Not being able to see in front of me was the least of my problems. The gunshots were so loud it felt like my ears would burst. Is Sin Haeryang even aiming at anything? When I came to my senses, I found myself with my face planted on the floor at some point, and Joseph was in a similar state. The difference between us was that Joseph was screaming every curse he could at Sin Haeryang.
“Uuaaaagh! You crazy bastard! Shooting out of nowhere! Die! Just die!”
...He’s fine. Looking at the state I was in, Sin Haeryang had either shoved me aside or thrown me down—it had to be one of the two. My left shoulder hurt badly. Since I was lying prone, I gave up on trying to check the injury with my eyes and felt my hurting shoulder with my hand; fortunately, I didn’t seem to be bleeding or have a bullet lodged in it. Keeping my head against the floor, I slowly rolled my body to the side.
When I looked toward the Deep Blue entrance, I saw several people collapsed near the entrance and in the middle of the hallway. The moment the lights came on in Deep Blue, Church of Infinity believers must have tried to come in here. Are those people alive? Dead? The moment I thought that, I heard the fallen people in the hallway writhing and groaning.
One of the people who had been shot near the entrance pulled the trigger wildly. He seemed to be aiming at Sin Haeryang inside the counseling room, but the bullet landed in the Deep Blue hallway, missing Sin Haeryang by about 10 centimeters. Sin Haeryang calmly stopped the man’s movements with a single shot.
Sin Haeryang seemed to have fired the gun while practically lying down. So you can shoot in a posture like that. Just then, Joseph suddenly rolled his body while prone and jerked his upper body up. I thought Joseph would lunge for the guns beside him. Next to Joseph were several guns that appeared to have been used by his subordinates, and for some reason, Sin Haeryang seemed to have scattered only the guns around like that.
However, Joseph ignored the guns scattered around and hurled his body toward the desk like lightning. Joseph struggled to open the desk drawer with his bound hands and frantically thrust both hands inside. At that moment, Sin Haeryang, who had been lying down, looked this way and kicked the drawer with his foot. Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! The sound of Sin Haeryang kicking the drawer and Joseph’s screams as both his wrists were caught in the drawer endlessly filled the counseling room.
Watching this spectacle from the side, I just wanted to faint. I... surprisingly have a strong mental fortitude. I don’t know what you're trying to take out of the drawer, but give it up. It seems Sin Haeryang anticipated you would do this.
“Give it up!”
The moment I shouted, I pulled Joseph’s shoulder. Whether Sin Haeryang stopped kicking or because his hands slipped out of the drawer, Joseph and I tumbled across the floor simultaneously. I don’t know what state Joseph’s wrists are in, but they’re definitely fractured. Sin Haeryang kicked the drawer shut with his foot.
The counseling room wasn’t as bright as usual, but it wasn’t completely dark like before either. The inside was a mess. In the darkness, the desk had seemed relatively intact, but now it was so damaged that I wondered if it was even a desk, and the floor I’d glimpsed with the penlight was completely covered in blood. Screams and groans filled Deep Blue. The smell of iron and acrid gunpowder stung my nose.
Knowing what the counseling room normally looked like, seeing it now like it had been hit by a bomb made my head throb. Maybe my headache was getting worse because Joseph was screaming nonstop beside me. Aside from his bound wrists trembling violently, he looked fine on the outside.
Sin Haeryang glanced once at me as I dragged the tall Joseph over and propped him against the wall, then refocused on the Deep Blue entrance. In a situation where he couldn’t see properly either, he had somehow managed not to kill them, and four Church of Infinity believers were groaning and crawling across the floor as if trying to get out of Deep Blue. The narrow hallway and entrance already had four people and two overturned chairs, leaving no room to step.
A man opened the Deep Blue door and came in, shouting not to shoot. He entered Deep Blue with both hands raised to show he had no intention of attacking, only to be shot in the thigh by Sin Haeryang’s bullet and collapse. Whether the man had exceptionally good lungs or not, he let out a huge stream of screams and curses.
The most commonly used curses from seven countries echoed like a symphony at the Deep Blue entrance and hallway. I don’t think this many customer complaints have ever been filed at the dental clinic where I work. The man’s voice telling others not to enter spread loudly outside Deep Blue along with his curses.
The greatest advantage of a medical professional is that others’ peace becomes one’s own peace. This is also the privilege of a salaried medical worker. I wish no one would look for me. The less work I have, the more it proves people are living without pain or discomfort. I joined the undersea base as a salaried dentist wishing for people’s peaceful days, yet every single day, someone else’s safety and well-being—I can’t even protect my own peace of mind. Is office life always this sad and hard?
Sin Haeryang, who had turned six people including Joseph into mincemeat in two minutes and shattered a part of my mental health as well, didn’t look very satisfied. Rather, he seemed to be frowning and waiting for something.
“Can’t we send out all the injured people, including Joseph?”
“No.”
Why does this person have to stay here? He’s tied up and can’t move properly anyway, and he’ll just get in the way like before if he stays. I figured Sin Haeryang must have his reasons, so I had no choice but to wait. Radio transmissions were coming in constantly, but Sin Haeryang didn’t even pick up the walkie-talkie beside him.
