After confirming that there was no one in the Baekho-dong corridor, I changed out of my wet clothes into dry ones. With a towel draped around my neck, I entered the escape craft port and saw, in the distance, one engineer carrying another on his back.
At the sound of the escape craft port door opening and my footsteps, the other person turned around. It was Seo Jihyeok, carrying Shin Haeryang on his back.
Why is Seo Jihyeok here? Then was Tumanako the only one who left the undersea base? Then what about Kim Gayoung? Did Kim Gayoung leave the undersea base? ……Seo Jihyeok, as he is now, won’t be able to answer my questions.
Seo Jihyeok swept me with a wary gaze for two seconds after I entered the escape craft port, then let out a heavy sigh. And right in front of me, he literally threw his team leader onto the floor like a sack of luggage. Despite the sudden action, Shin Haeryang simply lay sprawled on the floor, unable to move.
After putting Shin Haeryang down, Seo Jihyeok immediately ran toward the outer wall access passage connected to the escape craft port. Wondering what he was doing, I looked over and saw him grabbing Jeong Sanghyeon’s arms from behind as he lay in the corridor, literally dragging him along. Jeong Sanghyeon, his upper body dangling up, screamed.
“Aaaagh, aaagh, aaagh, aaagh! My arms are gonna come off! My arms are gonna come off! Jihyeok hyuuung! Not like this! Carry me on your back! Ah, damn it! I said my arms are gonna come off!”
Jeong Sanghyeon’s legs were sweeping across the floor like a broom. Seo Jihyeok answered, completely ignoring the other man’s complaints.
“You won’t die just because an arm comes off.”
While Seo Jihyeok was moving the two men like sacks of luggage, Kim Jaehee came out from the inner corridor carrying Baek Aeyeong on her back. I lost my mind for a moment at the sight of Baek Aeyeong hanging limply against Kim Jaehee’s back.
Shouldn’t Baek Aeyeong be at Daehan Island Hospital? Why is she here? Isn’t it only if you die inside the undersea base in the previous round that you come back to life in the undersea base? Seeing Baek Aeyeong here in the undersea base like that, does that mean she died inside the undersea base? Wasn’t she having surgery on Daehan Island?
Very slowly, the truth seeped into my mind. ……The Infinite Church lied to me. Just how many lies did they tell?
Kim Jaehee walked slowly, moving one careful step at a time. She seemed to be taking care not to let herself and Baek Aeyeong fall together. At last, Kim Jaehee reached a long bench and carefully laid Baek Aeyeong down on it, asking,
“Does it hurt a lot?”
“……Yeah. It hurts so much. I’ve never been shot, but I think this is what it’d feel like.”
“Could it be a heart attack? Are you having any trouble breathing?”
Baek Aeyeong frowned and rubbed her chest before saying,
“I’m…… not sure.”
Shin Haeryang, who had been lying face down on the floor where Seo Jihyeok had thrown him, slowly and unsteadily rolled halfway over, ending up lying flat on his back, staring at the ceiling.
“Watch your head!”
Seo Jihyeok dragged Jeong Sanghyeon over and let go beside Shin Haeryang, causing the back of Jeong Sanghyeon’s head to hit the floor with a thud.
“Aaaagh!”
“Did you hit it? You should’ve kept your head up properly.”
“My arms and legs hurt so much I’m dying! Now the back of my head hurts because of you too!”
“Aren’t you grateful? I’m balancing out the pain in your body.”
“Aaaagh! Go away! Get lost! Don’t come near me!”
As I approached the people lying down, Seo Jihyeok stepped over Jeong Sanghyeon and hurried over to ask me,
“You’re the dentist, right? Uh…… our Team A members are in a lot of pain. (I’m in pain because of you, hyung! Seo Jihyeok shouted at Jeong Sanghyeon. Shut up!) ……There are only four escape crafts left, so could we send the injured ones out first?”
