Yu Geumi, having received the candy, spoke.
“Moohyeon. Thank you for waking me. Things have been so hectic that I’m only barely able to have a conversation now.”
“It’s nothing. It’s only natural.”
At those words, I sensed Jeong Sanghyeon, who had been standing a few meters away, scoffing as he rolled the candy around in his mouth. Yu Geumi turned his head to check the other person’s face, then completely ignored him. Then he asked me and Gang Sujeong,
“Where are you going?”
Gang Sujeong looked at Lee Jihyeon lying on the floor and Jeong Sanghyeon sitting down, then spoke to me and Yu Geumi, who were seated on the floor.
“Our team is heading to Cheongryong-dong. Even if we can’t use the escape craft, we can use the submersible, and if that’s no good either, we’ll just take the elevator and consider ourselves dead.”
“The Russian team said they’re moving to Hyeonmu-dong and using the escape craft in two minutes.”
Gang Sujeong gazed at the barefoot people sprawled far in the distance, then nodded at Yu Geumi’s words. Then he asked Yu Geumi,
“Are you coming with us?”
At that, Yu Geumi shook his head.
“I’m going to Jujak-dong. I need to see how much damage Jujak-dong has taken. All the researchers and professors I know are in Jujak-dong.”
Yu Geumi was a marine biologist. Before I knew it, I had completely forgotten that he worked in Jujak-dong. Gang Sujeong spoke as if troubled.
“Mm. In this situation, I think it would be better for you to prioritize your own safety first.”
Yu Geumi pondered Gang Sujeong’s advice for a moment, then spoke.
“Jujak-dong has four seven-story research buildings. Approximately 400 people are stationed there. By the time I arrive, the professors and fellow researchers may have all evacuated already, but there could be people sleeping so soundly they don’t know water is leaking in, and marine creatures trapped inside. I don’t know much about the Rare Earth Center or the Marine Pollution Center, but I know the Deep-Sea Life Center, so I plan to stop by there briefly before taking the Jujak-dong escape craft. If there really are no escape craft, the Jujak-dong Research Center has a cargo elevator, too.”
Gang Sujeong and Yu Geumi’s eyes turned toward me. I hesitated. Should I say this now? If events unfolded as they did in the dream, the research center might be gone entirely; I couldn’t send Yu Geumi to a place like that. What should I say? That in my dream, Jujak-dong collapsed from a missile? We’d end up having to go to Jujak-dong soon anyway. Because Kim Gayeong would be trapped in the Jujak-dong dormitory.
“...Uh. Then I’ll go to Jujak-dong with you.”
Gang Sujeong’s expression subtly shifted. Then he pondered for a moment and nodded.
“I see. Then we’ll part ways at Jungang-dong.”
The Russians were groaning as they got up. Gang Sujeong looked at the child lying on the floor, took his arm, lifted him up, and hoisted him onto his back. It was so natural it seemed like flowing water. Gang Sujeong was over 190cm tall, so it looked as though he had wrapped Henry around his neck like a scarf. Adjusting his posture so that Henry’s two arms were properly positioned around his own neck, Gang Sujeong settled the child hanging on his back once and spoke.
“Shall we go?”
“Yes.”
Unlike in the dream, I slung one bag over my back. The cat’s weight was heavy. Only then did I realize candy was scattered all around the cat. Would the cat eat the candy? Don’t eat it. Candy isn’t something animals eat. It’s not something humans should eat either. ...Come to think of it, I started worrying whether the cat would eat the snake.
I debated whether Yu Geumi, who was walking beside me, might also have knowledge about terrestrial animals, then asked.
“Geumi. By any chance...”
“Yes.”
“Can a cat eat a snake?”
Yu Geumi didn’t say, ‘Are you crazy for asking that at a time like this?’ He simply looked at me as if I were strange, then nodded.
“Cats are predators that hunt snakes.”
“I see.”
My worries suddenly increased by one. What if the cat went wild trying to catch the snake in the bag right now? I had separated the two, but it was just a thin cloth partition. I tried to think of a plan for this new worry, then opened the bag again and looked at the cat curled up peacefully. The sight of the cat curled in a ball, lying atop the towels, made the very idea of such suspicion seem almost absurd. I closed the bag again and muttered inwardly. If you don’t want mutual destruction, get along.
Come to think of it, Yu Geumi probably didn’t know there was a cat and a snake in my bag right now. Perhaps no one here knew. I had been about to ask them if they knew who the animals belonged to, but stopped. Because I thought that in the worst case—though I hoped it wouldn’t happen—there might come a time when human lives and animal lives would be weighed on a scale. A feeling of unease took precedence—the sense that the less people knew about them, the less likely such a situation would arise.
It was strange. In the dream, I had thought that if people knew there were prohibited animals in the undersea base along with the child, the already chaotic atmosphere would devolve even further. Moreover, since I was the one who had saved them, I felt responsible and had intentionally not revealed them; but now, it was because I felt that not speaking was the safer choice.
Looking now, the only ones helping take Henry along were Gang Sujeong, who checked the child’s condition and carried him on his back, and Yu Geumi, who wiped the child’s soaked feet and legs with the hem of his T-shirt. The others were indifferent to the child or pretended not to see.
