Shin Haeryang was silently staring at the radio the voice had come from. Why does it feel like I can hear Seo Jihyeok grinding his teeth as an auditory hallucination? Seeing as he’d been captured by the Infinite Church believers like that, Seo Jihyeok had probably taken only the two from Deep Blue with him and disappeared without stopping by Ophion. And this is how the result comes back to us.
If Seo Jihyeok, Baek Aeyeong, or Kang Sujeong had been here, they would have answered into the radio without a moment’s hesitation. They might have said, Thanks for saving me the trouble, or asked them to execute them quickly, or even asked what they were doing not shooting them already.
But Shin Haeryang, who had been given ten minutes, seemed to be hesitating over his decision. They were people he didn’t like, but it seemed throwing away team members as easily as cutting radishes wasn’t an easy choice. Then again, this was the man who had even taken along someone he suspected of being an Infinite Church believer because he was a Korean civilian.
[Team leadeeeer! Sob sob sob sob! These bastards are bullying me! Ow! Oww! I’m sorry!]
I don’t know what they were doing to him, but Jeong Sanghyeon was wailing into the radio. Since we could hear his voice right now, it seemed Night was holding the radio right in front of the other side’s face.
In contrast to Jeong Sanghyeon, who was sobbing and muttering in Korean, Kim Jaehee beyond the radio was far too calm.
[Sanghyeon. A headshot depends on where the bullet lands, but if it kills you instantly, they say you don’t feel pain. So you don’t have to be that scared.]
······It seemed they had a gun pointed at his head. Jeong Sanghyeon listened to Kim Jaehee’s words and sobbed.
[Ugh, sob sob! Hyung! Are you crazy? Ugh, sob sob! Everyone’s out of their mind! Team leader! I’m really sorry! Please save me! Aaaah! Uaaaagh! Stop hitting meee! Aaaah! Why are you only hitting meee!]
This is driving me insane. Just listening to their voices was disturbing even for me, who had no connection to the two of them. Shin Haeryang’s expression didn’t change at all, like a robot.
The two of them had probably announced my location over the broadcast, and then been captured by the Infinite Church believers afterward. If they had just stayed hidden instead, the Infinite Church believers might have been too busy looking for me and passed by Jeong Sanghyeon or Kim Jaehee hiding in a corner.
Had they never considered that there might be a reason the people inside the undersea base who had phones or pads hadn’t rashly made broadcasts? The people left in this flooding undersea base were those who desperately wanted to escape but couldn’t, or those who could have but had deliberately stayed behind.
If you made a broadcast, you were announcing to the entire undersea base that you had survived the missile that struck the main operations research center and the flooding that broke out in the dormitory. Had they not thought that someone who heard that might come chasing after them, or that the things they had done while living in this undersea base might take this chance to return as karma?
I had made a broadcast once for the public good, but even as I did, I had been worried sick inside. It was the kind of thing that could make the people who had deliberately broken the escape vessels pick me as their next target, or make me the subject of suspicion as people asked where I had gotten that information. I had done it because the advantages outweighed the disadvantages. Still, listening to Jeong Sanghyeon cry as if he had never considered any of those risks left me feeling bitter.
And on top of that, they were going to sell out someone they barely knew so the two of them could survive? ······How utilitarianly happy. I’m the sacrificial lamb, but I’m too tired to get angry, so I won’t particularly condemn them.
But what were they thinking, believing they could negotiate on their own with armed religious people? Did they think strong people holding guns, facing the weak, would generously concede something instead of forcibly taking it? Shin Haeryang had taken hostage the person the Infinite Church believers called their savior, and even he had thought he would be shot dead.
Or had they never once thought they could become targets of someone’s attack? In this place, where even the powerful Baek Aeyeong always carried a knife with her······surely not.
As you live, you sometimes see people standing before the difficulty of a choice that isn’t easy, and it seems today that person is Shin Haeryang. Whatever he chooses, he probably won’t like it much.
A team member he worked with at the company dies inside the company? It’s not common, but it can happen. But if they were shot dead by terrorists, and if his own choice as team leader was involved in the process even indirectly, then later he would have to explain to that person’s family what had happened, and when a government agency came to investigate, he would have to reveal the chain of events that led to it.
······If I were Shin Haeryang, I’d go on strike as team leader of Engineer Team A right this second. Even I have the words Since those bastards sold me out, please hurry up and shoot them on the tip of my tongue. Shin Haeryang must be desperately thinking, Please kill those two bastards quickly. But in one corner of his mind, he must also be thinking this: that filthy, petty bastards though they were, and even though he very much wanted to kill them, he had to dump them on Korean soil and throw them in prison there.
It had been five days since I joined the undersea base, but I was now starting to dislike many things about this undersea base. The leaking water and the armed cult were part of it, but right now it was the fact that a person in his twenties had to take responsibility for and resolve this kind of choice and make the decision. Where the hell did all the older, more experienced bastards go?
Who was I to say anything to Shin Haeryang about the lives of his team members? I was just some guy he’d met briefly today. The other team members had probably been with him for at least three months. It seemed the only thing I could do for him was buy time. So that the time it took to make the decision could be postponed, even if only a little. I didn’t know whether the other side would wait.
“I’ll try to buy some time.”
I took the radio from Shin Haeryang, who looked like he had a lot on his mind. Was it all right for a hostage to take a radio from his hostage-taker’s hand this easily?
