Mark tried to kick Leonard again while reading the messages together from the side. But Leonard rolled to the side and avoided Mark's kick. Mark, having kicked empty air, shouted angrily at Leonard.
"A guy like you shouldn't be a parent!"
"Henry is my kid! He's the only son of the Sanders family, and yet you took my kid to another country without my permission? That's kidnapping!"
Shin Haeryang certainly seemed to have controlled his strength when hitting Leonard. It looked like he had struck just enough to make him unable to move for a short while. How is such a skill possible? Leonard's pronunciation was a mess as he held his nose, perhaps because it hurt.
Struggling to suppress my rising anger, I asked Leonard,
"Doesn't Nevada have the custody rights? Isn't taking a child without the guardian's knowledge kidnapping?"
"What? You don't know anything. Take that back! That kid immediately followed me out when I said I'd show him the undersea base where I work, rather than that boring environmental protection camp or whatever! How is that kidnapping!"
When I didn't know what kind of place the undersea base was either, I had constantly exclaimed in admiration at the ocean visible from the elevator. Even in a situation where I knew nothing but the bakery and the surface, I had tried to take the central elevator several times, and I used to wander around the jellyfish tank with a toothbrush in my mouth, so from a child's perspective, this place must be much more fun.
But the undersea base is a place where children shouldn't enter. A place where only adults can enter surely has a reason for it. Why is he so brazen about bringing him here without Nevada's knowledge?
"What about him sleeping because of sleeping pills?"
"He said he couldn't sleep because of the vibrations and noise of the undersea base, so I gave him mine! And I can't let the kid wander around inside the undersea base while I'm working!"
It was an attitude of having no fault whatsoever. I don't know much about Leonard's life history, but the state of his mouth already seemed to be a mess. People who drink live carrying periodontal disease. If he keeps drinking at that pace, there will come a day when he feels terrible pain and comes running to the dentist. He'll probably have to live without teeth, get implants, or undergo tooth regeneration.
I hope there's no dentist at the undersea base when Leonard suffers such pain. So that bastard will have to pay the astronomical dental costs that are scary enough to make you shiver, all by himself in the US. While I was showering short curses, Bart let out a small exclamation as he read Nevada's message.
"Reading this reminds me of something. Kevin suddenly said he was going to Baekho-dong. Now that I think about it, it was a bit strange."
Mark snapped his fingers upon hearing Bart's voice and nodded slightly.
"What kind of person is Kevin?"
I know two Kevins. One is a Canadian researcher who wields an axe, and the other is an American engineer whom I've never even greeted. Whether Bart was recalling a few hours ago, he grinned and said,
"There's a guy named Kevin Wilson on our team. He said something suddenly came up where he had to go to Baekho-dong, and asked me to help him take a few hours off. I had a hunch that bastard was totally faking it, you know?"
The moment I heard that, someone familiar yet horrifying flashed through my mind. An employee of Engineer Ma's team who was always found dead on the way to Baekho-dong. The cause of death seemed to be hitting his head on a metal handle attached to the wall.
"How exactly did you help him?"
"The team leader is a bit picky, so I laid the groundwork first. I'm the most diligent among the team members. (Mark snorted.) I told Jennifer beforehand that Kevin seemed to be in poor physical condition. Thirty minutes later, when Kevin told Jennifer his head hurt too much and he needed to rest, our team leader told him to rest without much fuss. Now that I think about it, Kevin must have gotten in touch with Nevada!"
Whether Bart was a bit proud of what he had done, he spoke with a bright smile, but his face darkened in an instant when he saw Jennifer's corpse. However, Bart spoke without losing the smile at the corners of his mouth.
"That Kevin guy might have taken the kid sleeping in room 80. Until he quit because of a shoulder injury, he used to brag about how well he swam. He complains a lot, but he's a pretty decent guy."
Now I understand why Kevin Wilson, an employee of Engineer Ma's team, was dead on the way to Baekho-dong. That Kevin guy was one of the people who received Nevada's message. He must have slipped away from work using a headache as an excuse.
Did he die on his way to check whether there was really a child sleeping in room 80 of the Baekho-dong dormitory? Or did he die on his way back after confirming Henry's presence? While I was choosing my words about how to tell the team members about Kevin's death to lessen the shock, Leonard suddenly shouted at Bart.
"Are you confessing right now that my woman and that Kevin bastard were secretly having an affair!"
...What on earth must he be thinking for that content to enter his ears that way? While I was out of it trying to understand those words, Bart said to Leonard with a look of disgust.
"She must have been contacting anyone and everyone, and happened to reach Kevin!"
"I knew any man would go around contacting just anyone! Aren't you having an affair with them too?!"
Bart was aghast at this suspicion and spoke to Leonard as if he wanted nothing to do with it.
"This is why nobody on Engineer Ma's team contacts Nevada!"
"Why would you people have to contact my wife!"
Mark listened from the side, made a face, and shouted in front of Leonard.
"Because of you, we don't even greet each other when we pass on the street. You crazy bastard!"
"Keep living like that! Don't even make eye contact!"
While the employees of Engineer Ma's team were screaming at each other, from behind me Sato was saying things in a cheerful voice, like how he never knew another team's discord could be this enjoyable.
