The ceiling of the Central Plaza was unusually high, so I could fortunately see Kim Jaehui walking over, and he looked like he was hopping and skipping joyfully as he came. Meanwhile, I felt so distraught I thought I might go insane.
...Right. If there are people walking around with tearful faces in this underwater base, there should be people walking around smiling too. When Baek Aeyeong tried to climb back up toward the ceiling, I lifted her with both arms and informed her about Kim Jaehui approaching from afar.
Observing Kim Jaehui walking from a distance, his legs moved strangely. It seemed there was a problem with the electronic prosthetic leg he was using. Had it short-circuited? Orthopedics waiting rooms see all sorts of people, and it was like seeing an elderly man with a white beard grown down to his chest and wearing a durumagi, walking sideways like a crab with a face that had given up on everything because his electronic prosthetic leg was broken.
Kim Jaehui's left leg was moving this way and that, as if doing a shuffle dance. His right leg seemed to be moving automatically to match the left leg's movements, or else perhaps only that leg was moving according to Kim Jaehui's will. Watching him occasionally stand on only his right leg with his left leg raised and his arms stretched out to the sides, I became certain.
Even seen from afar, Kim Jaehui was smiling as he walked strangely, and when Baek Aeyeong saw that spectacle, she spoke in an incredulous tone.
"What...... is so funny."
"It seems there's a problem with one of Jaehui ssi's legs."
"Then, do you happen to know why he's giggling and whistling?"
"That...... I do not know."
The reason he hadn't met up with us immediately was probably because he'd been in some kind of lounge due to the problem with his electronic prosthetic leg and was only coming out now. I recalled an orthopedist friend's lament that most people with issues with their prosthetic legs or arms try to fix them themselves with absurd makeshift repairs before finally coming to the hospital. Perhaps Kim Jaehui had also tried to repair his prosthetic leg himself and given up.
The problem was that just as I and Baek Aeyeong had noticed Kim Jaehui approaching the Central Sector, the armed men at the central elevator had noticed as well. Immediately, the Muhan Church believers aimed their guns at the approaching Kim Jaehui. Whatever they shouted, Kim Jaehui stopped the whistle he had been blowing as he walked and raised both hands high beside his head.
The men keeping watch and standing guard in front of the elevator were shouting something at Kim Jaehui. It seemed the armed men were telling him to stop right there, but Kim Jaehui didn't stop and kept inching closer, which seemed to be why they were shouting. Ah. Please. That guy's already a leaky bucket; don't go drilling holes in him with bullets!
The Muhan Church believers didn't lower their gun barrels aimed at Kim Jaehui, but they didn't fire either. ......Thank goodness.
When Kim Jaehui said something to them and exchanged a few words, one man standing with a gun greeted Kim Jaehui as if glad to see him, taking off his hat and lowering his mask. Kim Jaehui also waved his hand lightly, as if he knew him. So they know each other. Who would have thought the fact that Kim Jaehui was a Muhan Church believer would be this reassuring.
Kim Jaehui, who had kept walking little by little with his unceasing leg, gradually drew closer to the central elevator. Kim Jaehui spotted three men waiting for him from afar and turned his head in that direction.
The second problem that befell Kim Jaehui was that the Engineering Team Na personnel, who had been walking well toward the north past the central elevator, stopped in their tracks as if nailed down.
From the moment the two men keeping watch from the elevator direction screamed at Kim Jaehui to stop, Engineering Team Na quickly prepared for combat, lowering their bodies for any possible situation. When they realized the opponent was an unarmed engineer from Baekho Sector, rather than heading toward Hyunmu Sector, they turned back the way they had come from the moment Kim Jaehui raised both hands beside his head.
And now, exposing themselves from the building where they had hidden, they were watching the spectacle of Kim Jaehui walking toward them like a broken wind-up doll. From the way they moved, the Engineering Team Na people didn't seem to notice that one of their team members had disappeared from the very back.
Sato in particular was waiting for Kim Jaehui to come, happily aiming his gun as if he had met a family member lost twenty years ago. Ichita and Yamashita, who had been using their guns like dumbbells, were the same.
Seeing a group of armed men waiting for him from beyond ten meters, Kim Jaehui let out a shrill "Whee!" and stopped whistling, then raised his left leg that was moving forward on its own high into the air. Then, maintaining his posture only on his intact right leg, he hop-hop skipped and turned ninety degrees before lowering the raised left leg. And with his smiling face unchanged, he ran toward Jujak Sector. Kim Jaehui disappeared like lightning behind Warehouse No. 2, which was used for storing food supplies.
Stunned by Kim Jaehui's sudden actions, the Engineering Team Na men shouted and quickly chased after him. Then they caught the opponent who had tried to flee. When the three men thrust their guns at him with a menacing air, Kim Jaehui raised both hands high again and was saying something.
The two men keeping watch in front of the elevator watched this spectacle while cackling as if it were none of their business. Misfortune upon misfortune. I watched Kim Jaehui's misfortune blankly and cautiously asked Baek Aeyeong, who was watching alongside me.
