I placed a single candy of some color on the pad and handed it to Sin Haeryang. Sin Haeryang gave a slight nod, took the candy in his hand, and turned on the pad. I distributed sugar-free candies to Yu Geumi and Tumanako; Yu Geumi picked one at random, but Tumanako took quite a while choosing a flavor.
Seo Jihyeok plucked an orange-flavored candy and a strawberry-flavored candy from my hand, unwrapped the strawberry one, and put it in Yi Jihyeon’s mouth as he lay there. Baek Ayeong took a plum-flavored candy but didn’t eat it. The sugar-free candies made their rounds among the people in the escape pod port. Having checked and closed the pad, Sin Haeryang asked me,
“What do you think is the most urgent matter that needs to be handled right now?”
“Rescuing Ms. Kim Gayeong.”
“Is she in a dangerous situation requiring rescue?”
“Ms. Kim Gayeong is trapped in Room 77 of Jujak-dong. Water is coming in, but the door won’t open.”
“Is there a possibility of encountering dangerous individuals on the way to Jujak-dong?”
I had gone from Baekho-dong to Jujak-dong twice, but I hadn’t met anyone in between.
“No. Getting there and rescuing her will be difficult, but there won’t be any problems on the way. On the way back, there’s a high possibility of a gunfight breaking out from Hyeonmu-dong toward Jungang-dong.”
“I see. Vice Team Leader!”
Gang Sujeong, who had been giggling and chatting with Nikita from afar, heard Sin Haeryang’s words and ran over toward us.
“Team Leader. Did you call for me?”
“Didn’t he say he would move with us?”
“He says he has no intention of going together even if the Kremlin Palace were to collapse.”
When Sin Haeryang lifted his head toward Vladimir, Vladimir was holding a fist with his thumb pointing down toward the floor. I didn’t know what it meant, but I could tell it meant he didn’t want to.
Then Vladimir pointed at Sin Haeryang, pressed one index finger toward the head area, and then turned his five fingertips toward the people. He was probably pointing at the people around Henry with his fingertips, but Sin Haeryang ignored Vladimir’s hand gestures and spoke to Gang Sujeong.
“A few team members need to go to Jujak-dong.”
“Why is that?”
“Researcher Kim Gayeong is said to be trapped in Room 77 of Jujak-dong.”
“Then I suppose I must go. Who will go with me?”
“Jihyeok will go with you.”
Seo Jihyeok, who had been half-lying down and eating candy, grunted as he got up.
“And here I wanted to laze around a little longer.”
“Oh. As if you haven’t been doing just that.”
Baek Ayeong, who had been standing guard and looking around the whole time, sat down on the floor once Seo Jihyeok got up. Yi Jihyeon, who had been lying on his back on the floor, squirmed and crawled over to use Baek Ayeong’s calf as a pillow. Baek Ayeong adjusted the position of her leg so Yi Jihyeon could lie on it more comfortably. Then she waved in advance at Gang Sujeong and Seo Jihyeok, who had not yet left. Gang Sujeong glanced at the two team members stuck to the floor, then looked at me and spoke to the team leader.
“Is the dentist coming with us too?”
“I may not be of much help, but if I’m to follow along, I will do my best to assist.”
Sin Haeryang, who had been thinking for a moment, nodded.
“Then please go with those two. We will also be moving to Jungang-dong soon.”
“Huh? Where in Jungang-dong are you going?”
“We will be going to Ophion.”
Ophion was the fitness center inside the underwater base. I hadn’t been there even once yet, but from what I’d heard, its interior was packed with exercise equipment for weight training and cardio. It was a facility located in Jungang-dong, but why go there? Reading my expression, Sin Haeryang answered.
“The walls have broken down several times, so it’s been renovated multiple times. Because of that, it’s the sturdiest place in Jungang-dong.”
......What the hell do you have to do to break the walls of a fitness center? Was it because I was so far removed from exercise that I didn’t know fitness centers were built with walls that break easily? Or was there a wall-breaking exercise during muscle training? I asked while zipping up my open backpack.
“How did the walls end up breaking?”
A brief silence fell from Sin Haeryang. Since there was no answer, I looked over to see Sin Haeryang, who had paused for a beat, reply.
“The partition walls couldn’t support a person’s weight.”
What on earth were they doing? Seo Jihyeok, beside me, received the pad from Yi Jihyeon, and my eyes met Yi Jihyeon, who had been lying on the floor the whole time. Yi Jihyeon made all sorts of faces while lying down and greeted me.
“I’m Yi Jihyeon. You probably won’t believe me given the circumstances of our first meeting, but I’m not a rude person.”
“Ah. Yes. Nice to meet you. I’m Park Muhyeon. Please don’t get up; stay lying down.”
Yi Jihyeon, who had been pale, answered with a faint smile.
“My condition suddenly took a turn for the worse. I don’t usually live my life lying down like this.”
I barely swallowed down the words “I know.” The Yi Jihyeon I knew was someone who moved around more than others.
“What exactly is wrong?”
“Every nook and cranny of my body hurt. I felt like I’d been ground entirely into powder.”
“Since when have you been feeling unwell?”
“Hmm. Not long. Since a few minutes before the broadcast. I’m much better now. Can muscle pain suddenly appear throughout the entire body like this?”
“......I don’t know for sure.”
