Mining robots had been parked haphazardly around the Hyeonmu-dong rest plaza, unintentionally creating a blind spot, and we hid in that corner, leaning against the solid machinery. The intake of the [Crocodile] was slanted and slightly raised off the floor, so I sat on the edge and leaned my back against it.
When Shin Haeryang told us to rest, I’d wondered why we had to rest now, but after taking a short break, my body had gone completely slack before I knew it. I hadn’t realized how tense I’d been. It really hadn’t been easy, handing out the limited escape craft. I never wanted to do something like this again. Who was I to choose which people got to board an escape craft?
Maybe because I’d been so taut with nerves at the escape craft port, the moment I let the tension drain from my body, fatigue swept over me like a tidal wave. As I surrendered myself to that languid exhaustion, I found myself wanting to sleep. Shin Haeryang looked at Kim Jaehee and me, both slumped with our backs against the mining machine, and said in a low voice,
“Originally, I was supposed to meet Jihyeok as soon as I got off the helicopter.”
The way he started the topic like that, I guessed Seo Jihyeok either hadn’t been at the meeting place or had been late.
“When I arrived, Jihyeok wasn’t at the helipad. I found out later that at that time, Jihyeok had been dawdling somewhere else.”
If Seo Jihyeok had been here, I felt like he would have poured out explanations like a waterfall at that remark from Shin Haeryang. Kim Jaehee listened to Shin Haeryang and giggled softly.
“Ah. I think I heard only the reasons why Jihyeok hyung ended up being late for about thirty minutes. He said things like he’d been caught in a trap, that it couldn’t be helped, that those bastards picked some absurd fight with him to screw him over and wouldn’t let him leave. Savior. If you have time later, ask Jihyeok hyung about it. He’ll explain in great detail.”
Shin Haeryang continued explaining.
“As I was waiting for Jihyeok at the helipad, a group of engineers came over and asked my nationality. When I answered that I was Korean, they talked among themselves and laughed. Then they said they’d show me to my quarters. Back then, this place wasn’t called Hyeonmu-dong, but the mining area. Since it seemed like we were heading somewhere unrelated to the engineers’ quarters, I asked about it, and they said my room was in the mining area.”
What the hell. Why would they do that? Engineers don’t stay in Hyeonmu-dong.
“I heard that engineers used to stay in Cheongnyong-dong. Was that not the case?”
“That’s correct. Jihyeok had already told me his room number in Cheongnyong-dong beforehand, so I followed them while thinking it was strange.”
You followed them while thinking it was strange? ……Did no one ever teach you that if suspicious people try to take you somewhere unfamiliar, you should scream and run away?
“If you thought it was dangerous or strange, shouldn’t you not have followed them?”
Kim Jaehee, who was beside me, burst out laughing when he heard what I said. I couldn’t understand what part of my question was funny.
I suddenly remembered that Kang Sujeong had been waiting at the helipad as soon as I got off the helicopter. At the time, I’d thought she’d come out to pick up a delivery and welcome a new employee, but after hearing Shin Haeryang’s story, a chill somehow began crawling up my spine. Shin Haeryang nodded at my question.
“Your judgment is correct, Doctor. You must not act the way I did. If you sense even the slightest danger, you should leave the place quickly.”
“You know that perfectly well. Then why did you follow them?”
You can’t just follow people like that. Were those people even really engineers?
“Aeyoung was scheduled to come two months after I joined. I didn’t know what kind of trap they’d set up, but I judged that it would be better for me to confirm it than for Aeyoung to find out later. They wouldn’t go out of their way to try the same thing twice after failing once.”
I couldn’t tell if he was fearless or bold. If no one fell into their traps, wouldn’t the people making them get tired too?
“When I went where they guided me, three men who looked as if they’d been beaten up by a right-handed person were waiting in the room. It seemed like a man in the mid-190-centimeter range had beaten them one-sidedly.”
Who was it? It couldn’t be Seo Jihyeok, could it? Shin Haeryang wasn’t the only one actively going around throwing punches in the undersea base—Seo Jihyeok, not you too?
For some reason, I could imagine Seo Jihyeok smiling as he beat up someone who picked a fight with him, then giving Shin Haeryang’s name instead of his own, and it made me feel strange. ……No. That can’t be. The Seo Jihyeok I know likes sweets, smiles easily, is affectionate, mischievous…… and is absolutely capable of that. My head suddenly hurts.
“It seems they wanted to welcome the new Korean employee. After about five minutes of tedious conversation, I found out that they had been taking the salaries of the Korean employees who’d been stationed here before and using the money for gambling or personal entertainment. Since the Korean team employees had either fled or gone missing, and since they’d had a fruitless conversation with Jihyeok, who’d joined not long before, they said they wanted to scare the new employee a little. After I reconfirmed that my quarters were in Cheongnyong-dong, I moved rooms again.”
Shin Haeryang called it a conversation, but from what I was hearing, wasn’t it more like punching? A new employee welcome party turning into a bloody brawl. What a shitty workplace I’d never heard or seen the like of. Kim Jaehee propped his chin on his fist and said,
“Team Leader, your suitcase got smashed back then, so those guys carried your luggage for you, right?”
