Baek Aeyeong, who had been peppering me with questions as we walked down the corridor, caught sight of the fallen man's crushed head, the handle protruding from the wall, and the blood-drenched floor near the entrance to Baek Hodong, and kept me from approaching. She stared at the corpse, furrowing her brow for a few seconds, then pushed my back to hurry me past.
"What about pronouncing him dead, or taking photos, or anything?"
"It's just me and you, Muhyeon, right now. We're going to avoid any situation that's dangerous or might be dangerous. We won't get involved in anything we'd have to take responsibility for either. If you don't like that, you can't come with me."
"...Understood."
Having seen the corpse, Baek Aeyeong said we should walk at a rapid pace, as if on high alert, from here until we entered the Central Block. Without even waiting for my answer, she started walking like a serval, and judging by her stride and speed, it looked no different from running.
Seeing Baek Aeyeong already striding off in the distance, I let out a sigh. Keeping up with her was pushing my stamina to the limit. Wasn't it too much that my stamina didn't improve no matter how many times I looped?
"Shouldn't we walk while carefully scouting our surroundings to avoid danger?"
It was so hard just to speak a single sentence that I was gasping for breath. I asked her to go a little slower, but Baek Aeyeong disagreed.
"The human body is designed to run and escape. The better you are at running, the higher your chances of survival. Besides, it's not like we're moving with a group—it's just the two of us, me and Muhyeon."
Perhaps that applied to animals sprinting across the Serengeti, but would it apply to modern humans living in a concrete jungle? With those parting words, Baek Aeyeong dashed ahead.
By the time I blinked, she was already far ahead, urging me to hurry, and I struggled to catch up. Baek Aeyeong seemed intent on moving to the Central Block as quickly as possible to receive Sin Haeryang's necklace. It was when I had considered just handing it over right then for about the fifth time.
Baek Aeyeong, now a small speck in the distance, was waving for me to hurry. I ran across the corridor and sprinted without rest until I reached the Central Block. Once the central elevator was visible to the naked eye in the distance, my abused calves ached so badly that I wanted to collapse right there on the floor.
Baek Aeyeong led me to a CCTV blind spot—a place not easily visible from the central elevator—and demanded the necklace from me like a mafioso.
"We had a deal, didn't we?"
Her tone and forcefulness made it seem like she was brokering weapons or drugs in a back alley. Without a word, I took out Sin Haeryang's necklace, which I had tucked into my pants pocket, and handed it to her. As if worried that what I'd handed her might be fake or a replica, Baek Aeyeong enclosed the necklace's gemstone within her palms, then opened only her thumbs and peered into the darkness created by her hands to see if the necklace would glow.
Breath ragged and heavy, I leaned against the nearby beverage vending machine and pressed the button for iced barley tea. Water and watery teas were free. It was right around then that angular chunks of ice clattered loudly into a recyclable cup and the beverage whirred down.
The central elevator doors opened with a ding. The small light that had been blinking to indicate the vending machine had finished making the drink went out, then went beep! beep!
Baek Aeyeong grabbed my collar, slammed me to the floor, and fell prone beside me. I was suddenly sprawled flat on the floor, and since my legs had no strength after an all-out sprint following such a long time, I almost felt relieved.
"Shh. Stay still."
Baek Aeyeong whispered toward me, faint as a breeze. I lay on my back and covered my mouth with my hand. Silently watching Baek Aeyeong beside me, I saw her slightly raise her body and look toward the elevator. I carefully followed suit.
Seven Church of Infinity believers, seemingly having just disembarked from the central elevator, were stepping out with guns leveled in every direction, on high alert. When Baek Aeyeong ducked down, I followed suit, and when she raised her head, I did the same, peering over the lounge area of chairs and cushions to spy on them. The vending machine was beeping again.
Two of the seven who had disembarked remained stopped right in front of the elevator. They stood there holding their guns as if the spot in front of the elevator was their own turf. The remaining five moved as a team, staying alert, gradually distancing themselves from the central elevator. Judging by their direction, they seemed to be heading toward Baek Hodong.
The elevator doors remained open for a long time, so I caught a fleeting glimpse of the interior before they closed. Inside sat the man from the dental clinic who had fought Sin Haeryang—a giant over two meters tall and weighing more than 150 kilograms—like a massive stone statue that had been placed there.
He didn't seem to have any intention of stepping out of the elevator whatsoever; he had placed a chair inside and was sitting on it. I could sense murderous intent that anyone who wasn't a Church of Infinity believer who boarded would be thrown outside as fish food, or at least prevented from disembarking with their limbs intact.
Just as the elevator doors, which had been held open, finally closed, the vending machine kept emitting beep! beep! sounds. It was probably saying it had finished making the drink and not to forget to take it, but every time I heard it, it felt as though the vending machine were squeezing my heart and guts in its hands.
