I tried stroking the serpent's head and neck with my palm to calm it down, but it didn't seem to help at all. It seemed to be acting like this because it had eaten something it shouldn't have.
The serpent's body heaved and writhed before it opened its mouth wide. I caught the lapis lazuli necklace it spat out with one hand. And I was inwardly surprised. Until now, there hadn't been a single thing I could exert physical force upon, yet I could grab this?
Having spat out the necklace, calling it a foreign object, the serpent—perhaps feeling better—bit my waist and swam toward the 4th Undersea Base again.
I discovered the serpent's tail, enormous enough to cover the whole world, in the ceiling of Room 38, Baekho-dong. The serpent had not digested Bak Muhyeon, whom it had swallowed. Using its incredibly long body, it treated and restored his battered, rag-like body, then expelled and discarded him from its tail.
From the tail embedded in the ceiling of Room 38, Bak Muhyeon suddenly dropped down with a thud. Bak Muhyeon's body, discarded precisely toward the bed, shook from the impact of a torpedo blast and slipped off the bed, falling toward the floor.
Having released my waist from its bite, the serpent looked at me. To be exact, it looked at the necklace I was holding. I alternated my gaze between Bak Muhyeon, lying face-down on the floor, and the serpent, then dropped the lapis lazuli I held onto Bak Muhyeon's body. So this... was this morning.
Bak Muhyeon's fingers, lying face-down on the floor, moved little by little. His eyes twitched as he regained consciousness, then a nosebleed burst and flowed. Hrg. Coming to his senses from the nosebleed trickling down his throat, Bak Muhyeon saw his blood-covered hand and raised his body limply. Then he reached for a tissue and was seen plugging his nose with familiarity. My face, just awakened, was ashen like a sheet of paper.
So the serpent swallowed dead Bak Muhyeon, revived him, and spat him back out into the past. It doesn't digest him? Watching such an absurd thing, I felt like my mind was being pummeled. The serpent watched me drop the lapis lazuli necklace onto this morning's Bak Muhyeon, then shook its head up and down as if satisfied and bit my waist again.
Then my past, present, and future felt incredibly close, as if they were in the next room. It was vivid, as though I could reach out and touch myself at that time. I had already passed through eight lives and deaths, but if I wished, I could go back to those moments again. Like a life that repeats forever.
Times already lived and times yet to live were endlessly connected and linked from the 4th Undersea Base at the very bottom to Daeehan Island at the very top. Defining the beginning of life that had started upon waking this morning and the end obtained through death felt meaningless. The countless choices I could make at the undersea base already seemed to have predetermined forms. A loop of similar lives repeating without end.
The life at the undersea base I would live today continued to cycle, drawing the shape of a circle or infinity. If I wished, I could remain here, repeating today like this.
With my waist bitten by the serpent, I walked toward the coordinates of time I had been observing. It was the past, and also one of the futures that would follow. Unless I did something completely bizarre, even if I went back to the past, I would probably live a future similar to the ones I had seen so far. The jewels displayed in the exhibition hall of the 2nd Undersea Base melted or burned away one by one as I lived new lives, leaving only scorch marks before disappearing.
Stroking the head of the serpent biting my waist with my hand, I spoke. I want to stop. I want to get out of here. I wish tomorrow would come. I don't have to repeat this. I want to end it here. My wish is for tomorrow to come. I won't remain in the past. I don't know if the serpent understood my words. It had never reflected my will before.
Before I knew it, I was in the Garden of Hesperides at the 2nd Undersea Base. Inside the fountain pouring black water, inside a bowl the size of a person, were various flowers and two of my fingers. The radiance of the diamond placed beside it was enough to blind my eyes.
Looking at the believers praying nearby, I stroked the giant serpent's head and around its jaw as I spoke. Bak Muhyeon won't die anymore. There's no need to eat him anymore. Your share is only those fingers. The serpent examined me with its massive eyes, then released my waist it had been biting, approached the fingers offered on the altar, and swallowed them in one bite. As if that weren't enough, it took into its mouth a diamond larger than two fists that was said to have my name engraved upon it.
Then, whether the Infinite Church believers nearby had recognized the serpent, they screamed, fled, or fired their guns. The serpent approached my side, but since it already held the large diamond in its mouth, it couldn't bite my waist as usual. Suddenly, a hand sprouted from the serpent's body and gripped me as I observed the Infinite Church believers. Then it swam upward at an enormous speed.
We passed straight through the ceiling of the 1st Undersea Base without any resistance. The serpent swam vertically up through the seawater, and in that process, I saw Meiji freely swimming through the ocean wearing scuba gear.
The serpent lifted its massive, endless body that had been pressing down on Daeehan Island, the sea surface, and the depths of the sea, then slowly rose into the sky. Looking from the sky like this, the size and length of its body were so great they could cover nearly the entire Pacific Ocean. How had such a serpent not been discovered by the researchers?
