Before I knew it, Sin Haeryang had stopped. Then he opened something that looked like a fire hydrant attached to the wall. As the label on the outside indicated, it was not a fire hydrant. It was simply dark, and smelled of mold and seawater. Pointing to a pitch-black, hole-like void of darkness, Sin Haeryang spoke.
“You just need to go inside one at a time.”
It seemed like he was talking to me or Yugeumi, but neither of us moved. I stared beyond that darkness and spoke. It looked like a place where monsters might live. Just as a black hole devours light, the light beside me could not penetrate that darkness at all. Pointing toward the invisible interior, I asked.
“What is that place used for?”
“It is a staircase.”
“What... a staircase? There’s a staircase in the undersea base?”
Yugeumi and I were not the only ones; Baek Aeyeong and Seo Jihyeok also wore stunned expressions.
“It was built in the early days of the undersea base, before the central elevator was constructed. It was used during the construction of Undersea Base 3 from Undersea Base 1. Because it was made temporarily, it is inconvenient, hard to maintain, and accidents were frequent, so it is no longer used.”
Moreover, there were no lights. Looking into the pitch-black interior of the fire hydrant, I licked my lips and swallowed. Bwooooooom. A strange sound came from inside, as if wind were blowing. The smell was strange, too. It was the kind of place you’d see in a horror movie. A place no one would enter unless they were crazy.
“What kind of accidents happened?”
“I understand people slipped or fell. If you look at the stairs, you’ll see that first, there are no railings, and because the steps were not made to standard specifications, their height is inconsistent. Furthermore, since it has not been used at all since the elevator was completed, there will be a lot of dust and it will be slippery.”
I tried not to look, but my gaze had already drifted to Seo Jihyeok’s leg. It was not just me; Yugeumi and Baek Aeyeong were also reflexively staring at Seo Jihyeok’s leg. Seo Jihyeok was quietly swearing under his breath.
“How high does the staircase go?”
“The distance from Undersea Base 3 to Undersea Base 2 is about 800 meters, so it is about 180 floors. The steps... there should be roughly 4,300 of them.”
I was at a loss for words. I see. So this was the “way to move to Undersea Base 2 without running into people, though it will be hard” that Sin Haeryang had mentioned. No matter how much I searched my memory, I was someone who had not walked up even ten floors under my own power in the last five years. And now 180 floors? I was going crazy.
It seemed to be the same for Yugeumi, a researcher, as her already pale face turned even paler. Shit. Sympathizing with Seo Jihyeok’s curse, I barely suppressed the urge to curse along. 4,300? ...If I recall, there were 1,600 steps when I climbed to the peak of Oseo Mountain.
“Uh... 4,300 steps. That’s definitely a workout. ...How long would it take to climb all the way up?”
Sin Haeryang looked at me, Yugeumi, and finally Seo Jihyeok, hesitated, and spoke.
“If you go up quickly without resting, I believe you can arrive at Undersea Base 2 within 60 minutes. But with this group, it will take at least an hour and a half.”
Oh... I suddenly started to feel relieved because Sin Haeryang seemed much more optimistic than me. I had thought I would not be able to finish climbing even if I spent the entire day on it. Even Baek Aeyeong, who had never once objected to Sin Haeryang’s decisions until now, had a bewildered expression.
“No... Team Leader. I have competed in a vertical marathon where you have to run three steps a second, about seven seconds per floor, to rank in the top tier. If... my memory is correct, the award-winning record was within 25 minutes. Even people who trained like hell just to run up stairs would take about 30 minutes for this height. I... I like climbing. I like climbing stairs. But apart from me and the Team Leader, the others will collapse the moment they arrive at Undersea Base 2 and won’t even be able to move a finger.”
To Baek Aeyeong’s words, Sin Haeryang replied in a low voice.
“...That is not a big problem. I just hope many problems occur at Undersea Base 2 or Undersea Base 3 while we are climbing for an hour and a half. That they all shot each other and are dead.”
At Sin Haeryang’s words that climbing the stairs was no problem at all, Seo Jihyeok looked at his own leg, seeming to place his hope on the elevator that would take him up in one go rather than on the infinite staircase.
“What the hell. You only die once, not twice. Let’s take the elevator. Cultists? Let’s fight them! I’ll take down at least three!”
As if not even hearing Seo Jihyeok’s words, Yugeumi, who had been muttering “4,300” over and over like a Buddhist chant, sighed several times and spoke.
“Let’s climb while resting. It’s better not to meet people with guns.”
I looked between the staircase that was not even visible in the darkness and the interior of the undersea base bathed in warm light, then sighed as well. My answer was practically decided already.
“I’d rather crawl up the stairs through the darkness than meet guys like the ones from before.”
Baek Aeyeong said nothing. Me, Yugeumi, and Seo Jihyeok were looking at Baek Aeyeong, especially Seo Jihyeok, who stared fervently at Baek Aeyeong’s face as if begging her to take his side. Baek Aeyeong looked at Seo Jihyeok’s face calmly and spoke.
