The moment I finished reflecting on my short, all-too-brief life at the underwater base, I realized that right beside me was someone who went around pulling out all kinds of people’s teeth and whose interpersonal relationships looked incredibly complicated.
If I was someone who would avoid armed individuals and pass by without provoking them simply because I didn’t know who they were in this undersea base, then wouldn’t this person be the one most likely to kill someone precisely because he knew them well? I asked Shin Haeryang, my emotions in turmoil.
“If you had to choose only one between facing people armed with guns or being trapped in a leaking Jujak-dong, which would you choose?”
“······I would choose the armed people.”
Unexpected. I had thought he would choose the leaking Jujak-dong. Since he was an engineer, I figured he might repair the escape pod or find another escape route from within Jujak-dong.
Earlier, I had seen Engineer Team Ra firing guns at three members of Team Ga in front of the Cheongnyong-dong elevator, so they hadn’t exactly looked close.
If I imagined based on the number of people who came to the dentist, meeting armed people seemed like the most dangerous thing for Shin Haeryang. Even if you were on good terms normally, if the other party had knocked out several of your teeth with their fist, you would instantly become sworn enemies.
“I’d like to know the reason.”
“I’m the lonely type, you see. I’ll take a few along as traveling companions.”
Seeing him say that without so much as a change in expression, it seemed like a joke. I asked again.
“If they haven’t moved elsewhere, there are roughly twenty living researchers at the Jujak-dong escape pod port. Which do you think would be the better choice for them?”
“······There’s no choice that looks particularly better. How about making the armed people go to Baekho-dong instead?”
“That would be much better. ······How would you make them go to Baekho-dong?”
“It’s not that difficult a method.”
It seemed like an incredibly difficult method? Though there are a few escape pods left at Baekho-dong, is there really a way to make armed people move about so freely? Engineer Team Ra (China) should be waiting for people coming from the Cheongnyong-dong escape pod port.
The ones currently wandering Jungang-dong and firing guns must be Engineer Team Na (Japan). How could anyone order those two teams around? Shin Haeryang received a pad from Lee Jihyeon. Its plain shape and color made it look like Roarke’s pad.
Gunshots were so close they sounded right next door. I heard screams and the sound of someone collapsing, and before long, someone approached the door of Ophion and said something.
Thump-thump-thump-thump! My heart pounded like mad. From the tension, it felt like only my heart would burst out of my chest. If an armed person came inside, could I survive? The interior of the sports center was as silent as the grave, but only the sound of my heart echoed enormous in my ears.
All I could hear were muffled noises around the door and a rustling sound. Wondering what it was, I looked to the side to see Yu Geumi taking off the long-sleeved cardigan she was wearing and carefully covering Henry’s body with it.
Then she spread out the towel she had wrapped around her head and laid it over Henry’s face and chest; she seemed to be trying to hide the child from the eyes of any intruders.
Tumanako hesitated, then took off her jumper and plopped it over Henry’s head. The two of them seemed to be hoping that, since the sports center was dark with the lights off, Henry’s presence would be mistaken for a pile of clothes in the corner.
I heard the noise of someone trying to open the door to Ophion, but they didn’t seem to be having an easy time. [Why do I have to do this?] That tearful woman’s voice was the clearest among the noises.
As I listened to them fumbling with the door from outside, I saw Shin Haeryang pressing the broadcast button on Roarke’s pad. Before anyone could stop him, Shin Haeryang spoke toward the pad.
“I’ve heard that cowards with guns are prowling around Undersea Base 4. How does it feel, shooting unarmed people? Does pulling the trigger with your index finger fill even a little of your filthy inferiority complex? Seems you got beaten up so much that you don’t have the guts to charge with your fists, so you went and scrounged up some guns from somewhere—but do you think you can so much as graze my sleeve with those?”
What? Gang Sujeong had been lying half-reclined and drinking water, but hearing her team leader’s declaration, she started coughing as if the water had gone down the wrong pipe. Desperately covering her mouth to keep the coughs out of the broadcast, Lee Jihyeon, who had been lying sprawled out, got up and enthusiastically patted Gang Sujeong’s back. Tumanako and Yu Geumi stared at Shin Haeryang with their jaws dropped.
“You seem to think you’ve isolated the base just because you cut the undersea base’s internet and fiber-optic cables, but there’s a separate internal channel here capable of external communications. Did your brain fall out along with your missing teeth, so you couldn’t think of that? And every foolish move you’ve made is being recorded on CCTV. I don’t know if Michael Roarke is on your side or if he betrayed you from the start, but the CCTV has been running the whole time. Every time you see a camera, I hope you shove those ugly, toothless faces right into the frame. The crimes you’ve committed and your personal details will remain in history for at least a hundred years.”
Baek Aeyeong paid no attention to whatever her team leader was spouting over the broadcast and stared expressionlessly at the door of Ophion. Seo Jihyeok smiled from ear to ear at the broadcast contents, picking up a dumbbell that had been rolling on the floor and standing ready.
