Beacon of Light in the Dark Sea

Help everyone along the way? How is that possible? I must have felt like a huge burden to those three, along with Yoogeum. They could have abandoned us without any responsibility or blame. Why did they try so hard to escape together? Why didn’t Haeryang abandon me when he thought I might be a Infinity Church believer?

Sanghyun frowned at his cracked nail while touching his pad and said.

“I didn’t like it from the start when Team Leader said he’d go save that woman. When we barely have enough with three people sticking close to protect us, why should our strongest and smartest person leave to fetch someone else? What’s so special about her? It’s all just fish and seawater research here anyway, I don’t get what’s so great about it. I never understood why Team Leader and Jihyuk hyung keep sucking up to that woman.”

Jaehee, who had been watching me, looked at Sanghyun like he was observing a low-intelligence animal and spoke as if teaching.

“Sanghyun. Even if you think that way, you don’t need to say it out loud. If you’d just kept your mouth shut, people might have thought better of you.”

“Ah! Jaehee hyung! This is exactly when we need to look out for our own rice bowl! Who’s gonna recognize you if you don’t speak up? Ha. Aren’t you being too nice? You’re the nicest in the team. Really.”

Jaehee smiled slightly, apparently finding this amusing. Sanghyun sighed while rubbing his raw, reddened palms from crawling.

“Ah. I didn’t want to come here. Just came to the underwater base for nothing but trouble.”

“Why did you come to a place you hate so much?”

Tumanako, who had been quiet, glared at Sanghyun while asking. She seemed to have been eagerly anticipating working at the underwater base. Sanghyun frowned and replied.

“You think I came here because I wanted to?!”

“Then just leave.”

“I’m getting out as soon as my contract ends! Don’t talk about shit you don’t know!”

When I stepped between Tumanako and Sanghyun, they naturally stopped talking since they couldn’t see each other’s faces.

That’s when it happened. CRRRRRRRRRACK! A nightmarish sound resonated throughout the ceiling and walls. As the building suddenly shook, people started swaying with it.

I quickly gave up trying to maintain balance and fell backwards. My ass felt shattered, but at least nothing else was injured. It reminded me of when I used to throw myself forward while carrying children or animals.

People trying to stay standing all ended up either bruising their knees on the floor or bracing themselves with their palms. The vibrations finally stopped after about three minutes. People with anxious expressions hesitantly got up from the floor. When Jaehee remained sitting blankly even after others had stood, I extended both hands. I wasn’t confident I could support an adult male’s weight with just one hand.

It’s hard for people with a history of leg or back problems to get up from the floor. Climbing stairs, walking on slopes, and traversing uneven ground become extra challenging too. But no matter how hard it is for me, this person must have it worse.

Quite a few people use beds because it’s hard to take care of their bodies. Getting up from a bed is easier than getting up from the floor. Of course, there are also plenty who insist on floor living over raised furniture. I too will start floor living as soon as I get out of this underwater base, removing the bed from my room. I’ll lay out a mattress on the floor. Without a bed, there’s no risk of falling off it. If my back develops problems, an orthopedic doctor can fix it. Or at least lecture me about it.

The person who had fallen countless times before took my hands and got up with familiar ease. Watching him move, thankfully his prosthetic arm seemed fine. Jaehee spoke while letting go of my hands.

“Ga-young has a pretty average face, but she’s got a nice body from doing yoga for a long time. Her personality isn’t bad either. Hmm… She’s a good cook too. She’s baked snacks and bread for the underwater base quite a few times.”

“What are you trying to say?”

Jaehee spoke while dusting off his ass and legs.

“Is it really worth risking death to save her? Is she worth betting your life on? Sure, she’s decent, but there are plenty of women like that in the world.”

I’m having trouble understanding what he’s saying. My brain seems to be struggling since hearing that the protection only extended to Korean nationality engineers.

“Ga-young is one of a kind in this world. Worth betting my life… I don’t know why you’re saying these things, but I want Ga-young to live.”

What other Kim Ga-young is there in the world? Why ask such questions? Is he saying his own life is precious because it’s his only one, but others’ lives are expendable? Why say these things when you’re not going to help anyway? …I don’t want to waste mental energy when I’m already physically exhausted.

“Even if there were ten more Kim Ga-youngs in the world, I’d still go save the Ga-young trapped in the water right now.”

It’s a horrible thought, but even if I go now, it might be too late to save Ga-young. If I fail to escape this time and die again, I’ll go to save Ga-young next time too. And the time after that. And the time after that. Until Ga-young escapes this underwater base.

…There’s something good even in these brutal, merciless days. I remember Ga-young torturing my face with disinfectant at the research center. Why do we risk danger and sacrifice ourselves for complete strangers? I don’t know how Ga-young would answer my question, but she’d probably have a better answer than me. As Jaehee shrugged, his multiple earrings jingled softly.

