Baek Aeyeong, who had chosen a dentist she had met only once as her means of transport, lay on her back staring at the ceiling with a ferocious expression. The pain that had descended on her for no reason made her look as if, if only she had the ability, she wanted to erase the world itself. To get the person who seemed to want to lie there forever to sit up, I asked.
“Would you like me to carry you on my back? Or should I support you from the side, like Jihyeok?”
“······I’ll be carried.”
When I crouched on the floor and offered my back, Baek Aeyeong groaned and clung to me like a frog. Holding my breath, I put strength into both legs and stood up, but she was far lighter than I had expected. Was she under 60 kilograms? I hooked my wrists under the backs of Baek Aeyeong’s knees and adjusted my posture.
“I’ll try walking.”
“Okay.”
The rickety rickshaw carefully walked around the chairs. Baek Aeyeong, too, apologized as she wrapped an arm around my neck from behind or briefly tugged at the back of my head. After shifting around as if uncomfortable, Baek Aeyeong only settled down quietly on my back after several minutes had passed. Well, I supposed a person’s back wouldn’t exactly be comfortable.
Kim Jaehee automatically had to move with Jeong Sanghyeon. Jeong Sanghyeon said things to Kim Jaehee like, how can I trust you, hyung, are you after my bank account too, but when there was no one else to take him, he shut his mouth. Then there had to be a rather complicated adjustment regarding the method of transport.
Kim Jaehee wanted to either drag Jeong Sanghyeon along while he lay down, or support him from the side like Seo Jihyeok. However, Jeong Sanghyeon insisted strongly that since all his limbs hurt and he couldn’t walk, Kim Jaehee had to carry him on his back or in his arms. After listening to Jeong Sanghyeon’s opinion, Kim Jaehee said slowly.
“I think I’ll have to leave you here and go. Take care. Goodbye. Sayonara. Dasvidaniya. Yilu shunfeng.”
Jeong Sanghyeon grabbed the hem of Kim Jaehee’s pants as he said farewell in five languages and clung to it.
“Hyung! How can you do that! You have to have loyalty! Loyalty! Loyalty between men! If we die, we die alone! If we live, we live together!”
Kim Jaehee scratched his cheek and asked me.
“How about you and I share carrying Aeyeong?”
“Ah! Hyung!”
Shin Haeryang watched the disorder and chaos of his team members with familiarity. He looked at his team expressionlessly and instructed Seo Jihyeok to set off first. After Seo Jihyeok, supporting Shin Haeryang, and I, carrying Baek Aeyeong on my back, set out first, Kim Jaehee finally followed later with Jeong Sanghyeon on his back.
We left the escape craft port and entered the passage connecting the Central Block and the White Tiger Block. I didn’t know what Seo Jihyeok had said to Shin Haeryang, but Shin Haeryang suddenly grabbed the arm Seo Jihyeok was supporting him with, threw him, and slammed him into the floor. I hadn’t known a person could float up like that. Seo Jihyeok lay sprawled on the floor and groaned.
“Crazy! If you’re fine, why were you acting like it hurt!”
“Watch your feet. Unless you want them broken.”
When I paused, flustered by the sight of Seo Jihyeok collapsed on the floor, Baek Aeyeong said in a flat voice.
“Ignore him.”
“Wouldn’t he be hurt?”
“Judging by the way he fell to the floor, he’s not hurt.”
Was there a special way to fall to the floor without getting hurt? People got hurt in the blink of an eye. As if proving Baek Aeyeong’s words, Seo Jihyeok staggered back to his feet. Watching him walk from behind, fortunately, he didn’t seem to be hurt. Hearing Jeong Sanghyeon’s voice, I looked back to see Kim Jaehee walking very slowly in a zigzag.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa! I think I’m going to fall. Sanghyeon. Try not breathing. I think you got heavier because you’re breathing.”
“Aaaaaah! Hyung! Don’t drop me! You know what happens if you drop me, right? If I fall, I’m suing!”
“Hearing that suddenly makes my ankle ache. My knee hurts all of a sudden, too.”
“Hyung! You don’t have an ankle!”
When Kim Jaehee staggered even more, Jeong Sanghyeon screamed in time with his movements.
“Ack! Ack! Hyung! You’re joking right now, aren’t you? Damn it! Seriously! What’s wrong with you!”
