I had no idea how much 3,200 carats was worth. A college classmate or friend who’d had a two-carat wedding ring made had gone on about how it had burned a hole in his wallet and left him feeling faint. As the android crossed the place where jewels seemed to be displayed everywhere, it began explaining diamonds.
Apparently, before this, a diamond called the Cullinan had been the largest diamond in the world at 3,106.75 carats. I listened blankly as it explained that the British had cut it up this way and that, using pieces for a crown, a brooch, earrings, and rings, which made it smaller. I couldn’t tell whether a difference of about ninety-four carats between first and second place was a lot or a little.
“Why isn’t the diamond in this exhibition hall known as the largest diamond in the world?”
“It_is_because_it_is_a_privately_owned_diamond_and_has_never_been_revealed_to_the_world.”
Had it been kept in some huge vault without anyone knowing? To a commoner like me, who didn’t even own a birthstone, the android’s explanations felt like events happening in another world.
“Where do diamonds that big get mined?”
“In_the_case_of_the_Cullinan,_it_was_mined_at_the_Premier_Mine_in_South_Africa. It_is_called_the_Cullinan_Diamond_after_Thomas_Cullinan,_the_owner_of_the_Premier_Mine.”
How did a diamond mined in South Africa end up being used by the British?
“Then where was the diamond displayed in this exhibition hall mined?”
“It_was_mined_in_Sierra_Leone,_and_it_is_not_clear_which_mine_it_came_from. It_is_believed_to_have_been_obtained_from_rebels_when_Sierra_Leone_was_in_chaos_due_to_civil_war.”
I didn’t know where Sierra Leone was, but since I didn’t know much about it, it was probably in Africa. How had diamonds that should have been in Africa ended up wandering around in limbo?
“Then what’s the name of the diamond we’re going to see now?”
“It_does_not_yet_have_a_clearly_decided_name.”
Since I’d heard that my name had been engraved on the diamond, the android’s explanation filled me with unease.
“So no one gave a name to that expensive, enormous rock.”
“Ordinarily,_a_gemstone_is_named_by_the_owner_of_the_mine_or_the_owner_of_the_diamond. It_has_also_been_called_[Messiah’s Tear],_[Immortal Soul],_and_[Origin of Time],_but_it_does_not_yet_have_a_name.”
“······.”
It seemed like they could just pick one of those three. Why had they carved my name into a diamond that didn’t even have a name? Surely that expensive, precious diamond’s name wasn’t going to become “Park Muhyeon,” was it? I had no particular intention of understanding the things cults did, but this was a little creepy.
As if excited to show me the diamond, the android moved through the jewels, then stopped for a moment once we were close enough to see the diamond’s display stand with the naked eye.
My eyes were in such bad shape that one jewel looked like three, but even so, I could see that there was no diamond on the display stand. After confirming the absence of the diamond that should have been scattering countless rays of light, tempting people so fiercely they couldn’t look away, the android moved even faster than before. Startled, I locked my arm around the android’s neck, and the android came to a stop in front of the diamond display stand. Looking at the side of the android’s face, I managed to speak.
“······There’s no diamond.”
I couldn’t tell whether the android was updating or had stopped from shock. Was it broken? After standing stiffly for a moment, the android said,
“Due_to_the_risk_of_theft_of_exhibits_and_fire_prevention,_it_has_temporarily_been_moved_elsewhere.”
“Oh. I see. That’s too bad. I hope I can see it next time.”
Elizabeth had carried off a large square bag with great care, and it seemed the diamond had been inside it. They must have moved the diamond while this android was somewhere else.
“I heard some jewels in this exhibition were broken. How many broken jewels are there, and where are they?”
“There_are_8_in_total. Would_you_like_to_view_them?”
That many were broken? Even I, who had no real interest in jewels, was surprised the moment I heard the android’s answer. Did jewels break that easily? Weren’t they hard, so they didn’t break easily? Just how did they manage the jewels for eight of them to break? The android spoke as if the broken jewels were someone else’s business. Well, for an exhibition-hall android, helping visitors was its job, so it was someone else’s business.
I hesitated for a moment, thinking of the fire outside. The desire to tell it to carry me out of the exhibition hall immediately and the desire to look around both welled up inside me.
“······Let’s go see them.”
Did my dying and coming back to life have nothing to do with the jewels breaking? The number of times and the number of jewels were different. The android stopped at a display stand not far from the diamond. I had imagined the jewels would be shattered into pieces and rolling around the display stand or the floor nearby, but all that was around it was some unidentifiable fine ash and soot that looked as if it had been burned.
Was this broken? Rather than broken, it looked oxidized. It seemed as though the jewel that had been there had vanished forever, leaving only ash behind. Looking at the scorch marks, I used the android’s shoulder and arm as a cane and very carefully reached out to touch the ash left on the display stand. The moment the ash touched my fingertips, my body crumbled.
I opened my eyes. Just a moment ago, I had been inside the exhibition hall of the Second Undersea Base, but now I was in the corridor of the Baekho-dong lodgings. The water had risen past my ankles, and I could see the silhouette of a person standing barefoot in the corridor, unmoving. When I got closer, that person was “me.”
Before my eyes, “I” had come out of the room with my shirt drenched in blood and was standing there blankly. In one hand, I was holding a Noeul doll, and in the other, a framed family photo. I had a bag slung over my shoulder, but it wasn’t properly closed, so it looked as though everything inside would spill out.
