Then it wasn’t just my hand. Most of the injured probably couldn’t undergo surgery either. For those who had been shot in the organs, there would be nothing they could do except administer painkillers. A chill of terror crawled up my spine. The hospital must be in complete chaos.
The moment I wondered whether I could be of even the slightest help if I went there, another thought flashed through my mind: a dentist who could only use his right hand would hardly be of much use. Gloom quickly filled my heart. Shin Haeryang, who had been standing beside me, added,
“I’ll make sure you receive emergency treatment as quickly as possible, Doctor.”
“Pardon? Ah, yes. I’m grateful just for the thought.”
I called out to Gim Jaehee, who had been eavesdropping while maintaining an ambiguous distance from us. However, since Shin Haeryang didn’t want Gim Jaehee getting close to me, we ended up sitting roughly on the beach beds in the order of me, Shin Haeryang, and Gim Jaehee. More precisely, only Shin Haeryang and I were sitting. Gim Jaehee had lain down completely on the sandy ground. Gang Sujeong, who had finished speaking with Jeong Sanghyeon, was walking over this way. I stared blankly out at the sea before speaking to Shin Haeryang.
“There are a few things I’d like to discuss with you regarding the Infinite Church.”
I saw the soul return to the eyes of the Infinite Church believer, who had looked as though his spirit had left his body. I could feel Gim Jaehee, lying on the ground, boring into my face with his gaze. I didn’t know what he was thinking, but he should give up.
“Please, go ahead.”
“At present, most of the believers are gathered in the courtyard of Undersea Base One. The undersea base may still look intact right now, but it might collapse or sink as time passes.”
Shin Haeryang gave a slight nod and agreed with what I had said.
“Yes. I also believe there is a possibility of collapse.”
And that was it. No, I mean, the building looks like it’s about to come down right now! Was I the only one worried?
“Quite a few people were captured by the Infinite Church at Undersea Base Two or Undersea Base One while trying to escape from the other undersea bases. The Infinite Church probably won’t openly execute them, but they won’t be making much effort to keep them alive, either. Is there any way to get the Infinite Church believers and these hostages out of the undersea base?”
“······Then those people will almost certainly come to Daehando.”
“I understand what you’re worried about, Team Leader Shin. If the terrorists come to Daehando, the people there will be put in danger. What if we give the Infinite Church believers the information that the undersea base might collapse, then tell them to abandon their weapons and evacuate to Daehando with the hostages? How many do you think would flee here?”
At that question, Shin Haeryang glanced at the terrorist on his team. When Gim Jaehee met his gaze, he smiled. Shin Haeryang let out a rare sigh, turned away from him, and spoke.
“If they’re capable of carrying out a terrorist attack on this scale, I doubt they’ll listen closely to what others say. And even if the terrorists are trapped inside the undersea base and the building collapses, that wouldn’t be a bad thing for us.”
Shin Haeryang’s gaze shifted to my right shoulder as he continued.
“I would leave them there even if they drowned at my feet.”
It seemed Shin Haeryang was thoroughly sick of the Infinite Church as well.
Gang Sujeong approached without a sound and looked around at everyone seated near the beach beds, seeming to wonder where she should sit. She tried pressing down on the long beach bed where Shin Haeryang was perched, intending to sit beside him, but when she heard it creak dangerously, she hurriedly pulled her hand away.
As her next choice, Gang Sujeong tried to sit on Gim Jaehee’s chest. He had been sprawled carelessly on the sand with one arm propping up the back of his head. Sensing something ominous, Gim Jaehee hurriedly raised his upper body. Gang Sujeong plopped down in the place he had vacated and said,
“Don’t mind me. Please continue your conversation.”
Shin Haeryang looked briefly first at Gim Jaehee, who was muttering something about nearly dying, and then at Gang Sujeong, who was saying, “If everyone else is sitting, you should sit too,” before speaking.
“I’ll do everything I can to secure the safety of my team members.”
“I understand. I instructed Jaehee over the phone to escape from the undersea base, and Jaehee made it safely to Daehando even though he didn’t know who I was. What if the people in Daehando at least tried to persuade the Infinite Church members to abandon their weapons and flee?”
Gang Sujeong and Shin Haeryang’s gazes fixed on Gim Jaehee. Looking uncomfortable under the combined attention of the deputy team leader and team leader, Gim Jaehee frowned and said,
“I came out because I knew Laphidophora might die if it was submerged, and because I had hope that I might be saved.”
“What’s Laphidophora?”
When Gang Sujeong asked him in a small voice, Gim Jaehee replied in a whisper,
“It’s a plant I saved. Muhyeon gave it to me as a gift, and it’s pretty nice. If it had been ugly, I would’ve thrown it into the seawater before I left.”
Worried that Gim Jaehee might run off with the Laphidophora, I said,
“······It belongs to Mr. Tumanako. Anyway, the important thing is that a believer like you came out. Isn’t it possible that other Infinite Church believers might also escape from the undersea base? Couldn’t we ask them to come out with the hostages tucked under their arms instead of bringing out a Laphidophora? I’d like to reduce the number of deaths in Daehando and the undersea base, even if only by a little.”
