The depth gauge was pointing to eleven meters. Above my head, I could see the peaceful surface of the water, sunlight pouring down over it. As the ripples on the surface swayed, the light filtering through descended into my helmet mask. Even that handful of light felt enough to blind eyes that had grown accustomed to the dark water.
The surface felt so close that it seemed I could shoot up there in an instant if I kicked a few times. I’d heard that every object underwater caused an optical illusion, appearing about 33 percent closer than it really was. Which meant, in reality, everything was about 33 percent farther away.
The distance to that bright surface was eleven meters, but to my eyes, because of the illusion, it probably looked about seven meters away. They said the distance at which people felt at ease when meeting someone for the first time was 3.6 meters, so this was about twice that.
A tremendous stream of air bubbles was escaping beside Shin Haeryang’s helmet. He was kicking so hard with his fins that every movement of his legs sent bubbles churning up, and the fish that had been passing nearby quickly fled.
Diver 1’s pulse, blood pressure, respiratory rate, and body temperature all shot up at once. Every number climbed simultaneously, to the point that I wondered if Shin Haeryang had been frightened into a panic. Just as I began to think we might have to stop him, Kim Jaehee spoke to Shin Haeryang in a displeased tone.
“Try swimming out more powerfully. Did you starve yourself, Team Leader? Why are you so weak?”
At Kim Jaehee’s scolding, Shin Haeryang’s laugh, sounding almost enlightened, came over the radio.
“We have been starving since dawn.”
“……You’re right. I forgot because Jihyeok-hyung or the Deputy Team Leader always feeds us something on time every day.”
Poor bastards. It was around five in the afternoon now, so by the clock, they’d basically gone hungry all day. Still, was it all right to dive on an empty stomach? Shin Haeryang floundered in place, unable to move properly, like an animal caught in a net or trap.
Diver 1’s vital signs displayed inside my helmet gradually dropped. His breathing slowed, his pulse slowed, and his blood pressure fell as well. Eventually, Shin Haeryang’s breathing even became slower than the other divers’.
“Are you all right?”
“Yes. ……It seems I cannot get up by force.”
Shin Haeryang’s voice was as calm as usual. As Shin Haeryang’s movements gradually came to a stop in place, Riko went up about two meters on her own, then came back down. Riko faced Shin Haeryang, clenched her fist, raised only her thumb, and shook it upward. Kim Jaehee saw Riko’s hand signal and explained it to me.
“It means she wants us to go up. I don’t think Riko properly understands the Team Leader’s situation.”
It seemed that was because someone who had been swimming up just fine was suddenly treading water in place at eleven meters. Shin Haeryang opened one hand, held his palm facing down, and gently waved it from side to side. Kim Jaehee saw Shin Haeryang’s hand signal and explained it to me.
“That’s the hand signal for something being wrong.”
Riko narrowed her eyes at the signal, then gave an okay sign.
“I’ll go check. Savior, please stay here.”
Kim Jaehee approached Shin Haeryang, then passed by his side just like Riko had. She could move freely without any restriction. After rising right next to Riko, Kim Jaehee descended again and made a wide circle around Shin Haeryang.
“I thought the Team Leader had gotten caught in something like a net. ……There’s nothing here.”
“I thought at first it was a net the Australians had set up too.”
“Isn’t catching fish with nets illegal?”
A slightly mocking laugh came through the radio from Kim Jaehee.
“It is illegal. In their own countries, they have to pay for fishing permits or licenses, but they don’t have to do that at the undersea base. The Americans and Canadians set up nets sometimes too.”
Kim Jaehee pressed her legs together and swam around almost like a mermaid. Then she circled Shin Haeryang, checking whether anything had snagged or wrapped around his body.
“I don’t think there’s anything. Savior, you should wait beside Riko too.”
Following Kim Jaehee’s advice, I tried to swim over to Riko’s side. But just like Shin Haeryang, I couldn’t rise above the height where he was circling.
“……I can’t go up either.”
It felt as though something was pulling my arms and legs downward. The location where the escape pod had opened seemed to be this height after all. Kim Jaehee saw what I was doing, abandoned her own team leader, and approached me.
It was all right. Unlike before, I could breathe, and I was with people smarter and wiser than I was. Maybe we would find even a small clue that would let us escape. ……Leaving me aside, why couldn’t Shin Haeryang go up? I felt a slight sense of relief that there was someone else who couldn’t get out of the water, just like me, and the moment I felt it, an unfathomable disgust for myself surged up inside me.
After hearing the radio, Kim Jaehee immediately came to my side. Seeing her swim freely, it seemed there was no interference for her at all. Kim Jaehee visually inspected everything from the helmet I was wearing to my fins, even running her hands over my gear, then tilted her head. She even rose slightly into the area I couldn’t pass through, then came back down.
“Why won’t it work?”
After hesitating, Kim Jaehee suddenly grabbed one of Shin Haeryang’s arms beside her. When his own team member latched onto his forearm, Shin Haeryang asked over the radio what she was doing.
“My Savior’s arm might come off, so please cooperate as the test subject, Team Leader.”
“……What are you planning to do?”
“I’m going to see if you can be pulled out.”