The serpent's body segments that had completely blocked Daeehan Island and the surrounding sea also rose into the air. In the dark underwater depths, I hadn't realized, but the serpent's body color was unusual. The lower parts submerged in the sea were black, and only the upper parts were yellow.
The serpent, which had been diligently swimming about the seabed, suddenly seemed quite pleased now that it was flying through the air. As the serpent soared freely through the sky, I, caught in its grip and brought along, was out of my mind. Why is it in a good mood? Is it because it has a huge diamond in its mouth? Because the serpent seemed happy, I too postponed my worries and felt happy along with it. The serpent rose until it nearly touched the clouds.
Once we had risen so high that Daeehan Island looked about the size of a thumbnail, the serpent abruptly released the hand gripping me. And the serpent flew away, leaving me thrown into the air. Wait! I screamed as I fell from the sky and crashed into Daeehan Island. Uwaaaaaaaaaaaah!
"Uaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"
"Uwaak!"
As I, who had been lying down, sprang up, I saw Kim Jaehui, sitting beside me, jump up with a start. Kim Jaehui looked surprised enough to have a heart attack.
"You surprised me. Muhyeon ssi. Are you coming to?"
"Where... where is this?"
As I moved my arms and legs as if swimming on the sandy beach, Kim Jaehui straightened me up and made me look at the ocean. The rough sea wind intermittently swept away the sand covering my body.
Kim Jaehui's hands hurriedly brushed away the sand stuck to my face and head. I looked around here and there, out of my mind. That's the sea, and this is a sandy beach. Ah. Is this Daeehan Island beach? ......Sand is crunching in my mouth. Kim Jaehui asked me with a worried face.
"Do you not remember?"
"...Yes."
"You said you would save me, didn't you, Muhyeon ssi. You also said you would take responsibility and somehow send me to the past."
"...No matter how much I think about it, I don't think that's it."
Kim Jaehui clicked her tongue, muttered something like "Not happening," and then explained while dusting off sand.
"You ran into the sea while drinking, spewed strange sounds into the air, and collapsed."
"Me? I......"
I barely swallowed down words like, I was being bitten around the waist by a serpent with a body so long it disappeared beyond the horizon and was touring the undersea bases here and there. They say I collapsed here after drinking and talking nonsense? I didn't even have more than a sip of alcohol. No. Then what were all the things that just happened? I suddenly grew worried and asked Kim Jaehui.
"How long...... have I slept here?"
"About 30 minutes? You didn't sleep long. It's a bit of a shame you woke up so early."
"Huh? Why... is it a shame?"
"If you hadn't woken up any more than this, I was going to put you in the seawater or bury you in the sand, so you're lucky."
What the hell. Come to think of it, my arms and legs were full of sand. Sand was packed inside my clothes too, so I got up and shook my arms and legs as if doing a traditional dance.
No wonder the serpent had thrown me away in a hurry. Could it have been trying to save me? As I shook off the sand wildly, I saw a large sand pit right beside where I had been lying. Kim Jaehui's body was also covered in sand.
"What is that sand pit next to me?"
"That's mine. If I lie down and collapse the bottom, the sand will pour onto my face."
I let out a huge sigh and spat out the gritty sand in my mouth onto the ground.
"I can't go to the past. ......This time, I don't think I can go. If I die from now on...... I'll just die. I can't come back to life."
"Why? It's not like you haven't died before."
Kim Jaehui, who had asked back without much thought, flinched in surprise and looked at me.
"......Could it be that the 'miracle' has ended?"
"Because you, Jaehui ssi, and the people on this Daeehan Island will go to the future together with me. Even if it's messy, predetermined, arduous, or sad."
I looked up at the summer sky with hardly any clouds. The serpent had flown away high above. The last thing it swallowed was only two of my fingers.
Even if the serpent re-enters the sea and repeats this strange loop, only my two fingers will remain in Room 38, Baekho-dong. Kim Jaehui grabbed me and poured out questions. There wasn't much I could answer clearly. If I brought up the story about the serpent, I'd probably be treated like a madman. Maybe someday in the future, if I speak of it, they'll listen well.
Several people on the beach waved their hands toward the sea and shouted. In the distance, more than ten escape pods suddenly appeared on the sea surface. They were definitely escape pods that hadn't been there before.
From the escape pods, several people gestured with hand signals toward the beach. The people on the shore signaled that it was safe, making circles and calling out to them. A few of the people from the escape pods that had surfaced near Daeehan Island beach quickly swam toward the shore.
I saw familiar faces. The person swimming at the very front seemed to be Gang Sujeong. Seo Jihyeok also jumped from the escape pod into the sea and seemed to be swimming this way.
I stared blankly at the escape pods, then turned around at the sound of someone calling from behind. It was a woman wearing my backpack, and she looked familiar.
"...Emma?"