At that time, in the direction Vladimir pointed, Henry, Yu Geumi, and Tumanako were gathered. Not quite understanding, I asked Gang Sujeong again.
“Discard them? Does that mean only Engineer Team Ga should move separately?”
“Our team leader refused, but yes.”
Gang Sujeong shrugged. I could see how Vladimir had judged them—one sleeping child and two women who appeared to have no combat experience whatsoever. Did he consider them dead weight?
I tried hard to catch up to Gang Sujeong as she quickly strode ahead. With their tall statures and long legs, Seo Jihyeok and Gang Sujeong marched on and on, while I already felt my stamina draining. Feeling short of breath, I spoke toward Gang Sujeong’s back.
“If we abandon those three and only Engineer Team Ga goes off separately, can we really escape from here safely?”
I had never once been to Hyeonmu-dong, where Engineer Team Da had headed. That was precisely why I had no idea what had happened to them.
“Who knows. I suppose he judged it best. What do you think, sir?”
“If I thought that way, I wouldn’t be heading toward Jujak-dong right now.”
“Doesn’t Gayeong possess crucial information for our escape, or provide an opportunity to escape?”
What was Gang Sujeong thinking, asking me this? The Kim Gayeong I knew was a tired office worker at a research center. She had broken shoulders and a back that were useless without stretching, and was a burned-out modern person who occasionally made carbohydrates she didn’t even eat, trying to fill her withered love for humanity even a little.
······Thinking about it now, I didn’t think I could ever act like Kim Gayeong. How could she scoff so fearlessly in front of someone who had just gunned down another person? It had also been Kim Gayeong who took down a serial killer approaching through the darkness by throwing a metal chair.
Information or an opportunity regarding escape? I didn’t know. But the thought of someone that brave now trapped in a tiny single room, terrified of the rising water, made my heart ache. If it hadn’t been for Kim Gayeong, escaping via the Jujak-dong cargo elevator would have been out of the question. I would have died many times over already.
“I am not sure. Please ask her yourself when we meet. ······What do you think, Deputy Team Leader?”
“About Gayeong?”
“No. I mean the opinion that we should abandon those three and go separately.”
“Hmm. I······.”
As we approached Jungang-dong, we slowed our pace down the corridor, and Seo Jihyeok took the lead. Only then did I feel relief that our movement speed had decreased somewhat, and I gasped for air. Neither of the two had irregular breathing. Gang Sujeong spoke to me, who was barely following behind her, as if she found me pitiful.
“You really need to do cardio regularly.”
“Hahk! Hahk! Y-you’re right!”
By the time my racing breath returned to normal, Gang Sujeong spoke to me while keeping her gaze fixed ahead.
“To be honest, I somewhat agree with the Engineer Team Da leader’s opinion. This is a disaster situation, and trustworthy people are more precious than gold. I believe focusing only on people with value would be advantageous for escaping this place.”
“······People with value?”
“Is that too cold-hearted? In this situation, I do not want to travel with people who are nothing but risk factors or who offer no benefit.”
By my usual nature, words along the lines of “How can you Engineer Team Da bastards—or even you—say such things while leaving behind a sleeping seven-year-old child, you adults old enough to know better” would have risen to my throat, but I held them back. That was because I barely knew anything for certain about what was happening in this underwater base, and I did not know what kind of person Gang Sujeong was.
When we met before, Gang Sujeong had not hesitated at all to take Henry with her. She would not be saying such things without reason.
Moreover, not long ago, I had seen someone who, the moment they realized their own survival was impossible, used their body as a shield for those who remained. It was someone I had never expected.
Gang Sujeong spoke as we passed a drink vending machine.
“You have not been here long, so you may not know, but people from other countries—especially the men—will not thank you even if you help them. Most of them think it is only natural for Asians to help a superior white man like themselves, and if that were the end of it, that would be one thing, but you never know when that might come back as some kind of dispute.”
“Even for simply helping?”
“Yes. Simply helping someone without expecting anything in return is enough. This is a place swarming with men who, when you save them from the water, demand your wallet. To give one extreme example, it is on the level of giving your water bottle to someone dying of thirst, only for them to drink it and then sue you for giving them a stomachache.”
An extreme example, surely? ······Or perhaps not. I knew that people with ill intent resided in this place. And I had seen ungrateful people in society more than once.
Gang Sujeong hesitated for a moment before speaking.
“That Tumanako person from earlier. I have not known that New Zealander for long either, so I cannot say exactly what kind of person he is. Among the eight countries gathered here in the North Pacific, Korea and New Zealand still practically do not have Good Samaritan laws. Even if you were dying right now, he would not be legally obligated to help you.”
Walking beside us, Seo Jihyeok let out a light sigh and shook his head.
“I find that rather funny too. Russia and China are also here. Before Korea was unified, even North Korea had Good Samaritan laws.”