“I’m going to escape before Undersea Base 4 is submerged in seawater. Before I reach the surface, I’d like to collect some teeth and jaws as souvenirs, so you pups who haven’t yet been thoroughly thrashed by me, get your asses to the Baekho-dong escape pod port right now!”
He’s crazy. Really. So this was the method he meant when he said he’d gather the armed forces at Baekho-dong? No, it’s extreme, but would those people really hurry over just because he talked like this? If it were me, I’d think it was bait to lure me and do the opposite, or I would absolutely not go to Baekho-dong. Shin Haeryang proceeded to snipe at people one by one from there.
“Yamashita. This time, I won’t even let you die properly. Ichida. Your laptop went missing twice because I used it as kindling on the beach. It burned well, being used for a barbecue. Sato. You’re such a pathetic bastard that I figure you’ve probably already shot yourself in the foot and died, so I don’t even feel like mentioning you. Suzuki. Your car that disappeared from the airport parking lot ended up in the waters off Honolulu because I put it there. Ah. And the reason your helicopter crashed in the waters off Daehan-do wasn’t a maintenance defect—it’s because I cut several wires in advance. Be grateful I didn’t crash it in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Not only would it have been marine pollution, but seawater would be too precious to waste submerging your corpses.”
Whether it was because she was hearing this for the first time, Team Ga’s deputy leader Gang Sujeong was clutching the back of her neck and reeling. Lee Jihyeon had begun to pray, saying Oh. Lord. even as our Satan of a team leader continued his tirade.
I started worrying about when I should make this person stop broadcasting. If he kept talking, those people would probably start firing the moment they saw Shin Haeryang. Shin Haeryang calmly got under the others’ skin.
“Li Wei. I’m the one who put a hole in the bottom of your yacht. It sank beautifully. Weichi. Same for your boat. It didn’t get swept away by a typhoon. It sank slower than Li Wei’s yacht. Haoran. If I had known you’d be running around shooting guns, I would have aimed for an orbital fracture instead of a jaw fracture—how regrettable. For your information, I didn’t even lay a hand on your helicopter. It’s as old as your Communist Party, so I figured it would crash on its own. You have ten minutes. Get here before I finish knitting my socks. You incompetent, petty bastards. Even if you bring every weapon you have to kill me, it won’t be enough. I’ll kill you all with a single knitting needle.”
Shin Haeryang ended the broadcast expressionlessly. Then he grabbed the water bottle beside Gang Sujeong and gulped down the remaining water. Everyone in the sports facility was quiet. Yu Geumi looked as if her soul had left her body.
Having swallowed the water, Shin Haeryang asked me in a voice an octave lower.
“How about lowering the bulkhead between Baekho-dong and Jungang-dong in ten minutes?”
“······Did you really do all of what you just broadcast, Mr. Shin Haeryang?”
“About half of it wasn’t me.”
Then did you do the other half? I was too afraid to ask which parts and how. Tumanako grabbed Yu Geumi’s shoulder and was trying to distance herself from Shin Haeryang. I heard Tumanako whispering to Lee Jihyeon.
“Did those guys pick up guns to kill your team leader?”
At those words, Lee Jihyeon burst out laughing mid-prayer, then stopped with a cough and said,
“······Unfortunately, no.”
Gang Sujeong grabbed her forehead as if she had a headache and asked Shin Haeryang with a bitter expression.
“Among the things you broadcast, is there anything you did without telling me beforehand?”
Shin Haeryang thought for a moment and answered.
“No, Deputy Leader.”
Gang Sujeong made an exasperated expression, then frowned and asked again.
“What do you mean external communication is possible? Do we have some reliable backup?”
“No.”
“And escaping via the escape pod port?”
“It’s merely bait to lure the enemy to Baekho-dong.”
So it was all bluff. Gang Sujeong pointed at the pad Shin Haeryang held and said.
“And the CCTV recording?”
“It seems all team leaders have had their CCTV access privileges revoked. Checking the pad, no one except Michael Roarke, the chief engineer, has access.”
“That pad. It’s Michael’s, right? Did Michael give his pad to the team leader directly?”
“No.”
“Then how did you get it?”
At Gang Sujeong’s pressing, Shin Haeryang hesitated for the first time. Then he made a troubled face and spoke as if embarrassed.
“······I bumped into you by chance at the central elevator at dawn and switched it with the deputy leader’s pad. I’m sorry. My pad was in my room at the time.”
Hearing that her own electronic pad was now in Roarke’s hands, Gang Sujeong was dumbfounded, then said to Shin Haeryang as if exhausted.
“······I don’t know what to say to the team leader.”
“Please take mine.”
Then he courteously handed over his own pad—which I had brought from the Baekho-dong quarters—to Gang Sujeong with an apologetic look.
Seo Jihyeok came this way and added fuel to the fire.
“Team Leader. You threw away that bastard Li Wei’s pad and phone twice too. Why did you leave that out? And Suzuki, that son of a bitch has it coming, but poor Tamaki……”
When Gang Sujeong looked at him, Seo Jihyeok hemmed and hawed before making excuses.
“Don’t worry. There’s no evidence. No evidence!”
“He’s bragging. Totally. Huh? He’s bragging!”