Kim Jaehui, Shin Haeryang, and I burst out of the restroom, one after another. Stepping out, I finally felt like I might survive. The mere absence of large blood pools and corpses made my tension and stress drain away rapidly. I tried my hardest not to think about Shin Haeryang washing his blood-soaked clothes in the sink, or the person who had collapsed and died after being stabbed by a blade, without so much as a groan.
Rather than Kim Jaehui and me overpowering Shin Haeryang and dragging him along, we somehow looked like three people walking side by side. Still, since Shin Haeryang was covered in blood, walking hunched over with his face and body bowed, unable to properly support himself, it did look like Kim Jaehui and I had joined forces to assault him.
Watching his hunched back shake filled me with endless pity. Seeing Shin Haeryang walk from behind, his condition definitely looked poor, yet I couldn't fathom how he could spring up and kill people like that. I fought to suppress the emotions of compassion, anxiety, and worry swirling inside me.
I prodded Shin Haeryang's back with the gun muzzle, imitating the voice of a despicable, cold-hearted cultist.
"Walk faster."
Shin Haeryang, who had been walking silently with his head bowed, gave me a warning in a voice as small as a mosquito's.
"...Please keep your words to a minimum."
"Ah. As I thought. I'm sorry."
It seemed Shin Haeryang decided this wouldn't do the moment he heard my voice. Whether or not Kim Jaehui heard my reply, he laughed like a madman up ahead, to the point that I worried someone might look our way.
Fortunately, we reached the central plaza, but there were fewer Infinite Church believers than the roughly twenty I had expected. There weren't even five. While we had been holed up in the restroom, it seemed they had tried to put out the fire again, because the smell of smoke was overwhelming. One of the believers shouted at Kim Jaehui and me.
"Take the elevator and move out fast!"
Ah. So the rest had already evacuated to another underwater base. Kim Jaehui naturally waved at the man as if to say "got it," then pointed at Shin Haeryang. The hostages were lying face-down or on their sides in front of the polar bear statue in the central plaza. Occasionally, some would crane their heads this way and that to look at the others, but with their arms tied behind their backs and their chests pressed to the ground, it was such an uncomfortable position for the neck that most lay tilted on their sides.
I felt an urge to examine the hostages' faces closely, but the more I observed them, the more I realized they could get an equally good look at mine, so I gave up. Among the faces I glimpsed with my poor eyesight, there was no one I knew.
I kept my gun trained on Shin Haeryang as I tried to take him to the farthest corner of the hostage group to lay him down. With the muzzle aimed at his back, I spoke.
"Lie face down."
Shin Haeryang obediently knelt on one knee. I waited for him, his hands already bound behind him, to fall forward, but Kim Jaehui kicked the back of the kneeling Shin Haeryang. While I was inwardly horrified, Kim Jaehui produced cable-tie cuffs and brought them to Shin Haeryang's ankles, which had collapsed flat against the floor.
Seeing that Shin Haeryang didn't kick away Kim Jaehui, who was humming as he grabbed his ankles, I realized his patience was extraordinary as well. From the outside, there was no telling whether the vicious Kim Jaehui was actually binding Shin Haeryang's ankles or merely pretending. Zzzip! Zzzip! Listening to the cable ties tightening around Shin Haeryang's ankles one by one, it really sounded like he was being tied up, and worry surged over me like a tidal wave. If it had been me, I would have only pretended to bind him.
I had seen in movies plenty of scenes where people broke free from crude, single-strap cable-tie cuffs by pressing them against their knees or forearms and snapping them with a burst of strength. However, the ones used on the hostages seemed to be professionally manufactured, double-strap cable-tie cuffs designed specifically for binding wrists and ankles, so they likely couldn't be undone so easily.
Most hostages lay powerlessly on the floor, but a few were wriggling, struggling to free their bound wrists or ankles behind their backs. The few who had been watching me and the other believers for an opportunity began rubbing or twisting their wrists the moment I looked away. All it did was leave more cuff marks on their wrists; it didn't look particularly effective. They probably thought they were being stealthy without the guards noticing, but from the terrorist's perspective, the hostages' suspicious movements looked blatantly obvious. ......I wish them success.
I saw several people whose wrists had turned a livid blue or deathly pale because the cable-tie cuffs behind them were excessively tight. If their wrists and ankles were bound so tightly that blood couldn't circulate, they would suffer serious injuries as time passed—what were the terrorists planning? Then a thought flashed like lightning. ......They had tied them with no intention of ever untying them.
Moreover, these cable-tie cuffs had no keyhole like those found on metal handcuffs. They seemed to be the type that, once fastened, could only be removed by cutting. It would probably take half a day to cut through them with tiny scissors like the ones used in dental clinics. You'd likely need something like orthodontic wire cutters and several attempts to get through them at all.
