While Sin Haeryang was explaining to me, the people from Engineer Na Team seemed to be saying something in Japanese to Tamaki, persuading her in a placating voice. Since I couldn't understand them, I roughly guessed it was persuasion. Mostly Sato spoke alone, or Takahashi chimed in with a few words, but Yamashita simply kept his mouth tightly shut and glared at Tamaki.
Tamaki acted as if she couldn't hear the words her own team members were saying to her, and simply stared at the people inside the escape pod port with her gun trained on them. Sato's face, which had been expressionless to the point of looking arrogant, had turned into a smiling face for the first time, and he was speaking in a gentle voice, yet there was no reply. Surely Sato wasn't cursing in this situation? Since I didn't know any of the Japanese Sato was speaking, I asked Sin Haeryang, who was beside me.
"What are the people from Engineer Na Team saying to Ms. Tamaki?"
Sin Haeryang answered in a quick manner, lowering his voice.
"They're saying things like: After all we've done for you, how dare you treat us like this. What exactly are you planning to do when we return to Japan. Do your family members even know you're acting this way. Put down the gun and let's talk things out. We'll listen to your demands as much as possible. We can resolve problems through dialogue. Tell us what you don't like."
While interpreting, Sin Haeryang added in a tone that seemed to slightly mock the other party.
"It's my first time seeing Sato talk that much to his own team member."
While Tamaki was directing her attention to the Engineer Na Team people, Seo Jihyeok, who was riding in the [Earthworm], gestured toward Sin Haeryang. I didn't know what it meant, but it looked like a hand signal saying 'ready' or 'can do.' Seo Jihyeok seemed to be thinking that if things went wrong, he would drive it and ram the entrance of the escape pod where Tamaki was. Or perhaps go back out. Sin Haeryang made a simple gesture, but no matter how I looked at it, it meant 'hold.'
When Tamaki showed no reaction even after Sato rattled on for several minutes, another team member who had been waiting anxiously while staring at the escape pod entrance suddenly cut Sato off and interrupted.
"I have nothing to do with you people! Send the unrelated people out of here and talk amongst yourselves, or shoot each other with guns for all I care. Handle it yourselves!"
A white man in his forties with orange hair shouted at Tamaki in English. Sin Haeryang let out a small sigh and spoke to me and everyone in Engineer Ga Team.
"Don't talk to Tamaki and wait quietly. Don't draw attention."
Upon hearing that, Jeong Sanghyeon asked Kim Jaehui, "You heard the team leader, right?" Kim Jaehui answered playfully, "No, I didn't? Sanghyeon, I think you're the only one who heard." Eek! When Jeong Sanghyeon covered Kim Jaehui's mouth with his palm, Kim Jaehui licked Jeong Sanghyeon's palm sloppily with his tongue. Jeong Sanghyeon flinched as if his palm had been bitten by a zombie. Then he yanked his hand away from Kim Jaehui's mouth and shouted, frantically shaking his saliva-covered hand in despair.
"Uwaah! My hand is contaminated! My hand!"
The moment Jeong Sanghyeon let out a shrill scream, Baek Ayeong immediately threw a punch at his face. Jeong Sanghyeon's upper body, which had been sitting next to Kim Jaehui, fell completely backward, and silence fell in an instant. Seo Jihyeok sat in the driver's seat, staring this way from afar with his mouth open.
For a moment people's gazes turned this way, but since the white man with orange hair had such a loud voice, they couldn't help but focus on him.
"I'm not getting in the escape pod like those two people in front! Just let me out of the escape pod port! This is a problem between your team members, so why should I get dragged into it!"
An Asian man standing slightly apart from this white man with orange hair called out rebukingly in a small voice.
"Mark! Mark!"
"What!"
"Shut up!"
The moment he heard those words, the man named Mark got annoyed.
"Why should I! I have my rights too! I can't just sit here quietly with my mouth shut! We have to escape right now! I'm getting out of this shitty place! Bart! I don't know if you Asians want to get involved in this kind of thing, but I don't want to get caught up in something that has nothing to do with me!"
The moment he heard that, the Asian man's face showed exasperation, and he ground his teeth as he spoke.
"I was born and raised in America! You stupid prick! Then keep on barking like that!"
Then he stepped back slightly and put distance between himself and the man named Mark. Then the man named Bart pointed at the man named Mark with his index finger so Tamaki could see clearly, then pointed at himself with his thumb, and earnestly drew an X. Bart frantically gestured to Tamaki as if asking her to understand that he had absolutely no association with the orange-haired man named Mark.
Bart was standing in a very ambiguous position, neither going toward Engineer Na Team nor coming toward Engineer Ga Team. The engineer clothing visible inside his dark blue aviator jacket was a deep blue, and seeing that color, I couldn't distinguish whether the country he belonged to was Russia, America, or China.