“I’m not. Sanghyeon. I think I’m overdoing it too much carrying you.”
“Hyung! I do have loyalty! Once we get out of here! Huh! I’ll remember that you helped me and pay you back at cost later and everything!”
“Shouldn’t you pay me back two or three times over?”
“Ah! Hyung! Why are you being like this between us!”
I felt like Baek Aeyeong had just looked around and called them pathetic male bastards. I must have misheard. Thinking of the heavy weight on my back, I carefully asked Baek Aeyeong.
“Are you still in a lot of pain?”
“At first it hurt so much I wanted to faint, but it’s getting better as time passes. ······Do you happen to know why it hurts?”
“It’s because you were shot in the chest.”
Baek Aeyeong fell silent for a moment, then asked me in an incredulous voice.
“······Then did the team leader get shot all over his body or something?”
“Yes. That’s right.”
“What about the idiot coming behind us?”
I glanced back and saw that Kim Jaehee, perhaps unused to walking with someone on his back, had fallen behind us. What should I say? I briefly wondered whether I should explain the horrible things the cult had done, but out of consideration for the person on my back, I simply summarized it.
“······Sanghyeon’s case is similar.”
“Jihyeon unni and the deputy team leader are all right, aren’t they?”
“Yes. They should be fine.”
“Then that’s enough. ······No. Now that I think about it, this is kind of unfair. Why is the idiot walking in front perfectly fine?”
The idiot walking in front of us was who······. Ah. I answered while widening the distance between us and the people walking ahead.
“Jihyeok wasn’t shot.”
“Did someone perhaps use me as a shield? I’m not sloppy or slow enough to go around getting hit by bullets.”
“You were just unlucky.”
I didn’t think people had the ability to dodge bullets. Baek Aeyeong grabbed my shoulder and asked in a slightly excited voice.
“Um. Doctor. You said you escaped from the dormitory in the White Tiger Block, right? Are you sure it’s flooded? Can’t we stop by the room for just a moment?”
Ah. The jewelry box in her room. I quickly answered Baek Aeyeong’s question.
“You must not go in. It’s completely underwater. I barely made it out myself.”
All of a sudden, a rumbling sound thundered out, and the floor shook as if there were an earthquake. I stopped where I was. Everyone who had been walking stopped as well, and the vibration that had shaken the entire building disappeared as abruptly as it had come. Shin Haeryang urged the team members to move quickly. Baek Aeyeong sighed regretfully and said.
“······I’m unlucky today.”
Thinking of my own situation and circumstances, I answered with a smile.
“Not particularly.”
“I just lost my entire fortune.”
“You can earn it again once you get out of here. Or you can ask the team members who are good at swimming or diving to retrieve it later.”
“······You know what my entire fortune is?”
As Baek Aeyeong asked slowly and lightly gripped my shoulder from behind, I felt goosebumps rise on the back of my neck. Somehow, it felt like I was being interrogated. ······It was probably my imagination.
“I only know that you kept physical assets like gold in the jewelry box in your room.”
“Have you ever opened it?”
“No.”
And for a few seconds, Baek Aeyeong said nothing.
“Earlier, the cult said something about jewels, didn’t they?”
“Yes? ······Yes.”
“Aren’t you suspicious of me?”
“Of you, Aeyeong?”
“You said they carry around things like jewels.”
“Well. If you think of it that way, every married person would be a member of the Church of Infinity.”
Suddenly, I remembered how Pamela Brown had seen Baek Aeyeong at the exhibition hall and then passed by while pretending not to notice her. Considering that she had pretended not to know people she found while searching, they did seem to know each other. Thinking of Pamela, I asked Baek Aeyeong.
“Do you know anyone among the believers of the Church of Infinity?”
“There is someone I suspect.”
“In what way?”
“Someone tried to give me a bracelet as a gift. They said it was cheap, but I felt burdened by it, so I refused. That came to mind.”
Kim Jaehee, who had approached before we knew it, suddenly cut into the conversation.
“What kind of bracelet was it?”
“Just a red gemstone bracelet.”
“I think it would look pretty on you.”
“······Cultist. Stay three meters away from me. Let’s not get attached. Execute!”
