“How long do I have to stay like this?”
If I flounder and dig through the sand, I should be able to get up from here on my own. I wasn’t buried that deep. My neck, right hand, and ankles itched because of the sand. I don’t know why, but with only my face and injured hand left exposed while the rest of me was buried, my cheeks, forehead, and around my nose itched.
I resisted the urge to excavate my right hand from beneath the sand and scratch with it right away. I don’t know why I feel this urge when I can’t use my hand. As the time spent buried in the sand grew longer, my back and waist were surprisingly cool. Now I see why people bury alcohol in sand.
“You just have to wait until Jihyeok comes back.”
“…May I ask a slightly uncomfortable question?”
Shin Haeryang watched the beach, then lowered his head and spoke.
“Yes. Ask away.”
“What happens if Jihyeok doesn’t come back? If he’s hurt, trapped somewhere, or fallen and needs help? Or what if he’s been captured by terrorists? Will you go to help him?”
“If Jihyeok doesn’t return within the time limit, I’ll go as the next one.”
“What if you don’t come back either?”
As I asked the question, a chill ran down my spine. Shin Haeryang spoke as if it were obvious.
“If neither I nor Jihyeok returns within the time limit, think of us as left behind. Ayeong will abandon the search and lead the remaining people.”
“…I hope Jihyeok returns safely.”
“He won’t be moving around doing anything extremely dangerous. Honestly, I wanted to go, but I needed time to recover my stamina.”
Shin Haeryang doesn’t look tired on the outside, so he must be hiding it well. Seeing how Riko threw off all his scuba gear, took off his wetsuit too, and collapsed as if fainting as soon as he got to the beach, Shin Haeryang must want to rest like that too. There’s no end to the things that need to be done even after escaping to Daehan-do.
“You should lie down on a beach bed and rest for a while too, Haeryang-ssi.”
“I’ll rest later.”
Shin Haeryang briefly inspected the makeshift sand tomb. He had only shifted the center of gravity by slightly changing the position of the beach bed set on top of my body, but it made me, buried below, feel less crushed. Breathing became a little easier.
Shin Haeryang called the act of hiding oneself to blend into the surroundings camouflage. He said it’s one of the methods animals frequently use for survival. Whether it’s a forest, jungle, swamp, or sandy desert, you can secretly carry out desired actions or reduce the risk of being detected by someone.
Listening to Shin Haeryang’s explanation, I couldn’t help but think that office workers who lived hiding their talents and specialness behind inconspicuous, colorless clothing and common hairstyles were using camouflage at their companies.
“It’s a beach with strong sunlight beating down, and since we’ve passed midday, having this much heat can temporarily fool thermal detection devices.”
“Oh. That’s a relief.”
Shin Haeryang opened a bottle and poured a bit of alcohol onto the sand covering my body. He was acting as if he had spilled his drink onto the sandy floor while drinking. Meticulous. He had also dug up and covered sand here and there beside other beach beds, not just where I was lying; probably to make it look like the disturbed sand around me was from searching for alcohol.
“They won’t be able to spot you with the naked eye if they’re trying to confirm a target. Still, the opponent will know that something is at the spot where Muhyeon-ssi is lying. We can fool them to some extent, but completely tricking them is probably impossible.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
“If someone other than us comes, avoid making your presence known as much as possible.”
“How do I… not make my presence known?”
I’m alive, though?
“Don’t move or make sounds, and keep your breathing quiet too. Relax your body as much as possible and stay still.”
Shin Haeryang taught me a few things about how to become a corpse. Hiding a living person isn’t easy. …Come to think of it, hiding a dead body probably isn’t easy either.
Was it because this was my first time doing a sand sauna? People gradually excluded me and naturally lived on top of the sand. As time passed, I only felt like I was being buried alive. Shin Haeryang looked around for a moment, then looked toward the cluster of boats that had been burning but were now only emitting thin streams of smoke. Then he said he would be back shortly, left the team members with Deputy Team Leader Gang, and left.
Deputy Team Leader Gang looked at the people sprawled around the beach beds. Staring blankly at the injured and those who had exhausted all their stamina, he sighed and rubbed his face with one hand. Then he ripped a towel with a tearing sound. Whether because of his grip strength or not, the rather thick towel became a long rag in no time.
Jeong Sanghyeon, who had been sitting on a beach bed sniffling and crying about what to do about his front tooth, immediately shut his mouth at the acrobatics Deputy Team Leader Gang performed right before his eyes. Kim Jaehui, who had been quietly approaching me because the team leader was gone, likewise distanced herself again.
Deputy Team Leader Gang wrapped the torn towel around the knuckle part of his hand. He wound both hands round and round with the towel, and after some time, a temporary protector covering the remaining four fingers except the thumbs was completed. His hands seemed twice as large in volume.
Gang Sujeong moved his arms for a moment to test them while keeping his hands clenched into fists, but his fists were so fast they could barely be seen. While watching him loosen both legs, arms, and shoulders in turn, I asked Gang Sujeong a question.