"Is there perhaps any way we could help Jaehui ssi?"
"......Muhyeon ssi. Most mercenaries are freelancers, but there are times when they act as a team. When that happens, what do you think they do if one team member is late to the rendezvous or captured by the enemy?"
Kim Jaehui, caught by Engineering Team Na, seemed to be in more trouble than when he had met the Muhan Church believers. Ichita seemed to be thrusting his gun muzzle at Kim Jaehui and asking Sato something, but we couldn't see properly from our side. Sato's voice was so loud as he spoke names like Shin Haeryang, Seo Jihyeok, Baek Aeyeong, Gang Sujeong that it reached us here.
Sato, leader of Engineering Team Na, held back Ichita, who wanted to shoot Kim Jaehui wildly with his gun, while interrogating Kim Jaehui, the only remaining employee of Engineering Team Ga, and also had to worry about Uehara's disappearance, which he had only noticed now.
Yamashita seemed deflated by Kim Jaehui's spiritless answer that he hadn't seen Team Leader Shin Haeryang, and watched with his gun planted on the floor as if it were a cane.
Looking at Baek Aeyeong's resolute expression, it seemed there was no option of tying him up and tucking him under an arm to take him along. It felt like a not-so-good answer would come back. Thinking back on the actions of the Engineering Team Ga people, I harbored a glimmer of hope and answered Baek Aeyeong.
"Do you take them with you anyway?"
"Of course we abandon them and go. Why do you think life insurance exists in this world? It's there for times like this. Muhyeon ssi. Try saying Wadaan."
"Wadaan?"
"Yes. It's Arabic for [Take care]. Kim Jaehui. Wadaan. Take care."
"But Jaehui ssi isn't a mercenary, is he."
"He's a follower of a pseudo-religion that's committing terrorism in real time. Even worse character."
I had tried to defend Kim Jaehui by even the tiniest amount, but it didn't work at all. In the meantime, Baek Aeyeong moved to a more comfortable position and checked the gun and magazines they had seized from Sumire.
Watching from afar, Kim Jaehui had taken several beatings in the meantime; the areas around his eyes and both cheeks were swollen bright red, and he was being prodded in the back by Ichita's gun muzzle as they moved together toward Hyunmu Sector. Whether it was because he was a Muhan Church believer, or because other Muhan Church believers were watching, the Engineering Team Na people didn't seem to be able to shoot him dead at will. At least that was a relief.
Sato asked Yamashita and Ichita if they hadn't seen where Uehara went, but failed to get a useful answer. He frowned and, fearing that more team members might disappear without him knowing, was walking at the very rear of the group.
Kim Jaehui wasn't a guy I liked, but seeing him get beaten like that was bothersome. Unable to let go of my attachment, I was staring intently at Engineering Team Na's movement route when Baek Aeyeong spoke toward my back.
"Kim Jaehui is indeed our team member. He is a fun and funny person when working. I think it would be far more rewarding than charging in to save that idiot Jeong Sanghyeon. But he's not someone worth extracting while I handle three armed men alone and deal with the two who would come running at the noise. Unless I'd received the Nobel Prize about three times."
"Didn't you join to protect the Engineering Team Ga personnel?"
Baek Aeyeong frowned, looked toward Kim Jaehui, and said.
"The penalty fee? I'll eat it. I'm going to be fired within three months anyway. I'm sick of being treated like this as a contract worker. If the underwater base collapses as Muhyeon ssi said, I might just get fired tomorrow instead...... Muhyeon ssi. When you're watching people, don't keep staring at their head or the back of their head. Humans are animals too; if someone is observing them, they feel the gaze and end up looking around."
Baek Aeyeong added that it was one of the rules she used when tailing or observing people. There are rules for tailing too? I had been staring intently at Kim Jaehui's bowed head for about thirty seconds when he seemed to feel my gaze; he raised his head and looked around his surroundings. I was startled and immediately averted my gaze and lowered my head. At my actions, Baek Aeyeong let out a small snicker and said.
"Just leave him. He has good luck, so he probably won't die easily. You said this place would flood, right? Then he'll get out of the 4th Underwater Base on his own. When we get to the 3rd or 2nd Underwater Base, seize the opportunity to extract him then."
With that, Baek Aeyeong prepared to jump down from the ceiling at any moment to attack those below and began waiting.
"How long must we wait here?"
"We'll wait until Engineering Team Na disappears and there are fewer people wandering around the elevator. We have to wait until we're even a little bit advantaged."
"I told you about several other routes; is there a reason you're not choosing them?"
I had informed Baek Aeyeong of several routes I had taken with the Engineering Team Ga people, but after thinking for a while, she chose the simplest frontal assault tactic. [Attack those aboard the central elevator and take the elevator out.] I subtly asked if it wouldn't be better to take a route we had already been on, but Baek Aeyeong shook her head and said.
"You said you've never gone out via the central elevator, haven't you? Then let's try getting out this way together this time. I always forged ahead on paths others hadn't taken. If you keep going down roads you've traveled before, you'll only end up with failures and small successes you've already experienced."