New Zealand does not have them? This was news to me. In Korea, we only have such laws regarding emergency medical care; there is no way to legally punish someone for not helping when a person is dying. So are not both countries similarly lacking when it comes to human rights? Gang Sujeong furrowed her brow, narrowing the space between her eyebrows.
“And that Leonard guy, Henry’s father. He is a crazy alcoholic. You should minimize any chance of getting involved with him. Honestly, among the American engineers aside from the newly arrived Team Leader Jennifer, there are hardly any decent ones you have met. Henry, his son? He is pitiful and heartbreaking, yes. But all responsibility for that child’s survival lies with his parents. Where have all the guardians who should be responsible for that minor’s life in this dangerous situation gone, and why should Asians, whom they used to ignore, have to take charge while they are busy saving their own skins?”
Ah. I blankly understood what Gang Sujeong was saying. I see. Before this, Gang Sujeong had had no idea who Henry’s parents were. That must have been why she could help without hesitation. Gang Sujeong spoke, tying up her hair that had come loose.
“Vladimir refused the risk of suddenly adding outside members to an already well-established team. He would rather accept some members dropping out. I could bet every manga in my room that as time goes on, they will not care about things like pretending not to see Henry to escape, or moral condemnation for lost teammates, or pangs of conscience. They will only try to maximize and take benefits for their own team. Ah, and right now, they are drunk, so they were not reckless enough to charge at us, but who knows what will happen when they sober up.”
“I see. ······Deputy Team Leader, approximately how large is the scope of these ‘people with value’ you speak of?”
“Engineer Team Ga, Geumi, Gayeong, and even Muhyeon.”
All Koreans. It seemed Gang Sujeong wanted to group together by nationality. I understood what she meant.
Seo Jihyeok, walking ahead, had quietly listened to most of what Gang Sujeong said. More precisely, he seemed busy keeping watch on the surroundings. As we passed the [Red Coral] Cafe, Seo Jihyeok approached the empty counter. He leaned his upper body almost entirely inside, rummaged through the adjacent kitchen with a loud clatter, and soon pulled out one cleaver and two pairs of scissors.
“There is not much to use as a weapon. I do not know where Fumiko puts the kitchen knives.”
Then Seo Jihyeok held out his hand as if offering Gang Sujeong a choice. Frowning deeply and pondering for a moment, Gang Sujeong took the cleaver.
Seo Jihyeok held out one pair of scissors to me. My heart rate suddenly shot up like crazy. Thoughts flooded in of the scissors buried handle-deep in the neck of a man with rolled-back eyes. I shook my head and refused. ······Damn it. The moment I saw the scissors, stress came flooding in twofold.
Gang Sujeong’s fist was bigger than the cleaver’s blade. Moreover, she was holding the cleaver like a novice robber, so after thinking for a few seconds, Seo Jihyeok took the cleaver from her and gave her his scissors.
“If you hold and use it like that, the knife will slip and cut your fingers. Deputy Team Leader, I think it would be better if you just punched the guy, like you usually do with a sandbag.”
“How could someone small and weak like me do that?”
Seo Jihyeok looked up at Gang Sujeong and spoke as if dumbfounded.
“Deputy Team Leader. Really······you have less conscience than our team leader.”
The three of us started walking again. Gang Sujeong swung the scissors forward a few times as if practicing, but with terrible timing, she nearly slashed Seo Jihyeok’s chest as he turned around, and the scissors were confiscated too. Gang Sujeong was surprised by her own swing, but Seo Jihyeok, who had turned around at the sound of the wind, jumped in place and maintained a distance of over 3 meters from Gang Sujeong. Then he made a fuss about how he nearly got a hole in his chest.
Ignoring Seo Jihyeok, Gang Sujeong picked up the thread of our interrupted conversation. Then she said awkwardly to me.
“What I wanted to say is, I wanted to ask you to focus as much as possible on getting the Koreans, including Engineer Team Ga, out of this underwater base.”
“Is Team Leader Shin’s thinking the same as Deputy Team Leader Gang’s?”
From the way things were going, that person’s opinion and Deputy Team Leader Gang’s opinion seemed somewhat different. Then what would happen? Gang Sujeong denied it lightly.
“I do not mean that I will go to Opion and issue an eviction order to Tumanako and Henry. As I told you, this is only my opinion. I will follow Team Leader Shin’s opinion as before. The reason I am bringing this up······.”
Gang Sujeong looked at me fixedly and said.
“I have pretty good instincts, and I feel that the biggest variable in escaping this place will depend on what judgment you make.”
Perhaps. If the judgments I had made had been excellent, I would have already escaped the underwater base.
“I have already poured out all the information I had through the broadcast. I think it is more important for the engineers to judge where to go based on that information.”
It seemed that everyone who heard the broadcast only cherry-picked the information they liked. Gang Sujeong, who was saying that only the Koreans should escape, was at least being honest.