Baek Aeyeong pointed her chin at me, sitting on the floor, and spoke.
"We helped you when you were in danger, yet what we actually got was contempt and injury. I heard everything you said about shooting if anyone got up or approached. This happened because you thought we were easy prey. What do you think would have happened if the person on the elevator wasn't me or Mr. Muhyeon, but someone you wouldn't even dare try to ambush?"
Baek Aeyeong spoke in a voice that lowered as she fought to suppress her rising anger.
"What are you going to do about the finger? Luckily for you, Mr. Muhyeon seems to forgive the bastard who bit off his finger, but I can't tolerate kindness shown to others coming back like this. I never expected you'd think to repay us, but if you're going to act this uncooperatively, breathing the same air as us is a luxury."
Hailey answered as if she were bored of Baek Aeyeong.
"Blah, blah, blah. So what do you want us to do about it?"
Without changing her posture from when she had listened to Hailey's opinion, Baek Aeyeong cocked her head, then aimed her gun and spoke.
"Choose one of two. Either die by my hand here. Or get off the elevator."
Hailey replied as if she had heard something absurd.
"What are you going to do to me? Are you really going to kill me? Look. I get that you're pissed, but did you think we'd all just do what you say if you act like that? If you kill me, you'll rot in prison for the rest of your life."
"Who here would be scared of your threats? There's no compromise."
Then Baek Aeyeong shifted her gaze to the elevator door for a moment and spoke.
"If you don't want to die right now, move in front of the elevator door."
Since Baek Aeyeong had never made empty threats, I began to seriously worry for Hailey's life, yet the person whose life it was didn't seem worried at all.
When Hailey launched into another long speech about why she should listen to her, Baek Aeyeong simply fired her gun at Hailey. Bang! I flinched at the bullet that landed right next to Hailey's foot. Hailey seemed so startled that she looked like she might jump right out of her skin.
"But that Muhyeon guy said he'd forgive us?"
When Hailey pointed at me and shouted, Baek Aeyeong nodded her head and said.
"Mr. Muhyeon must have a heart as vast as the Pacific Ocean. My heart isn't even as big as a dog's bowl. If my left finger had been cut off, I'd have said I still have my right fingers and shot you all dead. And people like me do things that people like Mr. Muhyeon can't do. For example, happily shooting a white supremacist with a master-race complex who says they'd rather side with terrorists than with us."
Hailey ground her teeth at Baek Aeyeong's attitude, then touched her front teeth with her index finger as if they ached. She let out a terrible groan, staggered to her feet, and stood in front of the elevator door. It seemed she had realized that Baek Aeyeong was by no means joking or playing around. Keeping the gun barrel aimed at Hailey without so much as a twitch, Baek Aeyeong spoke to Jennifer.
"Jennifer. You choose too. Either fight with us against the terrorists. Or get off with that selfish idiot. Or die by my hand right here."
Jennifer didn't hesitate much upon hearing the three choices. She glanced at Hailey, then smoothly raised her middle finger and spoke to Baek Aeyeong.
"I'd rather fight terrorists than team up with a bitch going on about who did worse or better. Recruiting me? You're way better than your team leader."
"I'm always a better talent than the team leader."
Hailey snorted as if she couldn't believe Jennifer's betrayal. Then Hailey turned her head and met eyes with me. Hailey spoke to me.
"You probably disagree with her opinion, so say something."
"I have committed a sin, so I have lost the opportunity to voice my opinions inside the elevator. I hope Ms. Aeyeong shows you mercy and forgiveness, but that is not something I can force upon her."
When I spoke like an enlightened monk, no one said anything. Hailey looked extremely furious at the prospect of being kicked out of the elevator, but no one was on her side. Advice like "You should have been nicer to Jennifer" rose to the tip of my tongue, but I kept my mouth shut due to the pain in my left hand. Now, Baek Aeyeong turned her head toward Dana.
"Dana. You're the same. Will you die? Or get out? Choose."
Dana seemed flustered by Baek Aeyeong, who had her gun pointed in my direction.
"Why me! I didn't do anything! You guys fought among yourselves, so why are you doing this to me!"
Baek Aeyeong nodded slightly and said.
"Right. You didn't do anything. Do you feel wronged by how I'm acting? That's the trademark of selfish bastards who think their own bodies are incredibly precious. They do nothing and pretend not to know while waiting for others to make sufficient sacrifices in situations requiring cooperation. You probably don't think you're selfish—you just think you're being careful, don't you?"
Baek Aeyeong threatened Dana with her gun muzzle and added.
