Still gripping the receiver, I angrily said everything that came to mind, but Kim Jaehee must have decided it was the nonsense of some scammer, because she only laughed on the other end of the line. We were being flooded in real time, and she could laugh?
“Your threats are scary. How many people have you called like this?”
At her voice, which did not sound scared in the slightest, all my strength drained away.
“You’re the first, Jaehee.”
“Really? No wonder. You’re clumsy. Mr. Scammer, where in Daehando are you calling from?”
I was about to answer the question without thinking, then hesitated for a moment. What if Kim Jaehee wasn’t alone on the other end of this receiver, and dozens of Infinite Church believers were listening in on the call together? Was it all right to reveal my location like this? ……Fine. It might be better if several people heard and escaped together. Tell them all to climb the four thousand stairs.
“……Inside the headquarters building.”
“Ah. That’s dangerous.”
And then the call disconnected. What was dangerous? Was I in danger? Was she in danger?
I tried pressing the bakery’s speed dial several more times, but the call wouldn’t connect. Was the connection failing because the Third Undersea Base was filling with water?
Just in case, I also pressed the speed dial written next to the H, which seemed to stand for hospital. The signal went through, but it seemed like no one on the other end could pick up. I walked quietly around the inside of the office, checking whether I could sense anyone in the corridor. Fortunately, there was no one. There was no one, so why was I this uneasy?
I came out into the corridor and crept along. It felt as though Anna or some other Infinite Church believers might pop out of any corridor or office at any moment, shout “Peekaboo!” and throw me into the undersea base.
From the vending machine installed in the bent corridor leading to the auditorium came several fairly loud noises. I unconsciously started moving toward the vending machine making the sound, then stopped in place at once.
Fifty percent of me wanted to go check the vending machine noise, but the other fifty percent wanted to turn right around and run in the opposite direction.
The former part of me thought that, in order to understand the situation, I had no choice but to meet someone, and that I had no choice but to accept the dangers that would come with that process. Besides, I had a rifle, and Baek Aeyoung had given me a quick-and-dirty shooting lesson. The thought also suddenly occurred to me that, with two fingers already gone, what did I have left to be afraid of? There was also a high chance that Baek Aeyoung had gone toward the auditorium.
But the latter part of me, the part that wanted to run without looking back, smacked the back of my head over and over. Get a grip. I was just one civilian with an injured left hand who couldn’t even handle a gun properly. If the Infinite Church people found me, they would rejoice and promptly toss me into the undersea base. And the level of danger I could tolerate amounted to slipping and cracking my butt, or stubbing my toe, and absolutely nothing beyond that.
In the first place, if terrorists attacked a company, the most resistance an ordinary person could offer was to hide diligently without getting caught, or quietly report it to the outside. And the very act of pulling canned drinks from a vending machine that loudly was suspicious. Not only would any passing cultist hear it, even a hairtail swimming in the sea could probably hear it. Wasn’t it a trap meant to lure in people wandering around Daehando headquarters?
I reached the conclusion that I should run. I turned around and quickly walked away from the corridor connected to the auditorium. But before I could even hide myself from the corridor, someone called to me from behind.
“Hey!”
It was an unfamiliar voice. I stiffened and slowly turned around, and there stood someone I had never seen before, staring at me. I think I would have been less frightened if a starving lion had been standing there instead. My whole body literally froze like a statue.
He was a middle-aged man, and all I could see were the black clothes he was wearing, top and bottom. He had no visible weapons. Judging by his attire, he seemed to be an Infinite Church believer, but one who wasn’t armed with anything.
In his arms, he was only cradling a pile of canned drinks that looked as if they had come from the vending machine. Was this man really an Infinite Church believer?
“Haven’t seen you before. I’m Rick. Nice to meet you.”
After looking at me, he approached first and spoke in a friendly tone. Then he took one of the seven canned drinks he was holding and offered it to me.
“Want one?”
By the time I came to my senses, I had nodded without thinking and accepted a canned drink with my uninjured right hand. The moment I received it, I thought, Oh no. Once I was holding the can in my right hand, it felt as though both my hands had been completely sealed off. If he looked like he was going to attack, should I throw the canned drink in my right hand first? He lightly looked me over, then his gaze stopped on my injured left hand.
“What happened to your left hand?”
“Someone chopped it with an axe.”
Rick’s eyebrows curved, and he spoke in a sympathetic voice.
“Really? ……That must have been terrifying. Does it hurt a lot? It’ll be hard to get treated if you go to the hospital now. Still, try going. You might be able to get painkillers or some other medicine at least.”
Seeing him speak to me without any fear even though I had a gun slung over me, I did think he was probably an Infinite Church believer. I tried to feel him out with only the knowledge I had.
“They told me a lot of people are gathered in the auditorium, so I should go there and help.”