Baek Aeyeong waved her arm as if shooing away flies. Jeong Sanghyeon had been silently listening to the conversation, then said to Baek Aeyeong.
“Someone said they’d give you a bracelet for free? Hah. Must be nice living so comfortably. Just standing still and people offer things up to you.”
“Are you jealous? What kind of life have you lived that there isn’t even anyone who’ll give you one cheap bracelet?”
“I can buy plenty with my own money, you know? I’m Jeong Sanghyeon!”
“Sure. Buy lots of bracelets and wear them on your nose and in your hair.”
Before the two of them could fight any more with words, I quickly walked ahead. Since Kim Jaehee’s walking speed was constant, it became difficult for Jeong Sanghyeon or Baek Aeyeong to talk to each other unless they shouted.
Perhaps because I was practically running with someone on my back, my thighs were burning, but as I picked up speed, I drew close enough to catch up with the two people at the very front. I heard Seo Jihyeok’s voice as he supported Shin Haeryang.
“Who would gain what by attacking this place? At the North Pacific Undersea Base, five countries in the top ten of the world military power index are packed together here. Terrorism? I suppose they could try it if they wanted. But why do you think no one’s done it until now? No matter what blows up, it’ll be cleaned up within three days. The terrorists’ demands? I don’t know what they are, but nothing’s going to come of them. Using the terrorism as an excuse, the U.S. military will come in with an aircraft carrier like, great, and kill the terrorists, then pitch tents here and live here forever. If we stay hidden well, won’t it pass without any major problems? Besides, they’ve got people trapped in the deep sea, so won’t the Korean government come to rescue us too?”
“I don’t know. They’ve never provided us with so much as one phone or one boat, so I’m sure they’ll be very diligent about rescuing us.”
“Then whose secondhand boat was that brought in recently?”
“I received it. It’s mine now.”
At the word boat, Baek Aeyeong, while still on my back, practically tried to stand up so she could hear better. Horrified by Baek Aeyeong’s actions, I had no choice but to move closer to the two of them to avoid falling over. Seo Jihyeok asked his team leader with an incredulous look.
“How do you receive a boat?”
“Aria Fraser from A-Team inherited a boat, but since it was so old it wouldn’t even sell secondhand, she told me I could have it if I needed it.”
“The boat looked perfectly fine, though. No. She wouldn’t even give me one piece of candy.”
“You weren’t in the corridor when she broke her leg.”
“Wasn’t it because you hit her and put her in the hospital, Team Leader? That’s how the rumor went. Because of that, A-Team Leader Haley was going around looking for you.”
“She slipped on water and fell. Haley thanked me.”
Seo Jihyeok spoke to Shin Haeryang in a small voice and looked at him with desperate eyes.
“If you don’t need the boat, perhaps you could dispose of it to me.”
“······No matter how you look at me, I’m giving the boat to Deputy Team Leader Kang when I resign.”
While talking about the boat, Shin Haeryang complained to Seo Jihyeok.
“What’s troublesome about this job is that the team leader has to procure necessary supplies on his own.”
“Instead of suffering by playing poker you don’t even like, just change your nationality to American and live an easy company life. If Jennifer heard you were coming in as her subordinate, she’d be so happy her mouth would split to her ears, wouldn’t she?”
Shin Haeryang let out a brief empty laugh, then shook his head. He was probably imagining Jennifer’s face. Baek Aeyeong, startled, shouted at Seo Jihyeok.
“You dumbass! Stop saying weird things. Do you know how much longer I still have to be here? You go fly off to another country!”
“Hey. At least I’ll be leaving this damn undersea base soon—”
Seo Jihyeok said that, then shut his mouth for a moment before saying to me.
“We plan to escape quickly. Today.”
I quietly smiled at Seo Jihyeok’s quick improvisation. It seemed he didn’t particularly want to let me know he was resigning. Come to think of it, Seo Jihyeok talked a lot about other people, but he didn’t talk much about himself. Feeling Baek Aeyeong rest her chin on my shoulder, I said.
“The terrorists only think about wanting to go back to the past. It seems they don’t want tomorrow to come. So let’s all escape today.”
Seo Jihyeok thought it over, then asked me.
“Then what’s the difference between them and suicide bombers?”
“······I don’t know much about suicide bombers, so I don’t think I can compare them.”