Tamaki listened to my proposal in silence, but he did not say anything like, You bastard, you’ve only worked at the undersea base for five days and now you’re throwing in your resignation? You’re a professional, so do you think it’ll be easy to get hired somewhere else? He merely looked at Engineer Team Na with the gun in his hand, then slowly spoke to me in a gloomy voice.
“If I’d heard that offer yesterday, I might have done as you said, Doctor. Even while wondering why I had to go so far as to sabotage the escape craft, instead of breaking it like I was ordered to, I might have left this place and never come back. Or if it had been two hours ago, I might have done as you said.”
Tamaki, his face somber, seemed to be running his tongue over the uncomfortable inside of his cheeks; his right cheek and then his left cheek bulged out and sank back in, one after the other.
“What happened two hours ago?”
I think I would have been in Baekho-dong then. Tamaki stared at me quietly, then asked me an out-of-the-blue question.
“Do you remember? At the dental clinic, you told me to ask my team leader if I could take two days off.”
Did I? I suppose I might have suggested it because he would get better if he rested properly. But after dying and coming back to life so many times, and with so many urgent things happening, I couldn’t really remember such peaceful conversations. Emotionally, it felt like I’d been here for about three years now. It was hard to believe I’d only worked for five days.
“At the time, I laughed at you inwardly. I thought, What nonsense is this dentist talking about? Do you have any idea how busy and exhausted I am right now? You don’t know anything. Do you think my team leader would easily approve my leave? I have to go back to my room right now and write this week’s engineer report in English, record all the tasks I handled today by time slot, get approval through the MARIA system and send off the materials JAMSTEC—the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology—requested, and since it’s almost the end of the month, I also have to do the accounting for this month’s consumables. You don’t know anything. I wrote the report while getting irritated inside, thinking, When do I even have time to rest? I told my team members about you. I said you told me I needed a vacation. I said that dentist seemed a little strange. That you were saying easy things without knowing anything about what kind of work I do or how much of it.”
Shin Haeryang, who had been interpreting, frowned at the part about the engineer report. Tamaki spoke with a slightly dazed expression.
“When I submitted the weekly report under the team leader’s name, I thought, They say the new recruits in other teams all live like this too, but then if those new recruits go on vacation, who writes the team reports? Why would a dentist who met me for the first time tell me to rest, even if I had to use my leave?”
Jeong Sanghyeon, who had been listening to Tamaki, pressed a handkerchief to his nose and whispered to Kim Jaehee.
“Aren’t weekly team reports supposed to be written by the team leader?”
“Sanghyeon. I’ve never even seen the format for that report.”
Why was a team member writing an English report the team leader was supposed to write? As if dizzy, Kim Jaehee staggered slightly and grabbed Jeong Sanghyeon’s shoulder like a cane. Jeong Sanghyeon gestured at Tamaki with his chin and said to Kim Jaehee, who had his head lowered a little.
“I guess he does everything his team members tell him to? Isn’t he kind of stupid?”
“Say that a little louder.”
Kim Jaehee said it softly, with a playful tone, and Baek Ayeong immediately glared at both Kim Jaehee and Jeong Sanghyeon.
“Lower your voices if you don’t want to die by my hands.”
“Hey. Aren’t you seriously being too much to me? How does your fist fly out that fast? If you’re that violent, all the men will hate you.”
“······I live every day fighting the urge to kill you and letting you stay alive, so be quiet.”
Baek Ayeong spoke to Jeong Sanghyeon in a low voice, grinding her teeth. Tamaki continued in his slow, indistinct pronunciation.
“While living in this undersea base······.”
Tamaki, who had been standing still like a statue, turned his eyes toward Engineer Team Na and spoke.
“I thought my team members were putting up with me and helping me a lot, even though I was stupid, slow, couldn’t do what I was told in one go, and couldn’t even understand what people were saying right away, so I was only a burden to the team. Ah······ I thought it was because I couldn’t handle my work properly. That I was causing huge trouble for my team members. That this was happening to me because I talked to employees from other teams without permission.”
Tamaki turned his head slightly toward Shin Haeryang and muttered.
“I thought my team members cared about me. Even when the leaders of other engineer teams suggested immigration to me, I discussed it with my team members first. They said everyone in the undersea base wanted to immigrate to Japan. They said what the other national team leaders wanted was to create an empty spot in Engineer Team Na so they themselves could immigrate. They said someone like me would be abandoned halfway as soon as I signed the documents, without even being given permanent residency. I thought that was true.”
As Shin Haeryang interpreted for me, he let out one loud sigh in the middle. His expression said he had no idea what kind of bullshit this was, and it felt like this was almost the first time this man’s face had been so easy to read. Then Shin Haeryang began glaring fiercely at Sato.