“When I told them to fix the suitcase immediately, they said they couldn’t. They apologized, gave me a roll of duct tape, and told me to stick it together. Then they carried my luggage. I didn’t know this job very well back then either. ……I thought engineers could fix everything except people.”
It was a little surprising to hear that Shin Haeryang knew absolutely nothing about engineering work. Judging by what he did, he seemed like he’d fallen from the heavens after receiving a divine mandate to become the team leader of Engineering Team A. It was also strange that he’d gone from deputy team leader to team leader.
“What happened after that?”
“When I arrived at Cheongnyong-dong, I met Jihyeok, who’d been looking for me. He said that at the time, someone in the empty room next to Jihyeon’s had been playing music or continuously kicking the wall. So the room next to Jihyeon’s became mine. After that incident, whenever Korea sends a new employee, one team member always goes out to meet them.”
The thought suddenly occurred to me that security regulations only change after an incident happens. I remembered the room number I’d found out as soon as I arrived, and the suitcase that had arrived safely in my room when I came back after signing the contract. All of those things had been created through the cases that came before. Why hadn’t Shin Haeryang quit on his first day? If it were me, I would have tried to swim back to Korea if I had to.
“Did you join knowing the undersea base was this much of a mess?”
“Jihyeok did give me a rough explanation.”
Seo Jihyeok probably hadn’t even been employed for a month back then. Whether it was Seo Jihyeok, Lee Jihyeon, or Shin Haeryang, it seemed like all of them had been victims of job fraud. The dentist, who’d learned within five days of joining that the company building had turned into a watery mess and that most of the patients were made up of pseudo-religionists, people with anger management issues, or people who had thrown away a certain amount of morality, asked with a sympathetic look in his eyes,
“I’m curious what your impression of your first day at the undersea base was, Team Leader Shin.”
Shin Haeryang thought for a moment, then said,
“……I thought it wasn’t as much of a mess as I’d expected.”
A group beating had happened from the very first day, and that was his impression? I was so dumbfounded that I asked back,
“Really? Then what exactly had you expected?”
“Jihyeok told me to think of it as being abandoned without a weapon in a civil war zone. How was your first day at the undersea base, Doctor?”
“……Uh. I was worried about opening the dental clinic, but I thought it wasn’t that bad.”
When I thought back on my first day at work, it hadn’t been that terrible. Had other people felt that way too? I asked Kim Jaehee about joining the undersea base as well. What had he been thinking when he joined this place?
“Jaehee, did you know the undersea base was this kind of place too?”
Kim Jaehee smiled brightly at my question, straightened his back, and answered.
“I joined because the Church of Infinity told me to work here.”
……Forget I asked. I let out a deep sigh. Kim Jaehee looked at me with slightly pitiful eyes and said,
“Our poor Savior hasn’t even received a single paycheck since joining, and now this happened. Payday is tomorrow too.”
“I don’t care if I don’t get paid. I want to get out of here right now.”
I meant it. Kim Jaehee stared at Shin Haeryang and asked,
“Are they dealing again tomorrow too?”
“I’m not going this month.”
Shin Haeryang answered Kim Jaehee indifferently. From the way he answered, it seemed he didn’t particularly want to go. I’d heard he was so good at poker, so unless he was losing every time, why wouldn’t he want to go?
“Does the gambling table open regularly?”
Shin Haeryang arched an eyebrow at my question and answered.
“When salaries come in on the first of every month, about twenty people from the mining team and the engineering team play poker or mahjong. Doctor, has anyone ever asked you to lend them money or invited you to play poker with them?”
Shin Haeryang asked me quite seriously. I answered him while defending the patients who had visited Deep Blue.
“Not yet. I haven’t worked many days, so I think this month’s salary will be tiny anyway. Why does the gambling table open?”
“Life at the undersea base is boring. If you have at least one hobby, that’s one thing, but if not, there’s nothing to do during breaks. I’d rather they exercise during that time, but they don’t even do that.”
Really? Then I’d rather they flossed during that time. It’s a healthy hobby for their teeth. Or at least brush properly.
“Some of those bastards seem to find games so boring without stakes that they can’t stand it. The stakes are especially high on payday.”
“Is attendance up to each person?”
“I only attend once every three months.”
That was less frequent than I’d thought. So he didn’t attend every time. I’d never played poker or mahjong for money, so was it normal to attend this sporadically? Expecting that I wouldn’t get an answer, I asked Shin Haeryang,
“……How do you win?”
Was God attached to his fingers, had he received the blessing of cards, was he doing some incredible calculation about the hands in his head, or something like that? Shin Haeryang answered me without much hesitation.
“By cheating.”
Kim Jaehee blankly opened his mouth, then grinned. It seemed like this was his first time hearing this story.
“If this gets out, I think Haoran will try to kill you, Team Leader Shin.”
“Let him try.”
Shin Haeryang answered as if he wasn’t the least bit afraid.