Mark, who had snickered when Jeong Sanghyeon fell and rolled through a pool of blood, stiffened with tension the moment he found himself facing Daniel and Jennifer up close.
On top of that, every place Jeong Sanghyeon had walked was marked with bloody footprints. When Mark saw them, he yielded the way to Bart-Erdene, who was walking a few steps behind him, telling him to go first. A few seconds later, the two of them were arguing over who should go first, until Mark had no choice but to take the lead, avoiding the footprints Jeong Sanghyeon had left behind. Then, perhaps overcome with fear, he was running at full speed, his orange hair flying.
The closer he got to Tamaki, the more Mark lowered his head as he ran. It looked as if he was thinking that even if Tamaki targeted him, a moving target would be hard to hit. Bart-Erdene ran behind Mark, keeping only a step or two between them, as if thinking that if Tamaki aimed at him, Mark would also be more likely to get hit.
Neither of them stopped until they reached the escape craft boarding area, running with all their might. Mark, who had lived his life doing almost no exercise, was panting so hard it seemed like he might cough up his lungs. After catching his breath with his hands on his knees, Mark barely managed to wave an arm in my direction. I waved back at him.
When Bart-Erdene smacked Mark on the back, Mark staggered into the circle, still panting, and stood straight. Bart-Erdene pressed the escape craft activation button, and not long after, Mark disappeared. Bart-Erdene also waved at me a couple of times before disappearing. As soon as the escape craft was launched from the Fourth Undersea Base, it began showing on the front window.
Seo Jihyeok, Takahashi, Baek Aeyeong, Jeong Sanghyeon, Mark, and Bart-Erdene had left in that order. Perhaps because everyone thought all the remaining spots were either mine or Tamaki’s, the last seat was left without much trouble. To be precise, the escape craft had remained because Tamaki had shot and killed the three people before them.
I looked ahead and naturally made a hand signal. I understood why hand signals had been created. To think you could convey your intentions to someone without speaking. But when I was the one doing it, maybe because it felt awkward, it just looked as if I were stretching my hands and arms.
I barely held back the urge to ask Shin Haeryang out loud whether this really meant I needed help. I also wanted to ask if he had understood me correctly. How on earth did Shin Haeryang, Seo Jihyeok, and Baek Aeyeong exchange these things? Should I just say I needed an interpreter? Even though I tried to act calm, my face burned.
Then I began walking slowly toward the escape craft. I could feel everyone’s gazes drilling into the back of my head. Behind me, I heard the heavy sound of footsteps following me. Hah. What a relief.
The closer I got, the more starkly Daniel’s and Jennifer’s corpses came into view. The same was true for Ichita’s body. Tamaki looked this way nervously. One person was supposed to come, but two had come instead. And one of them was the fighter who had taken down Yamashita.
I stopped when the distance between Tamaki and me had narrowed to about five meters. If I went any closer, Tamaki might become badly frightened, or Shin Haeryang might charge in. The muzzle of the gun Tamaki was holding had been pointed at me, but perhaps because he did not want to shoot me, it shifted toward Shin Haeryang behind me.
“Mr. Tamaki. If you do not board the escape craft right now, it will be nearly impossible to board the next one.”
Shin Haeryang, who had followed me, stood still with both hands on his hips, watching Tamaki like a still life as he waited. It seemed to be a sign that he had no intention of fighting. Tamaki looked back and forth between me and Shin Haeryang as if troubled, then spoke. Shin Haeryang glanced at me once and quickly translated.
“He says he does not want to leave.”
I nodded, but wet my parched lips with my tongue as I said,
“There may not be another chance besides this one.”
This was the first time I had met Tamaki in person. I had no way of knowing when I would meet him again. And the fact that an escape craft had remained at such perfect timing was practically a miracle. Tamaki stayed silent for a while before speaking in a small voice.
“……I’ll just stay here.”
“The undersea base may collapse completely.”
Tamaki spoke in a dispirited voice.
“I thought that might happen. The people who believe in the Infinite Church did not seem to want to live very much.”
It seemed he had already sensed that those people wanted to abandon reality and go back to the past. Tamaki looked at the people he had shot with gloomy eyes and said,
“I have already killed three people. This…… this has already happened.”
Absurdly enough, the moment I heard those words from Tamaki, I thought that his mental state was far better than that of the Infinite Church believers. Those people would probably think that in this situation, all they had to do was return to a past where they had not killed anyone. After staring at the dead for a long while, Tamaki said,
“I don’t even want to leave this place and explain to people what happened to me. I don’t want people talking about me either. I just. I just…… want to stay here and harass my team so they can’t get out until right before I die, and then die together with them.”
How many times had this repeated at the Hyeonmu-dong escape craft port? If we left it alone and pretended not to know, it felt as if it would keep repeating from now on too. Dozens, hundreds, thousands of similar or identical events might repeat. Trying to break that chain, even just a little, I asked Tamaki,
“Do you remember when Team Leader Shin Haeryang suggested that you transfer?”