“Two hours ago······ in Jungang-dong, Suzuki said he was tying his shoelaces and asked me to hold his gun for a bit, so I did, but its weight was a little different from mine. Suzuki said his gun was heavy and hard to carry around, so I gave him my lighter gun. And suddenly I had a thought. Could it be that the people in Engineer Team Na hate me? Could it be that there are no bullets in my gun? Could it be that they don’t think of me as a fellow team member? Could it be that they don’t even think of me as a fellow human being?”
Tamaki slowly raised the muzzle that had been pointed at the floor, then stopped speaking as he exhaled deeply. Then, breathing in again, he spoke slowly.
“I lied to Suzuki. I told him I’d forgotten to process the cost of the drysuit he applied for. That the deadline had passed, so he would have to pay the 310,000 yen for the drysuit out of his own pocket. If he asked in surprise whether that was true, I was going to tell him it was a joke. That of course I’d applied for the one he bought without leaving it out. But he slapped me and told me to pay for it instead, then aimed his gun at me. He got angry and shot at my leg, but no bullet came out.”
So the thing with Suzuki had happened two hours ago. Then what happened to Suzuki? Tamaki mumbled toward me.
“I’m sorry for badmouthing you to my team members and saying you were strange, Doctor.”
I didn’t care what he called me behind my back. I wanted to say something like, It’s fine. Don’t worry about it! But it felt like I would be rejecting the apology Tamaki was offering, so I kept my mouth shut and nodded slightly. Tamaki hesitated a little, then said,
“I can’t resign together with you, but I will help you leave this place, Doctor.”
Then Tamaki pointed at the escape craft with the muzzle of his gun and said,
“If you call out the names of the people you think are qualified to board the escape craft, Doctor, I will help those people escape on it.”
Shin Haeryang’s eyes gleamed as he interpreted those words. Suddenly given a choice, I looked around, and everyone was staring at me.
He wants me to choose? Uh······ I’m grateful, but. Mark, who had been quietly listening to Tamaki, frowned and asked,
“You said the people that dentist designates can get on the escape craft, right? Hey. You guys said you broke the escape craft in the other accommodations, didn’t you? How do we know the escape craft here aren’t broken? And I told you I want to leave the escape craft port! When are you going to answer that?”
Tamaki did not answer him. He merely looked at Mark. It seemed he didn’t even want to answer. It probably meant that leaving the escape craft port was not allowed. Baek Ayeong said to Shin Haeryang in a small voice, almost like a song lyric,
“This is better than subduing Tamaki and Engineer Team Na and taking the escape craft by force.”
So that was what you guys were thinking. Well, of course. That must be why you came all the way to the escape craft port together. Like a jackal seizing an opportunity, Shin Haeryang quickly made me an offer.
“If you call our team members’ names first, we will compensate you in whatever way we can. From the side, Baek Ayeong, Kim Jaehee, Jeong Sanghyeon, and over there in the driver’s seat is Seo Jihyeok.”
“Excuse me?”
After hearing Shin Haeryang, Mark shouted loudly in my direction.
“I’m Mark Pollan! You said you’re a dentist, right? I don’t have any money right now! Uh, uh! When I get paid next month, I’ll give you some money! For now, just call my name! No, now that I think about it, you’re a dentist! You must make a lot of money! Then just call my name!”
At that, a man from the American team who had been standing with his arms crossed shouted,
“My name is Bart-Erdene Borjigin. I only have three hundred dollars on me right now, but I’ll transfer even that to you! Let me get out of here on the escape craft!”
The place suddenly turned into a noisy marketplace, with people calling out their own names. In particular, the members of Engineer Team Na were rapidly saying things in Japanese with their own names mixed in, but all the voices blended together, so I couldn’t tell what they were saying. Especially Team Leader Sato was calling me shikai, but was shikai an insult?
“I don’t need compensation. Let me think for a moment. This is too sudden for me too. First, there are thirteen people here right now, and.”
Then Shin Haeryang advised me in a low voice from beside me.
“Please remember that you must call your own name as well.”
Hm. I felt like my own name was the one I should least call. I already knew all too well what happened when you boarded an escape craft. After looking around at the people in the escape craft port, I let out a deep sigh and shouted,
“Seo Jihyeok!”
Seo Jihyeok, who had been waiting in the driver’s seat of the mining robot, stuck his head out of the cockpit in surprise and said,
“Me? I haven’t even done anything that good for you. I’m endlessly grateful that you’re saying you’ll let me escape, but unfortunately, there are two people I’m looking for in this undersea base, so I can’t just leave like this······.”
Shin Haeryang shouted at Seo Jihyeok.
“Get out here right now!”
At that, Seo Jihyeok couldn’t make a peep. He jumped down from the driver’s seat, which was over two meters high, and quickly walked toward the people of Engineer Team Ga.
“Team Leader. Is it okay if I leave on the escape craft like this? Then who’s going to watch that rude-ass back of yours?”
Baek Ayeong said to Seo Jihyeok as he passed by,
“Go ahead and make a place for me.”
“Jihyeok hyung! Can’t I go instead?”
Jeong Sanghyeon shouted to Seo Jihyeok.