Behind Bart stood a man with blond hair close to brown, with a shaggy beard and disheveled hair. He swayed as he stood, then finally couldn't stand any longer and collapsed spread-eagle on the floor. A dark blue engineer suit of a similar color was faintly visible inside a waterproof coat that looked completely worn and tattered. He seemed to be drunk, after all.
Baek Ayeong snatched away the handkerchief that had been pressed against Kim Jaehui's forehead and now pressed it against Jeong Sanghyeon's nose. I couldn't tell whether Baek Ayeong was trying to stop the bleeding or suffocate him.
The reason I couldn't distinguish countries by looking at engineer uniforms was because everyone was wearing blue. They probably looked different in brightness and saturation to one another, but to me, someone new to the undersea base, they just looked like similar shades of blue.
I had stayed in this undersea base for over a week now and had been looking at engineer clothes, so I had started to feel that the colors were slightly different, but when I first came to the undersea base, I had thought all the engineers only wore similar blue clothes.
Moreover, outside of work hours, the engineers would toss off their engineer suits as if throwing away prison uniforms and immediately change into light, warm, and soft casual clothes. The only times I saw engineers wearing suits were when they were occasionally sitting like corpses in cafeteria or cafe chairs, wandering around the central block dripping water, or dragging their suits to the shower room and throwing them in a corner.
"What country are those engineers affiliated with?"
"America."
"How on earth do engineers tell each other apart by their clothes?"
Do they have color wheels installed in their eyes or something?
"Japan is purple, ours is deep indigo, and the rest are blue. As for the color differences... if you stay at the base for just a month, you'll know."
They must be different somehow. I felt like I knew why there were so many blues without even asking Seo Jihyeok. They definitely fought over colors. Because that's always how things went at this undersea base. I thought, internally denying Sin Haeryang's answer. I'll never know. Because I'm getting out of here today.
Sato suddenly shouted at the man named Mark who had interrupted, veins bulging in his neck.
"We were talking to Tamaki first! Don't butt in! Wait your turn!"
"Once I get out, you can talk until you turn into skeletons! Where's the 'turn' in this situation! We got here first anyway!"
The man named Mark swept his hand over his balding crown once, then sighed and spoke to Tamaki in a gentle voice.
"Hey. Your name was Tamalki, right? I won't care whether you shoot your team members dead or do whatever. Escape pod? I won't insist on taking the escape pod and make a fuss like Daniel did earlier. You can have all the escape pods here. And just let me out of this escape pod port. You let the mining team people leave earlier, right? Let me leave like that too!"
Tamaki silently looked at the two corpses lying below, and the man named Mark frowned and scratched his neck as he spoke.
"Jennifer? That woman nagged so much I nearly got neurosis. Every day: don't do this. Do that! Move faster. Because it's the deep sea, alcohol concentration this and that absorbs faster so this and that, don't drink and work! Wash yourself! Blah blah! She acted louder than my wife! I wanted to shoot her dead five times a day too! So I'm rather thankful!"
I couldn't tell whether my English listening skills were lacking or whether this Mark guy was spouting nonsense. Then Mark pointed to the side with his finger and spoke.
"That bastard Daniel was always a bit touched in the head. He used to do dangerous things without a care. If he hadn't died by your gun, someone else would have gotten pissed off and killed him someday. So I don't even want to blame you for shooting those two dead, and it's none of my business. Just let me out of here."
Tamaki listened to Mark's words, remained still for a moment, then mumbled a sentence.
"She asked if there are no other opinions."
Kim Jaehui interpreted toward me while pressing his palm against his forehead.
When I looked at Kim Jaehui, he smirked.
Upon hearing Tamaki's words, the man named Bart spoke up hurriedly.
"I'm not agreeing with Mark's opinion, but I won't use the escape pod. Just let me out of here. I won't even go near the Hyeonmudong escape pod port."
The man sitting slumped behind Bart said nothing. He simply pulled a small bottle from inside his clothes and took another swig.
Sin Haeryang spoke after Bart.
"I'd like for the injured people to be sent out in the escape pod first. If that can't be done, Engineer Ga Team also wants to leave this escape pod port."
Sato quietly listened to the others' opinions, then said something to Tamaki. I don't know what he said, but upon hearing it, Baek Ayeong laughed as if dumbfounded, then nearly plugged Jeong Sanghyeon's nostrils completely.
Kim Jaehui also snickered, but Sin Haeryang didn't laugh. Sin Haeryang reluctantly interpreted for me, who had no idea what was going on.
"If possible, I'd like to get out too."
Sato said that? ...This is crazy.
After hesitating, I offered my opinion to Tamaki.
"How is the inside of your mouth? It's been quite a while since you came to the dentist; how has daily life been?"
I had been concerned because she had a lot of oral mucosal inflammation, but after welcoming a group of Engineer A Team members whose mouths were entirely filled with cavities (dental caries), it had been pushed to the back of my memory. The dentist asked the patient with a slight sense of guilt.