“……Yes.”
I directed a question at Shin Haeryang.
“Are you close with Mr. Tamaki?”
“No.”
The answer came from him immediately. Perhaps because the respondent was Shin Haeryang, no one was emotionally wounded by the question. I knew it. Engineers, honestly.
“Then why did you specifically recommend that an employee from Engineer Team Na, one you aren’t even close with, come to Engineer Team Ga? Why did the team leaders of other engineer teams want to recruit Mr. Tamaki?”
Shin Haeryang answered without much hesitation.
“Because he has excellent patience and handles work diligently and well.”
“……Thank you for answering, Team Leader Shin.”
“Yes, Mr. Park Muhyeon.”
Then Shin Haeryang closed his mouth. I tried to be as kind as possible as I spoke to Tamaki.
“Mr. Tamaki. Just in case, I will leave one escape craft behind for you to take. If you find the courage to board it, please do.”
From the moment he took an escape craft and reached the surface, the law would cling to Tamaki’s back. Even if he somehow avoided the law, his conscience would follow him. Of course he would be afraid. It would be terribly frightening. It was a weight he would carry for the rest of his life. Whether to board the escape craft or not, I left the decision to Tamaki.
No matter how I thought about it, the best way for Tamaki would be to find the [victim] Tamaki, who had killed no one, as soon as I woke up in the morning, quickly put him on an escape craft, and get him out.
But in this repeating life, would I really be able to find him so easily? What if, by then, he had killed even more people? What if he was already dead when I found him?
And what about the lives of Jennifer, Daniel, and Ichita, who were dead now? If Jennifer had been alive, I would have prioritized her and sent her out.
Tamaki showed no reaction to my words. After waiting for a moment, I pointed at the exit of the escape craft port and asked Tamaki,
“Mr. Tamaki. May the others leave the escape craft port?”
In an uncomfortable accent, Tamaki spoke as if sighing.
“……Everyone except Engineer Team Na may leave.”
Would Tamaki choose hell with his team yet again?
“I will see you next time outside the undersea base.”
I bowed my head deeply, lifted it, and began walking toward the exit of the escape craft port. Shin Haeryang, who had quietly followed behind me, waved his arm toward Kim Jaehee, and Kim Jaehee quickly approached us.
Leaving Sato, Yamashita, Leonard, and Tamaki behind, the three of us exited the escape craft port. As soon as the door to the escape craft port closed, I let out a sigh of relief. The tension that had filled my body seemed to have gnawed away all the scant muscles I had. My legs and spine wanted to lie down. I wanted to collapse somewhere right away and not move for twenty minutes.
Kim Jaehee came up to me and asked curiously,
“What did you decide? Is Tamaki going to take the escape craft instead of you, Savior?”
“I’m not sure what Mr. Tamaki will do. But since we left one escape craft behind, he will make his own judgment. Personally, I hope Mr. Tamaki escapes the undersea base quickly.”
“Mm. Still, I think the escape craft were distributed more fairly than I expected. I like it.”
Kim Jaehee grinned broadly at me as she said that. Did Kim Jaehee really think so? I was still wondering whether I had done the right thing. I had tried to send the weaker people out first as much as possible, but I did not know if I had done it properly. I wished someone would tell me the right answer. It was something I had felt constantly since becoming an adult: there did not seem to be any fixed answers in life. That was why it was always difficult. It made me think too much.
“Why do you think that?”
It seemed Shin Haeryang did not think that at all. Under her team leader’s gaze, Kim Jaehee shrugged and said,
“If you look at it simply, it was divided into three for Engineer Team Ga, two for Engineer Team Na, and two for Engineer Team Ma. Three people from our Team Ga got out. Are you dissatisfied with that?”
Shin Haeryang said nothing. I could not tell whether that meant she was right or wrong. Shin Haeryang instructed Kim Jaehee and me to follow behind him. It seemed he intended to walk at the very front himself and keep any approaching threats in check. Kim Jaehee placed me in the middle of the group, then walked at the very back and asked Shin Haeryang a question.
“Team Leader. I didn’t think the people in that escape craft port could beat you one-on-one.”
If it had been Jeong Sanghyeon, that would be one thing, but hearing Kim Jaehee suddenly say it did not sound like praise. Why did the question make me so uneasy?
“You could have picked a fight, beaten all of them down, and then threatened the rookie dentist into calling only your team members’ names. Why didn’t you?”
Now I understood why Kim Jaehee had placed me in the middle of the group. Was she trying to use me as a shield against Shin Haeryang? But I think she was mistaken. Did it look like I would be any good at playing sandbag?
Shin Haeryang thought for a moment, then asked without even looking back,
“Is that the method you wanted?”
“I thought that might be fun too.”
“And you, sir?”
“I am against it.”