“That’s right. We’re short-handed here. We gathered all the people who work at headquarters, as well as the rest of the personnel who were in Daehando, in the auditorium.”
The man named Rick looked at my injured hand with pitying eyes and said,
“Looking at your condition, I think you should rest, even if only for a while, rather than work with us. Your face is white as a sheet. I guess things were even more of a mess down in the undersea base than they are here.”
“Yes. Being in the undersea base was really hard. Water was leaking, too. And people wouldn’t listen.”
“Anna kept saying we were short on people, so I guess that’s why they sent you. I think it’d be better for you to stop by the hospital first and then come this way. I’ll tell them.”
“Uh…… yes.”
The only thought in my head was that, the moment I parted ways with this man named Rick, I had to run straight in the opposite direction. Rick asked in a gentle voice,
“What did you say your name was?”
I spat out the name I had prepared in case anyone asked.
“I’m Jeong Sanghyeon.”
“Right. Sanghyon. I’ll tell the others you’re stopping by the hospital first. ……Are you Korean, by any chance?”
“……Yes.”
I answered while watching his reaction, but inside, I shuddered at the ominous feeling creeping up. You’re from the same country as the Savior! There’s no way such a coincidence could happen so easily! You’re the Savior of the Infinite Church, Park Muhyeon! I felt as though Rick might shout that and pounce on me at any moment. Contrary to my feelings, however, Rick smiled with a pleased expression.
“I heard the Savior they still haven’t found in the Fourth Undersea Base is Korean too. Could you spare me just a moment?”
I couldn’t tell why Rick was asking for my time. I thought he was going to say something like, I know you’re Park Muhyeon, not Jeong Sanghyeon! Did you think you could fool my eyes? Come quietly to the auditorium with me! You don’t want to? I’ll kill you with this canned drink! But unexpectedly, Rick took a piece of paper out of his pocket and showed it to me.
“Before you go to the hospital, could you read this name for me once? I don’t think I’m reading it correctly.”
The name Rick showed me was my English name. All sorts of thoughts ran through my head. Had my identity already been exposed to Rick? Were the things Rick was doing now just a way to buy time until other Infinite Church believers arrived? Or did he know everything and was he doing this to torment me mentally? My guilty conscience was tingling so badly it was about to dance and break a leg, but Rick looked at my English name and read it the way he thought it was pronounced.
“Pak-myoo-hee-on.”
……So it could be read that way too. I completely abandoned the thought that Rick knew my identity. When I read my name to him one syllable at a time, Rick listened carefully, then pronounced it again. The more Rick repeated it, the closer it grew to the Korean pronunciation. After reading my name about ten times, he was able to say Park Muhyeon clearly. Rick thanked me and patted my shoulder.
Then he pronounced Jeong Sanghyeon’s name too, as Sanghyeon, with considerable accuracy. When I asked why he was trying so hard to pronounce the Savior’s name correctly, Rick smiled at me with a slightly embarrassed expression.
“He wouldn’t like a believer who couldn’t even pronounce his name properly, would he? Still, thanks to you, I can call the Savior’s name correctly now.”
The moment I heard that, a complicated, subtle feeling arose in me. As though it were the most natural thing in the world, Rick showed me his own necklace set with an uncut gemstone and said,
“Where’s your jewel?”
It seemed like the Infinite Church believers thought it was only natural to show the gemstone accessories they were wearing. I thought of the broken lapis lazuli I had put in my bag, and Baek Aeyoung’s gold bar. Both were too dangerous to show to someone I didn’t know. Not only did I not know what the Infinite Church believers thought of broken jewels, but if it were a gold bar, anyone might have their eyes turn with greed. Thinking on my feet, I waved my left hand, wrapped round and round in a T-shirt and towel, and said,
“I’m wearing a wedding ring, but my hand’s like this right now.”
Rick looked at my blood-soaked left hand and nodded without much suspicion. He left me with a “see you later,” and I also said “see you later” to Rick. Rick cradled the canned drinks in his arms and walked toward the corridor connected to the auditorium.
……Looks like I wasn’t found out. Let’s get out of here quickly. I hadn’t even taken three steps when Rick called out from far behind me as I was practically running down the corridor.
“Sanghyeon! Wait a second!”
At the shout aimed at the back of my head, the only thought I had was that I’d been caught. Where did he realize my identity? Was this the moment I had to put the shooting Baek Aeyoung taught me to use?
Rick came over with the canned drinks still held in his arms, then abruptly set them down on the floor. Then he opened the canned drink I was holding in my right hand and placed it back in my hand. Rick grinned and said to me,
“I forgot you couldn’t open it.”
Rick gathered the canned drinks he had set down on the floor back into his arms, then walked to the other side of the corridor. Watching Rick’s back, I let out a sigh, then left the corridor in a dizzy state and entered some random office. Then I drank the canned drink he had opened for me, but perhaps because I had been too tense, I could barely even taste it.