Had they judged an unconscious child weighing over 20kg as dead weight in a situation where the undersea base was flooding? Then what about a cat weighing over 6kg and a snake long enough to wrap around a wrist three times, whose venomousness was unknown? Feeling the weight of my bag, I was startled to suddenly realize Nikita was approaching my side. His footsteps made no sound. Was it because he was barefoot? Nikita, making his tangled blond hair even more disheveled, spoke to me.
“Did you happen to see anyone else while escaping from Baekho-dong?”
“What kind of person?”
“A Russian. A man.”
“No. If there had been, I would have brought him.”
Nikita looked at the child on Gang Sujeong’s back, then at me, said a brief word, and ran to catch up with his team ahead. Lee Jihyeon, who had been walking beside me, watched Nikita’s back and spoke.
“It seems he doesn’t have a younger brother.”
“Didn’t they say minors couldn’t enter here?”
Lee Jihyeon laughed slightly, dumbfounded at my question. That laugh made me realize what I was mistaken about. Ah. If he was here, he must be an adult.
“There’s a guy named Dmitri, tall, blond, with a shaved head, but he’s not with their group. Irina isn’t there either. Looks like he’s lost two of his team members.”
I recalled my room number, 37. And at the same time, the thought that I had never once checked the rooms from 36 and lower washed over me. ...Please let there be no one. And if there is, let them have all left their rooms. I can’t save everyone. I pushed away the sudden, baseless waves of guilt. Everyone in this undersea base is an adult. They should have the ability to take responsibility for their own lives. The moment I thought that, I saw those who had been lying down, reeking of alcohol after drinking vodka or something, still staggering ahead.
...I hope the other adults are more responsible than them. I walked, briefly looking at Henry’s face, asleep on Gang Sujeong’s back, then faltered. Viktor was the one who had first discovered the person collapsed on the floor, and he bent down to check whether the person lying there was alive. Then he said a word to his team that the person was dead, shook off the hand that had touched the other, and started walking again. Gang Sujeong sighed and spoke to Jeong Sanghyeon beside him.
“Sanghyeon. Go take a picture of the face with your tablet.”
“...I don’t feel right about saving a corpse’s face in my photo gallery.”
Grumbling, Jeong Sanghyeon still ran over and took two pictures of the man’s face with his tablet as Gang Sujeong ordered. Yu Geumi, walking beside me, gasped upon seeing the corpse, then practically stuck to the wall to distance himself from the body lying in the hallway.
Apart from Viktor, I was the only one who approached the person. And I checked his vital signs. He was exactly like the one I had seen in the dream. Was this person named Kevin Wilson? Sin Haeryang had said he was American. His head had been forcefully struck against the metal handle installed in the hallway and was caved in.
Because his eyes were open, I licked my parched lips, steeled myself, and closed his staring eyes with my palm. Ugh. Damn. The sensation of warm eyelids brushing against my palm was truly stranger than I could have imagined. Especially since his long eyelashes swept across my palm, I wanted to run away on the spot. I took a long, deep breath and composed myself. Still, I felt some small relief that the dead man now had his eyes closed. Jeong Sanghyeon, who was retreating after taking the photos, saw my actions and spoke.
“Do you have to put on such hypocrisy?”
“I simply did what I wanted to do.”
Jeong Sanghyeon looked at me as if I were strange, then went to Gang Sujeong’s side. Yu Geumi, who had been waiting for me, asked.
“Shall I carry your bag?”
“No. It’s fine.”
“...This is the first time I’ve seen a corpse that close up.”
“Me too. You don’t see people die at the dentist’s.”
“Isn’t that not supposed to happen in the first place?”
“That’s right.”
When I smiled lightly, Yu Geumi let out a sigh of relief and smiled along.
Carlos was approaching my side. Then Carlos smiled brightly at me and Yu Geumi and spoke.
“Yo. We saw each other at the dorms. Name?”
“Bak Moohyeon.”
“I’m Carlos Ruiz. Where are you two going?”
“I’m Yu Geumi. Moohyeon and I are going to Jujak-dong.”
“Yeah? I’m going to Hyeonmu-dong with the Russian guys. Why Jujak-dong? Are there a lot of escape craft there?”
I swallowed the words, ‘If reality progresses no differently from the dream, someone trapped in the Jujak-dong dormitory will show up soon, so we’re going to rescue them,’ and replied vaguely.
“No. If there’s an escape craft, we’ll take it too. Isn’t it better than everyone crowding into one building anyway?”
“Yeah?”
“Why are you going to Hyeonmu-dong, Carlos?”
At Yu Geumi’s question, Carlos lowered his voice and answered while glancing at the people walking ahead.
“Those Korean bastards took all the remaining escape craft here in Baekho-dong and used them up themselves. I begged them so much to give me a seat, but they completely ignored me. The Russians arrived late and only watched the escape craft launch; if they’d gotten there before launch, it would’ve been a bloody fight, huh? Did you hear about that Viktor guy smashing an Aussie bastard’s face?”
“No.”
“The researchers practically live in Jujak-dong.”