When Baek Aeyoung told me to stop, I stopped; when she told me to walk, I walked. I staggered along slowly, but she never rushed me once. She had given orders to keep low, or to keep walking without resting here, but she didn't seem to see my injuries as an obstacle. She already seemed used to moving around with people who were injured like me, or who couldn't walk properly. I walked thoughtlessly, watching Baek Aeyoung's back, and before I knew it, the field had vanished and I was already walking down the hallway of the headquarters building.
"Are you trying to rescue the hostages in the auditorium?"
"Yes."
"It will be more dangerous than the fight in the field. No matter how hard I try to help from the side, I don't think I'll be of much help to you, Aeyoung-ssi. In reality, you'll have to face the terrorists alone. Will you be okay?"
"I can do it. So I have to."
I chewed over Baek Aeyoung's words for a moment. To think there was someone who said they could do it, in a world where there were people who didn't do things even though they could. I tried to recall someone who had committed a crime in Jujak-dong, only to realize that even their name had grown hazy. I had come too far. It felt like so much time had passed, yet it had barely been a day.
"I'll act like I've been captured by you and enter the auditorium. They won't kill me right away. Except for that person named Anna I met earlier, they've more or less treated me like a savior. I'll draw their attention. Subdue them then."
"I've told you many times, but Muhyeon-ssi doesn't have to go out of his way to do this."
Baek Aeyoung opposed going to the auditorium with me, but she didn't look particularly favorable to the idea of me being alone either. She seemed to think that if left alone, I would wander around and get kidnapped to become a forced sacrifice for the pseudo-religion. Seeing my miserable state, Baek Aeyoung spoke with a look of pity.
"There's not a single spot on your back or legs that's unhurt. If you had hidden and waited with Geumgoe, you wouldn't have gotten hurt like this."
"I don't like waiting."
"Sometimes I want to lock people up in a vault too."
"What do you mean?"
...I figured it was a metaphor. But looking at Baek Aeyoung, I wondered if she might be serious, so I asked just in case. Baek Aeyoung's back stopped; she checked my condition and started walking again.
"Whenever I see good people, I think that from time to time. That I want to put them inside a huge vault where they won't suffer any hardship, won't experience any pain, and will just live happily. That's what I think."
Before turning the corner in the hallway, Baek Aeyoung checked the other side, then signaled to wait a moment before going, and spoke in a small voice.
"If anyone enters my vault, I'll make sure they can never come out again. That's why I'm going to put animals in there as much as possible. So that they're kept in an environment where no one can harm them, food is plentiful, it's always clean, very spacious, and warm—so they can live without worry until the end of their lifespan."
So she was trying to build something like an abandoned animal shelter.
"You said you liked the team members. Will you put the people from Engineer Ga's team in your vault too, Aeyoung-ssi?"
"The Team Leader and Seo Jihyeok are too bulky. Well, if they get injured and become feeble, or their bulk decreases from what it is now, I'd be willing to put them in my vault. But if I lock both of them up, I think they'd fool around for a week and then escape, which is a bit off-putting. I want to put people like the Deputy Team Leader or Jihyeon-unni inside my vault too. And the people who helped me in Korea, or those I wish well for. Later, if I earn a lot of money, I'll have to expand the scope of the vault to make a village, or found a nation. Sometimes I think about inviting only people I like and accepting them as citizens. I think like this sometimes."
"Am I included too?"
"Yes."
I felt like I wouldn't even be that surprised if Baek Aeyoung later founded a country and became an emperor or president. Baek Aeyoung, who had stopped, was observing the dentist whose body had not a single uninjured part with a pitiful gaze, and I suddenly got scared and answered quickly.
"If my life becomes too hard... I'll think about it."
"Please do."
Baek Aeyoung took out the distinctive strange hat worn by Infinity Church followers from her pocket and put it on. We quickly decided how to handle the hostage situation unfolding in the auditorium. Baek Aeyoung, who had guns strapped all over her body, decided to hide the rest of the guns, including the one taken from Anna, around the auditorium, and only took one ordinary gun that wouldn't stand out.
"At the Second Undersea Base, you said the hostages were lying on the floor. I'll go in alone like a returning follower and shoot all the ones standing first."