“Don’t you need to wrap your thumbs?”
“You can get injured wrapping them or not wrapping them.”
Then isn’t it the same whether you protect your hands by wrapping them in a towel or not? Don’t you have to leave your hands unwrapped to hit the opponent cleanly? …Gang Sujeong would know better than an amateur like me.
“Nobody might come.”
That was my wish as well. That the Muhan Church people had given up on a guy like me. That the crazy pseudo-religious cult would stop toying with people. That they had already forgotten me. Gang Sujeong nodded and spoke while rotating his shoulder broadly.
“Then Muhyeon-ssi will have peacefully enjoyed a sand sauna. And I will have been peacefully warming up my body while the team leader is away.”
That… doesn’t sound bad.
“I also hope no one comes, just as Muhyeon-ssi wishes. But before stepping into the ring, I have to make all the preparations I possibly can.”
Gang Sujeong hesitated for a moment, then took some bottles and walked over, striking them against a trash can placed in the corner to break the bottoms. Alcohol and broken glass bottoms poured into the trash can. Gang Sujeong took only the bottles with broken bottoms and plunged the shattered lower parts deep into the sand to hide them. Then he looked around the beach with a determined face.
Whenever Gang Sujeong’s gaze, which moved around here and there, reached Jeong Sanghyeon, Jeong Sanghyeon silently moved one step at a time and relocated to another beach bed. He seemed to want to get away from Gang Sujeong as much as possible. …I don’t understand. If it were me, I’d rather stay within Gang Sujeong’s line of sight.
“Muhyeon-ssi.” Kim Jaehui called out to me from about five beach beds away.
“Bored?”
“I’m fine.”
“I made some rice cakes out of sand; would you take a bite and save me?”
Kim Jaehui made something with the dug-up sand and seawater, then showed me a songpyeon-like thing made of sand in her hand. I’d never eat something like that even if I starved to death.
“…I won’t eat it.”
Gang Sujeong left Kim Jaehui alone even as she crept closer to me. He seemed more worried about armed terrorists roaming outside than unarmed, frail terrorists he could suppress. Kim Jaehui approached and asked, “Aren’t you hungry?” Then she slipped her hand under the towel that half-covered my face, pinched my cheek, and then blocked the nose of someone who couldn’t resist. I shook my head left and right to shake off her hand and spoke.
“Leave me alone.”
“I’m bored.”
When Gang Sujeong told her to leave me alone, Kim Jaehui withdrew her hand, made an expression like a child whose toy had been snatched away, and sat perched on the beach bed.
“At least I got to drink soda or eat popcorn during the loop. Has Muhyeon-ssi eaten anything?”
“I… haven’t eaten much. I’m going to eat my fill when I get back to Korea.”
Being buried in the sand like this made me thirsty. But if I asked the people in front of me for something to drink, I felt like they would give me alcohol or seawater.
Gang Sujeong suddenly turned his head and looked somewhere. I also turned my head as far as I could while lying down, but I couldn’t see properly. I couldn’t raise my body or move my head for fear of the sand pouring down. Kim Jaehui turned her gaze toward the sea and spoke as if bored.
“There was only a little smoke at the destination Team Leader Shin said he was going to, but now flames are shooting up wildly. Maybe Team Leader Shin got caught in the fire by accident, or maybe Team Leader Shin set more fires.”
“Is that so? No. I guess he started a fire to create smoke.”
Since Kim Jaehui was stubbornly looking only at the sea, Gang Sujeong explained to me: the huge flames soon became massive smoke, rising into the sky like a dragon with a gray body.
Did Shin Haeryang set additional fires on boats or yachts and then throw wet branches into the flames? Just what do you do to make smoke like that? Before long, the smell of burning surged all the way here. I coughed several times but took special care that the sand enveloping my body didn’t shift.
Gang Sujeong spoke while watching the smoke rise.
“I hope people staying on nearby islands or ships see that fire and smoke, or if not, I hope a satellite surveils this place. I wish they would realize that terrorism is happening on Daehan-do and that fires are burning like that. Then someone will come. Please.”
“I don’t know. From what I see, they’ll probably think someone is having a barbecue on Daehan-do, burning something to eat, polluting the atmosphere, or having a campfire.”
Hearing this pessimistic talk, Gang Sujeong spoke to Kim Jaehui with a sigh.
“Let others have some hope. Don’t steal other people’s hope.”
“Our hope is right here.”
Kim Jaehui pointed at me with her chin. I quickly denied it.
“I’m not hope. I’m an extremely ordinary, commonplace person.”
Just as the towel precariously hanging above my head was about to fall to the ground, Gang Sujeong quickly threw the towel over my head haphazardly. I couldn’t see anything in front of me properly. Kim Jaehui spoke while still looking toward the sea.
“Someone I haven’t seen before is coming this way. He looks over 2 meters tall. He’s as big as our deputy team leader.”