Kim Jaehui, who had been bent over, removed his hands from Shin Haeryang's ankles and stood up. I turned around without thinking, then hurriedly whipped my head back around. I pulled my cap down as low as it would go. I tugged the mask hanging around my neck up as high as possible, covering even my nose.
A strong mint smell wafted from the mask. Had I spilled toothpaste on it while brushing? Mentally, I wanted to pull the mask up over my eyes and cover my entire face. Several people were emerging from the exhibition hall toward the central plaza, and among them I saw the ghostly, pure-white figure of Elizabeth.
Elizabeth was walking out of the exhibition hall toward the central plaza, dripping with jewels. Beside her, a man named Jamal held her hand as if escorting her, but Elizabeth's overwhelming beauty rendered the people around her practically invisible. David, too, was walking about three paces behind her, vigilantly surveying the surroundings.
I took a deep breath and told myself: They don't know me. They won't look at me. I am a vicious terrorist who believes in a pseudo-religion. A crazed madman who lives staring only at the past, with no future. I won't be found out. They have no interest in me. Act like nothing is wrong.
But inside, I was screaming at the top of my lungs. My heart pounded like a drumbeat—thump-thump-thump-thump. I felt as if Elizabeth would meet my eyes at any moment and cry out, "So you were here!" with a mad glint in her eyes, lunging to grab me. She was drawing closer and closer when Kim Jaehui suddenly spoke to me, and I jumped straight into the air.
"It's Elizabeth. ......Isn't she beautiful?"
My heart felt like it would leap out of my mouth because of Kim Jaehui. I barely managed to keep my composure as I spoke.
"Indeed. Do you know her?"
"She was designated to be the next Savior in our church, so it would be strange not to know her. The jewels she's wearing now were hung upon her by those who couldn't come to this underwater base. Don't they suit her as if she was born with them? ......I wonder what it would look like if the Savior wore jewels like that. Would you two care to exchange greetings?"
Kim Jaehui asked as if he would actually call Elizabeth over. Startled, I stopped him.
"Don't do anything strange."
Kim Jaehui smiled slyly and naturally draped his arm over my shoulder, leaning on me as if I were an armrest.
"I am incomparably more satisfied that you became the Savior, Mr. Muhyeon, rather than Elizabeth Hibber."
Lower your voice. I am hardly satisfied with anything. Since entering this infinitely repeating day, all I have gained are mental scars and the realization that I've seen far too many things I shouldn't have. I don't even know if people escaped safely. I want to lie down and cry every second, saying I want to go home.
"I think Elizabeth, as a veteran, would suit this position far better."
Fortunately, the people emerging from the exhibition hall didn't pay much attention to my presence standing blankly among the hostages. Kim Jaehui spoke while fiddling with his ear piercing.
"Jewels are unfair chunks of stone. Some people own countless numbers of them, while those without means don't even have a wedding ring. Wishes are much the same—some people achieve innumerable wishes with the greatest of ease, while others work their entire lives and die trying to fulfill the wish of owning a single house. How many people in the world do you think own proper jewels? ......Very few."
Is that so. I don't own any jewels worth wearing as accessories either. The only jewel at home is probably the diamond from my parents' wedding rings. When Elizabeth passed by at a distance of about five meters, I slightly lowered my head and stared at my toes. Please, don't let anyone recognize me. I am at the Fourth Underwater Base. I am not here. Kim Jaehui rested his chin on my rigidly frozen shoulder and muttered.
"If Elizabeth or Ronald became the Savior, I think the Infinite Church would end up granting wishes primarily to extremely wealthy white people. You and I, Savior, would simply be processing the wishes of enormous tycoons whose names and surnames we've never even heard of, one after another."
When I raised my head slightly, David Knight was looking directly at me. Ah, I'm going crazy. What do I do. ......Calm down. He might be looking at Kim Jaehui. It's probably not me. Why on earth would he be interested in me?
But contrary to my hopes, David began striding briskly toward us. Feeling like prey, I suppressed the urge to turn and flee immediately. At the same time, my hands trembled as I fought back the urge to raise my gun and point the muzzle at David.
Then someone burst out of the submarine port corridor toward the central plaza at tremendous speed. Michael Roarker shouted furiously.
"You need to escape from the Second Underwater Base right now! While the fire was spreading like that, what the hell were you doing! Did you all take a nap! What!"
Ah. That person was the chief engineer of the underwater base. Had the submarine port been reduced to ashes? Why was he acting like that?
"If you don't want to suffocate to death, get out of here right now!"
Before Elizabeth, Jamal, or David could even respond, the hostages began screaming.
"What? Suffocation?"
"Save us!"
"I don't want to burn to death!"
"We did everything you told us to! Save us!"