This is driving me crazy. What if those people over there hear the vending machine noise and come this way?
I silently gestured toward the vending machine from above Baek Aeyeong's face, but she lowered my hand as if to tell me to stay still.
Baek Aeyeong remained lying flat on the floor without getting up until the five armed Church of Infinity believers left the Central Block for Baek Hodong. I too lay next to her without making a sound or stirring, wondering when I'd be able to retrieve my barley tea from the vending machine. Beep! ...Beep! ...Beep!
The small, periodic protests from the vending machine demanding I take my drink rang out endlessly, and every time I heard them, I felt like my insides were going to explode. In my desperation, I wanted to yank the drink out of the vending machine right then, or at least unplug the vending machine's power cord from somewhere on the wall. Or if I had the strength, smash the vending machine altogether. I even found myself blaming myself—why had I pressed the vending machine button for a cup of barley tea, bringing this disaster upon myself?
After staying still for a long while, Baek Aeyeong carefully rose. I too got up after her, pointing at the vending machine. When Baek Aeyeong nodded, I quietly retrieved the recyclable cup. Once the barley tea was gone, the vending machine fell silent, as if satisfied.
Clutching a cup cold enough to freeze my fingers and sweating cold sweat, I moved to the spot Baek Aeyeong was pointing to. Only after we had moved far enough that the central elevator was completely out of sight did Baek Aeyeong speak.
"You did well."
I guess it was safe to talk now. Surprised by Baek Aeyeong's sudden praise, I asked.
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"You didn't cry or scream. You didn't run toward armed men. You didn't stare holes into them. And you didn't say you were thirsty and start taking a drink from the vending machine in that situation."
Holding the barley tea, I replied in confusion.
"Uh. Uhh. Isn't that how you're supposed to act?"
"...When people suddenly see something like that, they panic. Some scream to announce their presence. Some charge out believing armed men will take their side. And some prioritize their own needs regardless of the surrounding situation."
A person who'd leisurely buy a vending machine drink in that situation? Then Baek Aeyeong could have been caught alongside me? Among the people on this undersea base... I suppose it was possible.
"I'm sorry for making the vending machine make noise."
I wished there were a mouse hole I could crawl into.
"It's okay. We were close to the vending machine, so we heard it, but it wouldn't have reached over there. And they might have been able to see above, but the bottom was blocked by a sofa, so they probably didn't see us."
"That's a relief."
Baek Aeyeong shook her head, seemingly having no intention of drinking barley tea worth its weight in lives, so I alone gulped it down. As the tension released, I couldn't even taste it properly. As the cold liquid moistened my throat, my mind seemed to clear. Baek Aeyeong lowered her voice and said.
"To be honest, I didn't believe even half of what you said, Muhyeon."
At this frank admission, I let out a small laugh and said.
"It was a hard-to-believe story, so I fully understand."
"So those idiots are a pseudo-religious cult occupying the undersea base?"
"Yes."
"So there are hordes of those lunatics at every undersea base?"
"Yes."
"Everyone on our team escaped, and I'm the only unlucky one left here? With those fanatic bastards! And without even a gun!"
Baek Aeyeong grew more agitated with each question.
"...Engineer Team A only has Jaehui and Aeyeong left, but... well. Yes. The rest escaped. Probably."
Baek Aeyeong let out a deep sigh, as if the ground were caving in beneath her, and said.
"Did you see the person sitting in the elevator?"
"If you mean the big tall person inside, I saw him."
"Do you think he'd die if I stabbed him a few times with my frail, slender knife? Do you think I could kill him within a day?"
Did she have the confidence to take out the two men standing guard outside the elevator? I was momentarily flustered, unsure how to reply to Baek Aeyeong's question. He was a man who looked to weigh over 150 kilograms, with a body like a bear's and muscles that looked as hard as stone. He didn't even seem to be the same species of human as me.
There were plenty of fit people around the undersea base, but not many built like him. Moreover, Baek Aeyeong was much smaller than me.
"...I'm not too sure."
Baek Aeyeong hissed, prowling about like an angry cheetah, then asked.
"Why did those crazy bastards come all the way down to the Fourth Undersea Base?"
"They think I'm their savior and their sacrifice. They're trying to capture me. ...You think it sounds absurd, don't you? I do too."
"Are you really their savior and sacrifice?"
"I don't think I am. They seem to be laboring under a massive delusion."
"Leaving aside the crazy human on our team, did all the women on our team definitely get out?"
Was the "crazy human" referring to Kim Jaehui? I quietly nodded. Baek Aeyeong bit her lip and seemed to ponder for a moment.