If something like a virus had infiltrated his body, it was possible. When you caught the flu, your whole body ached. Muscle pain could also come from dehydration or a lack of electrolytes. Why was his condition bad? When I’d met him before, hadn’t Yi Jihyeon been fine? ......Hadn’t he? Had he been unwell then too but not told me? I handed him the acetaminophen-based painkillers I had in my bag, and Yi Jihyeon swallowed them without any water.
Looking at the ailing Yi Jihyeon, something Gang Sujeong had said before suddenly came to mind. Before sending them off on the escape pod, Seo Jihyeok had rolled around on the floor complaining of leg pain.
Had that been an exaggeration? The current Seo Jihyeok was walking around perfectly fine. Moreover, he looked much healthier than Yi Jihyeon, who was lying on the floor. Seo Jihyeok was pacing beside Yi Jihyeon, and even though Baek Ayeong was swinging her arm like a noose trying to snatch his ankle, he nimbly hopped and dodged. There was no sign of the man who had been shot in the knee and walked up over four thousand stairs with the support of others. Gang Sujeong, who had been talking with Sin Haeryang, said to me and Seo Jihyeok,
“Let’s go quickly.”
“Yes.”
“Yup.”
I walked a few steps and then asked Seo Jihyeok’s back,
“Mr. Jihyeok. Is there anywhere that hurts?”
“No? Ah? My tooth is fine now.”
Seo Jihyeok was mistaking it for a question about the tooth I’d treated a few days ago.
“Is that so.”
It seemed his physical condition was truly fine. Yu Geumi looked at me as I tried to leave the escape pod port and remained beside Henry. Tumanako waved her hand at me. I took in the sight of the Russians and the remaining people as I exited the escape pod port.
As I turned into the corridor, I came face-to-face with Kevin Wilson’s corpse. He was lying dead near the beginning of the corridor leading to Jungang-dong, just like before. Perhaps he had hit his head hard on a metal handle when the underwater base shook. When I first encountered this person’s body, it was terribly gruesome and frightening, but now that I was meeting it for the third time, it wasn’t very scary. I only felt pity that he had died in such a place.
Unlike before, Gang Sujeong and Seo Jihyeok didn’t try to stop and check despite knowing someone was dead; instead, they tried to pass by quickly. Rather, Gang Sujeong spoke to me as if urging me on, as I stopped in front of the corpse.
“We need to get to Jujak-dong as soon as possible.”
I nodded and said to Gang Sujeong,
“Just give me five seconds! I won’t ask for more than that.”
I took a photo of his face with the pad and quickly scribbled the current time and name over it. Gang Sujeong and Seo Jihyeok stopped and watched what I was doing. Then as I ran back to them, we began walking briskly again.
By the time we had fully turned into the corridor leading to Jungang-dong, Seo Jihyeok, who had been walking quickly ahead, asked a question.
“Um, what you said on the broadcast. I’m starting to forget more than half of it now.”
“Yes.”
“Then where in the underwater base do we have to go to survive?”
“......I’m not really sure about that either.”
I had never succeeded in getting out of the underwater base, either. Gang Sujeong looked at the window in the corridor and tapped Seo Jihyeok’s shoulder.
“Now I understand why the doctor mentioned the research center.”
Seo Jihyeok looked in the direction Gang Sujeong was pointing and spoke while staring into the darkness that seemed to be made of pitch-black water.
“Vice Team Leader. Why is it so dark outside? There used to be lights on the research center side, like on a squid fishing boat. I heard they kept them on permanently because they’re doing some research at the bottom of the sea.”
“I don’t know either. Doctor. Do you happen to know who fired the torpedo?”
“I have no idea whatsoever.”
The conversation among the three of us broke off like that. Seo Jihyeok and Gang Sujeong walked at a pace much faster than walking but slower than running. I was barely keeping up with them at the rear. After walking a few more steps, Gang Sujeong asked me,
“I’m asking because I’m curious about this trip to Jujak-dong. How did you know Ms. Kim Gayeong is trapped in her quarters in Jujak-dong? Aside from when she baked bread and handed it out to people, she was pretty much always inside the research center.”
“Before long, Ms. Kim Gayeong will post a message on the underwater base’s bulletin board asking to be rescued.”
“You said she ‘will’ post?”
“Yes.”
Gang Sujeong looked at me as if fascinated, then spoke while looking ahead again.
“I’m only going now believing what Team Leader Shin told me before we left: ‘What you’re saying isn’t a lie.’ I really hope it’s not a lie.”
“There are no lies in what I’ve told you. ......How does Team Leader Sin know something like that?”
“He said you’re the type of person whose face reveals everything, Doctor.”
Is that so? I ran my hand over my face. I didn’t even know what kind of expression I was making right now.
“Then may I ask something too?”
Gang Sujeong looked at me at my question, smiled, and nodded.
“Yes. Feel free to ask.”
“Why are you two the ones going? There are other people too.”
Last time, it had been Baek Ayeong, Seo Jihyeok, and Sin Haeryang who went.
“Well. If we exclude Team Leader Shin, the two of us are the most physically built on the team? What do you think, Jihyeok?”
“That too, but it’s not like we’re trying to toss a great white shark into seawater, and Jihyeon is sick. The Russians decided to stick together among themselves. It can’t be helped.”
At Seo Jihyeok’s words “the Russians,” I recalled the hand signal Vladimir had sent to Sin Haeryang. I asked Gang Sujeong, who had been watching the hand signals with me.
“Earlier, do you know what the hand signal Vladimir was making to Team Leader Shin meant?”
“That he didn’t want to?”
“I think I know that much too.”
“Ah. The next one meant, ‘You idiot. Leave them behind.’”