Shin Haeryang's gaze briefly touched Meiji, who was lying on the cart, then swept over me, Kim Jaehui, and the surroundings before returning. Riko was completely buried against Shin Haeryang's back, wrapped almost entirely in a blanket. I asked Shin Haeryang,
“How is Ms. Riko?”
“I think she’ll be fine once we get out of the underwater base.”
I thought of Riko's face, which had seemed blankly out of it. Kim Jaehui pushed the cart, sending it toward the submersible port. With a rattle-rattle-rattle, the cart and Meiji gradually moved further away. Kim Jaehui asked Shin Haeryang a question.
“Where are you going?”
“How many terrorists are deployed in the diving area?”
“Wouldn't there be about two per zone? I don't think anyone would want to come into the underwater base. You're not going to the escape craft, but leaving by diving?”
“It’s the closest and fastest.”
Kim Jaehui flicked the submersible area marked on the wall with her index and middle fingers as she spoke.
“You’re not going to take a submersible?”
“My guess is they destroyed all the submersibles that could be used.”
“How do you know?”
“If it were me, that’s what I would have done. So all the submersibles must be wrecked.”
...Thank goodness Shin Haeryang isn't a terrorist. I looked at the pictures of sharks, dolphins, and rays swimming alongside cute little submersibles. In the drawings on the wall, all the creatures were smiling, as if the experiences at the submersible port were extremely enjoyable.
“I wish I didn't have to take a submersible either.”
I replied with a shudder. Shin Haeryang looked at the gun Kim Jaehui was carrying and asked,
“Jaehui. Can you shoot at the Infinite Church devotees?”
“No. I just carry a gun around; actually, I don't know how to use one at all.”
Kim Jaehui, a current pseudo-religious believer and terrorist, answered very confidently with a smile. While carrying Riko on his back, Shin Haeryang asked me,
“What about you, sir?”
I let out a heavy sigh and said,
“I only know how to pull the trigger, but I don't want to shoot people.”
Hearing both of our answers, Shin Haeryang frowned. He must be in a difficult position too. There were four people here, but Shin Haeryang was the only one who knew how to handle a gun properly. However, he was currently carrying someone on his back, so he couldn't properly hold a gun and fight. Shin Haeryang spoke to me and Kim Jaehui.
“If we're not going to defeat armed opponents by talking, one of you two will have to carry Riko.”
“I don't want to carry her.”
Kim Jaehui answered languidly. I looked at Kim Jaehui, who had no shame or conscience, then answered Shin Haeryang,
“I’ll carry her.”
“Let's take turns depending on the situation.”
Shin Haeryang entered the corridor to the diving area, hoisted Riko onto my back, and took the gun I had been carrying. She was lighter than expected. I glanced at Riko's ankles for a moment, worried her shoes might fall off as her feet dangled, then started walking.
Kim Jaehui stared at me and said,
“Riko is lucky. I'm jealous. There are two people saying they'll carry her out. She wouldn't die even if we left her here, you know.”
“...And what I just witnessed?”
I had indirectly mentioned Meiji's death to Kim Jaehui, but she simply added one more thing.
“If she's obedient and good at her work, that is.”
The moment I heard the word “obedient,” a corner of my brain twitched. Earlier, Joy and Ian had said they came this way because there was a trail of blood even though no one was in the cafe. They might leave the minimum necessary personnel alive without killing them. In fact, Meiji died while Riko was kept alive. There must be a reason they killed only one and kept the other alive instead of killing both at once. But......
“A person isn't livestock. How can you live like that?”
A work environment where you might die for making one wrong cup of coffee. A dentist would die hundreds of times treating a single patient. ...I should have asked those two to come with us when I met them at the cafe. I might have failed or been rejected, but I could have tried. Then Riko and Meiji might be walking beside us right now. Kim Jaehui looked at Riko, rolled up in a blanket on my back, and said,
“I think people can become well-trained livestock too. Honestly, social life is about how well you adapt to collective slavery. Eighty percent of humans work their entire lives and die for the remaining twenty percent. Even if you change jobs, you're just moving your collar from here to there, trying to scavenge the feed that a better master provides. Can't you feel that an enormous, invisible, and rigid hierarchical pyramid has already formed worldwide?”
“...I put on a new collar and five days later the company was submerged in water. I haven't even had a chance to chew the feed, so let's just go quietly.”
Kim Jaehui didn't seem to care whether Riko heard her words or not.
“Hmm. It's because our savior looks like he's struggling. It's not like you'll get rice cakes or money for taking her along. It's not like she doesn't have both legs. Even if you work hard to take her with us, you'll just get a bunch of useless thanks later. What good is that?”
“When I'm old and can't walk, Ms. Riko will carry me once. Or at least buy me a bottle of joint supplements. I have no complaints about carrying her like this.”
Riko was lighter than my mother, maybe weighing less than 60kg. You try carrying Shin Haeryang around. You wouldn't complain about carrying anyone. After walking a few steps, I felt my back was slightly damp, but I didn't look back. Shin Haeryang, who had been walking ahead without a word, spoke to Kim Jaehui, who was walking leisurely behind.
