Kim Jaehee seemed to have already expected that I would pick her as one of the six. Even you can tell I’m acting way too obvious, right? Kim Jaehee seems to think she can stay here if she doesn’t want to go. Well. If I end up calling Kim Jaehee’s name, I feel like she’ll be put on the escape craft and sent out regardless of her own wishes. Because Shin Haeryang looks like he’d fold Kim Jaehee up neatly and shove her into the escape craft no matter what she said.
My eyes automatically met Baek Aeyeong’s, who was beside Kim Jaehee. Baek Aeyeong was staring at me with wide, clear eyes, as if asking why I was looking at her.
“Next, I’d like Aeyeong to leave.”
“Uh…… Why…… me?”
Baek Aeyeong looked at me as if she had no idea why she had been called. Then worry reflexively flickered across her face. It was the anxious expression of someone for whom having their name called had never meant anything good.
Baek Aeyeong looked more comfortable with sudden curses, out-of-nowhere sexual harassment, or fists flying at her than with an unknown favor from a man she didn’t know well. After stiffening and staying on guard for a few seconds, Baek Aeyeong immediately looked at her team leader.
With two of his team members already called to take an escape craft out of the undersea base, even Shin Haeryang, whose expression hadn’t changed much when facing a group of people with guns, had a faint smile on his lips. Just then, Jeong Sanghyeon, who had been covering his nose with a handkerchief, spoke to Baek Aeyeong.
“Getting to ride the escape craft first just because you’re a woman.”
Baek Aeyeong acted as though she hadn’t heard Jeong Sanghyeon at all. But Shin Haeryang, who had heard it beside her, reacted. His face instantly went expressionless, and he grabbed Jeong Sanghyeon by the shoulder like lightning, lifted him up, and moved him into a corner.
Seo Jihyeok was the first one to board the escape craft after putting on a flashy performance, so why was he saying that to Baek Aeyeong? And if he wanted to complain about that, shouldn’t he be saying it to me? I was the one calling the names.
Shin Haeryang, who had been holding Jeong Sanghyeon and whispering something to him in a low voice, turned back to look at Baek Aeyeong and nodded. It seemed to mean that she should go take the escape craft. Baek Aeyeong approached and said to me in a very small voice.
“I…… I don’t have a single coin on me right now.”
For a moment, I wondered what Baek Aeyeong was talking about. After thinking it over for three seconds, I shook my head.
“Huh? Ah…… I said earlier that I wouldn’t accept compensation. You don’t have to worry about it. Takahashi left too, didn’t he? This time it’s your turn, Aeyeong.”
“You might not believe me when I say this, but I have quite a lot of gold in my room. It’s what I saved up as retirement funds over five years. I couldn’t go back into the Baekho-dong dorms, so I had no choice but to leave it there. If I can get it out, I’ll give you at least some of it.”
Kim Jaehee, who had been listening from the side, spoke from behind Baek Aeyeong in a slightly teasing tone.
“Aeyeong. If that’s how it works, we’ve got ten golden calves and ten golden toads at my house.”
“Argh! Damn it! Seriously! Shut your mouth!”
When Baek Aeyeong clenched both fists, the tendons swelled on the backs of her hands. It looked like she wanted to blow off Jeong Sanghyeon’s and Kim Jaehee’s jawbones in order right this second but was holding herself back. Or maybe she wanted to quickly beat the two of them up, leave the cleanup to her team leader, and then run away into the escape craft. She actually gauged the distance to Jeong Sanghyeon, Kim Jaehee, and the escape craft, then looked back at me. Then, exhaling her patience in a sigh, she spoke slowly.
“It’s true. I’m not someone without money. Later, I’ll pay you back for the cost of the escape craft.”
I nodded and said in a small voice.
“Yes. I’ll believe that you’re rich, Aeyeong. But you really don’t have to give me anything. It’s not like I’m giving you something I own. (I lowered my voice even more.) Strictly speaking, it isn’t something Tamaki is giving you either. This escape craft itself is in the undersea base, and if you’re an employee of the undersea base, it’s only natural to ride one to escape in a disaster. The situation just got twisted in a strange way because of the circumstances.”
When the undersea base later started running properly again, how strange would this situation look? Instead of people boarding and leaving quickly on a first-come, first-served basis, someone who had somehow seized several rights to choose who boarded the escape craft by force was calling out names for people to leave. Originally, Tamaki, who reached the escape craft port first, should have been the first one gone from here. Baek Aeyeong lowered her gaze, hesitated, and then said,
“You could tell people that if they want to ride the escape craft, they have to hand over everything they have on them right now. You’re not, but still.”
Using Tamaki’s backing to make money in this situation? Come on. That makes no sense. ……Or does it? It seemed like everyone here had thought that. So that was why they had been talking about giving me money and all that. People in the undersea base apparently thought that even in an extreme environment like this, someone could seize a tiny bit of authority and use it to commit robbery. Why would I sell off public property that wasn’t even mine? Why were people so barren? If they lived under the sea, shouldn’t they at least be a little damp?
“The more urgent the situation is, the more you’re not supposed to do that.”
Baek Aeyeong stared at my face for a while, then gave a small nod. In contrast to Seo Jihyeok, who had run around cheering when he realized he would be leaving the undersea base on an escape craft, Baek Aeyeong looked extremely gloomy.
