Beacon of Light in the Dark Sea

It’s strange how people’s gazes can feel so heavy, creating intense pressure even when they’re just looking. Their eyes seemed to mix silent urgency with reproach, demanding an immediate decision.

…No. That’s just my imagination. I’m not a mind reader – I can’t know what others are thinking. Don’t be negative. I need to think and decide in a way that benefits everyone, including myself.

People shouldn’t let mob mentality drive them to sacrifice an innocent person to a cult for unguaranteed small gain-

“Just go already!”

Sanghyun snapped at me. Hearing this, Tumanako shot him a fierce glare.

“What the fuck do you think they’ll do to him if we hand him over to those bastards!”

“They said they’ll let everyone else go!”

Tumanako exploded in anger.

“You chicken-brain! You actually believe that bullshit?! Never give anything to people who come at you with guns! Don’t even let them breathe a single fucking breath of air!”

She continued in a voice thick with what seemed like deep-seated hatred.

“You’re trying to throw away a human life like it’s nothing!”

Sanghyun looked at Tumanako with a sour expression and asked.

“Weren’t Maori people cannibals back in the day?”

He seemed to be trying to provoke her. Or maybe just trying to piss her off.

“Keep your mouth shut if you don’t want to get eaten.”

When Tumanako responded menacingly, Sanghyun pouted and closed his mouth. I gave Tumanako a quick bow and thanked her with my eyes. Despite her insistence against sending me, I felt like I might need to let myself get captured by the Infinity Church people, if only to get answers.

I might at least be able to ask them about their motives, about those jewels at the exhibition, why I keep dying and coming back to life, why every Infinity Church believer says something different, why we can’t escape from here. They probably know more than I do, at least.

But… honestly, I don’t want to go. Like putting off unpleasant tasks until the absolute deadline, I felt an overwhelming revulsion at the thought of voluntarily joining such a group of fanatics, even if it meant spending time with them.

Even if it was a necessary rite of passage on my path to finding answers, I didn’t want to go. Not just because of what happened at the jewelry exhibition, but thinking about the massacre at the freight elevator in the Main Building made me want to maintain eternal parallel lines with the Infinity Church believers.

And their attitude of walking around with guns just to find and take one person made something rise up in my throat. Who the fuck are you to order people around? Having a gun means you can do whatever you want? Those without guns should just do what they’re told because they’re afraid of dying? The whole mindset that the strong can naturally dominate the weak is fucked up. Would you be making these threats if we had more people and overwhelming firepower?

And what’s with this “we’ll let you go” bullshit? What if you don’t let us go? Is killing people the only thing you’re capable of? In the time we’ve wasted in this standoff trading nonsense, we could have saved all the people drowning or in danger in the underwater base.

Unlike before when I was trembling with fear, now that I could look at these armed thugs coldly, I felt my rebellious nature raising its head in various ways. …Calm down, Moohyun. You’re just an ordinary citizen with an unfit body. I tried hard to soothe my rising anger.

Would there be anything beneficial for me in going to Infinity Church anyway? They said they were looking for me, but wouldn’t going now just benefit them? Do I have the ability to cleverly escape from these gun-trained cult fanatics while gathering their information without revealing my capabilities?

…I’d probably grow gills faster than develop those kinds of abilities. I feel like they’d just strip me of everything I know and exploit me until I die.

I was curious about why they were specifically targeting me. How did the Infinity Church people know I was repeating today’s time? I left the Hundred Tiger Building quarters too late this time, so I hadn’t done anything, not even the broadcast. Did they review CCTV footage like Engineering Team A? Even then, the CCTV would only show people suddenly disappearing.

“Why would terrorist cultists need a dentist who just started working at the underwater base?”

Jaehee asked me, but I had no good excuse ready. So I degraded the cult members to beast-like creatures.

“Maybe they have some doctrine against brushing teeth? So they have tons of cavities? Or terrible breath? I don’t know.”

Jaehee looked at me curiously and asked.

“I’m bored. Can I ask them if I can go with Moohyun?”

Beside him, Sanghyun heard this and recoiled in horror, moving far away from Jaehee.

“Oh shut the fuck up! If you’re bored, just play some games!”

“Are games this thrilling?”

“We’re about to fucking die and you care about thrills?!”

“When else am I gonna experience being caught in a firefight during a terrorist attack in a multinational workplace? This is all experience, you know?”

