Seo Jihyeok smiled lightly at me and said. I suppose someone who hasn't been here long must have seen it correctly.
"If we look like we're close, the request to assassinate Team Leader Shin won't come in, will it? Someday, I need to stab him in the back hard and run."
Well. I don't think that's going to happen. Should we appear to not get along from the outside? When Seo Jihyeok was shot in the leg, neither of us had ever exchanged blame or criticism—even as jokes—like saying we should leave him behind, or asking why he had to injure his leg in this situation.
I looked at the door to the submersible port behind Seo Jihyeok and asked.
"Aren't we going into the submersible port?"
"Yes. Please wait here until we come out. It shouldn't take long."
"There are no intact submersibles."
"Yeah, yeah."
"Escape via submersible is impossible."
"Well, who knows, maybe we'll scrape together decent parts from here, tear off intact devices from there, and make a Frankenstein submersible. A gatekeeper should just guard the door."
Seo Jihyeok had been aiming his gun at Zi Xuan, then swept his eyes over me, standing next to him, from head to toe.
"Doctor. You look much worse than when I saw you at the dentist before? ……Hey. How badly did you scare him to make him look like this?"
"I didn't do anything."
Zi Xuan answered as if he were wronged. I, too, checked my own condition visually for Seo Jihyeok and said.
"Is that so? I feel fine, though. No external injuries at all."
"That's not how it looks to me."
"I'm perfectly fine."
Whether he had palmed them at some point, Seo Jihyeok crushed one of three pills he'd been hiding in his hand between his fingertips. He tried to hand me half of the broken pill, but seeing that both my hands were covered in blood, he forcibly threw it into my mouth. The pill that touched my tongue was bitter as hell. To my bewildered self, Seo Jihyeok said as if it were nothing.
"Just swallow it. ……Hey. Did you really hit him on the way here?"
Seo Jihyeok asked, looking at Zi Xuan.
"I said I didn't do anything!"
"Did you scare him half to death, or something? Then why is the doctor in this state? ……Excuse me."
Seo Jihyeok told Zi Xuan to staunch the bleeding on his own shoulder, then forcibly pulled me away. Dragged by Seo Jihyeok's strength, I ended up about five meters from Zi Xuan. Then suddenly, Seo Jihyeok began kneading my shoulders with his hands. His grip was so strong that it felt like both my shoulders would shatter. Rather than loosening the muscles in my shoulders, he was squeezing them with his hand strength, and he wrinkled his face.
"Relax your whole body. How tense are you? You're hard as a rock."
"I'm fine."
"When disaster strikes, or you're taken hostage by armed men, you go into shock. It's like acute stress reaction."
Is that so. I thought I was normal. Seo Jihyeok kneaded my shoulders heavily. A scream threatened to escape, but I swallowed it down my throat. Was he torturing me? However, Seo Jihyeok spoke to me while keeping his eyes on Zi Xuan.
"When someone sees a lot of people die and receives enormous stress unlike usual in a short time, their body stiffens or goes numb."
Zi Xuan spoke, frowning while holding a blood-soaked towel wrapped around his left hand.
"No matter how I look at it, I think I'm the more serious one."
"No matter how I look at it, it seems like you're the one who hit him? ……Ah. Doctor. Don't misunderstand. I'm not interested in men one bit. Once we get out of here, get a massage or something. Go to a traditional medicine clinic and get some acupuncture. Your body condition isn't normal, no matter how you look at it."
Seo Jihyeok pressed firmly on my shoulders and the back of my neck with his fingertips. His grip was so strong that it felt like cracks were forming in my neck and shoulders. Every place he touched made cracking or popping bone sounds. At this rate, your massage is going to leave me with a chronic injury. Deciding to accept Seo Jihyeok's kindness, I spoke of the most recent shocking scene I'd witnessed.
"Seeing a corpse in Cheongnyong-dong must have been shocking. I keep feeling guilty about various things, too. And having someone I know point a gun at me as well."
"Is that so? But that's not the doctor's fault. Rotate your arms back widely. Good. Forward too."
Actually, I felt guilty toward everyone I met. The last images I saw of them overlapped as well. I also felt a sense of helplessness, wondering if I could really get out of here safely. Still, I had been thinking hopefully because there were people who had escaped on the escape craft.
After I rotated my arms in a circle about twenty times in an awkward posture, Seo Jihyeok made a sound like "Emergency treatment complete!" with a dissatisfied expression and added.
"Don't worry too much. You'll get out."
Do I look like I have nothing to worry about? Just thinking about the shootout with the Infinite Church devotees at the Second Undersea Base makes me wake up in my sleep. How could I not worry about that? ……Seo Jihyeok doesn't know. I sighed inwardly as if the ground would cave in.
Suddenly, the door to the submersible port opened. I was so startled I nearly jumped, but Seo Jihyeok didn't even look behind him. He only kept his eyes on Zi Xuan. Baek Aeyeong, who came out first, looked at me, smiled faintly, and said.
"You caught up, Doctor."
