An indescribably enormous sense of relief spread through my entire body. It was a dream. It had all been a dream! Letting out a huge sigh, I lay on the floor beside my bed and stared up at the ceiling. I guess I really had been exhausted ever since I came to the undersea base. Wherever you go, you’re a newbie for the first three months, so you live on edge the whole time.
How tired did I have to be to dream up something so horrible, like an undersea base collapsing? Unbelievable. No, and what was with the snake, and the cat? Were those animals expressions of some deep subconscious desire of mine to raise pets? I’d never once thought about keeping a snake or a cat.
Seo Jihyeok, Yu Geumi, and Baek Aeyeong were people I’d met, but to think I’d imagined Sin Haeryang, whose face I’d never even seen, and dreamed about him. No, did any of that make sense? Getting trapped in a cable car and dying, then getting bitten by a shark and dying? Have I been watching too many action movies lately? Is my body weak? Living in an undersea base made me have all sorts of shitty dreams. No, I was bitten by a shark in a dream, so why did it have to hurt that much?
Thinking of the final scene from the dream, I took slow, deep breaths to calm my heart, which was pounding like mad. As my breathing slowed, my heartbeat gradually returned to normal as well. Only after a while did I realize my entire body was soaked in sweat. I pinched the stomach area of my T-shirt between my fingertips and flapped it, making a makeshift fan. As the sweat dried, the tension slowly drained from my body.
To think I’d spend a holiday morning like this. I’d thought I could have a little more fun with it. Around lunchtime, maybe I’d buy some bread and a drink from the bakery at the Third Undersea Base and take a leisurely walk along the beach. Thinking back on the things that had happened in the dream, I gave a small laugh.
As if I’d get into a gunfight. I’d never even held a gun before. And there were four thousand stairs from the Third Undersea Base to the Second Undersea Base—did it make sense to walk all that? I was the kind of guy who nearly lost his mind walking up three floors, so did it make sense for me to climb a hundred and eighty floors? While carrying an injured person on my shoulder, no less? And did it make sense for cultists to be in this undersea base? It wasn’t as if getting into an undersea base was easy in the first place, and would people really have nothing better to believe in than some nonsense about sharks? Did it make sense for jewels the size of human heads or torsos to be scattered all over an exhibition hall without any security devices?
Mocking the ridiculous imagination inside my own head, I rubbed my stomach, which had gone hard from tension, and let out a long sigh. The more I denied the dream, the more I felt my real self regaining stability. Next time I treat Ms. Yu Geumi or Mr. Seo Jihyeok, I should bring this up and say I had a weird dream. Honestly.
I lay sprawled on the floor and was about to whip my lazy body into motion, but then I remembered once again that it was a holiday and generously allowed myself to rest.
Kkrrrrrrrrrrrrrrk!
All of a sudden, a chilling sound rang out from the ceiling. It sounded like metal bending under some external impact. Feeling goosebumps rise all over my body, I shot upright. What? What is it? Why is there a sound like that? Then came a vibration. Even sitting on the floor, my head spun. Seeing the pad I’d left on the table rattle and fall to the floor from the shaking, I used my body and hands to catch it safely. No way. No way. That’s impossible!
In a daze, I held the pad in one hand and opened the door to my room. With a whoosh, the water outside the open door surged into the room. When my toes and the soles of my feet touched the water and went cold, I clutched the numb back of my head with my hand. It felt as if someone had struck me hard in the head. What is going on? Why is water leaking in? My feet were cold from the water.
When I stood there without going out, the door, having registered my movement, closed again. At the same time, as if someone had struck me on the back, I began to move. First, I picked up my clothes and put them on, then my socks and shoes. Then I opened the bag my younger sibling had bought me and checked whether there was a flashlight at the very bottom. I tossed in a bottle of water, then swept in the snacks I’d been eating—crackers, candy, chocolate, and the like. I shoved in towels as many as I could grab, and on top of them put my wallet and pad. Did I need the whale doll? Had I used this? I was sure that at the end, I’d given the doll to Sin Haeryang, and he’d used it to stop Baek Aeyeong’s bleeding. Then should I pack it? Even though I’d packed more towels? What else did I need? Everything needed for treatment was all inside the dental clinic—would I need anything more?
When I looked around my room, there wasn’t a single thing that could be used as a weapon. Well… I was a dentist. When on earth would I normally need a weapon? Patients who came to the dentist were obedient. Children tried to escape the dentist, but we treated them in a calm state through sedation treatment or nitrous oxide. Adults were easier. What stopped adults trying to run away from the dentist was pain and discomfort, not any action on the doctor’s part. Realizing there was nothing in my room worth taking as a weapon, I stiffened with tension and opened the door.
