, a fighter that does not get involved with decision making. There were many things he was out of the loop about.

"Which base are you from?" Seonmi asked. It was rather strange that a base would want a public speaker, and she doubt the shopping mall base would even bother cleaning up their reputation.

"Musihada Laboratory."

"What?" The lanky guy took in a sharp breath, just as Seonmi looked shaken. Teacher Jang firmed up his caution and pushed back his students slightly.

"Are we that scary?" Beom Seok showed his teeth like a big bad wolf.

"... You want us to speak to other survivors to work with Musihada Lab and say good things about you?" Seonmi was quick to catch it.

"Don't worry, what you tell them won't be a lie."

"But also not a complete truth," Seonmi refuted, her gaze sharp and assessing towards Wong Xue Guo. "Do you even have the right to decide that anyway?"

"No," Wong Xue Guo admitted. "But worry not, for your 'help' is still useful. We won't turn away any profitable cooperation."

"That's not what I mean. What if your leader refuses to accept our agreement?"

"Hmm? Why would you worry about that when you have nothing to lose from it?"

As if waking up from a hazy dream, Seonmi realized she was right. Musihada Lab would be helping them first before Seonmi's group would help them. If their leader does not agree with the agreement, it does not erase the fact that Wong Xue Guo's group had helped them save the hostages. In fact, it would be Wong Xue Guo's group that would be at a disadvantage.

Wong Xue Guo clapped her hand. "But of course, even if my 'leaders' disagree with it, you will still need to hold up your part of the agreement."

"You still want us to do talks for you even when your leader disagrees with it? Aren't you afraid of making them angry?"

Wong Xue Guo laughed. "No. I don't think they will disagree with our agreement. Well, what's your answer?"

Seeing their hesitation, Beom Seok spoke up. "We have proven we are not the one that causes the disease. We even saved the monitoring file from Sinnyeom hospital, in which an experimented patient bit a visitor that left not long after. That person's home address is from the first outspread area."

"We are running out of time," Kim Sung-Ho said, showing his watch to Beom Seok.

"As he said, we are running out of time... but it's only a problem for you guys, right?" Beom Seok said.

"Musihada Lab is looking for a cure?" Seonmi asked.

"We are trying."

"Okay, I agree to the deal," Seonmi said.

Beom Seok turned to the lanky guy and Teacher Jang. "How about you two?"

"What?" The lanky boy stared blankly.

"I will help too. Seonmi and I will be enough," Teacher Jang said.

"We don't mind how many people will be helping Seonmi, as long as she holds up her part of the agreement. But if she dies... Teacher Jang will have to step up," Wong Xue Guo said.

The lanky boy stepped forward angrily. "Why are you cursing-"

Seonmi quickly stopped him. "That's ok. She's right that our rescue mission is dangerous and we might likely die from it."

With that settled, they could finally move on to the next step.

When L.L. had said children were good at sneaking in places, no one thought he would really want to implement that.

"The church always follows the exact time to start the public sacrifice. From what I've heard, they will pray for the sacrifices in the church from the morning, until the time the sacrifices will be dragged to the public hall for everyone to see. They will pass by the park before reaching the public hall. If we want to sneak in to rescue them before they start to leave for the public hall, we have to do it now," L.L. explained.

The public sacrifice will start at four in the afternoon, and there are only thirty-eight minutes left!

"So we will need some of our people to get into the church and get the hostage out without being noticed," Beom Seok summarized.

"I will sneak in," Seonmi volunteered. "I need one person to come with me. Haneol, you and others will help out to stop them if we fail the rescue mission."

"But I will be useful if I follow you," Haneol, the lanky guy, protested.

"Your strength is more useful to fight them if anything happens."

"My strength will be useful if we get caught during the rescue mission."

"Don't jinx it," Seonmi chastised.

"I want to join the rescue mission," the boy in his school uniform said.

"Woojin?" Teacher Jang did not expect him to say that.

Sensing his teacher's worry, Woojin clasped his hand and said earnestly, "Teacher, I'm quite a fast runner and good at hiding. I will be of use to Seonmi."

"If it's running, count on me too! Three people are better than two when you need someone to help you to look out!" Kwangsu volunteered. If their rescue mission succeeds, they really need to escape before the enemies do their check-in time, because if the sacrifice was missing, they would know that someone had sneaked in to rescue them.

"Count me in too," Wong Xue Guo said, surprising everyone in her team. "I remember pathways rather well." Or rather, she was not really confident with Seonmi and Woojin's ability to protect themselves and rescue people at the same time.

"Then I-"

"Oh no," Kang Xunsu interrupted. "Sung-Ho, you need to help out L.L. on the lookout. He might miss something, with the high tension and all."

L.L., who had experienced many near-death in the warzone, stared at his leader with an obscure expression.

"Beom Seok, can you follow the kids?" Kang Xunsu requested, acting as if he cared for the children's safety. But their team knew he wanted Beom Seok to follow them for the purpose of protecting Wong Xue Guo.

"I would have volunteered you to do it if you did not ask me," Beom Seok laughed. "We will use walkie talkies to communicate. Chanyeol, you will rush to Duljjae, and have him cooperate with us."

If the rescue team failed, they would have to rescue them and the hostages. That was when the heavy hitters were needed to fight against the church members.