I had been underwater when the undersea base came crashing down, and it was an experience I never wanted to go through again, no matter what. The people currently underwater, unaware of anything, would probably come to the same conclusion once the collapse began. I didn’t want other people to suffer the terrible things I had experienced. Being in Undersea Base One had been horrifying, and so had being in Undersea Base Two.
If they thought there was no way to escape, perhaps they would choose their lives over their religion. Once the concrete ceiling began to cave in, it would be too late.
From Shin Haeryang’s expression, I could tell he was extremely skeptical. He seemed to think that speaking with whales on the verge of extinction and evacuating them from the North Pacific would be more worthwhile than communicating with the terrorists in Undersea Base One and getting them to escape. Gang Sujeong seemed to feel similarly, as her brow furrowed.
“Honestly, I don’t want the terrorists to come out. I hope the poor hostages escape on their own, but I want all the terrorists to die without ever setting foot in Daehando. ······Jaehee, I’m not saying this to you, so filter it out as you please. No. Actually, take it to heart a little. This is how ordinary people think. We think it would be best if all the terrorists died.”
After hearing Gang Sujeong’s rather extreme statement, Gim Jaehee unexpectedly smiled.
“I feel the same way. Muhyeon, just······leave them to die. They believe in a cult, anyway.”
“Jaehee, you’re someone who believes in that cult too. Don’t you feel any sort of brotherly or sisterly affection toward people who share your religion?”
Gim Jaehee shrugged at my question before answering.
“If those feelings alone had been enough, it would’ve been difficult for the Infinite Church to gather believers. People gathered because they had a past they wanted to return to badly enough to give up their futures. Or because they’d been given enough money to make it worth their lives. If there hadn’t been anything in it for me, I wouldn’t have joined the Infinite Church in the first place. I heard that overseas, the Infinite Church had many branches, and they held counseling sessions and regular meetings to foster friendship and a sense of belonging among the believers. There was almost none of that in Korea. Maybe it was because there were so many other cults that the Infinite Church couldn’t put down roots. Anyway, I don’t feel much sympathy for the other believers. My own situation is a bigger mess, so why would I pity anyone else?”
Gim Jaehee then proceeded to spew insults at the religion he belonged to.
“Muhyeon. If someone’s stupid enough to believe they can be saved by another person, mentally battered beyond repair, and unable to live a normal life, wouldn’t it be better to just let them die in the seawater? They don’t seem like they’d be of any help to society anyway. It might not be so bad if they all died at once like that. It’s unfortunate for the hostages, but in life, there are always people who happen to be extraordinarily unlucky.”
He seemed to be insulting himself. Shin Haeryang listened to the words of this terrorist from a cult who had absolutely no loyalty, then asked,
“So because you escaped safely, you don’t care whether the other believers live or die?”
“It’s both true and untrue. Honestly, I came up because Muhyeon called me, but I don’t think I could force other people to climb four thousand stairs with a broken leg. I don’t really know how I made it up, either. I mostly crawled. If they choose not to come up and decide to die there, then they’ll die. Even if they pray to the savior to save them until the moment they die. Our savior, Muhyeon, says he won’t go back into the past, and it’s not like we can easily create a new savior······.”
After saying that, Gim Jaehee suddenly faltered and closed his mouth. I looked at him, then spoke to Shin Haeryang and Gang Sujeong.
“I’ve heard the wishes the people of the Infinite Church pray for. They’re people who have lost something that could never be filled, no matter how much time passed, or people whose bodies and minds have been deeply wounded. If I hadn’t had the help of the people around me, I might have joined a religion like the Infinite Church and depended on it too. And if I’d been unlucky, I might have sacrificed more than just my fingers. If we could give them even the smallest reason to do so, some of them might escape.”
Shin Haeryang and Gang Sujeong didn’t agree with my opinion, but neither did they strongly oppose it. The two of them stood, saying they would discuss it separately. Gim Jaehee stared blankly at them as they talked a short distance away, clutching sand in his hand.
“If Muhyeon completely broke the miracle and escaped, couldn’t we create the loop again?”
“What?”
“Couldn’t the Infinite Church try again from the beginning? Creating a loop back to this morning might be impossible, but I think it could be made again.”
What? Recreate that damn loop I’d only escaped from on the ninth try? I didn’t know. The snake had already flown away with the jewel in its mouth. Could we call it back and make it go through that endlessly repeating process all over again? Gim Jaehee spoke as he struggled to keep the sand from slipping out of his clenched fist.
“If they offer Muhyeon’s finger on the altar and nothing happens, do you think the candidates for savior and the believers will just sit there praying until they perish, then end the ritual? I don’t think I would. I’d think, ‘So it doesn’t work,’ and look for another method. Think about it, Muhyeon. Suppose you were someone who believed in the Infinite Church. You invested all kinds of jewels, firearms, and enormous sums of money for today, gathered the believers, made preparations, and carried out a terrorist attack. Now imagine that nothing happens. That you don’t go back to the past. That you merely draw the world’s attention as a cult terrorist.”
Gim Jaehee whispered softly.
“All the materials are already here. If it were me, I’d kill only Muhyeon and try again.”