Kim Jaehee held one of Shin Haeryang’s arms with both of hers and began swimming upward at an incredible speed. Shin Haeryang also clung to Kim Jaehee’s two arms with both of his own. She kicked so hard with her finned legs that the fish circling around us were startled and fled far out to sea.
Bubbling streams of air constantly rose beside the divers. The two people who had taught me that one had to move slowly and carefully underwater were now doing the exact opposite.
When Diver 1 and Diver 4’s pulse, blood pressure, and respiratory rate suddenly increased, bright red warning signs appeared for both of them inside my helmet. Even though Kim Jaehee kicked against the seawater with her fins and yanked wildly on Shin Haeryang’s arm, Shin Haeryang’s body did not move at all.
Kim Jaehee’s panting breath, curses about how insanely heavy he was, and mutters asking if he was even human mixed together over the radio. After that, only the sound of bubbles continued for a while, until Shin Haeryang’s voice, tinged with a small sigh, flowed over the radio.
“Stop, Jaehee.”
“……Let me pull just one more time.”
Kim Jaehee grabbed Shin Haeryang’s equipment, grunted, and kicked upward with the strength of her finned legs. She swam desperately, pulling him upward, but it ended in failure. Shin Haeryang calmly checked his own condition, then said,
“I don’t know why I can’t go up. ……Four minutes, twenty-five seconds.”
“Wow. That’s creepy. We might die underwater like this, and you’re timing it right now?”
“Someone has to. If we still haven’t found a way out after five minutes, leave Muhyeon and me behind, and you and Riko surface.”
“What are you planning to do if Riko and I leave?”
“Either return to the First Undersea Base and find a way out, or keep swimming around Daehan-do like this until we find a place where we can get out without this restriction. We can’t waste any more air in the same spot.”
Riko made another hand signal. It was the signal to go up. Shin Haeryang showed his palm. It was a stop signal. Riko kept waiting with an okay sign. Shin Haeryang and I even moved several meters away and tried to ascend, but we still couldn’t go up. Kim Jaehee, whose breathing had returned to normal, checked her pressure gauge, then asked Shin Haeryang,
“Are you going back down with Apep?”
“After I check one more time.”
Shin Haeryang unfastened the weight belt around his waist and held it in one hand, letting it hang long. He accurately gauged the distance and position of whatever was blocking him, then kicked upward from below with his fins and swung the weight belt like a chained mace, striking down at the transparent barrier that was stopping him. Kim Jaehee watched her team leader swing the weight belt at empty space and asked,
“What happened?”
“……It felt like I hit thin air. There was no sensation of contact.”
Shin Haeryang went back up to the point where he had been blocked and tried tapping or touching the parts that prevented him from getting out of the water with his back and hands. Kim Jaehee moved up and down across the boundary, as if teasing Shin Haeryang.
Shin Haeryang discarded the weight he was holding and filled his BCD vest with air until it swelled as much as possible, but he still could not escape the water. Shin Haeryang clicked his tongue softly and said,
“I don’t understand. Why some people can pass through and some can’t. Did the researchers install something without telling the staff? They would normally announce something like this in advance.”
When he couldn’t go up, Shin Haeryang retreated about one meter downward. Then the necklace slipped out of his diving suit. The lapis lazuli necklace floating in the water looked as if it were glowing blue. So that necklace looks like that underwater. As I stared blankly at Shin Haeryang’s necklace, Kim Jaehee’s radio came through.
“This transmission is being sent only to Diver 3, Savior. The escape isn’t going according to plan, Savior. Now is the only chance for the two of us to work together and quietly kill Team Leader Shin Haeryang. We should use Shin Haeryang comfortably in the next life too. Didn’t you say you wouldn’t be able to meet him once we got out to the sea surface?”
Kim Jaehee spoke while showing me the remote with a cord looped around her wrist. Shin Haeryang’s Apep system control button was there. Even as talk of murder passed over the radio, nameless fish drifted peacefully past the divers as if nothing were happening. Bathed in the light coming down beneath the surface, I answered over the radio.
“If I have to sacrifice someone else to survive, I’d rather just die here.”
There was no further transmission from Kim Jaehee. As I looked at the necklace hanging around Shin Haeryang’s neck, the thought that perhaps the gem was the problem flashed through my mind.
“Could it be……”
I kicked with my fins and approached, then almost impulsively snatched Shin Haeryang’s necklace with my hand. When I took it as if tearing it off, my eyes met his startled gaze beyond the helmet, as if he had never predicted my actions at all. At the same time, Shin Haeryang’s body tilted, and he began rising toward the surface.
“Why……”
“The necklace isn’t the problem. The gem is.”
Because he had discarded his weight belt and Shin Haeryang’s BCD vest was inflated to the fullest, he suddenly began rising upward. Shin Haeryang was releasing air from his BCD vest, but when Riko saw Shin Haeryang rise up beside her, she began swimming toward the surface.
Kim Jaehee approached from the side, snatched the necklace from my hand, and tried to rise to the surface. Then Kim Jaehee, too, could no longer go up. Beyond the helmet mask, I could see Kim Jaehee’s smiling face.