"What if the hostages are standing, or if terrorists are mixed among the tied hostages and try to kill you, Aeyoung-ssi?"
"...If unexpected circumstances occur during the operation and hostages die, it can't be helped. If I die too... well. It can't be helped."
Baek Aeyoung spoke as if such things had happened all too often, and my head suddenly began to ache.
"...Let's go together. It should be better than you going alone, Aeyoung-ssi."
Several radio transmissions came through the walkie-talkie, but none contained particularly helpful information. Most of the transmissions were about searching for me—they weren't at the waste disposal building, or they weren't at the beach, and so on. Occasionally, excited voices reported Infinity Church followers being found dead from knives or guns, dead, or dead.
We prepared to enter the auditorium according to plan. Baek Aeyoung looked perfectly like an Infinity Church follower, while I simply looked like someone who had rolled around in a field several times. I had at least raked my right hand through my hair to remove grass and twigs and brushed off my clothes, but it didn't seem to have improved much. I might have looked like a homeless vagrant on the street, but I certainly didn't look like the savior and sacrifice of a pseudo-religious organization with over sixty members.
With a sigh, I stepped into the hallway toward the auditorium; perhaps because the doors had been flung wide open, the interior was completely visible from outside. It was large enough that one might think all internal events on Daehan-do were held here. Inside, people presumed to be hostages were all lying face-down with their foreheads pressed to the floor. Their hands were tied behind their backs, and their feet were bound likewise; because they were prone, it was impossible to tell who was who. The hostages were divided into roughly three large groups, and at a distance from them, followers who were on guard and followers who were patrolling between them and the hostages kept watch. One follower suddenly snapped at the hostages.
"Shut up! If I catch anyone talking again, I'll grab one of you and stuff a bullet up your nostril!"
The threatening voice echoed, and two of the hostages lying down closed their mouths. I felt the sensation of a gun pressed against my back. Baek Aeyoung strode proudly like a Siberian tiger returning alone from a great hunt. I approached with both arms raised to the air like a heinous traitor. The moment I entered the auditorium from the hallway, my eyes met a follower sitting on a chair hidden behind the entrance and wall, drinking water. He startled and rose from his seat.
The water bottle rolled across the floor. Another follower right beside him also hurriedly aimed his gun at me. Then he seemed to agonize over whether what he was doing was blasphemous or not. Fortunately, he seemed completely oblivious to Baek Aeyoung behind me, wearing a mask and hat while aiming her gun. I greeted them lightly.
"Hello. I'm Bak Muhyeon, the one who was on the broadcast earlier."
"You?"
Though gun barrels were pointed at me, I entered the auditorium without significant resistance. All the followers who saw me come in turned their heads. Even the one who had been shouting at the hostages turned to look at me, gaping in surprise. Perhaps the sudden appearance of a savior in the dreary, boring day of a terrorist was fascinating; every follower's eyes were glued to me.
The number of terrorists in the auditorium was fewer than expected. A quick count showed eight. The hostages were far more numerous—so many that I lost count while trying to tally them by sight. As the followers positioned in various corners approached, I walked slowly and roughly counted the hostages. 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10... There were about eighty people lying on the floor.
About half of the hostages were dressed in ordinary short sleeves and shorts, but the other half overflowed with individuality. Some had toothbrushes in their mouths; some wore pajamas; one man was bound hand and foot in nothing but underwear. There were several people with hair completely disheveled or people in swimsuits, perhaps caught while sleeping in the dorms, furtively wiggling their hands and feet to avoid the followers' eyes. Several people in hospital gowns were also lying prone; it seemed patients who had been walking around near the hospital for exercise had been captured here too. Those who looked to be in the worst condition were the ones soaked in seawater; they looked as if they had gone for a swim, tied up with bare feet caked in sand without even wiping the water off.
Among the eight followers, the faces of people I knew caught my eye first. There was a man named Rick, who had been taking drinks from a vending machine with the air of robbing it; Joseph, whom I had met at the undersea base before; and Jamal, the candidate for savior. Absurdly enough, seeing Joseph again after a long time made me feel glad inside. Even though he was a pseudo-religious follower wandering around with a gun, that's how I felt.
