Gunshots kept ringing out. Since the gunfire aimed at the jewel above my head had stopped, I tried to stick only my hand out beyond the jewel that served as cover to shoot, when I was suddenly struck by the thought that my hand might get shot. So I stealthily poked only the gun barrel outside and fired two shots blindly. Bang bang!
Since no screams followed the sound of my gun, it seemed I hadn't hit anyone. Panting heavily from the tension, I wiped the sweat that had run all the way down to my chin and felt relief wash over me. I don't want to shoot people! I'm so scared! I want to get out of here! I'm sorry. I really didn't know what it meant to fire a gun at someone like this,
Lost in a daze—wondering if I truly wanted to survive so badly even in this situation, or whether I could save that woman and man if I administered emergency treatment right now—I hadn't noticed the gunfire gradually growing distant. It wasn't coming from the direction where I was, but from the exhibition hall exit.
Just in case, I pulled my gun hand out from behind the jewel and waved it, but no shots came. The one who had been pouring gunfire at me had probably already moved. I simply listened to the sound growing fainter, then practically crawled as I stuck my head out from behind the displayed jewel. I had to circle almost all the way around before I could read the name of the jewel I had been hiding behind: Pink Tourmaline. Intending to duck back behind it if need be, I cautiously crept out, but the only person lying there was the silver-haired woman. The man who had been shot was gone.
In the spot where the man had lain, there were bloodstains where blood had dripped, but no person. It seemed someone had come and taken him away. Trembling violently, I gripped my gun and emerged from my hiding place. Afraid I might get shot in the head, I came out almost crawling on my belly, then crept up to the collapsed woman nearby.
The woman was lying face-down exactly as when I had left, and seeing her like that, I barely held back the urge to curse at myself and bawl my eyes out. The bleeding was tremendous; blood was everywhere. I slowly flipped the woman, who looked as though she had died face-down, so that her back faced the floor. Then I checked for a pulse. She was definitely dead.
Trying to close her slightly open eyes, I swept my palm over the woman's eyes, and the sensation of her eyelashes and eyelids made my teeth chatter. It was a sensation I never wanted to experience again for as long as I lived. I tried to leave her and go elsewhere, but I was engulfed by the terror that the moment I turned around, she would snap her eyes wide open. Yet neither did I have the courage to turn my back on a corpse lying there. Trembling violently, I moved very slowly toward the direction where gunshots were ringing. They must be shooting at each other, right? That's why there are gunshots. I, I have to help.
I moved as if crawling, hiding behind this jewel as a shield, then hiding behind that jewel again, but at some point my legs gave out and I couldn't walk properly, so I was crawling. I didn't know how far I had moved. But it turned out I had gone deeper into the area where people were exchanging gunfire—I only realized this when I saw the face of a cultist.
A man was popping out from behind a jewel and hiding back again, firing at a green jewel with a single display pedestal between us, and I was positioned at his left rear.
In movies, when shooting at an opponent, they'd lick their lips and say adios or whatever, but actually jumping into a gunfight, there was no such leisure at all. I practically lay flat and fired straight at the man's visible back. I knew my gun had hit because a bullet wound appeared on his back. The man who had been hit in the back turned his head toward where I was, and I was so terrified of the opponent seeing me that I fired straight at the turning head. A hole opened in the man's cheek, and he collapsed backward with a thud. I lay flat on the floor waiting for his counterattack, but he didn't move.
I crawled on my belly and buried my head behind a jewelry display piece. Then I stayed perfectly still. The gunfire gradually grew distant, coming from outside the exit. Someone tapped my shoulder, and when I jumped in fright and tried to aim my gun that way, Shin Haeryang quickly spoke.
"It's me."
"What about the others?"
Shin Haeryang didn't answer and stripped the gun from the man I had shot, taking it. Then he spoke quickly.
"Jiheok and Yu Geumi are behind that red jewel over there. Please bring them."
"What about you, Shin Haeryang?"
"I will help someone else as well."
He moved while firing, but it seemed more to signal that he was shooting here rather than to actually hit anyone. Seeing a figure that looked far more reliable than me, I began crawling toward the red jewel. While crawling, I realized both my palms were scraped raw. Why hadn't it hurt until now? Tossing that question inwardly, I kept crawling, passing Iolite and Zircon. And only when I barely reached that red jewel did I see that it was named Andesine.
Crawling behind the jewel, I saw Seo Jiheok aim his gun at me, then lower his hand. Seo Jiheok had been aiming at me while lying completely on his back, and Yu Geumi was also at Seo Jiheok's side. Yu Geumi was sitting sideways, her head and body leaned completely against the jewelry display. At the sight of Yu Geumi with one eye closed, the corpse of the woman who had died from the earlier gunfire came to mind. I stammered as I asked.
"Geumi? Wh... why... are you sleeping?"
"She's dead. Be... cause... she got hit by a ricochet."
What's a ricochet? Out of it, I sat down and shook Yu Geumi's shoulder as though she were merely asleep, and only then did I realize that Yu Geumi's right side, which had been leaning against the jewel, was covered in blood. I had been slow to notice because the displayed jewel's color was bright red. Looking closely, blood was streaming down from above Yu Geumi's right eyebrow. I was at a loss for words.