“What experience?! Fuck! There’s not a single sane person in this underwater base. Seriously!”

Silence fell over the corridor. I thought someone might answer for me, but surprisingly, no one responded to their demand to hand me over. I had imagined someone yelling that I was here and to quickly guarantee our safety in exchange.

“It’s quiet, isn’t it?”

At my question, Jihyuk, seemingly in pain, sucked in a breath with a hiss, held it for a moment, then slowly exhaled.

“They’re probably worried that right after handing you over, they’ll say ‘thank you!’ and feed us some bullets. They’re debating whether to get shot after handing you over or get shot without handing you over. Especially the Russians are waiting for our team leader’s answer… Actually, if they’d asked for Sophia or Nikolai, we would’ve kept our mouths shut.”

Carlos, who had crawled halfway across the corridor, finally reached our hiding spot. Tumanako and I pulled him behind the pillar. Carlos saw me and said with a friendly smile.

“Oh! You were hiding here?! What are you gonna do? Going to go? I think they’re lying. Pretty sure they’ll just shoot us as soon as we hand you over. What do you think?”

“Aren’t you thinking of telling them I’m here?”

Carlos ducked down to avoid getting shot and replied.

“In movies and dramas, the ones who act without loyalty always get shot first.”

Sanghyun frowned hearing this. Carlos repeatedly punched the buttons on the candy vending machine behind the pillar. When candies tumbled out, he gave one to Tumanako and dumped the rest in his mouth. Jihyuk kept watching ahead while asking me behind him.

“Doc, do you want to go to those bastards?”

The stares burning into my face were uncomfortable. I had a feeling if I answered positively to this question, they’d send me.

Should I be honest? My encounters with armed Infinity Church believers haven’t exactly gone well. Starting with Jihyuk who’s asking me this question – his arm seems soaked in blood.

They said they’d guarantee everyone’s safety, but how can you trust the words of cult members? I don’t even trust regular religious people. Several people seem to have fallen in the earlier firefight – would they really not seek revenge?

“…No. I don’t want to go.”

“Then stay quietly behind me.”

Then Jihyuk sighed once, raised his eyebrows and said.

“This kind of thing is our team leader’s specialty, not mine. I was waiting for the boss to answer, but they seem busy over there, so I guess there’s no choice.”

“What do you mean?”

“Lying. …Professionally called distraction and deception tactics, but it’s not really my strong suit.”

Can lying even be considered a strong suit? Is that really something to brag about?

“Then what is your specialty?”

“My specialty is being good at rolling wherever I’m told to. Ha. If it was Team Leader Shin, he’d be doing this shit right now… Hey! Why do you want to take him?!”

Jihyuk shouted the last part in English. His voice echoed so loud it hurt my ears. Jaehee covered his ears in shock. The Infinity Church side responded slowly.

“You don’t need to know that!”

Seems like neither side has any intention of sharing even a speck of decent information. Jihyuk probably didn’t expect them to answer anyway, as he just shouted with veins popping in his neck.

“We’ll hand over Park Moohyun if you guarantee our survival!”

Chills ran down my spine the moment I heard it. Hey… did you just sell me out? If you were going to do that, why ask if I wanted to go? After telling me to stay put like you weren’t going to send me… If you’d said it was for everyone’s survival, I might have at least understood and gone.

Tumanako’s mouth fell open at Jihyuk’s words. She didn’t even notice the candy she was about to eat rolling on the floor. Carlos was rolling candy in his mouth while muttering something about how the Russian bastards seemed brainless but these Korean bastards had no loyalty. Sanghyun gave Tumanako a proud smile, but she wasn’t looking at him. The Infinity Church side shouted at us.

“Send him over right now! Once Park Moohyun reaches our side, we’ll withdraw from the Fourth Underwater Base.”

Sounds like they’re saying they’ll still stay in the Second and Third Underwater Bases. Jihyuk, maintaining his aim without moving an inch, shouted.

“Park Moohyun is dead!”

What?

I could feel everyone around me, including myself, being taken aback. Even the Infinity Church side seemed shocked. Jihyuk shouted while looking at the corpse lying spread-eagled in the middle of the corridor.

“That man with the mangled face in the middle of the corridor is Park Moohyun! Take the corpse and get the fuck out of here!”