The followers, who had been staring blankly at me as if they had seen a unicorn, tried to run over from the center or corners of the auditorium. Then Jamal shouted.
"Stay in your positions! If the hostages do anything stupid, shoot them!"
At his words, the followers hesitated, then stood in their original spots and watched the hostages. However, a few followers near me ignored Jamal's restraint and came to my side, pelting me with questions.
"What was that broadcast? Are you saying you aren't the savior of the Infinity Church?"
"If you aren't the savior, then who is?"
"Then what happens to us?"
"Is it true that if you just carve your name on a diamond, you gain the ability to go to the past?"
"I heard the broadcast was a lie to keep the hostages from dying; which one is the truth?"
Rick, who recognized my face, reined in the follower hurling questions and stepped in front of me before speaking.
"This guy isn't Bak Muhyeon. He's a fellow follower! I think someone got confused and brought him here. He's someone who should be in the hospital right now."
I was surprised that an Infinity Church follower was treating me so warmly. Usually, the pseudo-religious people I had met so far wanted money, lied constantly, sprayed bullets, held knives to me, or caused traffic accidents. ...Though there had been one follower who rarely gave me a stolen orange. Before Rick could defend me further, I quickly came clean.
"You captured the right person."
I glanced at Baek Aeyoung and quickly turned my head. Rick furrowed his brow and muttered.
"No, it wasn't. It was a different name. The... what was it again. Sang... Sanghyeon, was it? The name was similar, but anyway, it wasn't Bak Muhyeon. Someone probably made a mistake and brought the wrong person because the name was similar. Why make a sick person run around like this."
I had given that name because the last character was the same as mine, thinking I could pretend to be someone else if I got caught.
"My name is Bak Muhyeon."
Rick was confused for a moment, then finally grasped the situation and asked me back.
"...Then you lied to me?"
"...Yes."
Then Rick watched me blankly with a slightly hurt expression, his mouth open. Then he gestured with his chin at my left hand and asked.
"So your hand wasn't even hurt? You were just made up like that?"
"My hand is really injured."
Hearing that, Rick looked at my overall state and asked worriedly.
"Did you go to the hospital?"
"I haven't been able to go yet."
Jamal approached and sent the followers gathered around me back to their positions. Then he called over the follower with the walkie-talkie and told him to relay that the search was to be halted and everyone was to return to their original positions, and that Bak Muhyeon was in the auditorium. At that, I saw Baek Aeyoung, who had been standing triumphantly behind me, conversing with the follower who had received the order. Jamal greeted me and spoke.
"I thought you would head toward the helipad or the beach."
"Smoke was coming from there, so I didn't go. Instead, I wandered around other places and fell and got hurt."
"You seem to have had a rough time. Come this way."
As I limped over, the followers didn't strike me down with their guns or ruthlessly bind my limbs, as if judging that I couldn't run away. Jamal seated me at chairs and tables that appeared to be where the Infinity Church followers had been sitting and resting, cleared away a table piled with empty canned drinks and coffee, and handed me a new canned drink. I stared at it with parched, cracked lips, then held it and waited. Jamal watched me, remained silent for a while, then smiled with effort and said.
"To be blunt, we need your blood and flesh. ...Saying it like that makes it sound quite threatening."
Jamal made a flustered expression and scratched the corner of his mouth. He added that he hadn't meant to frighten me, but to my ears, it sounded completely like a robbery. I looked at the group of armed terrorists and asked Jamal.
"...What happens if I don't?"
"...We don't need much. I was hoping you would give a little voluntarily."
Jamal avoided answering my question. I recalled the sight of Anna rushing at me wielding a massive blade like the Green Dragon Crescent Blade. Were they going to carve it out by force? Jamal watched my face turn pale and curled his thick lips into an awkward smile; he didn't seem accustomed to this sort of thing either. When I didn't answer much, Jamal shook his head as if embarrassed, seemingly aware that this request was abnormal.
"Even as I say this, it really sounds like a pseudo-religion."
"...So you have that much self-awareness."
How surprising. I had thought that as a candidate for savior, he would be as crazy as Elizabeth. Meanwhile, Baek Aeyoung was exchanging simple greetings with the followers while secretly tossing a knife to a bound hostage on the floor.