To Vladimir, who had been discussing escape for some time, Shin Haeryang spoke in a tone full of displeasure.
“You said you'd quit drinking.”
“Did you actually believe a Russian would quit drinking?”
When Shin Haeryang glared at him, Vladimir glared back, then looked around at the quietened surroundings and spoke.
“We move to Hyeonmu-dong.”
Hyeonmu-dong was located on the north side of the cross-shaped underwater base. I had heard it housed mining facilities and accommodations for the mining teams, but I had never been there even once. We had to move from Baekho-dong to Jungang-dong, and then from Jungang-dong to Hyeonmu-dong. Everyone who had been sitting and resting stood up.
In particular, the Team Da engineers walked after Vladimir. Only I, Ms. Yu Geumi, Carlos, and the sleeping child remained. Carlos was one of the mining team members, and Ms. Yu Geumi was a researcher, so they belonged to different teams. As for me, I didn't really have a team to speak of. The engineers' judgment was probably right. I'd trust the expert opinion.
Nikita looked at the child and said with a frown.
“Which crazy bastard brought a kid into an underwater base?”
No answer came back. No matter how much I stretched my imagination, no good thoughts came to mind. This was especially true given that the child had been sleeping after taking sleeping pills. We tried to wake the child but they wouldn't get up, so the talk of taking turns carrying them came up. Seo Jihyeok said he had a cousin of a similar age and hoisted the child onto his back first.
As soon as the conversation ended, everyone started walking. Their gait was a bit slower than when sounding an alarm, but they walked faster than usual. I had thought that when evacuating in a dangerous situation, people would literally move by sprinting at tremendous speed, but it wasn't like that at all. When I revealed my doubt, Shin Haeryang shook his head.
“If we moved like that, we'd exhaust our stamina quickly. And it would be difficult to respond if something happened suddenly.”
Baek Aeyeong, who had been listening to the conversation, approached my side and asked.
“Is Baekho-dong completely submerged?”
“Yes. I was the last one out.”
Hearing that, Baek Aeyeong made a complicated-looking expression.
“Why is that?”
“Because of the things in my room, that's why.”
“I suppose there's something important?”
“Well……I suppose so.”
In the backpack I was carrying on my back, there were two creatures of unknown origin. Thinking surely not, I asked quietly.
“Are they by any chance alive?”
Baek Aeyeong looked at me with a strange gaze. Then she looked at the child on Seo Jihyeok's back before looking at me again. And she answered reluctantly.
“No.”
With furrowed brows, she distanced herself far from me. She seemed to have some kind of misunderstanding. Someone tapped my shoulder, and when I turned my head, it was a familiar face.
“Thanks for waking me up. I'll offer my team's thanks on their behalf.”
Vladimir said. I felt a bit embarrassed by the grand-sounding thanks offered so openly right in front of me.
“Ah. It was nothing. ……Anyone would have done it.”
When I spoke as if embarrassed, Vladimir cut me off curtly.
“I wouldn't have.”
“……”
“That's why I'm grateful.”
Then he immediately turned and walked back to his team. Damn…… Why are the people here so cold. It's cold. So cold. Very cold. After watching them for a few days, the engineers were all somewhat coldhearted. They were acting like tin robots without hearts. I too had lived my life with cold reason and a scientific mindset, but I didn't think I was at their level yet.
Shin Haeryang, who had been talking with his team's engineers, approached me.
“We've found a deceased person. Can you, Mr. Muhyeon, issue a death certificate?”
……It was the fourth scariest thing I had heard in my life. Crazy bastard. What made it even scarier was that it wasn't an unreasonable request. Under domestic law, dentists can issue death certificates. But in this underwater base, the law seemed to apply a bit differently. I swallowed words like “Can't I not do it?” and barely answered.
“……Yes.”
I never thought something like this would actually happen in my life as a dentist. This was truly something a dentist would never need to do in their entire life unless they were incredibly unlucky. There were plenty of other doctors who could issue a death certificate. For example, doctors who work in the emergency room.
The moment we exited the escape pod port, there was a collapsed person there. I swallowed all the curses rising in my throat and examined the person lying down. Looking at their face, it was someone I had never seen before in my life. The thought that it was at least someone I didn't know came first. If it had been a familiar face lying here, I wouldn't have wanted to even think about it.
No matter how I looked, it was 100 percent a dead body, and indeed, it seemed they had hit their head on something, as a portion of their head the size of a fist was caved in. Moreover, their pupils were wide open. Following Shin Haeryang's gesture, I turned my head and saw hair and blood stuck to a long metal handle attached to the wall for gripping.
Most likely, when the underwater base shook, they had hit their head hard on the metal handle. It was a terrifying sight that could appear in nightmares. First I checked breathing, then checked if the heart was beating, but there were no signs of life whatsoever. The body temperature of the dead person before me seemed higher than mine, which had dropped from being soaked in seawater. When I stated the time of death, Shin Haeryang took photos with his pad and quickly wrote the location and details over the photos.
“……Who is this? This person.”
“Kevin Wilson. He's from Engineer Team Ma, an American. According to the schedule, he should have been helping the mining team repair mining robots, but here he is.”
