I took the central elevator up and, at the bakery in Undersea Base Three, loaded one of each kind of bread onto a tray. The bakery in Undersea Base Three was called [Babylonia], and while I had no idea why they had named it that, the bread was truly delicious. Freshly baked bread came out every day, and there was a wide variety. At first, I hadn’t understood the people who lined up and waited for the bread to come out, but now I did. I looked at the defiant phrase engraved inside the bakery.
[Man Can Live on Bread Alone]
If I had to choose between bread and rice, I was someone who would choose rice, but the bread here was so incredibly good that I couldn’t object to that phrase. I had thought the first red bean bun I ate had only tasted good because I was so hungry I swallowed it without even chewing, but it was still delicious even when I ate it on a full stomach.
The cafeteria food was decent, but this was good enough to make me think there was probably someone out there making meals out of bread. I considered filling the entire tray with only the breads I liked, but as the safe choice, I picked up one of each kind. I had no way of knowing who would like what.
Gang Sujeong’s work hours would start again in three hours. She happened to be chatting and hanging out with friends at her quarters, and she asked if I wanted to come. I thought of my appointment scheduled two hours from now. Then I asked if it was really all right for me to go, and only after she said it was did I take four coffees and a bundle of bread and knock on the door. Gang Sujeong, wearing a light shirt and jeans, opened the door to her quarters.
“You’re here, Doctor.”
“Hello!”
“Hello.”
“Hello. I’m Bak Muhyeon, the dentist who just arrived.”
Both of them were engineers from other teams. One was Zixuan from Engineering Team Ra, and the other was Lily, a Canadian from Engineering Team A. The three of them were workout friends. They had met at the gym in the Central District, apparently. When they didn’t feel like exercising, they encouraged each other and cursed each other out. All three were over 180 centimeters tall, and the muscles in their forearms as they picked up their coffees were no joke.
As I listened to the three of them chatter, I finally learned that most of the female engineers at the undersea base exercised regularly. Thinking of my own body, which had nothing but practical everyday muscles, I began reflecting on myself. Since I’d come to the undersea base, maybe I should build some muscle too.
“I think I should start working out too.”
“That’s a good idea. A lot of the men work out. For women, there’s a trainer named Emily, and for men, there’s someone named James.”
“Come to think of it, I remember James going around cursing every day because the men broke so much of the exercise equipment in the beginning.”
“Who’s James?”
“There’s a trainer from America named James Miller. Just tell him it’s your first time working out. He’ll teach you well.”
Seeing my blank expression, Zixuan explained in a little more detail.
“He’s a 195-centimeter-tall guy in a red tracksuit, with his entire body wrapped in muscle. He wears the same tracksuit every day, though I don’t know if he washes it before wearing it again.”
“I guess most of the men living at the undersea base are in good shape.”
At my comment, Gang Sujeong shook her head.
“Not all of them.”
“Exercise is something only the people who do it do.”
After saying that, Zixuan wiped the whipped cream on her lips with her thumb, licked it off, and quickly wiped the corner of her mouth with the back of her hand. I lowered the hand that had belatedly held out a napkin, and Lily, sitting beside her, smiled and took the napkin from my hand to wipe Zixuan’s cream-covered finger.
Since the topic of exercise had come up, I almost asked whether Team Leader Sin Haeryang went around striking people’s jaws like a storm, but then I remembered that Sin Haeryang was Gang Sujeong’s superior and gave up on the idea. Besides, with another engineer here too, if I brought it up, it would only become gossip. Silence was always golden. No, but still, just looking at Elliot, who had done the psychological counseling, or Yu Geumi, the researcher, I couldn’t tell whether they worked out or not.
“Did you always exercise? Or did you start after coming to the undersea base?”
I asked with the hope that if I stayed at the undersea base for a long time, I might naturally gain muscle as easily as breathing, and Zixuan, surprisingly, affirmed it lightly.
“After I came to the undersea base. Nothing used in the sea is light.”
As she said that and picked up another piece of bread, I realized I might have misjudged the amount of food. The three of them ate better than I had expected. Since I had bought one of each kind of bread, I think I had bought about seventeen, but they disappeared in the blink of an eye. Had I only let them have a taste? I should have bought more. When I briefly shared that thought, Gang Sujeong shook her head.
“We’re only eating like this because it’s a cheat day. We actually don’t eat bread much.”
Lily immediately objected.
“I eat it just fine, okay? You eat rice instead of bread!”
“Then you eat rice too.”
At Gang Sujeong’s calm words, Zixuan cackled. Lily, who had picked up a doughnut while saying it had been so long since she’d had sugar, sucked on her fingers and asked why the dental clinic’s name was Deep Blue. It was one of the few questions about the undersea base that I could answer with confidence. After hearing my explanation, Lily wagged a finger and said,
“An American definitely named that. Canadians don’t name things like that.”
“The names here are a complete mess. What kind of name is Manhan Quanxi for the restaurant in the Central District? The only Chinese food they actually serve is dumplings.”
When Gang Sujeong looked at Zixuan, Zixuan protested as if wronged by that gaze.
“You wanted to name it Suragan. What kind of name is Suragan? I’m better than you, at least. I wanted to name it Sichuan Cuisine!”
The conversation was so much fun that I stayed until it was almost cutting it close for my appointment, then got up first. Holding my half-finished coffee, I said to Gang Sujeong,
“Thank you for the suitcase and for inviting me to the tea party.”
“I’m the one who should be thanking you. I made an appointment for next week, so please take good care of me.”
“I’ll see you later.”
“Thanks for the food!”
Gang Sujeong pressed two cup noodles into my arms. I left Room 24 in the White Tiger Wing, quickly threw the cup noodles onto the bed in my room, Room 38, and then ran in a rush. I was in such a hurry that I bumped into someone coming from the escape pod area and nearly spilled all my coffee. I grabbed the arm of the person who was about to fall, barely keeping them upright, and it turned out to be a short man. After seeing his face, I barely managed to rummage through my memory and recall his name.
“Hello, Mr. Tamaki. Are your clothes all right?”
He looked at me with an incredibly startled expression, then became flustered. When I checked the hem of his clothes, fortunately, it seemed no coffee had splashed onto him. Tamaki hesitantly asked,
“Are you seeing patients tomorrow?”
“Tomorrow is my day off. How is your wound?”
“……It’s fine.”
“That’s a relief. I’m still thinking about what to do tomorrow. It’s my first day off since coming to the undersea base.”
“I see.”
Then Tamaki mumbled as if he was about to say something, but closed his mouth. After a few seconds of awkward silence, I said I’d see him again later and started running once more. I only had two appointments that afternoon, but I couldn’t keep even those few patients waiting. Only after running as if cutting straight across the Central District did I barely make it back to Deep Blue in time for the appointment.