The narrow entrance to Deep Blue was already packed full of people. If more Church of Infinity believers wanted to enter, they’d probably have to climb over the fallen people or clear them away.
Sin Haeryang waited without bothering to kill them or clear them away. He was simply quietly observing the pandemonium he had created. Wouldn’t it be better to call a medic and send them to the hospital? Does he have a hobby of touring hellscapes?
“Is there anything I can help you with?”
Sin Haeryang scanned my body up and down with a complicated expression. Why... are you doing that. An uneasy chill ran through me.
“May I shoot you with a gun to threaten the Church of Infinity? I will avoid vital points.”
“...No.”
Sin Haeryang seems to want to put a hole in my body as payback for the armed group of believers barging in like a thunderbolt. Is he kidding. No way. If someone asks, “Can I shoot your body?” who would say okay? Surely he didn’t think I would agree?
There were already five guys in similar shape at the building entrance. And is there even a part of the body that won’t die from a gunshot? No matter where you get hit on the body, it looks fatal. Running up against my vehement opposition, Sin Haeryang made another suggestion.
“Can you scream loudly?”
“Yes? Yes. ...Yes?”
Sin Haeryang, who had tossed the walkie-talkie to me, spoke in a low voice.
“When I fire, turn on the walkie-talkie, scream, then turn it off again and give it back to me.”
Ah. I see what he means. A simple play. The moment I grabbed the walkie-talkie Sin Haeryang tossed me, Sin Haeryang aimed his gun at me. At that, Joseph hurriedly rose to his knees. Then he tried to protect me from Sin Haeryang’s wicked and savage gun barrel aimed at the Savior.
To Joseph’s ears, Sin Haeryang’s Korean probably sounded something like, “Can you scream loudly? Kekeke! Die!” If I didn’t know Sin Haeryang well, I would have thought the same. Joseph’s attempt was tear-jerkingly hampered by the poor floor conditions. He crawled toward me on his knees across the blood-soaked floor, only to slip with a slick sound, and slammed his ear and temple against the counseling room wall with a loud thud. Joseph collapsed just like that and didn’t move.
Sin Haeryang paused for about a breath as he watched the unfortunate tragedy that had just befallen Joseph, then looked at me as if bewildered and fired a shot at my feet. I immediately turned on the walkie-talkie and screamed. There were so many examples of people being shot around me that it wasn’t hard to mimic them.
“Kuaaaaack! Aaaaaack! Aaaaaack!”
I screamed at the top of my lungs, then turned off the walkie-talkie and pushed it toward Sin Haeryang. When Sin Haeryang turned the walkie-talkie back on, I provided loud background noise from afar. Strangely, the cursing and crying from the people near the Deep Blue entrance had subsided tremendously. Was it because I was screaming that I couldn’t hear them as well?
“This time it’s the savior’s hand. Next is his head.”
No. Wait a minute. That wasn’t negotiated with the party beforehand. Those words rose to the tip of my tongue. I had no choice but to keep pretending to be in pain, feeding fake groans through the walkie-talkie.
There was no response from the walkie-talkie. Say something. You aren’t thinking of killing the savior this easily, are you? Beth said in a flat, businesslike voice.
[We can keep trying until the proper result comes out.]
“Go ahead. The emergency room on Daehan Island must be busy.”
The walkie-talkie turned off, and suddenly Kim Jaehui’s voice was heard. Kim Jaehui spoke in a weak voice.
[Sir... Team Leader. Can’t you stop now and surrender? The people you shot will be angry, but they’re religious people. They’ll forgive you eventually. Let’s go up to the mainland together. You don’t have much left until resignation anyway, so don’t strain yourself like this. It’ll be easier if you just surrender.]
“What happened to Jeong Sanghyeon?”
[Sanghyeon... got what he deserved. I thought he was walking a tightrope every time he ran his mouth like that. You’re not someone like Sanghyeon, Team Leader. You’re worth saving. You just need to get out of there with Mr. Muhyeon. Then you’ll all be forgiven.]
“Jaehui.”
[Yes?]
“I told you not to tell obvious lies in front of me.”
The other end of the walkie-talkie was quiet for a moment before a voice suddenly burst out as if shouting.
[Kill yourself right there! I think that would be better—]
A loud noise cut off the transmission midway. When the line reconnected to Beth, Sin Haeryang spoke in a gloomy, low voice.
“If what the Church of Infinity believers want is salvation through Park Muhyeon, then I too can keep trying until a result I like comes out.”
[What can you do alone?]
Even as I supplied screams as background music and occasionally added fake sobs, Beth’s voice, seeming to mock Sin Haeryang, came through vividly. Sin Haeryang’s eyes met mine.
“Every time Park Muhyeon wakes up in Baekhodong, I’ll be the first to go and kill him. I’ll make sure you bastards never meet Park Muhyeon again.”
What is he talking about.
[Memories cannot be inherited by anyone but the savior. Everything you’re thinking, everything you’re doing right now is meaningless.]
“Whether I have the memories or not—we’ll see about that.”