“I” stood there motionless in the corridor, barefoot, blankly watching the water rise. As the water level in the corridor continued to climb, someone burst out, spewing curses. Carlos shouted in the corridor.
‘Damn it. Everything’s underwater! What the hell happened!’
After hurling every curse he knew at the seawater and the undersea base, Carlos stared at “me,” who was standing motionless in the corridor, then stepped aside and passed by. It seemed as though he couldn’t see the me right in front of him at all.
Vladimir came out of his room, looked at the water soaking his calves, swept back his blond hair that was sticking up like a bird’s nest, and went back into the room he’d come from with a yawn. ‘Nikita.’ Vladimir’s voice rang out, and soon an emergency alarm of tremendous volume began blaring through the Baekho-dong corridor.
Every door in Baekho-dong opened, and when the red lights installed in the ceiling turned on, people who had thrown on clothes haphazardly began coming out. Nikita, wearing only pants, was walking while putting on the T-shirt and coat he had brought out in his hands when he noticed “me” standing in the corridor.
‘What the hell. Why are you standing in the middle of the corridor with your mind gone? Aren’t you going?’
“My” room was right next to the central stairs. I could have gone up the stairs and left at any moment, but I was just standing there, doing nothing, so he was asking. When “I” stood there without answering, Nikita yanked hard on “my” ear and said,
‘Get a grip, will you? Are you not going to get out of here? The place is flooding—are you planning to live here forever?’
Vladimir grabbed Nikolai by the ankle and dragged him off the bed. Nikolai, who had been sleeping soundly only to suddenly fall into seawater as cold as one or two degrees, started spewing Russian curses as he floundered to his feet. Sofiya, eyes half closed, was walking with a pad in one hand, holding it high toward the ceiling. She was probably trying not to drop the pad into the seawater.
As Sofiya staggered along, yawning so wide her mouth looked like it might split, Viktor, clutching his head as it throbbed from a hangover, knocked aside a chair floating toward Sofiya. Sofiya looked at the corridor, where the water had risen to her thighs, and blinked.
‘What’s wrong with the lodgings? I don’t think I’m fully awake yet.’
When Sofiya’s incredulous voice echoed through the corridor, Nikolai came out of his room holding pants and a shirt and said to Viktor and Sofiya in the corridor,
‘I pissed all this at dawn.’
‘······I knew it.’
‘Don’t say disgusting things.’
Sofiya, looking fed up with Nikolai’s crude joke, spoke to Nikita, who was shaking “my” shoulders.
‘Niki. I think that person’s nosebleed was pretty bad. His whole top is covered in blood. Looks like he wiped the nosebleed with the back of his hand.’
Viktor, who had been walking up from behind, looked at “me” and said,
‘He’s the dentist who came not long ago.’
‘Is he in shock? He’s not moving at all. He’s completely out of it.’
Nikita waved a hand in front of “my” eyes, then clicked his tongue when he saw “me” standing there motionless. Viktor observed “me” from my head down to my waist submerged in water and said,
‘Ignore him and go.’
Around the time Nikolai put his clothes on top of his head and splashed his way up the stairs, Vladimir, having checked all of his team members’ rooms, came running through the current and spoke to the backs of his team members.
‘Irina and Dmitry are missing.’
‘Then what do we do?’
‘We’ll check after we get out.’
Before Vladimir climbed the central stairs, he looked at “me.” Then he grabbed “me” by the collar and began dragging me up the stairs. Since my feet were in the air, I was carried like an inflated balloon and escaped the flooding stairs and lodgings. As soon as Vladimir came out, Viktor locked the door connected to the lodgings as if he had been waiting. Vladimir set me down and said,
‘That’s the price of my kindness, Doctor.’
Then Vladimir patted “my” cheek twice with his palm. Nikolai came over, grabbed “my” chin, turned it this way and that, and checked my eyes.
‘Is he on drugs? He’s gone. Was he always like this?’
‘No. For a Korean bastard, he was pretty decent.’
‘Maybe he hit his head wrong and something’s wrong with his brain? He lost that much blood. He needs to go to the hospital.’
At Sofiya’s words, the engineers murmured among themselves as they looked at “my” striped shirt, which was a bloody mess.
‘What should we do?’
‘It’d be a pain to take him with us. We’re missing two of our own people, too. We don’t have the luxury to drag that kind of baggage around.’
‘I’ll take care of him. ······He reminds me of my dead younger brother, which is nice.’
Nikolai said, looking at “me,”
‘Both of your twin younger brothers are alive, aren’t they?’
‘There was one more above them. About ten years ago, he fell into a river while ice fishing and died “by accident.”’
Nikita frowned when he heard Nikolai’s words. Nikolai patted “my” back and said,
‘Mom had enough trouble raising the ones who were in decent shape, you see. When you meet Korean bastards, it’s fine to make them owe you. If things get dangerous, you can use them as a shield, too. Now. Let’s walk that way. If you don’t listen, I’ll stab you with a knife.’
When Nikolai pushed “my” back, “I” began walking hesitantly. I watched “myself” blankly walk away with the people from Engineering Team Da, then opened my eyes.
I quickly pulled my hand away from the ash.