“Good luck. I tried my best to stop you.”

“What? Oh… Yes. I ignored your attempts and went anyway.”

Avoiding responsibility? From whom? I was too tired to continue the conversation. Just listening to the dialogue seemed to drain my energy.

If I had more muscle in my legs or more stamina, I would have run straight to the Main Building without stopping. People had crawled or moved on their knees tensely to avoid bullets, and now that the tension had lifted, they could barely walk from exhaustion.

Maybe due to the shock of the firefight, people were floundering as if they’d forgotten how to walk. Getting up after falling once made things even worse. We probably looked like gazelles wanting to escape a lion but unable to run far. Rather than risk falling again and getting hurt, I took comfort in at least moving forward slowly.

Carlos, who was walking most normally among us, had been listening quietly before asking me.

“That person they keep talking about. Isn’t she that Asian woman who used to share baked snacks?”

“…I heard she did that.”

From what people said, it seems she didn’t just bake snacks and bread once or twice. Flour costs quite a bit – how often was she stressed? Is that normal for researchers? Carlos sighed and said.

“Pathetic bastards. Happy to eat what’s given but…”

He added a few more words. Probably curses, but seeing how such long sentences weren’t being translated, it seemed to be in a language outside the 10 languages my translator supports. Spanish maybe? No, Spanish would be translated by my device. Must be some other language. Sanghyun shouted angrily.

“What did you say?! Did anyone force her to give us anything? Did we threaten her for bread?! She’s the one who baked and shared it to relieve her own stress!”

Hearing this, Carlos made a “mhehehehehe” sound before exclaiming.

“Developed countries sure are something! Even bastards like you survive to that age and walk around. I’ve seen countless people Jesus himself would give up on and throw into hell, but selfish bastards like you usually get whiiiiish sorted out by family before becoming adults. Or some pissed-off person shoots them at night. Guess Koreans don’t have much sense of social responsibility.”

Carlos made a whistling sound for the “whiiiiish” part while drawing his finger across his throat. Then he looked down at Sanghyun with eyes that seemed amazed he was even alive, prompting Sanghyun to snap irritably.

“What’s it to you!”

After shouting that, Sanghyun moved away from Carlos and hid behind Jaehee’s back. From the sounds, it seemed he was continuing the game he’d paused on his pad. Carlos, still with traces of laughter on his face, patted me and said.

“Brother, you seem decent, but nothing good comes from getting involved with these engineer bastards. Just ignore them and live your life. Honestly, there’s no reason to work here except for money. Just think of it as earning money for your family.”

“Is that possible while living in the underwater base?”

“Right, you’re a dentist? You’ll always be meeting people. Well, can’t help that then.”

“Would you consider coming along to help rescue Ga-young?”

“Good luck.”

Carlos’s clean farewell made me laugh weakly in disbelief. Over Carlos’s shoulder, I could see the huge shark skull in the distance. When I first visited Deep Blue, I got lost because it was hidden in a somewhat secluded spot down from the Central Building, but now I could spot it immediately by that shark skull from far away.

Same with Ophion. Just the snake’s head was visible at the opposite end. From this distance, I could even make out the pupils in the snake’s eyes. Carlos, Sanghyun, and Jaehee seemed to be heading to Ophion as agreed.

Tumanako carefully asked me.

“You’re really going to the Main Building to save someone?”

“Yes.”

“You might die.”

It’s always been that way… I must have been lucky so far.

“Yes. I’m still going.”

“Then I’m coming too.”

“What?”

“I’m going with you.”

“It might be dangerous. You’d be safer hiding in the gym.”

“Kim Ga-young? Now that I hear it, I know her. I’m coming along.”

She declared this while coming to my side. Tumanako knew Ga-young? I don’t remember them having any connection. After thanking her, we parted ways with the others. Sanghyun didn’t say anything to me, but Jaehee smiled and waved.

We started walking south together but didn’t speak. Partly from exhaustion, but also because there wasn’t much to say. To break this awkward atmosphere, I hesitated before asking Tumanako.

“I didn’t know you and Ga-young knew each other.”

“We don’t.”

“What?”

“I’m going to know her from now on. I just didn’t want to go with those guys. I don’t want to hide with men I’ve only seen once or twice in the quarters.”

“Ah… I see.”

I must be a stranger to Tumanako too. I was about to mention that but chose to just close my mouth and walk. My head was screaming to run, but I had no energy left to do so. All I wanted was to lie down somewhere and sleep for about 30 minutes. Then I felt the vibrations of someone running from far away.

“Someone’s coming.”

Someone was running at an incredible speed. Tumanako and I hid behind a nearby water purifier. Only when they got close enough to identify their face did I realize it was Haeryang running. He was carrying someone on his back. Blood drops fell with each step. Taking one more step, Haeryang looked toward the water purifier like a wild animal sensing presence.