I don't know how long I stared blankly at Yu Geumi's face. Seo Jiheok called me several times, and finally grabbed my arm, telling me to come to my senses and made me look at him. Only when caught by Seo Jiheok's arm did I realize my entire body was shaking like slender trees trembling in the wind. To me, shuddering like a leaf, Seo Jiheok made a face and spoke.
"Hey. Get a grip. My situation isn't comfortable enough for me to take care of you right now."
"But... Geumi. Geumi is dead."
"Yu Geumi is dead, and I'll die soon too. It's impressive that I made it this far on these legs. White Shark, you, Yu Geumi, and even our team leader—you're all good people, so I made it this far. If that fucking crazy bastard Jeong Sanghyeon or Kang Soojeong, who has no blood or tears, had been on this hastily formed team, they would've taken me from Sacheon Steps, goddammit. I'd already have a bullet in my head and be dead at the Fourth Underwater Base. Park Muhyeon! Stop talking about dead people and listen to someone who's about to die. Take this and go, pull the trigger here, and shoot. Especially blow away anyone aiming for Baek Aeyeong's head."
"What about you, Seo Jiheok?"
"Can't you hear? I said go."
"No! I can't go! I was told to bring you!"
Ignoring my words, Seo Jiheok snatched my gun, checked the bullets, then gave me his.
"...Team Leader Shin is good at everything, but he can't abandon people. If there's a cripple on the team, you should just leave them and go. I've watched that man for seven years, and he really fucking can't do that one thing. But Muhyeon, you're someone who shoves drills into other people's mouths, aren't you? You have a strong heart, so you'll do well."
What kind of bullshit is this. What does a drill have to do with any of this. It doesn't matter at all. I shook my head wildly. My whole body trembled with stress. I had cried so much on the way here that I thought I had no tears left, yet they streamed straight down my cheeks.
"I, I c-c-can't leave you behind, Seo Jiheok. I, I, I'm a dentist! I've only been fixing people's mouths for ten years! But if I leave you here, you'll die!"
"Who knows. Team Leader Shin does the work of three people, and Baek Aeyeong may be a crack shot, but a person's lifeline—how would anyone know when it'll be cut. Who knows if we'll die quickly on the way to the First Underwater Base. Yu Geumi was hiding behind me too, but who knew she'd die from a blind bullet that ricocheted off a jewel?"
He had a point. Even if I took Seo Jiheok and found where Shin Haeryang and Baek Aeyeong were right now, I might die faster from a stray bullet flying from somewhere than if I hid here. But being left behind here wasn't a way to survive either. If the cultists were breaking in from the exhibition hall entrance, I would get shot and die here.
"Then dying here or dying while moving is the same. So let's go together!"
Seo Jiheok made a face at my words. Then he scratched the back of his head, sighed, looked at me, shook his head, and spoke.
"Pack Yu Geumi's bag at least."
I took those blunt words as assent to my opinion and sighed inwardly. Then I quickly approached Yu Geumi. She had been leaning against the red jewel, but now lay collapsed on the floor because I had shaken her shoulder, and I saw the bag on her back. I quickly apologized to Yu Geumi and tried to carefully remove the bag straps from the person lying down. Because it was on her back, as I bent Yu Geumi's arm to pull the strap off, Seo Jiheok's voice reached me.
"Sorry for showing you something like this."
At that sound, I turned my head from Yu Geumi, and Seo Jiheok was showing me his profile when—suddenly—bang! I didn't know what Seo Jiheok had done, but looking back, he had pressed the gun to his own eye and shot toward his head. I hadn't even known there was one bullet left in my gun. Since I had fired without knowing how many rounds there were. Perhaps Seo Jiheok hadn't wanted to show me this. Judging by how he said sorry. Why do something sorry while apologizing? He shouldn't have done it. We could've just gone together. I could've supported his legs. They say these days, even if knee cartilage isn't completely cured by surgery, people run around just fine. They say there's no problem at all in daily life. We escaped from the Fourth Underwater Base where a gunfight broke out, we walked Sacheon Steps together, so there's no reason we couldn't go together just because some cultists are shooting nearby. Why? Why? Why? Why are you doing this.
Why are metal chunks not even the size of a fingernail killing people. Why are people dying like helpless blood bags from that thing. Bullets and such—you can remove things lodged in the body through surgery. They say extracting bullets from the brain is possible. All sorts of terrible accidents happen in the world, and doctors say they have to extract all sorts of things lodged in people's brains because of head trauma. I heard they remove things bigger than bullets stuck in the head. They say even if the skull is completely shattered, if you shave your head and stay hospitalized for a few weeks, you miraculously survive. They say you can be treated so well it's not even noticeable that something was stuck in your head! If we remove those lodged bullets, can't they survive? Is it because I didn't read this month's latest medical journal that I don't know? Once I get out of here, I absolutely have to subscribe to a medical journal focused on brain-related content first. And I should ask my friend who majored in neurosurgery. I have two people with bullets lodged in their brains—how long until they could survive if we just remove the bullets. Can bullets be removed by suction too? Then I can do it at a dental clinic. I can do it well without my hands shaking.