“I will agree with Team Leader Sin Haeryang’s opinion.”
Now me, Baek Aeyeong, Seo Jihyeok, and Yugeumi began looking at Sin Haeryang. Especially Seo Jihyeok’s expression was a sight to behold. He was desperate, as if grasping at his only lifeline. Seo Jihyeok began clinging to the expressionless Sin Haeryang to win the majority vote. Seo Jihyeok began spewing nonsense.
The cultists might be only two, or a small number less than five. If the entire floor is empty when we get to Undersea Base 2, wouldn’t it be unfair to have climbed the stairs? They are definitely bluffing to make it seem like they have more people on their side. How about hiding above or below the elevator? (But the elevator is transparent?) The Japanese or Chinese might have come up and already finished off the cultists. They might have already killed each other fighting among themselves. Undersea Base 4 is a mess, so how do we know when Undersea Base 3 or Undersea Base 2, connected by the central elevator, might malfunction or collapse? We don’t know that either. And if you think those two are baggage (Seo Jihyeok pointed at me and Yugeumi with his fingertips), I’ll teach them how to shoot a gun right now. Maybe the two of them have tremendous talent. That guy must be a dentist because he has an unconscious natural killer talent. Drilling into people’s teeth is not something you can do with a normal mind. How can someone who looks inside other people’s mouths all day be sane? (Hahaha! I burst out laughing at this part.) Yugeumi might also be a perfect match for guns. Look at Baek Aeyeong. The more a woman has long hair, is short, and looks timid, the more her inherent mental violence is indescribable. Yugeumi surely possesses tremendous courage and the decisiveness to pull a trigger. With the title of a graduate student majoring in marine biology in these deep seas, the very act of making violent choices with her life on the line means she must have resentment and stress comparable to a mass shooter. (“What did you say?” Yugeumi glared with a dumbfounded expression.) Why should we walk with difficulty in the darkness for over 90 minutes when it is a distance that takes less than 3 minutes comfortably in the light? Look at my leg! And so on. Sin Haeryang silently listened to Seo Jihyeok’s words and asked.
“You want us to protect two civilians who have never held a gun and one injured person, and engage in a shootout inside an elevator with a religious group of unknown numbers using just three guns? Even if there were forty thousand steps instead of four thousand, I would choose the stairs.”
At these words, Baek Aeyeong smirked and threw herself into the darkness inside the fire hydrant first.
Seo Jihyeok let out a sigh. Yugeumi asked Baek Aeyeong, whose form was barely visible in the pitch-black darkness.
“How is it inside?”
“It’s comfortable and cozy. I can hear soft rock music, it smells like roses, feathers are spread on the floor, and flower petals are falling from above.”
“...I’ll go in too.”
Yugeumi carefully entered the fire hydrant. Then I bent down and went inside. None of Baek Aeyeong’s words were true. First, the sound of wind was whining, and there were smells of water, mold, dust, and something rotting. The floor was littered with trash someone had discarded, and droplets of some unknown liquid fell from above. Moreover, the stairs were slippery, there was absolutely nothing to grab onto except the walls, and the step heights were all different.
I supported Seo Jihyeok from the inside so he could enter, and Sin Haeryang supported him from the outside. Seo Jihyeok had to lie down completely straight, like a person being carried, to barely fit inside. The last one in was Sin Haeryang.
From inside, I saw Sin Haeryang wipe the floor and erase handprints with what looked like a cleaning cloth from a cafe, then enter while closing the fire hydrant door from the inside. Once the fire hydrant door closed completely, no light came in from outside at all.
Baek Aeyeong was shining light under her feet using the glow from her pad. Seo Jihyeok shone his pad’s light on the wall, saw something moving, cursed his head off for a while, then only shone it at the floor. I pushed my hand into the bag that had now become a cat carrier. The fur was incredibly soft.
After taking out the cat and rummaging under it on the floor, a flashlight came out. I started turning the flashlight. You turn it for one minute and use it for fifteen minutes. Perhaps because self-powered flashlights were so well-made these days, it soon shone brightly. This bag and flashlight were a joining gift from my younger brother. He had given them to me so I would not lose my way in life, but I had never imagined they would be used like this. What is my brother doing now?
“Ooooo!”
“Wow.”
Exclamations came from Seo Jihyeok and Yugeumi. Flashlights were definitely better than other electronic devices. I had thought I would never have a reason to use this. I handed the flashlight to Baek Aeyeong, who was standing at the front. Baek Aeyeong quickly stuffed her pad into the bag on her back and took the flashlight.
“...I was dying of frustration, so this is good.”
Baek Aeyeong smiled a smile that said she might actually survive. Then she shone the flashlight in front of her feet. She shone it toward Seo Jihyeok’s leg. Sin Haeryang, who had adjusted the splint length, and I supported Seo Jihyeok.