"Are you saying you have nothing to do with this because you didn't do anything, while pretending not to know that Hailey and Jennifer were going to ambush us? Can't you think before you speak? If you didn't want to be lumped in with them, why didn't you help me or Mr. Muhyeon even a little? Was it too dangerous? Or you could have at least warned us beforehand. Was it because you thought we'd lose? I get that you were waiting to see which side would win, but I think Hailey—who rushed in trying to steal my gun and got herself cracked by my fist—is less cowardly than you."
Baek Aeyeong sneered at Dana. Hailey wiped her nosebleed and looked at Baek Aeyeong as if surprised.
"Did you think you could live pretending not to see everything happening right before your eyes? It seems you've lived your whole life calculating only the damage to yourself. But you can't avoid it anymore. Since you pretended not to know and did nothing until the undersea base got hit by missiles and terrorists crawled in, the only choice you have is whose hands you die by."
Dana looked at the people, kept her lips sealed, then furrowed her brows and spoke.
"Do we really have to nitpick right and wrong in this situation? Anyway, the only one injured on your team is that Muhyeon guy. If he says he's fine, aren't things fine between people now? It's not like I injured you or that man named Muhyeon, so this is too much."
Well. I didn't think anything was fine.
"It seems a relationship where a finger gets cut off and is forgiven looks normal in your eyes."
Baek Aeyeong fired back with a face that looked furious to the tips of her hair at Dana's words.
"Everyone wants to be safe. Everyone hates danger. If you don't want to do anything, you get kicked out of the group. I can't accept someone as calculating as you in this situation. Maybe you've survived well enough until now. But from now on, I won't tolerate it."
Jennifer, who had been clutching her leg, shouted at Dana.
"Dana. Please! Choose to die with courage!"
And Jennifer began making a strange request toward Baek Aeyeong.
"Baek. If you're going to shoot Dana dead, can't you shoot her in the legs first and kill her slowly and painfully? I'll kick her with my good leg. Or I'll shoot her myself!"
Dana made an expression like she was going to vomit at Jennifer's words. Then she looked at me, Baek Aeyeong, Jennifer, and Hailey, before looking at the blood splattered throughout the elevator and the bullet marks on the floor. With an unwilling attitude, she went to stand beside Hailey. Thinking I might be able to change Baek Aeyeong's mind one last time, I cautiously asked.
"Ms. Aeyeong. How about giving them one last chance? Would it be unreasonable to get a promise from them not to attack and just let them stay on the elevator?"
"That bus has already passed. If we're going to fight the outside, we need to clean up the inside first. I'd rather eliminate any potential threats now than fight terrorists with my back turned to idiots who might betray us at any moment. A power outage happened once and we ended up like this—what do you think will happen if it happens five times in a row? I don't think any of Mr. Muhyeon's fingers will be left then. Even if Mr. Muhyeon says he's fine, I can't stand to see that."
I completely gave up on trying to persuade Baek Aeyeong. It's a good thing my fingers were injured—otherwise, everyone here would really be dead. Baek Aeyeong seemed to be barely holding back from killing all these people even now. Hailey presented Baek Aeyeong with a compromise.
"We won't ambush you anymore!"
It didn't seem to sound convincing to Baek Aeyeong's ears.
"Go beg the terrorists to spare you!"
Hailey spewed curses at Jennifer, then looked at me and Baek Aeyeong with revulsion.
"You should've kicked all these useless Asians out of the undersea base from the start. You're never helpful in your whole lives. Especially you Korean bastards. You were the first ones on the elimination list here."
Baek Aeyeong wasn't shaken even after hearing such words. It seemed to be either because she already knew, or because she didn't care what the other side barked. Was I the only one curious?
"Why were Koreans the first to be kicked out of the undersea base?"
Why first when there are eight countries? Didn't other countries cause problems? Looking at how the undersea base operates, it seems all eight countries caused their fair share of issues and trouble. Unexpectedly, it was Jennifer who answered. Jennifer, the team leader of the American team, took a deep breath against the pain in her calf and spoke to me as if doing me a favor.
"What do you think. Do you know how much Japan has been lobbying us to kick you guys out? Next in line is China. We can tell Japan to get lost from the undersea base last. They obey our words meekly. They live under the delusion that they're the same race as us. Then Asians would completely disappear from the undersea base. The remaining countries can happily divide up the resources among themselves."
What a headache. Wasn't the North Pacific Undersea Base created so we could live together based on cooperation and reconciliation beyond race, country, gender, and age? Looking at Jennifer, who had spoken so casually of what seemed to be classified information, I asked.
"Is it alright to speak of such things so openly?"
"Wouldn't it be fine because I currently have a fist-sized hole in my leg and I'm not in my right mind from blood loss? I'm tired of hearing nagging every day about how we need to pull out specialized personnel."
Just then, a banging sound suddenly came from outside the elevator door stopped at the Second Undersea Base. In an instant, the elevator door opened.