I'd figured people might splinter off toward goals other than rescuing lives, but hearing it for real sent a chill through my heart. I looked at the child on Gang Soojeong's back and nodded. She must have her own ideas about escaping too. But there was a problem. I'm a dentist, and Geumi is a marine biologist. We're completely useless when it comes to opening closed doors. Don't we need at least one engineer to mount a rescue?
"I don't know how to open the door, so could an engineer come with us?"
As I said that, I looked at the three of them. Lee Jihyeon looked at Gang Soojeong, and Jeong Sanghyeon also looked at Gang Soojeong. Gang Soojeong looked at me with a strange gaze, then nodded. Maybe it's because she's the deputy leader of Engineer Ga Team. Jeong Sanghyeon said to Gang Soojeong,
"I'd like to go with you."
"Why?"
"Because I want to do some good."
Lee Jihyeon, who had been walking beside Jeong Sanghyeon, said in surprise,
"Did you eat something wrong?"
"Ah. Noona, really. I can act nice too."
Gang Soojeong looked at Lee Jihyeon and Jeong Sanghyeon, then replied.
"...Jihyeon. You go."
"But I said I'd go. Why are you excluding me? Deputy Leader, you've been too much since earlier."
"You're going to get soaked through. You might have to swim to escape. If I knew you could swim, I'd have sent you first. Our Sanghyeon would have been the very first one I sent."
"Ah, I said I'm fine, so stop it."
"After the rescue, I'll write a post on the board. If the Cheongnyongdong escape craft have all evacuated, please write a post. The phones don't seem to work at all."
Lee Jihyeon said that and took the child from Gang Soojeong, hoisting him onto her own back. Lee Jihyeon's walking pace began to slow slightly compared to before. Gang Soojeong called out to Sofia, who had been walking ahead. Sofia waited in place with an expressionless face. By the time we caught up to Sofia, Gang Soojeong spoke.
"Does your team have even one pad?"
"No."
"A phone?"
"The phones are dead."
Gang Soojeong logged out of her authority on the pad, then handed her pad to Sofia.
"Seeing as posting works, the intranet seems to be functional. Your team should post too if you find anything at Hyeonmudong."
"With the team leader's permission."
Sofia took Gang Soojeong's pad and trotted off with brisk steps toward Vladimir, the team leader. Then she seemed to explain something. Without even looking at Gang Soojeong, Vladimir waved his right hand behind his back. Gang Soojeong looked at the dark blond hair, then let out a sigh. Jeong Sanghyeon whispered to Gang Soojeong,
"No, but why did you give the Deputy Leader's pad to that lunatic?"
"Then if I'd asked for yours, would you have shut up and handed it over?"
"No, why are you trying to take my pad?"
Jeong Sanghyeon hugged his pad against his body. Gang Soojeong looked at Jeong Sanghyeon and sighed again. Lee Jihyeon hoisted Henry higher on her back and said to Gang Soojeong,
"It might have been better if the Team Leader had stayed. I'm not saying the Deputy Leader lacks capability. But among all the teams, they're the most reasonable ones you have to keep dealing with, right? You'll be flooded with people you can't talk sense into, so why stress yourself out unnecessarily?"
Gang Soojeong looked at Lee Jihyeon's back, then at those walking ahead, and said,
"Maybe so. But can a person always live like that?"
Then Gang Soojeong gave a big stretch and smiled at me and Yu Geumi.
"Prioritize taking the Jujakdong escape craft. If the Jujakdong Research Center is safe, you can take the elevator inside, but no matter how I look at it, the research center seems to have taken a direct hit. (Yu Geumi's face darkened.) Whoever is trapped in Jujakdong—I don't know who they are—but attempt a rescue if it seems feasible, otherwise give up. In a situation like this, it's hard enough to preserve your own life. If too much water has flooded in, it's hard to open the door, and the people in the quarters might already be dead by the time you arrive. And if escape from Jujakdong seems impossible, come to Cheongnyongdong. We'll be working hard there."
"What should we do about taking the child?"
When Yu Geumi asked Gang Soojeong, Gang Soojeong rolled her neck once as if it were no big deal, loosening it, and said.
"Sanghyeon and I will take turns carrying him."
Jeong Sanghyeon jumped in surprise and shook his head.
"Huh? I don't want to? Why me?"
"Didn't you say you wanted to do some good?"
"It's hard enough to preserve your own life, so why should I take a kid who isn't even mine?"
"If you put it that way, it's not my kid either. Who knows? The parents might be chaebol?"
"No, why would chaebol parents leave their kid at the Fourth Undersea Base!"
"Mm. I think so too."
Jeong Sanghyeon gestured at me and spoke.
"Tell the person who saved it to take it! Then it's settled!"
Arms crossed, Gang Soojeong nodded and said.
"Yeah yeah. That's a good opinion too. But if we take the child, can't Muhyeon and Geumi rescue people a little faster and a little more? Hey. How did five people end up trapped in the Jujakdong quarters? Were they playing poker? Or hwatu? What do researchers do for fun when they rest?"
"Huh? Nothing much. Playing Blue Marble and games and stuff."
Though Jeong Sanghyeon bounced in place, objecting, Gang Soojeong didn't listen even with her earlobes.
We walked steadily without stopping and entered Jungangdong. The last thing I'd experienced in Jungangdong in the dream was a gunfight. Though it hadn't happened in reality, my heart pounded heavily at the thought of those gunshots and screams. Gang Soojeong looked at Jeong Sanghyeon, and seeing him hugging his pad with both arms and turning his body away, she spoke in disbelief.