Then she glared at Zi Xuan, who was practically lying on the floor. Behind Baek Aeyeong, Tumanako walked out through the door limply and wearily. Walking in disappointment like a seagull that had failed to fly, she saw me and smiled happily.
"I'm so glad to see you again."
"I'm glad to see you too."
When I barely managed to smile at Tumanako, she spoke, slightly tearful.
"I thought I might not make it."
"Me too."
Then John Doe came out. Unlike before, there was no gag-like thing in his mouth, but his wrists were bound in front of him. John Doe's gaze brushed over me, and he smiled broadly, giving a thumbs-up. ……He probably thought I had abandoned Sumire somewhere and was acting like that.
Finally, Shin Haeryang came out of the submersible port. I checked twice, but Shuran was not among the group. Shin Haeryang saw where my eyes were looking and answered.
"Shuran got out."
"So there was an intact submersible after all."
"One of the Mary Gilmores was operational. They hid Summer from Engineer Team Sa (Australia)."
Summer had hidden away drinking liquor she'd stowed secretly on the submersible, and had fallen asleep happily while celebrating a friend's birthday over a video call. Then something woke her up, and she found the Engineer Team Ra people walking around shooting up inside the submersible.
The inside of the two-person submersible is narrower than a studio apartment bathroom. There was supposedly nowhere to hide at all. When she thought she was going to die without a doubt, Shuran opened the submersible door and made eye contact with her. However, Shuran said there was no one inside while firing her gun toward the outside of the submersible.
After hearing Shuran's words, Hai Yun also came to check, and despite seeing Summer's face inside the submersible, nodded and said let's go.
Even after the footsteps faded away, Summer was too terrified to leave the submersible and kept hiding inside. She was afraid that if she went outside, someone might be waiting to shove a gun in her face.
Shuran had thought the submersible Summer was in had already left, but seeing it still there, she opened it and found Summer still inside. Baek Aeyeong spoke to me in a raised voice, like someone who had cast away a boulder called responsibility.
"Summer took the submersible out with Shuran. I'm so relieved she got out."
It was the happiest story I'd heard recently. Baek Aeyeong was truly happy even though she hadn't been the one to get out.
"That's good."
Zi Xuan frowned upon hearing that. However, he didn't say anything in particular to Baek Aeyeong. Seo Jihyeok boasted about the gun he'd captured from Zi Xuan like a pirate who'd found treasure, then handed it to Shin Haeryang, who had no gun. Come to think of it, the only armed people right now were Seo Jihyeok and Baek Aeyeong. Watching Shin Haeryang check his gun, Zi Xuan spoke.
"Let our team members out of Baekho-dong. I'll give you all the money I have."
"Didn't you say your team only has a billion won?"
Seo Jihyeok interrupted Zi Xuan, cutting him off. Zi Xuan glared at Seo Jihyeok, startled, then spoke to Shin Haeryang again.
"It's true. Check my messenger. Our team members said they'd rather pay you to get out of there than be trapped with those Japanese bastards."
"But you said that 1 billion is all you've got? You got scammed by those cult bastards too. Trapped in Baekho-dong too. How much did you spend buying guns? One of these guns, no matter how expensive, would be a total rip-off if it cost more than a hundred dollars on the black market……."
"How long are you going to keep the other team's people locked up in Baekho-dong like that? What you've done is practically a crime."
"Hey. White Shark. Did I buy a boat from Zi Xuan for one painkiller? Let's ride it as soon as we get out. Oppa is a man with a boat now!"
Seo Jihyeok kept intercepting everything Zi Xuan said. However, Zi Xuan ignored him and steadfastly tried to speak to Shin Haeryang.
"Cooperating with our team won't have any disadvantages for you or your team. We keep our promises."
"Team Leader. Earlier, Zi Xuan told me to take your head for 1 billion won. But I refused. 1 billion is too cheap. The implants and tooth regeneration for these bastards here probably cost over a billion. Shouldn't you contact the dentist in Hawaii and get at least half the treatment costs?"
At Seo Jihyeok's sudden snitching, Zi Xuan's face, which had already been pale from his gunshot wound, turned white as a sheet.
"Shut up!"
Zi Xuan, who could no longer endure it, barked at Seo Jihyeok. He probably wouldn't be that shocked even if bitten by a shark. Baek Aeyeong laughed incredulously at the sight. Tumanako asked me in a whisper.
"Is 1 billion won in Korean won?"
"Yes. Korean won."
"How much is that in New Zealand dollars (NZD)? I'm still not quite used to the units."
"I'm not sure. If you knew, would you attack Team Leader Shin Haeryang?"
"No. I'm just curious. Aren't you curious?"
John Doe stood far away as if he had nothing to do with this mess of a situation among the engineers, simply watching. Zi Xuan, who had been grinding his teeth at Seo Jihyeok, closed his mouth for a few seconds, then spoke toward Shin Haeryang.
"Are our team members doing this because they're scared?"
Even at this provocation, Shin Haeryang looked at Zi Xuan with emotionless eyes and spoke.
"We're going to Hyeonmu-dong."
"Yeah?"
"Tell me one reason I shouldn't kill you before we go."