Seo Jihyeok quickly pointed with his fingers at Shin Haeryang and Jeong Sanghyeon lying on the floor, and at Baek Aeyeong and Kim Jaehee beside the waiting bench. It seemed Seo Jihyeok thought I had come this way to board an escape craft. Perhaps feeling apologetic about having to turn me away in such a situation, Seo Jihyeok put on a regretful expression and said,
“I’ll secure an escape craft for you from another undersea base if I have to, Doctor, so please help us send these half-dead guys here out first.”
It seemed Seo Jihyeok wanted to load his injured teammates into an escape craft and send them to Daehan Island Hospital. I ran my tongue once over the inside of my mouth, which had gone bone-dry, and shook my head.
“You must not use the escape crafts.”
“Pardon? Why not?”
“Engineer Team B sabotaged the Baekho-dong escape crafts. If you use an escape craft to get out, you’ll die inside it.”
Seo Jihyeok furrowed his brow. Then, after checking the number of escape crafts that had already been used, he asked me,
“How did you learn that information?”
“One of the people from Engineer Team B told me.”
With an unconvinced expression, Seo Jihyeok looked at my backpack and outfit, then said,
“Did you come from Baekho-dong?”
“Yes.”
“Then did you see any other Koreans? Deputy Team Leader Kang Sujeong or Lee Jihyeon. Neither of them are the type to disappear without saying anything to me, but they weren’t in the corridor or the restroom.”
“They weren’t in the Baekho-dong dormitory. I think they must have escaped first. What exactly hurts for the people who are in pain?”
Seo Jihyeok subtly stepped in front of the two men lying down and asked,
“Do you normally have some grudge against our team leader, or are your fists itching?”
“What? ……No.”
“Are you carrying any firearms or blades? Just in case.”
“Should I be?”
When I answered with a half-laugh, dumbfounded, Seo Jihyeok glanced at me once and pointed at each of the people lying down with his finger as he spoke.
“That big guy sprawled over there is our Engineer Team A leader, Shin Haeryang, and he suddenly said his whole body hurts. He can’t even walk properly. Said it feels like he got stabbed or something. He’s not the kind of person to lie in a situation like this, so I carried him here, but no matter how I look at it, he doesn’t seem to be in good shape, right?”
Seo Jihyeok pointed at Jeong Sanghyeon, who was spread out like a starfish.
“And this one is Jeong Sanghyeon. He’s our team’s, uh…… what should I call him? A mudskipper? Anyway, he’s like a little squid of a guy. He’s rolling around saying his arms and legs hurt so much he’s dying, but honestly, it seems like he’s faking it. It’s not like there’s anything wrong with his bones or joints. (I’m not faking it! Jeong Sanghyeon shrieked, and Seo Jihyeok shot back. Your mouth doesn’t hurt, huh!) And Aeyong! Where did you say it hurts?”
Baek Aeyeong, lying stretched out on the bench far away, raised only her middle finger high in the air. Seo Jihyeok scratched the back of his head at the sight, then asked me,
“I don’t think there’s anything I can do for them except send them to the hospital quickly. Do you happen to have any medical supplies? Or do you know where the medic is?”
“There probably isn’t a medic in the Fourth Undersea Base. I do have painkillers.”
At those words, Seo Jihyeok looked like he was barely restraining the urge to snatch my bag. He looked fine on the outside, but he seemed far more tense and anxious than Kim Jaehee. It seemed he had never experienced other teammates falling ill all at once while two members were missing. Calm down.
Keeping my composure so Seo Jihyeok’s anxiety wouldn’t spread to me, I opened my bag. I felt a little embarrassed because the doll was immediately visible inside, but as I exchanged greetings with Kim Jaehee, who had come closer, I handed her Noeul and said,
“Tell them to use it as a pillow.”