It was rare to see a corpse this close from the side. Especially dentists, who work looking inside the mouths of living people. I came to dentistry because I didn't want to see anyone die. Damn it all.
Swallowing the curses rising up, I laid the man named Wilson straight and placed his arms at his sides. Just the fact that I had touched a corpse made goosebumps rise all over my body. Closing his half-open eyes with my palm required summoning all the courage I didn't have from somewhere. Presumptuous. Still, seeing them with eyes closed was at least less horrifying.
If I were in a situation where I could wash my hands, I'd really wash them ten times. It's okay. It's okay. Get a grip. I can't lose it. Let's get a grip. Only after putting some distance from the corpse could I somewhat forget the sensation of the eyelids against my palm. No wonder the Russians had been clustered around here earlier; had they been checking the dead person?
Yu Geumi gasped in fright at the sight of the corpse, then walked far away from it without even looking back. Then she asked me, who was still shuddering at the sensation.
“Shall I carry it for you?”
She was pointing at the bag behind my back. Yu Geumi knew that my bag contained a cat. I shook my head.
“It's fine. It's not heavy.”
At about 6kg, the cat wasn't as light as down, so asking Yu Geumi—who was over a span shorter than me—to carry this weight was absurd. It wasn't like I was injured anywhere. I was more curious about what the snake was doing in my bag than about the cat.
Suddenly someone grabbed my opposite shoulder. Startled, I turned my head to see Carlos looking at me. I had been about to tell him to call my name, but I doubted he would remember the name of someone who had only been at the underwater base for five days, and I felt he wouldn't remember my name even if I told him to in this situation. Since I myself didn't know what state of mind I was in to be memorizing people's names.
“Hey. Sorry for running ahead earlier.”
“It's fine.”
Whether I answered that it wasn't fine or that it was fine, it wouldn't make much difference, so I answered that it was fine. If I said the former, it would only make our relationship—which was merely face-acquaintances without any closeness—even more of a mess. Truthfully, I hadn't expected anything. It wasn't as if we had the loyalty to ask each other to stay behind together. I only hoped that there was no one in the rooms from No. 1 to No. 37 of the dormitory. Or that they had already escaped on their own.
“I ran out first because I thought there wouldn't be enough escape pods. You understand, right? I also have family waiting for me at home.”
The moment I heard those words, I thought of my mother and younger brother at home. Words asking if he thought he was the only one with people waiting at home jumped to the tip of my tongue, but even those without anyone waiting shouldn't remain in this hellish place. I swallowed the words that felt stuck in my throat.
“Even so, you didn't get on.”
Even as I said it, I felt I had spoken somewhat mockingly. Even if I spoke like this, there was nothing good about it in this situation, but being emotionally exhausted, good words didn't come out. Whether he didn't take it as sarcasm, or the translation was good, Carlos looked toward Shin Haeryang with an uncomfortable expression after hearing my answer. Then he spoke through gritted teeth.
“When I arrived, there were escape pods available.”
“There were?”
“Mr. Shin forced two of his subordinates who said they'd stay behind onto one and sent them off. When they said they wouldn't take the escape pod, I said I'd take it instead, but he completely ignored me. He was looking out for his own first.”
Remain here? I suddenly wondered what madman would say they'd stay in a leaking underwater base. If it were me, if someone offered me their escape pod saying they'd stay behind, I'd bow in gratitude and escape. Carlos spoke as if very annoyed.
“Be careful, buddy. I'm telling you this because you seem too kindhearted, but if there aren't enough escape pods at Hyeonmu-dong, it'll be chaos.”
Yu Geumi came to my side and growled upon hearing Carlos's words.
“Pray to God that there are escape pods to spare there!”
It seemed Yu Geumi said this while looking at the cross hanging from Carlos's neck, but Carlos shrugged his shoulders at her reaction.
“Of course I'll pray hard to God, but look at those Russian bastards. Do you think they'll stay still if they can't get on an escape pod? They stick together only among themselves.”
Team Da engineers silently followed Vladimir's opinion. Whether they were still half-asleep or half-sober, even in a situation where they didn't know when they would die, the Russians occasionally stumbled, grabbed the walls, or even fell over, laughing loudly at one another.
“Anyway, we're all in the same boat now. You know?”
With that, Carlos winked one eye and went off to join Team Da. Yu Geumi openly showed discomfort.
“That man will abandon me or you, Mr. Muhyeon, the moment the situation turns against us.”
“That's right. But anyone would do that if the situation turns against us.”
“But you didn't do that, Mr. Muhyeon. Don't defend him. If that were true, why didn't he run first then?”
I didn't do that because I'm particularly moral. My body was already moving. Without even time to calculate the gains. Probably anyone would have done so.
“I did it to sleep well at night. Because I didn't want to regret my actions after making it back alive.”
If I had escaped alone like that, I'd probably have nightmares even after making it back alive. Hearing my answer, Yu Geumi asked.
“Ah, so you're the type to dredge up every past thing and regret it right before sleeping?”
“Aren't you, Ms. Geumi?”
“The moment my head hits the pillow, I sleep like a corpse.”
Yu Geumi looked at the backpack with the cat and seemed to have a handful of things she wanted to say, but after glancing at the people around us, she swallowed her words.