I couldn’t tell whether that gloom was because even if she went to Daehan-do, she had the reality of not having a penny to her name, or because she was upset by the men around her who had been picking fights with her until just now. Baek Aeyeong unconsciously looked at the shattered entrance to the escape craft port and muttered,
“Ha. If I’d known this would happen, I would’ve at least dug a hole and buried some of it separately. If I leave like this now……”
Fortunately, it seemed her concern over material possessions was greater. Since I was someone with a negative-balance bank account myself, there was nothing good I could say to her.
Was there anyone among Baek Aeyeong’s team members who could give her financial advice or help her? I looked in order at the disabled person who, at a glance, seemed to have spent hundreds of millions on hospital bills and prosthetic legs, the shut-in who had supposedly stayed cooped up in his room, and the peerless poker gambler who had illegally won the name of an island and even the name of an engineer team when told to vote one person at a time. Then I decided to put my hopes on Lee Jihyeon, Kang Sujeong, or Seo Jihyeok.
The people who had gone up to Daehan-do would probably be more help to Baek Aeyeong, so I should send her out quickly.
“Whether it’s gold or anything else, you can gather it again. As long as you’re healthy, you can get back on your feet easily.”
Baek Aeyeong nodded while waiting for Shin Haeryang, who was talking with Jeong Sanghyeon. Why did Baek Aeyeong collect gold?
“I’m just curious, but are there advantages to collecting gold?”
Emotionally, I wanted to steal some expensive jewel from the exhibition hall in the Second Undersea Base, tuck it into Baek Aeyeong’s arms, and put her on the escape craft. Would she dislike it because it wasn’t gold but a jewel? At my question, Baek Aeyeong took out the pad she was carrying and said,
“Because I work while constantly moving around, I can’t carry bundles of cash with me. Gold is small in volume, and it doesn’t change. It doesn’t corrode, it doesn’t rust, and it always maintains its original state. It can be used in any country, and…… it’s beautiful. Even if someone checks my bank account, if I have it in gold, they can’t clearly tell how much in assets I actually have. It’s easy to hide too.”
In my opinion, one day, Baek Aeyeong would return to the Baekho-dong dormitory in the Fourth Undersea Base. She would come back to take her jewelry box. Just as those who remember the treasure of sunken ships still challenge the seafloor hundreds of years later, scraping at the bottom of the sea.
“Let’s say I can get into your room in Baekho-dong, Aeyeong. If I want to take a little gold as the price for this escape, how should I bring it out?”
Even if I said I just wanted to bring her the entire jewelry box without any payment, Baek Aeyeong probably wouldn’t trust me. Baek Aeyeong stared at me, then raised a hand to her mouth, so I quickly bent my upper body down. Baek Aeyeong whispered rapidly into my ear.
“There’s a comb on my dressing table. It’s a comb with a metal handle. Pull that out. After that, you have to open the jewelry box. The order must not be reversed. Got it? And take one 500-gram gold bar and five gold coins from my jewelry box. Each gold coin is one ounce.”
I had no idea how much 500 grams of gold was worth. Baek Aeyeong probably thought I’d understand well enough if she said one ounce. But I didn’t understand at all. Gold coins? Weren’t those things only pirates in movies got?
I had expected that Baek Aeyeong had gathered up about a fistful of women’s accessories like gold rings, gold earrings, and gold necklaces, but it was more professional than I’d thought, so I faltered.
“What happens if I take less, or if I take more?”
“If you take more, then someday, you and I will meet again.”
Baek Aeyeong said it with a dangerous smile. Judging by that smile, it didn’t seem like we would be meeting for anything good. I remembered the jewelry box that had been electrified. Then again, who could mess with Baek Aeyeong’s belongings and come out unscathed?
No violence of any kind occurred. Shin Haeryang, who had only been murmuring quietly with his team member, stepped away from Jeong Sanghyeon. Then he approached Baek Aeyeong. Baek Aeyeong handed the pad she was holding to Shin Haeryang’s left hand. Then Shin Haeryang extended his right hand to Baek Aeyeong. Baek Aeyeong struck Shin Haeryang’s extended right hand with her own right hand, making a sharp smack.
Shin Haeryang said to Baek Aeyeong in a calm voice.
“See you later.”
“Team Leader, come quickly too. I’ll be waiting up above.”
I had the thought that Baek Aeyeong had hidden something on the back of the pad and handed it to Shin Haeryang. What was that? Could it have been a knife? They exchanged it too quickly for me to see properly, but Shin Haeryang brazenly acted as though he had only received a single pad.
Baek Aeyeong looked at me, then said to me reluctantly,
“I’ll skip the hug.”
She was probably saying it because she had seen what Seo Jihyeok had done to me. Hahaha. I smiled at Baek Aeyeong and replied.
“Yes. I’ll see you later on Daehan-do.”
Baek Aeyeong began walking briskly toward the entrance of the escape craft. Except for Jeong Sanghyeon, no one said anything about Baek Aeyeong boarding the escape craft and leaving. Mark seemed to mutter something, but it wasn’t to the extent of expressing dissatisfaction to me or Baek Aeyeong. Engineer Team Na didn’t say anything either. It was probably because Takahashi had just left on the escape craft.
Kim Jaehee looked at Baek Aeyeong’s back and asked me,
“Savior. What happens if someone leaves on the escape craft?”
I gave up on correcting the way she addressed me.
“They escape to Daehan-do, but I don’t think that’s what you’re asking. They don’t appear in the undersea base in the next life.”
It had been a long time since Kim Jaehee had asked so directly about my repeating life.