If you fly from Seoul to Jeju Island, there is a Jeju naval base. Once you enter the naval base and present your acceptance documents for employment at the undersea base, after countless checks and a long wait, you can board a ship. Around the time you are vomiting from seasickness and no longer want to live, they tell you to get off that enormous ship and board a helicopter.
It was the first time in my life I had ever ridden a helicopter. Only after getting on did I learn that a helicopter was basically a flying motorcycle. After being shaken around in the helicopter for another long stretch of time, and after thinking hundreds of times about whether this damned helicopter might crash into the sea, and why I had come here and gotten on this thing without taking out life insurance, the helicopter finally landed somewhere.
After more than three days like that, you arrive at the artificial island. Having spent two full days doing nothing but vomit, my legs gave out, and I practically crawled out of the helicopter. Just as I was struggling to come to my senses, someone supported me by the arm.
“Welcome to the undersea base. That must have been very hard on you.”
A woman who looked to be two meters tall was holding my staggering arm. Startled, I looked up, and the brown-haired woman with a bob raised the corners of her mouth.
“I’m Gang Sujeong. It’s nice to meet you.”
“Nice to meet you. I’m Bak Muhyeon.”
While we exchanged a handshake, Gang Sujeong naturally took the suitcase I had been holding.
“You’re the new dentist, aren’t you? We’ve been waiting for you.”
“······Are your teeth in very bad shape, Sujeong?”
Seeing my deathly pale face, Gang Sujeong shook her head and said. I felt like I would vomit on the spot if someone so much as poked me in the side.
“Doctor, it seems your semicircular canals aren’t in particularly good condition. You appear to suffer badly from motion sickness. Do you need medicine?”
“I’ll feel much better now that I’m off the helicopter.”
“To begin with, all medical facilities on this island are free. If you need medical support, you can go to the hospital anytime.”
I told her it was heavy and asked her to give my suitcase back, but Gang Sujeong lifted my suitcase, which weighed over thirty kilograms, as lightly as if it were a handbag. We walked from the helipad toward the buildings. Now that I was walking on my own two feet, I felt at least somewhat alive.
“Suhyeok drives a bit roughly, doesn’t he?”
She seemed to be talking about the person who had flown the helicopter. I hadn’t even known his name, but from this moment on, that bastard Suhyeok was my enemy. I forced down the nausea rising to my throat and barely managed to speak.
“The helicopter spun three hundred and sixty degrees.”
“He must have taken a liking to you, Doctor.”
What was that supposed to mean? It was the first time I had ever seen a helicopter rotate three hundred and sixty degrees and then plummet vertically from above to below. Even a roller coaster at an amusement park wouldn’t move like that. From the moment the helicopter pilot grinned and told me to fasten my belt because he was going to show me something good, I should have screamed my lungs out. The person in the passenger seat thought I was screaming because I was enjoying it, raised both arms, and screamed along with me.
“Helicopters will occasionally come from the naval base to the undersea base. You can go to Korea when the timing lines up with one of those trips. There’s a bakery at the Third Undersea Base, and they’ll be happy if you buy them bread from there.”
No wonder. I had thought this Gang Sujeong person had greeted the helicopter pilots and exchanged some big paper bags with them, but it must have been bread.
“What’s that?”
When I asked about the huge shopping bag that looked big enough to fit two people, Gang Sujeong grinned.
“These are packages that the Koreans staying at the undersea base ordered to the Jeju naval base. Whenever a helicopter comes like this, it brings packages too. You have no idea how much we were waiting for you, Doctor, like we were waiting for a delivery truck.”
“So the packages were the real goal.”
“Oh, come on. What are you saying? Both you and the packages were the goal.”
But as Gang Sujeong said that, she couldn’t hide the satisfied smile on her face while looking at the enormous shopping bag filled with several cardboard boxes.
“May I ask what you bought?”
What could be lacking in this undersea base? I had heard that most things could be obtained at the undersea base, so I hadn’t packed much.
“For me, cosmetics and a few comic books. Other people bought things like Korean snacks or ramyeon. Aeyeong said she bought a few earrings and some clothes, and Jihyeok said he bought clothes too. Jaehui said she bought sterilized banana milk by the box, but it doesn’t seem to have arrived this time.”
Gang Sujeong rummaged through the enormous shopping bag with her large hand, then stopped searching, apparently unable to find her own items.
“Can food be delivered too?”
“It’s better not to order food since you never know when it’ll arrive. It costs quite a lot more than you’d think to have helicopters coming and going like that. If it’s urgent, you can ask the Americans and have it ordered through their side, and it’ll come quickly. Those guys seem to launch helicopters every other day anyway.”
“Do you miss Korean food a lot while you’re here?”
“Always. I secretly make tteokbokki at night and eat it. If it gets too hard for you to endure too, Doctor, I’ll give you cup ramyeon when you come to my room.”
“Thank you.”
As we moved away from the helipad, I saw two large buildings that looked like hospitals and one large building beside them. Gang Sujeong pointed with the tip of her finger at a building in the distance. However, I was busy staring at the massive arm muscles of Gang Sujeong, who was wearing short sleeves in the freezing sea wind. Wasn’t she cold? Only after Gang Sujeong urged me did I look at the hospital building.
“The three buildings in front of you are the hospital buildings. The one next to them is the operations-related building. Since this is your first time here, Muhyeon, there should be a few documents you need to fill out. Fill those out, then go to Baekho-dong Room 38. I’ll put your suitcase in the room. Go into the one-story building you see over there and meet Priya Kumari. She’s probably waiting for you.”
Documents, Baekho-dong Room 38, first floor, Priya Kumari. It seemed she had no intention of going with me. Trying to memorize the flood of information so I wouldn’t have to ask twice, I asked Gang Sujeong.
“What kind of work do you do at the undersea base, Sujeong?”
“I’m an engineer. Most people here are engineers, people working in natural gas and oil extraction, or marine researchers. I’m in Engineering Team A. Just keep going straight. The central elevator is in the direction I’m going. Remember that, then take it down. See you later!”
“Thank you! I’ll see you later!”
Whether she heard my farewell or not, Gang Sujeong began heading toward the hospital building at tremendous speed. My suitcase and the huge shopping bag were dragged along with a scraping sound and quickly disappeared. I was left alone beside a building painted light green. Freezing in the sea wind, I quickly went inside the first floor and was able to find Priya Kumari’s room right away.