Kim Jaehee wandered around, fiddling with Noeul, then looked over Shin Haeryang, Jeong Sanghyeon, and Baek Aeyeong before tucking the whale doll behind Baek Aeyeong’s neck. I rummaged through my bag and handed Seo Jihyeok the entire container of painkillers I found. Seo Jihyeok moved busily, forcing the others to take the painkillers.
“What happened?”
Although I could roughly guess, I asked to confirm whether the situation was unfolding as expected. Seo Jihyeok frowned and looked at his teammates before saying,
“I don’t really know either. We almost died repairing the outer wall earlier, but we barely survived, and the moment we came out of the water, the team leader, Aeyeong, and Sanghyeon all collapsed saying they were in pain. Then Jihyeon and Deputy Team Leader Kang suddenly disappeared. Only Jaehee and I are fine? ……I feel like I’m going to lose my mind.”
After listening to Seo Jihyeok, Kim Jaehee smiled and said,
“Aren’t you grateful I’m fine?”
“I’m really grateful. If you had collapsed too, I would’ve cried.”
Seo Jihyeok anxiously examined the sight of his teammates sprawled about, then folded down his fingers one by one as he said,
“Unspecified bodily and joint pain, difficulty breathing, weakness in the limbs, trouble walking, extreme fatigue. This really seems like decompression sickness. I think we need to go to the First Undersea Base or Daehan Island Hospital. They have decompression chambers there.”
After checking Kim Jaehee, who seemed to have no health problems at all, and then his own condition, Seo Jihyeok sighed and said,
“There’s no way they’d all get sick like this at once. Jaehee and I were on the outer wall with them too. ……Team Leader. Did all of you eat something weird together without me and Jaehee?”
When Seo Jihyeok hovered near Team Leader Shin Haeryang’s shoulder and asked that, Shin Haeryang let out a dry cough, frowned, and said in a hoarse voice,
“……You’re making me dizzy. Just keep watch.”
“Adding dizziness for Team Leader Shin.”
Seo Jihyeok folded down another finger.
“Damn it! I said my whole body hurts! Are those painkillers even real? Why aren’t we taking an escape craft?! Hyung! Are you just trusting what that person says and not taking one?! Then I’ll take an escape craft and leave first!”
“Adding cranial nerve damage for Jeong Sanghyeon.”
After throwing a tantrum, Jeong Sanghyeon ended up with several more possible impairments related to cognitive function added to his list. At Seo Jihyeok’s merciless brief reply, Jeong Sanghyeon seemed to give up on conversation and pouted. Seo Jihyeok went over to Baek Aeyeong, who was lying quietly, and asked,
“Are you feeling a little better?”
“Yeah. I’m dying.”
“Did the two missing team members say anything to you before they disappeared? Like they were going to a farther restroom or going to meet someone. Anything like that.”
“Yeah. I’m dying from the pain.”
Seo Jihyeok gave up on talking to Baek Aeyeong. While all the team members were either lying down, missing, or floundering in confusion, Shin Haeryang shifted and sat up. Seo Jihyeok brightened and said,
“Oh. Feeling a little alive?”
Shin Haeryang, his face deathly pale, looked at me and asked,
“You said we must not use the escape crafts. Please explain that part in more detail.”
“……At present, the undersea base has been attacked by a cult called the Infinite Church. They have occupied the First and Second Undersea Bases and the area around the central elevator, and Engineer Teams B and D are cooperating with that religion while armed with guns. The guns they’re armed with are called assault rifles, but I don’t know much about guns, so it’s hard for me to explain. Among the cultists, those who are armed are wearing black tops and bottoms, black hats, and jewelry. There are also believers wearing everyday clothes and blending in with ordinary people.”
“…….”
“As of 7:02 this morning, several people suddenly disappeared, but that is because they escaped to Daehan Island and are no longer in the undersea base. And the people here who are in pain now are suffering because they either died painfully before or were injured. It must hurt a lot, but if you wait a little while, the pain will disappear. I don’t know why that is either.”
As if a headache was surging over him too, Shin Haeryang clutched his forehead.