"Good grief. Really. Such a petty little thing. I could take it by force, but good-natured me holds back."
"But you don't even use a pad normally, Deputy Leader!"
Gang Soojeong, who had borrowed the pad from me, checked whether there were any additional posts or comments on the previous message about finding the child's parents, then immediately wrote a new post. The username was lifeboat.
Title: People are heading toward the Jujakdong quarters.
Content: Please let us know exactly the number of people trapped in the room and their identities so we can reference it for the rescue.
...Perhaps Gang Soojeong didn't believe that five people were trapped in one room in Jujakdong. After writing the post, she looked at the board list and paused. While reading through the board posts, she stopped and handed the pad to me, asking.
"Where did you find that post? I don't see it when I look again."
"I'll find it for you."
Amid the wave of posts requesting rescue because they were trapped in Jujakdong, I tried to find the post with the out-of-place tone, but no matter how I looked, it wasn't there. Why wasn't it? The post about being trapped in the Cheongnyongdong submersible had completely disappeared from the board. It was definitely there? Had the person who read it deleted it because they escaped on their own?
I thought about what had happened in the Cheongnyongdong escape craft. The sound of knocking twice and the terror I'd felt then. I recalled Hayun of Engineer Ra Team, and it suddenly occurred to me that these people might be in the Cheongnyongdong submersible right now. Gang Soojeong looked at the ceiling, thinking for a moment, then borrowed the pad from me again and wrote a post. The username was Angry Boxer.
Title: There's no one at the Cheongnyongdong escape craft port? Are you sure?
Content: Why did you end up like that working alone near the escape craft? If I go and find out it's a lie, I'll make your jaw see blood?
Just as I was falling into confusion because Gang Soojeong had used the word "escape craft" instead of "submersible" in the post, Gang Soojeong pressed the confirm button. After checking that the post had gone up normally, she spoke to me, who was full of questions.
"The one who wrote it deleted their own post. I suppose they decided someone shouldn't see it. Or maybe they deleted it after escaping on their own. But the guys here... ah. The type who thinks, 'What if some kind soul sees this and comes to rescue me but ends up empty-handed~ I should delete my post to indirectly tell them they don't have to come save me~'—those guys are rare. Most are the type to forget they even wrote a post after escaping, but they suddenly deleted it? I suppose they must have decided someone shouldn't read their post."
"...What if someone who read the earlier post goes to the submersible?"
"We're going to the escape craft side anyway. If there's no escape craft, we'll go to the submersible. We'll meet them. Rather than me emphasizing again that someone is trapped and unable to move in the Cheongnyongdong submersible, I thought writing it wrong would be better. Well. If the writer sees this, he'll probably chew me out in the comments if he doesn't like it."
Then she handed the pad back to me. In the middle of Jungangdong, Engineer Da Team started walking toward Hyeonmudong, and Nikolai and Carlos, who had been at the rear of the group, waved at us. I, Yu Geumi, and Lee Jihyeon waved at their retreating figures.
We were passing by OLan, the first restaurant in Jungangdong. When I'd first joined, I'd eaten there for half a day, thinking the first restaurant's name meant reindeer and not knowing it was a vegetarian restaurant. When I saw meat come out at the second restaurant, Manhanjeonseok, I started eating there instead. Both had edible food. Gang Soojeong spoke to me and Yu Geumi.
"We'll part ways here."
And when Gang Soojeong gestured with her chin at Lee Jihyeon, Lee Jihyeon approached Jeong Sanghyeon. Jeong Sanghyeon recoiled in fright, stepping back, and said.
"Ugh! Do we really have to take that brat?"
"Then you wake the kid up and make him walk."
Jeong Sanghyeon made a fierce expression at Gang Soojeong's words, then pinched the arm of the child lying on Lee Jihyeon's back with three fingers, twisting it ninety degrees. I gasped in surprise, and Yu Geumi shouted upon seeing that.
"Why are you pinching a child?!"
"He might be pretending to sleep!"
Jeong Sanghyeon shouted at Yu Geumi. However, Henry couldn't wake up. Though I hadn't been in favor of taking the child, I hadn't expected that kind of behavior. Worry flooded in, but Gang Soojeong lifted the child from Lee Jihyeon's back as if she'd expected this and placed him on Jeong Sanghyeon's back. The moment the child was placed on his back, Jeong Sanghyeon's knees buckled once before straightening with a tremble. Gang Soojeong, holding Jeong Sanghyeon's pad, spoke as if stifling a laugh.
"Hey. Don't tell me you can't even carry a 20kg kid? Sanghyeon can't do that? I'll let myself off, but even our Jihyeon, who's as dry as a chopstick, carried him here."
"Ah, Deputy Leader, what do you take me for! I'm Jeong Sanghyeon! I can fly around carrying a brat like this!"
"Yeah yeah. I know best how strong our Sanghyeon is. When we pass the Cheongnyongdong elevator, I'll carry him, so hang in there until then."
Gang Soojeong, who had spoken spiritlessly, looked at Jeong Sanghyeon pushing forward toward Cheongnyongdong as if possessed, then spoke to me, Yu Geumi, and Lee Jihyeon.
"It'd be best if you take the Jujakdong escape craft, but if not, I hope you escape in good health by any means necessary. Write the details on the pad, good or bad. We'll head your way whether there's damage or not."
Lee Jihyeon shook hands with Gang Soojeong and left a word: "You be careful too, Deputy Leader." Yu Geumi bowed her head.