The water had risen past my ankles and up to my calves. I screamed at the top of my lungs and started opening doors from Room 38 onward. Was this a dream too? Why was something that had happened in my dream happening right now? I stopped thinking and focused on what was happening before my eyes. There’s no time. Think later.
How did Yu Geumi sound the alarm in all the rooms? I pounded on the doors and opened them one by one, then realized the water was rising past my calves, cursed inwardly, stopped, and began searching through the pad. Emergency alarm. Emergency alarm. Emergency alarm! I entered the undersea base program through the pad and pressed the emergency escape alarm for Baekho-dong. Then red lights came on in the corridor I was in, and with a loud wailing sound, all the doors opened at once.
[Weeeeeeeeeeeeeee-oo! Emergency! Everyone in Baekho-dong, evacuate to the escape vessels. Emergency! Everyone in Baekho-dong, evacuate to the escape vessels.]
As the ear-splitting sound began, I ran toward the rooms in the fifties. Ms. Yu Geumi had definitely been sleeping somewhere around here. In Room 48, I found Carlos asleep. Rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand, Carlos floundered up from the bed. “What the fuck!” he shouted at me, and I said to him,
“Get up! Water is leaking in!”
I shouted at Carlos as I ran from one door to the next. Only when I entered Room 54 did I realize someone was curled up on the bed.
“Wake up!”
I ran into the room and shook the person. We have to go! We have to go! We have to escape from here! When I pulled back the blanket, the person inside was Yu Geumi. Ah. I’d wanted to see her.
“Ms. Yu Geumi, wake up!”
Yu Geumi lifted her head, still drunk with sleep. When my face was reflected in Yu Geumi’s black eyes, which held the irritation unique to someone just woken up, I was so glad to see her eyes open that I almost cried. Still half-asleep, Yu Geumi shook her head from side to side.
“Water is leaking in! Come out right now! Right now!”
I rushed out of Yu Geumi’s room. Where was the cat? Where was the snake? Since I couldn’t remember the room numbers, I ran from room to room, searching to see if there were any animals or people inside. Carlos walked toward the stairs beside me, spewing curses. Yu Geumi changed out of her pajamas into ordinary clothes, put on her glasses, grabbed a pad, and came rushing out of her room.
Running through all the rooms like a lunatic, I saw the cat in Room 64 and smiled in relief. Then I spread both arms. Of course, the cat did not leap into my arms with tears of joy. It merely matched the weeeeeee-ooing alarm with a loud, resonant yowwwwl!
With all its fur standing on end, the cat seemed to have doubled in size. I picked up the owner’s blanket and threw it over the cat. The cat, as if I were an idiot, swiftly dodged my move and fled, but my fingertips brushed its waist, causing it to fail its landing.
The cat fell straight into the water, now up to my calves, and began crying miserably. I quickly scooped up the soaked cat, shoved it into my bag, and zipped it shut. I could feel the bag wriggling, but I ignored it. Where else was it? Which room was it again?
As I came rushing out with the cat on my back, the door to the next room opened. Vladimir shook his head once, saw the water up to his calves, and pressed something on the pad strapped to his wrist. Then the alarm changed, going bee-yung, bee-yung, bee-yung.
[Bee-yung, bee-yung, bee-yung! Emergency! Everyone in the Fourth Undersea Base, evacuate through the escape vessels and elevators. Emergency! Everyone in the Fourth Undersea Base, evacuate through the escape vessels and elevators.]
So the alarm could be expanded to the entire Fourth Undersea Base. Vladimir glanced at me once, then called to the person inside the room.
“Nikita. Get dressed. We have to get out of here.”
At Vladimir’s words, I quickly passed by that room and ran toward Room 80. I heard someone calling me from behind, but I ignored it. Be empty. Be empty. There has to be no one there! It was just a horrible dream!
The water was now rising past my calves. The reason I was checking this room was because if there was a child in Room 80 and I escaped without checking, I felt like I’d regret it and blame myself for the rest of my life. Every time I ran, water splashed up, hitting my waist and back. Please be empty. Please! There has to be no one!
When I saw Henry asleep in the open Room 80, I felt as though my soul had left my body. My head suddenly began to ache. No. No way. Oh my God. Damn it. This shitty thing. No. That was a dream. Get a grip! Your calves feel like they’re freezing from the water—does it still seem like a dream?
I put the pill bottle on the table into the bag with the cat, slung the bag to the front, and carried Henry on my back. When I came out, the water was slowly devouring my thighs. In the corridor, most of the Russians were staggering out. Nikita and Yu Geumi were gone. They must have taken them to the escape vessel. With Henry on my back, I walked one step at a time. If I fall, it’s over. If I fall, that’s the end.
“There’s a child! There’s a kid in that room!”
Vladimir checked Room 72, then looked at me, walking with one hand against the wall because I couldn’t keep my balance in the water.
“Is it yours?”
“No!”