Mentally, I wanted to immediately revive Kevin and put him on the escape craft. Shin Haeryang cut into the middle of this argument.
"Kevin Wilson is dead."
At those words, Mark looked at Shin Haeryang as if uncomfortable, but the moment Shin Haeryang took a step closer, he backed away three steps. Looking at Mark and Bart's expressions, they seemed convinced that Shin Haeryang had killed Kevin, who approached Baekho-dong, in a terrible manner. Mark looked at Shin Haeryang approaching him and said in shock.
"Uh, uh, uh! Talk from there."
"Pad."
Mark held out the pad he had been reading not to Shin Haeryang but to Bart beside him, as if throwing it. Bart, who had caught the pad in the midst of it all, glared as if Mark had dumped the work on him, then held out the pad with one hand while keeping as much distance from Shin Haeryang as possible.
The moment Shin Haeryang grabbed the pad, Bart hurriedly backed away. He looked as if he were worried about being hit or beaten. While Shin Haeryang was examining the contents of the pad, Leonard kept his mouth shut, then muttered to himself as if his resentment over something was bursting out.
"I knew that Kevin bastard was up to no good. He kept asking if my family was doing well, and I thought his eyes looked strange from the start. Serves him right. Daring to have an affair behind my back? That piece of trash-."
I cut off Leonard's words and said,
"Henry has already left the undersea base. He escaped quickly on the escape craft. You won't be able to use the child as bait to threaten Nevada."
At my words, not only Mark and Bart but also the people beside them all seemed to sigh slightly or feel relieved. However, Leonard shouted at me.
"Who are you to kidnap my son and make a fuss! This is clear child abduction! ...You too. Are you in contact with Nev too?"
Leonard asked me as if he had realized something. It was so absurd that words completely lacking social courtesy burst from my mouth.
"Now I know why you lost custody rights."
Leonard sprang up, but he didn't rush at me like he would at Mark. It didn't seem to be because I looked like someone who could throw a punch; rather, it seemed to be because Shin Haeryang was suddenly holding the pad sideways and staring at him.
Leonard bulged the veins in his neck and pointed his index finger at me as he spoke.
"It's not your problem, so why are you butting into someone else's business and making a fuss."
"If I hadn't cared, Henry might have died."
"You'll definitely pay the price for meddling in something that isn't your responsibility. If I get out of here alive, I'll sue you as a kidnapper."
"Do you think I'm scared of something like that?"
Strangely, Leonard's threat wasn't scary at all. I'm not someone overflowing with guts, so I had no idea why I was feeling this way. Rather than anxiety and worry about what if I get sued, I only thought that if I were sued by Leonard, I could just hire a lawyer and fight.
I know the foundation of this thought. It's the confidence that I did the right thing. If I am proud of myself, I am not afraid. Though I did countless foolish things at this undersea base, they were actions I would never regret.
Going from my room to room 80 was always accompanied by anxiety and danger. I think I wondered hundreds of times whether I was doing the right thing while putting cats or snakes into bags. As the water level rose higher, those thoughts grew bigger. No one would blame me if I ran away without saving the kids or animals. No one would say anything to me. It's to survive, after all.
But if I didn't go, I felt like I would be so disappointed in myself for the rest of my life.
I had thought no one would acknowledge what I did back then. But looking back after all this time... I recognize myself.
I feel like even after 20 years, I'd still be saying things like, "At least I got Henry out of the dormitory."
"You're the one who should be careful. I'll go around talking every day about what happened to Henry at this undersea base."
The conversation ended with an uncomfortable silence between Leonard and me. The surroundings were quiet. Only Jeong Sanghyeon's words to Kim Jaehui rang out particularly loudly.
"Hyung. If those two fight, I put five thousand won on Leonard."
"Sanghyeon. I've told you before, but even if you just keep your mouth shut, you get halfway there."
I could hear Kim Jaehui speaking quietly to Jeong Sanghyeon. Jaehui. There won't be anything fun anymore, so get out now.
"Mr. Jaehui. ...Please leave quickly on the escape craft."
Kim Jaehui looked at Jeong Sanghyeon and Shin Haeryang, then asked me.
"Can you yield the escape craft? I want to send Sanghyeon on it."
"Woah! Really? For real? Hyung! This is free, right?"
"You have to remember, Sanghyeon. Just as someone yielded their escape craft to you, someday you too must yield what you have."
Jeong Sanghyeon shouted as if he had received something with a price attached.
"Once I got it, it's done! No take-backs!"
Kim Jaehui, Jeong Sanghyeon, and everyone around all looked at me. I felt like Shin Haeryang was going to put a hole in the back of my head. If yielding wasn't permitted, he seemed ready to immediately shove Kim Jaehui into the escape craft; if not, he seemed to want to at least send Jeong Sanghyeon away.
"...Yes. You can yield it. Get on and leave."
"Team leader. I'm going first!"
Jeong Sanghyeon started running in a straight line toward the escape craft after leaving just one word, without approaching Shin Haeryang to give him a high-five, whether because he didn't want to or had forgotten. He looked like an office worker throwing himself down the stairs to get off work. He ran fast enough that he only avoided stepping on the corpses of people in the way.