“Hello. I’m Park Muhyeon, a dentist from Deep Blue of the Fourth Undersea Base. I heard you were looking for me.”
As soon as I spoke, the other side of the radio began buzzing, but the noise died down along with a quiet voice telling them to shut up.
“First of all, I am a hostage, but I’m safe. And so is Mr. Joseph beside me.”
Even in the darkness, I could see that Joseph’s philtrum, which had been hit by Shin Haeryang’s fist, was swelling more and more.
“······He’s safe. How are Mr. Jeong Sanghyeon and Mr. Kim Jaehee, who are being held hostage on your side?”
[They’re beating me up! Save—!]
[Your voice alone cannot prove that you are Park Muhyeon himself.]
“Well, that’s true.”
Why else would a scam like voice phishing exist? I understand. But how am I supposed to prove I’m me? With DNA? My ID and wallet must be underwater by now.
[Who was the first person Park Muhyeon met at Deep Blue?]
Yu Geum immediately came to mind. The image of her handing out steaming bread in the elevator, and the shadow that had fallen over her face in the darkness of the deep sea beneath the marine life hologram stickers, just before we descended to the Fourth Undersea Base. I was about to shout Yu Geum into the radio, but I closed my mouth. No matter how I thought about it, it seemed like she had gone to buy bread and happened to meet me.
I remembered Kang Sujeong holding my carrier like a handbag as she walked off. Thinking about it now, Engineer Team A had probably come out to meet me because they were happy a Korean was coming. Carrying those heavy delivery boxes and my carrier too couldn’t have been easy.
My first day on the job felt so distant. Maybe it was because every single day had been so spectacular and long. Surely I’m not adapting to this shitty workplace. I like days when nothing happens and everything is quiet. Since I’m a salaryman, it’s even better when fewer people come to where I work.
“It was Elliott. The first Infinite Church believer I met.”
Now that I thought about it, Elliott had been waiting for me at Deep Blue. Kang Sujeong and Yu Geum were suspicious too. But if Yu Geum was an Infinite Church believer and had some purpose in wanting me dead and wanting to go back to the past, then I would just······die for her once. If she joined the Infinite Church, she must have had circumstances that made her want to.
Was that the right answer? Or not?
Silence continued for a moment beyond the radio, as if they were coordinating something, and then someone spoke.
[I’m Elizabeth Weaver. I heard you wanted to speak with me.]
It was American English, with clear pronunciation that was easy on the ear. So you’re alive and well. But I don’t know whether the person on the other end really is Elizabeth.
“What should I call you, Ms. Elizabeth Weaver?”
[My friends call me Beth or Liz. Please call me Beth.]
‘Beth.’
When I thought that I had shot this woman with a gun, a headache suddenly washed over me. It felt as though I were talking as if nothing had happened to someone I had previously killed with my own hands.
“Beth. I have a request. May I tell you?”
[Please say anything you like.]
The woman’s friendly voice came from the radio. Listening to Elizabeth’s voice, it was hard to believe that someone’s sobbing had come through this same radio only a few minutes ago.
Shin Haeryang, who had been listening silently, picked up a pen rolling on the floor and quickly scribbled on the desk.
‘You have to start with the most unreasonable and excessive request.’
I had been about to say that they shouldn’t kill the two of them. In this kind of hostage situation, wasn’t it impossible to be satisfied from the very first spoonful? Weren’t we supposed to build a relationship of trust by exchanging small requests one by one?
For example, saying that it must be hard for the Infinite Church to hold out for a long time, so we would provide them with food. Then, as thanks, they would release one hostage on their side. ······The only hostages were the two of them, and the only hostage with any actual value was me. Shin Haeryang had said the goal was to buy time.
Whether it was the Infinite Church or Shin Haeryang, the hostage-taker, neither side seemed to have the slightest intention of building trust with the other. Shin Haeryang circled “unreasonable” and “excessive” again. Th-then. What should I do?
“Beth. Can you send everyone located inside the undersea base, including Mr. Jeong Sanghyeon and Mr. Kim Jaehee, who should be there with you right now, to Daehan-do?”
What if she says she can’t? Just as Shin Haeryang had said, I started with the most unreasonable, excessive, and difficult demand.
The quan (勸) in quanli (勸力) means a counterweight. When you attach a counterweight to a scale and measure weight, the weight of the counterweight must be applied consistently and fairly, regardless of strong or weak, time or place, for the scale to measure properly.
But the other side had unfairly loaded weapons and manpower onto their side of the scale, so it was already heavily tilted. If we placed only the miracle possessed by the savior on our side, would the scale truly become level? Let’s take this opportunity to see how much power the savior possesses. Is it enough weight to command the Infinite Church believers?
[May I ask the reason?]
What do you think? Who wants to stay in a house that’s leaking water? We need to send people to somewhere dry quickly. And it’s hard for me too, having to repeat the exact same thing over and over again in this undersea base while my heart is in my throat. We were lucky this time, but what if I can’t save Kim Gayoung next time? If the loop ends in a situation where I couldn’t save her, what happens to her? It’s best if everyone gets out of here. And then the people who leave can tie me up and pull me out.
······Would the reason “it’s dangerous, so leave this place” really work on people filled with longing to go back to the past?
“You’re getting in my way as I move around.”
[Even though you can kill anyone you dislike as much as you want?]
I was left speechless, holding the radio. ······I had never thought of it that way. When I held a gun, it had been in a situation where I was driven to the edge of survival, not because I was trying to kill someone for getting in my way.