“Even if your prosthetic leg breaks right now and you collapse, either me or that teacher will take you with us. Start thinking up your useless thank-you phrases and stop testing people.”
Even while keeping watch ahead, Shin Haeryang occasionally turned back to check on the three of us. In the corridors with surveillance cameras, he would tell us to wait a moment, then open a part of the ceiling to cut wires or physically smash the cameras. While staying alert to his surroundings, Shin Haeryang asked Kim Jaehui,
“From what I heard about your past, you've been in situations where you needed help too. Why are you trying to repeat the same situation?”
“Well, because I've been in a situation where no one helped me? So I don't want to actively help others the way I was treated. I want to see a world where people don't help each other.”
Having been in a situation where no one helped, she should know better than anyone how much that person would be desperate for help. I slowly swallowed the words that had risen to my throat. Shin Haeryang gave a signal to slow down our walking speed and said,
“Your whole life? ...You gave up your escape pod to Sanghyeon.”
“Even if it wasn't Sanghyeon but someone else on our team, I would have given it up. Isn't it so much fun with that one escape pod? And that guy Sanghyeon never shares what he's received with others. He's selfish and only cares about himself by nature. If he escaped safely, he'd probably go around the neighborhood saying how nice I am while looking down on Muhyeon, who actually showed him kindness. Team Leader. Want to bet?”
“I don't like betting against team members.”
Shin Haeryang walked three more steps forward and spoke to Kim Jaehui,
“...You can't keep living alone like that, without anyone's help.”
“Ah. Community spirit? ...You're surprisingly closed-minded for someone so young, Team Leader. You know how sometimes you talk like you're a hundred years old? The Korean community never particularly helped me. And I think I've suffered too much when I was young, so now I just want to live easily by exploiting others.”
Shin Haeryang's shoulders rose and fell greatly as he sighed.
“...Sanghyeon, and you too. Are all kids these days like this?”
“Why try to live so diligently. Team Leader Shin, instead of working hard, why not go into gambling, or like what happened to the previous team leader, you could grab another team, ruin them, and take their money. That wouldn't be so bad either. Or why don't you enter the entertainment industry right now. You'd probably earn more than running around finding leaks by tearing open ceilings or looking for broken cables.”
Listening to their conversation from the side was so absurd that a hollow laugh escaped me. It's fascinating that Shin Haeryang can't seem to get through to Kim Jaehui. I don't know Lee Jihyeon, Gang Sujeong, and Baek Aeyeong's work attitudes or outlook on life that well, but compared to Jeong Sanghyeon and Kim Jaehui, they must be angels to work with.
When we arrived at the diving area, the smell of charcoal filled the entrance. There was a smell of burning wood. ...Did a fire break out inside? Shin Haeryang sniffed and frowned.
“What is this smell?”
“...I'll check.”
Shin Haeryang told me and Kim Jaehui to wait here for a moment and entered the place marked [Apep Diving] alone.
On the door was drawn a giant snake with an enormously long body, its body coiled in curves here and there. Even though the snake was sticking out its tongue and smiling cutely, the moment I saw the word “diving,” sighs welled up inside me. Suppressing the feeling of not wanting to go in, I asked Kim Jaehui, who looked bored,
“Ms. Jaehui. How many types of marine sports are there at this underwater base?”
“Lots. Regular surfing or kite surfing, water skiing, wakeboarding or watersleigh, snorkeling or freediving, scuba diving. If you have money and bought a yacht, you can ride a yacht, or a boat, or a kayak. You can fish too.”
I haven't done any of them. When I visited the sea, I just walked on the sandy beach or played on the shore for a bit. Just seeing the word “diving” right now gave me a headache.
“Ms. Jaehui, do you know how to dive?”
“Yes.”
“Does Ms. Riko know how to dive too?”
“Riko's buddy was the one who died earlier.”
Great. I'm the odd one out.
Shin Haeryang suddenly opened the door and came out, and I flinched. He wasn't covered in blood or anything; he just had two more guns slung over him and was gesturing for us to come in.
The smell of burning wood that had come from the entrance was much worse inside. The place called [Apep Diving] was completely filled with smoke, and the smell was like burning charcoal and wood at the same time. The ventilation system was running furiously, but the smoke was so heavy that it didn't seem to be clearing out. One man was rolling on the floor in agony, clutching his broken nose, while another man was lying face down, vomiting even though nothing was coming out.
I stepped on something squishy on the floor and checked; it was a half-burnt cigar someone had dropped. On the table, I could see a cigar that still hadn't gone out. Kim Jaehui set a chair that was rolling around next to the table upright, and I seated Riko there.
“Is all this smoke from the cigars?”
“Yes.”
“Why are those men like that?”
The man who had been retching toward the pool collapsed limply onto the floor, staring up at the ceiling. Seeing that sight, Shin Haeryang explained to me,
“It seems they consumed too much nicotine. Thanks to that, they were easy to subdue.”